EPISODE 2. DATE NIGHTPart 1
Mujhe Teri Zaroorat Hai
It had been over a week since their rendezvous at the Taj.
Some issues had cropped up at Raman's new project site, and both he and Mihir had had to stay at a hotel close to the site location, so that they could give their undivided attention to the problem. It had now been 6 days since Ishita had seen him, their longest separation since their marriage.
Everyone in the Bhalla household had been missing him - whether it was his yelling at Romi for no reason, his constant telephone calls, the non stop sports on the TV in his room, his shouting out for chai to Neelu or Mummyji, or his constant irritated call outs to Ishita for his clothes, his dinner, his files and everything else under the Sun.
"Ishima, papa kab ayenge? I miss papa" had been Ruhi's constant refrain.
He had been calling home every day at around 8.00pm. He would speak to Romi about the office, say hello to Mummyji or papaji if they were around, then have a chat with Ruhi about her schoolwork and what she had learnt that day. Then, for the benefit of Mihir who was listening from his end, and the Bhallas listening in on the other, he would have a quick chat with Ishita. He made sure he stayed in the character expected of him, calling her madrassan, and asking how many teeth she had extracted that day.
"Mere pas waqt nahi hai, kuch kehna hai to jaldi kaho" he would say, causing Mihir to shake his head in despair at his Bhai, and rue the "failed" weekend visit to the Tandon farmhouse.
And Ishita for her part would call him Raavan Kumar, ask him why he bothered calling when all he wanted to do was argue and would pout prettily when she ended the call.
But all of that was just for show of course. He always called back an hour or so later, after first texting her to warn her he was about to ring. Ishita would then disappear to the roof terrace or the bench outside, to spend a precious half hour in conversation with her husband.
Her disappearances had not gone unnoticed. Appa had found her on the terrace one night, just after Raman had rung off. She had managed to fob him off with a tale about wanting to look at the stars. Mummyji had asked her two nights ago where she had been, as Ruhi had woken up and was crying for her. And last night, Romi had come up behind her just as she was saying goodnight to Raman. She suspected that Romi had heard her say "I love you too jaan". He had given her a strange look then, and she had caught him looking introspectively at her since. Lying was against Ishita's nature, and even this lie of omission, of not telling the truth to their family about Raman and her changed equation, was eating away at her.
So now it was the 6th night of Raman's absence. He had made his customary call, and had now texted that he was about to call her.
"Mummyji" Ishita went up to Toshiji. "Ruhi is sleeping. Main zara amma se mil kar aati hoon."
"Haan thik hai, jao puttar" Toshiji responded. " apni amma ko mere taraf se bhi hello hello kar dita."
Once in her parents home, however, Ishita had excused herself.
"Amma, don't mind, mein room me jaa kar kuch phone calls kar loon. Mujhe kuch presents mangwane hai na ghar par sab ke liye, so I don't want them to overhear me."
"Presents for what Ishu" Mrs Iyer asked curiously. "Aiyo" Ishita thought. " Kitne jhooth bol rahi hoon mein". Aloud she said " woh ek punjabi festival aa raha hai amma", and managed to escape to her old room just before Raman's call came through.
"Mein kofi banati hoon" Mihika's voice followed her as shutting the door firmly, Ishita pressed the accept button and hurriedly said hello.
"Miss me jaan?" it was his usual opening salvo. Ishita knew very well that behind the confident Man of the World persona that Raman projected to the rest of the world, there existed a streak of vulnerability, a self doubt about his ability to hold on to love. It was behind this desperate need for reassurance that he cloaked, mostly successfully, in an armor of indifference and humour. And so Ishita didnt dismis his need for affirmation of her love. She knew it was this unstated fear that had been behind his public displays of his authority, his domination over her at the Taj that night, when he had kissed her outside their room, while pretending that the door wouldn't open.
"More than you can imagine" she replied. "Kab wapas aa rahe ho aap, Raman? Hum sab aap ko kitna miss karte hain. Ruhi bilkul chit chit kar rahi hai. We all need you Raman."
"And I need you all" he replied, his voice clouded with emotion. "Especially you. Mujhe Teri zaroorat hai, Ishita" he cleared his throat, continuing "that's why, I will be home tomorrow.
"Aap wapas aa rahe hain?" Ishita was delighted. " I thought the work would take another three or four days.
"I"ll have to come back here" he replied. " I will drive up tomorrow morning and then drive back here at night. I need to see my family, my daughter and my wife."
"In that order?" She teased.
"Haan" he chuckled. " in that order. You will be at the clinic when I get back home. So I'll go and catch up with Ma and papa. Then I'll go and pickup ruhi and take her for an ice cream date. And then later that night, you and I will go on a date, lekin woh ice cream ke liye nahi hoga. I'll start back at around 6.00. Tum keh dena ki tumhe clinic mein emergency hai, and I'll say I will drop you on the way. And then my darling, I am going to take you out for the evening before I drive back. Aur haan, tumhe clinic mein drop kardoonga, Romi ko call kar lena, he will pick you up from there. Simple. No one will suspect anything."
"Raman" Ishita said hesitatingly. " can't we just tell the truth. I feel very uneasy about all this lying."
"Yes, we can" he replied, irritation creeping into his voice. "Then we can wave goodbye to all of them as they stand at the door to wave us off every time we go out together, looking adoringly at us. Aur amma to shayad arti bhi utarna chahegi hamara. Har baar kamre mein saath jayenge, to koi tana marega. Come on Ishita, I want to keep this just between us just for a while. Just a little while longer."
"Ok, ok, aap naaraz mat ho" Ishita said soothingly
"Tumse kabhi naaraz ho sakta hoon, jaan" the laughter was back in his voice.
"Akka, kofi ready hai" Mihika's voice was followed by a knock on the door.
"Raman, I have to go. I'll see you tommorow" Ishita whispered, as she hurriedly stood up. "I'm coming Mihika" she called out loudly.
"First tell me you love me" Raman countered.
" I love you." Ishita replied. " I adore you. I crave you. I'm crazy about you, my secret lover. Bas?"
He laughed triumphantly as he rang off.
On the other side of the door, Mihika stood slack jawed. Had she really just heard her Akka saying I love you to someone? A secret lover? Her Akka ?
Part 2 - Page 27 - Aaoge Jab Tum Sajna, Angana Phool Khilenge Edited by Veeann - 11 years ago
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