*****
It was two days after Kabir heard Sanchi calling out to him in his dream. He had just landed up at Gannavaram airport. Vijayawada was still an hour away. He was counting the minutes and seconds before he would actually be before her house. He still didn’t know what kind of reception would await him after going to her house. He had to be mentally prepared even for her shutting the door on his face.
The next day after that dream, Kabir spun a long yarn to Veer about how he had to go to a Dakshineshwar Kali Temple in Kolkata as his mother had sought a boon for him from the Mother Goddess. When Veer asked about what would happen to the show, he said, “You directors are good at bringing in all sorts of twists. Bring one in the show also. Make me fall from a cliff after the car chase scene which we have today. Leave the audience guessing whether I survived or not. Your TRPs will rocket the sky with this twist and it will also give me my break.”
Veer still didn’t sound convinced, “This will make our track very messy and leave us with a lot of loopholes which we cannot plug.” Kabir continued, “I’ll also come back by the time she comes back. And why are you worrying about this mess? You know that your friend will sort out all this mess and tie up all these loose ends after she comes back. Neither of us are comfortable working with each other when Sanchi is not here? This will be the best way out for both of us!”
At last Veer had given him the go-ahead to take a break from the show, and here he was on his way to meet her. He knew Veer would never have agreed if he had told him he was going to meet her. As they say ”Everything is fair in love and war!’ Just as they were going ahead, an auto driver coming from the direction in which they were going cautioned him and his taxi driver, “A local caste leader has been murdered and riots have broken out in many parts of the city. I’d advise you not to take this route.”
They took another circuitous route when they found that riots had broken out in this route too. They were in the midst of all the commotion happening on all sides. Suddenly they were surrounded by hooligans who asked them to get down and threatened to blow up the taxi. The taxi driver ran away for his dear life leaving Kabir stranded on that spot with those hooligans. He thought that his end had come when they heard a loud police whistle and the siren of the police vehicle. The hooligans ran away from the spot without looking back.
Kabir stood looking amazed at what happened just a minute before when Sanchi came running into his arms. She was crying and crying and scolding him in between for his carelessness. Then she asked him what he was doing here when he ought to be in Mumbai. She said, “I still shudder to think what could have happened to you. Don’t you ever think before doing anything? Didn’t you look up at the news before coming to Vijayawada?”
She continued telling him in between her sobs, “Nothing has been going right here ever since I came. Nikhil has rented the house opposite ours and has been troubling me and stalking me day in and day out. Our area’s inspector is refusing to take my complaint against Nikhil because he happens to be his distant relative. Papa’s health condition has worsened because of this worry and he’s in the hospital. My younger brother, Sunny has been wrongly arrested by that inspector on charges of assault against Nikhil. My lawyer is not able to do anything to bring out Sunny despite all those thousands I shelled out to him. I bet Nikhil has bought him too! He just keeps talking and talking without doing anything. As if all that was not enough, these riots also came upon me. And now you come here on top of all this putting your life in danger! What and how much can I manage on my own?”
Kabir was thinking to himself that Nikhil was not that bad a chap and riots too were a good thing because it was due these that she was cooing so lovingly, close to his heart. He said to himself, “If there are any more calamities which can bring us closer bring them on!” He said aloud to her, “You don’t care about me, do you? You said that you were apathetic to me. Then what does it matter where I am and what happens to me?” She said, “All this is for old time’s sake. I’m still apathetic to you. Really!” He quizzed her, “Oh, Really! What are you doing out here in the first place when there are riots going on?”
Sanchi said, “I came out to get Papa’s medicine because it is not available anywhere else except this area. And I’ve come well-planned and perfectly armed too.” He scolded her, “And what were those great arms and ammunition? A pepper spray and a pen knife? They would not stand even for one minute against all those hooligans roaming about.” She held them out to him. One of them was a small children’s whistle and the other her cell phone. He said, “You surely are not joking. You came out armed with those things?”
Sanchi blew the whistle loudly and then played out the police vehicle siren sound from her phone. He burst out laughing, “You are really impossible! So you were the one who frightened those hooligans?” She replied, “Yes! Where are you going to stay until everything settles down?” He said, “I’ve booked a room in the…” She cut him short telling, “You’re going to stay with us until everything cools down in Vijayawada. I can’t keep worrying about how you are every minute and second in addition to my other problems. Got it!”
Kabir knew that there was no appeal in her Supreme Court and quietly agreed to it. She said, “Come let’s go before we get into more trouble! And by the way, how did you know I was in trouble? I didn’t tell you anything!” He said, “You told me just now, didn’t you? And don’t flatter yourself too much that I came for you. People come to Vijayawada for other reasons than visiting you also. I came for a visit to the Durga temple in your place.”
Both of them safely reached her place without much ado. Her mother was at the hospital with her father. After he freshened up, he spoke to the Commissioner of Police of Mumbai who happened to be his good friend. Coincidentally, the Mumbai Commissioner used to be a close batch mate and friend of the Vijayawada Police Commissioner.
When Kabir told him about how his (Ahem!) friend was being troubled for no mistake of hers and how the area inspector was also assisting in all this and how her younger brother was also arrested by him on wrong charges. The Mumbai Commissioner promised him that he would speak to the Vijayawada Commissioner of Police and get the officer who was assisting Nikhil suspended and transferred from that area. He also said that he would get Sunny released and ask the local police to give Nikhil a strong warning so that he would not trouble his friend in future.
Kabir had solved most of her problems for her. If her father and his future father-in-law too recovered from his ill-health, then everything would be fine in her life. She would be smiling once again as she used to while she was at Mumbai even here. He had decided to be her shield for life whether she liked it or not. She could snatch his right to love her or be hers away from him; but not his right to protect her from all the dangers and be the reason for her smiles. His relationship with her needed no name or social sanction to do something for her.
Just then the latest promo of his car accident and supposed death on the show was going on air. Sanchi gasped when she saw it. She questioned him, “What have you and Veer done? This twist was not there in the original story. You two are impossible!” She was on the verge of calling Veer and questioning what he had done to her story and informing him that Kabir was in Vijayawada along with her, when he pulled back her hand, and placed his hand on her mouth. Both of them forgot all track of time and surroundings once again. They were floating again on the ethereal clouds of fancy and imagination holding each other’s hands.
On coming back to reality, Kabir said, “Please don’t tell Veer I’m here. I actually lied to him that I was going to Kolkata for a darshan of Dakshineshwar Kali Temple because he would not give me that break if I told him I was coming here. I only convinced him to give that outlandish twist to the story because I wanted to come here for you. And what is there in a story? I’ve full confidence that you can twist and turn it back to the track when you come to Mumbai. I’m just asking you for twelve days.”
Sanchi said like a difficult to please headmistress of a school, “Who told me a short while back ‘Don’t flatter yourself too much that I came for you. People come to Vijayawada for other reasons than visiting you also. I came for a visit to the Durga temple in your place’? Twelve days is too much time! I can’t allow you that!” He pleaded, “Ten days then! At least ten please!” She said firmly, “No, even that is too much!”
Kabir convincingly said, “Five days is the minimum! I won’t budge from there. I haven’t seen anything at your place either. So will you not show me the place where you spent your entire childhood, introduce your friends, your family, your old school and college, etc.” She agreed, “All right make it five. But remember one thing; my family does not know anything that happened between us. So you’d better not blurt out any of that. They think of you as just my friend and a colleague. Anyways you are a good actor so stick to that character description in your behaviour to me and my family”.
???MERRY CHRISTMAS??❄