Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Singha
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by Singha »

delhi-ites will know khan market and exotic food it sells.
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by RamaY »

Hilarious and sad at the same time...

GD, bliss to burn dilli on 5/16, all of it....
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by merlin »

A very, very enjoyable read. Could picture everything.

You, sir, are wasted in IT-Vity.
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by SBajwa »

Singha ji:

Please copyright it properly. It is great story-telling. A best seller if I ever saw one. Don't let it be stolen by the unscruplous.
Singha Saab!!

Before Sharing with anybody!!! Please do create a PDF with a bookmark as well as date and time. We BRFiites will be your evidence of originality and authorship.
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by Raja Bose »

I sometimes wonder if Singha saar is not Dileep saar in another avatar? Very similar skilled penmanship except Dileep goes deep into technical engineering stuff while Singha goes deep into foodstuffs :mrgreen:
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by Prem »

VikasRaina wrote:"in a country where people subsisted on rice, lentils, rotis and vegetables, they noted with wry interest the provenance of some of the delicacies lined up in impressive elite kitchens "
How true and succinctly captured
Look at the Lunch Items

Image
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by Singha »

Typical ashrafs. They will eat one piece each but table must have thirty dishes.
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by Manish_Sharma »

Image

huge inline image edited to save bw for slow links.
http://mykitchette.files.wordpress.com/ ... arkhan.jpg
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by Dilbu »

Bhat is this? I am starving here. :((
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by Singha »

Part 10 - Bloom of the Padma

The Lotus has many petals, all arranged in a circle, in many rows ... it grows in the most unlikely of water bodies

The next three days on the Alliance side were a day of lull and recuperation and on the sultanate side of feverish sub-meetings, cunning plans and war councils.

The General to the surprise of all his aides , did not immediately call for any operations against the delhi ridge fortifications barring releasing small units of special forces for recce and to play psychological operations at night with fire, sound and ambushes against the outlying posts of the Westwall. All other operations were asked to pause and attend to resupply and taking care of the wounded.

Some aides advised him to take the initiative and start fresh offensives while the Sultanate was still off-balance but he merely declined with a enigmatic smile.

he also finally got a cook to make him pasta in the accepted way, ate some, grimaced, spat it out and asked for roti and subzee again much to the mirth of his worldly aide and pasta enthusiast.

----

Moving back a few days of events, to the point where the northern pincer had crossed the Yamuna north of wazirabad, they had very nearly run head-on in grave problems from the word go. The northern sector unlike the desolate and woody south was flat and suitable for farming with numerous villages and small towns. The major logisitical line of the capital through amritsar to lahore and beyond to the bolan and khyber passes also passed there, and hence was busy at all hours with military convoys and refugees fleeing the capital for safer areas in the land of the five rivers.

incorrect scout reports had projected an impression that a major force could manouver through this region behind the delhi ridge to dhaula kuan while still preserving stealth. but just crossing the highway for such a large unit proved to be impossible without being detected. So the commander sent back word to the east bank regarding his inability to advance and laid low near the river as night came on. Later that night a small detachment of riders of the special operations unit made the crossing to join him and carried fresh instructions and sealed letters. The invasion force was to quietly sneak back across the river but the commander was to accompany the special unit on a diplomatic mission to the north, disguised as sultanate troopers.

the withdrawal was carried out without incident during the night, as villagers normally went to bed at dusk and did not move around much for fear of wolves and leopards. fishermen who were encountered on the river were temporarily asked to accompany back to east bank until released from internment a few days later after the Lal Quilla matter was resolved.

----

Two days of careful riding up the GT Road brought them to a place in the punjab where a influential political-religious leader named Bahadur Singh had his base. Through a mix of selective massacres, payoffs, exploiting faultlines among leaders and threats the sultanate had been able to subdue the restive province and its warlike, devout and patriotic people. But everyone knew it was a matter of time before the lid blew off the boiling vessels given the reports of atrocities visited upon local holy men and pilgrims by the authorities.

Bahadur singh, leader of the Majithia clans, read the sealed letters without displaying any emotion....he thought of the risks involved for his people for failure would bring massive retribution on them all....but looking at the place of worship in his village occupied insolently by the local centrally appointed nawab's men he made up his mind and wrote back a sealed letter.

That evening, riders left his village under cover of the dark and fanned out to other leaders of the region...the time had come for the Jatha's to mobilize once more. He had already received another emissary two months ago and had been forewarned to expect the final call to rise.

Nothing happened for two more days, as hostile hidden eyes watched and noted the sultanate logistical convoys marching up and down the GT road, bringing in artillery, horses, jihadi units and food from Lahore and points beyond to feed the war effort...now urgently needing fresh supplies of everything to hold Delhi.

then one morning, as the sun started rising over the golden wheat fields and convoys had just risen for their morning baths and food, medium sized bands of warriors exploded out of hiding at a fifty places and hacked apart the convoys with no warning ..... by mid morning the entire road was a line of blood and flame as caravans upto 500 wagons long were captured and their war stores either looted or burned down to the ground. traffic ground to a halt between Lahore and Delhi. Those caravans who could, ran for their lives to the nearest sultanate fort.

Singh was elsewhere, in his house, he woke up, said his prayers and led his band of twenty men to the occupied place of worship at a leisurely walk ..... through the wheat field and then the village road they marched up to the sentry who had just woke from his slumber and yawning.....

Halt infidel! who goes there, what are you doing coming here?!

Bahadur Singh unsheathed his huge curved dagger and simply marched up eyeball to eyeball with the sentry who was suddenly very worried at the line of stone faced men...

the sentry found his neck grabbed in a grip of iron and the dagger flashed up in a arc into the ribcage until the tip came out of the green tunic at the back....Bahadur looked into his dying eyes for a minute and spat on him before letting him down..."this is for violating our place of worship and your looting and atrocities. for my dead nephew who was only twelve when pigs like you speared him for stealing a mango"

the stone faced men drew their long swords and charged inside. no prisoners were taken. it was over shortly.

and so on across the land of five rivers, first the smaller outposts and then the bigger garrison forts were taken out of service or put under siege using artillery captured from the GT Road caravans.

Bahadur Singh now rode on a white horse at the head of his column and set out to a meeting place of all clans near Patiala where the Army of the Uprising had been asked to assemble. All of the Misls were to gather and merge into one arrowhead there, aimed at the heart of the Imperium. From all over the land, bands of guerillas and partisans emerged from hiding, farmers went under haystacks and into wells to locate hidden caches of weapons, rounded up their horses and columns of men started riding the roads towards Patiala, first in trickles, then joining into rivulets, then into broad rivers...until the fields near Patiala were a sea of horsemen with the tips of their spears and points of their swords glinting in the sunlight. They setup camp and awaited for their leaders to finalize moves as more and more misls kept arriving by the day and swelled their ranks...some of them were about the largest and scariest humans between delhi and kashgar.

warriors need food , none more so than warriors from the land of five rivers. huge field kitchen langars were setup and a steady stream of dal, tandoori items, rotis and subzis began to emerge to feed the hungry masses. and lassi in huge earth kulhars sent from the neighbouring areas. to pass the time men took to wrestling, tent pegging, archery and sharpening their weapons. Drums were beaten at night as martial songs and prayers were sung around campfires.

He kept his bloody dagger unwashed in the sheath. he wanted to meet some of the people who had sawed and boiled alive some of his Gurus right in chandni chowk. he looked forward to the meeting.

----

Faizal and Ghazi had meantime sat through a interminable and indecisive series of war councils chaired by the Grand Wazir Reza and the Queen mother in the central camp over the last three days.

It started and ended every time on the same tenor. First would come a assessment of the strategic situation in terms of war materials and logistics whuch were deteriorating by the day. next intelligence reports from the front, which were unexpectedly showing no proof of impending offensives by the alliance, and finally court and palace intrigues with each remaining noble blaming few others for the current situation.
all through this the queen mother grew more and more distant and withdrawn and hardly said anything as the wazir droned on.

the troops and animals suffered immensely in the humidity and heat...stuck on the ridge in the hot sun, cut off from the river and no big lakes nearby, water started to run short and the ponds started to become contaminated. men and horse started to wither in numbers due to the conditions.

Leader of the imperial guard, diggy khan was notable by his absence on the cushion next The Prince, whose own cushion was empty more often than not these days. The Prince had taken a up a new pastime of water colour painting and spent most of the day drawing flora and fauna around his camp. diggy khan had sent word of having sustained a bad fall from his mount during the night escape from Raisina and would need a few days to recuperate and attend to his court duties.

Finally in the fourth war council, when all of the slyer and more favoured tent-generals and nobles had got a chance to say their piece, Wazir gave an opportunity to the normally taciturn Faizal to give his impression of the situation. what Faizal said brought a deep furrow into the face of everyone in the room, but he decided to press on and say it anyway because who knew when such a opportunity would appear at the rate the Sultanate was in meltdown?

Firstly he said, both of their main logistical routes to hinterland in afghanistan and persia through Lahore -> Attock-> peshawar->khyber->jalalabad->kaboul and Lahore->Bolan pass->Quetta->Kandahar were hostage to the restive population of the land of five rivers and might get attacked at any moment. there was a smaller route via Jaipore to barmer to Sindh and ports along the Makran coast but it was a longer and much harsh route unsitable for heavy caravans or horses and such could function only as a escape route not a resupply route. and even this ran by the grace of some Rajput clans who had a whole lot of grouses against the delhi regime given their troubled past history of relations with the Imperium. of particular concern were the sisodia rajput clans of Mewar who stretched back in a long uncompromising line to Rana Sanga and Rana Kumbha of the hoary past. what their intentions were at present juncture nobody knew for sure, but a sign could be their ambassador to the court had vanished a few days ago without notice.

Secondly, stuck as they were along the ridge in the heat with less water, the enemy with control over the river and the rich logistical base of the ganga-yamuna doab was in a far better position to wage attritional warfare and build up reinforcements to a overwhelming level.

Third, their room for manouver warfare using their surviving 15000 horse cavalry was limited by the nature of the terrain with the hilly scrublands to the west and south channeling them into narrow shafts that well drilled infantry and artillery could take on. only in the north toward patiala was there relatively open ground for the wide mongol-derived manouvers his units were famous for.

Fourth, the treasury was empty and there was little money to bribe opposing chieftains to move away from the Alliance.

Fifth, the Sultanate had crumbled and been reduced to his present location only as no provincial capital had survived the last two years of Alliance offensives, so there were no other pressure points that could be activated to draw away the threat to Delhi.

Sixth, morale was low in the ranks and sinking.

You must realize what The General has done is not just get the better of us in diplomacy and military strategy but he has carried the normally indifferent population with him, restored and revitalized a pride in their native culture, held up a mirror and exposed the wide cultural and economic gulf between the layman and you here the pampered corrupt elites who are solely responsible for all this!

a couple of angry spoilt brat young nobles withdrew their daggers and charged toward Faizal with a view to shutting him up...Ghazi khan intervened swiftly...he was seven feet tall but moved like a cat...his huge scimitar was an extention of his hand...two graceful silent swishes and one man lost an arm and lay bleeding to death. the other man lost his head entirely..the headless torso in a limp heap on the expensive carpet and red fluid oozing and spreading out like from a leaky drum...the retainers dropped their food dishes and ran out in blind panic. Ghazi pointed his sword tip at the cowering rank of speechless nobles and said only one sentence...anyone tries to touch Faizal will have to face my wrath!

after few moments had dissipated the shock in the gathering, none strangers to violence visited on others...Faizal continued...our only hope of survival, our last straw to clutch at is to seek a honourable peace with the Alliance, hand over power in a structured manner, give up all the ill-gotten wealth you crooks have accumulated here and beg to allowed to move into permanent exile from here back to central asia, with a promise never to cast our eyes south again. and I am not sure they will listen to our entreaty warmly given the atrocities some of you are responsible for here, nevertheless they might agree to let The prince and the queen mother move away to safety atleast before cutting us to ribbons. if so, then so be it, for we cannot walk away from the consequences of past deeds. I will do my duty as a soldier and submit to my fate, whatever it may be!

Silence.....one by one with downcast eyes the nobles looked sidelong to the queen mother, who seemed to have gone catatonic and frozen into silence.

Finally Wazir Reza bade closure to the meeting saying the Queen mother needed time to decide on the best course of action.

Faizal knew the die was cast now and the final time of blood , thunder and inevitable death would come soon....he rode off to his tent and started writing his last letter to his family and son he had not seen for eight years, laying out both his good deeds and bad and asking forgiveness from God for the bad.

----

Back in the comandeered servants quarter of a palatial villa, The General slept well in his humble rope-braid cot, with a worn copy of a thin book lying near his pillow...the pages were almost black with age, dust and use, but with effort the title could be made out...it said "Arthasashtra".
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by Singha »

Part 11 - "Choosers of the Slain" - coming this weekend or May12
part 12 - "Twilight of the Imperium" - May 16
Part 13 - Epilogue - May 16
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by merlin »

Ominous.
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by Shaktimaan »

Oye Singha, mere sher, this is some amazing writing. I hope the election result matches your storyline or the crushing blow might push me over the edge into insanity!
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by Raja Bose »

I wonder who Afzal and Ghazi Khan are?
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by Singha »

they do not map to any particular known individuals as its a work of fiction.
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by Dilbu »

Raja Bose wrote:I wonder who Afzal and Ghazi Khan are?
They can only be fictional if you have a look at the set of real characters we have. lol
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by Shanmukh »

Your Diggy Khan is absolutely fantastic. Hope to see some more of the Dark Queen in coming chapters.
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by RamaY »

Raja Bose wrote:I wonder who Afzal and Ghazi Khan are?
I think I know who they are....
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by nachiket »

Singha saar, is Afzal Khan the same as "Faizal Khan" in your earlier chapters? I think you mixed up the names.

Faizal Khan is a better name for the character. The name Afzal Khan always reminds me of Adilshah's huge general who was disemboweled by Shivaji.
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by SaiK »

don't forget the ECs
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by Raja Bose »

Singha wrote:they do not map to any particular known individuals as its a work of fiction.
Yes yes of course saar :mrgreen:
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by fanne »

How about some of these characters - 1) One pawarful man who is dharmic but sold to sultanate and will sell his mother for some coins 2)One other soft or lallu (simpleton) person, who does good for some of his people )mostly his casteman, but is willing to crush the other natives to support the sultanate so that he gets to rule/collect revenue from some more villages 3)Some Bards (reminds me of some MSM people) who sing how sultanate won land by luv (and all those killing was done by evil natives) 4)Some foreign born who claim native citizenship and while bad mouthing the natives takes the moral high ground every time...please have them in the story and the fate awaits them. Inspiration could be the 1857 revolution, when Delhi was won for some days, what had happened to guys like these.
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by Singha »

its a bit too late now to introduce new characters given we have 2 episodes and epilogue left. your (1) sounds odd, how can one be dharmic and then sell the motherland?
4) are the current set of nobles and durbaris - hypocrites to the core. witness how regime loyalists tried to stab Faizal bhare bazaar mein when he spoke the bitter truth...ofcourse I had Ghazi step in a gently lope their limbs and head off :-? as for the rest of nobles let me just omionously predict it wont end well for them...

I will try to introduce a 3) MSM bard though :) thats the only segment I havent taken a swipe at yet.

I have gone back and corrected the Faizal becoming Afzal error.
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by Suraj »

Amazing read so far, Singha. I'm glad to have originally pushed for moving the very first chapter into its own thread so you could continue rather than leave it as a single post effort :)
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by fanne »

By 1 I mean, the person is Dharmic = from the land, non converted, but willing to shaft his country more than the foreigner. A certain pawarfull person comes in mind if you think about it.
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by ramana »

fanne wrote:By 1 I mean, the person is Dharmic = from the land, non converted, but willing to shaft his country more than the foreigner. A certain pawarfull person comes in mind if you think about it.

That itself shows he is adharmic!!!

Sharad Pawar is the most adharmic of all. He is Kamsa type who consorts with Jarasandha. I think for good of Maharashtra he needs to be put on pasture.
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by jamwal »

This should not remain confined to BRF.
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by member_28352 »

Singhaji, Do you want to change the cobbler reference too? Please see this
"which says the Modh-Ghanchi (oil-pressers) caste, to which Modi belongs, was included in Other Backward Castes (OBCs) category."
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by Singha »

can't a cobber rise to the top ? hitler was the son of one :oops:
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by Vikas »

Part 10 - Bloom of the Padma

Gave me goose bumps for the first time reading Singha's epic. I almost screamed "Har Har Mahadev".
The battle drums, Drawn swords, sealed envelopes, court intrigues and Vengeance for the fallen....
It is as if I am watching a movie in real time. Kudos to you Singha !!!

If I had the skill and right contacts, I would have made a movie on this story with Late Sh. Sivaji Ganesan in the lead role.
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by niran »

Singha wrote:can't a cobber rise to the top ? hitler was the son of one :oops:
eetaaler was a modern day custom affsar son AFAIK
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by Singha »

I preponed the next part by a day as I would be busy at work tomorrow.

Part 11 - Choosers of the Slain

Outskirts of Patiala

Night. the War council of senior Misl leaders stretched to the long hours. An emissary of the general, a maratha leader Karekar had also reached them with proposals and suggestions. Sardar Kartar singh Ahluwalia, the aged and respected leader of the Ahluwalia Misl was elected as the overall commander of the Army of the Uprising and unified forces of the Punjab, and authorized to lead diplomatic talks with the Alliance, represented by the maratha general. On account of advancing years, he excused himself from the task of battle leader and in his stead nominated Bahadur Singh of the Majithias, which was immediately accepted by the council of leaders and elders.

Talk turned now on where to meet the Sultanate army and how soon. and if the Alliance could contribute in men and materials because as yet the Uprising was managing with weapons stored in caches, captured weapons and very limited artillery and stocks of war materials.

General Karekar had already foreseen this request and mentioned stockpiles the Alliance had taken care to build up in Muzzafarnagar and Meerut which could be utilized now, as the war had reached its decisive phase. These had been carefully saved from depletion during even the desperate siege and takeover of eastern delhi.

So finally the plan was setup and each leader given his role by Bahadur Singh , to be communicated down the ranks to small units. United they stood at a cavalry force of 55,000 able bodied men spread among ten Misls, with 150 pieces of looted artillery and necessary baggage train. They did not have a long tail and would travel and eat light, because the civilian population could be relied on to help between Patiala and the destined battlefield. The men were a mix of hardened guerillas, ex-soldiers, farmers
and urban volunteers and craftsmen in useful trades like leather and blacksmithy.

From patiala they would start marching slowly at dawn the next day, to the south east and establish the next base at Karnal, which was 3 kos west of the Yamuna. General Karekar would ride ahead and arrange for a force to cross to yamuna with supplies and unite with the main column there. 300 pieces of artillery was the much needed element, but also 10,000 musketeers, 5000 archers would be coming up from reserve to form the infantry element and force protection for the artillery and supply units.

Extra rations of food were prepared for the march and the horses and pack animals well fed and watered for the breaking of camp at dawn. the fun and games were over and men sat grimly outside their tents sharpening their swords and daggers.

From Karnal, they would march another 1 day south to a meeting point where the fate of bharata history had been decided many a time in the past - the plain of Panipath, 30 kos north of Delhi!

-----

Mount Abu, Rajputana

patches of dark clouds and swarms of fruit-eating bats drifted across the moonlit sky over the ancient mountain as the lush green forests and gurgling streams of water lay dark and somnolent. deep within its forests, at the mouth of a old Jaina cave complex a huge bonfire was flaming, throwing light and shade on a group of around 150 elders deep in animated discussions.

hundreds of years after the first great council of all Rajput clans at the very same holy site, the elder representatives of all surviving clans had come again to discuss the future of their community and the way forward.

It took hours and hours of discussion and compromise to hammer out a framework in which all participants could work together..for these leaders were
men of a prickly pride, prone to infighting and sentimentality at the best of times...men for whom death was nothing but honour everything....but in the end, the quest for cultural and political survival and ancient ties of shared destiny calmed these problematic centrifugal impulses and plans were cemented and sent into motion, with fast riders and spare horses setting out before dawn to all corners of their vast semi-arid realms.

The leaders dispersed before dawn had fallen and went their ways, they would meet again soon in different circumstances....

-----

Jaipur

It took about a week for Rajputana to mobilize and act upon the plan, but in the space of three more days, every sultanate garrison town was assaulted fiercely with no warning and overwhelmed as in the punjab, with materials and weapons looted by the mobile horse units and fanatical infantry. one moment, lazy sentries grown fat on looted goat meat and rice were lolling sleepily in the summer heat and the next moment they had curved daggers planted twelve inches deep into the abdomen.

The heaviest hammer blows fell on logistical depots near Jaipur where vast amount of war material was kept in a pre-positioned stockpile for sultanate armies coming from agra or delhi to utilize in their periodic punitive missions to quell rebellions among the rajputs, or to loot wealth to fill the royal coffers when they neared empty. the garrison unable to bear the pressure finally signed a peace deal and were allowed to retreat toward alwar but leaving all the vital weapons and stocks behind which were promptly put to use...

Jaipur was the eastern terminus of trade routes that went to the Indus through jodhpur, jaisalmer, barmer....hard routes, but vital secondary routes for the sultanate and useful for escape during the periodic bouts of court-infighting and bloodletting that occurred in delhi before the next sultan killed all his siblings and grasped the throne firmly.

----

Delhi

This shattering news was brought in person to delhi by the exhausted commander of the jaipur garrison , riding fresh horses in a relay from alwar to delhi. the morning war council was in its usual glum session, recounting the losses of the previous day when General Mir Rasool hurriedly ran inside and without further ago, started babbling the news...

Sire, I do not bring good news. Rebellion, gross rebellion has broken out in rajputana and we were in no position to quell it. it seems all the warring rajput clans have united under the flag of the Alliance and are marching toward delhi, having picked up our enormous main war reserve we kept in jaipur fort. I can confirm the Solanki clans of gujarat, Sisodias of mewar led personally by Rana Ajai Singh, Bhati clan of Jaisalmer, Rana Hukum Singh leading the Rathore army of Jodhpur and worst of all the Kacchwaha clan of Jaipur itself are in a combined anti-sultanate army that is presently moving toward Alwar. my men estimate it to be 75,000 horse and equal number of infantry and supply chain moving behind them. I can also confirm all our in-transit supply chain west of jaipur across the desert have been annihilated, I picked up some survivors of such caravans who managed to escape taking advantage of confusion when they were attacked in the night by a roving squad of rathore's. my men fought bravely sire, we did what we could but were outnumbered ten to one and they had the element of surprise and dare I say morale on their side.

shell-shocked silence in the white tent. A few nobles with landed estates in that region fainted at the thought of that base of wealth gone forever.

The Queen mother, unable to speak just looked straight ahead with big eyes. even the usually loquacious Wazir Reza, never at a loss for words just
chose to remain silent. Faizal and Ghazi sitting in one corner were the only two souls not in that glum mood...they had expected it as night follows day and made
contingency plans for their divisions already....The Prince was absent, having gone on his usual morning round of painting flora and fauna around the camp.

The Sultanate, once the owner of every piece of land between Rameswaram to Baltistan had finally shrunk after two years to a triangular area bounded by Delhi, Rohtak and Rewari, inhabited by the remnant 20000 horse cavalry, 30000 infantry, 500 krantikari militia, no hope of escape, a rapidly shrinking food supply and worst of all a weak and terrified leadership unable to think straight about either war or peace, paralyzed into virtual silence by the pace and flow of adverse events.

Faizal again took the opportunity to make one last call for surrender and perhaps clemency at the hands of the General, but the stone frozen visage of the queen mother could not speak any word whether yes or no, and no one else had any authority to decide. so the charade continued of let us sit tomorrow and decide. perhaps some
miracle from the sky will save us, perhaps the Shah of Persia has received our calls for help and is sending a massive force from kandahar, perhaps the wrath of the lord in the form of lightning will strike The General and sunder the Alliance.....a faith healer and self-styled Pir Qureishi was produced from somewhere who claimed he could turn the tide by sacrificing three goats at the stroke of midnight but the goats must have two white spots on each ear, so a frantic search began to locate such goats among the herds destined for the kitchen...even the Rasputin otherwise called the Bhagora arrived from somewhere and demanded some 50000 gold ashrafis to bribe the Alliance for a way out...

Faizal and Ghazi yawned loudly and visibly and insolently walked out of the white tent while these soothsayers were still talking...

----

While events in Rajputana were taking their own course, Gen Karekar returned from Patiala after making arrangements in Meerut and Muzzafarnagar
to the servant quarter in the villa, which the General was using as his personal sleeping and meeting place. He was delighted to meet emissaries of
the Solanki's and Kachwaha's who had ridden into Delhi that day to report on the events in the west and develop co-ordinated plans for the
Rajputana army and the Generals own central army of the Alliance. Over dinner, they were joined by other generals of the HQ staff and later on
over glasses of aam ras and lassi, the talk turned to what was inevitably now the final week of the Sultanate...

The General spoke at length of his units, dispositions, what he expected from the formations now in Alwar and Karnal, timelines and contingency plans
should anything go wrong. He also stressed the importance of following the rules of honourable war as per indic norms and avoiding any massacre of
prisoners or hostile civilians, as well as avoidance of looting. other than the Rajputs who had just been in action a week, the army of Karnal was now well-knit and
well supplied, and his veteran central army corps was now replenished in men and materials and had rested for two weeks, while the Sultanate army had
fruitlessly stood watch in their ridge fortifications , while psyops units at night worked them over mentally through drum beatings, fire arrows , small ambushes.

There are three main generals left in the Sultanate each with a division of 5000 heavy cavalry. Faizal Khan, Ghazi Khan and Gulab Khan. The first two
are veterans as you know, some of you have fought against them already. professional soldiers who ask for no quarter but follow the rules of war, Ghazi
khan is a misnomer as he doesn't have the character of a real ghazi. Gulab khan despite his name is a mass murderer and ghazi of the worst order.

The General's eyes were cold and icy in the semi darkness and his voice turned very hard ...I am giving a final order now, follow the rules of war against the first two, but do not spare the third one whichever of you may encounter him. this man has the deaths of thousands on his hands including the pilgrims and gurus he had sawed and burned alive in chandni chowk last year. he is also responsible for atrocities in the south including the sack of Madurai and the desecration of the Meenakshi temple. he must pay the price now. settle our account with him at all costs.

Also, if any unit encounters The Prince or the Queen mother I want them respected , treated as royal prisoners and brought to me alive. we need to talk
to them in person to figure out where the sultanate hides its treasury for this must go back to those it were looted from. after that I have scant interest in them, the law will take its course if they are found responsible for any wrongs.

"The wheat is now ripe for the harvest. have faith in God and in your men and work as per the unified plan. go now and await the appointed hours."..The
General ended the meeting and went off to sleep..after years and years of late nights, he was finally enjoying some regular sleeping hours during the lull in the war. the men lingered for a while more fine tuning operational planning before riding off their separate ways with stamped orders.

the moon slid behind dark clouds again and the rain started pitter-pattering, the wind picked up and carried with it occasional rolls of thunder....the monsoon had arrived to bring life to a parched land again.
---
Singha
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by Singha »

no more until may16 then as events must play out first.

part 12 - "Twilight of the Imperium" - May 16
Part 13 - Epilogue - May 17
SaiK
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by SaiK »

I think the twilights have begun~~
I can see the horizons dimming down
I see huge dark clouds getting darker and darker
popcorns, and beer would be staple for this week!

bring it on bro!
it shall be the silver delite~!
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by SBajwa »

Singha Sir!!

From Patiala to Karnal the march should be 3 days. From Karnal to Panipat the march is only one day.

Patiala to Karnal is about 100 KMs. Karnal (City created by Karn (brother of Pandav's)) is only 30-35 kms away from panipat (1 day march).

otherwise!! everyhing else is good!!
Atri
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by Atri »

Singha ji.. after epilogue, if possible, write a prequel to this..

I am interested in how situation reached to the events described in part 1 of this story. It may not be in as many parts.. But a detailed post or two about how things were before sultanate invaded, how and by defeating whom did sultanate come to power few generations ago and how rebellion began and how it gradually spread and reconquered the country eventually leading to events in part 1.
Singha
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by Singha »

Sbajwa.. Thanks , edited in the correction.

Atri...yes thats a interesting and necessary idea i will try to cover in a couple of long posts after the epilogue.
merlin
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by merlin »

That last line about the monsoon was so delicious. And very appropriate too.
ramana
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by ramana »

X-Post...
MurthyB wrote:
RajeshA wrote:Pappu would for a long time not be showing his face. I wonder if he would even come back for swearing in as MP!
Rahul G is like the Turkish sultans of yore. Most were mentally insane and confined to the luxuries of their palace and harems while the Valide sultan, the chief white enuch (Kapi agasi), and the caliph ran the show. Congress is something similar; ecosystem of sycophants who keep the Family facade alive so that they can run the show from behind. Nicely reported here:

http://www.firstpost.com/politics/the-i ... 82659.html

GD's story is accurate in his depiction of the Prince!!!!
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Re: Prelude to Twilight: A Modern Story:Singha

Post by Frederic »

"The sabres have been unsheathed! The ringing cry of the trumpets are keening the charge! Once more into the breach comrades! The last lines of the Sultanate Palace Guard are forming up on the Raisina Hills! Aim for the flag and no prisoners!" -Unknown Soldier
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