MG New OS : Pyaar ka Rang

It was mid-afternoon and there was not much activity happening around expect for a couple of birds chirping about on the trees... Inside a room overlooking the tree, an old lady wearing a cream saree draped in pearls was sitting on a rocking chair looking out the window, a small smile playing on her lips as if reminiscing some forgotten memory... she was Savitri Devi Khurana... soon the silence of the day was broken by the pitter-patter of small feet, followed by the giggles of small children...

"Daadi... Daadi... Daadi..."

At the sound, Savitri Devi turned towards the entrance of her room, her small smile turning into a full blown smile overflowing with happiness on seeing the two kids, an 8 year old boy and a 7 year old girl, who were one of the main reasons for joy in her life... no sooner had she looked at the kids that she was promptly besieged by the two kids who had ran straight to her, happy that they had finally found her...

"Daadi..." the little girl sighed hugging her, while hogging up most of the space available for hugging...

The little boy was slightly annoyed by this scenario where he was left out... puffing his chest he pushed against the girl lightly "Haato... meri Daadi hai... main hug karunga..."

"Meri bhi Daadi hai..." she said glancing at him before turning back to her lady with a pout that could give anybody a heart attack since they weren't made strong enough to resist a face like that "Haina Daadi..."

"Haan haan kyun nahi... Maan ke jaise hum aapki bhi Daadi hai..." she replied caressing the girl with one hand while putting the other hand on her grandson's shoulder... transforming the pouting face into a smiling one...

"Daadi... hume aapse story sunni hai... will you tell us a story..." Maan said enthusiastically, wanting his daily story dose...

"You want a story now... don't you both need to take a nap...usually I tell you a story in the evening na... as it is Annie is sleeping now, if I tell you the story now she won't be able to hear it..."

"Daadi she is as it is very small and doesn't understand the stories also... so it won't matter to her ..." Maan said not wanting to lose out on a story just because his 4 year old sister was sleeping...

"Haan Daadi... you tell us the story... then we will sleep..." the little girl added, greedy for a story before the afternoon nap...

Knowing that the two had joined hands against her and won't leave her until she told them a story... "Okay... come on the bed... I'll tell you a story and you both sleep after that..." she said getting up and moving towards the bed...

Clambering on the bed, the little girl said "Daadi aap wo palad wala story..."

"Silly its Prahlad not palad... and no Daadi that story we have already heard some days ago na... please tell a different story today..." Maan said

"Maan you are silly... today is Pralad day na... so his story..."

"Maan bete... Geet is right... today on the eve of Holi we start our celebrations na with the bonfire... you already saw the preparations going on for it na ..."

"Hmm... okay Daadi... waise bhi aap iski hi sunoge..." Maan said poking his tongue out at Geet, wanting to tease her but got a smug smile in return...

Daadi smiled at their childishness... "Okay...come on both lie down and I'll tell you the story..."

Both the kids laid their head in her lap, more than ready to hear the story...she slowly caressed both the kids head...

"Once upon a time there was a very evil king named Hiranyakashyap who won over the kingdom of earth... He was so egoistic that he commanded everybody in his kingdom to worship only him... But to his great dismay, his son, Prahlad became a devotee of Lord Vishnu and refused to worship his father..."

"But Daadi... why did he become Vishnu's follower and not his father's..." Maan asked wanting to know why Prahlad would not follow his own father, as he loved his own father very dearly and couldn't fathom how one could go against his/her own father...

"Since Prahlad was in his mother's womb, he got to hear Narada's chants... and he was taught by Narada in early childhood... so he became a devotee of Vishnu...

And you know his father did not like his devotion to God so he warned him several times but despite the warnings Prahlad continued to worship Vishnu...

Hiranyakashyap got very angry and tried many ways to kill his son but Lord Vishnu saved him every time... Finally, he asked his sister, Holika to sit in a blazing fire with Prahlad in her lap because he knew that Holika had a boon, a shawl, which if she wore she could not be hurt by the fire...

Holika, wearing that shawl, coaxed Prahlad to sit in her lap and she herself took her seat in the bonfire. Prahlad prays to Vishnu to keep him safe... So Lord Vishnu summoned a gust of wind to blow the shawl off of Holika and on to Prahlad, saving him from the flames of the bonfire and burning Holika to her death...

And since then, this event is celebrated as Holi and on the eve of Holi a bonfire is lit to symbolize the victory of good over evil... and also we offer Agni, the god of fire, wheat stalks with all humility..."

"Par Daadi... what happened to Prahlad... did the evil king kill him..." Geet asked a bit scared for Prahlad from the king who wanted to kill him...

"Nai beta... Lord Vishnu saved Prahlad..."

"How he saved him... did he kill the king..."

"You know the king had a boon too... that he could not be killed of anything born from a living womb, neither be killed by a man nor an animal, neither during the day nor at night, neither indoors nor outdoors, neither on land, nor in the air nor in water and of no man made weapon..."

"But Daadi then to nobody would have been able to kill him na..."

"No beta... you know Lord Vishnu came in the avatar of Narasimha that is in a half man-half lion form and placing the king on his thighs, he kills him with his sharp nails at the entrance to his home at dusk, thus nullifying all of the king's boon of immortality..."

"Wow..." both the kids marveling at the way the evil king died...

"Chalo... now both of you sleep... then we have to get ready in the evening to lite the bonfire..."

"Daadi then we will burn wheat sticks also..."

"Not burn... but roast the wheat grain and we will eat that as prasad...since this is also a festival where the farmers celebrate the harvest of the season..."

Putting both of them to sleep... Savitri Devi went to inform Rano, their neighbor that her daughter Geet was again at Khurana Mansion today and was napping...

Next Day - Early morning

Geet was sleeping on her bed, when someone crept quietly in her bedroom... when suddenly a spray of water woke her up... she opened her eyes only to find her best friend cum enemy at times spraying colored water on her from his pichkari... but before she could react, he ran out of her room and out the house, with Geet following behind him till the main entrance where Rano stopped her...

"Geet beta... first get ready and then go out to play holi..."

"What get ready Rano... Maan already sprayed her with colored water..." Mohinder said

"I know that is why I made her wear these clothes at night only ... I knew that like every year Maan would come and put color on her even before madam wakes up... but she still needs to brush her teeth and have something..." she said before taking Geet to get ready so that she could go out and play with the kids...

Back in Khurana Mansion, Maan was busy putting colors on his parents, his Daadima, his baby sister and all the others present, unaware that he was gonna be the victim in the war he started... as cleverly as he had beaten Geet...he was ousted in the war since he was attacked by a water balloon out of nowhere...

Surprised and hurt and dripping he looked around to find the source when he was hit by another one... "Owww... Geeet... now you're gone..." he said when he spotted the culprit... no one got to Maan Singh Khurana like that... this was so not cool... Seeing Geet stuck her tongue out at him, he ran behind Geet and so started the tom and jerry fight with water balloons followed by water guns and finally smearing gulal all over after the ran out of the former...

By the time they came back to the place where most elders were basking in the sun and gorging on some delicious gujiyas, sweets, samosas, pakoras, dahi vadas and drinking thandai... the kids were unrecognizable, completely covered in various shades of red-yello-pink-blue-black and green... both were too tired and hungry...but before they got to eat anything both their parents dumped them in the shallow colored water pond so that at the very least some of the excess color could be removed before they messed up all the places... unfortunately that didn't help much so they were hosed off enough so that at least they could eat without eating color along with the food...

17 years later

It was two days before Holi... two girls were standing in a street in the market... they were so engrossed in talking and checking their shopping list to see if they missed out anything that they failed to notice being a target of a conspiracy...

The conspirators missed and gave themselves away due to the unfortunate event of the girls moving exactly at the time when they were supposed to be hit...instead their deadly weapon broke right near their feet splashing mud on one of the girl's feet...

Hearing the splash and feeling the mud on her feet the girl looked down to see a broken water balloon which she was the target of... looking around to find the culprits she gave the kids hanging on the building roofs the evil stare... but her companion just pulled her away... "Come on Sonia... lets go... let them be they're small kids and it's almost holi... bura na maano holi hai..." she said with a wink...

"Geet you're saying to let them go... they could've hit me with that balloon... you know... they hurt... a lot..."

"Yeah I know... why do you think I always throw them on Maan..."

"What you're one of those water balloon villains... you know if you'd told me that before when we met in college, I wouldn't even have befriended you..."

"Haha... chal Ms. DramaQueen... we got a lot more to buy..."

"Okay... but why are we buy all these colors again... you already bought them yesterday... and definitely the better herbal stock... why the chemical junk now..."

"That was what mom asked me to buy... that's what everybody will use... this junk is for a special someone..."

"Huh...poor the special someone... pray tell who is this enemy of yours..."

"He's not exactly an enemy more like a dumb frenemy... you know the Maan Singh Khurana..."

"You're calling Maan dumb... I know he is your childhood friend but still he is not dumb... he is a hunk... a hunk with brains... who gets a business award when they've barely started their careers..." Sonia said, drooling on Maan in her mind...

"As you said he is my childhood friend I know him more than you do... now come we still have to buy the balloons and spray color... chalo fast..."

On the eve of Holi - at Noon

Geet and her friend Sonia were sitting in her room with wads of newspaper spread on the ground in front of them... they were both acting as thick as thieves with surgical gloves on their hands and different kinds of holi playing paraphernalia...

"Geet what are you planning to do... why are we wearing surgical gloves and what are we gonna do... you're creeping me out..."

"Chill Sonia... we need these things to help prepare the balloons... and the gloves are just to prevent getting color on our hands... just wait and watch... and help me... by doing exactly as I say..."

A little while later...after preparing a few balloons the way Geet wanted... Sonia asked "Geet why are you putting the spray color in the balloon instead of normal water color that too in huge quantity... the person you hit with this is gonna be in lots of trouble..."

"Trouble is what I want that person to have..."

"But you know one spray of this color is had to get out and you've stuffed half the can in one balloon..."

"Yeah... this is called retribution... beware Maan..." Geet said making an attempt at an evil laugh...

"Ye sab Maan ke liye... uff main to bhool hi gayi thi... but Geet you love him na... then why are you torturing him..."

"Love... I don't just love him... he is my life duffer... bachpan se... I've always been with him...after him... and he is... a big duffer... kabhi kuch samjh ta hi nai hai...huh..."

"But why your revenge only on Holi..."

"Because every year that useless guy sneaks into my room and while I'm still sleeping he just puts color on me from top to my toes... people get up and get ready for playing... but me I have to get ready for playing Holi then go to sleep..." Geet's expression while telling all this was so funny that Sonia just cracked up...

"You're laughing... urrggghhh... traitor... lo ye lo..." Geet said throwing a bit of gulal on her...

At night

Geet was sitting on her bed, applying oil on her body and her hair all the while cribbing to herself and in between to her babaji...

"Dekha na babaji... shaam ko holika dahan ke time pe kitna attitude show kar rahe the... as if pata nai kahan ke prince ho... he didn't even talk to me properly once... and people say that he is the epitome of chivalry and good behavior for today's man..."

"Chivalrous...my foot huh... sneaking into one's room without permission and then smearing color while they are sleeping... this is his chivalory... poor me raat bhar baalo me oil lagake sona parega... it doesn't really matter that he uses herbal colors... he knows my skin is too sensitive... then also he'll just bug me..."

Combing and plating her hair after putting the much hated oil "Chal Geet beta so ja... subah to wo dusht danav tang karne aa hi jaayega..."

Next day - early morning

Like the sun rises every day... it's the norm... so how could the Holi tradition change... so it started with Geet still lost in her dreams while her nemesis sneaked into her room to put the first smear of color on her peaceful angelic face...

As always the color acted as the natural alarm clock waking her from the deep slumber... unfortunately she couldn't grab the balloon ammunition she kept nearby to attack her nemesis and she failed, as always, to strike back instantly...so she ran after him...

And so began the first chase for the day... before Rano stopped her again...

Hurriedly Geet got ready to go out, with her family, to Khurana Mansion for the Holi celebration...

Like the past many years, she did not seek out Maan initially but avoided him... this year she had a new strategy... she had planned to confuse her enemy with the change in rules and then attack when it was most unexpected...

So today, like all the others present for the celebration... Geet mingled with all and played Holi with everyone... she applied chandan tilak on the elders and smeared gulal on her near and dear ones...

From the corner of her eyes she could see the confusion and irritation on Maan's face... both the family members refrained from commenting on the change in their behaviors after Geet told them that this time she wanted to celebrate with everybody forgetting her eternal Holi war with Maan...

Finally she got a chance to agitate the great MSK... happy with herself and the effect that she kept on ignoring Maan... but her eyes were all for him...

Sometime later, she lost track of Maan and was looking here and there to see where he went... when suddenly she was pulled aside behind a tree away from prying eyes...

"Maan... what are you doing... what if someone sees us... hatto... let me go..." she pushed at his chest, as he had trapped her between his body and the tree...

"No... first you tell me why you are avoiding me..."

"Why would I avoid you... I'm just putting our Holi rivalry to an end..."

"You're not avoiding me... you didn't even put color on me... and you're saying you aren't avoiding me..." Maan pouted, melting Geet's heart a little... but then she gave herself a mental scolding focus Geet focus...

Slowly Geet took out the special water balloon she made for him and diverted his attention saying "but Maan I did put color on you..." and she smashed the balloon on his head...

Shocked Maan loosened his hold, and Geet tried to escape but before she could go he caught hold of her again and swung her back in his arms... that's when she noticed his smirk and also the fact that her water balloon didn't have the desired effect... in fact the balloon had left clear water which turned slightly pink after it mixed with the gulal whereas she had put blue color from the spray can...

"What did you think Geet you can outsmart me..." Maan replied with a smirk...

"Maan... you changed the balloon... how did you know..." Geet whined with a sulking face...

"I'm omniscient baby..." he said with a laugh...

"Maan..." she hit him on his chest and gave him the death stare to spill his guts...

"I heard you tell your plan to Sonia... so I thought to have some fun with you and play along..."

"And my balloon...??"

"Well..." he said, pulling out a balloon from behind him...

"You balloon thieving moron... give it back to me..." trying to take her balloon back...

"Ummm...okay..." and he smacked the balloon on her shoulder...

"Oowww... Maan... why did you... ahh... that hurt... you really are a moron..." she said rubbing her shoulder... she looked down to see what damage he did... but was surprised to see light pink color seeping through her clothes... "Maan... this is not my balloon..."

"Who said... it's the balloon I filled especially for you... abh I can't do anything if you're confusing it with the naughty one you made..."

"Maan... where did that go... what did you do with it..." pulling his collar...

"Baby... you know na... I won't use that on you... I know those chemicals don't suit you and your baby soft skin..." he said softly, pulling her further in his embrace...

"Maan don't you baby me... tell me what you did... aur rahi baat these colors not suiting me... you've been torturing me with them for the past 20 years... pichcle bees saal se you've been sneaking in my room and putting color me..."

"Baby that's because it's our thing na... you know our special tradition... you know na you're the first one I put color on and want to be the first one who puts it on you..." he said nuzzling her neck...

"And what about me... I also want to be the first one to put on you... but no I don't get to do that... it's not fair... I hate you..."

"Baby... who said you aren't the first one to put color on me... you are the only one who puts color on me first..."

"No I don't..."

"Yes you do...like this..." he said, rubbing his cheek along her color smeared ones... "Now are you happy..."

"Nope..." Geet said, but her smile discrediting her denial... "chalo hato... aise to bahut sher bante ho... mumma papa, daadi ya mom dad ke saamne to bilkul bheegi billi ho..."

"Main Maan Singh Khurana hoon...I'm no bheegi billi... okay..."

"Acha... so why have you been courting me in secret for the past 5 years... you can't even show affection towards me in front of other..." Geet stuck her tongue out at him...

"Acha so you want me to romance you in front of our families..." Maan asked her, with an evil gleam in his eyes which scared Geet

"When did I..." her words swallowed by Maan when he pulled her out from behind the tree in clear view of eveyone and smacked his lips on hers...

When they came up for air he whispered "I already spoke to Mom, Dad and Daadi... they'll talk to Mumma Papa for our wedding tonight..." and winking at her, he left her standing there looking at his retreating back with a blush so strong that it even beat the colors smeared across her face...

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Shivi