141. OS: 5 A Playful Love (Section 16-)

Section 16

Khushi moved towards the shut door.

“Khushi.”

His whisper halted her feet.

“It is time for the play,” she said in a low voice. “The guests...they will be waiting.”

“Let them wait,” ASR ruled. “We need to talk.”

“There is nothing to talk about,” Khushi tried to block him. “I...I am doing this play for Anjaliji...and my Jiji.”

“Khushi,” he tried to argue with her, his eyes on her figure as she stood with her back to him.

But she continued, “I...I will be leaving tomorrow. For Kanpur.”

“No, Khushi!” he exclaimed, shocked. How could she give up on them? Was she tired of waiting for him to get his act together? Had he hurt her beyond forgiveness?

Khushi moved forward on hasty feet, trying to leave a distance between them. But even as her fingers reached out to unlock the door, his fingers covered hers on the bolt.

He moved as close to her as he could, pressing her against the door, his fingers curling in to hers.

“Will you be able to abandon me, Khushi?” he asked in to her dupatta covering her silky hair. “Can you leave me behind and go away? Is it so easy for you?”

Tears filled her eyes and dripped down her cheeks. Easy? What did he know? It was the most difficult feat she had ever attempted. She lowered her head hoping that he would not see her sorrow. How could she tell him that her heart felt as though it were being torn in to two and left to bleed?

“Khushi,” he murmured as he turned her around and gently smoothed away the saline drops with his fingers.

“I have to go,” she breathed.

“Why?” he cried, desperate, scared that she would walk away from him.

“I..I have to make a life for myself...keep my self-respect...my pride...I don’t want to...shouldn’t have to listen to nonsense again...It is all a fairytale...family, love, trust, companionship...sab bakwaas he, all traps to hurt me. You are born alone, you live alone... and you die alone. That is the only truth. Baaki sab bakwas he, just to fool oneself, just ego trips, power struggles... Sab ko jeetna he, bas. Koi kissie ka nahi hota, sab bakwaas he,” she managed to say through her tears.

His hands fell away in shock. Taking advantage of his total stupefaction, she left the room.

Section 17

Anjali announced the play, reminding the audience about the tragic love story of the immortal lovers, Heer and Ranjha.

“Deedo Ranjha belonged to the village of Takht Hazara. He came to the village of Jhang with a marriage procession and had a glimpse of Heer. Their eyes met and a new love story was born that has the power to tug at our heart strings even after centuries. We are presenting before you today a few touching scenes from this epic love story,” Anjali explained. “Arnav Singh Raizada is playing the role of Ranjha and Khushi Kumari Gupta is his Heer.”

The applause was deafening.

Anjali looked anxiously at Nani and Mami. What if this did not work? What if Khushiji left the next morning to take up employment in Kanpur, leaving behind a Chotey who was a bear with a sore head on normal days and could be trusted to be unbearable if Khushiji left him with a broken heart.

“Chill, Di. Thandai ho jaao. Nannav will never let Khushiji go,” NK reassured her.

“I hope so, NK Bhai,” Anjali whispered.

“Nannav is a bewapoof, but not that big a bewapoof,” NK stated. “Everything will be perfect at the end of the play.”

“Tumhare muh mein ghee shakkar,” Anjali blessed him in gratitude.

“No!” NK exclaimed. “Who eats plain ghee and shakkar, Di? Make some sweet with them. Then I will have it.”

Anjali hit her head with her hand.

Section 18

The curtains lifted.

The audience saw a garden with lush trees and flowering creepers.

 Friends of Heer entered the stage to play blind man’s buff and amidst laughter tied a red silk scarf around Heer’s eyes. They teased her, provoked her, pulled her dupatta and the hem of her kurta, safe in the knowledge that she was helpless, blind.

“Where are you, Lajjo?” Heer tried to feel the air around her to locate her friends. She heard a hidden giggle from the left and moved towards the sound, stumbling in her eagerness.

Suddenly a hand caught her arm and steadied her.

Heer removed the blindfold and looked in to Ranjha’s face.

“Who are you?” she asked, astonished.

“Ranjha from Takht Hazara,” he replied, his eyes devouring her beautiful form.

“You were at the wedding, weren’t you? What are you doing, staying back here in Jhang?” Heer asked, alarmed. “Don’t you know that you will be killed if the elders know that you are from Takht Hazara?”

“You have already slain me, beautiful maiden. I have nothing more to lose,” Ranjha replied. “I caught a glimpse of you at the wedding, just a glance,” Ranjha whispered. “One look at you and my heart was lost.”

The silk scarf fell from her fingers. She stood staring at him, enthralled.

Heer’s friends came running.

“Heer, who is this?” they asked.

Heer looked at Ranjha helplessly.

Ranjha said, “I am Ranjha, a slave of your friend, Heer.”

The girls giggled. “She has sixty maids to serve her, Ranjha. She doesn’t need you,” they teased him.

“But I need her,” Ranjha stated.

“Why don’t you befriend us? We don’t have rich fathers and strong brothers like Heer does. Leave her,” the girls tried to dissuade him, laughing at his plight.

“How can I leave her who is the soul in my body, the breath that animates me, the beat of my heart?” Ranjha asked.

“You are mad,” Heer murmured, stealing glances at him.

“I am madly in love with you, Heer. Ranjha is yours, body and soul, whether you want him or not,” Ranjha assured her.

“Take pity on him, Heer. After all, your beauty is responsible for his madness,” Lajjo laughed.

“Let’s go,” Heer tried to persuade her friends, who took no notice of her.

“Where will you stay in Jhang, stranger?” her friends asked.

“In Heer’s heart,” Ranjha said in a soft voice.

“Heer, give him another place to stay,” Lajjo suggested with a smile. “Talk to your father. He never refuses you.”

“Will you live here as a shepherd, Ranjha?” Heer asked doubtfully, her eyes on his rich costume.

“I will live as a beggar as long as it is on the land you reside, Heer,” Ranjha replied.

“Will you abandon your village and family to stay here?” Heer asked, surprised.

“I will give up this world to follow you, Heer,” Ranjha asserted.

Heer stood lost in his loving look, mesmerised by his love for her.

The curtain fell.

Heer knocked on Ranjha’s door. The music from his flute came to a sudden end.

“Who is there?” Ranjha asked.

“I,” Heer replied.

“Who is I?” he asked.

“How many girls do you know who bring you roti and lassi at work?” Heer asked, a frown on her face.

“Many. Too many to count,” Ranjha teased, opening the door to see Heer standing there.

Heer gasped. “Acha? You have ensnared so many girls on your travels? You play the flute to lure maidens, don't you? It is not to keep track of the buffaloes!” she accused him, turning to leave in a huff.

Ranjha caught hold of her arm and tugged her close to him.

“Heer, don’t leave me. I was just teasing you,” Ranjha said.

Heer turned her face away in a huff.

“Don’t turn your head away from me, Kh..Heer,” Ranjha said. “Don’t take affront at my careless words, my heart.”

Khushi’s eyes widened. These dialogues were not part of the script. What was happening here?

Ranjha cupped her chin and turned her face toward him. “Your innocence slays me, Heer,” he murmured. “Quick to anger, quick to melt, do you know how captivating you are?”

Heer looked at him suspiciously.

“I have never seen a maiden like you, Heer,” he soothed her.

“That is because there is only one of me,” she replied practically.

“And you are the only one for me, the queen of my heart,” Ranjha assured her.

Heer looked doubtful.

“I am no poet, no deceiver with an armoury of practiced flattery and honeyed words, Heer. I am...I am just Ranjha...just a man. I..I may not always find the right words, I may tease you, anger you, hurt you...but Heer, my heart is true, my love for you is genuine. I see to see you. I listen to hear your voice. I speak so that you may hear. I touch to feel you. I eat to taste food made by your hands. Don’t leave me and go away. My world holds only you, Kh..Heer,” Ranjha said.

Khushi gaped. What the! She looked around like someone drowning fast, pulled down in to whirlpool. What was she supposed to say? Why was he changing the script? Had her copy of dialogues missed a page or more?

She looked at his waiting face and at the eager faces in the audience. She had to say something, anything. “Can I believe you?” Heer asked after swallowing the boulder lodged in her throat.

“As much as you believe that my heart beats,” Ranjha said, bringing her palm to lie against his thundering heart.

Heer looked in to his eyes for a long moment. Ranjha tugged her close to him and laid her head against his heart, his strong arms shackling her to him.

 Khushi squirmed. What was Arnavji doing?

“I will never let you go, Kh..Heer,” he vowed. “I cannot do without you. My world begins and ends with you.”

“Ranjha,” Khushi quivered. Why was Arnavji deviating from the dialogues they had practised? There was no hug in the play. She poked a finger in his ribs to remind ASR that they were on a stage and their families were watching them avidly. Not to mention a few hundred guests.

“Heer,” his murmur was a promise, his arms the bars of a prison.

The ladies in the audience sighed in pleasure. To find such a devoted lover in real life may be an impossibility, but they could lose themselves in Heer-Ranjha for a couple of hours.

Khushi tried to free herself from his hold but to no avail. Heer should have learnt karate if her Ranjha was half the pest ASR was, Khushi thought.

“Don’t leave me,” he whispered, holding her softness closer to him.

Khushi looked up.  Ye kya ho raha he, Devi Maiyya? she asked.

Anjali, Nani and Mami looked at the rapt faces of the Guptas. Would such open display of affection turn them against Arnav? the Raizadas worried. But there was nothing on their faces to denote disapproval.

Buaji looked at Nani and said, “Arnav babua is a very good actor, Nandksore! He will vanquish the phillum heroes if given a chance.”

“Haan, Jiji. It is almost as if he is living the role of Ranjha,” Garima added, her face suffused with pride at her Arnav babua’s talent.

The Raizadas smiled in relief.

“What are you doing, Arnavji?” Khushi hissed in his ear.

“Telling you what I should have told you a month back,” ASR whispered.

Khushi looked at him slack-jawed.

Heer ran from one end of the stage to the other to join Ranjha who was busying himself with his flute.

“You are late,” Ranjha said.

Khushi pursed her lips. He had to say this here too?

She put her hands on her hips and began, “Yes, I am late. And I will be late every night. Because I have to wait till everyone in the house is asleep before sneaking out to meet you.” Khushi glared at him. If he could change the words, she could too. This was a free country and she too had freedom of speech.

ASR’s eyes twinkled with joy.

“All you have to do is wear shimmering costumes and sit under the moon, playing your flute. I have to steal food from the kitchen, hide it under my bed, make sure that all lights are out and all have gone to bed before I can steal out with dinner for you,” she complained, sitting down beside him. “If you find waiting too cumbersome, you can pack your bags and return to your Takht Hazara or whatever,” she said, fanning herself.

Running was hard work.

Ranjha pinched Heer’s chin. “Don’t take offence, my Heer,” he said.

“Then don’t give offence,” she retorted.

ASR’s lips quirked.

He threw his arm around Heer’s shoulders and pulled her to lie against him. Khushi looked at him with wary eyes.

“The night is fast turning to dawn, my beloved,” Ranjha whispered. “Let’s not waste any more time in useless arguments. Let’s enjoy the few moments we have together.” He laced her fingers with his.

She rested her head against his shoulder awkwardly.

“The moon is so beautiful,” Heer quoted from the script.

“Not more beautiful than you, Heer,” Ranjha responded. “If I could hold time still, if I could stop the passage of time, I would. This night would never end, tomorrow would never dawn.” He dropped kisses on her dupatta-covered hair. “Then you would never leave me.”

Khushi moved restlessly in his arms.

This Heer wouldn’t need to eat a poisoned laddoo to die. She was more likely to die of shock before the play ended, she thought. ASR-Ranjha was more unpredictable than the weather. Where did he get all these lines from? she wondered. What was he doing? Was this ASR? Had Ranjha’s bhooth entered ASR’s body?

Heer sat in her room, letting her friends dress her up for her wedding with Ranjha. Her shy eyes looked at her figure in the mirror and she blushed as the girls made fun of her. After years of strife and toil, she was to be joined in marriage to Ranjha with the permission of the Raja and her family. They could finally be one; all the dreams they had seen together could now become reality.

Her lame uncle, Kaido entered the room, offering sweets to her, asking her to let bygones be bygones. Heer took one laddoo and bit in to it. Her uncle left and her friends began to drift away to see if the baraat was arriving at their mansion.

Heer swayed, the poison in the laddoo spreading through her. She clutched her throat and fell to the ground, the half-eaten laddoo held firmly within her fingers.

Her friends ran to her, their screams of horror resounding in the mansion.

Ranjha entered the mansion and in to Heer’s room to see her corpse on the floor.

“Heer!” he exclaimed in shock.

He rushed to her side and fell to his knees by her prone, lifeless figure. Frantic, he shook her, tried to see if she was breathing.

"Heer, wake up, talk to me. Heer!" he  pleaded.

Heer's body lay lifeless in his arms.

"Heer, don't do this to me right now," he scolded her. "Get up, we have to get married. Open your eyes right now. It is an order," Ranjha demanded.

A dead Heer frowned. ASR was giving orders to a corpse?

Ranjha shook Heer again only to realise that she was indeed dead.

"I don't want to live in a world in which you don't exist, Heer," he wept. Tears streaming down his cheeks, he took a bite of the laddoo in her hand.

Ranjha said,

“Heer, Main Tumhare Bina Jee Nahin Sakta....

Heer, I can't live without you...
Tumhare Bina Ranjha Kuch Nahin He, Heer......

Ranjha is nothing without you, Heer...
Agar Tum Nahin, To Main Nahin......

If you die, so do I...

Jab Jo Bura Kahaa, Uska Koi Matlab Nahin,

The abuses I showered on you mean nothing,

Jab Jo Bura Kia, Uska Koi Matlab Nahin,

My abusive actions against you, they mean nothing,

Iss Pyaar Main Sahi aur Galat Ka Koi Matlab Nahin,

Right and wrong are meaningless in this love,

Bas Ek Cheez Ka Matlab He,

Only one thing matters,

Ki Main Hamesha Hamesha  Tumse Pyaar Karoonga, Khushi.”

That I will always, always love you, Khushi.

Ranjha dropped dead beside Heer.

The curtains fell to thunderous applause.

Khushi’s eyes flew open. She turned her head to look at ASR. As she watched his lashes lifted and he looked at her.

“What just happened here?” she asked, furious. “I am Heer, not Khushi.”

“If you are Heer, then I am Ranjha. If you are Khushi, then I am your Arnavji,” he stated.

“What is wrong with you?” she asked, angry, fed up, at the end of her tether. She stood up.

ASR joined her. “I love you,” he said.

She stared at him for a long moment. Then she said, “I am not Heer anymore. The play is over. The guests will go home. The men will take down the curtains and remove the chairs. You will go back to being ASR and I will be Khushi.”

“I love you, Khushi,” he said.

“I don’t believe you,” Khushi said flatly. “Arnavji, this is real life, not a play.”

“I know this is real life and for the first time I am glad of it. You don’t believe me, do you? Good. That gives me opportunities to prove myself to you,” ASR declared.

He turned to NK standing by the curtain cord.

“Lift the curtain, NK,” he instructed.

NK pulled at the rope without a moment's hesitation. The curtain lifted.

Khushi stared at the crowd with wide eyes. She and Arnavji had already satyanaashed the play. Now what was left? Why were they still on the stage? Khushi sent one murderous look at ASR and then turned to leave.

ASR caught hold of her arm and stopped her.

“What are you doing, Arnavji?” she bit out under her breath.

As she watched, ASR went down on one knee before her.

 Khushi stared at him, her hand clutching her heart.

 What was wrong with him? Were his legs hurting him? Or had he dropped something on stage? Or was he sick? Did he need help to get up? Khushi bent to help him up. “Arnavji, udd jaayiye. Sab dekh rahe hein,” she whispered.

“Will you marry me, Khushi?” he asked.

The crowd gasped. Khushi gasped more than the crowd.

The Guptas stared at the drama on stage with open mouths.

“Garima, Heer-Ranjha is over, isn’t it?” Buaji asked.

“Yes, Jiji. They died. And Babua called her Khussi, not Heer,” Garima was confused. “What is happening here?”

“Khushi Kumari Gupta, I love you more than Ranjha loved Heer. Will you marry me?” ASR asked.

She stared in to his earnest eyes with wet eyes. “Are you sure, Arnavji?” she asked.

“More sure than I have ever been in my life,” he said, his eyes tender but determined. “I will follow you to Kanpur if you say no, Khushi. And plague you till the end of time, stalk you, follow you around and beg you to marry me till you get tired of saying no,” he threatened.

She laughed through her tears.

“I am no prize, Khushi,” he admitted. “And  no one knows this more than you.”

She smiled and nodded, her cheeks wet.

“But I love you with everything I have. I...I promise, Khushi. I will never leave you alone, never. This is no ego trip, no game, no power struggle. Will you marry me?” he asked.

She nodded, smiling even though her cheeks were wet.

“You will?” he confirmed.

“Yes, Arnavji,” Khushi whispered.

Arnav kissed Khushi's hand.

A loud cry of approval rose from the crowd. Nani, Mami and Anjali clung to each other crying.

Arnav hugged Khushi, unable to believe that she had agreed to marry him.

 The Guptas smiled slowly.

“Arnav bitwaa wants to marry Titliyya, Nandkisore?” Buaji clarified. “Really?”

“Lagat to aisen hi he, Jiji,” Garima whispered, wiping tears of joy. “Jiji, zara sochiye, our Arnav bitwaa will be our own damadji.”

Bujai’s face bloomed with a wide smile. “Now we can pamper him with a free hand, Garima,” she crowed.

“And Payaliyya and Khussi will be together, Jiji,” Garima wiped tears of joy.

“I never dreamed that Arnav babua...” Buaji murmured. “Nandkisore ki jai ho!”

“Our Khussi is so lucky!” Garima remarked, thrilled at her daughter’s good fortune.

Section 19

Switty Tera Pyaar: Dedicated to ASR-Ranjha & Khushi-Heer

As soon as the Guptas gave them permission to marry and all the ladies of both families cried all over them, Arnav dragged Khushi behind him and took her to the room she had dressed in and shut and bolted the door.

“Arnavji, what are you doing?” she asked, astonished.

“I want to talk to you,” he enlightened her.

“Kisssss baarey mein?” she stammered, the look in his incendiary eyes warning her that his ‘talk’ might be hazardous to her mental and emotional health.

“You will know soon enough,” he said softly, slowly freeing her from her cumbersome necklace and heavy earrings.

“Sh...shukriya,” she whispered.

He moved closer to her.

Khushi stepped back till she hit the wall.

He stopped a couple of inches away from her.

His gentle hand touched her cheek and slowly drew a line down its plumpness.

She looked at him with wide eyes, her lips parted, her fingers clutching the folds of her skirt.

“The first moment I saw you, Khushi...” he whispered.

Her eyes widened.

“I couldn’t take my eyes off you. Your smile, your eyes, your joy in your sister’s happiness, your voice...I was in thrall, Khushi,” he said, lifting a strand of hair from her cheek and tucking it behind her ear.

“I wanted to trap you in my arms, carry you away that moment,” he whispered, his hand cupping her face. He leaned his forehead against hers. “I don’t know how I controlled myself that day, Khushi. If you had not agreed to work with me, I wouldn’t have left your house that day,” he confessed.

“Aap bhi?” Khushi murmured in shock.

ASR looked in to her shocked eyes with keen ones.

“I thought it was just me,” she continued artlessly.

“No, it was both of us,” ASR murmured in understanding, his lips pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“I..I was so happy to come to your office,” Khushi said in a low voice. “Buaji and Amma thought I was mad.”

ASR smiled, his lips rewarding her with kisses on her cheeks.

“I came early every morning, lay in waiting for you,” he admitted. He had nothing to hide from her.

“I was impatient to get to you, Arnavji,” Khushi’s admission slipped out.

His eager lips claimed her chin in reward.

“I attended all the rituals of Payal and Akash’s wedding just to see you, spend time with you,” he confessed.

“I could feel your eyes on me every moment of every day at the office, at your house...” Khushi panted.

He kissed the corner of her lips.

“I dreamed of you every night, every single night,” he kissed her nose pin.

“You were all I thought about, every day, every night,” Khushi panted.

His lips covered hers, claiming the curves gently and then lifting to hover over their pink plumpness.

Khushi dragged in air. She looked at the sinfully delicious lips above hers and then at his burning eyes.

“Khushi,” he murmured in his husky, needy voice.

She threw her arms around his shoulders and pushed herself closer to him, almost rocking him off balance. Her eager but novice lips found his. He cradled her face and positioned her to savour the kiss.

They parted for air reluctantly, each eager for the other, desperate in their need for each other. Khushi tightened her arms around his neck and curled her legs around his.

His hands moved down from her face to her neck, down to her shoulders and down her arms. Khushi shivered in response, her neck falling back against the wall as a tsunami of sensations attacked her frail body.

“Each time I saw you, I wanted to kiss you,” he whispered against the sensitive skin of her arched neck.

Khushi trembled in his arms.

“I don’t know how I managed to stop myself,” he revealed.

His hands clasped her hips and pulled her closer to him. She jerked as she felt his hands moving up her waist and higher.

“Arnavji,” she croaked.

“It was one month of torture, Khushi, watching you through the glass wall and longing for you. I was scared of telling you how I felt..I couldn’t find the words...I was fearful that you saw me as your Jiji’s Jetji and nothing more,” he blurted out.

Khushi coiled her arms around him, trying to absorb him in to her being. “Arnavji, I never knew...” she said in an undertone.

ASR kissed her throat as though he were starving for a taste of her. He bit her lightly at the base of her neck and then laved the spot with his tongue.

Khushi moaned in excitement, her nails biting in to his kurta-clad shoulders.

“Nannav, Khushiji,” came the call ASR was dreading.

He sighed, lifted his face from Khushi’s neck and asked, “Now what?”

“Nannav, they are deciding the date for your wedding. Di is planning an elaborate event and Maasi wants to invite the whole of Delhi and Lucknow,” NK warned.

“What the!” ASR growled.

“Bhai, if you want to get married anytime this year, you will have to talk to them,” Akash suggested.

“I will be there. You go down and wait for me,” ASR instructed his brothers.

They left.

He looked at Khushi’s dishevelled form with rueful eyes. Her dupatta was lying on the ground. Her hair was partly out of its knot. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips red and swollen. She looked loved, thoroughly loved.

His finger touched her lips. She shuddered.

“I have to go down,” he said in a muted tone, reluctant to leave her even for a second.

Khushi smiled shakily. “I have to go home,” she breathed.

“No, stay back,” he pleaded.

“I can’t,” Khushi sighed, cupping his lean cheek in one soft hand. "We aren't married yet."

“After we are married, Khushi, I won’t let you leave me, ever,” he laid down the law.

Khushi smiled.

He took one last look at her and turned to leave the room. He had to go down and knock some sense in to his family. He wanted to marry Khushi within a week and there was no way he would let them drag it out to next year. He had already wasted one month as it was.

He placed his hand on the bolt and turned back to look at his life once more.

“After we are married, Arnavji, I won’t let you leave me, ever,” Khushi stated, her eyes shining with love.

He swallowed.

“Don’t let me, Khushi. Don’t ever let go of me, Khushi,” he pleaded.

Khushi ran across the room and threw herself at him. His arms coiled around her waist and lifted her against him.

“Come down with me?” he asked. “I don’t want to be away from you for a moment,” he asked softly.

Khushi nodded.

Heer and her Ranjha walked down hand in hand to fix their wedding date.