~what heart desires || discontinued - Page 15

PART 4

September 2009

Maan Khurana was standing in the principal's office along with two others of his peers. There was a cut on his lip and his blood was oozing from one of the open wounds on his hand. Ranjeet Khurana was sitting along with the parents of two other students were sitting. Ranjeet Khurana had been called in the school when his grandson had fought with two other students and he had already accepted that he had punched the student making them bleed. The accusations on Maan were proved when one of the teachers who was nearly confirmed that it was indeed Maan who started the fight.

"I am sorry Mr. Khurana, but this behaviour is not acceptable. This is not the first time Maan had shown this kind of behaviour, in fact, this time it was serious, one of the students is seriously injured, said the principal, as one of the peers was having a black eye. No one asked why there was a fight but they just assumed that Maan was the one to start it. No one asked him why he was fighting, neither Maan gave any explanations.

It was about two hours later, Maan along with his Dadaji reached the mansion. The principal had rusticated Maan on the basis of violence and not even his brilliant academic record was enough for them to know the actual details of the fight. Savitri Devi was tensed from the time she got the call from her husband that he was called at Maan's school. St. Xavier's was one of the best schools in Delhi and Maan had completed most of his schooling there.

Maan entered in tow with his Dadaji and his dadima, went towards him seeing the split lip and a bloodied handkerchief on his wound.

"Maan bete aap apne room me jaiye, ordered his Dadaji even before his dadima could ask anything. Savitri Devi was informed of what had transpired in the school and how Maan stayed quiet. Maan's silence his Dadaji knew was somewhere related to the aloofness he was awarded by his own parents and he didn't have the heart to scold the already broken child.

"Savitri aap dekhiye Maan ko, mein principal se baat karne ki koshish karunga. Aaj jo hua hai usme kahin na kahin hamari bhi galti hai.. shayad hum Maan ko wo pyar nahi de parahe jiske wo haqdaar hai",. ranjeet Singh Khurana's words even made his wife feel sorry for her own grandson.

Meanwhile at the same time

Geet Handa was looking at her test notebook, she had lost one mark due to her silly mistake and she was cursing herself for her own negligence. Sitting in her room on the bed cross-legged, Geet was in a self-introspection session of herself.

"Preeti dekh na agar ye minus ki jagah plus lagaya hota na toh mere full marks aate. Dekh pura ek number kat gaya meri silly mistake ki wajah se, chachaji sahi kehte hai mujhe na kabhi kabhi overconfidence ho jata hai,.. cribbed Geet as she was constantly looking at her test notebook. Preeti rolled her eyes and snatched the notebook from Geet's hands and saw all the test one by one, there were only two tests in which Geet hadn't scored full marks, rest were of perfect scores.

"Geet, yahan mein is baat se khush hun ki kam se kam mujhe Maths me fail nahi hona padha, aur tu hai ki is baat par udaas hai ki tera ek number kat gaya, are tere jitney marks hai na usse mere jaise teen bache paas hojayenge, aur tu hai ki,.. Preeti teased Geet while pulling her sister out of her morose mood.

"Chill kar na, aur Khushi mana is baar bhi tune top kiya hai, infact last year se apna hi record tod diya hai,.. Preeti's words made Geet smile and both of them changed as it was the celebration time for Handa girls and they were going to get ice-cream treat today as promised by Anand to both the girls.

Present

Standing in front of Preeti gave Maan chills, she was the one who had fought with him when accidentally he and Geet had some misunderstanding and Preeti had come to defend her sister. Preeti saw Maan looking around and it was looking like he was searching something, she too looked in the direction where his gaze was fixed and when finding nothing except the old buildings, some trees and a park where some plantation was going on, she found nothing which could grab the attention of multi-millionaire Maan Khurana. It was not a new thing for her to see Maan's pictures being published in any of the business magazines or Newspapers. His achievements speak more than he could have ever spoken himself. Seeing Maan lost Preeti thought to ask him, maybe she could help him.

"Maan, tumhe kuch chahiye.. kisi ko dhund rahe ho,.. asked Preeti making Maan flustered. He had been caught. What would she question next, what they were doing here, and how they know where Geet lived, he was trying to formulate some kind answer in his mind but he was bombarded with next set of impending question.

"Waise tum yahan in buildings ko dekhne toh aaoge nahi, kisi se milne aaye ho kya, are mujhe batao, mein sabko jaanti hun yahan,Preeti flashed a smile this time making Arjun grumble at her words. A sudden tension crept in Arjun's mind seeing Preeti giving all her attention to Maan and Maan looking lost. It seemed like an eternity when some incoherent reply came from Maan making Preeti raise her eyebrow.

Main.. nahi.. nahi toh.. wo toh hum.. before Maan would complete his sentence. Arjun saw Maan fumbling with words and was quick to answer but the damage was done, Arjun's words made Maan turn towards him and glare at him...

"Wo hum tum dono Ko school reunion par invite karne aaye the. Kya hai na school walon ko finally akal aagayi hai, ki reunion hona chahiye. Aur hum St. Peter's ki official first reunion ke liye tumhe aur Geet ko invite karne aaye hai,.. wo kya hai na humne socha tumse shuruwat karte hain, Arjun smirked and Preeti rolled her eyes, he was same.

"Mujhe nahi pata tha ki Mobile aur e-mails ke zamane me tumhe messanger banne ka itna shauk hai Arjun, Preeti kind of taunted and before she could have said anything Maan found Arjun spilling one more lie.

"Ab apne purane friends ko mujhe khud hi invite karna acha lagta hai, aur waise bhi Meri hi company arrangement dekh rahi hai, so I wanted to personally invite everyone, you know for old times sake, This time Preeti was loss at words and before she would have asked anything more, Maan dragged Arjun away apologizing to Preeti that they were getting late and were having prior commitments.

All the while Maan was busy cursing Arjun and his over-excited mouth.

"Tujhe aur kuch nahi mila bolne ke liye, reunion. seriously Arjun, Maan taunted as he drove towards KM, he had already cancelled all his meetings and Arjun's stunt has made him believe that in this lifetime, he wouldn't be able to confess to Geet.

It has been some three hours passed since Arjun and Maan had returned and for the first time in his life, Maan had realized that having a friend like Arjun has its own side effects. All the way to KM, Arjun was looking very relaxed. he in-fact had asked Nakul to cook something for him as Maan hadn't let him eat. While Arjun was relishing the Moong daal halwa prepared by Dadima after having the lavish lunch. Maan was pacing like a caged lion in his room, when Karan entered the room and saw that the room was a mess, everywhere things were discarded, the pillows were on the floor and magazines lying around on the sofa carelessly instead of the shelf. Amidst of all Arjun was lying comfortably on the bed savouring the taste of halwa. He was looking very pleased about something.

What happened now? Why did you call me? yar tum dono na kisi din mera Bina shaadi ka divorce karwoge... Badi mushkil se toh plan banaya tha Nandini ke saath, ab woh naraz hogi wo alag... Tum dono dost Kam Dushman jyada ho.. ranted Karan as he settled down on the other side of the bed... Karan was the only one who had guts to confess his feelings to his love and in-turn making her convince too.

"Tum dono ko pata hai na Nandini ke papa kitne bade Hitler hain, ye pehli aur aakri permission mili thi mujhe Shadi se pehle Nandini ke saath jaane ke liye, Lekin wo bhi gayi, Karan's words made Arjun give him apologetic smile and Maan's expressions were clear that Arjun Singhania needs a lesson. The guy literally had no brains to think before speaking.

"Dushman.. Haan Kyun nai , Dushman toh ye Arjun hai hi mera.. pata hai kya Kiya hai isme.. Maan said in an irritated tone. Maan's words made Karan look at Arjun and he spoke without further delay.

"Ab kya Kiya isne,.. asked Karan as he turned towards Arjun who was now glaring at Maan. Karan's words were more fixed at Arjun making him the sole culprit. it was like Arjun was the only one who creates the mess and involves the other two. Seeing both of his friends looking at him, Arjun retorted...

Ek toh madad karo upar se suno.. oh bhai, isse acha mauka nai milega Geet se Milne ka, aur tujhe kya lagta hai tu Bina kisi help ke usse baat bhi kar payega.. Preeti Naam ki bodyguard hai uski.. Arjun was rambling when Maan angrily replied.

Haan.. wohi Preeti jiske saath flirt karne ki naakam koshish aaj tak jaari hai teri.. the taunting and fight were going on when Karan stopped them.

"Are.. chup dono.. koi batayega kya hua hai,.. Karan was finding it difficult to choose between the two, both of them were looking more childish.

"Isse Pucho.. school reunion ke liye Geet Ko invite karke aaya hai,. snapped Maan and Karan was all confused. He looked at Arjun to confirm to make some sense to Maan's words and Arjun's smudged look confirmed that Maan's anger wasn't completely baseless but he still wanted to confirm.

"Konsi reunion. Jahan tak mujhe pata hai... Ek hamara hi Lauta school hai jisne aajtak koi reunion nai ki h,. said Karan confused..

"Haan toh isme konsi badi baat hai... Ab ho jayegi,.. said Arjun making Maan more angry..

"Aur kon karwayega? principal yaad hai, ek number ka khadoos hai, aur chemistry lab me Aag lagane wala stunt tujhe lagta hai wo bhul gya hoga,. Hum teeno ke kiye hue saare karname toh mujhe lagta hai usme bulletin board par lagaye honge. Maan's words amused both Arjun and Karan and Karan burst laughing remembering the time, Maan had gotten admission in the middle of the session, the three of them doing each and every mischief and the countless trip to principal's room.

Arjun made a relaxed face while Karan's laugh irked Maan more and before Maan could have spoken anything, Arjun's words made even made Karan agree with the dimwit.

"Bhai tu alumni hai. Wo bhi Sabse successful school ka... teri baat Kon mana karega.. said Arjun making Maan and Karan roll their eyes simultaneously.. the words were true but how they would arrange reunion was still a question lingering in the minds of Maan and Karan. Being an alumnus isn't going to help three of them both Maan and Karan knew this and before Maan could instil some sense in Arjun, Arjun spoke once more making the two confirm that he was a hopeless case.

"Aur agar tere se nahi hua toh Dadaji hai na, school ke trustee kis din kaam ayenge..

*************

This is probably the longest part of this fiction

Now, I won't be posting for a week, four parts will give interested readers the gist of the story and its flow. Then, I will decide to continue posting here or just post the link.