Chapter 8
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[MEMBERSONLY]
[NOCOPY]
MARRYING KHUSHI
(Thank you nishu_shorna for the lovely Banner)
Part 9
Section 2
Buaji and Garima led the boys to the house next door.
On the way, Buaji asked Arnav, "Bitwaa, Titliyaa is not causing you any problems, is she?"
He had to bite back a smile as he said, "No." A vision of her running away from him, the hem of her white sari around her shins, flashed through his mind.
"Nandkisore ki jai ho!" Buaji raised her eyes heavenwards. "Oo kaa he, Bitwaa, who thodi sanki he na, isliye I worry about her all the time. You keep an eye on her always, Bitwaa." Buaji requested ASR.
"Always." ASR said, his heart thudding fit to deafen him.
Buaji looked at Garima who was staring at the lights and the decorations with wide eyes.
"Garima, soon our house too will look like this. Both Payaliyaa and Titliyaa will get married soon." Buaji comforted her.
Garima nodded. "Haan, Jiji."
ASR paled. "Their... their weddings are fixed?" he asked, his voice low.
Buaji smiled. "No, Bitwaa. But we are looking for boys for them. Good boys from backgrounds similar to ours..."
ASR felt his heart settle back in position. He would have to move fast. Very fast. There was little time to be lost.
Buaji & Garima were greeted with great love by Preetho's parents. They extended a warm welcome to the three boys when Buaji introduced them as Khushi's employer and his brothers.
Suddenly, music blared from the loudspeakers, almost deafening all of them. Preethos' mother waved them in.
Arnav walked in to a courtyard with a stage erected in the centre. Children and ladies were seated all around the stage.
As he watched, Khushi, Payal, and four other girls took the stage, three of them dressed as boys, with exaggerated moustaches and turbans.
Khushi, Payal, & another girl were in lehengas, the cholis decorously covering their waists, the dupattas pinned to cover their bosoms. Khushi was in a red-blue lehenga, looking like a princess, the bright red of her skirt twirling around her. Her hair was in one plait, and jasmine flowers were threaded in to the tresses. ASR stared at her, his eyes and heart captivated by her beauty.
The popular Bhojpuri song, Lollipop, rent the eardrums of the audience.
Lagaweli jab lipistic, hilela yarra district
Tu, lagaweli jab lipistic, hilela yarra district
Zilla top lalelu
Komariya kare lopa loap, lollipop lagelu
Tu, lagaweli jab lipistic, hilela yarra district
Zilla top lalelu
Komariya kare lopa loap, lollipop lagelu
Khushi shook her hips in time to the music, and the ladies and the children clapped and hooted in appreciation. Arnav stared at her happy face, his eyes trapped by the glow on her face. The memory of the night he had seen her for the first time, lost in dancing, rushed through his mind.
Gaaliya pe baliya jhume
Muski pe jhumela tata
Her male partner touched the long earrings hanging from her ears, and Khushi laughed.
Gorakhpur devariya mein tohar
Book rahela sata
The boy kneeled on the ground, praising her. Khushi twirled around, laughing at him in the company of the other two girls.
Pahrelu tu jab nathuniya
Hilela paghuwa mohaniya
Chaka tu chaka chauk lagelu
Hilela paghuwa mohaniya
Chaka tu chaka chauk lagelu
Khushi did her thumkas, rolling her hips in time to music, sending ASR's heart dancing along.
Komariya kare lopa loap, lalipop lagelu
Khushi's red skirt flowed around her legs as she danced in time to music. Red! His favourite colour! She looked beautiful in it, almost regal in its glory.
Ghaghra pa chapra hile
Boli pe chalela goli
Dupatta chalwawe katta
Mar karawela la choli
Mar karawela la choli
Khushi and the other two girls laughed as the boys praised their choli, patli kamar, their jawani... ASR stared at her, lost in her antics.
Dekhike chadhal jawani
Hile Patna rajdhani
Malai baraf lage lu
Komariya kare lopa loap, lalipop lagelu ...
The dance came to a rousing end, the crowd expressing their appreciation loudly. Children whistled, and the ladies laughed.
Buaji said, smiling, "Both girls are pagal!" Garima laughed in agreement.
Preetho's mother and father came to invite the crowd to have their dinner in the huge tent erected behind the house. Buaji and Garima invited the three boys to join them, and they moved towards the tent.
"Bhai, what was Khushiji wearing?" Akash asked, his face pale.
"Red lehenga and blue choli, with blue-red dupatta. Why?" ASR asked, his eyes tracing Khushi's movement away from the stage.
Akash drew in a relieved breath. "The girl in yellow lehenga... Do you know who she is, Bhai?"
"Payal. Khushi's Jiji. Why?" ASR asked directly.
"Nothing." Akash blushed. "She is... very beautiful..."
ASR hid a smile, and looked around for Khushi. Yes, she was moving towards a room at the side of the house, maybe set aside for changing clothes.
"Nannav! I love Khushiji's jhumkas." NK smiled away, happy.
ASR looked at him. "When did you see her jhumkas?"
"When she jerked her hips like Bollywood actresses!" NK claimed.
Akash sighed, "Thumkas, NK Bhai, thumkas."
ASR said, "You go ahead. I will join you shortly. Cover for me."
"OK, Nannav, you naughty boy!" NK said.
"Theek he, Bhai." Akash smiled, but ASR had already vanished.
Khushi looked at herself in the mirror. She was alone in the room.
Jiji had torn the hem of her lehenga, and had gone in search of Buaji & Amma for help.
She had helped the girls dressed as boys to remove their moustaches and turbans, and now they had all left.
Khushi wiped away the red lipstick and the rouge from her cheeks. Then she moved towards the door of the changing room with eager steps, keen not to miss out on dinner or any of the coming dances.
A hand shot out of the darkness and pulled her in to a corner.
Khushi gasped. She looked up to see the Laad Governaar's stern face looking down at her.
A frown of confusion replaced the look of shock.
"What are you doing here?" she asked directly, her fingers trying to prise his hard fingers away from her arm.
"Your Amma & Buaji invited us." he replied.
"Acha?" Khushi asked, still perplexed. He didn't even know Preetho. What was the khadoos, workaholic, insomniac rakshas doing at her sangeet? Anyway, it was none of her business. He could attend all the sangeets in Lucknow, one after the other, for all she cared. If only he had given this a miss! It was bad enough working with him...
"Please let go of my arm. Koi dekh lega. And it hurts." she said, looking around nervously.
He loosened his hold, but refused to let go. He led her in to the changing room.
"Who asked you to take a day off? How dare you leave your job and go off to celebrate someone's marriage?" he asked, his jaw clenched.
Khushi stared at him in wonder. "I took Manjuji's permission. And it is a sangeet, not a marriage." Khushi said reasonably.
"Whatever! You..."
"It maybe whatever to you, but to Preetho, it is important. It is sangeet, not marriage." Khushi made her point clear.
"Sangeet, not marriage." said a squeaky voice from its perch.
ASR & Khushi looked up. Mittu was sitting on a beam, looking down at them.
"Mittu!" Khushi's call held a world of love.
ASR looked at her, wondering whether he had strayed in to a madhouse.
"This is Mittu, Preetho's pet parrot." Khushi introduced the pet to ASR.
ASR glared at it.
"I am Mittu, Mittu, pyaari Mittu..." the parrot carolled.
"Mittu, this is Arnav Singh Raizada, my employer." Khushi introduced him to the parrot.
"Shaitan." Mittu said clearly.
"What?" ASR asked.
"Nothing." Khushi said, flustered.
"Naak mein dam karke rakha he!" Mittu said.
Khushi paled. Trust Mittu to remember embarrassing things she had confided in her ear.
ASR turned his hot eyes on Khushi's pale face.
Khushi looked away, unable to stand his intent gaze.
ASR twisted her arm behind her so that she was trapped. He pulled her close to him, her chest against his. She raised shocked eyes to his passionate ones.
"Chodiye hamein." she whispered, trying to squirm her way out of his hold.
He pulled her closer against him. "Now what will you do?" he asked, his husky voice falling over her skin like a shower of tiny stars, his incendiary eyes swallowing her whole.
"Tel maalish! Champi! Champi!" sang Mittu.
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