Naina
Part-1
Professor Nishikant Dixit looked on to his wife who was pacing like she was possessed by evil. Kiran was indeed hysterical, cursing her bad luck. When he found he could no more bear his wife in this condition, he stood up and went to her. Keeping his hands on her shoulders he turned her around, "Kiran, you will bore holes in the carpet if you keep pacing like that." She looked up in her husband's eyes and choked on her words, "Why ND? Why our Bani has to suffer every time." He pulled her to himself and patted her head, unable to control his own emotions.
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Nishikant was a Professor of mathematics and lived within the campus. Though his wife always wanted to go and live in the ancestral house which was though on the other side of the city but occupied by his brother, he politely refused her with his logic. Firstly the University provides accommodations to its staff and it provides a very good environment for the children and staying there saves him time. Secondly though the ancestral house was very big but he could see it very clearly that his brother's family will not accept them there and will find it as an encroachment of their rights. He was contented in little whatever he earned and wanted to live in peace. His brother had two sons Daksh and Tarun, and a daughter Pia, while he had only two daughters Bani and Rano. His brother never worked permanently anywhere and completely depended on the farms at their village and rent from some of the property in city. He would let his daughters go to his brother's place during the vacations but told them in clear words what he wanted out of them. He knew that like his brother his children were also not into studying and that might influence his daughters.
Dixit villa was no less than a palace, a house that spoke itself for old money. Though anyone could guess that it had seen better days specially when they see a similar house adjacent to it. The house next door was auctioned some years ago and was bought by Walia's. They renovated the house as per new fashion but maintaining the old structure. The Walia's were a big family with three brothers and two sisters. It was that two of the Walia brothers had gone abroad and settled there. Their family business was spread across the world with the eldest one living in India with his old parents and two children Rashi and Nachiket. Uday Walia looked after the business in California while his younger brother in Canada. Uday Walia wanted his children to feel the essence of India. He make it a point that they all planned their holidays such that they get to spend a few weeks together in India. His elder son Jai was few months old when he moved while the younger one, Pushkar was born here. He did not want his sons to forget their roots.
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Rano came rushing to the study and found her parents consoling each other. She could still feel the love and care they had for each other. Every girl wants that love and understanding from her husband like her mother had. She reckon she did she see that kind of bonding between her di and jiju but was she only imagining things because she wanted them to be like that. Fresh tears made their way on her cheeks.
"Mumma.....Papa .........di has agreed to study further. She asked me to get the forms when I get back from college."
ND sighed, "That is a good sign."
"Rano did she eat something?"
"You know mumma, only you can make her eat something."
"Kiran make something that Bani likes and bring it to her room, I will be there."
While Rano started getting ready to leave for her college, Nishikant sat beside Bani. He could not comprehend where did he went wrong to see his daughter suffer. Bani his first born was a very vibrant girl, very enthusiastic and full of life. But the girl who sat in front of him was lifeless except for the fact that she was breathing. She has withered in the last few months. Oh how he wished he could have changed a few decisions made in the recent past.
Bani found her parents and sister fussing over her to eat and go out with Rano. This is the kind of life she was brought up in, where every member of the family stands by you when you need them. They would never think of leaving someone alone when one needs them. Besides she was taught to share, her father always told her that sharing is most important as your sorrows and problems decrease while your joys and hapiness increase when you share them with people around you. She thought about the irony of life, the problems in her marital life started with this idea of sharing and lead her to where she was now. But it was also because of it alone that she was back to normal with her parents help.
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Like every year Jai had come back to India for his vacations. He loved coming back here. It was his home in real sense. He loved everything about it, from the attention he got from his grandparents to the environment around. As a kid he used to be the boss around all his cousins whether elder or younger to him. But with the growing up years he realised that the most he like about these trips was the tension free environment which always helped him to relax. He was good in sports and loved to spend hours playing whenever he was back here. Though he ceremoniously went to gym back in California but never got enough time for other leisures once he finished his studies and joined his father in the family business. He very well remember that he enjoyed playing with each and everyone around from his cousins, Nachiket, Jigyasa, Rashi or their neighbours Tarun, Daksh and Pia. He never liked that girl Pia from the word go, she was always trying to gain attention from either him or his younger brother Pushkar. Then there were these two cousins of Pia, that dusky beauty Bani who invaded his dreams and her younger sister Rano. God! he has never seen such eyes and such a heart capturing smile.
Jai still remembers the day very well when he first saw Bani. She was more than 6 years younger to him, nearly as old as Pushkar. It was Rashi's birthday and she had invited their neighbours. He was arranging balloons in the hall when somebody knocked the stool on which he was standing down. He came down with all the baloons and his labour of an hour. But more than that he was annoyed at Rashi as she started crying on seeing that. "My friends have started coming and the hall is not decorated yet." she cried out. Jai felt like smacking her, he would have done that if it would have been Pushkar in place of her. But he was taught to respect girls and being a teenager when one is at a very impressionable age, he was highly influenced by the typical English manners taught to him by Miss Catherine, his social science teacher. But he cursed loud enough for people in the same room to listen. Rashi started crying more loudly on hearing that but more because she saw blood on his elbow. Though all his cousins fussed around him but he could never forget that little doll in white who came upto him with a first aid box. She was so confident of herself, that she did not let anyone speak or do anything while diligently cleaned his bruise and applied band-aid. He was in awe of the cute little girl, he wished if he had a sister like her, he would have pampered her like anything.
After that Jai's whole vacations were spent teaching Bani the intricacies of playing badminton. Though all his cousins were around him and fought for his attention and he played with everyone around but his whole concentration was around that cute little doll. Bani thrived in that attention, the guy who was Rashi's cousin was a hero whom all the kids idolised, firstly he was eldest of them all and very good at everything he did, any sport he played. He amazed her with his knowledge about the various sports. Though he was of same age as her cousin Tarun but Tarun was always rude and not very good at sports. It became a routine after that, whenever Jai came to India for his vacations, Bani and Rano made plan to go to their Tauji's place at the same time. They did not have a brother and missed a young male member in their lives. Being in company of Jai and Pushkar they felt the void was filling untill that year.....
Bani had celebrated her sixteenth birthday and as usual all her friends teased her to no end about a boyfriend. She did not have any though she was quite outgoing in school and was friends with so many boys but none of them came in the category of boyfriend. Bani's father asked her to start taking her studies seriously as these years were foundation and would help her to choose a career. He insisted that she should stay back with him and let Rano go with her mother to both her Tauji and mamaji's place. Bani argued and insisted on going with a promise that she would not go in the next year's vacation. Both Nattu and Pushkar suggested that she should seek Jai's help in case she wanted to go in the engineering stream as he had finished his degree with honours. But Jai was late that year. It was the last day of Bani's stay at her Tauji's place when Jai arrived. She was playing carum with Rashi, Jigyasa and Pia when Jai came to them. The boys were busy playing football and the girls were playing carrum while some of the younger girls were on the swing. Pushkar told him that Bani was leaving next day and wanted to talk to him. Jai came and sat in between Bani and Rashi, he stretched his legs towards Rashi and as a result his arm and thighs rubbing against Bani's. Bani looked at him and for some reason felt concious by the way Jai was sitting beside her. Jigyasa who was sitting in front of Bani did not appreciate the exchange of glances between them. Though Jai kept talking to her by asking her how she fared in her exams and what she plans to do next, Bani was getting more and more concious of her being female and in such proximity of Jai.
Both Rano and Bani convinced their mother to stay for two more days but something had changed overnight for Bani. She wanted to be in Jai's company but whenever he was around, she could not gather enough courage to talk to him or even be normal with him like before. She could not stop herself from stealing glances at him every now and then. Though she had always idolised Jai, but this Jai was different, he was no more a lanky teenager. The man in front of her was the most handsome and attractive man she had ever seen. She felt herself flustered whenever he was around. Jai could feel some sort of tension in the environment. Bani, the cute little doll was behaving differently, she was rather shy with him, he found it amusing. But more than Bani, it was Jigyasa and Tarun's behaviour that was more confusing. Before Jai could exactly lay a hand on exactly what was wrong, a fight broke between his cousin Vinay and Tarun. Jai tried to make them understand but the things had gone to such an extent that the two families barred their children to see each other. Bani left the next day with her mother. Though Jai stayed back for two weeks but the atmosphere was not as it used to be for the last few years.
Next year when Jai came back the relations with their neighbours were not as tensed as the last year. But it was not as before. Tarun was not there as he had gone to Mumbai where he had started his law practice. Nattu had gone for a trip to Goa with his friends. Bani did not came as she had promised her father. Jai too feeling bored, went on for trekking in the east along with Pushkar. Pushkar fell sick midway and they had to cut short their trip. Feeling frustrated with all this Jai promised himselft not to come back again. He did not need to remember his promise as he got busy with his MBA for the next two years. After that he joined his father's business and could not plan going back to India for long vacations. Though he went to see his grandmother but basically it used to be business trip when he took a day or two to go and see his grandmother.
But this year when he came he felt something was different, might be because he was going to attend Jigyasa's marriage. He pitied Aditya, the groom, he had met him a few times before and knew him to be a nice gentleman. He finished his work in Bangalore quickly so that he did not have to listen to his parents and relatives that he was late for the wedding. Everyone had left for the sangeet cermony while Jai stayed back as he was tired. He had come out of the shower after his gym when he saw from his room's window that it had started raining heavily. After asking the butler to make him a strong cup of coffee he sat near the french window watching the rains. He had only finished his coffee and wanted to have some more when somebody knocked on the door. Tony, the butler told him that Bani was there. Her parents were out of town and her Tauji's family had already left for the sangeet ceremony. She and Rano were going there when it started raining. Since she was on scooty and could not drive a two wheeler in such rain so she had asked if somebody was home who would go to the sangeet. Tony looked up at him with expectation as he had told the girls about Jai. Now it was upto Jai whether he would help them or not as Jai had told him that he was not interested in going though he had said yes to his uncle.
The name Bani reminded him of the cute little doll. He can take this much pain of nonsense dance and music for the little angel he remembered fondly. As Tony gave coffee to Rano and asked her to dry herself in front of the heater, he asked Bani to go and meet Jai upstairs. Jai had started dressing to go with the girls when Bani knocked on the door. He knew it was Bani as he had asked Tony to send her. But what he saw took his breath away, Bani was standing in front of him completely drenched in rain. She was wearing a white churidaar salwaar suit, sticking to her body like a second skin, her long black hair plastered to her face due to rain. He knew it immediately that Bani was the girl with whom he wanted to spend his life with. She looked mesmerising, though she was not beautiful in the traditional way but her eyes and smile were something that attracted him to her like magnet. Bani was already feeling nervous at the prospect of meeting Jai and meeting in such a condition. But she had to, in order to go the function for which her dear Rano had been practicing a dance for days. She was hypnotised the moment she saw Jai. She found herself becoming concious of his intense gaze. She stammered her answers, was in no condition to comprehend what he was saying. Jai was so amused at her condition that when he tried to cool her nerves by kissing her, he did not know that he had aggravated her nervousness. Bani found herself pushed to the wall and while one of Jai's hand was on the wall near her head the other was removing the hair that were sticking to her face. She opened her mouth to say something but could not as his lips came crashing on to hers. If that was not all, the next thing blew away her senses for good as Jai asked her to marry him. He knew that she was too young for him, was still studying and wanted to study further but he could not wait any longer and he made it very clear to everybody, from his parents to Bani and her parents.
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Bani thought that how different life could get with time. She remembered that she had never let Rano touch her scooty. Now she feared that she would not be able to walk leave aside drive. So it was Rano who was driving her back home on her scooty after they got some of the entrance exam forms.
Anupamaa
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
