"... many of the artifacts are still buried in the muds, waiting to be discovered ....". Annae glanced at her wrist watch and felt happy on realising that it would be recess time in 5 minutes.
Annae Sheldon was a 18 year old damsel living in Chicago, USA. Her only family was her grandfather - Khambir Rao Sawant. She was the one and only heir to his hotels and businesses. She had lost both her parents when she was just 5. Since then she was pampered and spoiled by this doting grandad of hers. What she couldn't understand were his odd stategies.
Her actual name was Mihira Sawant. It was in year 2004 when both her parents decided to visit their native place - Raanpaar, India. Though her grandfather opposed the idea, her parents were adamant. As soon as they left US, her grandfather aaranged a fake car accident and declared that she deceased in it. Then she had a name change - Annae Sheldon (an orphan) and was secretly admitted to the renowned 'The York School' in Canada. Few weeks later she got the news that her parents had mysteriously disappeared in the vicinity of Chaukul Forests. Her grandfather solemnly declared them to be dead!
Now she worked part time in her family bussiness under her fake identity. Only few of loyal servants knew that she was the actual heiress. Her grandfather always insisted that keeping her real identity under wraps was only for her good but never told her the exact reason. Though she had a faint idea that it was something related to the Raanpaar Estate, she never questioned him as it triggered one of his sore spots and would result in him behaving weirdly for some time.
She was always attracted towards history, which always aroused her interests in the Raanpaar Estate. She hoped that one day she may be able to visit that place herself and explore the rich legacies of her Ancestors. She had often dreamt that she was at the old mansion at Raanpaar ... she accidentally finds out a treasure chest filled with 'swarna mudras'[1] and other valuable just like what her history teacher had described..... She always dreamt about it. What she didn't know was that one day her dream was sure to come true and the treasure she would find was more than what she imagined....
The harsh sounds of bells ringing brought her back into her classroom. Her dreams about getting treasure were currently put at the back of her mind as she hurriedly chased her teacher. She was one of the favourite students and her teacher often rewarded her with some historical book. Her teacher had recently promised to give her one. After getting the bookshe had to run to the company to act as the 'part - timer'. Soon she caught up with her teacher.
"Here you go" the teacher smilingly gave her a slim little handwritten book. The book was not in good condition. It was covered neatly in a red cloth. It's pages had almost withered and many of them were missing.
But it was the title which caught her attention.
'THE CURSE OF LOVE'
Eh? Wasn't she supposed to receive a historical book? Why was she getting a romance novel instead? Looking at her confused expressions the teacher couldn't help but chuckle softly. "Don't judge thebook by its covers Annae, I am sure you are going to like it. The possibility of existence of another copy of this book is null. It has references of the 'Fauzdaar' Reign in India which existed about ten thousand years ago.
Listening to her teacher, Annae's eyes gleamed with excitement. Thanking her teacher she left for her job.