2. SURPRISE
For three good months my mind followed Madhubala everywhere. She didn't even leave me in sleep. I had seen her somewhere. But where? My mind couldn't come up with any explanation or any time that could explain it. Today was no exception. I had just come home from the shoot when Patil, our househelper told me that my mother was back from Ajmer Sharif. She wanted to pray for my wellness. Hence the visit. But I didn't know she would arrive today. So I decided to meet her. I knew she would be tired but I hadn't seen her since 6 days and I was missing her a lot. I knocked on her bedroom door and then her soft voice came out.
"Come in."
"I am not disturbing you, right?" I asked peeking inside from the door.
"No Rishu. I was just looking at some old photos." She said. And indeed there were albums lying on her bed. I put some away to make a space for me. "I am sorry Maa. I didn't know when you'll be back. Else I'd had come to pick you up."
"It's okay Rishu. I am fine. I knew you were busy with your shoot." She smiled patting my cheeks softly. Then she turned her gaze down and smiled wider. "You remember this Rishu." She pointed at a picture on the album lying on her lap. It was a picture of 5 year old me kissing my mother's cheek. That was the first time I had had a chocolate bar all to myself. And for that I had rewarded my mother with a kiss on her cheeks. But before that she never let me ate it alone. Always I had to share it with our neighbour's daughter, Glycerine. I never liked her name. I didn't know why her parents named her Glycerine but I hated that name. Once I had asked my mother, out of curiousity, as of why she was named Glycerine and not Tina or something like her sister Trishna and she had told me that her Bua named her Glycerine because she used to cry all day. And her Bua was right. She was really a cry baby.
I picked one of the albums lying on the bed and flipped some pages when something caught my attention. I turned the page back and there she was. Glycerine. In a yellow dress. And then something happened. When I looked carefully at her I knew who she resembled to.
"She is Glycerine?" I asked my mother. She looked startled for a minute but then she recovered nodding. And then the truth that was lying in front of me since the past three months was thrown on my face like cards. This feeling that I had seen her somewhere since the beginning was right.
"Maa, she is Madhubala Malik. Bittuji's assistant." I said surprising her. "She has grown up Maa. You should meet her tomorrow." I suggested. And she nodded not speaking a word, tears rolling on her cheeks.
I couldn't sleep at night. I wanted to meet her. Not as a boss but as her childhood friend. I had missed the obvious thing since the beginning. Her name. It had a Malik in it. Malik Uncle and Aunty were the sweetest persons in my neighbourhood. On Eid they used to gift me money as a token. But when I turned 7 they had to move out of Mumbai. Maliks were transferred to Delhi that year and with them gone was the girl that I used to play with. It was surprising that I was meeting her after years when my parents had lost all the connections with hers. The more surprising would be her reaction. That cry baby made me smile finally. But then my thoughts wondered somewhere else, where I wanted her not to be just my friend from childhood but much more. Much more. She had become the center of my universe in these three months. How could someone not love her? She was everything I had never wanted my dreamgirl to be. But what people say two different poles of two magnets attracts each other. The same thing was happening to me. I was sure I liked Madhubala. Maybe my feelings for her were more intense than liking. Maybe Love. I wasn't sure but I wanted to find it out. And most of all I wanted to know her feelings for me. What if she doesn't like me? What if she sees me just as a Boss and nothing else? What if she has a lover? There were too many what ifs that were slowing down my resolve but then my mother's words came to the front of my mind.
"Don't hide in the fear of dying. Don't hide your feelings in the fear of losing. Don't hide you in the fear of being judged."
I have to talk to Madhubala tomorrow no matter what. No matter what.
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"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked.
"You didn't recognize me the first time you saw me." She told glancing outside.
I had confronted Madhubala first thing in the morning and when she was giving me the lame excuse of being a nobody I wasn't convinced. She was everything to me. In childhood she used to tell me that she would marry me when she will grow up but I never gave her any importance. But after knowing her in these three months I was wishing that maybe there was a way to go back to the time and promise her the same. She wasn't the kind of women that surrounded me, out of brain and beautiful. She was beautiful but in her own ways. She was intelligent, caring and most of all her eyes drew me to her. Everytime.
"I know but I was just seven then. Besides I didn't know your real name." I didn't know why she was being difficult but this wasn't how I had planned it to be. I had wanted her to be surprised but she had shot one back at me. She knew me all this time and never even for once she told me about it or dropped any hint.
"Fine. Can we talk inside?" She glanced around like she was looking for something.
"No! There's no one here who can hear us." We were standing at the backside of the set I was shooting at.
"We can do it inside the green room too." She offered impatiently.
"Why not here?" I asked. This woman, cold yet strikingly beautiful, was taking me to the edge of losing my control.
"Go to the green room I'll be there in a minute." She said and when I didn't move she pushed me a little. "Get inside." She directed me to the door once again clenching her jaw, her voice cold. And it didn't sit well with me. No one orders RK.
"No!" I yelled finally. Why is she being so stubborn?
"Now!" She shouted and then the most unexpected thing happened surprising me.
I felt a push and then a gun shot. And then everything went silent. I saw her beside me taking something out of her bag and then she took a deep breath and pulled her hand outside moving in the direction of the building opposite of the backside of the set.
And then I noticed the thing in her hand. It was a gun. A GUN!
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Next Part- 3.Cover
Edited by ron.ansari - 11 years ago
Udne Ki Aasha
Kumkum Bhagya
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