A/N: Hey there everyone! :D :D Here is the next update! :D :D
Happy Reading! :D :D
23rd March, 2005:
It's Holi time!
Oh my God, the house is explosive right now! Sharman and Devarsh are both over here for Holi and even Gauri has joined us! Can you believe it?! The whole squad is here! This Holi is definitely going to be a lot of fun! The boys have already gotten rampant and have made all their plotting against how best to ambush the girls with all the colours. The boys are clearly underestimating them, or rather, Ishaani. This is no Solang Valley with strategies and snow guns; this is a war field with colours.
I won't have time to get back to you today, so I'll talk once the day is over, alright? Whoa, everyone's calling for me! I'll get back to you as soon as I can!
Ranveer looked surprised as the whole Parekh squad (minus Ishaani) entered the room, looking unhealthily excited.
"Come on! What are you sitting here for when the party is beginning downstairs?!" exclaimed Sharman and Devarsh simultaneously, their faces pounded with a glee that was infectious. Ranveer smiled at them, feeling the gush of exhilaration pumping through his veins as he replied.
"I was coming, you know! Hey, hey, hey!" he protested, however, as Sharman and Devarsh pulled him off from his chair and carried him out of the room together.
Leaving him in the living room where everybody wished everyone Happy Holi and put a formal stroke of colour on everyone's face, Ranveer was pulled in by Harshad, who did the same for him. Barely two minutes later, Ranveer heard Ishaani's shrieks from her room and sure enough, Ishaani was brought out from her room the same way, yelling protests as she kicked wildly in the air until they reached the living room, laughing at her furious expression.
But everybody were too into the zest of the festivities to take any offence for today.
Without wasting another minute after all the family members had put colour upon each other, all of kids ran towards the garden behind the house where the celebration of Holi had begun. And before they knew it, they found herself ambushed with colours and water alike, hearing the evil laughter of the other children and family members ringing about them.
Even before the girls had any time to recuperate, the boys threw another attack of colours upon them, leaving them disheveled and disoriented. Gauri and Disha blindly scampered away from the mess, but Ishaani remained in the line of attack until the boys had to give her a few moments to gain sense. Finally gaining back her breath, Ishaani looked up to see Sharman, Devarsh, Ranveer and Prateik staring at her mischievously, all having their fists filled with colours.
But before either of them could begin another round of attack, Ishaani ducked from between Sharman and Ranveer and ran towards the table where the colours were kept in thaalis. They had barely managed to close in when she randomly picked up a thaali and threw all the powder behind her, turning back to see that the colour had found its target. Sharman and Ranveer both looked like blue aliens from a long-forgotten planet.
Devarsh and Prateik had barely managed to ambush her from behind when she spotted them first, throwing more powder from two more thaalis in either direction. All the four boys now yelled, disgruntled at being defeated in the colour fight so soon. Ishaani scowled at the boys before shegoing towards the pool. The moment she saw her reflection, she cringed at her sight. She was now a mix of magenta, green and yellow, looking even more practically hideous than puberty could make her look.
She noticed Sharman's reflection creeping behind her stealthily to make his push when she rolled sideways and he found himself falling into the pool, thoroughly shocked. Ishaani roared in laughter before she felt someone push her inside the water, somebody else falling into it a moment later. It was only when she broke surface did she realize that Devarsh had pushed her and Ranveer had pushed him in return. And then Ranveer fell into the pool, and it was Disha who had pushed him. And then she fell into the pool and it was Gauri who pushed her, until she fell and it was Prateik - he jumped gracefully into the pool at last while everybody now began splashing water upon each other.
They had barely taken off some of the colour that was plastered upon their faces when they felt that torrent of water hit them hard, blinding them completely. When Ranveer managed to break through the offensive attack, he saw that Harshad and Mitesh had two hoses of water pointing at them, the water from it doing its job. Both the men laughed wholeheartedly at the children's plight before all of them managed to get out from the pool one-by-one, looking thoroughly taken aback by seeing the fun side to their parents.
Ridding themselves of all the water as the sun baked them warm, all of their headed towards the center of the garden where the music was in full flow, the intoxication of the colours and happiness of the festival too much for anybody to resist. The grown-ups joined the children soon as they danced to all the party and vintage songs in relation to Holi, all maturity forgotten in the light of nostalgia that the new generation evoked in their hearts with the spirit of celebration.
A couple of hours later, the boys headed towards the snacks counter while the girls played some more between themselves and the guests, looking happy.
"What do you say boys, shall we have some bhaang?" asked Sharman, looking positively ecstatic.
There was not too much bhaang used in the lassi usually, so the boys contended themselves with a glass every year. However this year, the feeling to go wild reigned dominant in the minds of all the three boys, who now looked thrilled.
"Bring it on!" replied Ranveer in return, looking just as excited.
"What about the girls?" asked Devarsh curiously, eyeing Ishaani, Disha and Gauri playing amongst themselves.
"I doubt Gauri would have any... and Disha is clearly too young," reasoned Sharman, although both the boys could see an idea growing in his eyes.
"We could give them a quarter of a glass to try out. Won't do much harm," added Devarsh, instantly catching on to what his brother was thinking.
"What about Ishaani though?" asked Ranveer, looking slightly doubtful. Tomboy and the only girl in their boys group as she was, she did rather have high orthodox values when it came to things like this.
"Yeah, we could make her have it easily. She's cool," replied Sharman with pride while Devarsh agreed from behind. Ranveer however, still looked unconvinced.
"No, but she's never going to agree to have it... You know how she is," he tried to argue, but Sharman had a determined look on his face.
"And that's why, you're going to trick her into it," he stated confidently, Ranveer gaping at him in shock.
"What?! Me? How?" he questioned in simultaneous tumbles, and Sharman winked at him.
"Just take these two glasses and give her one to have. If she has it, well and good. If not, I know what she'll do next," he assured, while Ranveer gave a glasses a deep look.
He did want to see how rampant she got when she'd get drunk. Besides, it was not as though it was harmful or anything. Just one glass.
"Deal. Let's say cheers to that!" said Ranveer as the three boys brought forth their glass and clicked it together, draining it in one go.
-x-
"Ishaani, here. I brought you something to drink."
Ishaani, who had just finished dancing and playing with the other guests, saw Ranveer smiling at her goofily, two glasses in his hands.
"What's this?" she asked, eyeing the glasses suspiciously.
"Lassi," he replied innocently, although the twinkle in his eyes was impossible to miss.
Sniffing the glass as though hoping that she'd know what was wrong with it, she recoiled instantly as she realized what the extra addition was. Ranveer kept smiling at her sweetly, but it had no effect upon her whatsoever as she scowled at him, folding her arms upon her chest in indignation.
"Do you think I'm stupid? I know its bhaang!" she exclaimed in an accusatory tone while he gave her a dramatic gasp.
"What?! No, ofcourse not! Why would I bring you bhaang when I know that you are against it?" he questioned in what she knew was a fake innocent tone. Narrowing her eyes at him, she looked exasperated.
"Oh please, Ranveer..." she replied, now annoyed because she did feel thirsty seeing the lassi but Ranveer had brought her two useless glasses. Pushing him out from her way, she continued. "Move, I'll get myself a drink from the counter."
"But Ishaani-" began Ranveer, abashed that his plan had failed spectacularly, but Ishaani had already crossed the range of listening by then.
-x-
"Guys, she didn't have it," said a disappointed Ranveer as he returned back with both the glasses, untouched. Sharman and Devarsh gave each other a high-five as they eyed Ishaani having a glass of lassi at the opposite counter, looking triumphant.
"She did," replied Devarsh enigmatically, while Ranveer looked confused.
"When? How?"
"I knew it that the moment you'd offer her to drink this, she'd refuse and go to the counter. And she did. I told the guy to give her a bhaang-filled drink only," replied Sharman, chuckling in a silly manner. Two glasses were enough to start showing its effect.
"What!? That's- that's wrong!" protested Ranveer half-heartedly, even though his curiosity about what Ishaani would do now beat his reproach for the unethical means.
"Oh calm down, Ranveer. Here, give me one glass. I'm thirsty!" whined Sharman as he lunged at one of the glasses in Ranveer's hands, slurping at his thirstily.
Three glasses were more than enough to work their effect upon the boys as Ranveer and Sharman gave each other a look of mutual understanding before breaking out into another fit of irrational laughter that they didn't quite know the reason behind.
Devarsh, however, spotted Ishaani handing over full glasses of lassi to Gauri, Disha and Prateik as well, and let the other two boys know that they had more victims of their plan than just the intended one. The three boys slapped hands once again, chuckling away at their sweet victory.
-x-
"Why do you look so cute today, Ranveer?" asked Ishaani as she linked her arm within Ranveer's, the two of them walking haphazardly.
It was late afternoon with the sun powerfully showing off its strength even though majority of the people were under the blissful effect of bhaang to notice. Ishaani had had another three glasses after the first one, now under the influence of the bhaang just as bad as Sharman. He'd topped them all with seven glasses.
After having some more dancing, snacking, colour playing and glasses of bhaang, Sharman had gone into the house because he kept swearing that the phone was ringing and he went to see why nobody would answer it. Disha kept going round and round around the swimming pool while Prateik and Gauri kept shuttling between throwing colours in the air and attacking each other with pichkaaris aimlessly. Devarsh had gone to the terrace to throw water balloons upon people.
"Because you look cute!" replied Ranveer, giggling softly into his hands. He'd been down with six glasses and was on the lookout with Ishaani for another one.
"Look, that's the driver's son... and the illegitimate girl as well."
Ranveer and Ishaani looked in the distance to see three men talking amongst themselves, their figures constantly doubling and tripling in the vision of the drunken friends. Ishaani wolf-whistled as loudly as she could to capture their attention before screaming at the top of her voice in manic happiness.
"Sirrr... tell usss something we don't knooow! Seriousssly... don't give usss the staaale newsss..."
The men in question looked scandalized as Ranveer tried to control Ishaani futilely, who was wriggling against his grip and waggling her finger at the men threateningly. Laughing shamelessly once the men beat a quick retreat, Ranveer and Ishaani spotted the counter that they'd circled thrice before realizing that it was the counter where they'd get more bhaang-filled lassi from.
The two of them made their way across in a duet of staggering and inappropriate giggling.
-x-
"Listen, listen, listen, everybody!" hiccoughed Ishaani as all her cousins plus Ranveer sat in a circle in the middle of the garden.
It was nearing dusk, and all the lights in the garden had gone up, bathing it in a gentle yellow glow. The guests had all left and the rest of the family members had gone to sleep, either under the influence of the bhaang or under the effects of exhaustion. Somehow, everybody knew that the children were too much to handle so they left them to be in the garden.
Ishaani put her arm around Ranveer's neck and laughed foolishly.
"This is... Walveer... I mean Ranweel... Ravneer... agh, you know his name!" she whined in frustration as six pairs of drunk eyes followed her gestures, nobody having even the slightest care in the world. Ranveer chuckled quietly, before Ishaani continued.
"He is my beeest friend and the cutest fellow I know! Did you see his cheeks... they're shooo chubby and shoft..." she exclaimed as she pulled them lovingly, all the other cousins pulling them in turn.
Ranveer shook his head like an annoyed puppy before Ishaani looked at him, sighing lovingly.
"And his eyes... chocolate-chocolate sweet..." she hiccoughed further as she lapped at tongue at him.
He blushed freely as he hid his face in his hands and chuckled, while all her cousins repeated Ishaani's description in a sing-song. Ishaani stood up suddenly, but fell upon Ranveer as she lost her balance, both of them falling flat upon the ground as a result. Both of them laughed some more before Ranveer helped her get upon her feet again, but she pulled him up alongside.
"And oi! Next time anybody calls him a driver, I will break their bones, you get it?!" she threatened rudely in the air as she put her arm around his neck once again while he caught her waist for support, both of them barely stable on their feet.
"You mess with him, you mess with me! He's sooo sweet... My Mr. Prefect Perfect..." she exclaimed as she kissed him on his cheek, giggling as his light stubble tickled her.
Both of them slumped back upon the floor sleepily as Sharman looked at them with a curiosity that the intoxicating bhaang brought about, his eyes as large as saucepans.
"But why Mr. Prefect Perfect?" he questioned, chuckling at himself for no evident reason.
"Because he was a prefect and even Head Boy in school and he's... perfect!" remarked Ishaani as she kissed him on his cheek once again. Ranveer giggled.
"Ishaani, we looove him... he's the best!" boasted Sharman loudly as he pounced upon Ranveer in a hug, kissing him on his other cheek.
"The bestest of the best!" added Gauri, who got up and linked her arm within Ranveer's, before kissing him on his forehead.
"He's my best friend!" exclaimed Devarsh, and followed Sharman's lead, while Ranveer now remained trampled underneath the two brothers.
Ishaani threw both of them off of him before she fell down as well. Ishaani couldn't make out whether he had gone red from all the physical love or affection or because of the colours.
"He's our golden bwoy!" giggled Prateik as he jumped upon Ranveer like his brothers, but missed target and fell upon the ground clumsily.
Making a surprising recovery that would have been otherwise impossible for a sober Prateik to make any day, he threw his arms around Ranveer and remained in his lap. Disha scowled at him, her eyes glazing over as she threw the healthy boy off of his lap and occupied his place instead.
"I'll marry him!" promised Disha in the evening sky as she kissed Ranveer's cheek, while he giggled sweetly.
It was Ishaani's turn to scowl at her sister as she threw her off of him unceremoniously and hugged Ranveer, as though protecting him from all the competition.
"Aye, stay away from him, Disha! He's mine! Mine! And he's only my best friend, Devarsh! You get it?" she waggled a threatening finger at all of her siblings while they eyed her in drunken envy.
"But he's so cute! And so... caring!" protested Sharman, looking down-trodden.
"And so loyal and daring!" added Devarsh, looking sad.
"And trustworthy and honest!" chimed in Gauri, looking at Ranveer in mesmerized awe.
"And passionate and hardworking..." added Ishaani, snuggling closer to him as he hugged her back, both of them nearly asleep.
"Aye! Who's singing songs for the driver's son there!?" came the sudden voice from inside and Ishaani sprung upon her feet, as though shocked. It was Baa.
"Who's that-" Ishaani shrieked at the top of her voice, her initiation of the cussword brought to an abrupt halt by Falguni, who happened to enter the garden area that moment. Her eyes instantly fell upon all the disoriented children, Ishaani the only one standing upon her feet.
"Ishaani! Mind your language!" yelled Falguni in return, now looking at her daughter, ashen-faced. Baa had retreated to her room by then so the older woman had missed out on the colourful response from Ishaani.
"I told them not to call him a driver's son! You-" she yelled in the direction of where Baa had retreated and Falguni ran towards her and covered her mouth before she could speak or use another cuss word.
"Ishaani, you're grounded!" she spoke through gritted teeth as Ishaani freed herself from her mother's strong grip, looking vexed.
"Pfft! Whatever!" retorted Ishaani clumsily while her mother stared at in shock, her unruly behaviour surprising. Before anything more could be said, Falguni shooed away all the kids into the house.
-x-
"Why are you so cute?" asked Ishaani as Ranveer lay beside her, snuggled up. All the cousins were asleep beside and upon them in the most awkward of positions, but then again, that was the advantage of having a king-sized bed.
"Why did you praise me so much?" he questioned in response, his eyes penetrating her soul in the same way it would every time he looked into her eyes.
"Because you deserve it... Do you know how cute you are when you are dwunk?" she questioned once again, pulling his cheeks before blushing and hiding her face away in his chest.
"Not cuter than youuu..." he whispered back in response, and two of them giggled foolishly once again.
"You know, the last time you got dwunk, you said you love me..." she said suddenly. Ranveer looked at her drowsily even though his eyes were on fire.
"I still love you..." he replied passionately, even though the fear that she didn't take him seriously remained present in his voice with a child-like innocence.
"And I love you too..." she reverted to him, her eyes never leaving his own as she chuckled once again, breaking the tension of the moment.
"You're lying... You don't... You never will..." replied Ranveer sleepily, but Ishaani had lost focus from the conversation.
"You know, you look like a butterscotch ice-cream to me right now... I could eat you for dessert..." she commented inappropriately as she pushed the button of his nose, as though hoping it would make a sound like a joker's nose made at times.
Both of them laughed immoderately, even more so when they realized that none of the others woke up in spite of them making so much noise.
Gasping for breath as their laughing riot came to an end, both of they stared at each other, the laughter dying upon their lips. For the first time that evening since Falguni ushered them all into Sharman's room and all of them fell upon the bed haphazardly, they realized how abnormally close the two of them were in terms of proximity. And as they stared at each other, they weresuddenly pounded by a horde of pulsating emotions. Neither of them broke gaze, their drunken stupor clouding all sense and sensibility.
They continued staring at each other the same way, the drunken haze dissipating for just that one, fleeting second. Ishaani didn't get a chance to say or do anything further, however, as Ranveer kissed her forehead softly, muttering something inaudible before his head gently fell upon hers. Ishaani looked up and stroked his hair slowly, noticing that he'd fallen asleep. She smiled at him goofily before she snuggled closer into his embrace, falling asleep moments later.
-x-
"Whoa... my head..."
Ranveer got up groggily but fell back upon his pillow as he felt something pull him down suddenly. Rubbing his throbbing temples, he blinked his eyes several times into the darkness to get a better look of his surroundings, everything feeling foreign to him. Finally getting a little sight of the walls, he gasped, realizing that he was asleep in Sharman's room. Looking beside him, he realized what was holding his back from getting up - Ishaani's arms were entangled around his neck.
Awkward at the predicament, he gently took off her hands from around his neck and sprung off from the mattress that he could have sworn felt like a lump of clouds. He'd never sat upon any of the beds before, sleeping upon them still a faraway thought. Massaging his neck that ached terribly because of their posture, Ranveer squinted his eyes to see that all of them had fallen asleep upon the bed and everybody were entangled with each other. Shaking his head as nothing from yesterday came back to him, Ranveer squinted his eyes to look at the clock on the wall.
He couldn't determine what the time was even though he was certain that it looked to be somewhere around four thirty in the morning. Knowing that he had to get away from the room as fast as possible before Baa got up for her Pooja, he decided to sprint away from the room when he heard a groan and a shriek. Turning behind, he saw Sharman and Devarsh get up sleepily, Devarsh eyeing his brother irritably as they managed to disentangle themselves from each other. Getting up from the bed slowly, they spotted Ranveer and walked towards him, rubbing their eyes and heads simultaneously.
"Are the two of you alright?" asked Ranveer sleepily, his own voice barely audible. Yet it felt like it reverberated all around the room and kept ringing in their skulls.
"Not at all..." replied Sharman as he shook his head several times to rid himself of the ringing voices, but in vain.
"My head feels like it will explode..." added Devarsh as he caught his temples in pain, looking disoriented.
"I cannot remember anything at all..." confessed Ranveer, wondering what sort of calamity had fallen upon them that none of them could remember anything at all. "Do any of you two remember anything?" he asked as an afterthought, staring at the bed where Ishaani, Gauri, Prateik and Disha were still entangled.
"Ugh, my head hurts terribly is all I remember, honestly," replied Sharman, shutting his eyes as he nearly lost his balance, his fall broken by Ranveer and Devarsh at the last minute.
"We need to put everybody back into their rooms..." said Ranveer suddenly, while both the boys looked at him in surprise. "Baa will be awake any minute for her pooja, and we need to move fast. If she spots us all like this... it's not going to be pretty, really," he added, and both of them nodded their head in sleepy approval.
"Okay... okay... Devarsh, take Prateik with you and go, alright?" spoke Sharman finally, more a mumble than a suggestion.
"Why me?" whined Devarsh, looking at Prateik's sleeping form.
"Because you look the best from the three of us. Now go," retorted Sharman irritably and Devarsh went up to the bed, disentangling Prateik from between Gauri and Disha and heaving his heavy frame out from the bed. Grumbling darkly yet inaudibly, Devarsh supported Prateik and took him out from the room and disappeared from sight.
Sharman and Ranveer looked at each other stupidly, their intoxication still not fully abated before the former spoke once again.
"Ranveer, you take Ishaani and Disha with you, and I'll take Gauri with me..."
Ranveer nodded his head as he sleepily lifted Ishaani up from the bed, thanking his stars that it wasn't difficult to pull her out from the bed even though he'd always laugh at her for being 'healthy'. Putting her arm around his neck, he stooped down to be able to adjust to her height. It was a trouble since she was much shorter than him, but he had no choice. Supporting her all the way back to her room, he tucked her in groggily before returning back to Sharman's room, where he picked up Disha. He felt his eyelids droop lower as he made his way towards her room again, tucking her back in quickly before returning to Sharman's room.
He nearly lost balance as he missed stumbling upon something. When he looked closer, he realized that it was Sharman, who had just returned from Gauri's room. Letting out an exasperated groan, Ranveer picked up Sharman from the ground clumsily and supported him all the way to his bed before pushing him over and tucking him up as well. Sharman mumbled something inaudible that Ranveer assumed sounded close enough to 'thank you', before he left the room and shut the door behind him.
And now began the impossible journey to his room.
His eyes drooped dangerously as he felt another bout of darkness cloud his vision, sleep threatening to overtake him any minute. He looked towards either side of him as all the doors were shut safely and he unconsciously heaved a sigh of relief. Everybody were in their rooms. Everybody, except him. Stumbling and staggering down the staircase, he had barely made his way towards the main door when his feet somehow made a deviation towards the temple.
Thanking his stars that he didn't have his slippers on, he sat down near the temple and stared at the idol of Thakurji in front of him, joining his hands in prayer. He didn't know why he did so or what he was supposed to ask when his mind was completely blank, but he knew that he liked it like this. He knew that Baa would be cross when she'd see him in the temple, but somehow, he didn't care. He liked it here and that was all that mattered. He hummed a small prayer in praise of God, something that Baa would do daily, a small smile crossing his face.
He didn't realize when the peace he felt made him drift over to the world of sleep.Constructive criticism will be more than welcome and sorry for any typos. :D :D
Next chapter:
Epistle 57
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Rihana, yearning to break free from the predetermined fate of being a tawaif's ...
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