Prithvi climbed on the podium and scanned the hall before looking down at the document in his hand and started to speak in his usual cold and indifferent voice.
"If most of you are not aware of my role in the Gurukul and are wondering about it, please don't bother. It is not important. Coming to the task at hand, I will now list down the rules and requirements as laid out by Rani Samyukta's palace. A detailed copy of the same can be collected by the interested participants from outside the dean's office. Some of these rules may be familiar to you but this time around, a lot of changes have been introduced to make the selection process more comprehensive. Hence, a pin drop silence is recommended till I finish speaking," he said in his acerbic style.
Mriga craned her neck to check everyone's reaction to her teacher's words. She felt a smirk grow on her face as her eyes met Abhirath's across the auditorium.
In the meanwhile, Prithvi had started speaking again -
"The rules are as follows –
• The choice to participate solely depends upon the candidate. She is welcome to seek advice from her family, teachers and seniors. But no one is allowed to put pressure on her for the same. If we receive a complaint regarding the same, it will be treated as punishable by law.
• If the candidature is withdrawn after putting in the application, the girl and her direct descendants will be barred from contesting for any royal position for the next hundred years.
• Now the most important rule – unlike the previous contests, the qualifying age of the girls has been dropped to include fifteen year olds as well. To reiterate, the applications will be accepted from the age group of fifteen to sixteen years old girls.
• There will be three stages to the contest spanning over a period of almost a month. All rounds will act as eliminations before the finalists are found.
• First stage will consist of these barriers -
o Physical Challenges
o Mental Skills Analysis
• Post the first stage, top ten contestants will qualify for stage two. The Queen contenders will have to secure endorsement from one of the current zilla heads to advance to the final round. Each head would only be able to endorse one girl.
• The details of the final round for these four contestants will be disclosed at that point in time.
• There will be two people selected at the end of this competition – Queen in Training & Challenger to the Throne.
• Process for the Queen in Training or QIT, as she is refereed to, when she is selected -
o QIT will do her training under the current Queen, Rani Samyukta till she attains the age of twenty.
o She will be crowned as the ruler of Chandragarh at the end of that training unless there is a challenger to the throne who wins that challenge successfully.
o Starting from the age of twenty, she will continue to be the ruler of Chandragarh for the next twenty-five years.
o Future queen will be allowed to choose her partner, irrespective of his background. But he will not to be involved in the country's governance even after the Queen steps down from her throne.
If you have any questions regarding the understanding of the rules, please put in a written application to the dean's office.
Lodge at the outskirts of the Capital
"Maa, you never informed me that you will be coming here. I would have come to meet you earlier. Has Dad not joined you?" Yash touched Ujjwala's feet and said so.
Yash had been given the permission to miss the Gurukul meet where the Queen qualification rules were declared. His mother had requested the dean for her son's urgent presence at the lodge where she was staying. This was the same place where Vindhya's parents had held her birthday celebrations. It was the place offering the most luxurious amenities to the rich travellers, at the moment.
Being Ujjwala's senior during the Gurukul days, the dean had always held her in some sort of an awe, probably because at one time, she had been the most likely to become the next Queen. So when he received the missive from her, he happily obliged. Anyways, there was not much of relevance for Yash in that lecture from Prithvi.
Ujjwala blessed her son and brought him up, holding him by his shoulders.
"You know your father, always running away from politics and me," his mother said wryly.
Before he could leap to his father's defence, she continued, "The best practices recognition has been awarded to the Southern zilla in this year's annual winter meet."
Her voice held a lot of pride and happiness and Yash could see that.
"That's great news and totally deserving. I have seen how hard you have been working for the past couple of years. I am glad that entire Chandragarh will be able to see that as well now," he said warmly.
Ujjwala gave her son an indulgent look. He had inherited the silver tongue from his father.
"Enough of praising me for my hard work. Now it is time for your hard work. I was happy when I got to know that you attended the Western chief's daughter's birthday. Today, some of our zilla's members have planned a small get together to celebrate our winning the award. All the other zilla heads have been invited and other respected members of the capital are expected to attend as well. Now, I want two things from you. I have got some clothes for you from home. Make sure you wear those for the party. Second, you have to build a network with these people - ministers, wealthy businessmen and the top working members of our own zilla. Impress them with your acumen for numbers and your vision for the country's future policies. You and I have had enough discussions for you to know what I am talking about here, right?" she said, rhetorically.