Tuesday 27 February 2018

A Royal Affair



“Mere Sapno Ke Raajkumar, Mujhe Hai Tera Intezaar,” Jane Worthington listened to the radio and she knew she was in India with the music, overtly talkative auto driver and the relentless horns. This was not just another journalistic trip, it was the trip she ever wanted to take. She was looking for her brother who was lost long ago in a spiritual retreat to Benaras with their family. That trip to India soon turned into a nightmare because it was flooded with people and they somehow lost her brother in the crowd. So, India did not bring much fun memories. “Look Madam, this is Sravanapura,” the auto driver said.

India might not have brought good memories to her but an Indian did, that too rather mixed memories. He was there for her during her sophomore years of college, knew her story, had a great thing going unless he had to go back cause of some political reason. Yes, he was from a family of royals and everything he did, everything he said, had a rather political tone to it. Like when he broke up with her, he wrote to her a note that he stuck outside her door. The note was sealed in red wax and she felt like some contract was over with statements like, “ Humblest apologies for not being able to take our arrangement any further from here due to some unavoidable circumstances.” The unavoidable circumstances were some political clashes that were taking place in his area, she read it on the online local news “The Sravanapura Express”. So much for closure.

They never heard from each other after that. Sometimes, the drunk version of her checked his facebook page but even that showed no sign of emotion, only some forwards or politically correct status messages and how Sravanapura was making progress as a state. One of the days, the inebriated Jane checked his facebook status, only to see the news of his engagement to the Benaras political veteran’s daughter flashing on his page. Her heart sank a little bit. She later dug into the profile of his fiancĂ©e. She was a pretty face with a strong political background as well. Her father was a strong social and political leader. They ran a society for lost kids in the state, gave employment to orphans, etc. They appeared to be influential people and she saw a ray of hope that she might find her brother after all.

She messaged Prince Vijay Dev Varman on Facebook that she was planning to visit India and would like to get together for some important discussions. An instant reply she got the moment she hit sent “ That for writing in to Prince Vijay Dev Varman. Your message is important to me. We will see what can be done about that. Jai Hind,”

An automated message? Wow!
She laughed in dismay till she immediately got a call on her mobile, which seemed like an Indian number.