They walked towards the dhabba and gulaal rushed ahead to join her friends, kesar stood back and looked at the dhabba, he too then slowly made his way inside, everything was quiter here and not many people recongnised him, he walked towards the little bench where they were sat,
'uff kaafi garmi hai yaha, aircondition lagwa doon',
they all laughed at him, 'nahi kesar yaar, yaha par aircondition nahi hota' said kunal laughing at him,
suddenly a small fat man came up to them, his hands were black with smoke and he had beads of sweat trickilng down his face,
'jee kya mangwana hai' he said baring his big teeth at them,
'hume six plates dijhye, golgappe ki aur haan uncle khoob sari mirchi dalna' said dushyant to the man, the man nodded and left.
They made light talk, and then the golgappe arrived, kesar stared at the plates nervously, the others all put them whole into there mouth, kesar did not touch his plate,
'khayi na kesar' said dhani smiling at him,
'umm actually mujhe lagta hai, mujhe bhook nahi hai' he said looking at them with the golgappa sauce all over there hands and faces,
'arrey kesar aise kaise, ab ayaa hai toh khaa bhi le na' said kunal smiling at him, kesar looked nervously at his plate,
'nahi kunal, usse force mat kar' gulaal said looking at him dissapointed, 'uss nahi khay jaayenge, bohot mirchi hai' and she smiled at him,
'main tere liye kuch aur le aati hoon' and she got up, kesar sensed the dissapointment in her voice and her eyes, he swallowed and pulled the plate, picked up a golgappa and put it his mouth, they all looked at him stunned,
'na kar kesar, bohot mirch hai, rehne de' said dushyant,
kesar shook his head and put them into his mouth one after the other, tears falling out of his eyes, gulaal came back and looked at the empty plate stunned, kesar sat looking extremely proud of himself, his eyes filled with water,
'bohot acche the' he said grinning at her,
she looked at him worried silently.
'vah kesar tujhme toh kitni speed hai' said dhani smiling at him, and then she looked at her watch, 'mujhe jaana chaiye',
'haan bye' kunal said to her,
'mujhe koi chodne nahi aayega',
'nahi main bohot tak gaya hoon' kunal said and dushyant nodded, 'haan kaunsa tera ghar dhoor hai, yahi paas mein toh rehti hai',
'main chalta hoon' kesar said to her, gulaal looked at him worried,
'na kesar tu mat jaa, tujhe toh rasta hi theek se nahi aata aur phir gahr waapis kaise aayega,
'main ajaoonga, itna bara hogaya hoon, itni akal toh honi chahiye' he said grinning at her, and he and dhani left.
************************************************
Gulaal sat near her bedroom window, looking outside worried, it had been two hours and kesar had still not returned,
'ussi ke kamre mein jaa kar intezaar karti hoon' she thought and went into his room,
she sat on his bed and her eyes began to close, when suddenly the door knocked,
she quickly went and opened it,
poonam stood there, she peered into the bedroom shocked, 'tu yaha kya kar rahi hai gulaal' she said to her sternly,
'maa main kesar ka intezaar kar rahi thi',
'abhi tak nahi aaya voh' said poonam,
'nahi maa, aur usse raaste bhi sahi se nahi pata',
aa jaye ga, lekin gulaal ek baat kahoon,'
'jee maa'
'aur kitne din rahega, mera matlab hai ladka toh accha hai lekin iss ghar mein meri jawaan beti rehti hai,thoda uska toh bhi lihaaz karna parega',
gulaal felt extremly dissatisfied, 'umm pata nahi maa, pooch loongi',
'accha theek hai mein jaati hoon, aur tu bhi aadha ganta wait karke apne kamre mein chali jaa, aise kesar ke room mein accha nahi hai',
'jee maa',.
'gulaal...gulaal uth', gulaal awoke abruptly, to see kesar standing above her,
'main mujhe lagta hai meri ankh lag gayi, teri rah dekhte dekhte, kaha tha kitni dher hogayi thi, ghum toh nahi tha hogaya',
'nahi nahi voh dhani ke parents ne mujhe andar bula liya tha, sab aise ghoor ghoor ke dekh rahe the,it was so funny' he said laughing to himself,
'tu tu itni dher dhani ke ghar mein raha' gulaal said getting up from the bed, 'aur mein yaha fikar se pagal hoh rahi thi, lagta hai dhani ke saath kuch acchi dosti hogayi' she said standing infront of him and staring itno his eyes angrily,
kesar studied her face for a second, and then burst out laughing, 'hey tujhe jalan hoh rahi hai' he said laughing, 'uss ladki ko jalan hoh rahi hai, joh mere baare mein bilkool nahi sochti',
'chup kar kesar, tu sach mein pagal lagta hai mujhe, jaa dhani ke paas hi jaa aur haan main jal nahi rehi thi' she said stepping to the side of him and walking away, he gently gripped her hand and pulled her back, standing extremly near her back, he softly whispered into her ear,
'tere siva aur kisi ke baare mein nahi soch sakta gulaal, even though you dont love me, i love you loads, ok',
'chor kesar' she said struggling to pull away,
he immidiately left her hand and she turned in suprise, 'itni jaldi chor diya' she said grinning at him, he looked at her suprised,
'main jaati hoon, tu apni maa ki photo dekhne ke liye kapre badal ke aa jana, kapre wardrobe mein kuch pairs set kar diye hai maine' and she quickly left, leaving him staring after her.
He knocked her room and entered,
'mujhe photo nahi dekhni, yeh dekh' and he pulled out soemthing from behind his back, gulaal was suprised, to see a mini picture of his mother, 'dhani ne print kar ke deh di' he said smiling at it.
gulaal felt irked at the name of dhani again but smiled to see him grinning so happily at his mothers picture.
'gulaal mujhe koi cream chahiye thi, mere lip par bohot bar chale hogaye hai' kesar said shiftly,
'chala, dekha kaha' and she moved near to his face, he pulled down his lip and showed her,
'Oh my God yeh kaise hua',
'voh pata nahi, aise hi...',
'kesar', she said sensing he was hiding something,
'voh golgappe..',
'Ufff tu bhi kitna ziddi hai, kyun khay, mujhe pata tha itni mirche tujse nahi kahi jayengi' and she got his arm and made him set on her bed. she got the cream and kneeled on the floor infront of him. she gently put the cream on her hand and moved it across his lips, she looked up at him, only to find him staring just as intently into her eyes,
'anhen band kar kesar'
'ankhen... par kyun,
'mujhe voh mujhe sharam aati hai',
'kyun sharam aati hai gulaal' he said grinning at her sweetly,
'tu ankhen band karta hai yah main'
'accha accha theek hai' and he closed his eyes.
gulaal studied his face, he looked like a innocent young boy, she smiled at his face and concentrated on putting the cream on, she looked back and his eyes were wide open,
'kesar tu',
he put his finger across her lips shushing her,
'nahi gulaal mujhe kuch kehna hai, mujhe lagata hai ke main kal waapis chala jaoonga', she looked at him stunned.
Book Talk
Anupamaa
Vasudha
