A BRIDGE ACROSS FOREVER

6: THE CHANGING TIMES

2012,DEHRADOON
Abhay looked relieved as Piya entered the cottage. He stood up with a smile. Piya smiled back at him as she walked over to the sofa and dumped her laptop bag and other stuff she had bought.
"Listen" she said, without preamble. "We have to go shopping. You need clothes."
Abhay frowned. "But-but-aren't we going to figure out something to help me get back?"
Piya gave an exasperated sigh. "I know, Abhay. And I will help you. But,erm, whatever you are wearing,you know, er-people don't wear those nowadays. We need to buy you some T-shirts, u know and jeans maybe-"
Abhay just stared at her, then at the loose shirt he was wearing, then back at her again, not saying anything.
"And there's one more trouble at hand" Piya continued with a sigh. "Kabir spotted us in the morning-he's my friend" ,she added, seeing Abhay's blank look. "He's having a party at his house and he's invited us,u know? So we have to go. Even you."
Abhay looked alarmed. "What?But Piya, I do not-how can I go? I cannot-I do not know anything-anyone-"he said a little desperately. "Piya, I will not go."
Piya walked up to him, and laid her hand on his shoulders, giving him a soft smile.
"Abhay,I am there na? Why are you wearing so much? I will be there to help. And till the time we figure out a way to get you back, You'll have to stay here, right? You can't stay locked up in here forever. You have to go out. Now come on, let's go out for shopping. After coming back,we'll start working on our laptop. You'll enjoy that"she said with a smile. "And I have a LOT of things to give to you once we return.Now come on."
Abhay put his hand on hers, the one she had placed on his shoulder."I don't know,Piya. I'm scared of the unknown."
Piya smiled another comforting smile at him and held his hand, pulling him towards the door,picking up her purse on the way. "There's nothing to worry about as long as I'm with you."
***********
They boarded a bus which would take them to the other end of the city, where the biggest shopping mall of Dehradoon was situated. Abhay had never travelled in a bus before and he looked quite nervous as the bus started."Piya,are u sure this is safe?" he whispered as they sat side by side."U sure the wheels won't come out or anything?"
Piya grinned at him."Relax, Abhay, nothing of that sort's gonna happen. We'll reach our destination, safe and sound in an hour."
But Abhay didn't seem convinced, he gripped the seat handle tightly and murmured. "Horses were much better. U sure people don't travel on horses any more?"
Piya laughed. "No,Abhay not anymore. People have cars now, and buses. Much faster. Life is faster nowadays-"
"And noisier-"Abhay murmured,as the bus made it's way through a busy street past honking cars and loudspeakers blaring musics from shops. "I miss Thunder."he whined.
"Thunder?"
"My favourite horse" said Abhay, and for a moment he no longer looked afraid. "U know,Piya,she's a beauty. She understands whatever I say, and sometimes when I teach Maithili horse-riding, I go out on her. Maithili's goes out on her favorite,Snow. We have wonderful times,riding through meadows and by lakes, listening to the birds sing-" he trailed off,his eyes distant as he remembered those days.
Piya looked at him,and felt a slight ache in her heart. She didn't know what this feeling was, a feeling that her world wasn't dark anymore,a feeling that freed her from the chains that her life was in, but whatever this feeling was, it was certainly going to make things difficult for her. She had never felt this sense of belonging with anyone before,not even Misha or Kabir, and they were pretty much the people closest to her. But with Abhay,not even a day had passed, and she found herself smiling more, enjoying herself more than she ever had since her mother's death. She didn't want to probe too much about this unnamed feeling of hers. No. She took a deep breath. Finding out the answer was going to make everything difficult. And she really wanted to help Abhay, make him happy.
As if on cue, Abhay looked at her and asked."U do believe I'll get back,don't you?I'll meet Maithili again?"
Piya managed a smile at him and was about to answer when her phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out. It was Misha.
"Yeah,Mish?"
"Where ARE u?" Misha yelled from the other side. "U didn't leave a message or tell anyone anything."
Piya gave a bitter smile. She doubted whether Madhu would even bother to listen. "Mish, I'm sorry, I didn't want to disturb u in your practice. I'm out on some work, will be late in returning home. Don't wait for me during lunch ,I'll have it outside."
"But where are u??At least tell me that much!"
"Mish, listen I gotta go. Talk to you later. Bye!"Piya cut the call, before Misha could protest. She looked up to find Abhay gaping at her.
"W-what was that thing??" he asked."Were u talking to someone through it?" he asked incredulously.
"Yeah, It's a mobile." said Piya, a small smile making it's way to her lips as she took in his incredulous expression. "U know, u can connect to any person anywhere in the world with the help of this. It has many other features too, messaging, playing games, taking pictures, surfing net-"she grinned wider . "Well lots of things. Oh, that reminds me, I got one or u too, but I think I left it back at the cottage. Remind me when we get back, I'll give it to you to use-we can remain in contact even when we r not together. "
"B-but I do-do not know h-how to use this mob-mob-how to use this thing" Abhay finished. "I have never heard of it before."
"Don't worry, Abhay, I'll teach you." said Piya.
Abhay shook his head. "I cannot believe how advanced things are . Things are like-you know-like magic."he said in an awed voice.
*********
1812, PANDHER KINGDOM
Maithili sat in front of the mirror as Nandini combed her hair, freeing the tangles. However she was thinking about Abhayendra, praying in her mind that he was alright. She knew she would not be at peace until she met Abhayendra in person, and know how he was, but that would not be possible for the next two days. She sighed. Till then, she would have no choice but to rely on Siddharth. She sighed, her mind going back to those early days right after she had met Abhayendra, before they had confessed their love for each other.
They had stopped their horses near the woods to get some rest before returning back to the kingdom. It was just the two of them, and their horses, Thunder and Snow. They let the horses graze on the meadows for a while as they stood watching.
Abhayendra broke the silence in his soft, husky voice. "You learn quite fast Princess Maithili. You seem to be a natural horse-rider."
"You think so, Ahayendra?" Maithili glowed at his compliment. "You know , you are quite patient when it comes to teaching."she said with a smile.
"Thank you, Princess" said Abhayendra.
They stood silently for a while before Abhayendra spoke again. "Let us go, princess. Dusk shall fall soon."
Maithili nodded. They started to walk towards their horses and just then Maithili stumbled on a piece of stone lying on the ground. She almost fell but a pair of strong hands caught her around the waist and steadied her.Maithili lay still In his arms, her heartbeat steadying as she inhaled his musky smell.
"Are you all right, Princess?" Abhayendra said in his low husky voice, his voice vibrating in his chest as he spoke and Maithili suddenly became aware of how close they were. She could feel his breath fanning her hair, and her stomach suddenly seemed filled with butterflies.
He let her go and she moved back quickly, managing to nod. She suddenly felt her face heating up as she felt his eyes on her and she wondered why she was suddenly feeling so jittery and nervous. She had been alone with him before but she had never felt like this ever.
Abhayendra stared at her for sometime then said. "Shall we proceed now, Princess? The king will be worried if we do not return soon."
Maithili nodded again, feeling tongue-tied as she averted her gaze from Abhayendra. Abhayendra whistled to the horses and they came towards them obediently. They got on their horses and rode back towards the kingdom, and Maithili realized that for the first time in her life, she was attracted towards a man.
"I have freed the tangles in your hair,princess" Nandini's voice brought her back to the present. "Shall I style your hair for u princess?Like I did the other day?"
Maithili was about to nod when she recalled Abhayendra's voice saying. "U look so gorgeous with ur hair open Maithili, especially when u r riding. I feel as if I am living a dream"
A small smile made way to Maithili's lips as she answered. "No, Nandini, I will leave my hair open. Go inform Mother that I am ready."
"Yes, Princess" Nandini murmured as she left the room.
**********
2012, DEHRADOON
Piya opened her laptop and connected it to the net, and waited for her Google homepage to load. They had returned about an hour ago from the shopping mall, after quite an eventful time there. Abhay had been rendered speechless as soon as he had entered the mall and seen the different systems and shops there. He had been fascinated by the escalators, unable to believe that stairs actually "moved". He had yelled in amazement a lot of times, at the high see-through ceiling, the sliding doors that opened automatically when u approached it . This had amused Piya a lot, and had earned a lot of weird stares from other people shopping. Life definitely was NOT boring with Abhay around. They had ultimately managed to buy a few shirts and a pair of jeans for Abhay, and Abhay's eyes had popped out when he had seen the cost. After a lot of arguing, he had reluctantly agreed to let Piya buy those for him, but as a result had been grumpy all the way back. He had uttered only one sentence on the way back. "Why is everything so expensive?"
Now after freshening up a little(which had been no less eventful; Piya had had a tough time teaching him how the taps and the showers worked)he had finally come out dressed in a white black T-shirt and dark blue jeans, his wet hair falling to his forehead. Abhay had looked at Piya silently for approval, wondering whether he looked allright in his new clothes as he had never worn them before. Piya had felt her breath catch at the sight of Abhay in jeans, his handsome face combined with his cute innocent expression had taken her breath away. She had felt heat rush up her face as she realized she had been ogling at him before stammering out a reply. "U-u l-look great."
Piya had given him the mobile she had brought for him and taught him how to use everything. He had been awestruck to learn about the workings. He would hold it as though it was a sacred object which was highly fragile and delicate....He had been so mesmerized by it that he had constantly kept on dialing Piya's number and gasping with surprise everytime it rang, in a tune which seemed to go something like"dil ibadat kar raha hain..."a song he had never heard.. Finally Piya had gotten irritated and switched off both the phones..
She finally turned on her laptop which had earned more gasps from Abhay, he looked as if his mouth was permanently open and his eyes had been glued to the lappy....
"Wow"he breathed as Piya explained to him the basic things about the internet."U all live in a world of magic."
Piya gave a bitter smile. She knew just how magical reality was in the modern world. Just then the Google homepage opened and she typed in "Time Machine"
However, she was disappointed as mostly she got information about the various books and movies made on the concept of time machines,especially that of "The Time Machine" by H.G Wells.
Abhay frowned when she opened images of various time machines on the net. "None of the machines looked like these."
"Of course they wouldn't"said Piya frowning. "These are mostly man's imagination."
"Can I draw it somewhere?How my Father's machine looked?" Abhay suggested. "Maybe it will help?"
Piya nodded."That's a good idea." She fetched a paper and pencil and handed it over to Abhay. There was silence for a while as Abhay drew. Then he handed it over to Piya. "There. I think I drew it fairly precisely, as much as I could remember. Will that help?"
Piya stared at the drawing. She had never seen such a machine before but she was sure that Abhay had drawn it very well. "Abhay-wow"she breathed."You draw quite well."
Abhay looked both pleased and shy. "Well, erm, u know, I do draw at times. Whenever I see something beautiful,I imprison it on paper...Once I drew a portrait of Maithili on her request." His face saddened as he spoke, and Piya gave him a sad smile, not knowing what to say. She was struck again by how handsome he was, and just how lonely he would be in this place. Just then an excited glint came to his eyes and he spoke again.
"Piya! I have an idea! Why didn't I think of it before? Is the Pandher Kingdom near this place where we are currently. Then we can go there and search for clues. Or is that a foreign kingdom? Is your place ruled by some other king? Then we can take his permission before going! What say?"
Piya's face fell as she gulped. How would she tell him?she wondered, her heart sinking as she looked at his innocent face, those eager and beautiful blue eyes staring hopefully at her.
"Ab-abhay"she spoke finally. She turned her gaze to the laptop,not really seeing it and continued in a barely audible voice.
"Abhay times have changed. Things are no longer like the past. We no longer have kings in India."She took a deep breath and looked him in the eye, wishing she could take away his pain. "A-abhay, the Pandher Kingdom was d-destroyed long ago. All that remains are ruins."