Chapter 2
"Third time in a minute!"
"Uff no buddu fourth time!!"
"No Babli third, don't count the time badi daadi called him at least" huffed Bunty at his sister. They were peeping from the first floor landing and keeping an eye on their favourite Abhi chachu as he kept talking on the phone and throwing nervous glances around him, as if to check if the coast was clear - he had been behaving weird for sometime now, especially after chachi moved out - they imagined chachu to be upset now that chachi wasn't doing her usual morning rounds with his "ajeeb" coffee and their hot chocolate with marshmallows (dipped in secretly) - but somehow chachu was behaving suspiciously funny. A hurt Babli had met him in the early days and asked, "Chachu, don't you miss my favourite Pragya chichi even a little bit?" but to Babli's astonishment, he only laughed and replied, "Not at all, who wants to hear her bhajans early in the morning? And how come you're missing her, don't you remember the amounts of maths she made you do?" he had laughed - even then he was on the phone - then he had asked Babli to excuse him and left!
When Bunty heard the story, he knew something was up, but he and his sibling wasn't enough to solve chachu's mystery, hence they had secretly called Purab chachu - with consultation with him (after explaining chachu's peculiar behaviour) Purab chachu had hit upon a plan and Bunty-Babli were his minions.
"Comrades, keep an eye on the enemy" he had said.
"Aye Aye captain!"both kids had enthusiastically replied.
***
Uff this house nah. It didn't give him one moment of privacy, you would imagine with the house the size of a mini football field, the rockstar would get some peace? But no! There was one family member planted at every corner looking at him suspiciously, thought Abhi irritated.
Over that was his fuggy, no matter how many times he told her, she wouldn't buy a smartphone! Like who knows how to text message when whatsapp has taken the generation by rave? But who was he kidding? This was fuggy, good old aunt of the ancient dinosaurs! How would she use latest technology? But since he suddenly realized his house is so full, calling all the time could be really risky also. But he missed his fuggy, he wanted to spend time with her - as it is he was late in realizing his fuggy's worth, now the universe seemed to be conspiring against him!! Every time he tried closing to fuggy, some obstruction stopped (Sarla, BB, Rodaadi, his daadi etc.)
How can a man love in peace under such circumstances he thought irritated.
In fact had he not been lucky that night after fuggy was forcefully taken away from him, after Tanu and his truth and Tanu's lies had come out in the wedding alter - then he would have been a heart-broken lovesick puppy today he thought shaking his head.
He always knew he was a romantic person, but romancing fuggy came with its own set of difficulties - you couldn't text her often because she mostly didn't check text messages, even if she did check them, she would only check after some good two three hours of message delivery! She couldn't receive calls during lecture hours, receiving calls in the staff room was apparently considered rude (God knows who set such rules!!) and at night? Well she shared the room with Bulbul, so calling was not even an option! So they were only left with the time she was travelling to work or from work and maybe sometime in the evening when she had her phone with her and she replied to texts promptly.
And of course the time, when he secretly meets her - well that doesn't happen everyday, but that's how their story had started after her mother had taken her back to their house that horrible evening!
***
"Purab, see see!" whispered daadi at the dining table, while eyeing Abhi. He was eating his aloo paratha with a strange grin on his face. Daadi purposely cleared her throat as Purab hid a smirk.
"Purab beta, how's the paratha tasting? Good? I know I haven't made it as well as Pragya bahu, but..." spoke daadi noticing Abhi from the corner of his eyes.
"No daadi, it's still very tasty" Purab replied hastily. "What do you think Abhi?"he asked him.
"Of course, it's very tasty - fuggy use to put too much ginger in hers!" he said with a distaste by sticking his tongue out.
"Hmph." Daadi responded in irritation. Clearly her grandson wasn't missing her bahu at all - in fact he was too happy for words. But how was that possible? Wasn't he heart broken the day she was taken away?
Book Talk
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Debate Mansion
621