Hot & Cold
She placed her freshly made ones in the same container, bringing out the cold ones to the top so it could be eaten first
And smiled, amused at her husband and son in law as they panted downing glasses of lemonade
"Kitni garmi hai" Bhuvan sighed elaborately
"Welcome to Delhi Dad" neel laughed
"Gurpreet seems very nice" she commented
Neel nodded
"Not only her husband Gagan and kids too"
"I just want to eat Punjabi food sometime" Ragini gushed
"See! Even more reason for you guys to move to Delhi" Neel persisted
Bhuvan's shoulders slumped
Ragini got the drift and exhaled
"We were planning to move to Mumbai beta, yaad hai, after Bhuvan's heart scare 2.5 years ago?" Ragini asked
"Who knew SHE would go first?" Bhuvan began to cry again
Neel broke his freshly made laddoo and tossed the crumbs around his bowl, unable to eat it
"Does Nihar like NOIDA?" Ragini questioned
"Aaajkal shaayad pasand hai unko... shuru mein jab Nizamuddin mein serviced apartment mein they woh, to roz shaam ko rotey the" Neel said sadly
"Kids are OK if parents are around, the location doesnt matter"
Bhuvan nodded still teary
"All those moves we did in MP Nupur was the first to start packing when she saw my transfer orders" Bhuvan laughed
"Abhi yahi rukenge aap?" Ragini asked gently
"Mumbai mein unki yaad bahut aati hai hamey Mom" Neel was uncontrollable
The three shed some quiet tears
Until they heard the gate open
They quickly wiped their tears away
Nihar was too astute he paused when the living room was quiet
"What happened?" he asked
"Nothing" Neel smiled
"Then why are you crying?" Nihar asked
"I am not" Neel said
"Your eyes are wet and nani ma's and bauji's" he pointed
"We are just VERY HAPPY" Neel said
"For what?" Nihar asked
"Because they came to see us" Neel explained
"How can u cry if u are happy?" Nihar asked
"Good point" Ragini smiled
"We shud be laughing huh?" Neel played along
Nihar nodded and ran to his room
"Nihar please road mein se door beta, shaam ko traffic rehta hai" Neel warned
Nihar had picked up his tennis racquet case and ball tube
"Kidhar beta?" Ragini asked
"Gagan Uncle is taking us to the Sector 42 indoor courts" Nihar said breathlessly
Bhuvan's phone rang, it was Nupur's sister, the youngest that was still unmarried
The middle one lived in Dubai she was married with two kids
"Its the Bangalore Beti" Bhuvan chuckled
"Usko bechaini hoti hai, hum kahin chaley jaayen, she wants to know everything" Ragini smiled
Neel ate quietly
"You cant be like this for ever you know" Ragini whispered
"Hamey to theek lag rahi hai baat" Neel argued
"Nahi beta... you are 34... HOW can u live like this?" Ragini argued
"Amma ne kehkar bheja aapko shaayad yahan" Neel smiled sadly
"Amma aur meri roz baat hoti hai, aur Pant bhaisaab bhi" she said
"One of you needs to move here, Nihar and I will survive this" Neel said smiling
"Bilqul nahi... aapko buddhon ki zaroorat nahi" Ragini said sternly
She was sitting across from him on the coffee table
She got up, sorted the veggies and stacked them in the giant frig
"Aapne ghar yoon sajaya hai hamey to lagta hai Nupur abhi hai" Ragini sighed
"I lived with my parents until I married her... she knew it all Mom" Neel said proudly
"Chhoti kaisi hain?" he asked
"We think she is OK... over the whole boyfriend just a friend jhamela" Ragini said cynically
Neel nodded
Helping put away empty bags
"bharva tindey kha lenge aap?" she asked affectionately
He smiled, nodding
"Aunty mere laddoo?" Preet walked in
"Hamey aap Punjabi khaana khilayen pehle" she smiled
Gurpreet put away Nihar's toys in his room
"Does she have a unmarried sister?" Ragini smiled
Neel did a SMH
Ragini offered laddoos and lemonade for Gurpreet they sat at the dining table as Neel went over to the home office to do his work email etc
"Cook Maharashtrian hai?" Ragini asked
"Nahi to aunty" Gurpreet responded startled
"Shubhangi naam dekha" Ragini said
"Really?" Gurpreet looked confused
"Thank you for taking such good care of Neel and Nihar" she said
Gurpreet lowered her gaze "Its unimaginable to me... I dont know how Neel can be so brave" she whispered
Ragini nodded, crying shamelessly
"Your daughter was so pretty" Gurpreet cried too
"They loved each other a lot" Ragini said
"He still loves her" Gurpreet relayed Gagan's opinion after the nightly walk when Neel refused to get married again
"Aise kaise chalega aap batayen?" Ragini asked
"Give him time aunty" Gurpreet squeezed Ragini's hand
"Look at Nihar's eyes" Ragini suggested
"Gagan says until Neel remarries Nihar should just live with us" Preet declared
"Hamey to lagta hai abhi se yahi haal hai" Ragini smiled
"He is unbelievably innocent and guileless aunty" Preet choked up
Ragini brought the cutting board out from the kitchen and washed up the baby tindas
And brought out the laddoo container from the kitchen counter and a subzi Corelle bowl to send some for Gagan
Preet began to slice tindas two ways so it could be stuffed with a spice concoction
Ragini packed 10 laddoos for Preet
And lifted the container and showed Gurpreet the name etched on it
"This name is etched on the container so ia ssumed she is a Maharashtrian, she must have brought this container from some one else's house then" Ragini smiled
Gurpreet read the name and a self conscious color crept up all over her face
"Aapne Neel ko poochha?" Gurpreet asked with a contrived look of carelessness
"Arey nahi" Ragini chuckled "Like men will know al this"
"Hmm... I dont know aunty kiska dabba hai" Gurpreet lied diplomatically
In the home office, Suvechha texted him for the first time BY HERSELF before 6 PM "Is Nihar OK?"
"Hi!" he said
"Oh yeah" he sent a smiley
"Good" Suvi said at his abrupt ending of chatter
"Aadhya is better today" she said voluntarily
"Oh! great" he said
"Yes... saara din barobar soi wo" she said
"Kids dont rest enough" he said
After 28 minutes
Suvi gave up her resolve and asked
"Some housework you had? Is that why u didnt go to office?" she asked
Eeven she didnt go because of Aadhya but had gotten OOO from him when she did emails from home
"No we have visitors?" he said
"Sai hai" she said
"Kaun?" she had to ask
"My in laws are here from Jabalpur" he said
Suvi felt devastated at the use of "MY" in the statement... forgetting to feel angry over his sudden coldness
Geet - Hui Sabse Parayee
Advocate Anjali Awasthi
