✔️Tale as Old as Time (Kunwar Pratap/Ajabde [Praja])

4//~gajjar ka halwa~

"Aapke pass kitne achhe achhe gehna hain to aap eetne sade ghehne kyu pehente hain?" Ganga asked Ajabde.

"Hume nahi pasand," Ajabde replied. She truly hated dressing up and it was one of the things she was a classified newbie at but she did love buying clothes and promising herself that she would wear them.

She walked into the kitchen because she had nothing better to do. Kunwar Pratap had gone out to run some errands and she now had nothing to do because Kunwar Pratap and Ajabde spent a lot of their time together for the past few weeks (as platonic friends).

"Aap pakshala mein?" Ranima asked me as soon as Ajabde entered.

"Ji, aapko ki koi saheta kar sakte hum?" Ajabde asked.

"Aapko rasoi mein anne ke koi avarshakta nahi hain. Aap jaiye aur apna manoranjan kijiye," she said.

Jaivantabaisa saw herself in this young girl. She was shy but she knew everything even if she didn't show it. She didn't want Ajabde in the kitchen at such a young age, she had her whole life to do that.

"Hume pasand hain pakshala mein haath bata na," Ajabde insisted. She loved cooking. When her mother passed away, she passed on her generations-old recipes down to Ajabde and Ajabde had spent a lot of her free time trying to get them right, just the way her mom made them.

"Aisi baat hain to aiye," Ranima said.

"Aap kya bana rahi hain, Ranima?" Ajabde asked.

"Bus sabzi ho jaiye uske paschat gajjar ka halwa banaiyenge," she said.

"Hum bana ne mein saheta kare?" Ajabde asked excitedly. Gajjar ka halwa was not only one of her favorite dishes to cook but also to eat.

"Aapko aata hain?" she asked.

"Ji, hume aata hain," Ajabde replied. Ranima pointed to the carrots and she sat down and began grating them. Then, using a mortar and pestle, Ajabde crushed several cardamons. Then she added the grated carrots to a pot of milk and let it simmer.

Jaivantabaiji looked closely at the young girl working in the kitchen. She worked efficiently and gently. Something about her tugged at the queen's heart strings. She was polite, humble, talented, and always ready to help others.

After the halwa was done, Ajabde scooped it out in a pan and gave it to Jaivantabiji to eat.

"Atiyant hi swadisht bana hain," she said. Ajabde beamed at the compliment.

"Aap bhojan parosne mein humari saheta kijiye. Kunwar Pratap laut te hi hoge," Ranima said. Ajabde nodded and helped Ranima scoop a little bit out in the serving bowls and then Ajabde set out the plates.

"Ranima, aapse ek sawal puchhe?" Ajabde asked.

"Puchhiye," she replied.

"Aap ko yeh sab karne ki kya avashakta jab eetni saari dasiya hain?" Ajabde asked. It was a question that had been buzzing around in her head for a while now.

"Parivar ke liye kuch karne mein anand milta hain. Aap abhi nahi samjhegi kintu aapka jab vivaah hoga tab aap avashya samjhegi," she said.

"Hume karna hi nahi hain vivah," She blurted before she could stop herself.

"Yehi sansar ka niyam hain. Aapko bhala kyun nahi karna?" she asked.

"Aap kisi ko batayengi nahi na?" Ajabde asked. She trusted Ranima but these were the deepest darkest secrets of the 14-year-old's life.

"Nahi batayenge," she promised.

"Hume jaisa var chaiye vaisa kabhi mil hi nahi sakta," she confessed "Aur hum kisi aise bandhan mein nahi band na chahte jis bandhan mein atoot prem aur vishwas na ho,"