Gloss & Glossing over
Nihar suspected something was off, when Neel and Ruchi returned from drying laundry on the terrace on Sunday
Neel's heart skipped a beat, he had been forming words intermittently in his mind from the moment he returned after meeting with Suvi on Saturday at DU
Nihar stood at the foot of the concrete stairs looking up his big eyes, saucer like witha yearning
"Why is bua here?" he asked
Ruchi was washing out the back verandah draining the washing machine tube etc
"To hum na aayen aapke ghar?" Ruchi pretended to be offended
Neel froze on the step
Nihar refused to "play around"
"DADDD tell mee" he insisted a lil irritated
""Its summer, Amma is here, and NOIDA is a new place for them" he explained
"But Fa's parents are from Delhi no?" Nihar argued
"Shittt" Neel cursed inaudibly
"They are here because they wanted to see us" "How abt that?" he asked Nihar
Nihar stood there... unconvinced
"Do u want to talk?" Neel asked
"Is this about sending me with Amma back to Mumbai?" his expression crumpled
"Oh no... no. no... beta... no" Neel said sitting down on step 8
Nihar sat reluctantly on step one
"U always say when there is a family decision then Bua comes to India" he reminded
"U are right... and u have a good memory bud" Neel smiled
Amma peeked with a cup of chai for him
He eye signaled her to back off
Ruchi lingered bending down pushing water away with a jharoo
"Are u having a good summer?" Neel asked
"I LOVE it here, I want to live here until I go to college, I will go wherever Maneet goes" he said surely and firmly
"Thats awesome, coz I heard Maneet wants to buy a ranch and grow grapes and make wines" he teased
"NO HE DOESNT" Nihar shouted
"Bhai" Ruchi admonished
"Oh yeah I remember, he wants to trek the Himalayas and live in Nepal" he said
"DADDD" nihar was not pleased
"I am teasing, yes u may go off to whichever college he does"Neel said magnanimously as if doing that would immediately buy Nihar's "yes"
He was a weak man, he needed reassurance, he was torn between his son and his love... love?
When the word occured in his mind, his face filled with warm color and he had to look away self consciously
As Nihar was shining a flood light on him under his microscope
Neel cleared his throat
"U love the school, u love the house and u love your friends" Neel sighed, satisfied
"Can we live here for ever?" he asked
Neel nodded tentatively
"Umm.. I think I love my job" he inserted his job, setting a stage to talk abt you know who
"I LOVE Gomez Uncle... and Payal... and Mr Narang" Nihar gushed
Neel smiled a lil constipated
"Who else have u met..." he pretended
"And yeah I love Mr Sood and Ms Roshana" Nihar listed names of everyone in the Delhi office
Much to Neel's chagrin
"Do u like Aadhya?" he asked his heart jumping to his throat, causing him to choke
ruchi dropped the jharoo and flew in unwilling to watch anymore
Nihar nodded joyously...
Neel felt a lil relieved
Phew!!!
"I LOVE Suvi aunty and Aadhya' he said... "AND GAGS UNCLE AND PREET AUNTY" he said loudly
"Thankyouuu" Preet squealed from her back verandah
Neel heard a door...
"Phew" shes gone I think... he thought
"How much do u like Aadhya?" Neel asked... pausing before Aadhya... he couldnt bring himselfr to ask the kid abt Suvi
"She is very cute... but she is little" Nihar said dismissively
"Yeah... little is of now use to u" Neel winked
"If she was big I would hate her" Nihar blushed
Displaying first signs of "hating" the opposite sex
"Yeah... no kidding... girls are lame" Neel whispered
"Always abt make up and hair" Nihar nodded, his eyes sparkled
"Suvi aunty doesnt wear any make up" Neel reminded him
Nihar looked very baffled, you see he hadnt noticed Suvi like Mr Pandit had
He nodded his head reluctantly
"Theres a woman who hates makeup" Neel kept on the topic
"Aadhya loves make up and lip shine" he said rolling his eyes
Neel burst out laughing at the use of "shine" for glass... as if her lips were shoes
"Phew... she is not 10" Neel said pretentiously
"Suvi aunty is nice" Neel exhaled
"Do u like her?" Neel asked softly, his heart thudding
"Umm... yeah... I like the food she makes, pao bhaji" he smacked his lips
"Do u want to go eat at her place?" he asked eagerly
Nihar shook his head vehemently "No...' he was too shy
"How about she makes it for u here?" he offered
"Is she coming?" Nihara sked
"I can ask her to" Neel said
"And make a GIANTTT pot?" Nihar asked
"Or stay here and just make it everyday?" Neel let it slip out his voice hoarse
Nihar's expression changed
"Stay in our house?" "U mean?" he asked stunned
In Nihar's eyes Neel saw an expression of privacy violation
Neel still nodded weakly, glossing over teeny weeny details that he actually would make her his wife
"I dont like it THAT much" Nihar said clearly
Book Talk
Anupamaa
Vasudha
