His Happiness
*sniff*
*sniff*
*sniff*
"I will not go back"
*sniff*
"She can live with her"
*sniff*
"She can give all Jalebis to her"
*sniff*
"She is not my Amma"
*Sniff*
"I will not go back"
A sniffing little girl, with a button nose, all red with the crying, entered the park. Her little white frock, with leaves print and a yellow silky belt tied to her tiny waist, reaching till her knees. Her silky cloudy hair, reaching till her waist, flying in the air as she ran to her favorite bench. All the way thinking of the delicious Jalebis her Amma had made and refused to give her.
"I will tell to Babuji... I will tell him that Amma refused me to give Jalebis...but before that I want to cry" the girl muttered to herself as she pushed herself up, to sit on the bench.
But before she can again start with her crying business, her eyes landed on other side of the bench. Sniffing softly, she cleared her running nose with the back of her palm and looked at the boy sitting there, all quite.
"You go from here!" the little girl tried really hard to make her babyish voice sound strict.
But she saw no movement from the boy.
"I said, you go from here. I want to cry and I don't cry in front of anyone" The girl again chided, as if she owned the park. What if she don't own the park, she knows the gardener uncle who always gives her a perfectly bloomed red rose whenever she meets him. He never gives his flower to anyone except her, the girl held her head high, proudly.
But the boy didn't moved a inch.
Huffing, the girl jumped from the bench and went and stood in front of the boy. He was looking down, his both elbows resting on each thigh.
"I told you to go from here. I will complaint to Gardener uncle that you were not listening to me. Me, Khushi Kumari Gupta. Everyone listens to Khushi Kumari Gupta and you will listen too" Khushi's voice was all draconian, she tried to.
Her tiny teeth grinded together as she saw the boy still paying no heed to her words. Inching close to him, she caught his wrist in his tiny hands and started pulling him off the bench.
"You will not listen to me? I will make you listen." Khushi, with all the courage she can muster, started pulling him. And then the jerk she felt shook the life out of her. Her frightened eyes snapped up to instantly collide with the red raging eyes. She took two steps backward, frightened by his eyes.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!!"
Khushi jumped in fright as the thundering voice rang in her ears. Her eyes instantly filling with tears. Her mouth left a small hiccup as she saw the image of an angry boy in front of her. Noboby has ever shouted on her. With some tears spilling from her eyes, she turned to go away from there, but something stopped her. Khushi again turned to look at that boy. She stood there, few feet away from him, just staring at him. As she stood there, just looking at him, she saw a pearl of tears fell from his downcast head. Her breath hitched as she saw his shoulder shook, as if controlling the sob.
Gulping, she started dragging her tiny frightened feet towards him. As she stood in front of him, her tiny hand went and rested on his shoulder.
"You can sit here as long as you want, ok? Don't cry, I will not disturb you. And if you will stop crying, I will ask Gardener uncle to give you his best rose to you, ok?"
As the musical soft voice reached his ears, the boy lifted his head to look at the tiny girl in front him, with a pair of eyes which held world of assurance and love.
Khushi climbed on the bench and sat beside him.
"Crying is bad manners. That's why I came here to cry otherwise if Babuji will see that I am crying, he will think I am a very bad girl" Khushi giggled.
The boy just stared at her, not knowing what to say.
"You also came here to cry? See now you will have to stop crying because now I saw you crying and I can tell your Amma Babuji that you were crying and your Amma Babuji will think you are a bad boy" Khushi finished cheerfully to witness a new batch of pearls descending down his cheeks.
Khushi removed her pink kerchief from her frock's pocket and stood on the bench, he was too tall. Leaning close to him, she kept her one tiny soft hand on his cheek and with the other she started wiping his cheeks with her kerchief, with full concentration.
As she finished with the wiping, she patted his head.
"Shh...Don't cry, acche bacche nahi rote" Khushi tried to shush him, as many times her Amma has done.
She again sat on the bench folding her legs, this time facing him.
"Why are you crying? Aap ko bhi Jalebi chahiye?" Khushi asked softly.
But the boy didn't say anything.
"Ufffo, kuch to boliye...hume pata kaise chalega ki aap kyun ro rahe hai." Khushi's little eyebrows frowned seeing his lethargy.
The boy looked at the cute face she made.
"Was it because of me?" Khushi asked, her face ready to wail.
The boy didn't know if he nodded his head or not but he saw a beautiful smile, he had ever seen, bloomed on her lips.
"So you want Jalebi." It wasn't a question but an innocent cease.
Khushi jumped off the bench and extended her tiny hands towards him.
"Come.."
The boy looked at the extended hand in front of him and suddenly felt everything around him envelop in darkness, a frightening darkness and the only light was the tiny hand extended towards him. Afraid that the darkness will envelop him too, he immediately placed his hand in hers. And instantly the darkness that was pulling him inside seemed to creep back.
Khushi smiled at him and pulled him with her, dragging him with her.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"Babuji!! Babuji!!"Khushi shouted, pushing the people who were crowded at the counter.
"Yes yes Bitiya I can hear you" Shashi Gupta shouted as he heard his daughter's sweet voice but the people gathered at the counter of his sweet shop was blocking his view to see his daughter.
"Give me way..hatiye..don't push me, this is my shop and don't try to push my friend either." Khushi tightened her hold on her friend and dragged him inside the shop.
"Come...ufff..these people...that's why I don't come here at this time. But don't worry...Come here.." Khushi took him to the other side of the counter.
"Babuji!!" Khushi shouted for her Babuji.
Shashi Gupta handed the packet to his customer and instructing his workers to serve all the customers, he went to serve his daughter.
"Sweetheart I had told you not to come here at this time, haven't I?" Shashi Gupta bent and took his daughter in his arms.
"Babuji, I know that but you know what happened today?" Khushi asked all serious.
Shashi Gupta shook his head.
"Payal jiji is coming here for her vacation and today Amma made my favorite jalebis but she refused to give me. She told that I can have it after Payal jiji comes." Khushi pouted.
"Oh, my baby wants jalebi?" Shashi Gupta kissed her cheek.
Khushi grinned at her Babuji and nodded her head vigorously.
"Yes, but I want jalebis for my friend too" Khushi said and pointed her finger in front of her.
Shashi Gupta looked in front of him. A boy, may be around 14, stood there, wearing a black shirt and a pair of blue faded jeans. His face was not something extraordinary but held an aura of attraction around him, making Shashi Gupta instantly like him.
"He is my friend, you will give him Jalebi na?" Khushi asked to her Babuji innocently, making him smile at her in return.
"Of course, sweetheart. You wait, I will bring" Shashi Gupta said and kept Khushi on her two feet.
Khushi immediately ran beside her friend.
"Now Babuji will bring jalebis" Khushi jumped up and down, clapping her hands in glee.
"Here you go" Shashi Gupta handed the box filled with jalebis to his daughter.
"Thank you Babuji" Khushi took the box, barely managing her happiness.
"Come..." Khushi caught her friend's hand and took him to a corner.
"Sit..this is my secret place, no one will disturb us here.." Khushi sat and pulled her friend to sit beside her.
Taking the box in her tiny hands, she brought it in front of her. Picking a jalebi, she forwarded it towards her friend.
"Take, I know you will like it" Khushi encouraged him to take.
And then she heard him for the second time.
"I am diabetic"
"Diabetic? That's so weird name.." Khush's brow again frowned.
"That's not my name"
"Then?"
"It's a disease"
"Haww...disease?" Khushi asked, shocked.
"So I can't have sweets" her friend enlightened her about diabetes.
Khushi looked at him for few moments and when the signification of his sentence dawned on her, her eyes instantly filled with tears. Keeping the box beside her, she threw herself on him, hugging him close.
"Devi Maiya *sniff*...Devi Maiya is so cruel *Sniff*...How can she do this to you *sniff*... I will ask her tomorrow *sniff* don't worry Devi Maiya aapko aacha kardengi" her innocent mind unable to believe that anyone can live without eating jalebis.
Khushi pulled away from the hug.
"Wait! I will come back" Khushi stood and ran from there.
" Babuji!!"
"Now what, Bitiya? Do you want more Jalebis?"
"No. I want your special sweets"
"Special sweet?"
"Yes, the one you make for Sharma Uncle"
"Oh..Ok, wait"
"Here you go"
"Thank you again Babuji"
Khushi again ran back to her secret place.
"Here you go" Khushi sat beside her friend.
"What is it?"
"Special sweet,Sharma uncle buys this sweet...he also has some disease where you can't eat sweet" Khushi smiled and handed the box to her friend.
Khushi started munching her jalebis and saw her friend hesitantly eating the special sweets.
"Eat all, Babuji will not ask for money. Today I will give him two kiss, one for my jalebis and second for your special sweet." Khushi giggled.
The boy sat there, looking at the chirpy girl stuffing more jalebis that her little mouth was capable of. Why he allowed her to drag him here? He don't know that. All he knows that if he hadn't taken that tiny hands extended towards him then the darkness would have swallowed him. Why is he sitting here with her, eating her special sweet? He don't have a answer to that either, all he knows that, he is desperate to get away from the aching which has taken a permanent place in his heart. And that ache seemed to be fled away the moment he kept his hand in hers.
"I am done. Now come.." Khushi again took his hand in her and got up.
"Babuji, I am going to drop my friend" Khush told to her Babuji
Her Babuji looked at her, amused.
"YOU will drop HIM?" Shashi Gupta asked smiling.
Khushi nodded her head affirmatively and exited from the shop, again pushing the people and warning everyone to not push her friend.
Khushi stood with her friend in front of the park.
"Ok, bye now. We will meet tomorrow. You will come na?" Khushi asked innocently and saw her friend nod at her.
"Bye!!" Khushi waved her hand at her friend and started moving away. But as she moved little away, she turned back.
"What is your name?!!" Khushi shouted.
The boy was still there, looking at Khushi's disappearing form.
"Arnav!!" the boy replied.
"Ok, Annav, bye!!" Khushi again turned back and ran towards her house.
"Not Annav, it's Arnav!" Arnav shouted back but she was already gone.
Shaking his head he turned around, walking towards his house. Thinking about his house his mind flooded with the worried face of his Nani and Di. They will be worried for him. It was his parent's barsi and after performing the rituals, the four walls of his house was suffocating him. And with a aching in his heart he had exited his house to be all alone. And then the little girl with a cute smile came to share his loneliness and fled away taking his pain with her.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"No!! I don't want to listen to him. Tell him to go away!!" A eight year old Khushi shouted at her Amma.
"Bitiya atleast listen him" Garima Gupta tried to make her understand.
"No! Tell him to go away!"
"Sacchi?"
Khushi lifted her head from her pillow to see her friend standing beside her bed. Standing on the bed, she jumped on him.
"Please Annav don't go...please"little Khushi sobbed on his chest.
"Khushi will you hear me out first?" Arnav ran his hand on her head.
Khushi lifted her head, sniffing and nodded her head.
Arnav took her towards the bed and made her sit there. Sitting beside her, he began.
"Khushi, you want me to buy the white palace in your picture book, don't you?" Arnav asked.
Khushi nodded her head.
"Then I have to go Khushi, so that I can buy that palace for you" Arnav smiled at her.
Khushi shook her head vigorously as she hugged him again, almost sitting on his lap.
"Then I don't want it, I don't want it. Just don't go, I will not ask for any palace" Khushi again wept.
"Khushi, you aren't understanding. I HAVE to go. I WANT to go" Arnav said.
"No...don't go please." Khushi tightened her hold on him.
Arnav pulled away from the hug and looked at her face.
"Khushi? I want to go, study, become a man who can take care of his Nani and Di. Please don't make it hard for me"
Khushi looked at him and after moments of silence, she nodded her head as a small sob left her body.
Arnav cleared the tresses away from her face and kissed her cheek.
"Thank you.."
"How you will go there? Di told it's very far" Khushi asked.
"By Airplane"
"The one in my picture book?" Khushi asked horrified.
Arnav nodded his head.
"No!" Khushi hugged him again. "No Annav, don't go by plane, it will fall, you will hurt yourself. Please don't go by Airplane"
Arnav chuckled at her.
"It never falls Khushi. It won't fall and I won't hurt myself" Arnav assured her.
"Toh theek hai...par jaldi aana ha" Khushi said as more tears spilled from her big eyes.
Arnav closed his eyes, refraining the tears from falling that were pooled in his eyes.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"Chhote, when are you coming back?"an elderly voice asked in the phone.
"I will take few more months Nani" came the reply
"You should come back, Chhote" Nani's sad voice travelled the other end.
Arnav got up from the chair, all alarmed
"What do you mean?" Arnav's anxious voice asked.
"Your Khushi needs you" Nani said as some tears spilled out of her eyes.
The phone from his hands slipped. Khushi needs him. Khushi needs him.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Arnav entered the park, the familiar smell of the bushes and misted mud making him nostalgic. He took the usual path of the park and towards their bench. And there she was, sitting on the bench, in the same position he was in 12 years back. He quietly moved towards her.
Coming to the bench he sat beside her.
"Give my place back. You have taken my place" Arnav looked at Khushi.
Khushi heard someone and lifted her head to look beside her.
With a sob shaking her whole body she threw herself in Arnav's arm.
"He left me...Babuji left me, Annav...he left me...how can he do that" Khushi wept like never before, the wall that was controlling the dam broke seeing her friend.
"Shh...keep quite Khushi...I know...but you know what?" Arnav pulled away from the hug
Khushi looked at him, expecting him to continue.
"Your Babuji sent me, he told me to take care of his bitiya." Arnav smiled at Khushi.
Khushi closed her eyes as more tears spilled out.
Arnav took out his kerchief from his pocket and soaked her tears.
"Shh...Khushi..don't cry please.." Arnav hugged her.
They sat there in eachother's embrace, one heart providing the condolence and the other taking it.
"Khushi?"
Khushi lifted her head from his chest.
"Khushi, you have turned so beautiful" Arnav said mesmerized by his personal enchantress.
Khushi lowered her eyes bashfully
"I want to ask you something.." Arnav asked her
"What?" Khushi asked.
Arnav got up from the bench and knelt before her.
"Will you marry me Khushi?" Arnav asked, extending is empty hands toward her.
Khushi looked at his hands and then in his eyes, and as if his eyes were controlling her every actions, she placed her hand in his.
Arnav looked at her hand, which was in her and with his heart flooding with joy, he got up from the bench and sat beside her.
"You...want jalebis? I know how to make sugar free jalebis" Khushi stammered under his smoldering gaze.
"Yes, I want it...but there's no need to make it...I can have it here" Arnav said.
Khushi looked at him confused.
"How?"
"Let me show you.." and with that said, Arnav dipped his head and captured her sugary lips.
Khushi gasped at the sudden act. Her hands tried to push him but stopped instantly as his firm hands crept on her back, evoking new feelings in her innocent body. His hot lips dancing on hers. Khushi moved closer to him, wanting this new sensation to never end.
Arnav pulled away, both gasping for air.
"I took my sweetfill" Arnav said making khushi turn all red.
"Come.." Arnav took her hand in his and pulled her to stand up.
They both started walking out of the park, taking the familiar road, they had taken numerous time.
Arnav heard Khushi giggled and he looked down at her , confused.
"Khushi?"
"Amma will catch her head and will collapse on the floor if she gets to know how you take your sweetfill"Khushi giggled again.
Arnav laughed at her and tightening his hold on her waist, he twirled her around, their laughter echoing in the empty road.
They walked together to their destination, hand in hand, weaving the dreams of beautiful future together.
Hope you enjoyed it!!
Forum Games
Current Affairs
Anupamaa
10