Page 62 of A King's Oath

“Huuu,” Harsh patted his shoulder. Samarth startled. He took a deep breath, raised his knuckles and knocked on the door.

“Gaayo aavi gayi hase![19]” A lady’s bellow sounded through the door and in an instant it opened to reveal Tara Devi’s mother. Harsh had done in-depth research, from what they looked like to who they were and who they looked up to. That was the trump card Samarth hoped to use if it came to that.

“Haan, beta, me tamne odakiya nai?[20]” Tara Devi’s mother smiled, her expression so kind and soft.

Samarth blinked out of the momentary shock that froze his system. No going back now. He was doing this.

“Hu Samarth. Samarth Sinh Solanki, Kaki.[21]”

She frowned, the smile still on her face. Her Gujarati saree was simple cotton, her hands adorned with the usual thin gold bangle on each wrist — just like their women in Nawanagar. Samarth noted her smile slowly drop as her eyes peered and began to recognise him.

“Nawanagar na Kunwar saheb[22]?”

He nodded.

If his nod staggered her back, she did not show it. Her throat worked, a smile pushed to her face — “Aavo, Kunwar saheb, aavo,[23]” she moved aside to usher him in. But her open, happy, welcoming tone had altered from that first question she had asked a stranger.

That’s what Samarth was here to change.

“Tara Devi ghare chhe?[24]” He asked.

She stilled. “Tame Tara ne malva aavya chho?[25]”

“Agar e ghare hoye toh…[26]”

“Hu bolavu choo ene.[27]”

“Kon chhe, Meena?[28]” Her father came walking out to the courtyard, stopping by the flat swing suspended by old-school chains jingling in the wind. Her father recognised him immediately and Samarth folded his hands — “Jai Dwarkadhish, Kaka. I am…”

“Samarth Sinh Solanki saheb, Kunwar saheb,” he completed. “Please come inside, Kunwar saheb…”

As Samarth walked inside the courtyard, he noted the look that Tara Devi’s father gave her mother. Their confusion waspalpable. But if Samarth empathised with their reaction to his ambush, he wouldn’t be able to go forward.

“Please sit,” he ushered him on the patio furniture in the middle of the courtyard, his wife rushing inside.

“Thank you for accepting me inside. I came without informing, Kaka, I apologise,” Samarth folded his hands again, the words, the tone, the manners ingrained into him from his upbringing and his Papa’s etiquette.

“No, no, please don’t say that. You are always welcome in this house, in all of Devgadh. I saw you at the palace when you were small. You’ve grown up to be an impressive young man.”

Samarth smiled, looking down at his feet — “Not a man yet in my Papa and Dada Sarkar’s eyes though.”

Kaka laughed — “Children never grow up for their parents.”

“And yet you want us to study and do all the growing up too,” Samarth complained. That made Kaka’s polite laugh turn into a chortle, as if he was used to listening to such complaints regularly.

“Me dhokla muki didha chhe, Kunwar. Dhokla khaso, ne?[29]” Kaki came with a tray of steel glasses. She looked at Harsh standing in the corner behind him — “Beta tame pan beso ne.[30]”

From her reaction, Samarth assumed Harsh had done his head shake that looked as polite as it could with his height, build and that hard face.

“Tame beso, Kaki[31],” Samarth urged. She glanced at him a moment, as if startled. Then took a seat beside her husband, setting the tray of steel glasses filled with water down. The couple’s eyes were on him though, baffled but amused.

“What happened…?” Samarth looked from one to the other.

“Nothing,” Kaki shook her head. “You reminded me of our Yuvraj saheb… now Kunwar Maan.”

“He used to come to demand Meena’s farsan all the time,” Kaka reminisced. “Samosa, cutlet ane aamli ni chutney.”

Samarth’s face brightened. He hadn’t brought his trump card out but if Kaka had opened the topic, he wasn’t above using it to his advantage.

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