Hello lovelies! And Eid Mubarak!! Eat lots of Mutton Biriyani and enjoy reading!
If you think the story was nice, please drop in a feedback! You know how awesome it feels to read comments don't you? On that note, presenting to you, Chapter 1! Happy Reading!!
Chapter 1 - Raindrops on Roses
"Look at her Swags look at her, isn't she gorgeous?" chanted Lucky in a daze from the row behind Swara. Swara rolled her eyes and looked at her best-estt friend, this Lucky and his everyday muses. "Who is it this time Lucky?" came her well versed and bored reply.
"Uff Swags look up and see, does she have any competition around? It's her of course, I am talking about!" he replied still in what seemed like a trance. Swara looked up in curiosity, and her jaw dropped. A girl was walking inside the classroom and looking around unsure of where to sit - she was a new entry in between the term of course, and to be fair, she was pretty. Well maybe not as ethereal as Lucky thought, but beautiful indeed - but that was not why Swara's jaw dropped, her jaw dropped at Lucky's sudden change in his taste of women!
The girl who had just walked in was clad in a simple rose pink full sleeve salwar-kameez. She had a pair of tiny silver bells jingling from her ear and a thin silver bracelet clinging to her wrist. She had her long dark hair braided and her eyes were jet black. She looked a little scared for some reason and Swara wondered why was she looking so flustered in a simple classroom? Swara was following every movement of this girl, as she finally found a spot next to that nerdy guy from their class Aarush. Aarush didn't seem to notice that she was new, so he just looked up from his book and gave her a casual nod before getting back to his book. She smiled a little at him and at the same time Swara heard Lucky groan from behind, "Lucky Aarush". Lucky? He was so smitten by this traditional girl? Wasn't the rate of Lucky's heartbeat inversely related to the length on his girl's skirts? Then suddenly how did this "desi girl" impress him? Swara wondered surprised. But then she remembered Lucky laughing and telling her while they were in the canteen a few days back, that Anu aunty had started hinting him on how he has grown up and had very less time left as a bachelor. Lucky obviously wouldn't have an arrange marriage, so he was telling Swara that he will have to "seriously" look for a girl now! So, after dating all the skimpy babes, this was the girl Lucky intended to settle with? Swara was surprised.
"Just imagine what a perfect Marwari bahu she will be when we marry? Ma will be so happy!" she heard Lucky's dreamy voice and scowled. Marriage already? Then her dida's wise words came to her mind. "These marwarans, they will act modern and broad minded like us noble Bengalis, they will party with pretty girls and make them dream of a future, but when it comes to marriage, they will choose a conservative marwaran who would do their mothers bidding! Such two-faced people!" she would say. Swara laughed remembering her dida's expression of disapproval while talking about the Marwari community, and her look of shock when Swara had taken Lucky home and dida had thought he was her boyfriend! "You marwaris nah! Conservative muts!" Swara retorted, and laughed. That earned her a kick under her chair from Lucky sitting behind, "Oyi Swags! Stop talking like your dida and maligning the noble line of marwaris!" he replied with mock anger.
***
When college got over for the day, Swara and Lucky were sprinting towards the gate happily, it was raining and rains were Swara and Lakhya's favourite, they loved getting drenched in the rain while having kulfies outside their college and when they got very cold, they would drink tea from the chai-dada's cutting chai too! The mere sight of rain brought a huge grin on their faces, and they dashed toward the outdoors - Swara was just about to step out holding Lucky's hand when she felt Lucky stop short. Surprised she turned around to see Lucky looking outside and the same daze was back on his face - she didn't need to look out to see who he was looking at!
"Oh, she doesn't have an umbrella. She will get drenched. Oh dear she doesn't like it." He murmured and before Swara could register what he was upto, Lucky just left from there. Swara stood there in annoyance as Lucky strode past her and went towards the new girl, who was now taking shelter under the guards shade near the gate, looking thoroughly disgruntled.
***
Ragini was standing under the guards shade near the college main gate, but it wasn't helping, the wind was strong and the rain having caught on the wind, kept wetting her. She produced her cell phone from her bag and tried calling her daadi, so that she could arrange for her to be picked, but her phone battery was dead. She was new in the city and she didn't know the roads well, how was she going to go home now? She wondered as tears welled up her eyes.
"Hey you're okay right?" came a voice from behind. She quickly turned around to see a boy standing there. She recognized him from her class. He was tall and chiselled, he had wheatish complexion and ruffled hair - his face wore a boyish expression and his attitude seemed friendly. Ragini smiled. "Hello I am Lucky" he spoke again with a flashing smile.
"Lucky?" she replied confused, what kind of a name was that? Lucky laughed seeing her confused expression and spoke again. "Hi, I am Lakshya. Lakhsya Maheshwary, but my friends call me Lucky. And you are?"
Ragini smiled in understanding. "Um..hi Lakshya, I am Ragini" she replied shyly. Lucky's heart did an unmistakable tap-dance seeing that smile and hearing his full name in her voice, but he controlled himself and asked, "I know. You're the new girl in our class right? You seem a bit flustered, all good?"
When Ragini told him her worry, Lucky was only too happy to offer her a ride back home in his car. Ragini, though unsure, she felt she could trust him, anyway what choice did she have? She agreed. Lucky seemed like a nice guy, he chatted jovially throughout the time he drove, he made her comfortable, he laughed a lot, and by the end of the journey even she was laughing with him - Lucky.
When Ragini was getting off the car, Lucky got out first and produced an umbrella from the boot of the car and rushed to open her door. She seemed surprised to see Lucky holding out an umbrella for her. "You don't like rains nah?" he asked with a childish smile. She laughed and stuck out her tongue before responding, "Hate rains!"
"But you should see for yourself and know Ragini, raindrops on roses look beautiful" he replied with a smirk. Ragini raised an eyebrow in response. "What you don't believe me? Go before the mirror and check for yourself then!" and before Ragini realized what he had said, he had swiftly said a goodbye and dashed to his car, and in the blink of an eye, he was gone.
***
Swara sat fuming on her hostel bed. That Lucky, what did he even think of himself? He left her just like that for the new chick? Wasn't he supposed to drop her to her guitar class today? And it was raining so hard! But he forgot everything. Now she was not going to talk to him, until and unless he got Anu aunty's handmade kheer for her in order to make up. She was so annoyed that she decided to call up her dida and vent. Her dida stayed in Kolkata too, but Swara was born an independent child, so even though she had flown down to Kolkata for her graduation from her hometown in Bhopal, she stayed separately in the hostel - ofcourse once in a while she would run to dida to gorge on her delicious macher jhol' but mostly she stayed in the hostel - Swara's father was non-bengali, he was from Madhya Pradesh, but her parents fell in love when they met through work. Soon they were married and had moved to Bhopal where Swara's paternal family lived. But two years after Swara's birth, her father met with an accident and passed away - ever since then it was just Swara and her mom. Her dida had asked her mother Sharmishta many times, to move back to Kolkata with Swara, but she refused, she liked staying with Swara in Bhopal where her last memories of her husband lay. But last year Swara had flown to Kolkata too, and now her mother stayed alone in the Bhopal house, still refusing to relocate.
After the call and hearing her dida's antics she was feeling much better, she had laughed a lot, bless her dida, for being such a humorous woman she thought lovingly. She was about to go to bed when she received a text message.
10:39 PM [SWAGSSS I am in love. Her name is Ragini, and I know where she stays!!]
Swara saw the text and her irritation was back. Trust Lucky to dampen her mood again! Huffed in anger she went off to bed, cursing that Ragini chick and Lucky.
Tum Se Tum Tak
Ganesh Kartikeya
