178. OS 8: One Rainy Night (Part 4)

Part 4

“Arnav bitwaa, aaj bhi car kharab ho gaya?” Mami asked. “Bahut ganda car he, making hamre Arnav bitwaa wet, wetter, wettest every ebening!” Mami declared.

“Err..no..” Arnav mumbled.

“Chotey, you will come down for the pooja, won’t you?” Anjali pouted, rubbing her brother’s wet hair with a plush towel.

“No, I have to go out,” he mumbled. “Akash will be here.”

“Chotey, everyone will ask where you are. Please stay for some time, for your Di. The guests will leave at eight,” Anjali wheedled.

Nani handed over milk with haldi.

“My phraands bill ask where my Arnav bitwaa ijj, Hello Hi Bye Bye!” Mami said. “Arnav bitwaa, stay, pleej. Tumhri Mami ki khaatir. Ijjat ka sawaal he!”

He sipped the yellow liquid.

“Chotey, we have invited all our friends from the club and the temple. There will be about 200 ladies present. Stay at home during the pooja. You can leave when it is over,” Nani requested.

The girl would get home by eight, he was sure. She wouldn’t leave her house at night. He would have  a better chance of meting her if he went to Laxmi Nagar after eight. He nodded thoughtfully.

The three ladies heaved sighs of relief.

“Oh Parmeswari, you got wet today too!” Buaji hit her forehead with her hand. “Payaliyya, is this girl a plant who needs water to survive, Nandkisore!”

“Buaji, Jiji,” Khushi quivered, standing in her wet suit.

Payal chuckled as she led  a shivering Khushi in to their bedroom to change clothes.

As she dried Khushi’s hair, Payal teased, “Kya hua, Khushi. Did you meet your raajkumar today too?”

Khushi turned to look at Payal’s face and then burst into tears. “No, no, I didn’t meet him, Jiji,” she sobbed. “I tried so hard...itni der khadi rahi baarish mein..but he didn’t come.”

“He told you he will come to see you if you stand in the rain?” Payal asked, her eyes wide. Khushi could confuse her without even trying.

“No,” Khushi wept. “I hoped...”

Payal sighed. “I am sure he has no idea about your wild hopes, Khushi. That is, if the superman exists at all.”

“Jiji! He is real,” Khushi protested.

Payal sighed. “Khushi, he may or may not come to watch you getting wet in the rain. Lekin you will definitely catch fever and cold if you keep this up.”

Khushi sobbed harder. Had she lost him forever?

“What is your raajkumar’s name?” Payal asked sceptically.

“I..I don’t know. I forgot to ask,” Khushi confessed.

Payal whispered, “Hai Re Nandkisore!”

Khushi sniffed, trying to dry her cheeks.

“What does he do? Where does he live?” Payal asked.

Khushi shook her head. “I don’t know, Jiji. I didn’t ask.”

Payal sighed. “Then what did you do? Stare into his eyes all evening in the rain?”

“No,” Khushi protested. “He...I..I sang songs. He smiled.”

Payal sat down, exhausted. “Khushi, tumhara kuch nahi ho sakta,” she ruled. “You don’t know his name. You don’t know what he does or where he lives. I don’t know if he even exists. And here you are standing in the middle of the road in the rain hoping for him to appear? Khushi, tum bhi na!”

“Jiji, the auto bhaiyya saw him,” Khushi tried to prove that her raajkumar really breathed.

“And where is your auto bhaiyya now?” Payal asked.

Khushi sagged, helpless.

“Have you both finished your jhagda, Nandkisore?” Buaji asked. “If both of you are free now, can we dress to go to Devyaniji’s pooja?” Buaji’s eyes rolled. “I asked Happy Singh to drive us there in his workshop’s car and he is waiting for you princesses to get ready.”

“Just one minute, Buaji,” Payal jumped up. “We will get ready fast.”

“Buaji, do I have to come?” Khushi asked, yawning. If she slept, she could dream of her raajkumar.

“Chup chap taiyyar ho jao,” Buaji ordered. “I can’t leave you here alone at night.”

Khushi sighed. Arguing with Buaji was a fruitless exercise.

“Who is Devyaniji?” Khushi asked, getting up from her bed.

“A lady I meet regularly at the temple. She is from Lucknow, Nandkisore,” Buaji explained. “What are you going to wear?”

Khushi opened her wardrobe and frowned at her clothes. “The blue suit,” she muttered.

“I will wear the green sari,” Payal said, taking it from her section of clothes.

“Titliyya, tum bhi sari peheniyyo,” Buaji advised. “Both of you will look nice, sari mein.”

The doorbell sounded.

“Kaun he, Nandkisore?” Buaji went to open the door.

Payal went to the kitchen for a glass of water.

Khushi looked at her saris. Yellow, orange, violet, green, blue, red, pink, white and red, green and yellow...

“What should I wear?” she asked aloud. She took the yellow sari and held it against herself and looked at her image in the mirror fixed to the almirah.

She saw him behind her in the mirror.

“Aap!” she gasped, her heart thudding in excitement.

She turned around so fast that she was in danger of getting whiplash. 

There was no one behind her.

She turned to look at the mirror. He was smiling at her, his lips stretched in a gentle, soft smile.

He was in the mirror? Khushi quickly pulled open the almirah to see if he was hiding within. There were only clothes in the cabinet. She shut the panel and saw him again in the mirror.

“Where are you?” she asked, at the end of her tether.

He smiled slowly again. “In your eyes.”

“Uhh?” she asked.

“In your head. In your mind. In your thoughts.” He came closer to her till his front rested against her back. The heat from his body made her tremble.

“Jiji thinks I imagined you,” Khushi complained.

He smiled, his cheek against hers.

“Do you believe I exist?” he asked.

Khushi nodded, her soft cheek moving against his stubbled one.

“Then that’s all that matters,” he whispered in her ear.

“You...you will be with me...always?” she asked tremulously.

“Hamesha,” he promised.

“You won’t leave me alone?” she asked, her needy voice making him drop a kiss on her rosy cheek.

“Never. Not as long as I live in your thoughts,” he whispered against the soft skin of her cheek.

“I have to go out now,” Khushi complained. How she wished she could stay in his arms forever. “Or Buaji will scold me.”

He smiled, his lips moving against her cheek.

“To jao,” he breathed. “I will be with you where ever you go.”

“Sachi?” her eyes shone.

“Sachi,” he smiled.

“I have to dress now,” Khushi told him. “Turn away.”

“Kyon?” he asked, his eyes twinkling with wickedness.

Khushi poked him in the gut. “You..you naughty, ganda boy!”

He laughed out aloud.

“Sshhh...” Khushi tried to shush him. “Buaji and Jiji will hear you.”

“Let them,” he said, his eyes bold as they roved over her. “What are you going to wear?” he asked.

“Sari. But which one shall I wear?” she wondered, pulling the door of the wardrobe open. She pointed at the row of saris. “You select for me. Shall I wear the yellow one?”

“No, it can’t do justice to your golden skin,” he replied from behind her.

Khushi smiled. “The orange one?”

“No, it will fade into insignificance before your beauty,” he replied.

Khusi burst out laughing.

“The red?” she asked.

“Yes.”

She shut the door and looked at him in the mirror.

“Do you like red?” she asked.

“Yes. Only red can match the fire within you,” he said huskily.

Khushi frowned. “Fire? Are you talking of my ghussa?” she asked.

He smiled. “No. The fire of your love. It is red.”

She stared at him for a moment. Then she asked uncertainly, “Like Devi Maiyya’s chunari?”

“Yes,” he smiled.

“Oh Sanka Devi! What are you doing staring at the saris? Happy Singh is waiting. Chalo, jaldi,” Buaji exhorted.

“Just a minute, Buaji. I will dress,” she muttered, looking in the mirror for her love.

 But he had vanished.

Arnav shut his bedroom door.

He grabbed his laptop and necessary files and moved to sit by the pool. The entire garden was filled with lights. Not a branch had been left out by the workers hired for the purpose. He could work in peace here till Akash came to call him toward the end of the pooja for the aarti, he thought.

Then he could go to Laxmi Nagar. He would be able to find her tonight, wouldn't he? He clenched his fists and stared at the placid water of the pool

“Is it a pooja, Khushiji?” Happy Singh asked during the drive.

“Ji,” Khushi answered. “I don’t know when it will end.” She shifted in the front passenger seat, arranging her red sari comfortably around her. 

Buaji & Payal were in the back seat.

“Don’t worry,” Happy Singh said. “I will drop you there and return to the workshop. Call me when the pooja ends. I will come to get you.”

“Shukriya, Happyji,” Payal thanked him.

“I am sorry to trouble you,” Buaji explained. “But how can I depend on a rickshaw, woh bhi at night and that too when it can rain any moment?”

Khushi’s eyes brightened at the mention of rain. If only her raajkumar were with her at this moment! She put her head out through the window to check how dark the sky was.

She felt him sitting by her in the car, between herself and Happyji who was driving.

She pulled her head back into the car and turned to look at him.

Her eyes flew open and her mouth fell open.

Payal frowned at Khushi’s expression.

“Kya hua?” he whispered. “You wanted to see me, didn’t you?”

She nodded, her head bobbing up and down.

“Then what is the problem?” he asked, his eyes dancing.

She lifted her head towards Happyji who was looking at the road as he chatted with Buaji.

Payal stared at Khushi. What was going on in that girl’s head? she wondered.

“You are worried he will see me?” he asked.

Khushi nodded. How could Happyji not see a big, life-size man sitting by him?

“He won’t,” he replied. “No one will.” He slowly put his arms under Khushi’s legs and her back and lifted her.

Khushi gasped.

“Kya hua, Khushi?” Payal asked.

Khushi swallowed. Couldn’t Jiji see her raajkumar lifting her to place her on his lap? “Nothing, Jiji,” she croaked.

“No one can see me except you,” he whispered. Her raajkumar shifted so that he was sitting in her place near the door and she was sitting on his lap.

“Ab khush?” he asked her in her ear.

Khushi nodded, her scared eyes checking that no one could see him except her.

Slowly she lifted his arms and locked them around her waist, her own arms holding his arms down.

She leaned back against him, her head lying against his broad shoulder.

Wind blew her hair against his lips and face. He shut his eyes.

Khushi shivered at the feel of him all around her.

“Khushi, tum theek ho?” Payal asked, worried.

“I have never been better, Jiji,” Khushi drawled, resting fully against her raajkumar. She could feel his chest rising and falling as he tried to control his mirth.