AN: Hi! This is a new TS from me… Hope u all like it.
Not Proofread. Kindly excuse the errors.
Happy reading! 🙂
———————————————————————-
Saache pyar ke kuch Kacche daage…
PART- 1
Mukhiji was just about to enter his room… err no… not his room… their room… He laughed thinking how she would shout at him in her squeaky angry kitten voice if she ever heard him say it as ‘his’ room again… She would go on and on and lecture him about how she too was sharing the room with him and how he was always rude and selfish to call this room ‘his’ as if it only belonged only to him and not her too…
But slowly his smile faded away when he heard the conversation she was having on the phone…
She was saying, “Oh tum nahi jaanthe ki tumne yeh karke kitna accha kaam kiya hai Gautham! Life mein pehli baar mujhe garv ho raha ki mein tumhari bachpan ki dost hoon…warna tho main jab bhi tum mere aankhon ke saamne aoge tumhe maarne ki plan bana rakha tha maine!”
He couldn’t hear the other end but he could guess after hearing her reply…
She said, “Seriously tumne saare paise jho mujhse liya, uske 10% interest ke saath mere acct mein daal diya?!”
“Teek hain yahan pe signal hi mushkil se miltha hai, internet tho door ki baat hai! Mein Mukhiji se puchke dekhthi hoon ki agar yahan kahin koi net centre hai ya nahi… ”
“Seriously thank you yar, tumne meri saare mushkilen hal kar di!”
Mukhi could see that she was so happy that her happiness was radiating off her in waves… He was supposed to be happy for her… He was there that day at the bus stand in Ahmadabad when she was crying when her so called friend had cheated her off her hard earned money… But now that she had got back her money, he should have been happy for her… But for the life of him he couldn’t gather a smile… The only difference in the situation for him was that day he was sad for her and today he was sad for himself…
He didn’t know how but this silly girl in front of him had slowly and steadily seeped into his heart and she had brought out some unknown feelings in his heart which he even never knew existed in him… Like he had heard people tell that they get the feeling of butterflies in their stomach when someone smiled… He used to openly ridicule such silly notions… But little did he know that this silly girl who was hell bent on proving him wrong in every step of her way, would show him that not only butterfly but the whole swarm of fireflies too shine when someone special smiles because of something you did… Be it for a silly reason as getting her, her favourite flavour of ice cream from the shop she loves, brought straight from her city…
She had once cribbed as usual about the heat in the village and when Mishri had suggested about getting ice-cream from the local village shop, Aru had go on and on about how her favourite, ‘Makkanlal malai wala’ in her city had the best chocolate fudge ice cream in the world, which people could kill for… He of course had shut her up that day saying that he was happy that anything which causes violence was nowhere near his peaceful village! She had made a face at him and left angrily from there.
The way she suspiciously opened the big thermocol parcel he had given her and the surprised squeal and half hug was something he would always cherish… Then there was that smile which created a storm in his heart… the full-blown glowing smile with ice-cream messed face… the smile which was directed only towards him and no one else… the smile which reminded him why it was worth all the effort of bribing someone who went to the city to get him that ice cream from that exact shop, no matter what it took…
He had even secretly saved that huge thermocol box in which the ice cream carton came in as the memorabilia of that beautiful smile day… Well, that was nothing… he even had tried pants and shirt too one day! Well it went something like this…
One day when Aru was cleaning their cupboard, she had found a cover with pant and shirt she had brought for him during those days of bride searching for Mukhiji. She then excitedly ran to him and said, “Mukhiji aap chahthe hai nah main chammo ko torture nahi karun aur usse friendship kar lu?” He was suspicious but nodded in ‘yes’ nevertheless because he had serious doubts that one day he would he would find a murdered chammo on his bed! God! The very thought was scary!
So she gave him the cover and said, “Tho yeh lijiye! Tab aapne bahana banaya tha, magar abb aapko aapki chammo ko bachane ke liye yeh karna hi padega!” She was talking as if she was Gabbar Singh and he was Basanti of Sholay film and he should dance to save the life his chammo! Looks like she was thinking the same and gave a wicked laugh to go with her ridiculous demand! He opened the cover and saw the items and was just about to open his mouth to refuse but she had jumped in first and said, ” Mukhiji, chammo abb kitne saal ki hai? Aur kitne saal jiyegi?”
He just huffed and went from there… But sometime later, the whole household had a whale of laughter seeing him in that ridiculous outfit! Ugh it was horrible just as he had expected! But seeing her mock him had somehow hurt him a little… after all even if he refused to acknowledge, she must have known that he wore that outfit not for chammo but for her…
He had angrily gone back and changed back to clothes that suit him best and thanks to her he, Mukhi of Amboli village had become the butt of the jokes for his entire household…
But after sometime, she had entered their room and dropped something on his lap… It was a soft smiley ball … he threw it down, not willing to give in… But she threw it again at his face n he turned angrily at her! But she was cutely holding her ears in the way of an apology and unwillingly his heart melted…
She then said, ” Mukhiji… I’m sorry… App sahi kehthe the…Aapki shaan aapke in kapdon mein hi hai… magar yeh mat samajhiye ki aap pe kabhi bhi pant shirt suit nahi karenge…” He looked at her in askance. She continued, ” Woh baat yeh hai ki woh kapde maine aap ke liye tab kareede the jab aap mujhko bilkul aache nahi lagthe the!” Did she actually blush or was that just his wishful thinking…
Anyway she continued, ” Toh woh kapde aap pe utne suit nahi karthe… Magar iss baar mein aap ke liye acchhe kapde kareedungi jho aap pe bahut acche lagegein… Fir aap ek aur baar woh pehenkar sabko dikha dijiye ga ki aap pe sab kapde suit karthe hain, magar aap yeh traditional kapde pasand karthe hai kyunki yeh aapki apni style hain… majboori nahin…”
And that was the day he realized that when someone else, some special someone else bothered about you and was proud of you and your beliefs, something like a dam burst in ones chest and your chest would actually puff out a little due to immense happiness!
And there were many other pleasant and happy feelings she had made him recognize in this short duration he had known her which he never knew existed in these 42 years… She was half his age but she had taught him how to live more than he ever knew before… He realized he was just existing before… But now he had begun to live too…
But now after teaching him all the happy happy feelings, looks like she was planning to teach him what true sadness meant… Because he knew the moment her phone call with Gautham ended, his heart would break… the little dream world he had imagined, where he conveniently forgot that she was supposed to go back to her city right after Mishri’s marriage had totally skipped his mind… Well, it was not his fault that the marriage was stretched on for many more months because all the drama that occurred in between and he had settled into a comfortable rhythm with her besides him…
He sarcastically laughed at himself… It looked like he almost started to believe he was her ‘husband’ after all… And maybe even had started to behave like one… But now hearing her, he was sure that all these thoughts were just one sided… She is and was always the ever practical Aru… She would never be a fool like him to believe in this farce of a marriage and start to think of him as her husband… She was always clear in her goals and she always said so too… It is just that he used to blank his mind at each one of those times to avoid those hurtful words to register… He had foolishly believed that if he… if he didn’t acknowledge it, it would never happen… that she would never leave him… So silly him… And like he used to call her earlier, he realized that he was the actual ‘dafur’ here…
And thus she had taught him that metal butterflies crushing the heart too was a true feeling when he realized that this room would be back to being just ‘his’ again… just his… not theirs…never theirs…
Marz bhi hain deti
Chain bhi hain deti
Dard bhi hain deti
Jaan bhi hain leti yaariyan…
Magar Na chhodhe ye yaariyan…
Chhode na yeh yaariyan…*
———————————-
AN : So how was it? Do share your thoughts… Would love to read them!
* – Modified ‘Yaariyan’ song from movie ‘Cocktail’