Praful was the youngest of the sons of Amarchand Singh who was a principal in a local school and a firm believer in the legend that his ancestors belonged to the family of trusted ministers in the Maharana Pratapsingh’s  cabinet and were responsible for the peace and prosperity of this small town. The royalty had gone and so had the ministers and servants of the royal family when the Rajasthan rulers gave up their sovereignty but enjoyed privy purses until 1970 when the Indian Parliament decided to abolish the institution of royalty.  Praful’s father was one of the few who had studied in a college and was instrumental in starting the school for girls. Praful had a smooth and comfortable childhood in a large joint family and, being the youngest, was pampered and loved a lot.

Praful walked out of the station with his luggage and tried to look out for a vehicle to take him to town. Here Praful noticed the change. The sleepy town seemed to have woken up early today. There were at least six auto-rickshaw drivers who approached Praful and each quoted a different tariff to take him to town. Praful wondered where the truthfulness and simplicity of the locals had gone. He remembered how his brothers and uncles showed off their traits of bravery and truthfulness.  On the way, Praful again looked for signs of change and could see very little change. Except for the big mobile company ads and the latest Bollywood movie posters, nothing much had changed in his town. The big City Palace and other related structures stood tall as ever with their great architecture and grandeur. Praful was thankful that the multiplex and mall culture which had hit the other cities and towns in India had not reached his lovely town as yet.

At the Haveli, Praful was greeted with astonishment but warmth. His grandmother (dadi as he referred to her) was seated in the aangan or courtyard. Her eyes shone at the recognition of Praful and her frail hands rose up to hug him.  One by one all the members of his family came to greet him. He felt like a warrior returning from a battle. His 5 feet 11 inch height and strong build made him look like one too.

In the evening, Praful decided to start work on his thesis. He did not have much time and needed to work as much as possible on the subject of his thesis “The relationship between Love and Art in architecture of the Mewar dynasty”. He took his laptop and in his blue jeans and loose white shirt took off on the way to the main structure that he planned to cover i.e. the City Palace.

Soon, he reached the City Palace and asked for the museums’s curator Mr. Joshi. After a wait of what looked like ten minutes, Mr. Joshi came to the reception. Short, stout and wearing thick glasses, he looked like an old professor. He greeted Praful and enquired about his journey. Praful had already informed him over email that he would like to meet regarding his thesis. Mr. Joshi took Praful around the City Palace. Every room and every sculpture or painting had some story in it. Praful was amazed. After the round when he came back to the reception he felt as if he had been to a beautiful movie filled with heroism and love. He sat down in the reception with his laptop and noted the points. He did not want to miss even one of them. After having a cup of tea he left the museum. The sun was setting over the horizon and the reflection of the sun’s rays in the Pichola lake shone like diamonds. Praful always loved this sight and this was his dream come true location. He decided to sit on the banks of the lake to soak in its beauty for some time.

Praful had been in the UK for a decade. After finishing his studies, he had taken up professorship at the London School of Art and specialized in Art History and Architecture. He had now decided to do his doctorate in his home town of Udaipur. He had taken a sabbatical of about six months to do the research.

In the morning, Praful woke up with a headache. The journey and visit to the museum the earlier day had taken a toll on him. He asked his mother for a cup of coffee. Sitting on the verandah of the Haveli he was sipping his coffee when his mother while lovingly stroking his hair asked him the usual question about marriage. He was thirty one, much past the normal age of his peers to tie the knot.  He smiled and told her that he will have a love marriage and his mother would be the first to know when he decides on the girl. Praful took his laptop and headed for the museum.

Maya was hurriedly going through the newspapers and turned to her favourite part. Her daily horoscope read: The day's planetary alignment is your dream come true. If you have been searching for that perfect love that exists only in movies and sensational novels, you may find it coming your way today. It has all the right ingredients, such as deep passion, real care, and the capacity for trust and adoration. And that is just for starters. The main course will be even better!

Maya worked in the local museum as an assistant to the curator. She loved her job except that for some days there were no visitors. At the museum Mr. Joshi introduced Maya to the tall, handsome youth by saying “Maya, meet Mr. Praful Singh who hails from UK and is here to complete his thesis on Relationship of The relationship between Love and Art in architecture of the Mewar dynasty. Will you please show him around the second wing of the Palace? Give him more details than you give normal visitors.” Maya shook hands with Praful. His smile was so enchanting. For a moment she got lost in his pitch black eyes and then settled herself and guided him to the second wing of the palace. She explained to him in great detail about the various Maharanis and details of their lives. Most of them had very interesting lives. But her favourite story was of the small 6 foot hexagonal room where it is believed that one of the princesses committed suicide because she fell in love with a local poor boy and could not bear to inform her family or marry anyone else. Maya always told this story with great passion and emotions attached. But today she had tears rolling down her cheeks and unknowingly Praful took her close and consoled her. Their proximity for the moment gave Maya a strange feeling. She was convinced she had met this man somewhere earlier. How could that be? She just put the thought away as a foolish imagination.

The evening chill was setting in. Praful was walking down the small city road in his white pullover and jeans. He entered the bookshop to pickup something to read and he saw Maya there. “Oh, Hi what a surprise” both seemed to say it together. Maya looked very excited. The whole day she had been thinking of Praful. “Coffee?” he asked with a twinkle in his eye. “You could tell me about the story of that young princess in some more detail.  Deal?”  Maya smiled and nodded. They walked to the coffee shop nearby. The coffee shop had a very British look with antique wooden furniture and aroma of freshly-ground coffee. They sat in a corner of the room. For a moment Maya remembered her astrology forecast. Could it be true? Praful made her feel so special and wanted. For many years now nobody made Maya feel like that. She had her share of romances and heartaches but this one seemed different. She felt she knew him well though they had met only that morning. There seemed to be a mesmerizing effect all around them.

The twilight turned into night and the stars began to shine. The moon was very beautiful. It had the beauty of a lighted arch. Praful walked Maya to her home and bid her bye from outside. He tried very hard but something was nagging him and he could not put a finger to it. He went to the terrace of the Haveli. The breeze was cold, the typical extreme climate of the state he thought. He switched on his computer and went to the search engine site and typed the words “Maharanis of Udaipur”. The search engine threw up 98 matches. Praful laughed and thought how foolish he was behaving. But he kept at it and found that no site gave as much details as Maya gave him. He put aside his thought as stupid and went to sleep.

Maya woke up all perspiring. Her mother who was sleeping next to her also woke up. She told her mother that it was the same nightmare that she had in which she is choking for breath.  The same white marble arch and the same garden. This time though she could see that her dream was different. There was a person in the dream.  It looked as if he was trying to save her. She could not recognize him but she could feel she knew him. Her mother had been very worried about her daughter’s dreams and had taken her to the local tantric who had said that it had something to do with one of her past lives and had prescribed some poojas to be done but none of that had helped Maya.

Maya and Praful walked down the steps of the library of the University, where Maya introduced Praful to Prof. Manish who was the librarian and Head of the Department of History.  Over the past few days, Praful had been thinking a lot about Maya. Praful had had his share of romances and broken relationships but none gave him the peace and ecstasy he felt when he was with Maya. Praful was particularly looking forward to his dinner with Maya’s family in the evening. Prof Manish was also invited to the dinner. The Kumars were courteous hosts. But Praful was disappointed when he learnt that Maya’s parents were looking at Manish as their future son-in-law. After the dinner Praful managed to get a moment alone with Maya when he congratulated her about Prof. Manish.  She thanked him but her eyes conveyed some kind of sadness. Praful was wondering why.  Praful thanked Maya’s parents for the dinner and headed home.

The journey to the town of Chittorgarh was rough and full of dust. When Praful reached the small resort it was almost midnight. He unpacked and went for dinner to the nearby dhaba. The food was typical Rajasthani and Praful enjoyed it very much. After the dinner at Maya’s place he had not met or spoken to her.  He felt he missed her but consoled his heart that she was to marry soon and he should keep his feelings hidden. While sipping his drink he noticed an old man staring at him. The man looked like he was in his eighties but had a glow on his face which was very normal in the local people of the villages in Rajasthan because of the hard work they did in the extreme climatic conditions. The man smiled at Praful and beckoned him. Praful was not sure what to do, but felt that this man did have some kind of aura around him. Praful thought he could be useful for his thesis and would probably tell him some stories and so he approached him and greeted him in the local way. The man asked Praful, “Feeling like you are caught between the devil and deep sea?” Praful just smiled. He thought it was a usual conversation opener, and asked the man his name. The man did not reply but led Praful towards the interior of the fort. Praful felt a kind of familiarity with the place though he was here for the first time in his life. The man took Praful to a corner of the fort which was very secluded and narrow. But on the other-side it had a small balcony from where the city of Chittorgarh could be seen in the horizon.

Praful could not believe what the man had to tell him. The man was reading Praful’s life like an open book. There were details he was telling Praful which no one other than Praful knew about himself, his feelings and his life. Praful was pinching himself to confirm he was not dreaming. But what the man told Praful after completing his life history was every more weird. He told Praful that the lady he had been seeing lately was his lost love of a previous life. “How on earth do you know this?”, he asked the man. As usual the man did not reply but just smiled. He then narrated the story almost word to word that Maya told him about the princess in the palace who had committed suicide and he also told Praful that the lady in his life was the same maharani. He then took Praful to a trunk and took out a old tattered book. It had a picture of the maharani and Praful could not believe his eyes, it exactly matched the picture of Maya.  Praful’s head was spinning. The man told Praful that you are about the cross the bridge where your love and soul-mate stands on the other side waiting for you. If you don’t take the first step towards her you would have to wait for some other life. Praful was always amazed by these past life stories but did not believe them much. But how this man knew all about his life was still a mystery for Praful.

Twilight had set in. The lake was shimmering and it appeared as if diamonds were shining on the water. The setting was very romantic. The small boat reached the edge, a hand held out of the boat. Maya smiled and gave her hand to Praful. Praful had decided to have a dinner with Maya before he left for the UK at the island restaurant in the middle of the lake Pichola and if possible tell her about the story of the old man he met in Chittorgarh. Maya looked very beautiful in the dark blue chiffon saree and silver jewels. Praful led Maya to the corner table. Soft music was playing in the background. Maya was saying very little and Praful was not sure whether he should tell her the story or not. After dinner they walked to the edge of the lake and seated themselves on a marble bench. Praful told Maya the story. She looked puzzled and said, “I was to tell you the same story, except that I saw it as a dream.” Praful kept his head on Maya’s shoulder, took her hand in his hand and said, “Let’s forget what happened in some earlier life, but I know that in this life if I was to have a life companion, she had to be you. Will you marry me?”   

The thundering sound of clapping brought everyone back. The audience gave a standing ovation. The Conference hall of the five star hotel was packed to capacity for the book launch “Love in Lake City.” The local press was in attendance. One press reporter asked the author, is this your autobiography, as we know that you were writing your thesis some years ago? The author just smiled and said partly true, partly what I would have liked to happen. The author Dr. Praful, still the most eligible bachelor in town, walked down the porch where his friends Manish and Maya were waiting to take him home. They hugged him and he looked at Maya and whispered in her ear, “Maya, just one more life!”