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......
Tumhare Bina Ranjha Kuch Nahin He, Heer......
Ranjha is nothing without you, Heer...
Agar Tum Nahin, To Main Nahin......
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.
