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Chapter 7 - The fight
A week passed. A week full of practice, rehearsals, understanding and synchronisation of technical aspects of the magnum opus in the making. The ambience buzzed up with electrifying energy. There were mistakes, re-takes for the scenes and amidst work pressure, a lot of fights. Finally, unable to tolerate anymore, Anandi finally gave Shiv a piece of her mind, in the middle of a practice."...What is your problem, Mr hot shot London return??!! You unanimously come late, forget your dialogues, do whatever you feel like doing and expect all of us to deal with it and to adapt as per your requirement!! WHAT is your problem...??? One whole damn team is working on getting the spot areas right, they get confused, Bhairav Sir has conceptualised scenes in a particular manner, then why do you change it every time??!! I dont know why Bhairav Sir does not tell you anything...but its not fair...on us... on the team...on the SHOW!!" She burst out on him, breathing heavily.
Stunned, by what had just happened, there was pin drop silence around. Everybody was in a state of shock. Nobody had seen her lose her cool like this before on anyone. Bhairav was stumped himself. He did not mind the improvisation by Shiv, because Shiv came up with some gems while performing, and Bhairav thought it was in the benefit of the play. Wherever, he felt like agreeing with Shiv's inputs, he wouldnt mind the change. The only one, who was composed and did not show any change of expressions, was Shiv. He almost looked right back at her, as if he expected her to spill it all out on him. She was perplexed by his reaction. A little confused, a little ashamed too for her sudden outburst and at the same time a bit adamant too. Her emotions were swinging from one motion to another.
"...Uh...Anandi, calm down dear, let me explain..." Bhairav started off. Shiv gestured towards Bhairav to let him handle it. Bhairav flicked his eye in approval, handing over the situation to him.
"...I am sorry Anandi..." He said, in a composed tone.
"The idea was to get a natural reaction from you, when I improvise and its not Bhairav Sir's fault. I had only suggested it to him, since we were taught the instinctive style of acting in London. I have seen your work before, you are ofcourse an acclaimed and talented actor. But I thought, that you are hiding something inside you. In every performance, there is something that is still untapped in there. Even Sir agreed with me. We were just trying to get that out from you. I am sorry again, if we ended up hurting you."
She was indeed hurt. Hurt with Bhairav Sir. If there was something missing in her performance, he should have brought it up to her notice. Not this way, not with the support of this guy.
Upset and with tears brimming in her eyes, she looked at Bhairav and walked out of the auditorium.
Bhairav tried to stop her, but she dint. She just wanted to be alone, just wanted to run away somewhere.
Shiv gulped. He wanted to stop her, hold her back, tell her why he was here in the first place, why he was the hero of this play, why did he care for her so much. But he couldn't. He let her go. Exchanging a glance with Bhairav, he knew it was time for pack up, atleast for the time being.
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Chapter 8 - A new life, a new beginning
Anandi woke up to a bright sunny day. The birds were chirping and the skies were clear, a glorious shade of blue. She smiled. It was raining all through the night, the nature had its own ways of shifting patterns, she thought. Little did she know that it coincided with the events of her life too.
Her head, however was throbbing because of the happenings yesterday. She was disoriented too a bit. Never in her life, had she walked out in the middle of an on-going practice. Sneaked out during breaks, yes. But never threw tantrums in the middle of it. She picked up her phone to have a conversation at length with Bhairav Sir. She wanted to apologise for her behaviour and was upset as yet for the manner in which 'that London return' and Sir had treated her.
Bhairav's phone was not reachable. She sighed and looked at the calendar. Surprised, she just ended up realising - it was her favourite day, Saturday. Yaayy!!...she exclaimed to herself, with a broad smile on her face.
Quickly she readied herself. She was going to head to her favourite destination...her Happy Home. It was a long journey in her privately booked car, almost 11 hours from Mumbai, but it was worth it, she would be spending her remaining day and the next day with the kids.
"Arrey bhaiyaa kab tak pahochenge, kal Munni ka janam din hai...bacho ke liye, unki man pasand gifts bhi le rakhi hai...I hope sabko accha lagey" She mumbled.
"Madam bass, pahoch gaye...10 minute aur..."
Finally, she reached her destination. It was well past seven, by the time she made it.
Pragnya Happy Home. She read the hoarding. She smiled to herself and walked inside with bounce. The way she used to, while she was a child. As soon as she entered, with a baggage full of gifts, she saw the lawn of the happy home decorated with glittering lights and all the kids jumping around in the lawn. A tall man was standing with his back on her and the kids had surrounded him.
She walked closer. He was dancing on some song and the kids were following him. They were all really looking cute, trying to ape Salman's step from dabang, she let out a laugh.
She walked a bit closer, trying to catch a glimpse of the man. He sat down on her chair, still facing her backwards and pulled out the guitar from the case. All the kids were requesting him to sing a certain song. He wrapped the guitar belt around him.
She heard the guitar strum...his face turned sideways. He smiled his half smile. She walked a bit closer.
He hummed and
"...Rang satrangi de bulbula di boli..." He started, closing his eyes.
" Dhoop de pairi chale, chhavan ni lai doli..." changing the chord on guitar, almost involuntarily.
and he strummed guitar increasing the rhythmic beats...
"Hun kaale kaale badalan ch chand labh da
Goongiyan hawa va diyaan waaja sun da
Yaaro aas-paas wasda ai yaar mera
Dikhda ni ohdiyaan khusbuaan sunghda
Goongiyan hawa va diyaan waaja sun da
Yaaro aas-paas wasda ai yaar mera
Dikhda ni ohdiyaan khusbuaan sunghda
O Challa ki labh da phirey..
Yaaron main ghar kehda
Lokan ton puchda phire
Challa hasta firey
Challa Rota Firey
Challa gali gali tardapta firey
Chala tu sabka
Challa tera koi nahi
Challa gali galli tardapta firey"
Yaaron main ghar kehda
Lokan ton puchda phire
Challa hasta firey
Challa Rota Firey
Challa gali gali tardapta firey
Chala tu sabka
Challa tera koi nahi
Challa gali galli tardapta firey"
He ended the song and strum the guitar for one last time.
The kids burst into a resounding applause. Mesmerized, perplexed, angry, annoyed, confused, memerized all the same time, Anandi finally heard him, finally saw him. Her heartbeats had increased, she felt dry in the throat and "Thud..." the bags dropped from her hand.
"...What are you doing here??" She questioned, his back still facing her.
The kids were stunned to see Anandijee here. A couple of them ran towards her to hug her. He turned around. Shiv got up to face Anandi.
To be continued...
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Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
