reswa
*Edited*
This song is dedicated to your story, to Vidushi and Parth here.
I am not a fan of Titanic the movie, but this instrumental is so beautiful, it is hard to ignore.
loved ur beautiful addition darling. The theme indeed sits well to perfection.
From the start, I felt the Duke of Rubel is an Englishman, but then when you introduced Vidushi as his wife, I started picturing the Duke as Parth. Oh wow! How did Parth manage to become a British Duke.. Maybe he was adopted by an English family.. No. He turned out to be English after you described Vidushi as an Indian princess having married the Duke to retain power and not rot in poverty.
hahaha.. you thought the Duke is Parth.. Well quite possible since we expect only our couples to marry in fictions. My reference here is Doctrine of Lapse by Lord Dalhousie between 1848 to 1856. Hence the setting is in 1850. Duke has annexed Vidushi's kingdom as she might have manipulated him to marry her.
I wanted to grimace at first, but my thoughts were bombarded by the reality of staying in such a country where the English ruled and the Indian kingdom(s) were being overpowered so fast that you wouldn't even see it coming. It was a blink and miss situation.
Yes, In a country like India, Company has overpowered the kingdoms so easily. It was mainly due to orthodox mentality and lack of co-ordination.
It sounds patriotic and so lovely to actually be a Revolutionary, because we are fighting for our country, but what do we really know the hazards of choosing this path? We lead a sheltered life. Most of us do. *touchwood* And we are living in a British rule free country, that was the result of the fight that our Indian revolutionaries were a part of and even lost their lives for it.
You put it right girl. It is heartrending to imagine what all they have done for us. I can't even imagine. May be that's why I have made by leads selfish people who give a damn about revolution because i cannot write that part of the story.
Vidushi is a clever woman. Being a princess, I get the feeling that she wasn't one to sit around like the other women and talk nonsense about fashion, glamour all the time. I feel as if she is interested in world politics, but she keeps to herself and doesn't rebel against the men, for she knows that voicing it out will make matters worse for her.
To keep her family's name above the quick sand of British overpowering, she married the Duke, so she and her family don't lose their reputation. Although they did lose it from the Indians' POV, by joining hands with the British.
yes, absolutely right. Marrying a British? That was a grave crime. Similar to the times when Raja Bharmal for the first time gave his marriage to Akbar - a Mughal when Rajputaana were against their rule. At that time inter-caste marriage, people's reactions were shocking! But Raja Bharmal believed instead of fighting Mughals and dying let us join hands with them. It did spark protest, he was called traitor but then that was the best thing to do. Vidushi might have thought something like that though she didnt get her own family's support.
Parth's life is also dangerous and looks like he is always attracted to the adventure, the risks, the danger, the passion it involves in unraveling mystery after mystery. Hence his decision to give in to this mesmerizing pull between him and Vidushi.
Yes, he is adventurous and daring. We can make out from his title "Knight" and it is given to an Indian man. He was put in charge of military. So Parth must be something else.
I don't get the part of her sleeping with other men, when she was married to an Indian King. She met Parth after, before or amidst her various rendezvous?
Well here I can say that VidArth may not have met regularly because of the condition at those times. And I have mentioned that she was a widow earlier, it's her second marriage to Duke, so you can imagine what all she must have done in between for survival. You see widows - or women with no shadow of a man on them are looked at cheaply. It is unfortunate that even today people are like that.
Back to Parth, hence his decision to leave his patriotic family and friends, to be with her and join the British army. Knight Parth Kashyap. Security. He needed it, or how could the Indians fight against the Company?
They need somebody on the inside. And Parth will be that. But he has to tread very carefully, because these are dangerous waters. Yet, I have full faith on him, since he is clever and being with Vidushi, he may have learnt a cunning trick or two to read and recognize who is true and who is a lie.
Well Parth was working with British even before he met Vidushi. Read Vidushi saw Parth first when he came to collect taxes for British. So that's what attracted them. They both are alike in their mentality.
Vidushi and Parth small flashback conversation made me realise that Vidushi isn't as shallow as she makes herself to be. She has depth, but a different kind. She needed Security, and with it if the luxury came, who is she to say no to it. Being materialistic sometimes is an assurance in a way. But I am yet to explore such a thing.
But when it comes to Love, she is like any other soul in love. She craves it, and she fortunately found it amidst all this lust floating around her. I could imagine the way the men leisurely undressed her with their eyes as she entered the ball and glided around talking to each of the high collared couples present. And during the dance, I could feel the tension and the attraction her seductive figure, her subtly mischievous eyes, her deliciously dusky skin caused to every male and female.
Wow.. you weaved a lyrical poetry my friend. You put everything so aptly. It just left me speechless.
"What am I to you?"
"I will tell when I feel I won't meet you again."
These two lines, as I mentioned above, showed Vidushi's acceptance to explore it, and Parth's curiosity to know where he stood. It has been so long since they started this illicit affair and now Parth professing his love to her felt like you had knocked the breath out of me. I got the the feeling that he is about to do something that won't make Vidushi happy.
But in the end it felt so beautiful to read the last of this. I felt like crying a bit, and smile simultaneously at the passion that had morphed itself from Lust to Love.
I loved the sweetness of her trying to get his attention with the help of her diamond earrings and him being metaphorically stabbed in the gut, when he looked up to first see those earrings before being absorbed by those haunting hazel eyes.
I apologize for being not so chronological, but as I write my comment, everything seems to be coming to me in bits and parts and am glad I can remember all of it.
Oh darling, even i wasnt chronological in writing the OS, i loved your comment as it is. You kinda made me nostalgic and made me remember LNMDJ days when you made my day with such beautiful comments on my works. I'm glad since then we both share same interests and same set of fav couples.
And she'll be waiting to have him back in her arms.
And he'll be waiting to rush back into her and disappear together.
aawww perfect ending, perfect lines. Can I kiss ur hands?
Annie
P.S.: Thank you so much for this beautiful story, Tich! 🤗
