"Nandini, utho..hum ghar aa gaye"
It had been a long drive from Panchgani and Nandini was fast asleep. The way she clung to him now, her tiny legs folded over his thighs, her arms hanging across his neck ,her face pressed against his chest, her hair, and that lavender fragrance in it was messing up his mind bigtime. Boy! he could kiss her to death now, he was almost dying to and it was bloody frustrating keeping his hands to himself, but then, when it came to Nandini, Manik was always careful about not indulging in PDA (Public Display of Affection). He didn't want to give his driver any unnecessary fodder for gossip. As far as he himself was concerned, he couldn't care less about who said what, but there was no way he was going to let open the doors of his most precious relationship to the hypocrite world, which neither had the insight to understand the sanctity of their love, nor the heart to respect it.
Nandini reluctantly moved her head a little, and blinked her eyes, much against their will. He should carry her na, why did he have to wake her up.
One heck of a week they had had, and after such a physically strenuous and emotionally overwhelming time, the only thing she could smell or see or breathe was sleep. This place didn't look like Manik's Mansion though, even so it felt uncannily familiar.
Holy shit!!!! Where they at her home? Like HER HOME??
"Tum mujhe yahan kyun laye Manik? I told you na ki I will stay with you till you recover?"
"But I am ok now."
She was miffed. She wasn't in the least bit prepared for this. How would she, how would she know that Manik would drop her at her doorstep. To her, it almost felt like a rejection, as if her presence at his place wasn't welcome.
Manik politely asked the driver to wait outside until he instructed otherwise.
"I wanted to stay with you Manik. You should have told me that time only ki mera tumhare saath rehna tumhe acha nahi lagta." She was acting irate like a child, refusing to see any reason. This reluctance to go home, this was so unusual of the Nandini he knew, In the time that he had spent with her, he had hardly seen her call home. And it bothered him because she was never like this. The old Nandini had to inform her chachi, even if she were an hour late. Staying overnight at his place, when she was in Mumbai was almost unthinkable. Why was she behaving like this, why was she running away from home and her family.
"Nandini" He said, cupping her face " tum achi tarah se janti ho ki aisa nahi hai. You know how much I love to have near me, infact there's nothing more that I want and I don't give a f**king shit to what any one thinks or says. But I don't like you running away like this. You are in Mumbai and you haven't called chachi even once, kya chal raha hai Nandini..tell me"
She turned her face away from him and looked out of the window, her droopy eyes, now wide awake "Main nahi bhaag rahi hun kisi se".
"I know you way too well to buy this Nandini.. Jo bhi hai bol do. We can solve it together."
Avoiding looking into his eyes, she hugged him briefly, before pushing the door of the car open.
He pulled the door back in. "Nandini!! Aise mat jao yaar, I won't be able to sleep. Acha chalo, tum mere sath chalo, lets discus this out and we can come back tomorrow, ok?"
"I am ok Manik. And may be you are right, I should just stop running around and face it." She took a deep breath. "But I am going to miss you."
"I won't let you miss me, zyada miss karne se pehle hi tumhare ghar se tumhe utha ke leke jaunga and you know right ki if I decide on something, no one can stop me, not even your chacha or chachi."
She grinned, her smile not reaching her eyes and then she grew serious. "No, Manik, jab tak main na kahun, tum please ghar mat anaa. Please"
"OK... I will wait, love" He bent forward and planted a soft kiss on her forehead.
She stepped out with a heavy heart as he helped her with her bags. Her bed, the only big thing she had and a few other stuff remained with him.
*************
His first halt after dropping Nandini, was a guitar store. It had been such a long time since he last played music, it almost felt like forever. He wondered how he had survived this long without putting his fingers to the strings that held his life together. 40 minutes later he had pretty much strummed through every single guitar the store had, starting from 6000 rupees going all the way up to 80,000 but none appealed to him. Even the store manager was flabbergasted. He had never seen a customer this finicky, what did this guy want? He did try to help, he did ask him for the specification he was looking for, but Manik insisted on checking himself.
Just as he was about to exit empty handed, his eyes fell on an old guitar lying at one corner of the otherwise jazzy store.
"Purana piece hai sir, warehouse le jane ke liye rakha hai." The manager promptly explained when he noticed Manik's gaze fixed on that one. But then who was he fooling. The guy who couldn't find a decent guitar in the whole of the store, how could he even think he would be interested in an old rundown one. But Manik went ahead, ignoring his words and as soon as he picked the guitar up in his arms and strummed the first chord, he knew this was it. Who cared if it was old or lying there only to be taken to the warehouse. Music too, like people has a soul. It speaks to those who can hear, and this guitar was speaking to him. He would never be able to explain to a third person, this unspoken bond he had with the strings and chords. May be when God had created his heart, he had scripted his heartbeats in musical notes. Even Nandini thought so.
Thinking of Nandini, should he call her and tell her he was here? No, she must be tired. He would rather call her once he returned home. It had only been an an hour that she was gone and he was already missing her like hell. Had it not been for her own sake, he would have never let her go, but then that's the problem with love. Its seldom about ME Between what ONE wants and what is right for the OTHER, one often has to choose the later, even as the heart protests.
**********************
'Who could be it at this hour' Ranbir thought, as his doorbell buzzed impatiently, thrice in a row. He lifted his lazy booty off the couch and rushed towards the door.
"Are Manik!!!" Of all people, he wasn't expecting Manik to turn up at his door suddenly like this.
"Did I disturb you?" Manik peeped in, he noticed the TV was on.
"Kya bol raha hai yaar, aa, andar aa" Ranbir grabbed Manik by his arm and literally dragged him inside.
"kaisa hai tu, thik to hai?" There was something in the way he asked , that truly moved Ranbir. It was a simple question, one that we casually ask while greeting someone, yet no one had asked him since he had come to Mumbai. Yes he had had great fun with Mukti and Navya. But even they hadn't asked him, how he liked the life in Mumbai, whether at all he liked it. Sometimes they forgot that he was not Cabir, which was mostly ok, but at times he did crave for his own identity. This city , the fast paced life away from family, his job, everything was new and no matter how much he joked, a part of him did feel lonely at times. This guy Manik, was asking him, not Cabir, how was he..and this alone made him happy. At least Manik understood.
"Main thik hun, whats up with you man? We went to your place and your staff said you have gone to Panchgani. Anything urgent??? Doctor ke sath check up to nahi tha? Tu thik hai na?"
"All fine bro.. Wo actually Nandini ke principal ne uske absence ka excuse nikalke use terminate kar diya, so she had to evacuate her apartment. That's why.."
"How is she now? Uske upar bohot strain para last few days...but I must say you are one heck of a lucky guy. Ek min ke liye bhi she didn't leave your side"
"I know...yes, I am lucky with respect to friends and love"
'Friends?? Really??' Ranbir thought. The memories of the clash at the caf came rushing to him, Alya's mean words, still burnt a whole in his ears and he wondered how would Manik react if saw their indifference. Another worry eating up his mind was about Nandini's engagement. Nandini hadn't mentioned any of it infront of him, had she in his absence? Or was Manik in for more shocks? He decided to stay mum for then.
"Main wo..kehne aya tha ki.." Manik was fumbling and Ranbir wondered why?
"Bolna, kya baat hai.."
"Dekh I don't wanna involve you in this but there's a problem that's chewing up my mind. I came running to you because Cabir used to be my 'GO TO' guy and I guess wo adat chuti nahi. Wo to dhoka deke chala gaya aur idhar main use dundhte huye tere pass pahunch gaya. But its ok dude, I do understand that Cabir is gone and I should stop searching for him in you. Just that its so damn hard letting go of him." Every did the same but no one had the guts to accept except Manik.
"It will take time for you to not treat me like Cabir. Kya karein, sakal hi aisi hai, yaad na bhi dilana chaho to bhi... But tu apni problems mere sath share kar sakta hai. Lets just start from here and build on a new friendship. It will never be the same as before, but whats the harm in trying."
Manik pulled ranbir in a hug and started telling him about Neel. He had no idea how relieved Ranbir was when he finally got to know the truth directly from Manik. But at the same time he went mad with rage."Saalaa yeh piece mila kahan se Nandini ko, matlab aise piece bante kahan hain yaar? Manufacturing defect suna tha, yeh to pura ka pura defect manufactured hai."
"But ab iska karein kya aur kaise. I have a hunch that isne past mein bhi koi na koi gul to khilaya hoga. One time offense wala case nahi hai. But problem yeh hai ki Nandini doesn't know anything and I donno where to start."
"Ek baat to pakki hai ki iski watt lagegi aur apne hi hath lagegi. I mean how dare he trap Nandini and then try to kill you. But we shouldn't do anything rash. I mean raw violence and all. We will think and figure out ki is langoor ko uski jagah kaise phuchana hai. In mamlon mein main Cabir se thora alag hun. Mera break down point thora high hai..bachpan se ke sath raha hun, army bases mein, aise chakkon ki akal kaise thikane late hain, ache se janta hun. I am on bro. Neel ja jile apni zindagi, because bahut jaldi teri ulti ginti suru hone wali hai."
The comfort of having a friend that you can turn to in every distress, can't be expressed in words. All the way from panchgani to Mumbai, while Nandini was peacefully sleeping, Manik's head ran wild with thoughts surrounding Neel and how to dig out his past. Not that he wasn't capable of tackling him, he was infact overqualified. That's what he had done all his life, resist and manage villains, the biggest being his mom. But to have Ranbir besides him, made it so much more fun.
"Tu drums bajata hai?" There in the drawing room, Cabir's drums were lying open. Someone must be playing them because there was not a hint of dust on them.
"Nahi yaar, main to bas saaf hi karta hun...school mein last bajaya tha."
"You wanna learn??"
"Tu sikhayega?"
"I just about manage , so I ma not the right person to train you.. But if you want, I can't take you to someone. Kya bolta hai, try karega?"
"Lets do it man."
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I will soon repply to you guys, been quite a while and so many beautiful messages I have recieved that it would be a crime not to reply to them :)
CID
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
