Raavi was looking for someone she could talk to. Usually she would speak to Dhara di, but ever since she got married, there had been a distance between them. She didn’t even have her diary to vent out her emotions. Prafulla and Anita were useless, and she didn’t trust Rishita. She couldn’t talk to Shiva because he was the one she wanted to talk about.
“Bhabhi aap aise terrace ke chakkar kyu kaat rahi ho?” Krish asked.
It was like God heard her prayers and gave her Krish to talk to. “Krish, main Shiva se pyaar karti hu. Aaj se nahi, par shayad bachpan se. Maine realise kaise nahi kiya?”
She was waiting to see the shock on Krish’s face, but there was none. Krish was practically rolling his eyes.
“Tujhe pata tha?” Raavi asked.
“Of course pata tha bhabhi. In fact, mujhe toh bohot pehle pata lag jana tha. But main bhi kitna stupid tha ki dekh hi nahi paya. Aap dono ka ek dusre ko dekhe bagair ek din nahi kat ta. Main toh yeh soch ke hasta hu ki agar aapki shaadi Dev se ho gayi hoti, toh kya hota? Aap toh honeymoon mein bhi Shiva ko le jati apne sath.”
Krish started laughing and Raavi hit him on the head, blushing.
“Tujhe lagta hai woh bhi mujhse pyaar karta hai?” Raavi asked.
“Of course karta hai bhabhi. Maine kaha na aapke bagair uska din nahi kat ta. Ohho, woh Raakesh yaad hai? School wala? Unhone aapko rulaya tha. Sabke saamne kaha tha Raavi ugly hai. Shiva ne phir kya dhoya tha usko.”
Raavi remembered that incident very well. He had been bullying her by calling her ugly so she was sitting in the corner crying. Shiva came and asked what was troubling her. She told him everything, and Shiva went and picked up a fight with him.
“Aur uski behen ko aapne kya dhoya tha jab woh Shiva ke baare main ulta seedha bol rahi thi.” Krish said.
Raavi had been sitting and gloating the entire day. Shiva had saved her honor today. She was still worried because Shiva had been called into the principal’s office after lunch. Raavi knew he wouldn’t be punished, after all, he did it just for her. She would tell their principal everything.
Just then Jia came and hurled Raavi’s tiffin away. They were close friends so Raavi was shocked at her behaviour. The whole class gathered to witness the drama which was going to happen.
“Shiva ko tumne bola tha Raakesh bhai ko maarne ko?”
Raavi had completely forgotten about them being siblings. “Maine maarne nahi bola tha par-“
“Main usko chorungi nahi. Bhai ko kitni chot lagi hai. Woh Shiva apne aap ko samajhta kya hai? Uncivilised insaan. I hope principal ma’am use school se nikal de.”
“Jia, faltu bakwaas mat kar. Tera bhai mujhe pareshan kar raha tha. Shiva aise hi kisi se nahi ladta.”
“Oh please, woh number ka gunda hai. Uski toh-“
Raavi couldn’t control herself any longer. She pushed Jia to the floor. “Mere Shiva ke baare mein kuch mat bolna warna main tujhe nahi chorungi.”
Jia didn’t stop. She pushed Raavi to the floor and started insulting both Raavi and Shiva. Raavi couldn’t control herself and she fought. That was the first and last physical fight she’d ever been in and then she’d vowed to leave the fighting to Shiva. She got several scratches and was suspended from school for 5 days. Her Maasi and Anita were so mad. Shiva was secretly proud of her and smiled at her all day.
“Haa uski kaisi himmat hui mere Shiva ke baare mein kuch bhi bolne ki.” Raavi said. “Par agar tujhe pehle se pata tha toh tune mujhe bataya kyu nahi?”
“Bhabhi aapke aur Shiva ka mujhe kuch pata nahi hota. Agar main bolta toh ho sakta hai aap dono mera murder kar dete. Isliye maine safe rehna choose kiya.” Krish said.
“Toh ab main kya karu? Bol du uss bhootnath ko? Nahi. Faltu bhav khayega. Ya phir mera murder kar dega.”
“Bhabhi ab toh aap uski wife ho. Pyaar se baat manwalo.”
***
Raavi was staring at her husband cutting the logs. Now that she didn’t have any doubts in her head, she could admire him openly. She wished he would take off his vest, so she could admire his body. Raavi felt her pulse quicken at the thought. Maybe she could-
“Ae Raavi, tu idhar khade khade uss saand ko kyu ghoore jaa rahi hai?” Prafulla asked.
Raavi sighed. Why couldn’t people let her admire her husband in peace? “Kyuki Maasi, mera husband itna hot hai ki jitna ghooru kam hai.”
“Tera dimaag kharab ho gaya hai? E kya bol rahi hai tu?”
“Maasi, main aapko clearly bol rahi hu. Main Shiva se bohot pyaar karti hu, aur woh mera pati hai. Toh please aap meri shaadi mein taang arana chorr do.”
Prafulla was shocked. Love? Since when did Raavi love Shiva? Had he done some some black magic on her? She touched Raavi’s forehead to check if she was delusional because of a fever, but she seemed fine. Prafulla pinched Raavi to check if she was in a nightmare.
“Ouch.” Raavi cried out. “Kya kar rahe ho maasi?”
“Dekh rahi thi ki kahi yeh bura sapna toh nahi.”
Raavi pinched back Prafulla. “Khud ko pinch karte hai dusro ko nahi.”
“Raavi tu uss raakshash se-“ Prafulla started crying.
Raavi hugged Prafulla. “Ro lo jitna rona hai maasi. Shiva aapka damad hai toh ab puri zindagi toh rona hi padega.”
Prafulla was shocked. Raavi left her alone to process this shock, and went to the kitchen. It was empty so she got to work. She quickly cut the vegetables and kneaded the maida. Then she quickly made aloo gobi ki sabji without too much lasun, and some methi ke paranthe.
“Raavi tune yeh sab kyu banaya? Maine subah hi khana bana liya tha.” Dhara said as she entered the kitchen.
“Yeh maine Shiva ke liye banaya hai bhabhi. Par use batana nahi maine banaya hai warna sau nakhre karega.” Raavi said.
“Par kyu?”
Raavi suddenly looked at Dhara di and smiled. She came and hugged her Dhara di tightly. “Dhara di, thank you, thank you, thank you. Aap best ho.”
Dhara was confused. What was wrong with her? “Kis liye?”
“Aapne meri shaadi Shiva se karayi iss liye.”
“Par tu toh-“
“Maine aaj hi realise kiya ki main Shiva se pyaar karti hu. Bachpan se usi se pyaar karti thi. Yeh Dev wala chapter toh meri stupidity nikli. Isliye thank you. Agar aap meri mere Shiva se shaadi nahi karate toh pata nahi kya hota!”
She left a confused Dhara standing and took the food for everyone. Raavi served it along with everything that Dhara made, so Shiva wouldn’t think it wasn’t made by his Dhara di. Krish extended a hand to take one of the methi paranthas but Raavi slapped it away.
“Maine Shiva ke liye banayi hai. Pehle use khaane de.” She whispered into his ears.
Shiva was glad to see his favourite dishes. He took a big serving of it and picked up four methi paranthas. Raavi sat beside him and watched him eat.
“Bhabhi kya mast khana banaya hai aapne. Best.” Shiva smiled at Dhara, who was looking as confused as ever.
“Lagta hai swaad zyada aa raha hai, hai na Shiva?” Krish teased. He reached his hand to take a parantha but Shiva slapped it away.
“Tere liye jo bhabhi ne banaya hai woh khaa. Yeh mere liye special hai. Sab main khaunga.”
“Haa haa khaa le. Meri bhi biwi aa gayi na toh aise hi khilayegi. Tab tujhe bhi nahi dunga.” Krish gave up hope of the paranthas and started concentrating on his bhindi.
Everyone looked at Raavi shocked. No one could believe she had cooked especially for Shiva. Even Shiva was stumped. Not only had he eaten her food, he had also praised it incessantly. This Chipkali would tease him now. But Raavi was lost in her own world, staring at her dear husband eating. Shiva felt himself blushing looking at the way Raavi was staring at him.
“Ghoor kya rahi hai? Khayegi kya?”
“Tu khilayega toh main khaa lungi.” Raavi smiled.
Krish couldn’t hold it back any longer. He burst out laughing. He had seen Raavi acting like a majnu for Dev. Now that she was actually in love with Shiva, who knows what she would do.
