FF: Ek Boond Asmaan...LAST PART+EPI, PG-34 - Page 9

Originally posted by: Indian_Goddess

Bani's immediate connection with Krishna is sweet. Now I am even more convinced that they are mother and daughter. Waiting to see how the story progresses. It's going great so far. 😃

PART-9

Bani arranged the minimal furniture, a few chairs with a center-table, the bed in the room...and the utensils in the kitchen, she had finally got a room for rent after much toil, it was difficult to get rented rooms in decent localities, with the inflation of prices the rents were also high...but pushkar had managed somehow as it was his colleague's house... it was a small house, with proper ventilation and light...one bedroom which she will share with her mother, a cozy sitting area...who will come to her house as she hardly knew anybody...he mother would be living with pia till the delivery, it was still a month and half to go...bani wiped the sweat from her brow...she saw her mother putting the idol of Rama and Sita in one corner, adorning them with some flowers, lighting the dhoop, its flowery fragrance diffused in the air...

"Roz diya jalana..." kiran said finishing her prayer...

"Jee maa..." bani said, she was never much a believer of God...and after everything, she didn't have any reason to believe in Him either...

"Akele rehne ki kya zaroorat hain...kuch din baad aajati..." kiran said...

"Nahin maa...didi ke ghar par kitne din rahenge...acha nahin lagta"

"Main jaanti hoon, merei zidd ki wajah se hi sab chodke yahaan anjaan sheher main aana pada..." kiran said remorsefully...

"Maa...aap kush hain na...bas...aur sab theek toh hain..." bani tried to be optimistic...
XXXX
Bani walked inside the school, the weekend was over...only to stop upon hearing her name...

"Bani miss..." it was Krishna who shouted for her...tagging along jai with her... bani's face lit up with a beaming smile...

"Hello Krishna...good morning..." bani stopped waiting for her...

"Papa...bani miss..." Krishna said to jai...

"Hello Maam...I am Krishna's father...Jai Walia..." jai greeted her...

"I am Bani...Bani dixit...Krishna's teacher" bani introduced herself...

"Krishna talks a lot about you...she adores you completely..." jai said, remembering the time they had bumped into each other accidently, she was too young and teaching children, it surprised him...

"Oh!!She is such a lovely child..." bani smiled...

"Thank you..." jai smiled...

"Shall we go Krishna...? "bani outstretched her hand...Krishna held it instantly...much to the amazement of jai, Krishna usually never became so close to people so easily, but her bani miss was surely an exception... ...

"Bye papa..." Krishna waved at him vigorously...

"Bye beta...it was nice meeting you Ms. Dixit..."

"Same here Mr. Walia..."

Jai stood still for a moment, watching them go hand in hand, it was unbelievable, suddenly he realized that Krishna's eyes looked so much similar to bani's...he felt it to be so uncanny, but there can be people with similar eye-color, he reasoned, but he couldn't halt his thoughts hovering around the nagging sameness between his daughter and bani... ...
XXXX
"Chalo...we all will make 'My Family' today..." bani said distributing white A4 size sheets to each child...the children, excitedly took out their crayons...

Bani went about teaching them to make human forms, and what colors to use...slowly examining everyone's drawings...she came to Krishna...she peeped to look at what she was making; the distorted person in black suit was definitely her father whom she met today, it was she in the middle with a pink dress, and the lady she was trying to draw had white hair...bani looked confused...

"Krishna kya bana rahen ho aap..." bani asked...

"Yeh papa...yeh main...aur yeh daadi..." Krishna said pointing her finger to each person...for a moment bani kept quiet...

"Mummy ko bhi banao..." bani said...

"Mummy toh bhagwaanji ke paas hain..." Krishna said nonchalantly, busy coloring the background... bani was too stunned, that means Krishna's mother was dead... Oh!!God!!! Bani cursed herself for asking this to the poor little child...it must be so difficult for a child to be motherless... bani hugged Krishna to herself...

"Kya hua miss..." Krishna asked...

"Nahin bohot sundar banaya hain..." bani said blinking away her tears... ...
XXXX
Bani sat in the staff room; there was time for her next class, still thinking about Krishna...for some reason she just couldn't divert her mind form her...

"I saw you talking to Mr. Walia today..." Mrs. Rao, a middle-aged lady said in a south Indian accent...peeping from the book she was reading... ...

"Huh!!!" bani said shaken by the sudden conversation...

"What were you thinking bani...about Mr. Walia...handsome man...and a gentleman too..." she commented...

"No Mrs. Rao...I was thinking about Krishna...she has no mother..." that was too blunt bani thought...

"Hmm...poor child...we didn't know him much, but now he is the biggest donator to the management, after all his only daughter studies here...he is a very reserved man and private too... out of curiosity I found out about him, his wife had died almost four years ago in an accident..."

"Oh!!!" was all that bani could mutter...

"What were you speaking to him???" she asked rather more curiously...

"Nothing, Krishna saw me and called me, he just greeted me that's it..." bani said in a bored way...before Mrs. Rao could comment something else bani got up...

"I am getting late for my class...see you later..." bani said going away...
XXXX
Bani flipped the cover in her hand, her first salary and the principal had assured that she was almost permanent now...she should be feeling happy, not ecstatic but nonetheless content, but she felt nothing, only Krishna's face get looming in front of her, her laughter, her big brown eyes...a tear slipped down from her right eye... she got up, keeping the cover aside...lighting a diya in front of the Almighty, she picked up her mobile, a gift from pia...

"Hello maa..." bani said...

"Haan bani bola main tujhe phone karne wali thi..." kiran said excited...

"Didi kaisi hain..."

"Theek ahin, araam kar rahin hain...abhi kuhc din ki hi baat hain..."

"Woh, aaj mujhe pehli tankhwa milli..."

"Arre waah, bhagwaan ke saamne jyot jalade beta..."

"Haan maa...abhi wahin kar rahin thi..." sensing the sadness in bani's voice kiran spoke up...

"Beta, kya baat hain...teri awaaz itni rukhi si kyun hain..."

"Maa...woh...Krishna hain na..."

"Kaun beta..."

"Wahin jo meri class main padti hain..."

"Haan bol..."

"Aaj pata chala ki uski maa nahin hain...bas bohot bura laga...aapka bhagwaan kisiko nahin bakshta na...ek bachi ki maa ko cheen liya..." bani said bitterly...

"Aisa nahin bolte bani...bhagwaan sab jaante hain...agar woh kuch lete hain toh dete bhi hain beta..." kiran said, her faith in God would now way be shaken, come what may, it was him who gave strength to sail through all the tough times... ...

"Theek hain maa, main rakti hoon..." bani disconnected the line...

Kiran held the receiver for a second, keeping it down...why was bani so much upset over a little girl whom she didn't know...kiran dreaded the fact that bani was trying to search her dead daughter in that girl, she has to let go of her past, she has to do something before it's too late, kiran thought with determination... ...
XXXX
Bani sat grumpily in the posh restaurant 'Oceana'...she couldn't believe she was doing this... kiran had almostblackmailed her into seeing some boy... some far off relative of pia's in-laws, working in TCS...she muttered something gibberish under her breath, why did she always fall into her mother's trap, she couldn't understand... she looked at her watch... 'the boy' was already fifteen minutes late, she groaned ordering herself a coffee... she couldn't understand why people addressed a full grown man as a boy, in no time her steaming coffee came, she took a sip, it felt good...

"Bani...Bani Dixit..." a young man stood in front of her with an ugly grin, bani stood up, she knew she hated him from the first sight, not that he was bad-looking but he just gave her a negative vibe...

"Hi..." bani tried to smile...

"Hi...I am sorry I am late...you know traffic...though my ford is quite fast, but Mumbai traffic is so f******congested..." he said taking a seat... bani cringed a bit hearing the use of such overtly abusive language, being brought up and lived in a small town she was very formal in her conversation with strangers, even she was much aware of this new lingo, but hearing it suddenly had a different impact...

"Mera naam toh pata hi hoga...Nachiket Sharma..." he said, as if that was the best name in the whole wide world... ...bani widened her artificial smile, having the urge to smack his face for reasons unknown...he just seemed too irritating... ...meanwhile nachiket gestured with his hand for the waiter, he placed his order

"You bani..."

"I am still not finished with my coffee... No thanks..." bani decline politely...

"I am the project leader in TCS..." nachiket stated...

"Take home...is around 40 lakhs...exclusive all taxes"

"Sare banks ke credit cards hain..."

"Mom nahin hain...papa lives with my elder brother...so no responsibilities as such..."

"Almost saara kaam internet pe hi hota...evening I come home by seven..."

"I don't smoke or drink, par kabhi kabhi friends ke saath...you know..."

"Arre, kab se main hi bol rahaan hoon...aap kuch bol hi nahin rahin..." nachiket said... finishing his coffee... bani looked at him, wanting to laugh out loud...for the first time after so many years she felt the irresistible urge to just break into peals of laughter...

"I..." before bani could say anything...

"Pushkar ne kahaa...aap kuch bachon ko padhati ho...shaadi ke baad yeh sab karne ki koi zaroorat nahin...after all I earn so much...what is the need..."

"But I love teaching..." bani interrupted him...

"Haan, toh apne bachon ko padha lena..." nachiket said so casually as if they were getting married tomorrow and having children the day after...

"Well, Are you a virgin???" he asked...bani choked...

"I really don't care but still..." nachiket said...bani gave him a mean look, of course it mattered to him, bloody male chauvinistic pig...she just wanted to yell at him, but controlled herself since he was in pia's relations, her in-laws might create a huge fuss about it...

"Well, Mr. Sharma...I don't think so we can think anything beyond..." bani said...

"What do you mean??"

"Well, I think you can get someone better than me... all the best Mr. Sharma..." bani said picking up her purse...nachiket roughly fished out a few notes and slammed on the table...

"I can't believe you are rejecting ME...f*** it...seriously woman, look at yourself, why didn't I even come..." nachiket shook his head, sprinting out of the restaurant...

Bani got up walking towards the entrance...the security guard opened the door...

"Bani miss..." she heard Krishna's vocie who was coming towards her...jumping...

"Krishna..." bani's face lit up the moment she laid her eyes on her... she bent down, kissing her cheek...

"Good evening Ms. Dixit..." she saw Jai Walia towering over her... bani got up, embarrassed...

"Oh!! Hello Mr. Walia..." bani said, playing with the strap of her bag...

"Aap yahaan..." he asked...

"Woh...I...I just came to meet a friend...it got cancelled so going back home..." bani lied not wanting to tell that she had come to meet her prospective groom, no 'boy'.

"Oh, Krishna zid kar rahin thi, toh issiliye we are on an outing today...why don't you join us...krishu will love it..." jai said pleasantly...

"No Mr. Walia...I don't want to impose..."

"Oh come on...Krishna apni teacher ko invite nahin karogi..." jai looked at an eager Krishna...

"Haan, Miss chalo..." Krishna almost dragged her...

Bani was wondering about the name, Oceana which meant 'From the sea' and there was no sea, but she was so wrong, Jai Walia took them to the other side of the restaurant, sea facing, it seemed to be a private place with no one around...jai observed bani feeling a bit uncomfortable seeing around, finding not even a single person except the staff...

"Relax Ms. Dixit...I own this place..." jai said with a small smile...

"Oh!! I am sorry, I am completely ignorant about the corporate world except a few..." bani said, flustered...

"It's okay...krishu kya khaaogi..." jai asked Krishna who was struggling to read the menu card... bani took it from her, reading the items to her......
XXXX

God bless

Dhani