Here's a complicated version of Reyaansh.
Guess I had to give this one…
Hope you'll like it.😊
And do have a look at Kria's version too. Click here.
Note- the small part in blue is a flashback.
Reyaansh OS
Complicated (II)
"Daddy?"
Reyaansh looked up from the newspaper he was reading, smiling at his beautiful six year old, who was trying to assemble a jigsaw puzzle he had bought her some days back. "Yes honey? Do you need help with that?" he asked.
"No." Her brows were furrowed, like she was thinking of something important. "What does my name mean, daddy?" She asked.
He stiffened, as he stared at his daughter's curious sea-green eyes. Her name? He ran a nervous hand anxiously through his hair, wondering about her sudden desire to know the meaning.
From where did the young kids get so many questions these days? Must be due to the enormous media awareness, he thought wryly. He'd have to cut short his little girl's television hours. And soon. Before she came up with those dreadful, adolescent questions about pubertal changes.
He shuddered at the thought of going through that phase. How was he ever going to elucidate that to her baby girl? Heck, why do kids ever have to grow up?
He sighed. Being a single parent was a tough job.
How he wished at times like these if she was still with them, to answer all their daughter's questions. …. His pillar….. The stand of glory….. His Taani.
Six years and he was still struggling with the fact that she was never coming back. And worst part….. he couldn't even regret that fateful day she was gone. It was the very day when he was gifted with his bundle of joy sitting near his feet, looking up at him with her innocent doe eyes, still waiting for her answer.
Her name.
He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, as he tried not to think of the source. Ten years ago that name had ruled his universe. The one engraved on his heart and soul. The one he had tried very hard to scrape but failed, quite miserably. And now his daughter shared it. Ironies of life, he thought wearily. If only he had a choice back then. But it had been his dying wife's last wish. And no way could he have denied her the one thing she asked from him.
"Promise me you'll name her that." She choked, trying to hold on to her final breaths.
He had wept, burrowing his face in her neck. Holding her in his arms. Tight. Never meaning to let her go. How was he going to live with another loss? Again.
"Rey?"
"Ye….Yes." He promised. "Yes, I will."
She had smiled between tears, clutching his face in her frail hands. "Thank you." she had whispered her last words, before the silence engulfed his life.
His daughter in the crib next to his departed wife's bed was the only ray of hope in his empty life.
"Daddy?" His baby waved her tiny hand near his face, bringing him back to the present. "You dint tell me. What does my name mean?"
"Umm." Rey sighed, pulling her onto his lap, creasing her hair. Well, he had to tell her someday. "It means Purity."
"Purity?" His girl frowned, contemplated over it for a while and then her face broke out in a huge grin. "I like that."
He couldn't help smiling back. "Me too."
"So how did you come up with it?" She bounced on his lap, enthusiastically, suddenly interested in the name's history now. "Did you know someone with this name?"
"Erm…. Yea, I did." He said, averting his eyes from her face, he quickly placed her down near her jigsaw. "Daddy has some work, honey. You should go finish your puzzle now."
"But daddy I want to know how you came up with it!!" She wailed, clutching his leg as he tried to get up.
"Some other time, sweetheart." He carefully shrugged her off and smiled, before leaving the room for some fresh air.
And if it was upto him, that someday would never show. This name chapter was done and over with as far as he was concerned.
Only his daughter had other plans…..
****
"Swayam uncle?"
"Yes sweetie?"
She frowned, her tiny brows creasing at the forehead. Why dint any of them- her dad….. his friends, ever address her by her name?? The endearing(s) were good. She liked them alright. But sometimes it really got on her nerves!! She wished they used her name more often. And now that she knew the meaning, she'd like to be called by her name as far as possible.
"Do you know my name means 'Purity'?" She told him, proudly with one of her charming, dimpled grins.
She had been announcing it to a lot of people off late. Even their driver, Bansi kaka knew what it meant. She giggled at herself and her stupid tactics to publicize it. The other day she had run upto a pregnant lady in the park and asked her…. or according to his dad, ordered the woman to name her to-be-daughter (if any) after her name.
"Oh really?" Her uncle smiled down at her. But she dint observe a quick exchange of look pass between her Swayam uncle and Sharon aunt before that. "Umm….That's really nice, darling."
"Do you know how my dad came up with the name?" She asked, inquisitively. "He wouldn't tell me." She pouted. "He said he knew someone with the name."
"Umm…. Baby actually….." He looked at Sharon, pleading with his eyes to save him this conversation.
Sharon nodded at him, knowingly. "Sweetheart," She interrupted their exchange. "We'll miss the movie. Come on now, let's go." She gave his niece her hand and the little one was happy to oblige, hopping down her uncle's lap.
****
She suddenly stopped midway to the hall's entrance, getting her Sharon aunt to look down at her, confused.
Her eyes were filled with tears.
"What is wrong, love?" Sharon fretted, kneeling down in front of her. "Do you need anything? Are you hungry? Want to use the washroom?"
"No." And to Sharon's horror, she flung herself to her aunt….. Weeping!
Sharon lifted her, carrying her to one of those theater couches. She sat down while the small girl clung to her, as she cried her heart out. She rubbed her back, cooing, shushing, kissing….. telling her….. asking her what upset her…. all the time waiting for her sobs to die.
After a while, her niece pulled back, her arms still around her aunt. "Sharon aunty, don't you all like my name?" She asked between hiccups.
Sharon's heart tore for the little girl. She felt so helpless at the moment; it made her want to cry too.
"Ofcourse sweetie." She kissed her hair, lovingly. "We all love your name. It's the best."
"But you'll don't use it enough." She wailed. "And daddy…." She started to tear up again. "He never calls me by my name."
Sharon pulled her back to her as she cooed reassuring-ly, "I bet he loves your name more than any of us do."
"But he….."
"Kria?"
She stiffened in her aunt's arms when she heard her father call her out from behind them, addressing her by her name, probably for the first time ever. She turned to look at him skeptically, wondering if he was mad at her for making a fuss here in public.
But what she saw made her want to sob again. She jumped from Sharon's lap; running right into her father's wide, waiting arms.
"I love you Kria." He said, burrowing his face in her soft, floral hair. He pulled back, staring in her daughter's watery eyes….. his own moist with unshed tears. "And I absolutely adore your name."
"You do?" She asked, taken aback.
"Ofcourse I do." He told her. "It's the best name we could come up with. And you know what?"
"What?" She raised her eyebrows, questioningly.
"You are the most beautiful Kria I know."
She flashed him her mesmerizing smile, before she lunged for his chest again. "I love you, daddy." She sighed, against his protected arms. "And thank you for giving me such a wonderful name."
Kria Reyaansh Singhania.
****
PS-
Sorry for typos. Haven't proof read.
'Kriya' aka 'Kria' means a religious ritual of purifying, btw. Yeah, I had to cut short the meaning to fit in here.😊
So what did you'll think?
Gimme your reviews guys…. You'll know how much I thrive for those.😳
PPS- If this story sounds similar… then let me tell you that I was watching KKHH for probably the 100th time the other day. 😉
Anupamaa
Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon
35