Chapter 2
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[MEMBERSONLY]
Hi
everyone,
Thanks for all your wonderful comments.
This chapter starts with introduction of our favourite Khushi and her older
sister Payal. Let's see what's going on in their lives.
Desert Rose Chapter 1
The white horse galloped toward her in the
twilight. It came to a stop a few feet from her and the rider alighted in one
swift motion. As he began to stride toward her, the skies began to darken throwing
him in shadows. He came up to her, pulled her flush against himself and bent
down to touch his lips to her. His eyes! She felt like she was drowning in their depths. As his eyelids dropped,
she saw thick lashes fanning his cheeks, his lips just a breath away''
It was
the same dream again! She sat up in the bed, clutching her heart which was
beating erratically'..
'This
is what happens when you watch Baazigar before you go to sleep Khushi Kumari
Gupta!' she berated herself. Why did she keep getting this dream over and over
again? She had been getting this dream ever since the strange encounter at her
parents' memorial four years ago. But she couldn't remember much. All she could
remember was his eyes ---- eyes the
colour of molten chocolate that had made her heart go dhak-dhak as they burned
into the very depths of her soul.
But
there was no point in dreaming about brown eyed Baazigars, was there? Haar kar bhi jeetne waale ko baazigar kehte
hain'.. The protagonist in the movie had turned out be a manipulative
killer who had killed the heroine's innocent sister for revenge. Though he had won
over the heroine with the intensity of his love, he had died in the end leaving
her with intense pain and heartbreak.
Suddenly,
she heard a noise in the kitchen and saw that Payal's side of the bed was
unoccupied. She rushed out to see her standing in the kitchen, milk all over
the floor. The pungent odour of gas assailed her nose.
'Jiji!
what do you think you are doing?' she yelled as she rushed up to her and
switched off the stove.
'I am
sorry Khushi,' cried Payal, 'I was just going to boil some milk and the vessel
slipped'I ___'
The
smell of the gas was pretty strong and Khushi pulled her sister out of the
kitchen into their bedroom.
'Where
were your thoughts jiji? What if something had happened to you?' said Khushi
angrily, 'Nobody is worth it!'
'But he
loves me Khushi.'
'I
don't know jiji,' Khushi spoke more brusquely than she had intended, and
repented instantly as she saw her sister's eyes cloud with hurt.
'Jiji,' she went on more gently, 'you met
him for just two days at the wedding!'
'Sometimes,
you don't even need that much time Khushi. The moment we met, we both just knew
that there could be no one else for us.'
'Then
why didn't he come to Delhi?' Khushi asked the dreaded question.
'I
don't know. Something must have happened to prevent him ------ delay him.'
Khushi
could make a cynical guess what that 'something' might be. Akash Singh Raizada
had probably remembered, just in time, that he had a fiance ---or even a wife
----already.
Khushi
remembered how their lives had changed one month ago when Payal had wanted to
go to Jaipur to attend a class mate's wedding. It had seemed perfectly safe at
the time. Palak Mathur, Payal's best friend and their neighbour, was also going
along. She had relatives in Jaipur, and had assured Khushi that she would take
care of Payal very well.
How
wrong she had been! Payal had met Akash, at the wedding and they had ended up
talking for hours.
If only
it had stopped at that, Khushi thought with a silent groan. Or if Payal had
been sophisticated enough to realize she was being spun a line by an
experienced charmer.
On her
return, she had informed her younger sister that, she was going to be married.
Khushi
had taken a deep, steadying breath, and done some gentle probing.
What
had emerged was hardly reassuring. Akash, it seemed, worked at one of the
famous fashion houses in Delhi along with the groom. They had managed to spend
a lot of time during the two day wedding ceremonies, right from the mehendi, haldi
to the reception.
'Of
course, he just doesn't work there.' Payal eyes had been full of stars.' His
family owns the company. Not only that, they own chains of industries and
factories. From what Akash says, they must be amazingly wealthy. Isn't that
great?'
'Um'Sure,'
Khushi had agreed, but Payal had ben oblivious to the irony in her voice.
'He promised me that he would come here and
talk to you about marrying me.' She had smiled tenderly. 'He's very traditional.'
He had
certainly chosen the right route to Payal's heart, Khushi thought savagely.
Payal was also traditional and a shy gentle girl, who believed people at face
value. Khushi was not surprized that she had fallen for the charms of some sweet-talking
Romeo at a romantic wedding background.
She had
thought Payal was going in for a world of hurt, but to her surprize he had
called her regularly. Maybe, he had seen her with Palak and assumed that she
came from a similar background.
Little
does he know, thought Khushi, looking at their small house. When he realized
that Payal's only relative was a younger sister working for a boutique to keep a
roof over their heads, this so-called love would be a thing of the past.
Khushi
knew that marriages were tied up with property and dowry. Payal had nothing to
her name that would attract her to a potential groom.
For a
time it had seemed as if Payal was having second thoughts about her romance as
well. She had been silent and preoccupied, and spent a lot of time alone in her
room. She'd lost weight too, and there were shadows under her eyes.
But
then he had called her again, and Payal, bubbling with renewed happiness, had
revealed that Akash was coming to Delhi.
But he
hadn't turned up and Payal had become distraught with worry.
And now
Khushi had to make her see reason. 'He might have called if he hand been
delayed,' she said. 'I think,' she added carefully, 'we are going to have to
accept, that he had simply changed his mind'.'
'No
Khushi, he can't!' Bright spots of colour burned in Payal's cheeks. 'We are
going to be married. He '.he has to come here. Oh Khushi, he has simply got
to!'
Khushi
looked at her older sister in sudden horrified understanding. She remembered
the sudden loss of weight and her stomach sickness from the past couple of
days.
She put
her hand on her head, 'Hey Devi Maiyya! Are you ____?'
'Yes.
But it's all right, because he loves me, and we are going to be married as soon
as it can be arranged.' Payal couldn't quite meet Khushi's eyes.
Khushi's
voice was weary. 'You have actually told him you are pregnant?' she gave a
mirthless smile. 'And you wonder why he hasn't come.'
'Don't
say that Khushi,' Payal's voice shook with intensity. 'You don't know him. He
is decent and honourable.'
'So
decent, so honourable that he couldn't wait to seduce an young girl who he had
just met.' Khushi shook her head, her throat aching with grief and bitterness.
'Jiji, this may not work out. I think you may have to ____'
'I know
what you are going to say Khushi.' Payal's face was suddenly pale. 'Don't even think
it. I am having this baby!'
'Jiji,
it is not practical. You have your whole life ahead of you. You can't imagine
what it would be like trying to cope with a baby'.'
'I am
going to marry Akash. It may not be the life I had planned, but it's the life I
want ---the only one, now and forever.'
'How do
you know?'
'Like
how amma knew when she met babuji.' Payal said confidently. 'And you can't say
they weren't happy.'
No,
Khushi thought. She couldn't say that. Her parents had loved each other deeply
and joyously until a fateful accident seven years ago, had brought that love to
a premature end, leaving her and Payal to fend for themselves at the tender ages
of 15 and 17.
Khushi
remembered the night of the accident. They were in Delhi at the time, visiting
their Buaji. Her dad and mom, Shashi and Garima Gupta had a wedding to attend
in Jaipur. Since Khushi was sick with very high fever, they had asked Payal to
stay back with her.
After
the accident, the two orphaned girls had to leave Lucknow and move in with
their Buaji in Delhi. They had to sell their house and their shop in Lucknow to
pay for the debts that her dad had made. With some of the left over money and
with the pension she received, Buaji had somehow managed to educated Khushi and
Payal. But after three years, she had a heart attack and died, leaving Khushi
and Payal alone once again.
Payal
had managed to finish her college but Khushi had to quit as Buaji's pension had
stopped. She had realized very soon that Payal wouldn't be able to find a job
to support her education. She was just happy to stay back at home and take care
of the household work.
So
Khushi had stepped up and decided to work her way through college. She had
learnt the art of stitching from her mother. With this skill, she had managed
to find a job as an apprentice at a boutique, where she had learnt how to
design. She had a natural affinity toward the art and had picked it up in no
time. After finishing college through correspondence she had joined the
boutique full time as their designer and seamstress.
Khushi
suddenly felt very tired. Her skills had helped them to survive all these
years, but how would they survive this crisis? Ideally, if their parents were
alive, Payal would have been married to a nice boy and would have probably had
a baby by now. Poor girl, their financial status had not allowed her that
luxury. Khushi had sensed that Payal was getting depressed each day seeing all
her friends getting married one after another. Even Palak's wedding was fixed
for the next month. Is that why she had
thrown caution to the winds with Akash?
She
wished her mother was here to tell her how to support Payal through this. Hey Devi Maiyya, please help me'.I don't
know what to do, she thought, and felt a hundred years old.
She
felt even older when she woke the next morning. It had been a terrible evening.
Payal had managed to call the office in Delhi where he worked, only to be told
that Akash was not working there anymore. They did not know where he had gone.
All
night long, Khushi had heard the Payal sobbing. She tried to console her, but
what could she do or say ----- she who had never been marginally tempted to
fall in love herself? She was the last person in the world to know what comfort
or advice to offer, she had told herself unhappily.
To her
surprise she found Payal already up, and making breakfast in the kitchen. She
had made her favourite aloo poori. Her sister looked pale and red eyed, but her
face was set with determination.
'I am
going to find him Khushi,' she said.
'How
jiji? Dismayed, Khushi took the cup of tea she handed her, 'Delhi is a big city.'
'Akash
comes from a small town called Raisar in Rajasthan. I will go there. His family
will know where he is.'
Khushi
took a sip of the tea. 'Jiji,' she said hesitatingly, 'has it not occurred to
you that Akashji may not ----want to be found?'
'That's
not true,' Payal said calmly. 'If it were, I'd know it here.' She put her hand
on her heart.
The
simplicity of the gesture and the profound trust it implied made Khushi's
throat ache with unshed tears.
He's
not worth it, she thought savagely. There was a thousand arguments she should
be able to use to stop Payal embarking on this crazy and probably fruitless
quest, but somehow she couldn't think of one. She couldn't let Payal go off on her own to this Godforsaken place,
could she?
'Instead,
she said, 'Then I am going with you.'
Khushi,
do you mean it?' Payal's face lit up. 'But what about the boutique? Will Mrs. Malhotra
give you the time off? She depends on you heavily.'
'I haven't
taken off much in the last four years.' Khushi gave a reassuring smile. 'Mrs. Malhotra
won't fire me. She relies on me to handle the difficult clients the others
won't work for.'
'What
about Surajji?' she asked her softly.
'What
about him?' Khushi asked nonchalantly.
'Have
you forgotten that he has proposed to you? What are you going to do about
that?'
'I don't
know jiji,' she said carefully, 'I need more time to decide.'
Palak's
older brother Suraj Mathur had been showing a lot of interest in her since last
year. He was a good man from a good family who ran his own sweet stall in the
neighbourhood. He was good looking, soft spoken and liked by everyone. She
liked him as well. But he didn't make her heart go dhak-dhak like ''. like Baazigar. Hey Devi Maiyya, was she
running after a dream?
Khushi was
practical and knew that not everyone was destined to find true love, like her
parents. Sometimes there weren't many options left in life. But still, something had stopped her from accepting
Suraj's proposal right away.
She
changed the topic. 'I will book bus tickets on the way back from work.' She
tried to sound positive but her heart was in her feet.
What
the hell will we do if we don't find Akash? She wondered. Or, even worse,
supposing we find him and he doesn't want to know?
She
sighed silently. They would cross that bridge when they came to it.
'We'll
find him.' Payal seemed to have read her
thoughts. Her voice and face were serene. 'It's fate. Rajputs are people of
honour.'
People
of honour ---- but also fiercely traditional and known for their ruthlessness. Warriors,
who wouldn't think twice before using their sword in the name of honour.
Well, she would just have to be doubly
strong to face these so called warriors wouldn't she?
She said, 'There is no such
thing as fate,'as she silently
prayed, Hey Devi Maiyaa, please protect
us!
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