Vignettes- 18. Hai re Nandkishore! Thread 1 - Page 103

It was a couple of deeply troubled and lost in thought people who walked into Madhumatiji's house that evening. After Khushi left with her husband, Bittu had all but started bombarding them with questions, when he noticed their preoccupied state and asked, "Ma, kya baat hai? Itna pareshaan kyun ho aap donon? Didi theek hai naah?"

So lost in thought was Kamla Yadav, that she actually waved his query away, and her husband mumbled, "Kaise log hai yeh, yeh bhi hum samajh nahi pa rahein, aur ab yeh bhi!"

"Kaun 'yeh'? Aap kiske baare mein baat kar rahe ho, Bauji? Arre, kya hua?!" Bittu grumbled, losing patience with his parents.

Finally noticing his son's grumpy face, Diwakar shook his head, "Sab theek hai, beta. Tuhari didi ki surgery theek-thaak ho gayi, aur jad hi theek ho jayegi."

"Toh phir aap donon aise...", Bittu trailed off, his head swinging between his mother and father.

Straightening suddenly, Kamla caught hold of her son, "Bittu, sach bolo, tumhein pata tha, kya? Tumhari didi totumhein sab kuch bataati hai."

Losing his patience, the boy yelled, "Kya bolte jaa rahe hai aap donon?!", the shout catching Buaji's attention and bringing her to the door, where she stood silently, watching the scene playing out in her drawing room.

Heaving a sigh, his father replied, "Pehle yeh bolo ki Pooja tumhe Raizada parivaar ke baare mein kya-kya bataayi hai?"

"Didi toh mujhse bus kaam aur office ke baare mein baat karti thi, aur NK sir ke baare mein... parivaar ke baare mein toh mujhe Khushi didi bataayi."

It was his mother's turn to speak now, "Khushiji? Kya bola unhone?"

A soft smile blossomed on Madhumatiji's face as she listened to Bittu's enthusiastic recounting of Khushi's description of her home and family. Her Sankadevi did have a way with words, she could almost draw the portrait of a person with a few choice words.

Finally getting an idea of what they were up against, Diwakar asked, "Aur Pooja uske NK sir ke baare mein kya kaha hai?", to which he got an elaborate update of the happenings in Bombay, the interview, how NK called her back, and how much of a protector he had been to his sister.

Kamla, who had been silently listening to her son for a while now, spoke up, "Bittu ke bauji, yeh toh bahut bada khaandaan hai, bade log hai, paisewale hai, humri bachchi ko wahan hum kaise bhej sakte hai? Har cheez mein humse itna upar hai ki humri bachchi wahan khush nahi reh payegi. Unke tareeke alag honge, vyavahaar alag hoga, aur Pooja ko kuch dinon baad, ulta-seedha sunni padi toh?"

Seeing that her husband and her son had no answer to give her, Madhumatiji decided to intervene. "Arre, Nandkishore, aur hum ka collector hai? Ya mantri hai? Humri bachchiyan donon usi ghar mein byaah karke gayi hai, itni saalon se khushi se wahan reh rahi hai, itna pyaar donon ko milta hai wahan se ki maano woh unki maaika hai aur hum paraaye...", sitting down beside Kamla, she continued, "Aap befikar rahiye, Kamlaji. Aisi parivaar aur aise bhale ladke aapko poori hindustan mein shaayad nahi milegi. Unko dhan-daulat ya woh kya bolte hain, 'status', se koi matlab nahi hai. Aur unko oonchi soch ki yeh hi ek sabboot hai unki badhappan ki!"

And the conversation flowed late into the night, with Pooja's parents finding comfort in understanding more and more about the family that was apparently waiting to take their daughter into its folds.

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The next day, Diwakar and Kamla were sitting outside the ICU, waiting for their daughter to be shifted to her room, when Arnav walked up with his Mamaji in tow. After the initial chit-chat, Diwakar Yadav looked at Manohar Singh Raizada and said. "Saheb, kal jo aap humse kaha, hum uske baare mein raat bhar soch-vichar kiye, aur hum chaahte hai ki humari baat-cheet Nandkishoreji ke maata-pita ke saath bhi hona chaahiye, koi faizla lene se pehle. Kya yeh ho sakta hai?"

Their faces brightening at the semi-positive response they got from the older man, they agreed immediately, and Arnav called NK to tell him to arrange a call with his father, while Manohar sat down to give a brief introduction to Diwakar and Kamla of Nandkishore's family. He told them about his wife's sister who had married Jagraj Mohanty and emigrated to Australia thirty years ago, and had set up a hugely successful accountancy firm there. NK, who was deathly scared of numbers since he was little boy, had kept as far away from his father as possible, knowing how the elder Mohanty had dreamt of handing over his legacy to his son. With his adored mother as his sidekick, NK had done his Hotel Management degree and had periodically escaped to his second home in India whenever a confrontation with his father proved inevitable.

But NK's decision to stay back and him having started to prove his worth under Arnav's tutelage had got him back in the good books with his father, the fact that Arnav was the ideal business-man and judge of character in Mr. Mohanty's eyes going far in NK's favour. And when he came to know about NK's having stood by Pooja's side during the entire ordeal, he all but burst from pride for his son, who had somehow, in spite of all his fooling around and silly banter, grown up into a fine young man. So Arnav had no fear that NK's father would do everything in his power to persuade Pooja's parents and make them accept the idea of a marriage.

And sure enough, before NK had even reached the hospital, Arnav's phone rang, "Arnav beta, Nandu ne mujhe sab bataya. Kya Diwakar Saab tumhare saamne hai? Zara mera unse baat karvaana..."

Smiling at the father of his soon-to-be-sister-in-law, Arnav handed over his phone.

Diwakar Yadav, after a sideways glance at his wife, put the phone to his ears. "Hello..."

And a booming, jovial voice came floating up from a cheerful living room, thousands of miles away, "Diwakar Saab, namashkar! Main Jagraj Mohanty, Nandkishore ke pitaji. Bus aapse ek baar namaste bolna tha, baaki sab kal karenge. Hum aa rahe hai, aapse aur Pooja se milne..."