Candle In the Wind; Note Pg160;New Thread - Page 8

awww...jai and bd...wait...is bd a boy or is it bani...and why does jai keep calling her a boy...im a lil 😕 ...anyway...loved the update...cant wait to read more...and see waht happned 4 yrs later when JB 😉 met up again...
JAZ

sheena!
that was awesome!
poor jai
his mother is sick
please continue soon

Hi,

This is for my friend Aimee and her cherry on the top!! 😆 😆 Amisha, hope you get through the long week ahead of you in one piece and all your hair intact!!



Year 1991 - Four years later

Jai looked around to see the parents and relatives of the young graduates, they all seemed so happy, proud about the new grads, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers. He felt terribly homesick for the first time, lonely and depressed. Everyone had someone except him. As the Dean of business school shook his hands he felt a brief moment of sadness. He went through the mechanics of switching the tassel from one side to the other and tossing the graduation hat in to the air.

He remembered his mother who passed away four years ago just before he took off to US. The bitterness between the father and son did not lessen with time. The two spoke a handful times on the phone before Jai heard about Udai Walia's death. Jai was barely twenty at the time. Jai went home to perform the final rites. Udai had written in the will that Nachiketh should be included in lighting the pyre of his father. Jai didn't care one way or the other – he remained removed from the goings on.

Jigyasa was turning into a selfish , clingy and neurotic woman. Jai suspected his sister's marriage was rocky, he wanted to come back to India to support her but it was Maasi who put her foot down and insisted that he finish his schooling before coming back, she told him it was his mother's dream that he went to a prestigious school. After the death of his father, he looked briefly into the business affairs and found out they were in a mess. When the will was read, he wasn't totally surprised to see that the property was divided equally between the three children. Jai put Aditya in charge of Jigyasa's money and handed over Nachiketh's inheritance to his legal guardian Bernali.

Over the last few years, he learned about the financial markets, real estate business, entrepreneurship and hotel management while going to school. He invested his inheritance from his grandfather prudently and tripled it over the last two years. He interned at a venture fund on Sandhill road in Palo Alto and learned the ins and outs of financial investments. He divested some of the losing businesses that his father owned and invested them in international hospitality businesses. He was proud of his accomplishments and gained immense satisfaction from the hard work and accolades he received from the much older business associates.

If he worked hard, he also partied hard, drank a lot, played with women as if they were toys and rode a fast and dangerous Bugatti motorbike that he fondly named Jugnu. It reminded him of his ebony stallion, the only connection to his teenage days. Every time he rode the pillion he thought of BD and how he was doing with the boy's dream of being a jockey.

With BD in mind, He took up Archery and flying. He admired the little boy for his high aims, at the same time he resented him for being so balanced and pragmatic. Archery was something he needed, a target in his life to aim high and not miss his goals and objectives, flying because he wanted to soar high in the skies, so he can stand alone and aloof and not tied to the mundane life. He knew the sports contrasted from each other, one trying to hang on to a target, the other wanting to catch the surreal.

He stopped smoking because every time, he lit a cigarette , he saw BD's clear eyes and heard the warning words. He inquired discretely how Jugnu and BD were doing at the Cottonwood Stables. He was saddened to hear that Mr. Singhania passed away. He was pleased that Sunny was still teaching BD how to race and received a periodic progress report of how the training was going. He was proud of all the races BD won in the junior championships. He came to know about the economic hardship that BD's family was going through and decided to send money to them anonymously. Apparently BD's mother's health deteriorated but she clung to her dear life and was still alive. BD's father seemed to be useless in dealing with his sick wife and three young children. BD apparently quit school to take care of the younger children and the mother. For the first time Jai felt guilty about the silver spoon he was born with. He told Sunny that no matter what, BD should continue the training and that he was welcome to use Jugnu at all times.

He came back to earth as a wild cheer went up in the auditorium as the commencement speech ended.

Jai packed his bags that night and went to the graduation dance. He looked around to see if there were any familiar faces and spotted Roshni Chopra dressed in a short black dress. She was drinking heavily and flirting with a couple of football players. Jai knew he was spotted as she flicked her hair back and started coming his way. Roshni was ambitious and hard as nails. She reminded him of Bernali – the more he tried to evade her, the harder she pursued him. He felt stifled as she came and draped herself all over him. He disentangled from her hold and asked her if she needed a coffee to bring her intoxication levels down.

She made a face at him, "Jai, you are such a party pooper!! When will you learn to have some fun?" She pouted her lips at him. "I have been waiting for you for a long time. Where have you been?"

"Roshni, I am leaving to India tomorrow morning, just wanted to say bye to everyone" Jai was short with her. "It's been good knowing you and your brother! Is he here?" Jai was polite and aloof.

"We are leaving to India too, my parents are asking us to come back, but I want to stay here and start my own business" Roshni looked unhappy to leave US.

The Chopras owned motels in the US and in India, they went back to India to settle down, they wanted to get their daughter and son married in India. Roshni and Ranvijay opposed it vehemently but had no choice than to go with the parents. Roshni was looking at Jai as her meal ticket and escape route and was trying to inveigle a marriage proposal out of him. To her chagrin, Jai wasn't interested in the hook and bait.

Jai nodded disinterestedly, he was already making plans to visit Cottonwood stables in the outskirts of Mt. Abu with Maasi, Jigyasa and his little niece and nephews. Aditya and Jigyasa were separated now, Jigyasa was driving Maasi crazy with her kitty parties and Page 3 activities. He looked forward to the fresh mountain air and riding Jugnu on the hilly terrains of the little resort town.

He wondered if BD would be there, he smiled as he remembered the spunky and stubborn little friend who never gave in even when he was losing in the friendly horseback race.

"Jai, Jai…Are you listening to me?" Roshni shook him out of his deep thoughts. She looked peeved that he wasn't listening to her.

"I am sorry, Roshni, I was a little bit distracted" Jai pacified her. "What were you saying?"

"Jai, Can I come and stay with you for a few days? I really don't want to be with my parents right now, they want to get me married to a suitable Indian boy, have two children, take care of his parents and live like a house wife" Roshni's voice was caustic and bitter.

Jai looked cornered, he really didn't want Roshni to accompany him to Mt. Abu, she was decent company to be around but not some one that he would marry and settle down. He wondered idly if Roshni knew his distaste for marriage.

"Of Course, Roshni, you and your brother are welcome to come and stay at the guest house." His invitation was reluctant.

"Thanks Jai, you know I will take up your invitation" Roshni looked pleased with herself.

"Roshni, I have to go, I need to call it a day, I have a long journey ahead tomorrow" Jai bid good bye to his friends at the party.

++++++++++

Sunny asked BD to clean the stables and exercise Jugnu because Jai was coming the next day. Bani had butterflies in her stomach all day, she couldn't sleep and tossed and turned until Pia and Rano pushed her out of the bed. Bani kept remembering the rides in the woods, sharing the lunches that were packed by Mrs.D'Silva, sneaking into the Guava gardens next door to steal the semi-ripe fruit and escaping as the farmer came running after them. She plucked some guavas from the neighbor's garden and put them in the brown bag for Jai. She took out his saddle and polished the leather until it shone with a dull sheen. She groomed Jugnu until the horse backed away from her in slight discomfort. She got the list of all the books she read over the last year because Jai told her that reading makes the world smaller and it opens the horizons. At the young age of 12, she read the collections of Wordsworth, Shakespeare, Somerset Maugham, Lord Byron, Tennyson, Eyre, Bronte, Tolstoy and many more famous authors.

What if she dropped out from school, it didn't stop her from having a good education. She promised herself that she would give her board exams privately. She wondered if he would like her long hair that she tied neatly in a pony tail. She hated the acne spots on her forehead and the light freckles that formed on her sun burnt face. She also grew a little bit taller than her previous size of five feet. She was still petite, only five feet two inches tall, slender and wiry. Her small breasts didn't show under the riding habit she wore. She felt slightly inadequate when compared to her eleven year old sister Pia who is already couple of inches taller than her and curvaceous and well developed. She no longer looked like a boy that he thought she was. She didn't correct him because she knew he wouldn't hang around with her if she told him. It was not a surprise that he thought that she was a boy because the stable hired only boys, she had short cropped boyish hair, wore loose, grubby looking clothing and cursed at the horses like a raunchy cowboy from "Lone Ranger."

She sent Pia and Rano to school and rode her bike to the stables. It was a good 5 miles to the house, but she wanted to get there early and wait for Jai. She took out the Guavas and washed them in fresh, cold water and wiped them off with her sleeve. She saddled Jugnu and brought it outside and left him in the pen after she fed him and watered him.

She got back on to the bike to go to Sunny uncle's cottage when she heard the revving of the land rover. She shielded her eyes with her hand and looked at the vehicle that was closing in. She hurried to get out of the car's way before it came hurtling down and knocked her down. She heard the car screeching and the wheels spinning as she lay on the ground stunned. She wondered why she was seeing stars when it was only daytime. As she saw the scruffy athletic shoes approached her she smiled and whispered 'Jai' before she passed out.

first

Absolutely loved this update...infact the whole concept is awesome...

love the way u have drawn similarities between the leads, yet put down their difference...its awesome...

Rivs

tht was mindblowing!!!! 👏 i feel so bad for jai 😭 and bani 😭 ......she's so sweet........u no i am really waiting for bani to slowly melt the ice inside jai and bring him back to living! 😳 ur such an amazing writer!!! tht was a great part.........pls update the next part soon b/c i cant wait for jai to finally find out that BD is a girl 😃 ......can't wait to see the reaction

Great part.
Beautiful........loved it.
Roshni trouble maker is also there.
Well well what we have both Jai and BD think about each other ha......loved it.
Looking forward to their meet......Bani crash into Jai's car........now that what we call a meeting.
plz cont. soon.

Sheena....awesomeeeeeee update! I was so looking forward to this update and when I got back from college and found the update...it totally made my day!

I love the way the story is unfolding. i love the whole concept. I feel bad for Jai. No one was there for him when he finally graduated and made his mother proud.

Bani...awww...i feel bad for her too. Seems like Jai has come back to his BD.

I hope Bani can calm Jai down and bring him back into the reality world and can change him into a better and more sober person.

Can't wait to see how the reunion will take place!

yaar next update jaldi karna! zaida wait na karwana...the suspense is killing me!

Anam

Originally posted by: salmansgirl

Sheena....awesomeeeeeee update! I was so looking forward to this update and when I got back from college and found the update...it totally made my day!

I love the way the story is unfolding. i love the whole concept. I feel bad for Jai. No one was there for him when he finally graduated and made his mother proud.

Bani...awww...i feel bad for her too. Seems like Jai has come back to his BD.

I hope Bani can calm Jai down and bring him back into the reality world and can change him into a better and more sober person.

Can't wait to see how the reunion will take place!

yaar next update jaldi karna! zaida wait na karwana...the suspense is killing me!

Anam

I guess I can't follow you now since I haven't read it yet. Will read tomorrow morning Sheena for sure and leave my wonderful comments.

Originally posted by: amiee

wonderful part sheena since you are home can we have another update too a special request from a friend and its friendship month so please please with sugar and and cherry on top 😃

OK, Mon Ami,

Did it just for you!! Blew my husband off when he asked me to go to the Gym, told the kids to eat by themselves!! 😆 But finished the update!!

Originally posted by: Sheena_Row

Blew my husband off when he asked me to go to the Gym, told the kids to eat by themselves!! 😆 But finished the update!!

haila....how mean sheena! bechare baache!!!! lol!

i shouldn't say anything as i loved the update lol!

thanks a bunh for taking ur time to finish it.

anam