25. Khushi's Pati


Arnav Singh Raizada stood silently behind his wife, and as soon as the aarti was over, gently pulled her around to face him. Looking deep into her beautiful startled eyes, he caressed first her right cheek, then her left cheek, and then her forehead, leaving behind a trail of fire and deep crimson holi colour.
"Happy Holi!", he wished a mesmerised Khushi, and completed his enjoyable task by leaving a red dot on her nose, and another on her chin.

His family looked on, unable to comprehend the change that marriage had brought in him, He who never attended aarti, never played with colours on Holi, never demonstrated a tinge of affection for anybody in public, was looking at his colourful wife with tender, amused, loving eyes. They stood silent as Khushi struggled to greet him in return, her brain fried by the heat of his eyes and his proximity. She slowly took a pinch of red colour from the thaali, and touched his warm cheek, so different from hers, with its bristly stubble. His jaw clenched.

Nani applied a smidge of colour to his cheek. Anjali followed suit, adding a hug to her naughty Chotey. Akash gave his Bhai a bear hug, and a small green patch of colour on his cheek. Payal, Mamaji, & Mamiji took their chances. Before Shyam could take a step forward, Arnav turned and left the room.

"Chotey does not like Holi...", said Anjali apologetically to Khushi. "The colours, the water, the balloons, the music, the dance, and the bhang..."

The bhang! He Devi Maiyya, the bhang! The perfect key to open the taala (lock) of his mouth and make him speak about the reason for the sudden marriage! And the hurt I apparently caused him. By the way, I am still angry with you, Devi Maiyya! I just called your name in excitement. Don't think I want your help. I can manage on my own, Khushi thought. She now had to devise a foolproof plan.

Arnav wiped the colour off his face, and got down to work. A while later, he looked up from his laptop to see a grinning NK standing at the door of his room, a glass of bhang in his hand. "Nannav, here's some lassi for you!"
"Lassi?"
"Yes. it is so tasty. Yummm...India is great, Nannav. Bangles fall from the sky, and you won't believe it, milk has the kick of a mule. Here, have it."
Arnav sighed. "Who gave it to you?"
"Khushiji...She asked me to make sure you drink it."

Arnav's lips twisted in a hidden smile. He had been expecting the next attack from Khushi. She was nothing if not tenacious. He could find it in him to pity her for her never-say-die attitude.

"Leave it with me. I will have it. And...and tell Khushi that I will have more only if she brings it to me."
"Nannav...you are so romantic! I never thought you would elope...or flirt with Khushiji...", NK struggled to find words to express his astonishment.

As soon as NK left, Arnav poured the bhang away, and sat waiting for his kabootri to come to him. Soon he heard the faint tinkling of her payal, moving hesitantly towards his ...no their room. He watched her feet coming closer and closer to him.

Khushi held a big glass of bhang in her trembling hand, fearful of putting her plan in action at the steady, knowing look in his eyes.

Arnav took the lead, lest she fly away from his clutches.

"Have you brought more bhang for me? Good. Come and sit by my side as I finish it off.", he invited.

Khushi perched uncertainly on the edge of his bed, and swallowed as Arnav took the glass from her hand. He raised the glass to his lips for a couple of sips, and asked her, "Did you have any?"

Khushi said, "Nahin..."

"Nahin? That won't do. After all, it's Holi!" He held the glass to her lips and made her sip the bhang, his eyes burning into hers, holding her captive with just his look. Time meant nothing to Khushi. Nor did the amount of bhang sliding down her throat. She was under the spell of her own personal magician.

Once the glass was empty, Arnav released her from the prison of his eyes. "Looks like you liked the taste of it, Khushi. But I wouldn't advise you to drink anymore." He leaned forward, his nose a couple of inches away from hers, and said, "Bhang makes one do foolish things, Khushi...Do you really need its help?"

Khushi left the room as soon as possible, flustered and furious. How come all her plans failed? And his smirk...One day, she was going to wipe that wicked, superior smirk off his face! How dare he make fun of her?

A while later, Arnav looked up to see an unsteady Khushi standing near him, swaying like a reed in the wind. He sighed. The trouble this girl got into...He needed 24 hours to sort out her messes alone...daily. What would he do with her?

"Khushi...", he murmured as he caught hold of her arms and tried to make her sit by him on his bed.

"No...not Khushi...I am KKhushi K..Kumari Gupta S...Singh R..Raizada...", she pointed out earnestly, her finger poking him on his chest.

"OK...Khushi Kumari Gupta Singh Raizada...drunk on a glass of bhang...Sit down on the bed before you fall down.", he invited with a crooked smile.

She peered with exaggerated concentration at his face. "Why is y..your face clean? The whole world i..is wearing c..colour, but t..the great Arnav..S..Singh R..Raizada is clean...No...no...not permitted...No...", She waved her finger under his nose, giggling.

Arnav took a deep breath which got choked half-way through as she clambered onto his lap for easy access to his face.

Sitting in his lap, she threw her arms around his neck, and leaning comfortably against his thudding heart, rubbed her left cheek against his left, her right against his right, her forehead against his, her nose on his, and knocked her chin on his, sharing her crimson colour with him. Arnav sat still, shocked at the sudden attack, too petrified to move, his self-control thin and worn with excessive use.

"Now you are fit to be K..Khushi K..Kumari...Gupta S..Singh Raizada's p..pati!", she declared in childish glee.

"Whhhy d..don't you s..smile?", she asked him seriously, her eyes focused totally on the straight line of his lips. Arnav swallowed.

She brought her hands to his face, and traced the seam of his lips with a gentle finger. Arnav felt parched, his mouth dry, his throat muscles locked in protest against the sensual torture of her innocent finger. If her finger could create such a havoc, what would...The thought remained incomplete, as with her fingers, she tried to stretch his stubborn lips into the semblance of a smile. Arnav felt sweat beads on his forehead. Unable to make his lips smile to her satisfaction, her innovative, bhang-filled brain came up with another solution. She knocked him down on the bed, and started tickling him mercilessly, her fingers flying over his body, touching his sensitive neck, his stomach, his armpits...

"Khushi...Khushi...Chodo Mujhe...", he appealed to his attacker, his modesty under threat. "Kya... Kar... Rahi...Ho?", he gasped. A determined Khushi pinned down a shocked Arnav, sitting on him to reach all the ticklish points on his body. With superhuman effort and enough control over his libido to get a seat in heaven among the sages, he managed to throw her off him and crawled to the edge of the bed. He sat, trembling, panting...gathering the torn remnants of his composure around him like a cloak.

Khushi picked herself out of the tangle of blankets and pillows, and slowly inched her way silently to the figure of her husband, sitting all hunched over, his back towards her. She draped herself around him, her arms locked around his neck. He jerked.

"God Mein U..Utha..Lijiye..."
"What the..."
"Lift me in your a..arms...How m..many times d...do I have to a..sk you ..to do...it?...And...don't p..put me d..down soon like you...a..always do..."

Before he could get over his shock, Khushi giggled and crawled her way into his lap again, lying with her head against his heart. "Now you are fit to be K..Khushi K..Kumari...Gupta S..Singh Raizada's p..pati!", she said, patting him drunkenly on his shoulder for the achievement.

"When you...c..come near m..me, w..why does my heart go dhak dhak?", she wondered aloud. She buried her face inside his shirt, making a place for herself by yanking at a couple of buttons and letting them fly across the room.

Arnav looked at his wife, his mad, crazy, beloved wife, sleeping in his arms like a baby, her ear pressed against his thudding heart.

"Because our hearts beat as one as I come close to you, ", he whispered in her ear.