1. 10 years & counting (A)- IPK anniversary June21

26 days ago

manjiri

@m4manju

Originally posted on - June 25th 2021

He looked at the screen of his phone which was blinking and flashing a reminder. "7 days to go" it read. It was not a reminder of any upcoming business meet nor any event which he was invited to attend but it was something personal. A change that happened with the mighty ASR over last decade, he now gave utmost importance to the events in his personal life as much as to his professional life, if not more. All thanks to a lady who walked into his life exactly a decade ago! 10 years since meeting her first, 9 years since being blissfully married to her and having 3 kids together, he still felt like he had met her just yesterday. That was the charisma of his lady love, his wife and his better-nay-best half, Mrs. Khushi Kumari Gupta Singh Raizada! Uttering it, her name woven together with his, gave him some sort of high, every single freaking time! So over the years, he had made this habit of marking the calendar for all important dates all year around. After missing out on initial 3 wedding anniversaries, he swore not to give Her Highness any chance to complain. So he make calendar entries of ALL their special days, except her birthday and his babies' birthdays of course. He would NEVER forget those days until his dying breath and wont ever need a reminder for those 3 dates! And the upcoming event was, 10th anniversary when his life was blessed with 'Khushi', when someone up in the skies blessed him with her, for God-knows-what good deed he did to deserve her!

He still remembered their 3rd wedding anniversary, 28th September 2015! The day when he dared to forget his wedding anniversary, again. But the way that evening turned out to be, he still gets goosebumps remembering it. An intimate celebration between just the two of them followed by Khushi's confession that they indeed were going to have a baby soon, as Akash had hinted earlier. Apparently, Khushi had confided in her jiji when she missed her period and that led to Payal and Akash knowing about their 'good news' even before she told him. That was not a big deal though, as much as getting pregnant just a month after deciding to try to conceive was. They had decided to start trying for a baby, but he thought it will take a while before that actually happened. After all they recently went off the contraceptives. But apparently, they were 'very good' at 'trying'.

Their first born, their son, Kavish was born on one rainy morning in June 2016. Just like the monsoon season, which brings with it unlimited joy, their son did bring with him happiness in abundance. He was one happy child, he still is! At tender age of 5, his 5th birthday being 2 weeks from today, another event for which he did not need a calendar reminder ever, his son was a very understanding little person one could ever meet. And credit goes to their joint family for that. When Kavish was born, the Raizada house was already abuzz with giggles and wailings of Payal and Akash's 6-month-old daughter, Piya. But Kavish Singh Raizada has his own charm! No wonder the media was crazy about their eldest! That was until his twin daughters arrived to give a tough competition to their 'bhaiyya'!

Arnav still chuckles remembering the days prior to Kavish's naming ceremony. So as per tradition, Anjali, being baby's aunt was supposed to choose a name. But Anjali had asked them if they had any name in mind and she would just announce the same. Khushi was already calling him 'chikku', a fruit she craved during her pregnancy and ate in abundant, surging her sugar levels dangerously high, while his nani and Khushi's buaji were calling his son 'laddu gopal'. Only he was the one who did not have a nickname for the little guy yet. So, coming to have a real name, they were certain that they did not want anything that started with an A, since having another ASR was not something they fancied that time. Arnav had a name in mind but that was for a baby girl, for he was certain they were having a girl. But 'mr. happy face' proved him wrong and certainly could not be named Kavya as Arnav thought! He had chosen that name because it had K for Khushi and A for Arnav! But obviously that name was redundant now. So, after a few brainstorming sessions Anjali finally came up with a perfect name, Kavish! It also had K for Khushi, A for Arnav and wish/vish which made it Kavish, and it had a nice meaning too – 'king of poets'!

Fast forward another 3 years, everyone started pestering them with questions on when they were planning another child. He used to roll his eyes at that while his wife would blush a shade of crimson. But the questions never stopped. Clearly the world loved to see them make beautiful babies. So much for not interfering in a couple's private life! He used to just smile at those questions, for he knew that, 'that' would never happen! He was way too careful to never get Khushi pregnant again, because one time was enough to see her go through a horrible pain called labor! Over the years he was extra careful and used to keep a track of her cycle, days to avoid getting close to her, no matter how tempting it was. And if her period was even a day or 2 late, he was the one freaking out more than his wife! Those were times when Khushi used to swear by his favorite term, 'what the'! but he cared a damn!. He would just pray for her 'time of the month' aka 'aunt flow' to start already!

His faith was another thing that changed over these years. It all started when Khushi was being wheeled inside the OT during Kavish's birth, her cries gave him a panic attack and he automatically dashed to the Ganesha idol inside the hospital, where luckily there was a small idol of Devi Maiyya too. He realized that he was not able to write his destiny all the time after all. And so, he prayed and prayed. And finally, a night of cries, patience and prayers later, they were blessed with their son. If Kavish's birth made him pray to Devi Maiyya for the safety of his wife and their child, Khushi's next pregnancy made him keep 'mannat' for the wellbeing of his adamant wife who insisted on going ahead with this pregnancy even after knowing it was risky! And that made him, the ASR, a staunch devotee of Khushi's favorite deity. Though he was against them having another child, but when it happened nevertheless, Khushi refused to terminate the pregnancy. He tried everything, cajoling her, talking to her, begging her, blackmailing her even but she did not budge! 'My babies won't harm me' she said in protest every time. So after strict instructions to take bed rest and assurance from her doctor that she was safe and it was not life threatening to carry the babies to full term as he was making it sound like, he gave in. And finally at the end of all the tension, all the apprehensions, they got beautiful fruits to their pain and patience. How could he stay mad, when her stubbornness gave him the precious bundles of joy, his twin daughters, Arohi (aka Aru) and Shreeya (aka Shree/Pari). Arohi again was a combination of their names, Arnav and Khushi, while the name Shreeya was chosen by his nani and di, derived from God's name. The nicknames were again given by Khushi and him, they reserved those rights!

20th January 2020, the day when he was blessed with his twin daughters! 5 painful hours and his numerous prayers later, the doctors informed him that he was blessed with 2 daughters and his wife was doing well, though under sedatives. Also, one of the babies, Pari, was diagnosed with weak lungs so had to be kept under observation in NICU. He still felt flinched remembering how his heart skipped a bit at that, how sometime later when Khushi was handed with only 1 baby, she asked about the other one and how they were allowed to look at their other baby through the glass door. Khushi was inconsolable those 3 days until they were handed their other baby. Finally, when they came home with both the babies, nani arranged a big pooja to bless the new mother and kids. Though Khushi could not sit through the entire pooja time as she was still weak and had to nurse the babies time to time, Arnav happily sat for the pooja, holding Kavish in his lap. He was eternally grateful to the deities for his family and keeping Khushi and his kids safe, he would have done anything for that right now, sitting through a pooja was a small deal.

Their 8th wedding anniversary in Sept 2020, was a blissful celebration with his family, his 4-year-old son and 7-month-old daughters. Due to the ongoing Covid pandemic, he was working from home, just like most of the world and all of AR staff. He was thankful for this blessing in disguise, as this made him spend maximum time with Aru and Shree, the time he wished he could have spent with Kavish too. No matter how much he tried, when Kavish was a baby, some of his professional commitments kept him away from them for days at times. And even if Khushi understood his dilemma and did not complain much, he knew she missed him, as did he. Before the birth of his son, he never spent a day without Khushi, he always took her with him to any domestic or international travels. But since the time their eldest was born, that dynamic changed. It was not always easy to travel with an infant at toe, though they still tried to do that as much as they could.

Talking about their babies, if Kavish was a mamma's boy and resembled Khushi, except his eyes which was a direct copy of Arnav's eyes, Aru was a daddy's girl. Same face cut, same smile, same sharpness and same temper! Arohi was a true 'junior ASR' amongst his 3 kids! She kept Khushi on toes for almost a year and if not given the attention when she asked, whole Shantivan used to get shaken with her loud cries. It would then be a task for them to calm her down. Shreeya on the other hand was a blessing, the calmest of all 3 kids, she was a true angel, a pari as he nicknamed her. They always found it cute how Kavish and Aru had some of the traits of each of them, but Shree aka Pari was a perfect combination of both of them, a beautiful blend. She was the calmest baby one would have ever seen. Partly due to her weak health since birth and partly because Aru stole most of the attention. Given that she was very weak when she was born, only her mother was allowed to handle her for almost 2 months to avoid any infections. How Arnav used to crave to hold his other daughter! It was then he understood the cliché, 'parents love all their kids equally, no matter how many'. He loved all 3 of them with so much passion that he was scared it would make his heart burst. When he fell in love with Khushi, the concept of love was still alien to him. He thought it was a fake and overrated emotion. How wrong he was! Fast forward 10 years, love for him was synonym with his wife Khushi and their 3 babies! Pure unadulterated love where there was no trace of fakeness!

"Dad-a" he felt a tap on his cheek and looked at the person demanding his attention, his 1.5-year-old daughter, Aru. He didn't realize when his train of thought went on for so long that Aru completed her nap and was now up. Thankfully Pari was still asleep. Arnav lifted her and stepped outside of the girls' room, so his other daughter still completed her afternoon nap while his wife and son were busy completing some schoolwork. His son, though attending school online, was a sharp boy but still needed his mamma to help him ensure his work was complete.

The week went by quickly and soon it was 'the-day', 10th anniversary of the first time their paths crossed. If not for the ongoing pandemic, Arnav would have planned a gate away for them or at least a fancy dinner at Khushi's (and Kavish's) favorite five-star diner. But the ongoing situation restricted that. That did not mean he did not plan anything though. He surely did. A 7-course dinner at home with the help of Payal and naniji, and her favorite red rose, he made sure his wife felt every bit special. And sure, she did, if going by the way she decorated their bedroom with candles and rose petals while he was reading a bedtime story to Kavish, and the night that followed with the passionate love they made to commemorate the day! Whoever said love fades away with time surely did not meet Arnav and Khushi, because for them, love only multiplied with time and was going on in infinite loop!

Read and review please 🤗

I will upload second OS in short time.

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A/N- As most of you know this OS inspired my first arshi ff 'choti si duniya'. The OS might feel rushed but pls don't judge it, pls keep in mind this was my first attempt at arshi. 😊