Gazab ka hai din

6.00 a.m.: I wake up after a sleepless night. I have not been able to sleep last night because today is a day that I have been waiting for since the last 4 years. It’s the Teacher’s Day celebration at school! At our school, on every teacher’s day, the students of grade 10 dress up as teachers and enact their roles. I wanted to be a Social Studies teacher since I joined school, but today I have got an even better opportunity- I am going to be the principal of our school! I was overjoyed when I got the news and am now looking forward to going to school and having a gala time.

6.30 a.m.: I was all excited about Teacher’s Day. But now my excitement has died down. I completely forgot the fact that I am supposed to wear a saree today! I am one of those girls who lives more than half of her life in a pair of shorts and a loose t-shirt. I can’t wear a skirt properly, how will I wear a saree? Apart from that, what if the saree falls? And what if I need to use the loo? How will I? How will I walk? What shoes will I wear? How will I eat? There are all these questions in my mind. But then optimism is the key to a happy life. So, wearing a saree isn’t that difficult also.

6.35 a.m.: Maa has invited one of our neighbors to help me wear a saree. Its just dadi who wears a saree regularly at my house, but she isn’t a pro at it. I have just had a head-bath and I was wearing a blue blouse and blue petticoat. But I was feeling cold, so I put on my grey gharelu jacket. So, I am looking like an orangutan with tangled hair, a bear with grey fur and a whale with a bright blue tail.  I am chomping on my yummy cream cheese sandwich when neighbor aunty enters. I look like an idiot.

6.40 a.m.: We start the most dreaded part of the day- the saree draping. Neighbor aunty drapes it and removes it so that there is no risk of the thing falling. I stand like a still yet talkative khamba and let out a few ‘oohs’ and ‘ahs’. 

I am told to change my earrings and put on some make up but I blatantly refuse to do so. I just put on some Vaseline.

6.55 a.m.: We finally finish draping the saree. The Noble Prize in saree draping should be given to Neighbour Aunty and the one for patience to me.

7.00 a.m.: We are sitting in the car. I am clicking some selfies to record this achievement of my life. The scrappy sister’s comments don’t stop. I told baba to drop me today because I can’t go in the bus with this fiddly thing. The kids would start calling me ‘ma’am’.

7.30 a.m.: I enter school. Luckily, I have Divya and Riya by my side who are (like me) trying to adjust to this sadma. We go to our class and find all our dear friends dressed in sarees (girls) and shirt-pants (boys) who look unrecognizable. We basically tell everyone about how ‘different’ they look. Later, we go down for the function.

The Function:

8.00 a.m.: Whoa, this is nerve-wracking. We are all sitting on chairs, and there is pin-drop silence. The term pin-drop silence sounds like some fictional state, but this is the first time we have actually experienced it.

8.05 a.m.: The Function starts. We have a lovely ramp walk with the teacher whose role we are playing today. The fact that I am going to have the first ramp walk of my life, and the fact that it’s going to be with Principal ma’am just makes a shiver go down my spine. But my name is called out. I walk like an inexperienced saree-bearer, struggling with the six-yard fabric, trying to walk without stepping on the long skirt-like saree. After a struggle as grand as the Sepoy Mutiny, I finally reach the podium, and have my first and perhaps last ramp walk with Principal ma’am. I have a broad smile on my face, but my heart has mixed feelings of fear, nervousness, excitement and happiness.

9.00 a.m.: We finish off all ramp walks. The most hysterical one was Bella’s (who is a guy, not a girl as perceived from the name which is a mere pet name). Basically, Bella is this Biology wizard and is mad about Science. He wanted to be a science teacher but ended up being an English teacher. To show his disapproval of the same, he didn’t smile during the ramp walk (smiles rarely in general too, is expressionless). The funny part is that even the teacher didn’t smile. So there they were, sad and depressed mirror images of each other.

9.30 a.m.: The function ends after speeches by Ishika and I.  I am told by my real class teacher (not her student doppelganger) to address the students cum teachers. So I address them and give them some instructions and they just move out to their respective classes after a proper chai and biscuit breakfast.

10.00 a.m.: Aditi (who is acting as the Vice Principal) and I go to different classes to see whether everything is functioning well. We come back with Teacher’s Day cards. I actually have to run (in my saree which almost fell) from some of the classes to escape the children.

11.00 am.: My set of coordinators and I are sitting in Principal ma’am’s cabin. Ma’am teaches me about how the school functions and how the records are kept in the school. She also tells me how all the coordinators work in synchronization to regulate the functioning of the school. We have a small meeting and then we are given lovely donuts to eat. With each bite of the donut, I swallow all the things that I have learnt today and cherish all the memories that I will have from the best day of my life!

11.30 a.m.: Srija and I are sitting in the bus discussing about how wonderful our day was. I tell her about how awesome my day was even though I was scared the whole time about my saree falling. I had experiences that I will cherish throughout my life. I had the best time ever! All the experiences were unique, and the ones that I would never have in my life again.

12.00 a.m.: I reach home and send the saree to heaven (the cupboard). Its going to Rest in Peace. But the memories associated with it will keep floating in my mind forever.

Back to the Past-3

“How dare you speak with such confidence to the Empress of the Mughal empire? Don’t you know what punishment I could give you? You ask me about who I am. First introduce yourself, you shameless girl.” The Vision said, beaming with pride.

“Your Highness, I think you do not know. You are in 2017. The era of Mughals and emperors and empresses has long gone. We live here as an independent nation today. I am Abha, an archeologist. I work for our government’s history department.” I said.

I was surprised at how confident and fearless I was. The difficulty I faced was in looking for Persian words for ‘archeologist’ and ‘government’.

“What are you talking about? I hope you know the punishment of talking this way to Arjumand Banu Begum! Don’t dare to lie. You will die a gruesome death.” The Vision warned.

Arjumand Banu meant Mumtaz Mahal. That was the name! The famous empress for whom Taj Mahal was built! I should have known that she would be Mumtaz  Mahal. How could it even be some other empress? I was astonished though, to find her ghost here.

“I am telling you the truth your Highness.” I said, doing the signature Mughal konish.

“I am a big admirer of yours, begum. I have read loads about you and know almost everything about you. Still, I want to hear from you. Please tell me about your life. Please tell me about Badshah Shah Jahan.” I enquired.

Suddenly, the angry face of the Vision turned into a mild one. At this point of time, I started to feel dizzy and almost hypnotized by some power. But this didn’t stop me from listening to what the Vision said.

“I am the niece of Nur Jahan Begum. Our family used to call her Nissa. I used to admire bua always, and she was my favourite relative, but she changed drastically after her marriage to abbu jaan (Jahangir).Soon, I also got married to Khurram. I had engaged Khurram at a young age and we knew each other quite well. I was delighted to marry a man whom I knew nicely and liked. Love blossomed between Khurram and me and we lived a blissful married life. He used to spend all his time with me. We had a lovely time with each other until bua interfered. After her marriage to abbu jaan, bua became my stepmother i.e. ammi. She was a really strong woman with political desires. She wanted Ladii (her daughter) to become the Padshah begum (chief queen) and hence wanted her to marry Khurram. But this didn’t happen. She forced abbu to make Sharyar (Ladii’s husband) the king. But he wasn’t worthy. Khurram had been promised the throne and did not like the idea of being overshadowed by his younger brother. So he did bagawat…….:”

As the Vision spoke, my dizziness increased and my vision started to blur. But my ability to hear remained unaltered.

“It was only after winning the throne that we were happy. We had lovely children who kept us happy. But some of them turned out to be bad. I died after giving birth to Gauharara, our last child. But Khurram lived on. My love for him could not be broken by death. I continued to try and guard him. But I was unsuccessful…..”

At this point, my eyes were just about to close. I had a terrible headache.

“Everything was fine with Khurram and Jahanara, our elder daughter looked after him nicely. As old age dawned upon him, our sons started fighting for the throne. Khurram wanted Dara (Shikoh) to succeed him, but Aurangzeb was adamant. I should have known, for he was always running behind power. Aurangzeb didn’t find his father’s decision fair, for he thought that Dara would not be able to take proper care of the warfare. Even the masses preferred Dara over Aurangzeb. But Aurangezeb turned out to be a traitor. He treated his father like a criminal and locked him up in chains. It was only Jahanara, our eldest daughter, who stood by Khurram always and took proper care of him. Roshanara also betrayed her father. She was jealous of Jahanara as she didn’t get the charge of the imperial harem. She didn’t like her father’s love towards Jahanara. Her jealousy led her to favor Aurangzeb and help him in his quest or the throne. She was the mastermind behind him.”

“I don’t know what was wrong with my upbringing, but two of my children turned out brutal and merciless. They caused surmountable pain to their father.  The desire to take revenge from them has been on mind ever since I saw Khurram suffer.”

“I didn’t recognize you at first”, the Vision said, “But now I know. You are a reincarnation of Roshanara and Allah has sent you here so that I can avenge my husband’s suffering. I will rest in peace at last”

Saying this, the Vision removed a khanjar from near her waist and stabbed me numerous times. Life was drained out and my body lay lifeless.

My companions were astonished to find my body the next morning.

My ghost resides in the same cave today.