A Suitor for the Princess - Chapter 24

        As Sara lay motionless on her huge, soft bed surrounded by beautiful satin-covered, fluffy pillows, the vibrations of her soul which uttered “Juan, Juan” reached out to Juan in the far-away shrine on top of the hill.

        In a flash, Juan remembered who Sara was!  His beloved, his life!  The beautiful, noble Princess Sara, of Regina, for whom he’d risked his life and lost his eye!  The apple of his eye!

        He bolted out of his bed and rushed out of his spartan room, his robe swaying around him, hands out-stretched, a strangled cry in his throat, yet jubilation in his demeanor.  As he reached the gate of the shrine, muttering “Sara, Sara, my love!” the sentry looked at him curiously and forbade him from going out.  “I’m sorry, but you’re not allowed outside, learned one!  No one is!  Not even the Master!  Go back at once!”

        Jolted out of his trance, Juan looked at the sentry, enraged.  It was as if he had just come back into the world.  He wondered where he was and what he was doing there.  He didn’t belong there!  He belonged to Sara and was eager to meet her and embrace her.  But he remembered suddenly that he’d failed in his task and landed, wounded in that shrine, from where none returned!  He was standing in that doomed forbidden land of no return!  What could he do?

         “Please, please let me go brother!  I’ve a very urgent work to do.  I’ll always appreciate your kind deed!  Please do as I say and open this gate.”

        By then, the Master had appeared silently behind him.  The sentry brightened on seeing him and gestured towards Juan to be silent.  Juan whirled around and saw no one.  As he opened his mouth to implore the sentry once again, he felt as if no words could escape from his throat.  His lips just opened and closed soundlessly.  Then he felt as if a powerful force started blowing him towards his room at the end of the courtyard.  He felt as light as a feather and wafted into his spartan room; dazed.  He landed straight on the reed mat on the floor and drifted off into stupor.  In the morning when he woke up, he had forgotten everything about the previous night’s episode.  His mind was totally blank.  Only thoughts of “The Master” filled his consciousness and he was back to his routine!

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        Refreshed after his meditation session at the cliff, Norman made his way home to Nancy, with a spring in his step.  He was duty-bound to remain beside his ex-wife as long as she lived he’d decided and had resolved to keep Martha’s thoughts at bay till then.  Of course he was concerned about his love, but his best friend Arnold could be trusted to keep her out of misery and any danger that she could possibly face, living alone in that isolated cottage!

        Arnold had arranged for round-the-clock security guards, 4 in all, to keep a strict vigil on the cottage and its sole occupant.  They had been instructed to remain invisible, so as to not intrude on her privacy.  But they were to immediately swing into action at the first whiff of trouble and alert him about the same.

        Arnold had informed Norman that he’d found Martha unconscious at her table.  When she came to, she had kept muttering words like “Juan, Sara, Myara, Regina and a whole lot of humbug!” (in the words of the unsuspecting Arnold). Norman, at his end of the receiver had smiled and shrugged, simultaneously telling his close friend that he’d explain her strange behavior when they met next.

        “Please look after my darling, will you?” he had implored Arnold and Arnold has sniffed the sweet romance in the air.  He had been ecstatic. 

        He had always wanted his dear friend from college, to settle down.  Now that day was not far off, he could see!

        “You bet, my friend.  Don’t worry.  I’ll be keeping tabs on your sweetheart!” he ribbed Norman. 

        “Only tabs, all right!” Norman teased. 

        Arnold rolled his eyes and said, “What else do you expect me to do?  Thanks, but no thanks!  I love my wife Annie and we dote on each other like hell!  So don’t worry about me stealing your gal!”

        “I’m sorry Arnold.  I was just kidding!” said Norman, abashed by the jealousy that had just reared its ugly head.  He must’ve been out of his mind, suspecting his best friend of trying to steal his girl, when he had been of the greatest help to him.  “Am I going dotty?” Norman wondered.  Then he consoled himself that he was just behaving like a teenager in the first flush of love.  Yes, love did make you blind!  And stupid!  In capital letters, S-T-U-P-I-D!

        He hung up and went to sit beside Nancy.  He saw that she was lying face down on her bed and was sleeping.  She had tear-streaked cheeks…… Obviously she’d cried herself to sleep.  He winced and sat down for his night-long vigil. 

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        One day Arnold went and knocked at Martha’s door.  He now looked forward to seeing her daily.  She was so charming, so beautiful….. He checked his thoughts, straightened his tie self-consciously and smiled warmly at her as she opened the door, looking heavenly in her pale blue dress with pink roses printed on it, her cheeks as rosy as the flowers on her dress, but looking vague, as usual.

        “Oh Norman!  What a pleasant surprise!” she exclaimed eagerly, as he stepped in and gave her a bunch of yellow posies.  “What lovely flowers!  From your garden, I presume.  They’re so fresh and brilliant.” He looked at her flushed, happy face and almost refrained from gently telling her that he wasn’t Norman.

        “Martha, I am not Norman.  I am Arnold,” he told her patiently like a parent explaining to his little daughter.  She looked just as lost, when she looked at him, with a question writ large on her face.

        “But I’m sure that you are Norman!”

To be continued..... 

The copyright of this novel is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.

A Suitor for the Princess - Chapter 23

                   “Norman here! I’m the publisher of your stories in Yorkshire. Get it?”

                     Martha just hung up. Did she ever write stories? Funny! She didn’t recollect anything at all! Then she saw her book lying open with her pen by its side. She read the words on the page. After pondering for a while, the King said simply, “Go ahead! I want her here by tomorrow evening.” Myara immediately took leave and went home to prepare for her long and arduous journey. She was tense with excitement. She only hoped that the old lady hadn’t passed away!

                   Had she written those words? Were they a part of a story? She was scared and utterly confused. Who was Norman and why had he called her? Most importantly, why had he called her Darling? She shrugged as her head started paining. She then went into the bedroom and went off to sleep. Soundly. Until Myara woke her up. In her dream!

                     As Myara rushed towards Juan’s home, about 500 kilometers away, Norman sent a dear friend of his to check on Martha from thousands of miles away.

                      When Nancy refused to have breakfast the next day, pleading nausea and refused to talk to him properly, Norman knew that something was amiss. Not only in her health but also in her demeanor. “What’s troubling you Nancy? Please, could you tell me so that I can set things right? Feel free to tell me anything!” he said bluntly.

                          “Norman, I know this will sound silly to you. But I just can’t bear the thought of you being with another woman. Yes, I know that we’ve lived apart for nearly 3 decades, but I still care for you and was hoping to have you by my side till the very end. But now it looks like you’re missing her terribly and I’m just an impediment to you. I feel guilty about your presence here. I can feel that woman’s accusing eyes on me all my waking hours.”

                         “And last night when I heard you talking with her over the phone, I wished that I could die at once. I think this is more agonizing than my cancer. I, I feel that it will be the best for both of us, if you just leave me alone henceforth. I’ll manage all right. I’ll hire round-the-clock nurses from a bureau. Besides the fact that you care for someone else, I even feel guilty that you are being needlessly kept away from your demanding job. Your work must be piling. I don’t want to be so selfish. Please go away, go away,” she sobbed into her handkerchief.

                          Norman knew that much as he wanted, he couldn’t be so heartless and abandon her in such a sorry state. He decided to stay put and continue looking after her. He didn’t say anything to her just then and went out for a walk. He went and sat on an outcrop at the peak of a nearby hill. He took several deep breaths of the fresh mountain air and felt nice. He had decided to deliberately blot out all his current life from his mind and concentrate on his heartbeats only. Meditation came naturally to him.

                         Deep in meditation, Juan started jerking violently. As he opened his eyes, he felt as if someone was trying to jolt him out of his reverie. Only, he couldn’t see anyone who could have disturbed him. All the other seers, his brothers, were deep in meditation, almost in a trance. Not a leaf stirred even on the luscious trees around. The whole shrine was shrouded in pin-drop silence. But his heart thudded wildly. He felt restless. He felt very thirsty. He had to reach the spring or he would die! He got up from the bare floor noiselessly and made his way like a drunkard to the eternal spring of sweet water in that shrine. As he dipped his clay bowl in it, he felt even more restless. As he drank non-stop from his bowl, he could feel his heartbeats steadying. Yet his mind was restless. Something was disturbing him. He couldn’t fathom the reason behind his unease.

                              He looked guiltily at the silent seers with eyes closed in meditation and then at himself. He had broken an unspoken rule. Never leave a meditation session midway at any cost! He had been led astray for the first time since his earlier fumbling and bumbling years at the shrine. He who had prided himself on his self-discipline and resolve, had been led astray today by something as lowly and mortal as ‘thirst’. Shame on him! He hadn’t been able to overcome his ‘humanness’. How would he ever attain salvation? He should have been able to quell his desire for water. As he had quelled all his other wants and desires! His ears turned red as he blushed furiously. He quickly looked around. No, no one had noticed his turmoil. He made his way sheepishly and closed his eyes and concentrated on ‘The Master’ till his breathing turned steady. Then he felt the word Sara drumming in his head like a staccato. Even after the meditation session was over, that word was steadily playing over and over again in his head till he thought he’d go crazy.

                       He fell down at the feet of “The Master” and begged forgiveness. “Why do you ask for forgiveness, son?” the enlightened one asked him. “There’s nothing to forgive!”

                        “I’m being plagued by the word ‘Sara’. Though I don’t know what that means, it is making me very uneasy and restless. I can’t concentrate on anything today. Why is it so? Who or what is ‘Sara’?”

                       “Sara is everything. Everything is Sara. Go to sleep. You’ll be fine.” The master said cryptically and went back to his trance.

        Sleep eluded Juan as he kept mulling over what his Master had said.  “Sara means everything” and “Everything is Sara”.  What could it mean?  That Sara was the be all and end all of one’s existence?  If so, why did that word plague only him and not the others at the shrine?  Was he the chosen one, for some radical spiritual awakening?  Enlightenment?  He wasn’t quite satisfied with his reasoning.  Sara had to mean something to him personally.  Maybe something from his distant past?  Why couldn’t he remember? 

To be continued.... 

The copyright of this novel is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.

A Suitor for the Princess - Chapter 22

                 As a cold draught hit her, Martha stirred. She put her pen down and stretched her hands outwards to ease her aching shoulders. When she tried to bring them down again, she realized that some powerful force wasn’t allowing them to come down again.  She twisted her head awkwardly and saw Sara looking at her venomously. She shrieked and slumped on her desk, her hands limply hanging by her sides. The phone began to ring just then. It continued to ring shrilly….. The person at the other end of the receiver froze! It was Norman.

                 “What’s the matter, dear? Why have you gone so pale? Is everything all right at your office?” Nancy called out to him from her bed. He turned to face her with sad eyes. He could’ve kicked himself for making that call from her bedroom instead of going to the study. He had assumed that she was sound asleep. But she had just proved him wrong!

                 “It’s not my office that’s the cause of my worry Nancy.” “Then is it a woman? Do you have a woman in your life right now, Norman?  Now I realize that after such a long time, you must be definitely seeing someone. It was very selfish of me to have called you here. Please forgive me!” Tears rolled down from her eyes. Norman immediately came near her, sat down and hugged her. They were quiet for some time before Norman said quietly, “Yes, I’m seeing a wonderful woman named Martha. I’m sure that you’ll like her, were you to ever see her.”

                 Seeing the stricken look on her sallow face, he realized his faux pas. Too late! The damage was done. Nancy pushed his arms away, took a pillow and started sobbing loudly into it. He had called Martha a wonderful woman! In front of his ex-wife suffering from cancer! How insensitive of him! He really felt like punching himself for his lack of diplomacy.

                  He decided to salvage the situation by declaring that he was hungry and he would get her tray too so that they could’ve lunch cozily in the bedroom itself. Perhaps she’d feel better.

                “Norman, please don’t bother! Send the maid with the tray here and you have lunch on the dining table. I, I wish to be alone for some time ……” He hovered around her for a few moments and seeing that she resolutely refused to look at him, he shrugged wearily and made his way to the dining room. His thoughts were in turmoil. He had blundered and how!

                 He wondered what would’ve been Martha’s reaction to his faux pas. Then he remembered that the phone in her cottage had just kept ringing endlessly till he had disconnected the line uneasily. Now that unease returned. He decided to just have a glass of orange juice and skip lunch altogether. He felt wretched. He gave the necessary instructions to the full-time maid, Gina and retired to his room. That room had once been his. Now he was just a stranger biding his time there.

                  He started imagining what must’ve happened to his beloved Martha, back at that cottage. Had she had another of her bouts of hallucinations? He’d have to cajole her somehow to visit a psychiatrist, once he returned to Yorkshire. He had a problem on his hands there. But he didn’t want to lose her at any cost. Here he had offended his ailing wife. Life appeared complicated to him. Then he shook off the looming depression and decided that he’d face all the challenges head-on! Didn’t challenges make life worthwhile?

                  Whom could he ask to go and check in on Martha? he wondered. Dorothy? He shook his head. Not after what Martha had told him, about her fancy for him! He felt like taking the next flight and flying there, but how could he leave Nancy now? Wouldn’t it be too heartless, adding insult to injury? Then he decided to call Martha again and see whether she responded then. He’d be greatly relieved if his fears were unfounded and she could give a plausible reason for not attending his earlier phone call. With great trepidation, he dialed her number.

                   Nancy was listening eagerly, from the extension in her room. They had installed an extension in her room to keep tabs on her well-being in case she suddenly didn’t feel well. Well, she thought, now she was unwell, not because of her ailment but because of heart-break, the second time! Norman! She heaved, as she strained to listen to the conversation. Yes, she was behaving improperly, but who cared! She had almost decided that she’d implore Norman to be with her till her last breath, when he had admitted to an affair! Very unfair, she said to herself. Why was life dealing her one hefty blow after the other? Did she even deserve to live now? Even for the meager days of life left in her kitty?

                      As the phone rang incessantly, Martha was disturbed from her stupor. She sat up and looked around her, dazed. Then she picked up the receiver and said “Hello?“slowly. She wasn’t sure about where she was or even who she was! A strong voice, vaguely familiar, boomed into the receiver, “Hello, Martha, hello, are you listening darling? Hope you are fine. Why didn’t you pick up the phone two hours earlier?”

                   “Darling!” The word plunged a cold dagger into her warm heart. She could already feel the blood spurting out. Red, hot and vile! Once she had been his Darling. Now another darling had replaced her coolly. Was it so easy to forget one’s past and one’s love? If so, why hadn’t she ever remarried again, never found true love again? She found it unbearable to hear the affection in his voice, for another lady! She felt insanely jealous. She was breathing very heavily now.

                   “Who is it? I’m sorry, I can’t place you!” Martha was saying as Norman listened, disbelief and anxiety writ large on his face. His worst fears were coming true. Martha was in the early stages of dementia. She needed help immediately.

To be continued..... 

The copyright of this novel is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.

A Suitor for the Princess - Chapter 21

        Sara swooned after her hysteria subsided.  The King, the Queen, the Minister and indeed the entire kingdom of Regina was plunged in sorrow when she failed to regain consciousness even after a week. 

        The royal physician had tried the best medicines in his repertoire on her and had thrown up his hands in despair.  Then the physician from the neighboring kingdom was summoned.  He took one look at the supine, beautiful Princess and asked the king whether she pined for anyone.  The answer was “Yes, for the peasant lad named Juan who had been her suitor in the contest announced 3 years ago by me!”

        “Then I’m afraid, only his presence and words will revive her now!” said the physician gravely.  The King and his Minister exchanged a hapless glance before the King gestured towards him to narrate the entire sorrowful tale of Juan’s failure in his task and subsequent permanent stay in that forbidden shrine from where none returned!

        “Oh, a very sad turn of events, Your Highness!  Only he can cure her.  If what you say is true, and that lad will never return, there’s little hope of reviving the fair Princess.  I’m sorry!  Anyway I’ll prescribe some rare herbs for her.  Please apply it on her chest and forehead, once in every 3 hours and see whether the cure works its magic on her. I’ll take your leave now.  Please inform me if she comes to or if there’s any other development.  I’ll be back.”  Then he went away. 

        As the King saw his receding back, he had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was identical to the one that he had had when he’d heard the news of Juan entering the shrine for medical aid.  He had felt the ground caving in under his feet.  Now he felt as if his whole world was falling apart.

        “Please, can’t we do something?” he pleaded with his trusted confidante, his Minister.  “Give me some time to think.  I’ll try to come up with a solution,” said the Minister.

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        The Assembly hall of the palace was packed with hordes of people who had traveled from far away places to find a solution to the conundrum.  “How could Juan be rescued from that mysterious shrine, the place of no return?”

        Scholars and laymen had come armed with solutions.  Some novel, some preposterous, some downright absurd and implausible!  Alas, not a single one was practical.

        “Please calm down, friends of Regina.  We’ve gone through, “Let’s lay siege on the shrine!” “Let’s invite the shrine’s head to a meeting,” “Let’s create a duplicate Juan” and so on.  As we’ve seen the pros and cons of all your proposals and debated since morning over this important issue, I feel all of us need a well-deserved break.  Let’s have lunch, have our siesta and gather here again in the evening for another brain-storming session.  Let’s see whether we can arrive at a consensus on at least one solution that’s entirely practical and not only notional!  I’ll be rewarding the best suggestion or solution, so do put on your thinking caps at the correct position on your heads!

        The Assembly dispensed in a babble of voices still debating over the vexed issue.

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        It was 6 p.m. when the august gathering reassembled in front of the King. Almost immediately, a young girl sprang in front of the Assembly and pleaded with the King to hear her first. The King and his Minister were utterly surprised. The girl was none other than Myara, the Princess’ best friend and confidante. Then they looked with interest at her. Probably she had a solution to their problem.

         “I know that his Highness, the King and the other dignitaries and scholars assembled here may find me to be impudent and presumptuous when I said that I must be paid attention to, first. But I sincerely believe that if my suggestion is worthwhile and found to be apt for taking action on, we could all save ourselves any further time or bother!” Now the gathering looked indignant and ready to blow their top! What gumption she had, that chit of a girl!

        “O.K.”, conceded the King. He really hoped that their misery would end, with that girl’s suggestion. He wanted to give a fair opportunity to everyone there to air their views and voice their suggestions. His gaze swept across the entire Assembly hall. Hundreds of voices were raring to go! He hoped secretly that Myara’s suggestion would negate any further discussion on the subject at hand. He was already having a migraine!

         “Your Highness, my humble suggestion is to have his mother summoned, briefed and sent to that shrine. Maybe she stands a good chance of being given the opportunity to interact with her only son, if she pleads with the shrine’s authorities. Once Juan is out of the gates of that forbidden shrine, the rest will be easy for the guards of Regina. They can swoop down on him and carry him back to the palace, to talk with Sara.”

           The King, his Minister and indeed the entire Assembly was stunned at the simplicity and accuracy of that girl’s suggestion. Why hadn’t any one even thought about it? The King and the Minister sheepishly looked at each other. The ones who had given outrageous suggestions were peeved but most of the Assembly marveled at Myara’s ingenuity. After the shocked silence, a huge applause broke out there and Myara bowed graciously and thanked everyone for patiently hearing her out. Then, seeing the King gesture to her to come forward, she stepped right in front of his throne. He removed a sparking, thick gold chain with a resplendent ruby pendant and gave it to her with his heartfelt blessings. “You’ve done Sara’s friendship proud. We are happy to have a jewel like you in Regina. We’ll immediately start on our mission. Thanks for showing us the right direction, dear!”

          “Thanks, Your Highness! May I suggest something else too?” she said. Mystified, he looked askance. “I’ll go and get Juan’s mother here!” she said boldly. Everyone looked appreciatively at her. Imagine going to a mother’s house, whose only son has been banished to a shrine from where he could never emerge; and explaining things to her! It was not a job for the faint-hearted hence they admired Myara even more than before!

            After pondering for a while, the King said simply, “Go ahead! I want her here by tomorrow evening.” Myara immediately took leave and went home to prepare for her long and arduous journey. She was tense with excitement. She only hoped that that old lady hadn’t passed away!

To be continued....

The copyright of this novel is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.