The next morning, as Deepshikha still slept deeply on her bed, Asha rushed into the room, out of breath and her face red with excitation.
"Deepshikha? Deepshikha, where are you? Deepshikha!", she shouted, calling out to her friend. On spotting her still in her bed, Asha crashed onto Deepshikha's bed and shook her violently awake.
"Wake up, you sleepyhead! Sleeping on a great day like this. Hear me out! Hear the miracle that has happened!", Asha shouted in Deepshikha's ear.
Deepshikha opened her eyes, startled by all the commotion. "Wh- what's all this? What's the matter, Asha? Why are you shaking me so violently? Is everything alright?", she asked.
"All right? No, not at all!", Asha said.
"Then?"
"Everything is fantastic!"
"What?"
"I am sorry to bother you with so much commotion", Asha explained. "But what happened just now is just…just unbelievable!"
"What has happened just now?", Deepshikha asked her.
"Your parents have given us permission for…"
"For what?"
"Going to the zoo!", Asha shouted, standing up on the bed and throwing her hands up with excitation.
Deepshikha's eyes went round, and her jaws fell. For some time, she couldn't say anything at all.
Then finally, she began to speak in short, choked words: "What did you say? Is…is it true? But how? I had wished...my parents... how did they… "
Asha, seeing her friend choke on her own words, quickly fetched her a glass of water. After drinking some water and regaining her breath, Deepshikha looked toward Asha and asked her, "What about Chandrika? Is she too...?"
"Here I am!"
Chandrika barged through the doors, ready for the day. "It is so magical! It's like a dream! You know, when your parents asked Baba to let me go with you, he agreed. With a smile, too! I hadn't seen Baba smile so easily before. I am so very happy!"
She hugged her friends tightly, squeezing the air out of them. "Chandrika, let go of us! It hurts!", Asha protested.
"Oh, sorry", Chandrika apologized, and she let go of them. "So, Deep", she said to Deepshikha. "Are you ready?"
Deepshikha sat on her bed, looking at her bed and trying to assess the situation in the best way she could, just to ensure that none of it was a dream, that her friends weren't joking with her, and that it was all happening for real. She even asked to be pinched, which Chandrika gladly complied with, making her squeal.
But that squeal was enough to knock her back to reality. And she was back; she jumped out of bed and shouted, "Hooray! Let's go!".
And with that, grabbing Asha's and Chandrika's hands, she ran out of the room, dragging them behind.
"Why do you carry your journal along with you everywhere?", asked Chandrika.
The sun shone brightly, and the birds sang melodiously as the royal buggy made its way through the countryside. Deepshikha sat on the seat behind the charioteer, gazing at the scenery with a smile as it zipped past us, her hair waving in the wind. Her dreamy eyes snapped back to reality when Chandrika asked her question, making her answer an unsatisfactory "Huh?".
"I asked, why do you carry your journal along with you?", Chandrika repeated her query.
"Uh… um… it's – it's nothing, I guess…", Deepshikha said, feeling uncomfortable.
"It's okay, Deepshikha", Asha said, putting her hand on Deepshikha's hand. "There's nothing to be ashamed of. If you are ashamed, then Chandrika here will get a chance to tease you for no reason."
"That's absolutely correct", Chandrika grinned. "So it's better for you to let the cat out of the bag."
"No, there isn't anything to be ashamed of", Deepshikha said.
"Then?", Chandrika raised her eyebrow.
"It's just that it's a bit silly", Deepshikha said, twisting the aanchal of her saree. "You see", she said in a low voice, her head held low. "Before you, Chandrika, and Asha, I really didn't have any friends. It's not a big issue for a princess like me, as I never used to be alone. Countless maids used to surround me at every moment, ready to cater to my every command. But I didn't need any servants. I just needed someone to talk to. Someone with whom I can share every experience of mine, every thought, and every emotion. But there was no way I could get a lady-in-waiting before I turned ten, as I wasn't expected to be able to decide for myself, let alone be trusted with a 'friend'."
"So, you spent ten years of your life as a loner?", Chandrika asked.
"That's just awful", Asha said. "I am glad I could be your friend."
"Yeah, I am glad too.", Deepshikha smiled at her. "But… until my sixth birthday, I did have a confidant, someone whom I loved dearly."
"Your grandmother", Asha said.
"How did you know?", Deepshikha looked at her, surprised by her deduction.
"The center of your room has a big painting of a little girl, resembling you at a younger age, sitting on the lap of an old lady, dressed in white but yet looking so pure and pristine", Asha replied.
"That's right. My Dadima. She was the only one at that time whom I called my friend. She listened to everything I had to say, even if she didn't always have an answer to my many questions. Also, she had grown old and wasn't able to keep up with me all the time. But she knew that I needed a way to open up, at least to my own feelings. Hence, she gifted me this journal and said, "This is your friend. You can tell it everything you have to say. Be sure to take good care of it". That's why I carry my journal everywhere with me. It has been with me through my lonely days and nights. Now, I do have you two as my friends, but this journal is my first friend. It deserves to be included in everything I do."
Both Asha and Chandrika nodded their heads. Just then, Chandrika looked ahead and said, "I believe that's the zoo coming up now."
Deepshikha turned around and leaned over her seat. "Yes, it is!", she shouted. "We are finally here!"
She threw her hands up and jumped onto her friends, squashing them beneath her.
The Royal Zoo of Dharmaskhetra was unique and very innovative as compared to its contemporaries.
Instead of small cages, the animals were provided with their own enclosed fields where they could roam freely. There were lions, tigers, elephants, deer—everything, including an exotic animal from a land called Kusha that was spotted like a leopard but had a very long neck, with the head resembling a deer.
The three girls were very happy and amazed at the many different animals housed in the zoo.
Later that afternoon, as we headed back to the palace, the faces of all three of them glowing like the afternoon sun and all of them agreeing that it was a splendid day, Deepshikha stretched herself and said, "It sure was wonderful, especially when I had wished for it just last night."
"And a fairy fulfilled it for you?", asked Chandrika.
"No, not a fairy, I suppose, because I didn't say anything to anyone about it, except my journal, that is. Guess it was a fairy after all?"
"I wouldn't say so, though, unless that fairy is a very powerful one. Otherwise, no one can change your parents' minds, both yours and Chandrika's father included."
"Well, that's true for Baba, but wait, how do you know about him?", asked Chandrika. "I didn't say anything to you."
"You didn't. But last night, as the guests retired to their chambers, your father and Deepshikha's parents spent some time in a nearby sitting room, catching up on old times, I guess, when King Virdutta apologized for the trouble he put King Dharmaraj and Queen Jyoti into by appearing all by himself in the morning and tried to come up with some excuse for Chandrika's absence when both the King and the Queen claimed to have not been troubled by all of this in the very least. And then, the talk entered the phase where the parents of two different children talk about them with each other, about the 'trials and tribulations' of raising them, during which they both made it clear by their talks that they won't let you both run off on your own, not unless they send a massive group of escorts with you along."
"That does sound like my parents, but I didn't know your father was too protective of you, Chandrika."
"I won't call it being 'over-protective', as unlike you, I am allowed to do whatever I want. But all of that must be within some strict rules that I must follow no matter what, and those include not going off on my own. Are you sure that your parents don't sneak into your room to read your journal?"
"Absolutely. My parents can go overboard sometimes, but sneaking into my room in the middle of the night doesn't count."
"Then I guess we have to wave it off as just a coincidence", said Asha, waving her right hand.
"Yes", Deepshikha and Chandrika agreed.
The rest of the day passed without anything worthy of mention.
Only the usual events of entertainment for the guests, like dramas based on the holy scriptures, dances and songs singing praises of the gods and that of the kingdom's prosperity, and the usual lavish meals prepared by the best cooks in the land.
Only at night did the palace finally fall silent.
And so did Deepshikha's mind, as with a smile on her face and a song humming on her lips, she skipped to her room, happy that at last she was free to be all by herself.
She entered the room, closed the door, and sat down on her desk, ready to write the day's story in her journal, which she now spread out on her desk. She readied her quill, still humming her song, and her eyes moved into her eyelids as she thought about what to write first. Then she finally turned the pages and faced me.
Her humming stopped.
"Wait a moment", she muttered, narrowing her eyes.
She turned back the pages and counted and read each one of them.
Then again, she looked at me.
Suddenly, everything began to go upside down, the right way up, and again upside down. The whole world seemed to shake.
That's when The Earth pulled me towards her, and I landed on the ground.
And then, Deepshikha stared at me. And I stared back.
"Asha?! Asha! Please come here immediately! Are you here?", she called out loudly.
Moments later, Asha entered the room and asked her friend, "Yes, I am here. Now tell me, what's the matter?"
Deepshikha asked her in return, "Did anyone touch my journal? Did anyone come here when we were asleep last night?"
"What are you saying, Deepshikha?", Asha asked, surprised at her friend's queries. "Why would anyone come to your room without your permission? Why, they can't come to your room even if you permit them! Your parents would never allow anyone to come near you until and unless they knew and trusted them well. That's why only I and Chandrika can come to visit you freely. And forget about them even entering your room at night while you are asleep. You know about that, right?"
"Yes, I do. The nightly guard is doubled around my room at night. But then, how else do you explain this?"
She lifted me and held me in front of Asha. "What? What is this? I don't see anything on it", she said.
"That's the point! Last night, I wrote about my wish—the same one that came true today—on this very paper. I am certain of it. But now... now it's all gone!"