Part 26 Modern Era
"To my ERA?"
"Yes," Arnav snatched the sand clock from her hand.
"No, Arnav... I don't want to take you there"
"But why?"
"A pure-hearted man like you don't have to come to my ear... You can't survive there"
"I just want to see how the sand clock works..."
"Don't you trust me?"
"Don't YOU trust me?"
Khushi was speechless.
"If you trust me, why do you hesitate to take me to your era?"
"Arnav, you are living a heavenly life here. You can't cope with the modern era"
"When you can cope with mine, why not me?"
"It's different Arnav. Anyone can live here but in my era"
"Then you live here... you don't have to go back. I won't let you go to hell"
"I have to..."
"Then take me with you"
"Don't be adamant Arnav. You are a Prince. You have the responsibility"
"Have you forgotten?"
"What?"
"As per the challenge, I should follow Ashoka's footsteps of peace. I should not go to war"
"It doesn't mean, you should forget your duty. Your responsibility has become double now. Don't forget that"
"Double? How?"
"Ashoka quit the war. That means, every under kingdom will start the expansion of their kingdom. You have to protect your kingdom now. Who else other than the Prince will do that?"
"But, how could I fight? I promised you"
"I asked you to follow the path of peace... it doesn't mean you should be quiet while getting attacked. You have the responsibility, Arnav. You should protect your people from your enemy"
"I will agree to it only if you agree to be with me"
"Arnav, I can't live here... it's against nature"
"How?"
"It will create a parallel universe, Arnav... it's against nature... we can't break nature"
"I can't understand what you say..."
Khushi took a deep breath.
"What would you see in the sky in the nighttime?"
"Sun"
"Where are we?"
"At the world"
"The earth belongs to the solar family... I mean, SUN family. There is not only the world but seven more planets are there in the solar family. There are millions of solar families, suns, stars, and satellites in our universe and there are millions of universes in space... If we break the rule of nature, we will create a parallel universe"
"What harm if we create a parallel universe?"
"It's against nature, Arnav. Everything will change. History will change. We can't be selfish"
"What about me? Won't you bother about me? would you bother only about the universe?"
"I have to... in fact, everyone should..."
"I don't care about something I don't know anything..."
Khushi sighed.
"Take me to your era"
Khushi closed her eyes and nodded ok.
"Really?"
"But with one condition"
"What?"
"You should not do anything without my consent. You should be with me only"
"Of course, I will be with you only...let's go"
"Not now... at night"
"Why?"
"Didn't you read the clause of the sand clock? We will appear at the same place from where I vanished. It was a public place. People will doubt if they see you"
"Why?"
"Because in our era, men look different"
"Oh..."
Taking her mobile, she searched for her college group photos. She showed it to Arnav.
"See, this is how modern guys look like"
"Oh..."
Khushi removed her pants.
"This is called pants"
"You always wear..."
"Yes. You should insert your legs in it and put the button like this" She showed how to put the button.
"Do it" She gave the pants to him and Arnav did that.
"Why do you want me to learn this?"
"It's because you are going to wear this dress in my era"
"But why?"
"People will mock you if you roam with this dress. They will think you are a drama artist" She chuckled.
"I'm a Prince Aparajith..."
Cutting him,
"No... you will not be Prince Aparajith in my era but a commoner. You should not expect the same respect from people there"
"Oh... By the way, the note stated we can't travel to the future... then, how can I travel to the future?"
"The clock belongs to the twenty-first century. We can't travel after 2023"
"Will we come back to THIS time again?"
"Yeah, we have to... tell me, what month and day is this..."
"This is pausa (begins at end of the December) month and today is Guruvasarah (Thursday)"
"Ok. We will leave tonight and will come tomorrow morning. So that, no one will get to know our time travel"
"Ok..." Arnav gave the sand clock to Khushi.
"Keep it with you... you don't trust me... do you?" She said.
Taking her hand, Arnav kept it on her palm.
"I trust you"
Arnav walked towards the door.
"What if I go from here leaving you?" Khushi asked showing the sand clock.
"Your generation will study in History that a Prince died in love failure,"
Khushi was shocked.
"I can even tolerate your denial but don't cheat me. I could not bear the pain" he left the room, leaving Khushi in shock.
She didn't know where this was taking them. She unwantedly dragged Arnav in this. But, how did she know a Prince would fall for her? There was no use in thinking about it now. She had to think about what should be done next. Khushi planned how to take Arnav to the MODERN ERA.
Night
Khushi didn't take anything with her except her mobile and money. Arnav came to her room with a small silk bag.
"Are you ready?" He asked.
Khushi nodded yes.
"Don't you take your bag?"
She nodded no and Arnav smiled. So, she was going to come back.
"I took this," he said.
"What's in that?"
"A set of clothes and a few gold coins for our expense"
"Gold coin for our expense?" Khushi chuckled.
Arnav nodded yes seriously.
"Why? Don't we need it?"
"No need. I have enough money for our expenses and gold coins are very very costlier in our era. People will doubt us if you give these coins and will put us in jail"
"Why?" he was shocked.
"They will think we stole the coin from some museum" she laughed.
"Stole? But why will they think so?"
"It's because the gold coins look different"
"How does the gold differ? Every gold is the same..."
"No, our gold won't be so pure like this"
"But, GOLD means pure..."
"Not all our era coins would be..."
"Won't your era coins be pure?"
She nodded no.
"Then?"
"Then what? It's like that..."
"Means, mixing?"
She nodded yes.
"But you said it's very costly..."
"Yes, that's why mixing is happening"
"How could you guys tolerate all these?"
"We get used to it"
Arnav looked at her as if she was an alien.
"Don't look at me like I'm an alien. You will see many more things like this in our era"
Arnav raised his brows.
"Sit here," Khushi said.
Arnav sat on the bed.
"Remove your jewels"
"But why?"
"Didn't you see the photo? Men in our era won't wear jewels. Just be like our men for a day"
Arnav removed his earrings and haar.
"Won't your era guys wear jewels?"
"Not much but simply, like, chain and rings"
Taking a comb, Khushi set his hair, taking a sideline. Arnav smiled at Khushi when she did that. Khushi pretended like she didn't mind about it. Arnav raised his eyebrows, looking at his image. Khushi smiled.
"Looking good... if you wear our kind of dress, you would look like exactly our era guy," Khushi said.
"By the way, Khushi, would the TREASURY be with weak security in your era that anyone can steal?"
"Treasury?"
"Didn't you say your people will think we stole the gold from the treasury?"
"It's not treasury but museum" She chuckled.
"Museum means?"
"It's the place where we treasure ancient things securely"
"Ancient things?"
"Yes... there would be different kinds of things collected from different ears"
"Do you have our era things too?"
"I think no... but our government honored Ashoka"
"How?"
"The emblem of modern India is an adaptation of the lion capital of Ashoka. The Ashoka wheel, the Ashoka chakra is adopted at the center of the National Flag of India"
"Is it?"
"Yes..."
"Is History that important?"
"Undoubtedly..."
"Will you show them?"
"Sure... but don't forget what I said. We are going to be there for only one night. We should be here tomorrow morning. Or else, the king and Queen will panic. You should not go anywhere, leaving me"
"Should I clutch your hand?" he asked with a smile.
"I won't mind..." she said seriously.
Arnav stood up. Khushi took the sand clock.
"Clutch my hand," She said.
Arnav entwined his fingers with Khushi's.
"Take me back to the present Delhi" Khushi said and twisted the sand clock.
The next second they came to the Delhi Archeology office from where Khushi went to the Ashoka Empire.
Arnav looked at his surroundings and widened his eyes. He was thunderstruck to see, various kinds of vehicles and colorful lights which were making the night as DAY. He stood forgetting himself that looked like jugglery to him.
To be continued...