This content was originally posted by: canapoem
Aaj ki raatkya hoga Poonam or Khushi ka aamna saamna???Aaj ki raatKya Arnav dega Khushi ka saat??Aaj ki raatKya Poonam ko hoga uske galti ka ehsaas????
This content was originally posted by: canapoem
Aaj ki raatkya hoga Poonam or Khushi ka aamna saamna???Aaj ki raatKya Arnav dega Khushi ka saat??Aaj ki raatKya Poonam ko hoga uske galti ka ehsaas????
This content was originally posted by: smanmai yahin tambu lagake baiti hoon res karne ke liye ;-)
This content was originally posted by: YellowBootsHiya, folks. Just a heads up. I am proofreading the chapter and will post it soonish 😆
This content was originally posted by: sman
mera 6 nikla...aur mai seedi leke chad gayi (saamp seedi ;-)
This content was originally posted by: Prettycool
Lo mai bhi aa gayi piche piche, Beta sambhal ke... Age saamp se khatra hai..
Chapter 16: Life In A Metro
Payal
She checked her reflection in the rearview mirror of her car. She looked presentable enough. Considering that it was six in the morning, she had to admit that she looked more than just presentable. She looked damn fine. She had tried the oldest trick in the book and got herself a drastically different haircut yesterday. While everyone liked their local politician to be attractive and young, considering both of it was so rare, but one also had to be a little dowdy when it came to fashion: shapeless and ill-fitted clothes, nothing that draws the attention too much to your clothes, use of earthy colours and generally give the good Indian girl vibe. Of course there was no such rule for men, because everyone automatically took them seriously. But now that the battle had been lost and until the next elections she had a breather, she could go back to looking chic. So here she was at Lodhi Garden for her morning run, looking like what every self-respecting South Delhi fashionista looked, not a hair out of place, carefully plastered nude make-up to give the impression to the world, yeah that is what I look like when I wake up'. She checked to see if her car was locked properly and took a deep breath as she stepped in.
This was her first back-to-normal routine after her engagement was called off by her fiance. The reminder of it made her pause next to a tree and sit on a bench. She was glad that Arnav called off the wedding, it was only the right thing to do. But ever since it she had been feeling several conflicting emotions. At first she was angry with Arnav. How dare he, she had thought. And why on that day, when she was so beaten already. Payal Singh was not used to failing. Yes, she was born into privilege and was unashamed and unapologetic about the benefits she reaped as a result. But she never took this privilege for granted. She worked for it, unlike all her fellow privileged peers from school and college. She did not have the genius of Aakash or the almost casual-brilliance of Arnav, who were both from the same world as hers. She worked harder than them and fought harder than they to achieve the same kind of success that they did. In fact, if at all she was like anyone from her world of New-Ons it was probably Khushi, the halwai's daughter from Chandni Chowk. Which was altogether too strange. Thought of Khushi made her let out a sigh. Khushi, she was somehow always in the middle of her world and that of Arnav's. She was an irritant in her life, she had gauged this early on. Perhaps that explained some of the unkindness that she subjected the girl to.
"Payal!"
She was startled when a voice called her. This is why she had avoided coming here for a while, to avoid people.. people she knew. She looked in the direction of the voice and saw that it was Anita Chawla, Arnav's neighbour, one of Poonam Raizada's groupies and generally annoying person with whom she would normally avoid any hint of a conversation. But today there was no escape and she offered her practised election-rally smile to the lady. Mornings at Lodhi Garden was a melting-pot of all that the city represented - retired old men being all jolly and sometimes discussing politics and urban-life woes, young corporate types with their Fitbit watches that tell them exactly how much they should run, people like her perennially running to get a body that will conform to patriarchal beauty standards, people who ran for the joy of running, whom she personally considered a crazy demographic and the most formidable demographic there ever was - aunties. Anita Aunty was catching her breath and bent down to untie and retie her sneakers lace. While some aunties wore a salwar-kameez with sneakers, Anita Aunty, younger, more fashionable and aided by a petite body wore fashionable work-out clothes.
"Aunty, how are you?"
"Bas, first class! You tell me, what is new?"
She had to suppress a giggle at this. Of course, she knew what this meant. Anita Chawla was basically giving her a wild field. She could talk about INP and the wedge between her and father that more than one newspaper had already begun reporting on.Or she could talk about her wedding that had been called off. Yesterday the Times of Delhi carried a blind item that mentioned how a young politician and a business heir's wedding had been called off because the former's poor performance in the election made them unattractive as a mate-prospect. She had to admit it was mildly thrilling to be featured as a blind item an honour normally bestowed upon only Bollywood starlets and cricketers. It was also amusing to read that the cause of the wedding being called off was stated as some kind of politics-business nexus. Of course it was a better reason than something as unexciting as incompatibility.
"Sab first class, Aunty," she said hoping to throw off Anita Chawla by offering her signature line back to her. Anita hemmed and hawed for a bit and then shared some woes about her daughter Juhi and the lack of good enough boys for her. Ah, so that was the angle. Anita Chawla, who was forever in the quest for a son-in-law was now wondering if her former fiance was available. Juhi was not a bad sort, she was not even plain, just that she was a bit too much of a shrinking violet, which honestly some men might find attractive, but not Arnav. Arnav liked women of strength. Initially she used to think it was because he himself was weaker and needed a strong female force to guide him. But it wasn't until much later she realised that this came out of a feeling of self-assuredness and strength, his manliness was not threatened by a strong woman. In hindsight and as it happens often, one feels greater appreciation for people and things when you no longer have them. No, Juhi Chawla would never do for Arnav. She waved at Anita Chawla and it was almost twenty minutes past six when she began her run. She hoped to not encounter anyone else. When she finally decided to stop wallowing and get back to her life and routine she wondered what to do. At the club Poonam Raizada was a regular, at the yoga studio she could run into Anjali Di and at Lodhi Garden she could run into Arnav. She wanted to avoid Poonam Raizada, because she just did not ever feel any trust towards her. And Anjali Di, nice as she was, was too curious and was a but too much of a meddlesome person for her liking. But Arnav she did not mind running into. In fact, she wanted to speak with him.
When Arnav had suggested that they call off the engagement she had already been feeling so vulnerable, she assigned all the blame and guilt on him. This explained why NK had firmly launched into the let-us-cheer-up-Payal programme. Initially she thought that NK's niceness was because he genuinely cared about her, but slowly it began to make sense to her that this kindness was at Arnav's behest. When she confronted NK, he admitted that Arnav was worried about her, feeling guilty. This had in turn made Payal feel guilty. Their relationship failed and ended as much because of her, as him. In fact, had she been honest with him, about her episode with Aakash and her feelings for him, they might have ended this sooner. But she had been less than truthful to him and now somehow had become a victim. She had many qualities that people would classify as vices and she was not going to change herself for people, but being dishonest with someone who was perhaps her on real friend seemed wrong. Especially since he seemed to take the burden of their break-up all upon himself. She had known Arnav for too long now to know, that was him. He would really beat himself over things. It happened with Aman and it happened with Khushi.
Ever since she had started working with Raizada Designs, she noticed that Arnav did a Chandni Chowk pilgrimage twice a year. In search of laces and sequins and embellishments that the place sold. None of the designers went, nor the merchandisers, it was always him. Arnav was a good person at heart, but he was also a bit squeamish and unable to learn the snobbishness indoctrinated into all of them since a young age. But he was always enthusiastic about these Chandni Chowk trips. Surprisingly so. In hindsight, Payal realised that subconsciously he was probably hoping to find Khushi in one of those trips and as luck would have it, late last year, he actually did. Was she being fanciful, she would probably never know, but this theory fitted the Arnav she knew. The one who had faults, made mistakes, but was also capable to at least try to set them right. He probably deserved to work for Khushi's forgiveness, but not hers.
She checked her watch, it was ten past seven and there was no sight of Arnav after all. Had he taken to running elsewhere to avoid her, she wondered? It is moments like this she realised how small this city was.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arnav
Arnav woke up with the mother of all headaches. Even his eyes hurt as he attempted to open them and focus on his phone to check the time. It was a couple of minutes past eight. He had really overslept. Normally, by this time he would have finished a run or a swim, grabbed some cereal and gone through his emails at work. But not today. He had so much of work to do, both at Raizada Designs and AR, he really needed to hire an assistant soon. He got up from his bed and realised that there were some unseen notifications on his phone. He picked it up and saw a text from Khushi that said, "Really sorry about last night. It was not your fault at all." He threw the phone away and decided to take a shower.
**
It all began when he was at Anjali Di's house along with his mom, who wanted to see Thumpa.
"Arnav, NK has been trying to reach you. He called my number a few times saying he was not able to reach you. He sounded frantic.. or maybe he was sounding his usual self," Jun Jeeju said to him. He recalled that NK had been trying to reach him and he had forgotten to return his cousin's call. He checked his watch, it was almost seven in the evening. Damn! He hoped that Khushi was fine, and NK and he were not in any trouble.
"Yeah, Arnav, why is NK so desperate to reach you.. return his call," his mom said.
He had nodded and Anjali Di, forever able to read a room had looked at him quizzically and he had offered an ambiguous nod in response. He walked to balcony even as he dialled NK's number, but this time it was his cousin turn to not return the call. He called Khushi and strangely, her phone rang out too. He even called Tewari & Sons, though he knew the shop would be shut as Khushi was at her friend's place. And sure enough there was no answer at the shop either. He left NK a voice-mail and Khushi a text asking both of them to call him. Over the next few hours, during which he got back home, finished a conference call, had dinner he tried to get in touch with both of them but with no success. It was finally almost around eleven at night that he managed to get through to NK.
"NK, where the hell were you? I have been trying to reach you for hours."
"Relax, bro. I was with your girl only. Working my charm on her. I just dropped her home and was going to call you."
"You were with Khushi? Why? Didn't you drop her off at her friend's place."
"What.. no.. I was with your other girl.. Payal. I had taken her out for dinner. We went to this place called Sodabottleopenerwalla at Khan Market.. it is nice, reminded me of Bombay and home.. and the.."
"Shut up, NK. What did you with Khushi?"
"I messaged you? Didn't you read? How much I tried to get in touch with you.. Preeti or Preeto.. or whatever her friend's name is was not in town.. she is in Amritsar."
"And?"
"I volunteered to drive her to Amritsar.. to drop her off at someone else's house she wanted.. I also suggested she come to Raizada House, Anjali Di's house, Aakash's house, Baig Sir's house.. but she refused.."
"And how could you not call me.. I mean, surely you didn't just leave."
"I did. She is stubborn. Listen, I am sorry... but I can't become a stalker when I trying to save a girl from a stalker, right?"
"I am sorry.. just that I am kind of worried.. she won't pick up the phone either."
"Relax, she seems like she can take care of herself and have you seen Chandni Chowk, all the houses are so close together, she should get help quickly if something untoward happens.. don't go storming off to Chandni Chowk at this hour.. you can go tomorrow morning if she is till incommunicado."
He hung up, but not entirely reassured by his cousin. He did not blame NK, but perhaps he should have gone anyway. But NK was right, there was no point going to her place in Chandni Chowk close to midnight and create more problems than necessary.
That was then, but half an hour later he found himself in his car, driving to Khushi's place. As he pulled his car in front of Khushi's house he noticed that while Chandni Chowk still had an air of liveliness for that time of the night, this little row of houses were mostly darkened. Khushi's house looked dark and there seemed no signs of Shady's men at sight. So perhaps he should return. On an impulse he decided to leave a note to let her know that he had come and ask her to call him the next morning. He scribbled something barely legitimate on the back of a fuel bill lying on his dashboard and walked towards her house to leave the note when he found a big lock on her front door. Seeing this made him curious and he got a little worried. Where was Khushi? Was she okay? He had no doubt that Khushi probably had other friends and family whose place she could have gone to, but he still felt an uncomfortable feeling that he was unable to wish away. Which is when he decided to go knock on a neighbour's house, though it was a bit too late.
Evidently the family was not yet asleep, for a man in his late fifties opened the door almost immediately. He did not seem unperturbed by the fact that a stranger was at their door at this hour.
"Kaun ho bhai.. kya kaam hai?"
"Ji.. woh aapke padosi Khushi se milna tha.. lekin tala laga hai.. kya aapko pata hai ki woh kahan hain?"
"Khushi? Padosi? Acha.. gudiya..ghar mein hi hogi.. aur kahan hogi. Aap kaun ho?"
"Lekin bahar toh tala laga hai.."
"Tala..."
Arnav noticed a woman behind trying to say something. He presumed she was the wife of the man.
"Aap kya bol rahe ho?" he asked the lady.
"Woh safety ke like bahar se tala lagaya hoga.. bitiya akeli hai na.."
Arnav did not comprehend this until the man led him to the backyard of their house and through that to Khushi's backyard and found himself knocking on a door. It took a while and a rather groggy Khushi opened the door.
"Chachaji, kya.." she stopped mid-sentence when she saw him.
"Iss ladke ko jaante ho.. tumse milne aaya hai.."
"Ji chahchaji dost hai.."
"Dost," chachaji asked in a speculative voice. Arnav could see how this was going to turn into something very awkward for them. His good intentions were going to be misconstrued both by Khushi and the neighbour.
"Actually woh.. Khushi I was trying to call you.. and when I couldn't get through I got.. worried.."
"I had left my phone at the shop.. sorry.. Chachaji, aapko disturb karne ke like sorry."
"Koyi baat nahi. Maa aur Baba parso aa rahein hai na? Kuch chahiye toh bula lena."
It was clearly meant as a warning to him. The man waved at them and walked away.
"I am sorry, Khushi.. I shouldn't have.."
"It is okay.."
"I hope your neighbour doesn't misunderstand anything.."
"Chachaji.. he is not my real chachaji of course is a good person.. he is kind and not the judgemental sort..he has known me since I was a child.."
"Hmm. I figured he knows you for a long while. He calls you gudiya," he could not help but grin at it. She smiled back at him. It was a bit weird to have a conversation outside the backyard of the house, under the stars. Weird, but not completely wrong.
"Yeah, thankfully only he calls me that.. it is strange to be likened to a doll.. nobody calls boys, no matter how cute, gudiya or guda, do they?"
He hadn't thought of it that way and now that he did, it seemed creepy almost, sexualising a child in some ways.
"You are right. Anyway, are you okay? Are Shady's people troubling you?"
"Not really. I peeped out of the window and his men don't seem to be around. Maybe he has lost interest," her tone more of hope than any real conviction.
"Maybe. But still be safe. And for heaven's sake Khushi, keep your phone with you."
"Actually that is your cousin Nand Kishore's fault. He wanted to drive to Amritsar because Preeto has gone there. So I just wanted him to leave and in a hurry, left my phone in the shop. I realised that only later and didn't want to walk back alone to get it. Why are you smiling? Did I say anything funny?"
"No.. Yes.. I mean nobody calls NK Nand Kishore.. it is kind of funny to hear you say it."
"But that is his name, isn't it? He told me he was named Nand Kishore by your grandfather."
"Wow. You guys really talked, eh?"
"Well.. he was very curious about me and asked so many questions... so I asked him some as well."
"Hmm. Why don't you get your phone from the shop. I will walk you to it and walk you back home.. please, you must keep your phone with you."
Did he want her to keep the phone for her safety or was he doing this to prolong the time he spent with her, it was something that crossed his mind, but he did not want to think about it then. She went back inside to get the keys of the shop and the house. It took her a while before she emerged. She also got a shawl to wrap herself, though it was warm by now, but perhaps because she was wearing her nightdress. She also handed over a chai kulhar to him. Until she gave it to him, he had not realised how badly he wanted a cup of chai. He sipped it as they walked to Tewari & Sons, which was just a short distance away. She made very good chai. He considered telling her that, but there was a comfortable silence between them as they walked and he did not want to ruin them with something as mundane as words.
They reached Tewari & Sons and she unlocked the door. He helped her pull up the shutters and they walked in. The place smelt like a sweet-shop would, mostly of desi ghee. Some people liked the smell of it, but not him. He sat down on one of tables, fiddling with his phone, while Khushi searched for her phone everywhere.
"Arnav, mere phone ko call karo na, please?"
He did that and they heard her phone's very loud ringtone go off at the rear end of the shop, it was lying on top of the air cooler. For a girl who always tried to deflect attention away from herself her ringtone was surely a bit too loud. But then, Chandni Chowk was noisy and perhaps there were practical considerations at play here.
"Shukriya, mil gaya," she said as she picked up the phone and offered him a smile.
He noticed a lot of things about Khushi, but one of the things that got his attention was the language she communicated with him. She mostly spoke to him in English, as was the norm in his peer group. When Khushi came to New Ons, she didn't always look the part, her English was not really that bad. For the most part she spoke grammatically accurate English, her written English was far better than most of their classmates who had already begun to use text language by then. Khushi on the contrary spelt out her yous, did not replace numbers for syllables and words, and even used punctuation. When she moved to New Ons and when she was everyone's favourite topic of conversation, there were a lot of questions about her. Among them the most common was, "Did the new girl speak any English?"
It was a typical response from this privileged group, where people were judged more by their accents than their thoughts, by their clothes more than their behaviour. He was guilty of it too. When someone, possibly Lavanya had asked this to Baig Sir, he had immediately taken offence and berated them. If the admissions board at New Ons thought Khushi was good enough, they had to deal with it and not make her feel inadequate, he had said. When Khushi did come to new Ons, it was Lavanya who had befriended her first. And a part of this was probably to do with Baig Sir's earlier disapproval. While she was reticent most of the times, he knew it was not because of English. She spoke with Lavanya, Aakash and Aman, the three people with whom most of her conversations happened at New Ons in English. But sometimes he noticed that she would lapse into Hindi, not because words were untranslatable, but he suspected because her guard was down. A moment of kinship that she felt the need to be at her truest and most affectionate. Maybe it was part wishful thinking, but he now liked to think that their relationship had made genuine progress because she spoke to him in Hindi more often than before, the formal, carefully chosen English words now giving way to her slightly sing-song and Kakori-accent, that he had seen only being reserved for Harsh Narain, a library assistant in Alchemy College.
"You are smiling again, is everything okay? Aur by god, kitni baar tumne call kiya.. aapne," she added as an afterthought.
"So when someone smiles, it means things are not okay? I didn't know that."
"No.. matlab.. chodho.. aadhi raat ko jab koyi smile karta hain, toh thoda ajeeb lagta hai."
"You have too many rules, Khushi."
She shrugged in response and suggested that they head back to her home. But just as they were leaving she asked to wait. She wanted to pack some sweets that she had to take to her bua's house tomorrow. She explained something about how her bua distributed the leftover mithai to all the workers who worked in their darzee unit. Arnav did not know about this bua and wondered why Khushi didn't go and stay with her tonight. But decided not to be intrusive by asking her about it. He was now sitting on the front table, watching her pack. The sound of some voices got his attention as he saw a group of men, all around their late twenties walked into the store. He could immediately tell that they were the sketchy sort, inebriated and here to create trouble.
"Madam, aap Tewari hai ya unke son hai?" one of them said as the group strutted in.
Arnav got up from his seat and began to walk towards Khushi. Would he have to fight these hooligans he wondered. He had never got into a fight ever. That was not him. But he had no doubt that if he put his weight behind it, he could throw a mean punch. All the years of being and training to be an athlete would surely help.
"Ji, dukaan bandh hai, kal savere aayiye," Khushi said in a surprisingly calm voice. Maybe NK was right, this girl could take hold a nerve and take care of herself. But the men were not to be trifled with and her answer only seemed to incite them further, as they began laughing and made themselves comfortable around the shop. One of them walked behind the counter to where Khushi was and took the box of sweets that she was packing and began eating out of it. Three others sat down on the tables, as the chairs had been over-turned. One of them began fiddling with the air cooler. This was all a bit much, he knew that he had to intervene.
"Dekhiya bhai saheb, inhone kaha na, dukaan bandh hai.. ab aap log bhi nikaliye."
This seemed to amuse the men and there was much guffawing and laughing. They wanted to know if he was Tewari or his son. More guffawing. Khushi's erstwhile calm was now rather understandably replaced by agitation. When one of the men reached for the cashbox and tried to yank the key from Khushi's hands, that is when it happened, he punched another human for the first time in his life. And evidently he was good at it because the man's cheek immediately turned into a nice shade of purple. He felt mildly heady at this. He now understood why people fought.
Things got out of hand after this. The men now broke the tables, smashed chairs, the shelves and anything they could find their hands on. Khushi and he, at first tried to reason with them and then physically tried to hold the men to prevent them from causing damage. Khushi even tried the Bhaiya-technique, appealing to the older brother in them to no avail. Khushi was strong, but the men big and bulky and were able to cast her aside with ease.
"Khushi, go and alert the neighbours. Get some help," he told her.
The shop was small and the men were now all but done with the damage. The purple-cheek man decided to extract his revenge and punched Arnav . And it did hurt and sting. It was like being in the middle of a badly choreographed Hindi film fight scene. Except that this was real life and he was not capable of that much heroism. And yet, he felt so much unresolved anger at that point that he was willing to retaliate and grabbed the purple-cheek man' shirt when he heard Khushi's soft plea, "Arnav, don't."
She had arrived with help, including a cop who was on night duty. The hooligans almost fled instantly and surprisingly the cop decided not to chase after them. The cop came in, examined the mess and said, "Community tension hai kya koi? Kaun caste ho aap?'
So, a group of men, try to rob and attack a woman, destroy her shop and the cop only wanted to know about what caste she was? Arnav was horrified at the increasingly disturbing turn the night had taken. After some discussion on everyone's religion, caste and sub-caste, the cop concluded that it was a bad idea for a Brahmin girl to be in the bastion of Baniyas. Khushi of course, forever practical, had by now picked up a broom and began to sweep the place of the broken pieces of wood and glass. Slowly everyone left, the cops, the helpful neighbours and the streets dogs who had gathered around because of the commotion. When Arnav turned to look at Tewari & Sons, which had now been swept clean, he realised the damage was not extensive after all. Sure, she will need some money to fix a shelf and get some new chairs, but it was not so bad. Hopefully the shop had insurance and that would be covered. However, he also realised that Khushi's bigger trouble was that she had now to contend with the talk that this episode was going to generate.
"Khushi are you okay," he said placing his arm on her shoulder. She had pushed it away immediately. She was angry, he could tell by her folded arms, her almost tear-filled eyes and the way her body was shaking.
"Arnav, please go."
"Okay, I will. Shut down the shop.. I will drop you home.. my car is anyway parked there."
"I will go on my own. I need to clean this place a little more."
"I will wait then."
"No, just go. You have done.. enough."
"What does that mean?"
"Tumhe hero ban ne ka shauq kyun hai? Na tum aadhi raat ko aate, na main yahan aati, na tum us aadmi ko maarte aur na yeh sab hota.. sab tumhaari wajah se hua.. aapki," she said, even in her moment of rage wanting to be polite and proper.
While he saw the truth in what she said, in that he had unintentionally set forth a chain of events with unfortunate consequences. And unfortunately it was not for the first time. And yet, in that moment, her accusation hurt. And then the floodgates opened, everything that she had held inside her was out. She held him accountable for the pretend farmhouse party, for not setting his mother straight, for not setting Alchemy straight. For everything that had gone wrong in her adult life. He let her rant, for it was important for her to speak those words and for him to hear them. And when finally there were no words left to be spoken, in English, in Hindi, he left.
On his way home, he lodged a First Information Report at the ACP office next to Town Hall in Chandni Chowk, the jurisdiction that Tewari & Sons fell under.
**
When Arnav emerged from his shower he picked up his phone to scroll through the message again.
"Really sorry about last night. It was not your fault at all."
"No apology necessary.. hope you are doing fine.. let me know if you need any help.." he typed. Then he backspaced it all away and headed to work. He had a long day ahead.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aakash
He looked around the place. It was not as bad as he had imagined it would be, but it still looked bad. He turned around to look at Khushi who was explaining to the insurance company inspector what had happened. She looked surprisingly calm given that it had been less than twenty-four hours since she had faced what looked like to be a vicious attack. But that was Khushi, who had this ability to shrug off things, to move on. Probably some day, someone will be at the receiving end of a meltdown of hers, but today was not going to be the day.
He was just glad that he had by chance happened to have called her today. Ever since he had gotten involved with AR, there had not been enough hours in the day to meet friends, catch up with people. Today he had got some time off in the morning and had called Khushi. The phone was picked by Faisal Bhaii, who had told him what had happened. He had checked his watch, it was around eleven and he didn't have any meetings scheduled until two in the afternoon, so he decided to come and look up Khushi. When he reached Tewari & Sons, he found Khushi was chatting with an electrician who had to fix some wiring that the attackers had evidently yanked on. She had been surprised to see him because Faisal Bhaii had omitted mentioning about their conversation to her.
"Aakash.. how.. when did you come here?"
"Are you okay? What is going on? I heard about what happened and I came right away."
"Oh.. Ar.. Arnav told you, right? Just a second the insurance person is here.." she said turning her attention to a man who just walked in. The insurance inspector had a kind face, he sure hoped that his face was also an indicator of his personality. But why did Khushi mention Arnav? Why would Arnav tell him about this and more importantly how did Arnav know about it before he had. He knew that Arnav and Khushi had mended their relationship in significant ways in the last few months, but that he would be the first to know about her troubles was.. interesting.
He had for long suspected a romantic interest that Khushi had towards Arnav, except that it was a blind-spot for her. One of the few blind-spots for a girl who was supremely self-aware otherwise. He had noticed it through school and during their early days of college life when they hung out. Khushi always took a slight from Arnav, real or imagined much more to heart than one that someone else threw her way. She also preened with pride when an occasional validation from Arnav came her way. But that used to be rare. That Khushi even considered going to the farmhouse after a casual conversation with Arnav was an indication of at least some feeling that she harboured towards Arnav. Khushi had vehemently avoided socialising with the New Ons lot, but made an exception for Arnav. Perhaps it was just a crush, his cousin did throw many of the New Ons girls in a bit of girly frenzy when he morphed from a friendly tween into a slightly aloof and attractive teen. Overnight his stock improved. The enormous wealth that he came from only helped to improve his stock. So, Khushi's attraction for Arnav was not unsurprising. For inspite of her more difficult life, different socio-economic background, and her sporting ambitions, she was still a regular schoolgirl. But they never spoke about this. Before things went sour between her and Arnav, Khushi at least spoke about him, but always took care to not appear too interested. After things went wrong between them, she would clam up at the mention of Arnav. As he himself did not have a particularly close equation with his cousin, it was possible to altogether avoid this topic of conversation. But now Arnav and Khushi's relationship had not only thawed, they had evidently made progress. And with Arnav calling off his wedding with Payal, it did seem like there were possibilities here. But he also knew that there was no possibility of an ever-after between them. Not because he wished that to be true, but life was complicated and unfortunately love does not conquer all. He of all people knew that. He did not want to see his friend hurt, or his cousin. He sighed at that. He needed to speak with Arnav soon. He felt that he was being duplicitous with his cousin.
"Sorry, Aakash. The inspector needed the details.. How are you?"
"Has the inspector left?"
"No. He is now.. inspecting," she nodded in the direction of the man who was taking photographs and pounding on walls and tables for some reason.
"So... how did this happen? I just happened to call you a while ago, and Faisal Bhaii told me. How does Arnav know?"
"Oh.. he was.. here when it happened. These gundas came into the shop last night.. pee rakhi thi sab ne.. they got angry, broke things and misbehaved. It was so.. terrifying."
"Who were these people? How come Arnav was here?"
"They are nuisance makers.. some gang in Chandni Chowk.. nobody is sure. One of my shop neighbours was telling me that Mahesh Tewari, the original owner of this store used to have deals with many shady people, so they could be from that time. Someone else said something about upper caste gundas who attack the baniyas.. someone said it must be Hindu-Muslim fight. Who knows? Yeh sab toh chalta hai yahan."
"Wow! Khushi you sound so calm for someone who has gone through something this unpleasant. You are amazing."
"Not really. I had a meltdown, last night itself. Toh jo bhi dil mein tha, woh nikaal diya. There is no more rage left."
"Acha? Was Arnav there when this meltdown was in progress?"
"Haan yaar.. bekaar mein ussi pe sab gussa nikaal diya. I am so ashamed, Aakash. Ab meri kismet hi sabse worst hai toh woh bhala kya karega.. waise maine usko sorry bol toh diya hai ab.."
"And what did he say?"
"Bola nahin.. message bheja.. jawab aaya nahi.. phone pe baat karna awkward lag raha hai actually.."
"The two of you are strange. Take one step towards each other and ten steps backward. Aisa kaise chalega?"
"Maine socha iss baar sach mein hum dono mein dosti ho gayi hai.. par shayad nahin."
He detected a sadness in her voice and before he could say anymore the inspector came to speak with Khushi.
"Acha Khushiji, nikalta hoon. Koyi dikkat nahin honi chahiye. Acha hua aapke dost ne kal raat ko turant hi FIR file kar diya.. warna problem ho sakti thi. Ab legally koyi pareshaani nahi hain."
Once the inspector left, Khushi went to chat with Faisal Bhaii and tasted some mithai. She then put some on a plate and got it for him.
"Kashmiri Kalakand. Achi bani hai," she said handing over the plate to him. She was right. It was excellent. It was apparently Faisal Bhaii's best recipe.
"Where are your parents and Bhabhi?"
"They have gone to Lucknow.. dargah jaana tha.. koi mannat hai.. kal savere aa jaayenge."
Aakash wondered if he should tell Khushi about seeing Renu Bhabhi at AR, but decided against it. She already had enough worries and there was possibly a very harmless explanation for it. He had met Renu Bhabhi a couple of times and she seemed like a nice sort. So, there was no cause for him to bring it up now.
"Khushi, what happened to that boy you were supposed to meet? You never told me the details."
"Abhimanyu Tripathi? I told you right? Apparently I am too old for him.. so rejected."
"We are old, aren't we?"
"Yes, Aakash. How are you? Kaam kaaj kaise chal raha hai?"
"It is okay. Still bad at it.. but hanging in there.."
"Good. Waise bahut din ho gaye hain, theek se baat hi nahin ho paayi hain."
"Yeah. The last time we had a proper conversation was during La's wedding and that was a long time ago."
"Yeah.. we also met at Payal's holi party.. though it was shocking that she invited me."
"Not as shocking as you showing up," he said grinning.
"Mujhse uss se koyi dushmani nahi hai.. she is not my friend, but still."
"Of course. I know that. She is.. not a bad person, you know."
"I know. When is Arnav and her wedding."
Ah, so news had not travelled to her part of the world. Arnav was as cagey as ever, he thought.
"Well.. the wedding has been called off..."
"Oh. That is.. sad. You said you will be going to Haryana to visit some factory, nahin gaye kya?"
"Wow, you are not at all curious, are you? No interest in gossip? I am impressed Khushi Kumari Gupta?"
"Matlab?"
"I thought you will ask me why Arnav and Payal are not marrying? Who called off the wedding, etc etc."
"Hmm.. aisi baat nahi hain.. woh unka personal matter hain.. waise hum dono ka iss se kya lena dena, hai na?"
"Lena dena hai.."
"Matlab?"
"I mean, not you. But I think I am somehow responsible for this, Khushi.. I heard from Maami, Arnav's mother about this.. but she didn't give me any details."
"How are you responsible?"
"Payal.."
"Oh!"
"I should speak with Arnav, right?"
"Yes, of course.. he is your brother, you should speak with him."
Brother. Strange that Aakash had never considered Arnav as his brother. Hearing Khushi say that so matter-of-factly startled him. Brother, not cousin, not classmate, not friend.
"Maybe I will just text him like someone else I know," he said grinning as he got up to put the plate away.
"Don't be a coward, Aakash. That is not you."
"That is not you either."
"Hmm. I guess."
"Acha, ab niklo, let me buy you lunch."
"Lunch?"
"It is half past twelve. After your ordeal, you deserve a nice meal. Any good place nearby? Maybe Anandrams?"
"No way."
"Then?"
"Lets go to Bengali Market. Nathu's jayenge aur chole bhature khayenge."
"Really? From Chandni Chowk to Bengali Market.. kuch toh alag socho, Khushi."
But Khushi was adamant. But once they reached the place, Khushi defected to Bengali Sweet House.
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Aman
"So are there any more papers for me to sign?" he asked his assistant, Preeti Nair. She was an efficient sort. She took detailed notes. Made minimum errors when she typed. She had a great deal of regard for her and everyone else's time. She did not arrive in office a minute before nine and did not stay later than five. But while at work, she was productive. She was also vaguely maternal. Made sure that he had lunch at the right time, had curated menus from nearby places that served wholesome food, and took care of little things that were easy to ignore when one worked. In fact, she was a god-send. Expect that there was no god who had obliged. He had stolen her in some ways, from AR Enterprises, that his best friend was heir apparent of. Just like he had got Walter Werner to invest in Social Insights LLC, a division that he had started under his family's business.
In his defence he did neither of these things with a wilfully to harm intention. The Raizadas had themselves walked out of the Werner Deal, some kind of difference opinion between mama and papa Raizada as he understood. Arnav was not even involved with it. So he in some ways had taken something that they had cast away, which in their wisdom was not good enough.
On Preeti Nair, he was more guilty. He had run into this woman while he had gone to visit Arnav at Raizada Designs. She was Poonam Raizada's assistant and had accompanied her madam. When Aman was on his way out, he had dropped his wallet and this lady had chased him down to the parking to hand it over to him. Impressed, he had thanked the lady and given her his business card. He had long forgotten about it, until around the time when the Werner Deal was being negotiated the lady called him asking for a position of assistant. The rules regarding poaching employees is fuzzy and so hiring from competition was commonplace. However, what was fascinating was that Preeti was an integral part of the Raizada camp when the Werner deal was being stuck. And Aman thought she would be an useful ally. A week after a gentleman named Vijay Shastri, who was an administrative manager at AR had called him saying that Preeti would not be released from AR unless she paid four months of her salary as penalty. Aman had been annoyed, but transferred the funds and Preeti Nair joined him a week later. When his mother got a wind of it, she had freaked out.
"Bahut galat kiya, Poonam Raizada chodegi nahin.."
But he had shrugged. He was not worried about Poonam Aunty, but more about Arnav.
Arnav had always been a good friend to him, more than a friend, almost a brother. He watched out for him during his difficult times. In his turbulent family life, Arnav was honestly his only constant, an anchor of sorts. And when life took a horrible turn for him, he had run away. Shunning any attempts made by Arnav or anyone else to reach out to him. He was embarrassed and did not consider himself worthy of the affections of any of these people. He still didn't, which is why he chose to ignore the people and focus his attention on business, something that he was rather good at, as he discovered. His mother was of the view that he was as usual doing things to get attention from others. That he was deliberately needling the Raizadas. When his mother said Raizadas, she basically meant Poonam Aunty, someone whom she had nothing but immense suspicion of. But his mother did not understand his problems back then and she did not now. Nobody did actually. Story of his life.
He picked up his phone to scroll through the list. A.. Aarti Abha...Airtel Anish Apoorva...Arnav. He considered dialling him and scrolled past that and dialled Khushi's number instead. Like it had been happening for days, the voice said, the number you have been trying to reach has been switched off. He put his phone on the table. Preeti walked in just then with a plate of food.
"Sir it is past three already, you have not had your lunch today. I am sorry I forgot."
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Anjali
"Dad, what is this?" Anjali asked, sitting across the table in her father's study at AR.
"What is what?" her dad asked, being deliberately obtuse, something that he had a ton of practise doing over the years. Her mother was the sharp one, but that was for the world to see, but honestly the real brains of the family was her father. He sometimes had an almost cunning mind, perhaps a function of his years of training as a lawyer. But his biggest strength was that he played this deliberately dense persona to the hilt, forcing the person across to lay down all their cards before swooping on them. God, she hated her father sometimes. And yet, loved him. It was truly complicated.
"Dad, this, cheque.. your driver dropped it off at home today. Why am I randomly getting a cheque for fifteen lakh rupees?"
"Oh that! Wanted to directly deposit it into your account, but cheques over one lakh need some additional paperwork.. that is why I sent it to you."
"Dad, why this money? You already have a trust fund for me. Mom is very generous and Arnav and Aakash are very fair with the money. Why this now?"
"Can't a father gift his daughter a little something?"
"Of course, dad. But I am not comfortable with this sort of thing. Why can't our family be normal? Mom gives me money and says don't tell dad, you give me money in the sly.. what is going on here?"
"I am sorry we have disappointed you, Anjali. But I thought with Debanjana, there must be pressure on you... Arjoon Bose is a good man, but doesn't have much means, does he?"
"Hmm. Jun is a good person and he can provide for us, dad, don't worry. Is everything.. okay between you and mom?"
She finally asked the question that had troubled her and Arnav for the longest time. About the fragile relationship between their parents. One where everything seemed alright, but she knew that nothing really was. The question was avoided because she was unsure if the answers would please her at all.
"Everything is well. That is not the problem?"
"Then what other problem? What is the problem, dad?"
"I mean there is no problem. Some of my deposits matured, so I thought I should withdraw them and you can make smarter investments than just term deposits."
None of this rung true, but she did not push. Her parents could be cagey when they wanted to be, which was pretty much all of the time to be honest.
"And dad, what else. Did you hear about Werner?"
"Of course. I am surprised you have.. I mean.. I thought you were not interested in Raizada business related stuff."
"Of course, I am. Okay, your son-in-law is, especially Raizada losses as he calls them," she said grinning and his dad offered a rare smile in return. Wow, Arnav looks so much like dad. The same nose, the same eyes and that jawline. Her dad was a good-looking man. But she was glad that the similarity between father and son ended there. She was very glad.
"Do you have any theory about why Arnav decided to call off his wedding with Samir Singh's daughter?"
She smiled at her father's casual sexism of reducing Payal to nothing beyond her father's daughter. No, Arnav was not like dad.
"I think they realised that they were very incompatible.. they are so different from one another," she wanted to add like mom and you, but didn't.
"I don't understand that. Marrying someone who is just like you is actually frustrating. But good for him. I had assumed that it was because he was interested in someone else.. surely he had known for a long time how different he and this girl were."
She had thought about this too. Arnav discussed almost everything with her and so it was a little surprising that he had not even mentioned this to her. She was pre-occupied with Thumpa, but she always had time for her little brother. And when she quizzed him, he usually made some comment about incompatibility which did ring true to her, so she never probed. But as her dad had said, this was not new news to Arnav. So there must have been something else that pushed him over to confront this truth. She loved her brother, he was wonderful in many ways, but he was never the biggest confronter of feelings. What propelled her brother to action, she would have dearly liked to know. But whatever be the reason she was glad, not because Payal was not her favourite person, but because she felt that Payal was too much like her mother. Like she always told Jun, if Poonam Raizada was anybody else other than her mother, she would have felt no affection at all for such a person. But in that great gene-pool lottery, Poonam Raizada was her mother and therefore worthy of her love. Perhaps children were more at peace with flawed parents than vice versa. She looked at her watch, it was almost six, and close to Thumpa's feed-time. She got up, gave her dad a hug, grimaced and put the cheque into her bag. As she reached the door, her dad's voice stopped her.
"Anjali, you are very happy with Arjoon, right?"
"Dad, a bit late for that question, no? And yes, I am happy.. very happy, dad."
"Good. Someone ought to be at least.. good, good. I will come and see Thumpa soon."
She smiled as he drove home. That was the first time her dad had referred to his granddaughter as Thumpa, as opposed to the formal Debanjana.
"Arnav will be happy too.. he will find someone he loves, who loves him back. Don't worry, dad."
"I am not so sure about it. As far as I know, your mom is already on the look out for a suitable bride for him."
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Poonam
"Madam, we are trying our best. we have put people at all check nakas. Mil jayega soon, Madam."
The DIG of police was going on and on, while Poonam was on the road. She placed the phone away from her ear because the man's voice was grating. While there was no doubt that she enjoyed having the law enforcement people at her beck and call, she also did not like their extreme servitude and feudal mindset. She would much rather have a less agreeable sort of person who could at least get the job done.
"Theekh hai. Please put your best people to recover Mihir Gupta. Keep me posted," she said and hung up before the man could get another word in.
She looked out of the window, the Delhi University area was beautiful, especially close to dusk. Some students were still lingering around, at chai stalls, chit-chating, enjoying their carefree life. She almost felt a tinge of envy at this sight. The car pulled into the gates of Alchemy College and she was driven right to the place where only the principal and the governing council were allowed. She got down, indicating to their driver Mohan that it would be a quick meeting, lest he saunter off for a leisurely chai.
She walked into Vice Principal Vini Mathur's office, who was waiting for her, looking positively terrified.
"Poonam Ma'm, welcome," she said.
"Thank you, Mrs Mathur for meeting me today. I know it is too late for you," she said looking at her watch. It was a little over six.
"No problem, Ma'm. We are also busy with admissions. We have just started giving out applications."
"Okay. Anyway like I have already told you, we want to restart the sports scholarship that my family used to give."
"Yes, Ma'm. In your father's name.."
"No. This time the endowment will be made in the name of my father-in-law, Kartikeya Raizada.. my administrative head Vijay Shastri will send the details and all the paperwork formalities that you will need to complete as well. Hopefully we will have it all in place before the new batch of students come in."
"Of course, Ma'm. We will also send you the profiles of all the eligible candidates, so that you'll can do the background checks and be satisfied before the scholarship is given."
Was that a stray comment or was there more to it, she wondered.
"No. Our role is to support. We trust the college to use the funds properly and assign it to the most deserving. My family would rather not get involved in the nitty-gritty's," she corrected Vini.
"Of course, Ma'm," the ever agreeable Mrs Mathur offered and Poonam got up to leave.
"Ma'm just one thing.. I mean.. this is strange.. you probably don't remember.. there was this girl, Khushi Kumari Gupta, she had won your scholarship and then it was withdrawn.."
"What about her?"
"Ma'm we recently interviewed her for the position of the sports coach of Alchemy and only later realised that there was a problem. Actually we interviewed her only because a Board Member suggested we do."
"Which Board Member?"
"Minu Sabharwal."
"I see."
"But we didn't offer her the position after knowing all this."
"Was she not qualified for the job? Did she not do well in the interview?"
"No, Ma'm, she was good... she is a coach at Joseph's.. reports were good.. but character."
"Give the girl the job.."
"But.."
"If she is the best candidate for the job, give it to her.."
"But the character part.."
"It was a misunderstanding.. give her the job. In fact, hire her right away so that she can be involved in the setting up of this scholarship. She can be Alchemy's signatory, my son Arnav Raizada, who is an alumni will be our representative."
"Very well, Ma'm. Thank you."
She walked back towards the car rapidly. This sudden confrontation with the past made her shudder. Her father always quoted, those who don't learn from the past were doomed to repeat it. She would be damned if this time she made mistakes again. Her thought were interrupted by her phone ringing. It was the inefficient DIG again.
"Yes?"
"Hello, Poonam Ma'm.. wanted to check one thing with you. My ACP from Chawri Bazar called and he said that your son lodged a FIR last night, about an assault at a shop."
"I see."
"But don't worry, Ma'm.. my people are working on this and we will catch the criminal soon. Please let Arnav Sir know."
"I will. Thank you."
She thought for a bit and called Anita Chawla.
"Poonam, aaj savere Lodhi Garden mein Payal mili. Kitni snobbish hai."
"Juhi ki tumne horoscope banvayi hai?"
"Haan. Kyun?"
"Ek ladka hai nazar mein. But the family will want to match horoscopes. So please send it across immediately."
"Abhi bhijwati hoon."
"I am outside now, have this handed over to HP."
"Okay."
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Khushi
"Didi, kitni baar phone ko check karogi? Boyfriend ke message ki wait kar rahi ho?" Ankita the Imp asked.
"Chup, Jaldi yeh chart finish karo. Yeh holiday homework last din tak postpone karna zaroori hai kya?" she asked her ward.
It was almost seven in the evening and Ankita had come over to get her help finish her holiday homework. They were working on an elaborate model on rain-water harvesting. Rather Khushi was working while Ankita painted her toenails. Ankita defied the stereotype of an athlete and was one of those girly-girls. She smiled at her and went back to the project. But Ankita was right, she was distracted, her eyes and ears constantly on the phone. Waiting, willing for it to ring, beep, glow. But it didn't.
Arnav was mad at her. She had sent him another text subsequent to her one in the morning. She informed him about the insurance inspector coming in and thanked him for lodging a FIR on her behalf. She also said that the police patrol had increased around the house and shop, which meant that Shekhawat's henchmen had disappeared. She thanked him. She apologised. She offered the olive branch. But he would not respond. And through the day, the feeling of dread and gloom just kept growing and growing. Nothing helped. Not this elaborate science project, not the lunch outing with Aakash, nothing did.
And just then the phone rang. She grabbed it so quickly that Ankita started giggling. The call was from Baba, he was probably calling to tell her that they were getting into the train. She had already informed Maa and Baba about the attack at the shop and maybe it was being in a spiritual place, but they had reacted rather coolly about it. Of course they forbade her to go to the shop until they returned and suggested that she either go stay with Madhumati Bua, or get her to come and stay with her.
"Haan, Baba. Train mein chad gaye?"
But her father sounded so excited that she could barely make sense of what he was saying.
"Baba, kya bol rahe ho.. kuch bhi samajh nahin pa rahi hoon."
"Champion, Shyam.. tumhara bada bhai Shyam mil gaya."
"Matlab.."
"Kal pahunchne par sab detail mein batayenge. Dopahar ke khane tak ghar pahunch jayenge. Shyam ke saath."
And Baba hung up after that.
Her brother was returning. This felt so strange How would this impact Renu Bhabhi and her decision, she wondered. In a temporary truce of sorts, Bhabhi had accompanied Maa and Baba to the dargah, with Aarav in tow. Her brother was returning and she could imagine why her parents were excited. They might love their daughter, but deep down like many Indian parents the daughter was never a good replacement for a son. Perhaps she was being excessively harsh on her parents, but this joyous news only turned her already blue mood, blue-r.
"Didi, bhookh lag rahi hai."
"Kuch bana doon? Kya khayegi?"
"Maggi."
"Woh toh mana hai.. sarkaar keh rahi isliye nahi.. par tum athlete ho. Upma bana deti hoon."
"Upma," Ankita made a face, but Khushi got up and headed to the kitchen.
The sound of her phone ringing brought her back into the room, even while Ankita suppressed a giggle. Khushi signalled her to be silent and picked up the call from a number she didn't recognise. It was the lady from Alchemy College, Vini Mathur. She was sorry about calling this late, but they had decided to offer Khushi the position of Head Coach. When she hung up, she squealed and pulled Ankita into a hug and kissed her on her cheek.
"Boyfriend ne phone kiya?"
"Nahin. Uss se bhi bahut acha.. mujhe naukri mil gayi hain.. achi walli.. Alchemy College mein."
"Wah Didi! Tab toh upma nahin, Maggi banta hai."
Khushi mock slapped her and brought down a few packets of Maggi that Maa had kept in a giant plastic bucket that was usually their pantry of sorts.
While Ankita ate the Maggi, Khushi picked up her phone. This was exciting news that had to be shared with someone. She did not have to think too much to know whom and dialled Arnav's number. It rang for a while, and eventually went into voicemail. She had never left anyone a voicemail and she hung up. She decided to text him.
Arnav, tum sahi the. Universe vakai mein apni galtiyaan sudhaar rahi hai. Alchemy walli job mujhe mil gayi.
Within ten second of her sending the message, her phone rang. It said, Arnav Calling.
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