Nowadays it is very common for a boy/girl to interact with the opposite gender freely and a possibility of having a more than "just friends" relationship always exists. Nobody is surprised to find couples going around and indulging in PDA(Public Display of Affection). I was wondering how it would have been, if someone was attracted to a person in past. Now, by past I am talking about the time when there used to be kingdoms with kings, queens to rule over.
So, starting off with a childhood TV serial's title song(there is a prize for guessing the name of the serial): Naugarh-Vijaygarh main thi Takraar...Naugarh kaa tha jo rajkumar...chandrakanta se karta tha pyaar..(there was enemity between the states of Naugarh and Vijaygarh...Prince of Naugarh named Virendra Singh loved princess of Vijaygarh named Chandrakanta). Now, suppose they want to go on a date, how will they go about it?
Firstly, they may think about gifts, especially if its a first date, or something important like either one's birthday. Guy would come up with some sort of a jewellery, or if he is more daring sorts, maybe a garment made out of skin of a tiger killed by himself(he could say while gifting, "Maine apne hathon se banaya hai.."). The girl could gift a new sword/knife. She could also gift him a new faster horse. Lets say the gift is decided.
Next, is the communication issue. No cellphones at that time, so one has to rely on our friendly pigeon (remember Bhagyashri singing "Kabootar ja ja ja, kabootar ja ja ja..", and the kabootar thinking, "AAhh...You don't have to say "ja" so many times..."). Let us say, kabootar did reach Chandrakanta and she replied back saying yes and deciding upon the time and venue. Now, here I think, they had an advantage. There were so many cool places to go. I mean, no pollution, no concrete jungles and everything free of cost(unlike the Pizza Huts, McDonald's and costly Malls). Just go out of the city and you are at a picnic spot. Virendra singh would send a baggi(horse-driven wagon) to pick Chandrakanta up. He would take care that the baggi was closed from all sides. It served two purposes, One was they avoided spies who would inform their parents of this adventure, Second and more important was they were free to behave as they wanted inside the privacy of the baggi. Now, they roamed around in the baggi, found a nice and secluded place at a beautiful river side and had their dinner. A young girl and a guy, together, alone on a moonlit riverbank, gentle breeze, the only sound comes from the leaves ruffling in the nearby trees and the breeze of course. At this point, Virendra would give her the gift, which makes her very happy and emotional. Sparks obviously fly but they can't do anything "substantial". The reason: No contraceptives available. I mean, here its fine, they will convince themselves by saying, "after marriage". But even after marriage, till the contraceptives were invented, couples must have had a hard time. Or maybe that explains why Gandhari had 100 sons.
Another advantage a couple had was there could be no hard proof for their affair. No cameras or audio/video recorders available. They could deny almost any witness by just saying, "wasn't me".
It must be a great time though. At least the prince, princesses etc. never had to work all their life. Their work involved only to find innovative ways of dating(before marriage) and innovative ways of doing "the thing"(after marriage). Rest of the wordly affairs would be taken care of for by the king and the queen. The flip side could be they were bored with life like anything.
Coming back to present, I think I should go back to work, else my boss will make sure that I don't continue with my job. My father is not a king as well. Yeah, I should definitely get back to work.
P.S. Post inspired by an unexpected conversation with someone at the most unexpected time of day.
So, starting off with a childhood TV serial's title song(there is a prize for guessing the name of the serial): Naugarh-Vijaygarh main thi Takraar...Naugarh kaa tha jo rajkumar...chandrakanta se karta tha pyaar..(there was enemity between the states of Naugarh and Vijaygarh...Prince of Naugarh named Virendra Singh loved princess of Vijaygarh named Chandrakanta). Now, suppose they want to go on a date, how will they go about it?
Firstly, they may think about gifts, especially if its a first date, or something important like either one's birthday. Guy would come up with some sort of a jewellery, or if he is more daring sorts, maybe a garment made out of skin of a tiger killed by himself(he could say while gifting, "Maine apne hathon se banaya hai.."). The girl could gift a new sword/knife. She could also gift him a new faster horse. Lets say the gift is decided.
Next, is the communication issue. No cellphones at that time, so one has to rely on our friendly pigeon (remember Bhagyashri singing "Kabootar ja ja ja, kabootar ja ja ja..", and the kabootar thinking, "AAhh...You don't have to say "ja" so many times..."). Let us say, kabootar did reach Chandrakanta and she replied back saying yes and deciding upon the time and venue. Now, here I think, they had an advantage. There were so many cool places to go. I mean, no pollution, no concrete jungles and everything free of cost(unlike the Pizza Huts, McDonald's and costly Malls). Just go out of the city and you are at a picnic spot. Virendra singh would send a baggi(horse-driven wagon) to pick Chandrakanta up. He would take care that the baggi was closed from all sides. It served two purposes, One was they avoided spies who would inform their parents of this adventure, Second and more important was they were free to behave as they wanted inside the privacy of the baggi. Now, they roamed around in the baggi, found a nice and secluded place at a beautiful river side and had their dinner. A young girl and a guy, together, alone on a moonlit riverbank, gentle breeze, the only sound comes from the leaves ruffling in the nearby trees and the breeze of course. At this point, Virendra would give her the gift, which makes her very happy and emotional. Sparks obviously fly but they can't do anything "substantial". The reason: No contraceptives available. I mean, here its fine, they will convince themselves by saying, "after marriage". But even after marriage, till the contraceptives were invented, couples must have had a hard time. Or maybe that explains why Gandhari had 100 sons.
Another advantage a couple had was there could be no hard proof for their affair. No cameras or audio/video recorders available. They could deny almost any witness by just saying, "wasn't me".
It must be a great time though. At least the prince, princesses etc. never had to work all their life. Their work involved only to find innovative ways of dating(before marriage) and innovative ways of doing "the thing"(after marriage). Rest of the wordly affairs would be taken care of for by the king and the queen. The flip side could be they were bored with life like anything.
Coming back to present, I think I should go back to work, else my boss will make sure that I don't continue with my job. My father is not a king as well. Yeah, I should definitely get back to work.
P.S. Post inspired by an unexpected conversation with someone at the most unexpected time of day.