" So this is the infamous Kaali Haveli." Asked Dr Pal.
" Yes, this is it." Answered Mr Singh.
" But why does it have such a weird name?" Asked Proff. Dixit.
" It was originally called Rang Mahal. But then their was an incident and tragedy struck. Their were rumours of a golden Krishna idol being stolen and Princess Barkha ... she disappeared that night." Mr Singh informed.
Abhijeet felt a splitting pain in his head. He held his head with his hand.
" Ahhhh." He moaned.
" Are you ok?" someone asked.
The voice sent tingles in his whole body. He looked up to see Snigdha had addressed him. He smiled .
" I... I'm fine." He answered, giving her a smile.
" So then what happened?" Asked Radhika one of the students in the Archeology group.
" I don't know the royal family slowly disappeared." Mr Singh answered.
" Have you found any evidence or any thing?" Asked Abhijeet.
" Yes there are some carvings on the wall of the temple." Mr Singh informed. " There is a small box in the middle of the temple. It is a glass box, but it is empty. The pedestal for the idol of krishna is also empty." He continued.
" I think we should go and check it." Dr Pal stated.
" I agree with you." Said Prof Dixit.
"Ok let's go." Mr Singh said leading the way.
Mr Singh led the way towards the temple. As they passed through the gardens Snigdha stopped at the fountain in the middle of the garden. She closed her eyes as if something at the back of her mind was trying to come out. She could hear voices.
" You are all I want and you are all I desire Barkha." A deep male voice said. " My love for you is as deep as the ocean. It alone can sustain us for life. Just you and me away from the world." It said.
Snigdha gasped and stepped back.
" What was that?" She thought.
She looked around to meet a pair of deep mysterious eyes looking at her.
" Snigdha are you coming?" called one of the girls in the group.
" Yes I'll be with you." Snigdha called out.
She walked away, but kept looking back at Abhijeet. Abhijeet looked at her retreating back. He felt a strange pull towards this girl. He was always a popular guy in the collage, had always had girls falling for him, but this girl, she seemed to stir up some new feelings. He wondered what they were. He followed them still deep in thoughts.
They arrived at the temple, the doors of which were huge wooden. Abhijeet observed that the seal on the lock of the door had been broken open.
" When we found it the doors were sealed shut with some holy threads around the lock." Mr Singh informed them.
The temple was in ruins. The walls crumbling every where. In the main hall of the temple, one realized that at one point in time it had been a grand affair. In front of them was a white marble platform which had turned yellow. The pedestal for the lords idol was empty. In the middle of the hall was a tall pedestal with an empty glass box. There were frescos of lord Krishna's life on the wall. There were carvings of sanskrit and Pali languages at random intervals along with the paintings.
Abhijeet walked up to the closest carvings, and looked at them closely.
" Have they been deciphered?" Asked Dr Pal.
"Yes Maharishi Bishwanath, has deciphered some of the Sanskrit once." Answered Mr Singh. " However the Pali once are yet to be deciphered." He informed them.
" What do the Sanskrit once say?" Asked Prof Dixit.
" Here lies the most precious and rare Paras mani. It's beauty surpasses that of the sun. It can turn any metal into gold and the possessor of which will remain immortal." Snigdha answered in a blink.
Everyone looked at her in surprise as she had answered without halting.
" H...How did you know Miss Ganguly?" Asked Mr Singh in surprise.
"I...is she right."Asked Prof Dixit.
"Yes absolutely every word." Answered Mr Singh.
Suddenly Snigdha held her head and yelled.
"Ahhhhh!!" She screamed.
She was on her knees. Abhijeet ran to her running his hand on her back.
"Are you ok?" Asked Abhijeet.
"Ahhhh! Ahh! Huh! I'm fine. J...just my head." Snigdha said looking at him. She looked at him shyly. Abhijeet let her go feeling awkward about the whole situation.
"Hey! Look!" One of the students shouted. "This stone seems hollow. I think there must be a secret compartment in here."
Everyone looked at the boy, Prakash who had shouted, stood behind the pedestal for the idol. They approached the wall where he stood. Dr Pal took out her kit from her bag. She wore her gloves and tapped on the wall.
" Yes Prakash is right." Informed Dr Pal.
She ran her had around the tile. On one side was a small hole. She slipped her finger and felt there was a small clip. She pressed it. The tile opened like a door. Inside was a silver box. She took it out carefully and laid it on the stone pedestal. It seemed to be locked.
" It's locked." She said.
"What do we do?" Asked Mr Singh.
" I'll open it." Said Radhika.
Radhika took her clip from her hair. Than sat down on the floor next to the box. She inserted the clip into the lock and twisted it once and twice, it clicked and opened. Radhika looked up and smiled at everyone. She gently opened the box. Inside of it had blackened by age. Inside it was a small jewellery box. Snigdha touched Radhika's shoulder, Radhika looked at her, then moved away. Snigdha sat down on the floor next to the box. She felt a sudden pull towards the box. She felt a prikof tears in her eyes. She picked up the small jewellery box and gently opened it. Inside it lay a nose ring of polki design. Tears leaked down her eyes. Radhika who was sitting next to her looked into the box, inside there was a painting. She took it out of the box, it was unrecognizable.
"Who is this?" She asked.
Snigdha took it from her hand. Looked at the painting and smiled.
" Prince Aparajit." She answered smiling through her tears.
" H... How do you know?" Asked Dr Pal.
" I...I...don't know." She answered. "But it feels like I know him." She stated.
Radhika looked inside.
" There is something else." She said pulling out a silk bound journal.
The cloth had blacken with age, it was turned in places. The pages had yellowed with age. It was tied with a golden ribbon. Radhika pulled opened the ribbon, and opened the book.
" It is a journal." She said.
Snigdha looked at the gold lined silkcover. She took it it her hand with care, caressed it with love, then she pulled the golden ribbon open. She then flipped open the cover of the journal, inside the pages had yellowed with age. On the front page lines that were written in devnagri were in a beautiful script.
" This journal belongs to Kuwari Barkha devi."
" It belongs to some Kuwari Barkha." Asked Radhika.
" Yes there're paintings of the family members of this family." Said Mr Singh.
Suddenly he stopped and stared at Snigdha.
" Now that I think about it, I had been wondering since the morning where I have seen you before Miss Snigdha? Now I recognize your face." He stated.
" What do you mean?" Asked Prof Dixit.
" Can you guys come with me?" He said as he started walking out of the temple.
Everyone followed Mr Singh. Soon he was leading them back into the haveli. They followed him up the stairs to a room on the left of the second floor.
" This is Barkha devi's room." Mr Singh informed. " She was the eldest daughter of Ratan Singh Chaudhury."
EEveryone was shocked to see the similarity between Snigdha and Barkha devi.
" Oh my God!" Radhika exclaimed. " Snigdha this is..."
Snigdha came and stood in front of the picture. She could see Abhijeet's image reflected on the glass. Her eyes met, there was an unknown familiarity in those dark eyes. She turned to look at him. Her heart was fluttering like the wings of a hummingbird.
Abhijeet's heart was beating fast, who was she why did she look so familiar? Even this painting looks femiliar.
" Hey come on let's read the journal." Radhika yelled breaking the spell.
" Yes. Let's do that." Dr Pal said.
Snigdha opened the journal.
"Today maasa scolded me. Early in the morning I took my horse and rode out into the forest. What could I do? I felt like the mountains that trees and the winds were calling out to me. Maasa wants to trap me inside the palace, where as I want to fly"
"Wow!" said Prof Dixit. " She was a free sprit."
" Yes that she was. Not even Aparajit could couldn't curb that sprit." Snigdha said.
"I don't think she ever called him by his name in his her lifetime." Abhijeet said looking into her eyes.
As she looked into his eyes she felt breathless.
Aparajit held Barkha's band and pulled her to him.
"Come here." He ordered.
" Kuwarsa let me go, Maasa was calling me for a long time. She will come up now." Barkha said.
"I didn't here her. Stop making excuses, and wait is this Kuwarsa... Kuwarsa... I am your fiancé, you should call me by my name." He commanded.
Barkha smiled shyly and looked away. Aparajit pulled her to him and his hands sneaked around in her bare waist. He nuzzled her on her neck, then whispered into her ears.
"Please call me Aparajit. Go on." He said.
Barkha looked into his eyes as a beautiful blush creeped onto her cheeks.
" No Kuwarsa I can't." She whispered as she hid her face into her chest.
Snigdha closed here eyes. What were these visuals she was seeing?
" You know there were rumors that she was killed in the nearby forest. The villagers have created a small memorial there." Mr Singh informed.
" Can we see it." Asked Prof Dixit.
" Sure why not let's go." Mr Singh said.
"Oh by the way and I have the journal?"Abhijeet asked Singdha.
" Actually it is in a very tattered state. I don't think moving it around too much is advisable. And we have to test it for its original date. So ..." She answered.
"I just wanted to read it." Abhijeet answered.
"Why don't you guys come down to our hotel for dinner we can read it then?" Prof Dixit suggested.
"I thing that's a good idea." Agreed Dr Pal.
" So it's settled. Now let's go to the memorial site." Mr Singh said.
"Let's go." Prof Dixit called.
They left the upper floors, and went out of the main gate. Three jeeps were waiting for them. They boarded them. As luck would it have it Abhijeet and Snigdha were in the same jeep. Abhijeet sat next to the driver, Snigdha sat behind. Abhijeet looked into the rare view mirror.
" Goddddd she was beautiful." He thought.
Snigdha felt his eyes on her, she looked up, into the mirror, she felt herself drown in those deep eyes.
" What were these feelings?" She thought " Why was he so familiar?"
There too many questions but no answers.