ch59-60 pg137, Updt,a road to salvation Mar 27 - Page 89

By the time she was back Rk had ordered their lunch. Once done he asked Madhubala if she was officially on leave now or she still needed to finish any work.

Madhu:- nope officially on leave for the whole month. Since I got selected for IPS this would be my first break. Nearly 4 years since selection.

RK:- you are what 25 ?? so you started your job around 21

Madhu:- 1 year of traing at Hyderabad and I started at 22. I will be 26 very soon.

He looked at her questioningly to ask when would she be 26.

Madhu:- I will let you know on the day.

RK:- hmm I will find out. Not that difficult.

She ignored that. With Rishabh she was learning that it was better to play defensive than offensive. He was used to geting some kind of a thrill from head on collisions. She was not going to take in the bait this time.

Madhu:- the food is good.

RK:- seems like you are loving this place.

Madhu:- No and I can never love it. It reminds me of something.

RK:- why do I have a feeling that it is another time for a sermon.

She smiled and again chose silence over a retort. This was not what RK wanted he loved it when she bickered back. He could never see her taking things silently. It reminded him of his mother. He could never ever imagine a meek, and a submissive Madhubala. What he and Madhu both were unaware of was that Madhu's silence had a stronger impact on RK than her words. He kept looking at her intently

RK:- I am waiting

Madhu:- for a sermon?

RK:- may be, you were saying some thing.

He wiped his hands and occupied the entire couch leaving little space for Madhu. He crossed his legs and his stance showed he would not budge without Madhu completing her "sermon". He was expecting more resistance from her, but to his astonishment, she gestured to him with her hand to wait for a sec.

Madhu:- I am sorry my mouth was full…

She had already seen him gazing at her mouth constantly.

Madhu:- since you insist, look around you RK. It is all too Victorian. The columns, the bay windows, the draperies, the gardens, the hall way, their names, the furniture everything screams of an era that had us enslaved and shakled. I don't find it enjoyable. There walls have artworks of all the past British Royalty and historical London. That must be Royal Albert hall, and that must be Queen Victoria. They remind me of the atrocities we have faced. They laugh at me that how silly we are to relish our own plight.

RK felt a pinch of what she said, it was true , the place was built like the yester years British club. It screamed of an era that had plundered India mercilessly. RK was a well read and aware man.

RK:- Touche' my lady this is the second time in a day that what you said touched me. Chalein, he saw her viping her hands on the napkin

Madhu:- Haan, but while I did not enjoyed the decore and the ambiance I did enjoy the food, and your company, Thankyou RK.

RK:-Ahaan, this place has really impacted you adversely Biwi.

Madhu:- you took offence to a thankyou, why? It was a heart felt thanks.

RK:- Biwi when you are with me it will always be better to keep this page 3(the celbrity gossip page in Indian news papers) type heart in a corner and feelings in a locker. Chalo abhi.

He pulled her by her arm and she trailed behind lazily

Madhu:- yeh lo larkiyon ki tarah baat karo to accha nahi lagta ajeeb ho.

RK:- Larki aur tum…..Bahadur you belong to the family of Hercules…Larkiyon jaisi baatein does'nt suit you. Why are you walking like half dead.

Madhu:- I have eaten a lot and am feeling sleepy.

RK:- Joke of my life Mrs Madhubala Rishabh Kundra feeling sleepy. You cannot act biwi and larkiyon ki tarah to bilkul nahi. Pace up.

He came to the reception and asked for the valet to bring his car to the entrance. Here also the valey was wearing the dress of the sepoys from the early 1900s. Someone had really been callus while designing the whole place, and ironically no one had ever noticed. His lips automatically curved into a sarcastic smirk, one of the many kinds he had in his reserve.

He Drove out of that place as soon as he could.

Sorry for this delay ladies but I hope you guys will like it... I have two more chapters to go before shutting my Laptop. Do comment even if you dont.

Madhu:- We are going towards Khandala!!! Why??. I really want to go home and packing bhi karni hai,

RK:- packing, Pack karogi kya the same gray or white or yellow t- shirts and hoards of jeans. Aur haan tell me are you bringing this vardi along?

Madhu fixed RK with a glare. She looked so pissed off, and ready to pounce on RK. All of the good sense of not confronting RK, gone straight out of the window.

Madhu:- You are the most irritating kind of a man I have ever come across.

RK:- Honestly how many did you come across….No don't even try that on me because I very well know how many men have you come across. Let me count

Malik, Sir, your driver what is his name??haan chetan, and a few more oldies ...Actually that reminds me 90 percent of the men of any worth that you know are sweet old Goldies…

Madhu:- You forgot Mukund. He is not old is he??

RK:- Tread with caution Biwi.

Madhu:- I did not get it RK, at your age and maturity one does not throws stones in puddles, for the fear of getting your self splashed.

RK:- I agree, (he looked at her meaning fully, for he had understood that she had overheard their sweet little convo) that is why I will get this puddle removed from my way.

His tone meant every letter he said. Madhu panciked, because since Mukund now had connections with Bhatia's, he could well serve the purpose of bait. It would be imprudent to get him removed to any other place.

Madhu:- RK it would not be intelligent to unnecessarily interfere in official matters. It is always better to keep family and work segregated. How about you wait till we come back before doing anything.

RK chose not to answer her question and she did not repeat it. She knew if she talked about it too much he would pester her to tell more. so she felt it better to drop the topic there and then. She was also enjoying the scenery around her.

Madhu:- Hum kahan ja rahey hain

RK:- you will see….it is a surprise.

Madhu:- surprise for me….what is so special??

RK:- you are…….( he laughed at her puzzled expression) Koi aur larki hoti to itne mein to gale lag gayi hoti ….That is why I say you belong to the family of Hercules Bahadur.

Madhu:- you did not ……….she bit her lips. This was not the time to remind him that he did not compel any of those girls to marry him.

RK:- "you did not marry any of those girls"….say, don't leave a dialogue incomplete Biwi…..

Madhu:- well I guess that surprise was huge enough to keep me in shock for a life time. So I guess I wont be surprised by anything you do any more.

RK felt sadness in her tone. He did not understand why was she sad? Was marrying him that alien a thought to her? Was he that bad of a company? Apart from their first night together he had never ever misbehaved with Madhu. Then why did she feel so hurt?

Madhu looked away from RK at the passing trees, electricity poles and everything but RK. She knew what he was thinking.

She thought

"It is weird, how most of the times we understand what is going on in our minds. How I am pulled towards you. How much I enjoy being with you. I know you care for me. I know how much I want you to be happy. How much we want the other to be safe, yet ………she sighed

RK:- tired? we are nearly there

Madhu:- Nah not tired…..where are we going.

Rk turned twards a huge white gate and honked his horn. The gate was opened by a chowkidaar who had the dirtiest tooth and most crooked smile ever.

RK took his car in straight to the porch of a beautiful house.

Madhu:- whose place is this?

RK:- yours….

Madhu jerked her head to look at him but he had moved towards the main entrance already. An old woman waited with an arti thali for them. RK had bent down to touch her feet. Madhu was looking at him with curiosity this was new to her, but she was right she was not surprised because she had come to terms with the fact That RK was the most unpredictable man ever. He gestured her to come along which she did.

RK:- Bela ma yeh Madhu

Bela ma:- aaiye bahurani, aapka intezaar hum dupahariya (afternoon) se kar rahey they.

Her dialect was Bhojpuri not Marathi that meant she had been with the kundra's for a long long time.

Madhu and RK entered the main courtyard of a huge old kind of house. A courtyard in the center and many rooms around it. There was a staircase in one corner that looked like it went to the first floor.

Madhu:- where are we?

RK:- this is the first immovable property that I had bought all by myself three years back. She is Bela ma from the village we belong to close to Itawa. She takes care of this place. This is contructed like houses in our village used to be. Beech mein AAngan, aangan ke charo taraf kamre, beech se jaati seedhi, nothing Victorian about it. I hope you will feel free here.

Madhu looked at him,

Madhu:- this is soo sooo nice. Do we do farming also here.

RK:- yes we do grow sugarcane for commercial purposes . Her two sons take care of the farm. We also have a lot of vegetables planted , you would be surprised to know that we never buy vegetables.

RK loved so see her eyes growing big like a saucer.

RK:- snapped his fingers in front of her. You know your eyes are as round as your face. You always remind me of a golgappa when I see you.

Madhu:- what else do we have in this farm house.

RK:- about 80 Mango trees, 2 banyans and yes her one son is a horticulturist so we have a huge green house. We are growing cardamoms in it other than varieties of flowers not usually found in India.

Madhu:- Do we sell those also

RK:- No, never. Nothing from that green house is ever sold. Though of and on we distribute stuff to aquaintances. We have 17 cows and they do sell the milk locally. We have three dogs and if you are not too tired someone very special and actually your beloved is waiting to see you.

Madhu:- my beloved????meee here???

RK: I would suggest you change into some civil clothes and do it soon. Night falls pretty early here. It is 5 already we just have an hr at hand and I am certain that will be sooo little for you.

Madhu:- you sound so excited…..besides I didn't bring a change of clothes

RK:- I am so glad you didn't bring one of your grey Tshirts.

Madhu:- I have taken a note of how you despise it. It will be a wepon in my hands.

Bela ma came in with a small bag

Belama:- Bhaiya yeh aapki gadi mein tha

RK took it and gave Bela the most beautiful smile Madhu had ever seen him give any one. He looked so cute. He got dimple on his cheek, he just looked so so so cute that Madhu felt her hands itching to pinch his cheek hard.

RK gave the bag to Madhu

RK:- your change of clothes.

Madhu was pretty happy to be here. It was so liberating, hilly landscape, trees plants, animals. So close to nature, with the bonus of a genuinely smiling RK. She started humming

Madhu:- na na na na googly woogly woosh

RK:- sanak gayi ho kya? go change

She took the bag from him and went to the room he had asked. It was a blue georgette very simple suit with white salwar. Madhu really liked it. There was nothing extravagant about it. Something so not like RK. RK to her was extravance, greater than life ,wild , untameable, sophisticated, complicated person not atall simple. There again she was thinking about him.

When she came out she saw RK lying down on the cot in the courtyard. He saw and said you look like a school going girl.

Madhu:- was that a compliment??

RK:- no a simple fact,

He gestured her to follow him.

"Though this is something very different about you when girls tend to look greater than their age you look much younger than yours."

He saw that she looked soo free, so wild, she was still not wearing any makeup and no jewellery but her tiny earings and her mangalsutra. He was struck by that piece of gold sitting so close to her heart. He heard a childish squeal and turned to look what was that and saw Madhu running after a tiny rabbit and finnaly was able to pick it up.

RK:- that is ours and he shouldn't be roaming like that lest, he wants to be the dinner for the dogs around.

He took the tiny thing from her hand and gently put it in his cage and said to her

"We are getting late."

Madhu:- this is wonderfull. Is it all fenced in ?

RK:- what?

Madhu:- The entire farm land.

RK:- yes it is.

Madhu:- sugar cane fields there…she squealed again

RK pulled her this time otherwise she would have run in there, something not many belonging to his society would do. RK loved to see her like that. Hopping around like a girl. He always imagined Madhu as a serious and sincere child not bubbly like this. Her sermons had vanished. She was just enjoying here. RK had never ever thought she would be so happy to be here. They stopped in front of the stable.

Madhu looked into the sheds. There were four horses tall and strong. She literally jumped with joy. Horses were madhu's first love. She was so in love with them had she not been in police she would have been a professional jockey. What art was to RK, horses were to Madhu. RK was still holding her hand and she was trying to free his grip on it.

Madhu:- let me go see them up close. They are magnificient, so strong look at the that black beauty. His legs are sooo strong.

RK was taken aback by her excitement. He had actually never had any female acquaintance who would be so excited to be near a horse. He knew there were many women horse lovers just that he never had seen one.

RK:- breathe Bahadur breathe. He laughed, and dragged her into the stable. It was pretty big stable. When they went a little inside Madhu literally froze at the sight. White and tall there he stood in all his glory chewing on huge amount of fodder.

"Jersey" she screamed , RK how on earth did you get him? I cant believe it you got HIIIM. He is already saddled

Instead of madhubala it was RK's turn to be surprised. He had always seen Madhubala in perfect discipline. Never a strand did she sway from rules and regulations. She was usually a personification decorum and decency. She rarely lost control over her emotions at least he had never seen her like this. He had seen her sad, puzzled,shocked neutral but never ever so happy. He looked so pleased with himself.

She was already hugging him and jumping around the horse Rk had managed to get from the police academy at an auction, just three days back. Malik had discussed about her love for horses and Jersey specially, and how she missed it. When he had seen one of the pictures of Madhu on Jersey in the training Academy the day he had dinned with the Maliks after Gafurans death.

Madhu squealed with joy again.

"You know he used to be one of the fastest, a pure Arabian bred horse he is. Such a beauty, look at his height, and you know he loved me."

She was facing RK and rubbing Jersey's nose as well. He took this moment to nuzzle his huge face into Madhu's neck.

RK enjoyed this really really happy Madhu. She had shared her painful past in bits and pieces with him but only out of necessity. She had shared what she thought about random stuff, that too just because she was forced to do so. Most of all her interaction with RK was pretty well thought never as spontaneous and now, except for the four slaps that she had hit him earlier. Funny this was the first time he thought of them and was not agonized. It did not effect him atall. It was for the first time she had included RK in her energetic outburst of happiness. That too even when she was under no compulsion. RK in his mind scored his point number 1 on the scale of ten. He said to himself

"I nailed 9 more to go"

RK:- "from here to the lake and back" he was comfortably seated on his black beauty.

Madhu:- you ride?

RK:- No I had kept a herd of these beauties to model for my paintings….

Madhu:- we have a lake on this property. A personal lake?

RK:- Not natural man made. He had a leather glove dangling from his fingers towards Madhu.

Madhu:- I don't need them,

Without any help from the stable hand she jumped and was seated comfortably on "Jersey." The stable hand looked at him surprised he was also seeing a woman riding a horse in real for the first time.

"Which direction is the lake."

She asked RK

"Straight ahead, 1 km from here." He pointed in a direction to the right.

"How big is this place" she asked surprised.

"About 56 acres may be a few more" said RK

She wanted to asked where did he get money to buy this amount of property but then remembered he was a superstar who was known to be highest tax paying actor too. His money came from his wise investments too, shares, mutual funds and then Land. So in short no point asking.

Madhu:- "To the lake and back it is. What do I get If I win?"

RK:- something special , what do I get if I win?

Madhu:- A kiss

RK was surprised yet again, but laughed

"trying to be brave Bahadur"

Madhu:- actually I don't want anything RK you have given me the best present ever and today is not even my birthday, but….

She walked Jersy close to his rhobust mount, looked in his dark eyes, eyes where night rested with all its darkness. His eyes were so dark and glassy that they always reflected the color around him. They had a fleck of orange from the dusk in it. She got so mesmerized by his eyes that she lost herself in it. She pulled his face close to her by his colar and kissed his eyes. Even before he could think what happened she was back and turned around sayin

"To the lake and back" and galloped away.

It took Rk a minute to come back to present from what had happened. He spurred his horse after Madhu and within secods he was close to her. Even before she could blink Jersey's reigns were out of her hands and into his. She never knew when he had lept on to Jersey. She was now as close as it could get to RK.

"Running away from me Biwi"

He had slowed down the horse to a steady gallop by now.

"You should never attempt something that I will never let you do." " BIWI" he said it as seriously as he could

"No I am not talking about the kiss. I know you can do much more and much better than that. I am talking about you running away from me." He had encircled his left arm around her waist and had pulled her into himself. Madhu who had lost herself in RK's mesmerizing charm for a few minutes was back from the fairy tale. She could feel the grip around her waist was too tight for her comfort. She already had, had an emotionally charged day, she chose to remain silent at this moment and resigned herself slightly into him. RK spurred Jersey once again into a comfortable speed and went ahead to ride till the lake and back. Finally it was dark by the time they rode back and were in front of the house again. He got down and held up his help hand to Madhu, she wanted torefuse his help but even before she could think he had pulled her down and her entire body brushed against his. Belama was in the aangan and told RK "Bhaiya Vasant didi aa gayi hain aur Subhash bhai ka aadmi bhi aayahai."

RK:- Vasant ko guestroom mein rehne ko bola aapne amma.

Belama: - Vasant didi aaj rukeingi par Subhash bhai ke aadmi se receipt le lijiye bhaiyaji, WO jaane ko bol raha hai.

RK noded and went to Madhu who was already in the room where she had changed earlier. She was lying her head buried in a pile of pillows and was shaking hard as if crying. RK was taken aback, he could handle an angry upset Madhu but crying Madhu was way beyond his capacities to handle

RK- Biwi kya hua (he sat next to her) ro kyoun rahi ho?

Madhu tried to mutter her denial but she was literally buried in a pile of pillows so all that Rishabh could hear was something like muffled sobs. He turned Madhu forcefully to face him, she did have tears in her eyes , but they were because she was rolling in fits of laughter.

RK:- what has gone wrong with you why are you laughing? What is so funny? All that he got in response was even more fits of stiffled laughter this time in her palms.

She looked so cute like that RK picked up his phone and clicked picture. It was a shot that he would keep revisiting always.

RK:- gaonwali lag rahi ho…aisai khi khi kar ke muh pe haath rakh ke bina kissi karan hasti hai gaon ki larkiyan. He now looked frustrated. When you are done laughing, come to the living room. Please do try to come out of this fit asap, your presence is required there.

He left saying that to meet the man Subhash bhai had sent. Subhash bhai was their family jewelers. On the way he knocked Vasant's room and told her to join them for dinner. After dinner they would be going through what Vasant had brought for Madhu. RK took a small bag from the man and the man left.

Madhu got up to go to the washroom but she was still not able to control her laughter.

So am finally done with my uodates for a few days...will soon be back...this time with her Trials of dresses and boarding of flight...Let me know what you think about these chapters. I love listening back from you.