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She flipped through the pages of the latest edition of 'India Today', sitting quietly in her bed. Raj had just walked out to fetch some lunch for them.
"Kaisi hai?"
"Huh?", she looked uo,"....ekdam tandurust!", she smiled brightly.
"Hmmm....", he sat on the stool next to her bed.
"Kya baat hai?"
"Huh?....Kuch nahin....."
There was a silence.....both knew what it said......both unwilling to talk about it....think about it......they shared that memory....that dread......painfully.....
"Aaj...."
"....woh...Rajveer sir...."
"Kis se bhagega tu.........aur kab tak?"
"Naina .......woh.....doctor ko kuch kaam tha....main abhi.....", he attempted to get up and leave.....attempted to avoid the conversation.....attempted to escape the mention.......but......Naina held his hand....in a tight grip....
He looked at her helplessly...........
"Tu bhooli hai kya kuch?"
........her grip on his hand loosend involunteerily.........and finally let it go.....he was right........did she ever managed to forget.....anything??
She stared at him........tears.........brimming in her big.......beautiful eyes!
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"Oye missed call", she was yelling from the other side of the phone,".....tenu pata hai....do din se....DO din se....tu out of reach hai!!!!"
"Arre..."
"Kya arre!!!! ......main yahaan se kabki tera no. try kar rahi ho...........aur yeh TV wale...najane kya kya bata rahe hai.........."
"Pooja....suniye to...."
"........fikar hoti hai na Ali!", he voice broke down nearing a sob!
"Pooja....pooja....hum jante hain....magar....aap suniye to...."
"Bol na!"
"Aap bolne de kahan rahi hain?"
"Huh?.....kya...main....woh...."
He stood grinning.....he knew her expression from kilometers away from here.....she had not changed....not even a bit....and he was glad....of that!
.......he slowly told her everything that happend!
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"Yeh lijiye, Captain Shekhawat........apka authentic Punjabi.........Sarson da saag.....aur Makke di roti....."
"Aahh.....thanks...Colonel!"
She looked at the food, her mouth watering....he raised his eyebrows......but the realised that the 'Colonel' was because of his 'Captain'........
"Waise, Captain...."
"Hummm....", she was busy hogging the food.....looked up.
"I am proud of you!"
This one line mattered to Naina more than anything.....it ment somthing from her mentor....her teacher.....and to an extent, from a man.......who was closest to her brother.......
.........soon she noticed a slight smirk on his face.....
"Ahh....my duty, Sir!"
"Waise Captain, aap aaj kaafi sundar lag rahi hain...."
"Colonel! Duty pe........apne subordinate se........flirt!"
"Mrs.Shekhawat. lunch time......duty hours nahin hote!"
She was almost done with her meal, and has pushed the plates away...and wiped her hands off a tissue.....
Now, she was brightly and naughtily smiling at him........he eyes shining.....
".......to aap off duty apne jouniors se flirt karte ho....", she looked at him, making a indicatively innocent face.
"....sirf flirt?.......hum to off duty kaafi kuch...."
They were very close....she suddenly planted a peck on his cheek....and he, now looking into her sparkling eyes....which were looking down....her cheek pink in blush........he came closer.....and kissed on her forehead....and then slowly....on her eyes........and.moved still closer....coming almost into a hug......then......
"Ahem....ahem..."
"Huh??"
"Oye Sirjee.....aapne mujhe Phoolan ke liye sweet dish laane ko kaha.....aur mujhe thodi der kya ho gayee....aap dono to yahin pe....mithai banaane baith gaye...."
"Huda!", Naina yelled, turning a deep shade of pink!
"Oye koi gal nahin, Phoolan.....kisiko nahin bataunga!", and he walked in with a earthware(matka) full of chilled sweet lassi.
"Waise, Huda......tujhe yeh mithai laane main der kyun ho gayee.......bani ki nahin.....teri......Phirni?"
He went red, and hastily started pouring out a glass of lassi, and then thurst it in her hands.
"Oye tu yeh le! Do glass gatak le......tere liye achha hai!"
Naina now supressing her laughter, buried her face in the glass.....Huda turned to fill a glass for himself and Rajveer sir......tried hard to hide his blush.................and.........
....Rajveer remained.....Clueless!!!!!
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3 YEARS BACK : AMBALA CLUB.
Naina and Aalekh had just walked in the big hall of Amabala Club. It was one of the most trendiest, and expensive places in the town.
"Yeh....Mrs.Sahani ka hone wala damad hai?", they overheard some page3 like chirpy gossipy fat women chatting.
"Suna hai....KMA main hai.....pahele Orderly tha...."
"Orderly?", a fatso in bright pink saari asked others in the group.
"Naukar...."
Now, Mrs. Sahani joined in.
"Mrs.Sahani, Neelu ke liye mera Manav bura tha kya?"
"Are Mrs.Khanna....aajkal ke bachhe na....ab hamari kahan sunte hai.....ab raaste se kisiko bhi utha ke....to hum kya jhagdenge unse!"
"Haan....yeh to hai.....waise, iska pariwaar...."
Naina's grip on his hand tightened....but Neelu eneterd just then.......
"Aalekh!", Yudi came to him...."I think tumhe yeh ladies area se door rehna chahiye....". He too, had heard everything.
Neelu caught his other hand, and was walking him away from there....
Mrs.Sahani glanced at the, as if something itched her eyes. She, in her bright blue zardosi saari, and diamonds sparkling all over her, turned to her friends.
"Mrs.Kanchwala, yeh suit Neelu ki liya hai.....hai ne beta?", she called for her, with an utterly pretentious smile.
Neelu could foresee what was to happen....she walked there helplessly.....she had been enduring this over last 6 months....but never, did she let Aalekh come to know....get affected by this.......at least she tried.....to save her little family from her mother's tantrums!
.....what followed....was sheer humiliation.....and torture on the man she loved....she trusted....she cared...........what followed, that night, robbed her of all her calm, her composure, her patience, and probably her faith.....maybe her healtha and her baby too, if Yudi had not come to her side!
Mrs.Sahani, unlike Mr.Sahani, and Yudi, never forgave Neelu for her pregnancy.....and hated her evermore.....for getting married to a penniless army-man, who contradicted her idea of a multimillionaire groom for her.
As a result, she withdrew all her support, love, care and sympathy from her....but somewhere in the process, she became quite shamelessly inhuman and evil to her daughter.
.......when she said something....that was beyond....anything.........anything..........anything.......Aalekh could bear to here......and it was right then.....when Neelu and Naina both, knew..........it was all over!
..........she still remembered his face.....him turning.......his body shivering in anger......his eyes......blood shot........hand curled tightly in a punch.......tucked in his pocked forcibly..........eyes moist..........walking out.....
..........out........of the party hall......out........of the relationship.........out........of the bond..........out.........of her life!
.......That day.......headstrong and high-mighty 'different' Neelu.........felt herself broken..........broken into millions of pieces.......such that the jigsaw of her life......her happiness.......her mistakes.........could never be solved.........she witnessed her life........torn.........battered.........and thrown......in a corner..........where........she stood alone...........dumbstruck!
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Hmmmmm.....
Aaj ke liya itna hi!
And well, Naina is alright....and she cried because of some other reason........but something's definitely wrong? dont worry.....nothing with Raj-Naina!!!!!
So........55 more to come!
Cheers,
JIV
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Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
