A King And A Queen

By Imad Khilji

One evening, A Week before Independence Day, A History teacher enters the classroom 5th Standard to take the last scheduled class for the day.

He writes the heading on the Class Blackboard as

‘Once Upon a Time there was a King and a Queen in India’.

He then goes to teach to his 60 students in the 5th standard class, So Today children we will be going to read and learn about a King and a Queen of India who fought for their motherland against the British Invaders till their last breath. Their story is hidden in our history and not many people know about this. So I've decided to tell you their brilliant story of bravery.

This is your last history lesson in your textbooks, Open the lesson in your textbooks, We will start now.

The King we are talking about is Raja Rajdeep Singh who ruled this very large Empire from Rajasthan to Lahore from his Capital Jaipur for 30 years from 1617-1647 (AD).

The Queen was Rani Sheetal Devi who along with the King used to help him in planning and strategising the entire Kingdom's adminstration in all departments.

The King had a young cousin named Tushan Singh who was his Father's Younger Brother's only son to whom he had gifted a small region in his vast empire for him to administrate himself.

But the Cousin was hungry for more power as he wanted to take the King's place.

The King didn't pay any heed to his cousin's intention even after many of his advisors warned him as he always thought his cousin was very young and naive and would probably get over this temptation for uncontrollable power.

One Day he recieved an Invitation from his Cousin Tushar Singh to meet him at his palace.

The King goes to visit and he sees few British Officers sitting with his cousin in the meeting chamber.

The British officers say to the King,

Good Evening King Rajdeep Singh we are here to enquire about this brilliant and delicious Spices that is available at the Markets of your Kingdom. We bought his from your cousin's administrative market and we were so happy with its Quality that we decided to meet your cousin. Not only here but our highness in England too adored these Spices.

Your cousin informed us that this Spices are Cultivated and Manufactured in your Region so we decided to have a meeting with you.

The King replies, Yes they are Manufactured in a factory near my Palace and we take pride in having such ingredients in our Food.

The Cousin Tushar Singh replies, Actually My Brother My King they wanted to know everything about this Spices and desperately wanted set up a factory in your Region.

They are ready to offer any Price we say, I think so we should make a deal with them, It'll make us richer than ever.

The King dismisses his Cousins request immediately.

He says to the Britishers,

Well you can buy numerous quantity of spices from our market and we would even offer discounts but We will not allow you to know the secret ingredients let alone open your factory here.

We will not let you open your factory in our region as it complicits our kingdom's security and puts our Public in danger of any untowards harm. I'm sorry if this offended you but this deal is not at all acceptable. Do not try to persuade me again, I would never accept this Deal.

The King moves out after saying this loud and clear.

The British are very disappointed and are very angry at the cousin as he had earlier told them that he would make this deal happen.

The King never hears back from the British and even the Cousin doesn't meet the King for a long time.

One evening, After about 6 months of that meeting, The King's Commander General rushes to the Palace and informs the King that his Cousin with his small cavalry along with the Huge innumerable Cavalry of British are about to attack the Empire in about 1 Hour.

The King realises that his Cousin joined hands with the British and plotted against him and betrayed his Motherland.

The King orders the Commander General to place half of his soldiers to stand infront of the Fort Palace,

He tells him urgently to open the Secret Underground Passage which leads to neighbouring region outside of current British encroachment where they would reach to a safe place.

He gathers everybody else inside the palace and urges them to immediately flee through the underground passage to safety.

Many commanders try to force him to flee from the Passage along with the Queen but he refuses and tells them only after each and every single person is passed from this passage only then he will pass through it.

He forces the Queen to move but the Queen refuses too and pleas she will be alongside with him till the end. The King accepts the Queen's Plea reluctantly.

Half of the Soldiers run to protect the Fort Palace and all other people at the Palace run through the secret Underground passage accompanied by few soldiers.

After about half an hour, The British forces use modern weapons unknown to the King and his soldiers and annihilating the front line soldiers.

The King closes the Secret Passage to save the people who've already went through the passage.

Only few people remain inside the Palace along with the Queen and few of his soldiers.

Now the Britishers enter the palace and fight with few soldiers inside and kill them.

The King picks up the sword and kills few British soldiers. He then sees his cousin coming in and tells him,

You Betrayed our Motherland and joined hands with the Invaders, I feel ashamed that you share our blood

The cousin replies, Actually It's better to live a life of Luxury by joining hands with invaders than to be alongside with you by only caring about the public.

The King and his Cousin have a Sword Dual and they both fight, The King injures his cousins right leg and is about to kill him and then suddenly the British commander stabs the King in the back and his Cousin spears the Sword in the King's Chest.

The Queen tries to save the King, The British officers drag her and his Cousin says Now you will be my Queen, Come to the New King.

Upon hearing this, The Queen pushes the Britishers and picks up the King's Sword and slashes the neck of the Cousin and Kills him.

Then the British Commander stabs her in the stomach and kills her.

The British were able to conquer the Kingdom and that is the end of the today's Important History lesson.

The Teacher now has finished the lesson and says to his students that today we have learned that Our Motherland should not be betrayed and we should always protect our Motherland till our last breath.

We should learn another important lesson that We should not let anybody or any forces divide us, Be it somebody from the Inside like Politicians or Outside forces like the Invaders.

If someone tries to disturb the harmony and divide the Motherland just remember that Once Upon a Time there was a King and a Queen who sacrificed their Lives for the Motherland.

So children I will give you all an assignment, You have 7 days to complete it.

All you have to do is open your textbook and read this Important Story to your Parents/Guardians/Relatives/Cousins and after reading them this story, I want you to make them enter their names and signature to acknowledge that they've listened to this story. I want then to fill the names and their signatures in the blank page after the end of the lesson.

And whoever student gets the Most Names and Signatures will Win an Exciting Prize gifted by me and another surprise.

So meet you all after 7 days on the eve of independence. The Class is Over, Now you may all leave.

After 7 days, On the occasion of Independence Day. The History Teacher checks the sheet of all students.

All students get under 5 signatures and one of the student gets 9 signatures which is the highest number till now.Then the Last student named Inquilab Khan shows the sheet which has 28 signatures.

The Teacher enquires and asks him, Did you yourself enter all these signatures.

He replies, No Sir As I live in a Joint Family, I was able to read this story to all my family members and got their names and signatures.

The Teacher feels happy about this and announces that Inqilab Khan won the assignment competition and the Gift will be given on the stage during Independence day function which is about to begin in 10 minutes.

The Teacher says the Idea behind this assignment was to Educate more people about this story so that it Inspires them.

Even if One Person gets Inspired, He can Inspire another one person and the Chain Countinues.

Since you all 60 students have read to few people those few people might tell it to many other people and as I said the Chain Continues.

The Teacher says, Now let's go attend the function

On the Stage Inquilab Khan gets invited infront of the entire school and the History Teacher hands him a Good Bag as a Gift.

He then tells Inquilab Khan to assist the Chief Guest to hoist the Indian Flag.

They Both Hoist the Flag, The National Anthem plays and after the National Anthem ends they both Salute the Flag and Hail the Motherland.

By Imad Khilji