Ok, so once again I feel compelled to give out the "This might read very random and haphazard" warning. Read ahead at your own risk!😆😆
CHAPTER 12: Aaya Mausam Dosti Ka Next Morning: Anjali opened her eyes and blinked for a moment, trying to focus.
Did Nani just call out to me again? Where am I? she thought, looking around at her unfamiliar surroundings in confusion. She sat up slowly, rubbed her eyes and tried to suppress a yawn with the back of her hand. Suddenly she heard a voice from outside…someone singing? She strained her ears and tried to focus on the sound to make out what was being said. The person singing seemed to suddenly reach a crescendo and sang out in a louder voice, "Aaya mausammmmm dosti kaaaaaaaaaa"
"Atul," thought Anjali, suddenly recognizing his voice, "Or to be more precise…his singing voice," she thought to herself with a little laugh. Memories of the long day yesterday now came rushing back to her as she recalled their conversation about Dr. Omi. She would never have guessed in a million years that she would one day be talking to his son! Dr. Omi had been a very cherished part of her childhood. "My very own personal Santa Claus," she smiled to herself in reminiscence as she hugged her legs with her arms, resting her chin on her knees. "Every single day, he would turn up with some kind of knick-knack as a gift. And the chocolates and candies were an almost daily treat! Then he would keep popping in and out throughout the day whenever he got a little time b/w his duties and show her little magic tricks to amuse her. Never had she seen him without a smile on his face. Wherever he went, he spread sunshine around, leaving the people in his wake with a smile as well….A quality that he's passed on to his son," she realized.
"But for some reason, this very quality in him tended to annoy her sometimes because it cropped up at the most unwanted of times," she thought, "Or maybe….I could appreciate the simply joy in things more when I was a child," she realized. "Until, life taught me otherwise." she mused, sobering up a bit.
"If only those days would come back…" she sighed to herself.
"They will, Anjali," said Atul who had been watching her from the doorway for a while now as she sat there lost in thought.
She started a bit, and turned around to look at him, "What??" she asked in confusion.
"I said, Good Morning, Anjali," he replied, walking in with a smile on his face. "How is your foot feeling now?"
"Good Morning, Atul." she smiled back at him, "My foot? Oh, I think it's much better now. The throbbing pain is almost gone."
"That's great news! I was just looking around outside and I think I've figured out the way to the camp now. It's not too far from here."
"Really? Thank god! Now we can finally get back!"
"Yes," he agreed, with a twinge of regret in his voice that she didn't catch.
"Oh, by the way…great singing, Atul!" she said in a bit of a teasing tone.
"Thanks, Anjali!" he said laughingly, "Do you like that song? I'll sing it again if you want then! Aaya Mausammm dostiii kaaaa…."he sang, doing the dance move from the movie complete with the moonwalk and salute.
Anjali burst out into laughter at that. "Oh my god, Atul!" she said, almost gasping for breath. "You do make me laugh so much!"
Which was precisely my intention, he thought to himself as he watched her laugh with complete abandon.
Please keep her smiling like this always, God, he sent up a silent prayer.
"Why thank you, Dr. Anjali!" he said, taking a mini bow with a flourish of his hand.
She giggled at that and shook her head at him.
"Alright, I think we should get going now," he said. "Oh, and before I forget…" he reached into his pocket.
"More fruits?" she asked with a teasing grin.
He smiled back at her and said, "No, this time it's something else." He pulled out a single white daisy, a little crumpled from staying in his pocket, but still intact. He held it out towards her and said, "For you, in honor of a new friendship."
Anjali looked at the flower for a second, and she felt a moment of dj vu as she recalled Dr. Omi getting these very flowers for her as a child. She smiled, first at the flower and then at him as she reached out to take it from him. "Thank you, Atul. These are one of my favorite flowers."
"You are most welcome, Anjali! I found these outside when I was looking around, so I thought I'd bring some for you." He said, feeling a warm glow spread inside his heart as he watched her smiling at the flower.
"So ready to get going then?" he said, holding out a hand to help her up.
"Yes," she said, reaching out to hold his hand.
Suddenly they heard a voice calling them from outside. "Atul!! Anjali!!"
They both turned to look at each other in puzzlement for a moment before their eyes widened and they simultaneously recognized Armaan's voice.
"Armaan!!" They both called out in unison. "In here!!"
Within a few moments, Armaan appeared at the door with Dr. Shubhankar and a few other villagers in tow.
"Champ! Angie!" he cried, as he rushed over to hug both of them in relief. "We were all so worried!! What happened?? How did you guys get lost?? We tried looking for you at night also, but it was too dark to see anything. Then we went back, and decided to try in the morning with a clear light again."
"Dr. Armaan," said Shubhankar before Atul and Angie could reply to him, "I think we can ask them all the questions once we get back to the camp. They both look very tired and hungry. I'm sure it's been a taxing night for them."
"Yes, Dr. Shubhankar." said Armaan in a more sober tone.
Atul helped Angie up and she winced slightly as she put her foot down. "What happened to your foot, Anjali?" asked Armaan with concern.
"Nothing really. It's just a small sprain; I twisted my foot while walking," she replied as she hobbled a few steps forward while leaning on Atul.
"Ohhh…Ok, don't worry. We'll treat it as soon as we get back to camp. Here, you can lean on me as well," said Armaan as he walked over to her to give her some more support while walking.
And then, they all set off back towards camp.
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At the camp: "Di!!" cried Riddhima rushing forward when she finally saw Anjali and everyone else walking back into the camp.
She hugged Anjali and started crying helplessly. "Di, where were you?? I was so worried!! Bure se bure khayaal aa rahe the mere dimaag mein! Agar aapko kucch ho jaata to??"
Anjali patted her on the back and said, "Ridzie, don't cry! I'm back safe and sound now, haina? Everything's alright!" She pulled back and wiped the tears from Riddhima's cheeks. "Shhhh now, Ridzie" she said gently.
Ah, her overemotional little sister, she thought to herself.
When will she learn to harness her emotions? "Alright Alright, Basket," interrupted Armaan, "Ab to sisterly re-union bhi ho gaya hai. Please ab to rona band kardo! Nahin to yahaan par floods aa jaayenge, and the villagers will be cursing us for the rest of their lives!"
Riddhima finally looked up from Angie's shoulder to wipe her tears and give him a dirty look, "Tumse matlab? Mind your own business!"
"He was just kidding, Ridzie!" said Anjali. "A joke! Remember what those are?"
"Di, please don't start taking his side now also!!!" said Riddhima with a whine.
Meanwhile, Sapna had been hugging Atul and trying to get all the details from him about how they got lost and what happened after that. Riddhima finally realized that he was there as well and hurried over to hug him. "Thank God both you and Di are back safe and sound, Atul!" she said. "Hum sab ki to yaahan par jaan hi nikal rahi thi!"
Atul smiled at both Ridz and Sapna and tried to patiently answer their barrage of questions while he sneaked surreptitious glances at Angie walking over to one of the tents with Armaan.
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"So how was your night out with Dr. Atul Joshi then, Angie?" asked Armaan with a teasing grin as he wrapped her ankle up in an ace bandage.
"Night out??" laughed Angie. "It had its moments. Your Champ has apparently been a genius camper since the age of eight, so other than looking at the amazing fauna around him every few moments; he did try to navigate our way back to the camp to the best of his abilities. It was just too dark and we couldn't see much. Then I sprained my ankle which didn't really help things much, so we found this little shack and decided to stay there for the night."
"Wow! Sounds like you had a great time!" said Armaan in a bit of a mocking tone.
"Actually," she paused, "It wasn't that bad…infact, not bad at all. He is not that bad of a guy, you know," she said, musingly. "He was actually quite nice to me."
"I told you, didn't I?" said Armaan triumphantly. "Champ is a great guy! The guy's got a heart of gold!"
Anjali smiled at him, "Yes yes, maybe you were right after all, Dr. Armaan!" she said, making a little face at him.
Riddhima walked in just then, and Armaan groaned when he saw her, "Oh god, Basket!! Tum yahaan phir se?? Why are you intruding on my quality time with Gorgeous?? Were you missing me that much?? Awww…"
"Shut up!" said Riddhima, grinding her teeth in irritation. Then she turned to Anjali and said, "Di, Atul just told me you'd sprained your ankle last night. How are you feeling now?"
"I'm ok now, Ridzie," she replied.
"Okkk then…overemotional sisterly bonding about to begin. My cue to exit! Take some rest now, Gorgeous! I'll see you in a bit." said Armaan kissing Anjali on the hand and walking out, but not before throwing a smirk and a wink at Riddhima, who gave him a disgusted look as usual.
Riddhma talked with Anjali about the night in the jungle for a bit and then she left as well.
*** ************************************************************
Dr. Keerti welcomed Atul and Angie back to the camp, and after noticing Angie's injury, released her from her duties, but assigned Atul to work with Sapna for the rest of the day.
Whenever there was a lull in the patients in between, Atul would glance towards Angie's tent and get up everytime to try and go see her, but a patient would land up at that very time. Sapna noticed this pattern for a while with amusement, and then she finally asked him, "Kya baat hai, Atttul?? Baar baar us tent ki taraf kyun dekh rahe ho?? Woh to Anjali ka tent hai na?"
"Woh uhhh…kucch nahin, Sapna! Main to aise hi…yahaan wahaan dekh rahaan hoon! Yahaan wahaan!" he said with a toothy grin on his face and gesturing around with his hands.
"Yahaan wahaan?" replied Sapna, with clear skepticism in her voice, but she decided not to pursue it for now. "There is definitely something going on," she thought to herself. "I sense a kind of change in both of them since they've come back…especially in Anjali. Pata to ab karna padega."
Later in the afternoon :
The camp finally wrapped up, and they all headed back to Sanjeevani on the bus. Atul tried to take the seat next to Angie, but Armaan slid in before him. Sapna, who was seated a row behind them across the aisle noticed the disappointed look on Atul's face, and smiled to herself,
And this gets more and more interesting. "You can come and sit with me, Attul!" she called out to him, gesturing towards the empty seat next to her. Atul sighed to himself and walked over to sit next to her.
"Wow! Could you look any less thrilled to sit with me, Atul?" she asked him sarcastically.
"Arey nahin, Sapna! Aisi koi baat nahin hai!" he replied, "I'm just a little tired in general, that's all."
"Arey yaar! I was just pulling your leg! Relax!" she said, cuffing his shoulder lightly. He smiled back at her and managed a pretend 'oww' when she hit him, but his attention was still mainly focused across the aisle where Armaan and Angie were talking animatedly.
For the rest of the trip, Armaan and Riddhima argued most of the time until Dr. Keerti turned around and reprimanded both of them. Angie turned and caught Atul's eye then as he made a slicing motion across his neck in context of Armaan-Riddhima. She laughed at that, but before she could say anything, Armaan turned back to her and started talking to her again. Sapna spent most of the ride back sleeping again while Karan-Naina continued their clandestine romance in the back of the bus.
The bus finally reached the Sanjeevani parking lot. Atul helped everyone off the bus once again, and Anjali was the last person stepping down. She took his offered hand, and smiled at him as she climbed down the last step.
"Thank you so much for everything once again, Atul" she said.
"You are always welcome, Anjali" he replied quietly with an answering smile on his face.
Everyone had by now dispersed towards their respective vehicles to head back home, and Anjali headed towards her car as well where Riddhima was waiting for her.
Atul watched her walking towards her car, and hummed to himself, "Pyar deewana hota hai, mastana hota hai. Har khushi se, har gham se begaana hota hai."
Anjali paused mid-step suddenly and slowly turned around to look at him again. He lifted his hand in a little wave, and she waved back at him with a smile before turning around and walking back to the car.
A big grin broke out onto Atul's face and he turned to walk towards his bicycle in the opposite direction, a spring in his step now.
Yeh pyar kya hai…yeh ek dhanak hai.
Saaton rangon ki, ismein chhalak hai.
Pehla rang hai, suno kaisa, saamne aaye koi aisa
Dil kahe khwaabon mein, isko hi to dekha tha
Doosra rang pyar ka, pehle se gehra zara
Badhti jitni kashish hai, hoti utni khalish hai
Kucch din rehta hi hai yeh hi silsila
Aage Armaanon ka rang hai teesra.
Chautha rang ikraar ka, paanchva intezaar ka
Aur woh rang jo chatta hai, sapno ki woh ghata hai
Har pal rehta hai dil khoya hua
Saatvaan rang kar deta hai deewana Edited by nureat01 - 17 years ago
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