Page 52 of A King's Oath

Samarth grinned, his sigh falling into place. Dada Sarkar remembered him. Lately, his grandfather had started to lose track of time, people, years, seasons. In the last year itself he had refused to recognise Samarth momentarily, then snapped out as if he had been in a dream. That is why Samarth had devised this new technique. He would come hollering down the alleys whenever he came home from school. That way, he hoped his voice would startle his Dada Sarkar’s memory enough to give him a good few minutes to collect his thoughts and not panic. It had worked so far.

“Padharo, Kunwar,” Hira ben shook her head disapprovingly. After his Dadi Sarkar’s demise, if there was one woman who could rein him in with just a shake of her head, it was Hira ben. She didn’t come to the palace often now that he wasn’t around.

“You came for me?” He squeezed her into his arms.

“Yes,” she squeezed him back. Then slapped his back playfully — “How did you become such a hooligan, Kunwar?”

Samarth scratched the back of his head. “Dada Sarkar,” he said in a low voice. “He didn’t recognise me last time I came home.”

Hira ben’s head cocked to one side, her stern eyes softened. She reached out and patted his cheek — “It’s alright now. He is better. Go.”

Samarth nodded, walking back towards his grandfather’s chambers. “You are staying in the palace, no?”

“Until you are here.”

“You came for me, no?” He let out his cheekiest grin that he only ever let out with her. He hadn’t made his Dadi Sarkar or Papa run behind him, but strangely, Hira ben had made him run in front of her.

“Go!” His Dadi Sarkar’s most trusted chaperone and the palace’s oldest soul commanded. Samarth folded his hands, bowed his head and went away laughing.

“Dada Sarkar!” Samarth pushed open his door and paused. He did not let the grin from his face vanish but the sight of his grandfather did make him shudder quietly.

For as long as he could remember, his grandfather had been on a wheelchair. The right side of his face had been paralysed long before he had been born, leaving him in a state that looked so painful. But dared if Rawal Ranjit Sinh Solanki let it show. Even in such a state, he had kept himself neat and well-groomed. Even if he just sat in his wheelchair in his chambers most days, he called Ajatshatru Kaka in for regular chats. What they talked about, nobody knew. Samarth had an inkling that not even his Papa knew.

“Samarth, beta… how have you grown up so much?” Dada Sarkar’s perfect words garbled out. Samarth’s spirit fell. He didn’t remember…

“Umm…” Samarth held onto his grin, moving to the side of the bed where he was lying now, just awoken from his nap.

“Papa,” Samarth answered. “Papa makes me drink milk all the time. I had to grow up sooner than normal, no?”

Dada Sarkar blinked at him fully with his good eye, the other fluttering. Then he reached his good arm up feebly, and Samarth took it in his own, settling down on the bed in front of him to help him sit up. Samarth had put on a good amount of muscle mass but helping his Dada Sarka up was no easy feat. His body was thin but his muscles were so tight and he abandoned all his weight on the support, unable to control it. Samarth managed to take it all and set his head on the headrest behind him. He did not feel comfortable calling for his valet or guards for this.

“How is Saraswati Crest?” Dada Sarkar asked.

Samarth’s eyes widened — “You were pranking me?!”

“I was.”

Samarth could see his Dada Sarkar was lying. That he had taken these moments to jog his memory back. But he played along — “Why do you talk straight on the phone and pull these stunts in person, Dada Sarkar?”

“To gain some sympathy, why else?”

“Ice cream only at night.”

“Has your father taught you this commander thing and sent? Let me remind you, Kunwar, I am the Bade Rawal.”

“Kshama, Bade Rawal,” Samarth cocked his head to the side. “But ice cream only at night.”

“You were so much more fun when you were a kid.”

“I can still steal gola for you. But then you’ll have to let go of ice cream that night.”

His grandfather laughed, or as close as he would come to a laugh. “Ok… at least come and give me a hug. Or even that is at night?”

Samarth pushed closer to his grandfather and went into his arm.

————————————————————

“Aaee…” Hira ben sung. “Maara vhala ne, ae vadhi ne kehjo ji… maane toh manavi lejo ji… Aeeee Odhaji, em mara vhala ne, vadhi ne kehjo ji…”

---