Mrs
Garima Gupta was busy furiously rolling out rotis for dinner, the
news coverage on the television still on and falling into her ears,
when the door bell rang..
The
rolling pin still in her hands she shut the television and moved to
open the door..
Khushi
widened her eyes as she saw the sight before her..was it really this
bad??..
Arnav
himself was not quite relieved at what greeted him..like, not that he
was expecting an aarti thaal or something, but seriously! Rolling
pin??
Mrs
Gupta was certainly etching out a very beautiful 'mother in law'
image for herself..greets daughter's future husband with rolling
pin..
Both
Arnav and Khushi heaved a sigh of relief as Mrs Gupta slowly handed
over the rolling pin to Payal who had come rushing down the stairs
hearing the doorbell...
there
was a terribly awkward silence which followed and then Garima
motioned the duo to enter inside..a wise move considering that by now
the entire colony was straining their eyes to pain trying to catch a
glimpse of the latest haps live..
"Khushi,
where is Rohit?"
"maa..Rohit..Rohit
and Supriya.." Khushi gulped..
"Rohit
and Supriya what Khushi?"
"they
went away together at the restaurant"
Mrs
Gupta widened her eyes.. "and what were you doing the while?"
"i
was..er..i mean we were talk-"
"i
see. You two were busy talking..i wonder why Rohit left now"
"mam
we-" Arnav interrupted..
"break
up was it Mr Raizada?"
"it
was meant to be but-"
"but
suddenly you changed mind and proposed to my daughter in glare of live
coverage by media"
"it
couldn't be helped"
"i
see..and I suppose so couldn't what followed the proposal"
this
time Arnav got the indirect reference to the PDA alright..and dare he
act ignorant..
"i
gave you my word that it would be either breakup or engagement in the next
24hours. Since circumstances didn't allow the breakup we publicly
declared the finalizing of our engagement"
Mrs
Gupta kept staring at him for a few moments
"and
may I know why the so called circumstances didn't favour the
breakup?"
Arnav
chose to remain silent..
Garima
sighed..
"well..i
am happy that at least you respected your word though your manner was
certainly unexpected..and I hope you two spare us of any other
shock..not a break up today, not a break up ever I hope..and pray"
Arnav
and Khushi simultaneously gulped at this blessing..
"have
a seat..i am just coming..."
Garima
had just made her way to the bedroom when someone rushed down the
stairs, skipping two at a time..
Arnav
looked confused at Nihal who cried out "LATTU!!" the next instant
and had his arms around Khushi..
[for
those who don't get it, Lattu is the hindi word for spinning
top..finally Khushi Kumari Gupta gets her own name]
Arnav
wondered whether this was another potential threat to her
relationship status..as he extended his hand towards Nihal..
"Nihaal
Gupta..pleased to meet you..again.."
Nihaal
shook his hand smiling..
"Lattu!
You never told me your cement pile was Arnav Singh Raizada!"
while
Arnav swallowed the 'cement pile' addressal with considerable effort
Khushi widened her eyes..
"you
both have met?"
"of
course we have! Just last October back in the States at a seminar"
"oh.."
Arnav
remembered him alright..MD of U.S branch of Ennova...who from no
angle looked or behaved like the MD of the U.S. Branch of Ennova..
"you
here?" he just asked him plainly..
"oh
yes" Nihaal replied "business work plus it had been two years
since I had met my Lattu"
he
hugged Khushi tighter
"as
if you have any time for me now" Khushi eyed him..
"oh
shut up" Nihaal replied..
"excuse
me, but you are..?" Arnav raised a questioning brow..
"Khushi's
cuz..and childhood mentor to her craziness"
cousin..relax
Arnav...cousin brother...
they
were still seated in the guest area when there was a ring on the door
and Nihaal immediately volunteered to check it out..
Arnav
, Khushi and Payal turned their heads together to see the new
entrants at the door..
and
widened their eyes at
the sight of Aakash Singh Raizda and dearest sister Anjali standing
before them..
Anjali
smiled a smile at Nihaal who reciprocated it vehemently, while Aakash
craned his neck to have a silent smiley hello with his surprised
bookworm...
"Cool!
Look who's here lattu! Partner in crime herself! How do you do?"
Arnav
who was about to say "di..you here?" stopped short at Nihaal's
referring to his sister as 'partner in crime' and widened his eyes at
Nihaal and then at Anjali..
"di!
You've met him??"
"um..ya
chotte..but 'partner' in crime has nothing got to do with it, rather
it should be 'witness' to crime..right Nihaal?"
"redeemed
crime mind you! And this is..?" he raised inquiring eyebrows at
akash who extended his hand to him..
"Aakash
Singh Raizada"
"so
YOU are fire extinguisher!"
this
was the second time it was happening with Aakash. Being referred to
as an inanimate object with such immense conviction...and it really
bugged the poor guy..was he red? Did he look cylindrical? All
disturbing thoughts started floating in his mind..
Khushi
stepped on Nihaal's toe who did an "Ouch! oh..oh yeh...don' mind
bro..just kidding" and exchanged a firm handshake with Aakash..
Soon
Mrs Gupta emerged with an aarti thaal and sweets from the kitchen and
halted at the view of an increased population before her..
Anjali
quickly moved forward and folded her hands in greeting..
"Good
Evening aunty. This is Anjali. I am Arnav's sister, and this is my
brother Aakash" she motioned towards an Aakash who too presented
his respectful greeting and gained the coveted look of approval from
Mrs Gupta's eyes..
"we
know this..all this media proposal and all must have been really
shocking to you and believe me nani at home is not very pleased about
it either. It was really irresponsible of chotte to-"
" what?
Just me! And what about Khu-"
"chotte
let me speak"
"this
is-"
"chotte!"
"Whatever"
"so
I was saying that nani couldn't make it since she is not keeping
well, and mami stayed back to look after her so we have come on the
entire family's behalf to ceremoniously finalize this engagement and
complete the shagun cereremony..."
"WHAT?"
"WHAT?"
Arnav
and Khushi screamed out in sync.
"chotte
you finalized the engagement and did the proposal your way didn't
you?And Khushi agreed! Now will you please let us do our business?"
"di
but we-" Khushi moved to say, that is before she was literally
hammered to her place by the hammering vision of her mother..
Arnav
smirked..so someone could make her shut up after all! Interesting..
Mrs
Gupta turned to Anjali..
"sure
beta, I am glad your nani thought of it...in fact, I was going to
bring it up myself.. let's start then..by the way, are you immediate
siblings?" she motioned towards Arnav and Anjali nodded in
approval..
"i
see..doesn't look like it.."
Khushi
bit her lip in amusement and arched her eyebrows at Arnav who gave
her an 'I don't give a damn' look...
Mrs
Gupta turned to face Arnav and for the first time in the entire
evening a smile crept on her lips , as she began circling the aarti
thaal before him..
To
say Arnav felt weird would be a horrible understatement..
Khushi
with great effort managed to stifle the erupting giggle in her
throat..
"chotte,
Khushi.." Anjali motioned them to touch Mrs Gupta's feet
Khushi
started bending when she realized Arnav was still hesitating over
it..
Holding
Arnav's hand in her own Khushi pulled him down along with her to
touch her mother's feet..ignoring his 'what the!"
while
Mrs Gupta lovingly placed her hands on the two bent before her, Arnav
, fuming, murmered..
"don'
you dare do that again"
"i
will, if you hesitate that way in touching my mother's feet...in fact
I can pull harder.."
"oh
really?"
"yes"
Arnav
immediately held her other hand tightly and murmured..
"now
try getting up"
"what?
What do you think you are doing?"
Mrs
Gupta meanwhile was done with giving blessings and was waiting for
the two to get up
"Mr
Raizada are you crazy?"
"um..i
think these are enough blessings for a day right?" Nihaal spoke out
at length..
"apologize"
Arnav murmered..
"i'll
be damned if I do" she responded
"fine
then"
Khushi
looked at him for a few seconds then spoke out as loud as she could..
"ARNAV
WHY ARE YOU HOLDING MY HAND?"
A
totally unsuspecting Arnav almost sprang up straight as Khushi too
straightened up..
"Khushi
Kumari Gupta, Mr Arnav Singh Raizada..now explain" she spoke
through her eyes..
Arnav
ground his teeth before his plastic look took over again..
"I
held it to tell you to touch your mother's feet and not the floor
Khushi. What's wrong with you? Why are you so lost and nervous?"
Khushi
couldn't believe just how callously and glibly this man could lie..
Arnav
merely smirked at her..
The
rest of the ceremony proceeded normally with exchange of sweets, hugs,
congratulations and the like, also there were some wooohooos by Nihaal..
Only two people were feeling completely out of place the entire while..guess...poor cement pile and lattu...
Garima Gupta wouldn't hear of letting them leave without dinner now...and despite Anjali's excuses ,they had to stay back..
A while later
Arnav
entered the kitchen as Khushi poured out the tea into cups..
poor
guy happened to make an unfortunate entry from the wrong side of the
kitchen resulting in his coming in the way to the trash bin as a
result of which the soaked tealeaves from the seive Khushi just aimed
at the trash fell on his coat and leaving a beautiful mark there
stuck to it...
"WHAT
THE!"
"OH
SHIT! I thought you were the trash bin!"
Arnav
raised an eyebrow high..
"i
see.."
"no..i
mean..forget it! Serves you right for what you did in front of maa
right now"
"i
see" he moved forward and again got hit straight in the head by the
slight protruding end of the wooden shelf..
"oh
gosh! You hurt?" Khushi ran forward "shit! It was pointed!!"
Arnav
was massaging his head when immediately Khushi took the task to
herself blabbering all the way
"i
thought of doing something about it, but forgot, myself got hurt this
morning, is it paining, mine did, do you-"
she
stopped as she realized the situation and what she was doing..
Butterflies
in Arnav's stomach is not the correct way to put it..flying files?
Yes, that's better..
tiny
thick files were flying in Arnav's stomach..
while
evolution re-commenced in Khushi's...
she
gulped and moved back..
there
was an 'um.." awkward moment..
Khushi
recomposed herself..
"and
perhaps you deserve this too"
"excuse
me?"
"of
course! For planning to marry me like that!"
that
certainly blew the lid..
"don't
you even think I am gonna get married to you or something Khushi
Kumari Gupta. We will break up before that"
"oh
really? Why do I feel as if I have heard that somewhere before?? WHEN
will you break up? At our engagement? Or are you waiting for the
wedding maybe? Why not break up after marriage? That would be real
cool-"
"shut
up"
"NO
I will NOT shut up! WHAT the hell do you think you are doing with
our lives! We are going to get engaged this Sunday for heaven's sake!
THIS SUNDAY! And when I join the job i-"
"job?
What job?"
"i
am unemployed doesn't mean I will remain unemployed for the rest of
my life! I am joining office tomorrow. I made my mind in the car"
"Arnav
Singh Raizada's fiance is NOT going to work in any whatsitsname
organization, do I make it clear?"
"as
clear as your breakup plan"
"which
means-"
"which
means you don't. And I am going work tomorrow"
Arnav
held her shoulders and jerked her towards himself..
"i.said.you.are
not.working in ITC. Thats final"
"not
that I working in ITC makes a difference, but I am not working for
it"
"then?"
"i
am joining as assistant junior editor for business weekly"
"oh.."
"yes.
It's a good job, it's not going to effect anyone's image, neither
yours nor mine, the editor is very pleasant and nice too"
"the
editor?"
"yes!
There has to be an editor right?"
MALE
OR FEMALE???!! He wished to shout out but had to quite unwillingly
take another route to it..
"name?"
"name?
Oh yeah,it's..what was it..not remembering right now, starts with
S.."
"What
do you mean you don't know the damn name!! you're gonna work there
dammit!! and you don't know his name??"
Khushi
stared at him disbelievingly..
"his
name? How do you know whether the editor is male or not?"
" isn't?"
he asked hopefully
" is.
I was just wondering how you know.."
great...another
one on the list..
"old
chap is very nice though.."
every
cloud has a silver lining..how true...
"old
chap?"
"of
course..he is about to retire.."
"good"
"what?"
"nothin'"
"did
you just say good?"
"i
said food. It must be waiting"
"you
go. I am coming"
"right"
"Mr
Raizada?"
"what?"
"can
you leave me now?"
"what?"
"for
some reason you are still holding my shoulders.."
Arnav
strode out of the kitchen..
Anjali
was quite sure she heard a rustle behind her..
She
turned to look and then her eyes literally popped out at the sight
before her..
as
a panting Nihaal jumped over the boundary wall..
she
was about to scream at the top of her voice when she realized who it
was..
"NIHAAL?"
"OH
SHIT!! You're here??"
"of
course I am! Why did you just jump into your own house? wh-..what's
in your hand?"
Nihaal
quickly hid his hand behind his back..
"oh..nothing"
"it's
ok if you don't wish to tell"
"shoot!
Forget it..but don't tell your brothers ok? It's our dinner.."
"what?"
"yeah..i
mean we never knew you were coming so it had to be bought from
outside.."
"oh
but we never expected the food was being cooked at home! How is that
even possible in such a short time? In fact, I was just going to ask
aunty where the dinner was coming from.."
"you
mean I jumped over the wall when I could just have entered respectably from the main door?"
"um..yes
I guess so.."
"shoot..well
it was exciting nevertheless.."
"what?"
"yes!
You know, when I was small, I wanted to be an A class burglar, take
burglary to all new heights, but mum and dad didn't quite approve-"
"how
surprising! I wonder why..." Anjali responded
There
was a strange silence at the table between Arnav and Khushi..
Aakash
and payal, Anjali Nihal and Garima were engaged in talking...when
Nihal suddenly exclaimed.-
"oh
of course after Lattu's marriage we can all visit Switzerland along
with the newly weds!"
"WHAT?"
Khushi exclaimed..
"don't
worry Lattu..we will..stay a bit aloof..no worries.."
Khushi
immediately choked on the food she was eating..
she
gasped for breath as bouts of cough seized her..
and
before anyone knew Arnav had sprung on his feet and patting her from
behind..
"ARE
YOU CRAZY! CAN'T YOU SHUT UP WHILE EATING!!! DRINK WATER! BREATHE!
STOP DRINKING! BREATHE! BREATHE!"
he
rubbed his hands in swift motion..
Khushi
was completely normal within moments but the scene at the table was
something of this sort-
Nihaal
rolled his tongue, mischief screaming in his eyes as he looked at
Anjali who reciprocated the exact same look as they had a quick high
five under the table.
Aakash
himself smiled a terribly amused smile and bent his head into his
plate aimlessly tossing food around
Payal
arched her eyebrows high while Mrs Gupta restricted herself to a
small smile careful of the youngsters around her.
"um..ASR?"
Nihaal interrupted..
"what?"
Arnav raised his head
"is
Khushi breathing?"
silence...
Arnav
slowly slipped back into his seat while Khushi, beetroot red, tried
to look everywhere except Nihal and Anjali who were now grinning at
them..
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AHAHAHAHA this nihal guy is so funny!
ReplyDeleteLoving it! Amazing scene. Especially the last one :-)
ReplyDeleteLove Nihaal... crazier than Khushi - true mentor.
ReplyDeletezabardast..
ReplyDelete