"Pyar ka tohfa tera ..bana hai jeevan mera
Dil ke sahare maine paa liye...jeene ko aur kya chahiye"
Tohfa (1985)
The parcel surprised her, more so since it didn't have a sender's name on it. She opened it to find a beautiful sea green suit with a silver embroidered dupatta. One of the most beautiful dresses she'd ever seen. And then she remembered Salil's casual remark during lunch time. He had handed her a red dress for Purvi ."My favorite color…..I want Purvi to just have this in her wardrobe even if she does not wear it .....Actually, shopping for this was not as much fun as watching Arjun sort through tons of salwar suits and sarees to search for one in his favorite color ….For someone special I think" he said winking.
Arohi definitely knew enough about Arjun to know that he loved every possible shade water could take. She also didn't know him well enough to guess why this packet was on her desk unless someone had mistakenly placed it on her desk. With an intention of correcting the mistake, she went to Arjun's desk as he was winding up for the day.
"Sir..I think the person whom you sent on an errand to deliver this package made a mistake. He put it on my desk." "No he didn't. He delivered it exactly for whom it was intended." "For me??Why??" Arohi went on the offensive now. "Mujhe par yeh meherbani kyun?"
Arjun's reply to Arohi's accusing question was a haughty one of its own "Meherbani nahi hai..Harjana hai…. During Salil's engagement, I roughed you up and caused some unintentional damage to your beloved dupatta….This is just for compensation. You want it, take it or trash it. After all, I am making you pay for the scratches to my car. Atleast you'll take the unfair part of the description off when you talk about me. Hopefully khadoos also." He finished, sounding amused now.
A part of Arohi wanted to take a pair of scissors, cut the dress into little pieces and dump it in the bin right before Arjun's eyes. Another wanted to just take the dress and cherish it as perhaps the one and only thing Arjun would ever willingly give her. Other than the daily doses of scoldings, arguments and find-my-watch-type-of-inane-orders notwithstanding.
"I errrr…usually don't take gifts from anyone other than people who are close to me. So…I will…I mean Inspite of it, I'll take this because its special..I mean the cloth is special….because you gave it to me…..I mean you owed me a dupatta to say the least..", Arohi said giving Arjun I-am-actually-doing-you-a-favor-by-accepting-this-gift look. And he gave her one of his rare smiles.
"Err…not that I am affected by it or anything…."Arjun asked trying to sound incurious. "But do you like it?" "Its….. very pretty" Arohi said softly, touching the fabric. "This color can make anyone beautiful". "No Arohi…" Arjun said draping the sea green dupatta over her head and tilting her head to look up at him. "You make every color look beautiful."
