209. OS 10: An Unexpected Visitor (Part 17)

Link to my new short story: Taking Care of You


“I thought I was dreaming when I first saw you," he said.

 “How did you know it was me?” she asked. “I could have been anybody. A thief even.”

He smiled wearily. “I don’t know many thieves who would look at me with anxious eyes and then cry because I was sick,” he mumbled.

Is it possible for love to bloom, sight unseen? Juhi and Abhay are strangers who know each other better than they know themselves. One night changes the equation and the even tenor of their lives and puts all their doubts and fears to rest.

http://pothi.com/pothi/book/ebook-smita-ramachandran-taking-care-you

Link to my first e-novel; A Home for Meenakshi

http://pothi.com/pothi/book/ebook-smita-ramachandran-home-meenakshi

"I love the way you love, Meenu," he whispered, his eyes on hers. "Such loyalty, such passion..."

Meenakshi Sharma, an orphan, lives in Varanasi with her uncle, a chronic bachelor who wants her to become a professional musician. She unwillingly relocates to Delhi to study under a renowned musician for eight months. Staying for rent in the outhouse of the Agrawals, she meets Aditya Agrawal, an attractive young man brooding over the memories of his horrendous past. Pulled between her uncle's expectations of her and Aditya's love for her, Meenakshi struggles with her feelings. How can she disappoint her uncle who had devoted his entire life to her upbringing? How can she pretend to be blind to Aditya's feelings for her? A romance that moves between the alleys of the holy city of Varanasi and the modern city of Delhi.

A blog for my VMs:

http://smitarsvms.blogspot.in/

Part 17

The sagai was to be a family-only event, much to Arnav’s relief. He truly did not relish being the cynosure of all eyes, especially the eyes of matrons wondering how a crusty old bachelor like him had won such a sweet girl who radiated joy as her name suggested.

“Arnav bitwaa, are you ready?” Mami asked, fluttering her lashes at him.

Arnav stared at her speechlessly for a moment. She was in blue and pink and looked like a fully-decked Christmas tree in all its glory. But that was not the object that caught his eye.

“Kaa hua, Arnav bitwaa? Thinking of Khussi, Hello Hi Bye Bye?” Mami asked to tease him. “Saasumma, if he ijj like this for his sagai, how will he be after marriage? Totally gumshuda!”

Nani and Anjali laughed. Akash cracked a smile.

“Mami?” Arnav croaked. “What is that red flower doing on your head?”

“Red phlower?” Mami asked, frowning. She slowly lifted her hand and looked for the culprit perching on her hair. She pulled out the red peony with a gasp.

“How did you come to sit on Manorama Raijjada’s headwaa?” Mami asked the flower.

“Err.. Maate,” Akash stepped in. “The flower must have fallen from one of the decorations as you were walking beneath it.”

“Phir bhi! Look at her arrogance! To fall on my headwaa, Hello Hi Bye Bye!” Mami exclaimed.

Nani sighed, a smile playing on her lips. “The poor flower did not know that it was sitting on Mrs India’s hair, Manorama,” she goaded her daughter-in-law.

“Bhy didn’t you warn me, Anjali bitiyya?” Mami asked. “Bhat if Khussi and Madhumatiji had come in to see me like this? My naak would have been cut, Hello Hi Bye Bye!”

Anjali laughed. “I thought it was your new hairstyle, Mami,” she ribbed her aunt.

“Akash, is everything done?” Arnav asked, running an alert eye over the arrangements.

“Yes, bhai,” Akash smiled. “The bower is ready, the rings are ready, we are all set. Now we need just the bride and Buaji.”

“Yes,” Arnav muttered absently, his eyes running over the canopy of red roses, the glass and gold pillars, the crystal hangings... “She will be here in ten minutes,” he muttered absently.

There was something missing.

“Kya hua, Chotey?” Anjali asked.

“I—there is something,” he murmured.

“Kya, Arnav bitwaa?” Mami looked around curiously.

Suddenly it struck him.

“Akash, where are the red rose petals I ordered?” he asked brusquely.

“In the store,” Akash blinked behind his specs.

Arnav strode to the store with a sense of purpose.

Akash stumbled after him.

As the ladies watched in confusion, Arnav and Akash returned with baskets of petals.

Mami lifted a brow in enquiry. Akash shrugged. He had no idea what was going on, but whatever bhai wanted was OK with him.

As the ladies watched, Arnav began lining the path from the door to the bower with rose petals. Akash ran to help him.

“What the...?” Anjali’s voice trailed away.

“Khushi should walk on the petals,” Arnav muttered, frowning at the petals as he laid them in order. “Akash, make it fast. She will be here soon.”

Anjali gasped and leaned against Nani’s shoulder in a mock swoon. “Nani, hold me,” she pleaded, thrilled to the core. “What has happened to our Chotey? Is this our akhdoo, unromantic workaholic who is on his knees spreading rose petals for Khushiji to walk on?”

“Woh bhi red, Hello Hi Bye Bye!” Mami added.

Nani smiled in utter relief. “Devi Maiyya made our Khussi bitiyya just for him. Only she could reach out and touch his heart. Can you think of any other girl on earth for whom he would do this, even if we badgered and blackmailed him into it?”

“No, Nani,” Anjali shook her head.

“No, Saasumma,” Mami agreed. “Rose petals ko chodo! He wouldn’t give a girlwaa a glass of water if she were lying on the floor gasping like a dying machi!”

“That is our Khussi bitiyya,” Nani smiled, proud of the girl who was going to join their family.

"The candles should be in a line, away from Khushi. She may--will trip and fall on them," Arnav reminded himself softly, a smile on his lips, totally unaware of his family's reactions.

“Akass bitwaa,” Mami hissed.

Akash looked at his mother in inquiry.

“Phooto kheencho,” she instructed in a whisper. “You won’t get a scene like this anytime now, Hello Hi Bye Bye!”

“We will frame it and hang it along with their wedding photo,” Anjali suggested, mischief in her eyes.

Akash obediently took photos of an oblivious Arnav who was on his knees, scowling at the petals he was laying in a line. “Should we have a border of green?” he wondered aloud.

Akash did not bother to reply. He clicked snap after snap from different angles.

Arnav thankfully did not require a reply. He looked at the time on his phone. “She will be here soon,” he thought aloud.

“Chotey, this is enough. It looks beautiful. Khussi bitiyya will be delighted,” Nani smiled at him, sure of Khushi’s ability to find joy in the smallest of things.

Arnav smiled slowly. “Yes, she will,” he said softly.

Mami nudged Nani. “I hope she doesn’t knock him down in the rose petals, Saasumma,” Mami  whispered. "Bahut khatarnaak ladki he hamri bahuriyya."

Nani chuckled. “He won’t mind,” she replied.

Mami frowned. She called her son. “Akass bitwaa, bhere is your fathers?”

“He is with the decorators outside, Maate. Do you want me to call him?” Akash asked.

“Saasumma, it is unfair!” Mami cried. “Twenty-seven years hui gawa after our shaadi. Your son never made me a carpetwaa of roses,” she complained.

Nani and the others hid their amusement with effort.

Poor Manohar walked into the house, jumping to the side to avoid the rose petals laid out artistically.

“What happened in the house, Amma?” he asked innocently. “These flowers were not on the floor when I went out. Did someone spill the petals?”

Mami huffed. “Spill the petals?” she asked. “Our Arnav bitwaa did this for Khussi.”

Manohar frowned in confusion. “Why?” he asked.

Mami poked him in the stomach.

“Kaa kar rahi ho, Manorama?” Manohar gasped. “What happened to you? Why are you attacking me? What did I do?”

“Poochiye what you didn’t do,” Mami informed him. “Have you ever made a road of rose petals for me?” she asked.

“No,” Manohar admitted.

“Bhy not?” Mami asked. “That is what I am asking you.” She put her hands on her hips, all ready to do battle.

Manohar blinked. He looked at Arnav’s amused face. Why had his stoic, staid nephew transformed into a romantic Romeo? When had this miracle happened? He looked at the roses on the floor. Had someone done this in Shantivan before Arnav bitwaa met Khussi bitiyya, Arnav bitwaa would have asked them why they were dirtying the floor and cluttering up the room!!!! And told them it would take hours to clean!

All heard the sound of car doors slam.

Manohar heaved a sigh of relief.

“Khushi,” Arnav said softly.

All looked towards the door.

Khushi and Buaji appeared in sight. The Raizadas heard Arnav’s breath catch.