It was a day Naina wished never came since last 4 yrs. It brought with it fresh pain and made Naina's sense of loss more acute with each passing year.
Naina had been in a foul mood since past week, sometimes sulking, sometimes crying and sometimes not feeling anything at all..!!! Little did she know that she had been blessed with such a wonderful man, who was always ready to do anything that could bring a teeny weeny smile on her face. And on this day he wouldn't let her down. He felt he owed it to her after all that he had done to make her feel this way.
The day started with the usual routine...breakfast, drills, lunch, classes. The only thing Naina found unusual was that her friends weren't sad for her. Infact all of them had smug expressions on their faces. She could understand that Yudi and Ali were happy as Yudi was going to have dinner with his family and Ali had already gotten his parcel and was obviously overjoyed. Naina felt a lump form in her throat everytime she thought of their happiness...!!!! It was only after her last class that she burst out crying in her room. She stood their crying for what seemed like an eternity....yes an eternity it had been since she tied a rakhi on her dearest brother's wrist.. The fuss she made while selecting his rakhi...tying it ceremoniously with all the tika and aarti which he hated and she loved doing ...the way she harassed him for gifts and separate cash....the way she would drag him to the market to spend the cash he gave her....everything...it all came back to her...with immense pain...
" Chutkiiiii....I m homeeeeee....." Suddenly the homecomer was engulfed by the arms of his baby sister....a huuuuugggggeeee grin on both their faces...
" I so knew bhaiya you wouldn't miss this day for anything in this world....ah..but I hope you have come with my gift...!!! "
" Yaar chutki tu kitni materialistic or selfish hai....mujhe yeh tak nahi pucha ke meri journey kaisi thi, main thik hoon ya nahin, mujhe kuch khana peena hai ya nahi...bas sirf apni gift ki padi hai....!!! "
"Oh come on Bhaiya...aap ek soldier hain...of course aap theek hain...aur aapko toh bhukhe pyaase rehne ki aadat hogi lekin main...mujhe toh saal me sirf do baar gift milte hai so how can I not ask you for my gift before anything else....???? "
"Yeh hai aaj kal ki kalyugi behene..." Naveen said dramatically touching his parent's feet who had come to know about their son's arrival with Naina's happy shrieks....
" Bhai you are such a nautanki...I wonder how did you ever make it to KMA...???"
" I happen to be an all rounder you see, if you didn't realise it yet that I have something that you don't have much...!! "
"Ah and what is that...???" She said thinking hard.
" A lil something called ' brain'...!!!" He said running away missing the pillow she threw right after his answer...!!!
The brother-sister duo became inseparable for the next 2 days...!!! On the day of Raksha Bandhan, Naina got up early and was dressed in a very pretty churidaar suit and was already bugging Naveen to wake up by 9 am.
" Kya yaar, Chutki...mushkil se do din ki chutti milti hai aur tu sone bhi nahi deti.." he complained getting up finally...
" Bhaiya its 9 am...I am already dressed for our little celebration..."
Naveen looked at his over enthusiast sister and smiled, finally heading towards his bathroom..
When Naveen was out after a whole 45 minutes,dressed into a simple kurta pajama, Naina once again checked her thali....Naveen looked over with a grimace...." Naina no....no tika and aarti and all haan..."
" Yeah yeah as if main aapki baat manne wali hun....!!!"
" Okay toh main rakhi nahi bandhwata...."
"Huh...bhaiya aap meri ek baat nahi maan sakte...??? This is all I ask of you in the whole year...!!!" Naina said dramatically...
" Yeah this and a gift aur cash alag se a.n.d not to forget your birthday gifts....This is all you ask in one year...."
" Toh kya hua....aap ki bas ek behen hai aur aap uske liye itna bhi nahi kar sakte...???" Naina got a bit tearfull....
" Now who is being a nautanki...Chal ab...jaldi yeh apna drama khatam kar so that we can go on your shopping routine warna saara saal phone pe taane maregi..!!!"
Naina gave a joyous smile and proceeded with the rituals.
" Chalo ab mera gift nikalo..."
" Yeh le...agar acha naa lage toh not my fault....Raj ne select ki hai...."
" Hmm...waise earrings toh ache hai..." Naina said with the opened packet in her hand and nose still twitched ...." Maanna padega Bhaiya...uss akdoo ki choice toh achi hai..."
" Chutki not a word against Raj..." Naveen warned...
" Bhaiya aapke aise behaviour se naa kabhi kabhi mujhe aap dono pe doubt hota hai...you know...sometimes I wonder why both of you don't have girlfriends ,are both of you nor....??? " She said with an amused expression only to see that Naveen was on his way towards her wth a pillow......
" Nainaaaaaaaaaaa..............."
" Nainaaaaaaaaaaa.............."
" Huh..." Naina gave a jerk to see all her friends entering her room....
" Tum sab yaha ek saath kya kare ho...??? " she asked confused.
Without saying a word Aalekh and Ali came forward with Rakhis while Pooja handed her a Pooja thali...
Naina didn't need any explanation as she saw all this...with tears streaming down her face. She just took the rakhis and started witht he rituals....Ali made her tie all the ones sent to him by his sisters back home. After she was done witht he tying of the rakhis, she was surprised to see that Aalekh and Ali had gotten her gifts....she was too overwhelmed to say anything so she just took them into a hug...and cried softly in both their arms. To lighten the atmosphere, Pooja came forward and announced that she was taking them all to dinner outside the academy....while Naina said that it would be her treat as it was her day and her friends had made it special for her...!!! She was happy and her friends had made her day....!!!! " Tum logo ko pata tum log duniya ke best friends ho....!!!'
" Oye Naina best hum nahi, best toh Rajveer Sir ha...in...." Pooja bit her lip and Naina knew exactly what she was hiding ...Giving a knowing smile, Naina went out of her room.
Knocking on the familiar door, she entered without waiting for the reply....there sat her mentor, friend, philosopher, guide and Angel for today...
" So I guess you are feeling a bit better now..." He said in a cheery voice.
" Yes...all thanks to you..." she said with a smile....
" This is the least I could do for you...after all that I had done earlier....
" Only you can do this you know...after taking away one brother, you have given me two...." She said with a rueful smile..." You have always given me more than I have needed...whether it is support, confidence or ...love...."
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Hello friends.....here is my OS on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan and I want to dedicate it to my lovely brother who I m missing terribly today 😭😭....Love you lots bro....🤗
Pls ignore the spelling mistakes, no time to proof read....Ah...and comments and criticism equally welcome...
Love,
Dhara.
Anupamaa
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