Part 27
Khushi
walked home slowly with Buaji and Payal, the wheels in her head turning
furiously to come up with an explanation for the necklace. She tried to cover
it with her dupatta but knew that even if she succeeded in fooling Buaji, she would still have
to answer her Jiji’s queries once they were settled in bed.
“Titliyya,
chup kyon ho, Nandkisore?” Buaji asked at her unnatural silence. “Has hunger
turned you speechless?”
Khushi
smiled weakly.
“We will
reach home in a minute, Khushi,” Payal
consoled her. “I will serve food for you as soon as we get home.”
Khushi
nodded, her fingers touching the expensive necklace lying under the dupatta
like a serpent around her neck. She drew in a deep breath to compose herself.
That Wily Singh Raizada! What could she do with him?
“It was so
nice to meet the Raizadas in the temple, Nandkisore!” Buaji remarked
contentedly.
Payal
nodded her agreement.
“Such a
sanskaari family, just like our Arnav bitwaa and Shyamji,” Buaji opined.
Khushi’s
eyes flew open in alarm.
Buaji had fallen in love with the Raizadas? What would
she do if that Impetuous Singh Raizada dragged his family to her house and
proposed marriage? Khushi touched her forehead with her hand in panic. Buaji
adored him and liked his family. ‘If they come home with his proposal, Khushi
Kumari Gupta, you will find yourself married to him whether you want to or
not,’ she warned herself. ‘Your own Buaji will tie your arms behind you, gag
you and lay you down at that Gabbar Singh Raizada’s feet.’
She
clutched her heart. She had to pre-empt him, present the case before Buaji
before he did. She thought of the ways and means to do this as she entered her
house.
“Let’s have
dinner,” Buaji invited the girls. They abandoned their thali, washed up and
joined Buaji at the table.
Khushi
stared at the food on her plate, devising tactics to defeat Villain Singh
Raizada at his own game.
Once the
Guptas were seated in the living room after clearing the table, Buaji noticed
the necklace.
“Khussi,
when did you buy this? Kitne ka he? Did you get it in the fancy store near Vimla’s
house?” Buaji asked. “Lagta bilkul sona he, Nandkisore! How cleverly people
make imitations these days!”
Payal
looked at Khushi, waiting for an explanation. Khushi had left the house for the
temple without the necklace around her neck. Where had she gotten it from?
Khushi drew
in a deep breath to still her heart. Take this, Smug Singh Raizada, she
thought.
“Buaji, I
told you that a man had proposed to me,” Khushi began.
“Yes,
Titliyaa. Don’t worry about it. Arnav bitwaa knows the boy. He said that the
boy will never hurt you, Nandkisore,” Buaji consoled Khushi.
Her mouth
fell open. When had that Manipulative Singh Raizada managed to make himself her
protector in Buaji’s eyes?
“Tum bilkul
chinta mat karo, Sanka Devi. Arnav bitwaa sab kuch theek kar dega,” Buaji
patted her shoulder.
Khushi
imagined herself hitting a smirking Abominable Singh Raizada on the head with a
pillow...or something harder.
“The boy
came to the temple today,” Khushi said baldly. She would show him what she was
made of. “He made me wear the necklace. I think it is made of gold.”
Buaji
gasped. Payal stared at Khushi as though she had never seen her before.
“He told
his family that he wants to marry me. They came to the temple today to meet
me,” Khushi stated.
“Kaun,
Nandkisore? How come we didn’t see them?” Buaji gasped.
“The bheed,
Buaji. The temple was very crowded,” Payal muttered.
“They
should have come and met me,” Buaji declared. “You are not an orphan for them
to approach you. I am still alive, Nandkisore! I want to know who will marry my
niece without my permission or knowledge!”
Khushi took
a deep breath. It was a big gamble, but there was no other way out.
“You met
them,” Khushi said.
Buaji
frowned.
“Paheli mat
bujhao, Khushi,” Payal said, distressed.
“The
Raizadas,” Khushi muttered.
“Hein?”
Buaji exclaimed.
Payal
collapsed in her chair.
“The
Raizadas?” Buaji’s eyes widened in astonishment. “Who is the boy?”
“Your Arnav
babua,” Khushi admitted.
Buaji
clutched her heart. “Arnav babua?” she asked, her voice almost inaudible.
Payal
gasped, “Arnavji sent you the sari? And gave you this necklace? Khushi, are you
sure?”
Khushi
grimaced. Would she lie about something like this?
“Arnav
babua wants to marry you? Why, Nandkisore?” Buaji asked, unable to believe that
her pagal niece could catch the eye of such a suljha hua gentleman like Arnav babua.
“He is
mad,” said Sanka Devi.
Buaji and
Payal looked at each other.
“You are
calling him mad?” Payal asked. “You?”
“Yes. He is
crazier than me, Jiji,” Khushi declared. She yelped as she felt Buaji take firm
hold of her ear.
“Buaji,
chodiye hamein,” Khushi squealed like a stuck pig.
“How dare
you call Arnav babua a goonda? He is a kidnapper, hein? He kidnaps girls for
fun, does he Nandkisore?” Buaji fumed. “I told him that he was a goonda!” she
lamented. “You Parmeswari!”
“He is a
goonda, Buaji,” Khushi affirmed, struggling to free her ear from Buaji’s
unyielding fingers. “He kidnapped me.”
“Hein?”
Shock made Buaji let go of Khushi’s ear.
“Buaji,
baith jaayiye. I have a lot to tell you,” Khushi sighed. She made Buaji sit
down beside her and narrated the kidnapping and the reason for it.
Buaji hit
her head. “Arnav babua’s sister thought that you and Shyamji were having an avaid rishta?” Her eyes were round in
shock.
Khushi
nodded.
“And Arnav
babua believed her?” Buaji felt heart-broken.
“He didn’t
know me then, Buaji,” Khushi found herself defending Criminal Singh Raizada. “I
told him I was innocent. He didn’t believe me. So I phoned Shyamji, made your
Arnav babua take me to his house where Shyamji was and cleared up the mess in
the presence of his family.”
“Acha kiya,
Nandkisore,” Buaji sighed in relief and hugged Khushi. “You are pagal, sanki
and on most days you eat my bheja. But no one can call you immoral or lacking
in manners. Arnav bitwaa galti kiye rahe, bahut bada galti kiye rahe.”
Khushi and
Payal nodded.
“He wants
me to forgive him, Buaji. He apologised many times, but I,” she swallowed. “He
proposed to me because he feels bad about what he said and did.”
Buaji and
Payal looked at her, their eyes serious.
“I don’t
like his family and I don’t want anything to do with a man who wants to marry
me to atone for his mistakes, Buaji, Jiji,” Khushi said in a low voice.
Buaji and
Payal looked at her in silence for a long moment.
Then Buaji
asked, “He sent you the flowers, didn’t he?”
Khushi
nodded.
“The sari?”
Payal asked.
“Yes,”
Khushi admitted.
“And now
this necklace, Nandkisore?” Buaji asked.
Khushi
nodded, leaving out the jalebi. Why clutter the issue?
“Return it,
Titliyya,” Buaji said. Payal added, “Yes, Khushi. It is too expensive a gift.”
Khushi
smiled, relieved. “Don’t worry, Buaji. I will courier it to him tomorrow
morning.”
Buaji
heaved a big sigh. “How could Arnav bitwaa think that you were a bad girl, Nandkisore?
Let me see him. I will ask him how he could believe that Madhumati Gupta’s
niece could do such ghatiya deeds.”
Khushi took
the opportunity she had been handed. “Buaji, he may come here with his family.”
“Hein?”
Buaji asked, surprised.
“To make a
formal proposal,” Khushi warned them.
Payal and
Buaji stared at her.
“Please
refuse them, Buaji. I don’t want to marry in to Shyamji’s family. I don’t want
to live with his family,” Khushi appealed.
“Devyaniji
and Manoramaji seem alright,” Buaji muttered in all fairnesss. “Manoharji too
seemed a gentleman. Shyamji is a good man, Nandkisore.”
Khushi
pursed her lips. She tried again. “They are very rich, Buaji. You should see
their house. It is larger than, larger than...” Khushi looked for a comparison
and failed. “It is like Salman Khanji’s house in his phillums, bilkul like a palace. We are a very ordinary family
living in Laxmi Nagar. I won’t fit in there.”
Buaji
nodded slowly. “Arnav bitwaa...” she wailed. “I never thought he was such a
fool, Nandkisore!”
Khushi grit
her teeth. He was not just a fool. He was much more but she could not sully
Buaji’s ears with her views on Rogue Singh Raizada.
Part 28
Khushi
looked at Payal who was sleeping soundly, curled up under her blanket.
She looked
down at the necklace in her hands. It was beautiful, very beautiful and maybe very
expensive, worth more money that she had set her eyes on in her entire life. And
it belonged to his mother who had died in his childhood. Her fingers closed
around the piece.
She slowly
placed it in a jewellery box and fastened the lock. Should she courier it to
him? Or should she hand it over to Shyamji? Thinking about the appropriate way
of getting the necklace to its owner, she placed in in her cupboard under her
clothes and locked it.
She crawled
in to bed.
That man!
That Sneaking Singh Raizada! He had carried out a stealth raid on her defences
today, she thought. Her cheeks tingled where his warm, hard lips had pressed in
to her plump fulness. The skin of her neck burned where his fingers had trailed.
His fingers should be imprisoned for causing such a hulchul in her, she thought. Not just his fingers. His lips too. And his eyes....Khushi
turned her head to bury her face in her pillow. Her days were spent battling
him and now he was taking over her nights too? Hey Devi Maiyya!, she called
silently.
She woke up
the next morning, freshened up and strolled in to the kitchen to help Buaji.
“Take bath
and dress, Titliyya. Don’t you have to go to the office today?” Buaji asked.
“Let the
office open, Buaji. I will take the box and courier it,” Khushi replied.
Buaji hit
her on the head. “Not the courier’s office, Khussi. Shyamji’s office. Don’t you
have to go to work?”
Khushi
jumped, her frantic eyes rushing to the clock.
“Buaji, I
am late,” Khushi yelled, running towards the bathroom as Payal left it.
“Khushi,
are you going to take bath without fresh clothes?” Payal teased her.
“Hey Devi
Maiyya! Raksha karna,” Khushi pleaded as she turned direction and ran for her
clothes.
Khushi
returned in a few minutes, all bathed and dressed. She had no time to tie her
hair. She left it unbound.
Payal stuffed a paratha in to her mouth as Khushi looked for her jootis. She hung her bag across her trunk after placing the box with the necklace in it. Then she ran to open the door, still chewing. Payal ran after her, holding a glass of milk.
Payal stuffed a paratha in to her mouth as Khushi looked for her jootis. She hung her bag across her trunk after placing the box with the necklace in it. Then she ran to open the door, still chewing. Payal ran after her, holding a glass of milk.
Khushi
pulled open the door and stood transfixed, as though struck by a thunderbolt.
“Kya hua,
Khushi?” Payal asked. She peeked over Khushi’s shoulder and gasped.
Their yard
was covered with flowering plants in pots. It looked like a sea of colour.
“Yeh kaa
he, Nandkisore?” Buaji asked in bewilderment over their heads.
“Looks like
Arnavji was busy last night, Buaji,” Payal quipped, hiding a smile.
“So many
plants? How did he bring them here and arrange them in our yard at night
without making a sound, Nandkisore?” Buaji wondered.
Khushi was
incapable of speech.
“Madhumatiji?”
Kamla Chachi was on detective duty. “When did you buy these plants? Where did
you buy them from? Hamein bhi bataayiye. I will ask Chunnu’s father to buy us a
few. Do they deliver the plants or do we have to carry them home?”
Buaji hit
her hand on her head. “Now what reply shall I give her?” she muttered
softly.
Khushi knew
what reply to give and whom to give it to. She marched out of the house, ready
to do battle.
A red rose bush hooked its thorn in her dupatta and stopped her as though urging her to think twice.
A red rose bush hooked its thorn in her dupatta and stopped her as though urging her to think twice.
Khushi
turned around to glare at the roses on the plant.
She bent to
break one red rose from its stem. She then flounced out holding the rose in her
hand like Emperor Akbar.
She flagged
down a rickshaw.
“Bhaiyya,
please take me to Shantivan,” she requested, giving him the address.
She rang
the bell with a finger trembling in fury.
Hari
Prakash opened it and looked at Goddess Durga standing at the door step but with a
red rose in her hand.
“Is Arnav
Singh Raizada at home?” Khushi bit out.
“Yes,
please come in. I will inform Arnav bhaiyya,” HP invited her in, wondering if
the beautiful girl had come to gift a red rose to the khadoos of the century.
He looked at her in wonder, fully appreciative of her mettle and pluck. “Arnav
Bhaiyya is having his breakfast. Will you wait in the living room?” HP asked.
Khushi
walked in without bothering to reply. Like a heat-seeking missile, she moved towards
the dining space.
Silence
fell over the table as all stared at Khushi who was glaring at Arnav.
He looked up
to see her. His eyes softened. His lips relaxed in a smile. His gaze ran over
her with possessiveness and masculine interest to linger on the red rose she
was clutching as though it were his neck and she were strangling him.
“How can I get her to agree to marry me?” he wondered.
(Bhooma Sriram, my pal, I owe you one for this edit!)
Darlings, Rash & I will be taking a week off. Will be back by the end of the first week of Oct. Hoping to see you all then.