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THE GYPSY LOVER (Episode 9)
So let’s start.
The clock struck 1. Dushyant Singh peeped out of his room to find the corridor empty and engulfed in darkness. He took the kerosene lamp and dimmed its light and started walking towards the stairs which led to the most dreaded dungeons beneath the castle. Darkness engulfed the stairs also. His lamp was the only source of light there. He walked towards the cell in which Sarovar was locked up.
While pacing around the Palace restlessly for the last few hours Singh had realized that Sarovar locked up in that cell would do no good for him. He could see how much the Gypsy loved and wanted the doe eyed Swara when he was cursing her. He could see tears in his eyes. Singh was sure that the Gypsy,if given a chance, will take Swara with him if he threatens her life. Love is blind. It will make you do everything even if you don’t want that to happen. Same was the case of Sarovar. Singh slowly walked through the corridor and found a guard near Sarovar’s cell. “He can spoil my plans.” thought Singh. Pulling his jeweled dagger from his sash, he back stabbed the guard and pushed a piece of cloth into his mouth. The guard’s voice died down and Singh pushed the man into the very next cell which was empty. Then he opened Sarovar’s cell to find the man lying on the cold hard floor, immersed in his thoughts.
Sarovar had taken away his false beard once he was all alone in the cell. They had beaten him up brutally with his hands and legs tied. Only if he had his hands free, he would have shown them heaven. Lying on the floor, he was thinking about Swara, her betrayal. From the day he met her for the first time in the barge, he was being fooled by her. After seeing her cold behavior towards Sanjay, he somewhere felt that she was loyal to him, and it was her circumstances that pushed her to this corner. But her betrayal tonight, her handling him over to the police officials, had again proven him wrong about her.
When he saw somebody stepping into his cell, he rose up to his feet. He was ready for any punishment. the pain in his heart was far more hurting than the pain they inflicted on him.
Singh rose the lamp to the Gypsy’s face out of his curiosity to see the notorious outlaw’s face. As soon as his eyes caught the sight of the Gypsy’s face, the lamp fell down from his hands.
“Sanskar Maheshwari”. He exclaimed in fear. His body shivering.
The Gypsy shrugged. “No . I’m Sarovar. the gypsy king.” he said coldly.
“Then Sarovar and Sanskar are the same. ” exclaimed Singh.
Singh’s mind went back to the time when he entered the Palace for the first time. Then the Maheshwari’s had two heirs to their vast possessions. The cold , ruthless, arrogant Sanjay Maheshwari and his exact antonym – compassionate, warm, respectful Sanskar Maheshwari, younger to Sanjay by an year. Singh always found it easy to fool Sanjay. But Sanskar was different. He wouldn’t listen to Singh in any matter. Even though he was young, he could see through Singh and his intentions. He was only 12 when he openly confronted Singh about his intentions. A cold war broke between Singh and Sanskar from that very day. Singh left no stone unturned to defame Sanskar. But Sanskar some how always managed to sense his trap before hand. Sanskar started checking the accounts on regular basis and started raising questions at Singh about the missing threads. But Singh could easily manipulate Sanjay. Sanjay envied Sanskar for his popularity among the tutors and servants. Singh used Sanjay as his shield against Sanskar. Sanjay claimed that he was the eldest son and only he had the right to check the accounts. He further added that Singh held his complete trust. Though offense by Sanjay’s words, Sanskar gave up questioning Singh publicly. But he used to warn him indirectly through his actions.
Things became worse when Sanskar was 16 and Sanjay was 17. A maid’s daughter committed suicide on losing her self respect and virginity to one of the Maheshwaris. She had clearly stated that the Maheshwari boy made relationship with her by making promises to make her his wife. Later when his job was over he left her thrusting a huge amount into her hands. However the girl didn’t specify the name of the Maheshwari boy in the letter. When the investigation broke out, Sanjay out of fear went to confide in Singh and Singh found it a golden opportunity to get rid of Sanskar. He asked Sanjay to blame Sanskar for it and started making proofs against him along with Sanjay. Singh himself admitted before the whole assembly that he had witnessed the deadly closeness between the girl and the younger man and had warned both of them to stay away from each other. Despite this Sanjay too started blaming Sanskar while Sanskar kept repeating that he’s innocent. But Mrs.Maheshwari, cold and dumb headed as her elder son announced Sanskar as the one who did the heinous crime. The blame fell on Sanskar and unable to take any more accusations he ran away from the palace. It had been 10 years since the incident took place. Nobody knew nothing about the Prince who ran away that night taking the shelter of darkness. Now, he was standing here before Singh, the traitor as Sarovar, the Gypsy king, the Gypsy outlaw. Singh felt cold fear hitting his soul. Seeing his pale face, as if he sensed the other’s thought, Sanskar spoke up: “Don’t worry Singh. I won’t kill you as I know that you are here with a deal for me. And I can let you go for that deal which may help me to get out of this darkness. So without wasting my time, tell me what do you have for me? b’coz I know you won’t come here to meet me unless you have your own benefits.”
Singh calmed down a bit hearing his words. Still, his body didn’t stop shivering.
“I have some questions for you, before we come to the deal.”
“Shoot” said Sanskar.
“You prefer to stay as Sarovar or do you want to claim your might back by revealing your identity to others?”
“I prefer to stay as Sarovar, the Gypsy, till my death.”
“What about that doe eyed witch Swara?”
“What about her? I despise her she betrayed me.”
“Well my dynamics with her is also not good. If you take her, we can avoid blood shed. Otherwise I’ll kill her.” Said Singh.
“Singh…” Sarovar roared. “How dare you?”
Sigh expected this . this outburst. no matter how he pretended. he loved her. dearly. more than his life.
“The choice is yours Sarovat. You know, I won’t hesitate to do that.”
Sarovar seemed thoughtful. at last he said. “yes. I’ll take her.”
“Okay then. she’ll come to you tonight with a spare key. She won’t come with you wholeheartedly. So here’s some ether. Thrust it on her face. She’ll go unconscious and you can take her. I’ll make sure that the guards won’t stop you.”
“You were never this friendly.” said Sarovar.
“You didn’t allow me to. ” said Singh with a wicked smile.
He walked back to the palace, preparing bait for Swara.
Swara was sitting by her window gazing at the full moon. Soon a piece of paper fell near her feet. She opened the crumbled piece of paper to read a message.
“Sarovar to be shot at dawn. If you wish to bid farewell get the key from Sanjay’s study table and go down to the dungeon. Keep it a secret. ”
That was it. No name, no signature. Swara ran to Sanjay’s study and took the keys. Then she tiptoed through the corridor and reached the stairs leading to the dungeons. She carefully moved forward and stopped before Sanskar’s cell. It was all dark. She couldn’t see anything. Opening the cell she called out for him.
“Sanskar.. Sanskar.. where are you? Are you okay? Now get up fast and leave this place as soon as possible.”
“Yeah. I’m leaving.” she heard his voice. “But not alone.”
“What do yo mean?”
“I’m taking you with me, you traitoress”
“Listen Sanskar, I didn’t…”
“Shut up you …. don’t force me to use abusive words. I’m not taking you out of my live for you. But unfortunately I married you that day. so you’re my wife. Though I can’t love you anymore I can keep you to amuse me.”
“I won’t come with you. You insulted my feelings. you..”
“Your feelings? Oh my God! Swara Ganguly has feelings. I didn’t know. You don’t have a heart Swara.then how come you have feelings? you know only betrayal. Maybe you can fool that idiot Sanjay Maheshwari with your sweet talks. But you can’t fool me”
“I’m not here to argue Sanskar. You can leave now. This is gonna be the last meet of ours. So leave without any drama. And let me live in peace.”
“But you are coming with me, Swara. and peace? I promise I won’t let you know what peace is for the rest of your life. I’ll make your life hell.”
“Sanskar..” before she could complete her sentence a pad was thrust against her nostrils. A foul smell filled the cell. She let out a moan and fell fainting in his arms. He carried her through the corridors of which he knew every inch, where he used to play hide and seek as a child. When Swara woke up, she was lying on Sarovar’s bed in his tent. She looked around to find him smoking hookah. He was in his Gypsy attire. He was staring at her beautiful face, thinking about the bitterness of her soul. He had loved her to give away his life for her. when he came out of his thoughts he found her awake. She sat up, her heavy lashes lifting, her wide eyes searching the cave.
“So you brought me back.”
He nodded. “And this time you stay. You’ll listen to me. Obey me. As a dutiful wife, you traitoress.”
“Stop calling me that. Why can’t you understand that..” she gulped down her words. No, after him disrespecting her feelings, insulting her love for him, calling her disloyal, she would never give him the satisfaction of knowing how she had wished to get him out, alive. how she loved him. how she wished to be in his arms. She would never tell him how bitterly she wanted him. “I’ll not stay at your command. ” she said, choking.
“I think you will and you should. because you are my wife. Entertain me leave love. we will never have such a beautiful emotion between us.” He said leaning towards her. She felt powerless.
“Damn you. I wish they had shot you” she cried.
“Why so shy darling? This is not the first time that I have held you in my arms. Kiss me as you kissed me in the balcony last night before you were deprived of the sadistic pleasure of seeing me shot.”
“You fool, you mad fool let me go”
“Very well..” he said releasing her from his arms.” We have plenty of time to talk. Its too late now to turn your back on my live. You can’t just lick your heart at will and take away the key from me.”
He moved out of the tent. He thought he had heard the murmur of voices outside. Outside the tent he saw a crowd of gypsies waiting for him. There was a general atmosphere of dissatisfaction which he didn’t understand.
Here’s the 10th installment of gypsy lover. Why the gypsies are dissatisfied? Will Sanskar understand Swara’s feelings?? what do you think? Sanky’s past is known to us now. When Swara comes to know about it how will she react? Keep reading to unlock more suspenses. Ah.. leave your comments below I’d love to read and reply to them. Share your suggestions and opinions. And silent readers, please do comment…