Ron and Tammy decided to spend their tenth anniversary in India. They had spent their previous anniversaries in several different countries, doing everything from relaxing on the beach in Mexico, to hiking the Andes in Chile, to exploring new foods in Italy. Every trip was special, but this year they wanted to do something different. India was perfect because they could explore the chaos of Delhi and see the Taj Mahal as well as roam through jungles and relax on the beach. They spent months planning and preparing, and when the day to leave finally came, they could hardly believe it.
Upon landing in Delhi, the couple was exhausted but ecstatic to start their adventure. They found a tuktuk and made their way to the hotel. When they got to their room, they began to feel the jet lag sinking in and decided to take a quick nap.
When Ron woke up, Tammy was not in the bed next to him. He figured he had overslept, so she went down to the pool, but he couldn't find her anywhere. He called her at least ten times and texted her at least twenty, but she wasn't responding. He ran frantically around the hotel looking for her, asking all the staff and guests if they had seen her, but no one could give him any information.
Ron left the hotel and ran into a man driving a tuktuk. Saleem introduced himself to Ron, but noticed something was wrong and asked him what had happened. Ron began to explain that his wife had been taken, and tears started rolling down his face. Saleem volunteered to drive Ron around the city to look for her because he would be devastated if his wife Aashi had disappeared, and Ron seemed to be a very good man.
After scouring almost every inch of Delhi, the two men spotted a palace on the top of a hill. Saleem explained that it was Rashtrapati Bhavana, the Presidential Residence. Saleem told Ron that he had previously worked as a janitor in the palace and that there had been rumors of the prince having beautiful women kidnapped in hopes of them falling for his charm and royal status. People thought he did this because was still single and needed a wife to take the throne. Saleem pulled over to the side of the rode and got out of the tuktuk.
"I'm going to go look for Tammy, but I need you to wait here," Saleem said.
"No way! I have to go with you because Tammy has never met you before" exclaimed Ron, clearly very upset.
"The prince will be suspicious if he sees you. He knows me and won't suspect I'm looking for Tammy. Plus I need someone to watch the tuktuk. I can't afford for it to get stolen," Saleem insisted.
Ron hesitated, but reluctantly agreed. "Fine. but take my wedding ring so she knows to trust you."
Saleem took the ring from Ron and put it in his front pocket of his khaki pants, turned, and began to walk up the hill.
Upon entering the palace, he found that there were guards everywhere. Saleem worked here for three years, but had never seen this many guards before. He walked through many of the rooms and discovered most of them empty. His doubts of finding Tammy were steadily increasing, but he imagined the roles reversed and knew he would be incredibly upset if Ron returned without his beloved Aashi, so he continued to search.
He decided to take the risk of looking in the garden, although didn't expect to find anything because the garden was really only used for parties and other special events. He began walking down the steps to the garden. About halfway down, he noticed three guards at the entrance. His heart started racing because there were never guards posted specifically at the garden, so he snuck to the banyan tree on the opposite side from the entrance. Knowing better than to make himself visible, he climbed up the trunk into the lush branches of the tree to get a better look. When he got to a good spot, he noticed that there was an American women sitting on a bench near the pond, and gasped with relief. He had found Tammy.
Saleem waited patiently in the tree for a good time to reach out to Tammy. Because the guards were continuously circling the garden to ensure she wasn't trying to escape, as the time passed Saleem was beginning to grow anxious that he would not be able to remain unseen. He knew that his chances of escaping would be better when it was dark, so he decided to wait it out.
When the sun set, he crept down the tree and hid behind a bush to try to talk to her. He whispered her name three times, and when she finally heard him she walked over to him. She was reluctant to come too close, so Saleem explained who he was and handed her the ring Ron had given to him. A smile grew on her face, and she agreed to leave with him.
When the guards went to sleep, Saleem and Tammy climbed up the tree and back down on the other side of the fence. They knew they didn't have much time, but couldn't risk being seen. They snuck along the outskirts of the palace in the shadows and hoped they wouldn't trigger any motion sensors. Because Saleem knew the palace, he knew that there was a small gap in the fence on one of the sides, and hoped that they could squeeze through.
After both Saleem and Tammy squeezed through the gap, Tammy sprinted down the hill to the tuktuk, where Ron was still waiting. She began to cry for the first time since she had been taken, and ran into Ron's arms. She thanked Ron and Saleem for everything they did to save her, and then the three made their way back to the hotel.
Author's note: This story was initially a combination of a series of stories from the Ramayana about Sita being captured by Ravana. In the story, when Sita is taken, Hanuman volunteers to help Rama find her, and when they arrive at the tip of India, Hanuman jumps across the ocean to Lanka to look for her. He can't find her anywhere and decides to look in the palace, and finds her in the garden. I summarized the overall plot and kept most of the components the same, but changed it to a modern-day setting with Ron and Tammy, characters from Parks and Recreation. I have been to India before, so I used a couple things that I knew of from experience, such as the tuktuk. The name Saleem came from the name of a man who actually drove me and my friends around on a tuktuk when I was in Kochi. The story changes from the original after Saleem finds Tammy. In the original, Sita doesn't want to leave with Hanuman and tells him to tell Rama to come get her. I wanted a faster and happy ending though, which is why I ended mine the way I did.
Bibliography: PDE Epics, Ramayana Online: 47-55
image info: Banyan tree