Warrior Princess; Her Quest to the throne

Prithvi tried hard to keep the increasing awe for Rani Samyukta in check. He wasn't the kind of person to let him emotions show freely on his face but the queen had managed to spellbind him with her visionary thought process.     

"For all my teachings about one not presuming anything about a person or a situation, I myself failed to follow that principle. I grossly underestimated her as a Queen. To have such a vision and foresight is indeed worthy of being the Queen of Chandragarh. I let her background and demeanour colour my opinion about her capabilities all these years. She is a master from whom I could have learnt a lot had I attempted to go beyond the obligatory bare minimum contact required between a queen and a Administrative head," Prithvi mused regretfully.     

Unaware of the thoughts in his head, the queen continued with her narrative.     

"In the past few months, the queen's office carried out an extensive survey where we asked each zilla head about what as per them should be the criteria for selection of the next queen. This wasn't done to take in their suggestions but to figure out what they thought was missing from the current administration and also what in their eyes, was the image of a queen. The other reason to undertake this task was to understand what kind of candidates will we get to see during the competition," she said.     

He knew that after the initial rounds where most of the candidates were eliminated on the basis of the written exam and physical scores, all four zillas were asked to endorse a candidate from their province. This was to check the girls' capability of convincing their respective zillas about their potential. So it was impressive that the queen was trying to gauge in advance, what kind of candidates will be sent forward by the different zillas depending upon what they thought was missing in the current ruler.     

She interrupted his chain of thought, "the way things stand today, most of our policies and best practices are already being implemented and there are enough checks and balances in most places. As far I am concerned, whom we need is someone who can see the bigger picture, who can identify what needs to be done in a particular situation, who relies both on her intellect and instinct, and most importantly, who knows how to handle and recover from a failure."     

Prithvi stood up and bowed deeply in front of her. This was his way of showing his admiration for her thought process.     

"Tell me how can I assist you," he said after raising his head.     

"I am aware that you are hard pressed for time with all your other duties. I also know that you remain aloof from the day to day activities of the Gurukul. But I need you to run background checks and offer your own evaluation of the girls who will be endorsed by the zillas. By background check, I don't mean information about their family, eating habits etc. I want to know details about the person, things or incidents which will tell us about her character," she elaborated.     

"Sure, me and my team will be at your disposal for the same. But I have a question, if you don't mind my asking," he said, respectfully.     

At her encouraging nod, he asked, "what if a suitable candidate is eliminated at the first level or if she is not unable to convince her zilla head to endorse her. In this manner, won't we miss out on what could have been a good option?"     

Till now, Samyukta's demeanour had been calm and composed. At his question, a sudden zeal entered her eyes.     

"She needs to want it, want it badly enough to do her best. That's the most important and foremost requirement in the candidate at that stage. It is upto us to differentiate between the one who will be doing it because of her patriotism or for her moment of glory," she replied passionately.     

Same night, Gurukul     

"Why do you look so sad? Don't tell me that you are missing him already," Ishani teased Mriga who was sitting at one of the windows in the long corridor of the girls' dormitory.     

Mriga gave a shake of her head and said morosely, "don't remind me of it, please. It was a horrid day. I am really upset."     

Her best friend looked at her in surprise.     

Grasping her best friend's shoulders, she asked, "what happened? Do you need me to go and bash him up?"     

An image of a petite framed Ishani trying to beat Yash arose in her mind, making Mriga giggle.     

"What is so funny? A second ago you were sad, now you are laughing. Have you lost your mind due to being overworked?" Ishani asked on a huff.     

Mriga gave her a hug and replied, "I was upset a minute ago and then my best friend made me smile. The lesson which I learnt today was that jealousy is a deadly emotion and brings along a lot of complicated and irrational behaviours."     

Under Ishani's curious gaze, she continued, "when I walked upto Yash this morning, I found him standing next to a beautiful girl, immersed in what looked like an intimate conversation. They were looking into each other's eyes as if no one else existed. It made me feel really insecure. Since I was miffed, I walked away from him to cool off and also, to irritate him a little. By the time, I became my usual self, he developed a foul mood and that too without any reason. So we ended up coming back to the Gurukul way earlier than intended. We didn't even wish farewell to each other. I was so miffed that I went to blow some steam off at the sports ground post that. What a DATE!"