SS: Keeping Khushi: Thread 6 Part 59 Pg 110 - Page 74

Smita,😊

Here is my interpretation for the installment 59.

Its LEVEL-PEGGING meaning equal, even, identical, parallel.

Continuing the saga of Anjali and Anand'. Anand tells Anjali, for the past five years, once his business started to prosper, his amma and buaji had been behind him to contact her. This evokes an exclamation and is puzzled as to how do they know about her. Anand tells her his mother, aunt, sisters and their husbands and also his business partners know about her and some have seen her too, during his visits to Delhi when they had accompanied him. He said her visit to the temple in her daily schedule helped him to see her whenever he came to Delhi. To her question does he realize how much she too would have loved to see him, he said not only he all his family knew about it too.

"I know.", his voice was soft and loving. "I know. In fact, we all know.", Anand smiled. "Babuji used to see you loitering outside our house, and he would tell my mother, Shanti, your bahuriyya has come to see your son. Why don't you take the aarti thaali and welcome her in? Amma used to laugh and say, Ask your son to take saat phere with her instead of making her walk around our house seven times daily. Then I will take the aarti thaali and welcome her in."

When his father had been to Kanpur two months before he fell ill he had got four sarees. One each for his daughters'and one for Anjali. He had given it to Anand to give it when they got married and he has been keeping it for her. This brought tears in her eyes.

"Tears at times have the weight of speech" ~ Ovid

"When he heard about the proposal, he asked me to marry you. Amma and my sisters asked me to marry you. Because they knew that if our wedding didn't happen then, it wouldn't happen any time soon. And because they knew how much it would hurt you if I refused, and how much I cared for you."

To her anxious silent querry he said that his family do not know the offer of money by Mamaji

to marry her. It made her happy. Now that he was on equal footing with her he proposed to her.

"One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar" ~ Helen Keller

She who had waited for this to happen for the last ten years accepted it without hesitation.

"The moment you have in your heart this extraordinary thing called love and feel the depth, the delight, the ecstasy of it, you will discover that for you the world is transformed"

~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

This is what both Anand and Anjali felt. Anand said he would meet Arnav the next day itself and if he consents, he'll come to the house with his mother and aunt to ask for her hand formally.

"Ji.", Anjali smiled. "And please give me my sari that my father-in-law left for me. I will wear it to get married in."

Anand looked at her in surprise. "Anjali, it is a simple silk sari, not grand like you would normally wear for a wedding."

"I don't care. I will wear only that sari for my wedding."

"As you wish.", Anand smiled.

"Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own"

~ Robert Heinlein

For Anjali, Anand knows she will be happy to marry him only with Arnav's consent. For him her happiness is quite essential. For Anjali, the saree bought for her by Anand's father is of utmost significance as it is a symbol of his acceptance of her as his bahu. However simple it is she knows if she wears it on her wedding it not only gladdens Anand's heart but she would feel cloaked in his blessings too. It shows that she accepts him and his love unconditionally. Hence both are in par.

"The love we give away is the only love we keep"

~ Elbert Hubbard

They know this and are willing to do things for the sake of the other.

That's why it is LEVEL PEGGING.

Arnav Singh Raizada, who was used to having things done quickly was unhappy with the pace of the hired detectives. He knows,

"You can't live a positive life with a negative mind"

Seeing the crestfallen NK and a perturbed Kushi he decides to do the work himself.

"Positive anything is better than negative nothing" ~ Elbert Hubbard

For him, things had to move quickly. He didn't like both his brother and his wife upset. So he entered the Mishra's main office on his way to his own. He found it spacious and busy, with the staff busy attending to the customers. At the reception he introduced himself and asked for Aarti

"I am Arnav Singh Raizada. I would like to meet Aarti."

"Do you have an appointment, Sir?"

An appointment to meet a chauffeur/ mechanic?

"No.", Arnav frowned.

"I am afraid Madam is away at another of our offices today."

He was surprised that Aarti was referred to as Madam. He thought there was some confusion and described her. The receptionist informed yes she too was referring to the same person and she is out on work. Was there a message to pass on? He said to tell her that he had come to talk to her in person. Putting the onus on Aarti to make the next move he goes to his office.

In the evening as Arnav Singh Raizada left his office, he saw Aarti getting down from her black SUV. As she came towards him she rose a notch or two in his esteem. She had come in person to meet him and face him in his own grounds!

When she spoke to him with such elegance and confidence that he realized that she was not an ordinary person. She told him that she had received his message.

"I need to talk to you, Aarti. Can you spare 10 minutes?", he asked.

"Of course."

"Let's use a conference room."

"Ji."

"If you want to see the true measure of a man, watch how he treats his inferiors, not his equals"

~ J. K. Rowling

Even after sensing that, there is something that is not very clear about what he is seeing and what he perceives about her, he still ushers her to a conference room. He is treating her with respect as an equal.

In the conference room he offers her a seat and then takes a seat opposite at a round table. Here too using a round table he puts her on equal footing. He offers her beverages to make her comfortable which she declines. He opens the talk saying that at Akash's wedding he didn't get an opportunity to talk and asks her about her parents. She says only her mother is alive. He comes to know that she is not well and is under treatment.

Aarti deciding to fasten the pace herself speaks up.

"Mr. Raizada, I was hoping to see you. There is something I need your help with."

Arnav looked at her, surprised. "Sure. What is it?"

"I came as a chauffeur to transport your Buaji and Payalji from Laxmi Nagar to Omkar and back for 2 days. My association with your family is slight, and it ended on Friday night when I returned Buaji to her house."

Arnav looked at her with expressionless eyes, unable to imagine where she was going with this.

"Your brother, Nand Kishore, proposed marriage to me." Aarti's face was equally expressionless.

Arnav felt his breath stop.

"I told him that I am not interested." Her voice was low and sure.

Arnav's facial muscles tightened.

"He seems to find it difficult to accept 'no' for an answer. He came to my office asking for me." Aarti was very matter-of-fact. "It would be a great help if you could talk to your brother and dissuade him from pursuing me."

Aarti tries to enlist Arnav's help to shake off NK from her back. Both are on the level and do not plan to budge. Arnav asks her whether she is married or engaged? When he gets a no to both he probes further as to why is she refusing NK?

"NK is handsome. Cheerful. Has a good heart, is well-off. Then why are you refusing him?"

Aarti swallowed, but did not lower her eyes from his.

"You should be thrilled, Mr. Raizada. I wouldn't really be an appropriate bride for your brother, you know."

"Why not?"

"I live with vehicles. I repair them. I drive them. I have a mother to take care of, a family to run... Not really good bride material for the brother of a well-known businessman."

"As long as NK wants to marry you, and you want to marry him, all these don't matter." Arnav leaned back in his chair.

What was wrong with this guy? Couldn't he behave like a normal millionaire and be horrified at the thought of an ineligible marriage for his brother? She sighed silently.

This is the first time she is coming across a person who is weighing the other with only their character and behavior and not by their wealth. She sees that he is sincere, genuine, honest, open and straight forward, just like herself. She is seeing an equal, identical personality, a mirror image of herself. She who considers her employees as her family finds him accepting a chauffeur cum mechanic as a part of his family readily. This was a surprise element for her, a peep into his character. Arnav Singh Raizada was not at all what she had expected

When she says she doesn't want to marry NK, evading to answer whether she likes NK or not,he asks why not. Her answer is direct. She is not interested in marriage itself. She shows her skepticism at the institution of marriage. Was he not the same before his marriage to Kushi!

"Love is a force more formidable than any other. It is invisible - it cannot be seen or measured, yet it is powerful enough to transform you in a moment, and offer you more joy than any material possession could" ~ Barbara de Angelis

Aarti is a female version of the ASR before he had felt the power of Kushi's love and its impact on his life. Isn't he seeing a mirror image of his former self in Aarti?

"I am not trying to push you, Aarti. You are entitled to your beliefs. But it is possible that you can change your mind. I just want you to know that our whole family would welcome you with open arms as our bahu. And NK is a wonderful man. Why don't you take some time to know him?"

"I have no desire to get married, Mr. Raizada. So spending time knowing him is not an option."

It is clear that both are frank, open, honest,

self-possesssed, if not anything persistant.

When she asks him whether he has anything further to discuss he throws in an unexpected googly! He knows,

"Water doesn't flow if it is level, and people won't complain if you treat them on the level"

That's what he does. To keep her within the folds of his family he says,

"Yes. I wanted to tell you that I would be honoured to call you my sister."

Aarti smiled sadly. "You don't know me, Mr. Raizada. Your brother too does not know me."

"Call me Arnav. Or if you don't want to call your Jetji by his name, call me Arnavji, like Payal does. Or Bhai as Akash does. Or Nannav as NK does."

Aarti swallowed.

"You are not my Jetji, Mr. Raizada. And claiming unknown females as your sisters might prove very dangerous to you."

"I am willing to take the risk, Aarti."

"The greatest gift that you can give to others is the gift of unconditional love and acceptance"

~ Brian Tracy

She is stumped by his offer. Aarti realizes persistence is not just limited to NK, Kushi and herself. Arnav Singh Raizada too possess it and that too in tons.

"A stone-cutter hammers away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and we know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before"

Arnav Singh Raizada knows this. So even her every offer of rejection is rejected. Still she persists saying that he better convince his brother of forgetting having her in his life to which he counters, he will not and that only she has to make NK dislike her.

"To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction" ~ Isaac Newton

Such is the personality of Arnav Singh Raizada and Aarti Mishra, both calm, collected and unflappable. Both are able to counter each other amicably. Being true to his trait of being honest, straight forward and above board he sends her a doosra when she least expected it.

"I wanted to ask you something.", said Arnav.

"Ji?"

"I arranged a private detective agency to find out more about you."

Aarti hid her surprise. She hadn't expected him to admit to it.

"The agent tried his best, but failed to even confirm that you were an employee at Mishra's. Everyone he asked said that they had never heard of an Aarti. Why?"

This she had not expected. He was a person who in all his dealings was quite open, transparent and always clear. What he has been enjoying is her firm attitude, clear cut goals and honesty. She may have omitted to furnish information but had always given out the truth. She might avoid answering directly but never lied. This, the sharp brains of Arnav Singh Raizada has perceived, and respects it. That's why he comes out in open with what he had done.

"If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking"~ Buddhist Saying

That is what he is doing.

As Arnav watched, astounded, a soft light flashed in her eyes. And a small smile bloomed on her lips. "They are very loyal. They are like family.", she said softly.

"Why did the receptionist call you 'Madam'?"

This is where Aarti too being honest, straight forward and above board sends down her bouncer.

Aarti drew in a deep breath. This was the moment.

"Maybe because I am her employer.", she said softly.

This was the information he was seeking. The last piece in the jigsaw puzzle that cleared all things that he thought were not fitting properly.

PICK OF THE DAY

Two conversations vie for this spot because both of them in the end dovetail to the same point.

First, the one between Anjali and Anand.

"I want you to have a comfortable life, Anjali. I will meet Arnav tomorrow. If he agrees, I will come to your house with my Amma and Buaji, and ask for your hand."

"Ji.", Anjali smiled. "And please give me my sari that my father-in-law left for me. I will wear it to get married in."

Anand looked at her in surprise. "Anjali, it is a simple silk sari, not grand like you would normally wear for a wedding."

"I don't care. I will wear only that sari for my wedding."

"As you wish", Anand smiled.

Here both know that

"The love of a family is life's greatest blessing" and both are keen to seek it from the other's family. They have similar, identical, parallel thoughts and are on equal footing.

The second one is between Arnav Singh Raizada and Aarti Mishra.

"I wanted to ask you something.", said Arnav.

"Ji?"

"I arranged a private detective agency to find out more about you."

Aarti hid her surprise. She hadn't expected him to admit to it.

"The agent tried his best, but failed to even confirm that you were an employee at Mishra's. Everyone he asked said that they had never heard of an Aarti. Why?"

As Arnav watched, astounded, a soft light flashed in her eyes. And a small smile bloomed on her lips. "They are very loyal. They are like family.", she said softly.

"Why did the receptionist call you 'Madam'?"

Aarti drew in a deep breath. This was the moment.

"Maybe because I am her employer.", she said softly.

"Trust your hunches. They're usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level"

~ Joyce Brothers

Both are good at trusting their hunches and disclose at the right time.

"Making good decisions is a crucial skill at every level" ~ Peter Drucker

Both take the right decisions and come out clean.

With both being above board, frank, outright, upfront, honest, sincere, square, straight forward calm, collected, even tempered, self possessed and unflappable aren't they on equal footing?

That is why it is LEVEL PEGGING.

That's it from me. Hope you have enjoyed it!!

ADDENDUM

Arnav Singh Raizada and Aarti Mishra!!!

Both believe in taking the bull by the horn!!!

What a pair!!! Worth watching!!!!

Would love to watch!

But the question is where???????