Chapter 40
"Not me... not me..." The bothered architect began praying as soon as the purpose of the impromptu meeting unraveled.
"I need this tonight as I've to email it the first thing tomorrow morning. So Jodha..." Raj turned to the female architect and the male one expelled his withheld breath. "You give inputs to Shashank and Shanshank, you please make sure to finish it before you leave." The just settled heart of the male architect immediately unsettled at the devastating twist his manager gave.
"Sure Raj, it'll be in your inbox in two hours." Totally clueless of her colleague's obligations, Jodha committed on either behalf, leaving no option to Shashank than to relent... very reluctantly.
"Great... thanks guys."
Walking past MD's chamber and noticing the lights turned on, Jodha speeded up. If not for last minute uncalled for meeting, it'd have been twenty minutes since she left. As soon as Raj summoned to his chamber, she texted Jalal of the delay so that he doesn't wait for her by the nearest complex - her pick up spot.
"10 more minutes... please and sorry." Regretting for making him wait when he rushed to be early only on her request, Jodha messaged Jalal and sprinted towards her cabin, totally ignoring the man shadowing her.
"Jodha..." Shashank stalked her step for step, in as much speed as she walked. "I need help."
Alarmed, the shrewd woman halted in tracks and turned back dubious. "Don't tell me this help is somehow related to the task you have for tonight."
"Unfortunately yes..." Shashank palely pleaded. Rolling eyes in swearing, she threw him a nasty glance. "What is it now? Movie, festive shopping or dinner date with your girl?"
"I've to drop her at railway station. She's going home tonight."
"And you're playing her driver?" she frowned in contempt. "I thought you're her boyfriend."
"You'll understand only when you get your man and he offers to chaperone you..." the unoffended colleague grinned. "...and that day I'll..." he pointed second and third fingers to his eyes and then at her. That caustic retort eventually reminded her of the man awaiting next doors - to do THAT EXACT job. Biting back the grin, she turned on her heels with the uncompromising mate closely following her into the cabin. "Shall I take it a yes?" he wishfully asked.
"Far from it..." fixing chart on board, she firmly said. "Once is help, twice is courtesy and thrice becomes habit," she glared icy. "This is the third time you're asking me to back you up. Not done. Now if you come over here, I'll feed you inputs and leave. I've only five minutes."
"As if you've a boyfriend waiting for you..." without budging from his place, Shashank cribbed. Killing the nasty itch to say YES and knock him out by taking her boyfriend's name, Jodha patiently explained. "I have my FAMILY waiting for me. Now, please..."
"Jo... please. You know I'm on leave from tomorrow and have to take the Nine o' clock bus, that is after dropping her at station."
"Explain it to Raj, not me."
"I can... but we both know you'd be his only alternative. Then why take it to him?
"Because I don't want to lose credit for my accomplishments..." she gave him a cold shoulder. "What I do will be mine." Breaking into a relieved grin, Shashank gushed to squeeze her hand. "Thank you my saving angel. You know my email's password, right?"
"I don't know..." she nudged him with a rude smack, but her eyes were laughing. "...and I stick to what I said. What is mine will be mine." Merrily sprinting out, Shanshank screamed back. "I know you'll still send it from my email. You're too sweet to be wicked girl. Happy holidays. Take care."
"Shameless creature!" shaking head, she unpinned the charts, texted Jalal that she's ready to leave, packed her stuff and walked out.
"Pantene..."
"Sunsilk..."
"Nah... possibly imported brand."
Intrigued by the discussion, Jodha stopped by a group of gossip bonkers venturing out at coffee machine. "What is it about?" she pried in.
"Shampoo..." one of the girls murmured. "Which brand do you think it is that makes his hair thicker, silkier, lusher and darker than a woman's?"
"I guess its Sunsilk as it has both sun and silk in it," another jested.
"And I guess it should be an imported brand. After all, he's The foreign returned MD", the first one added.
"Hmm... very valid debate..." the amused girl slyly nodded. Waise... what brand was it? She tried naming the known fragrance but gave up. Why to waste time and mind when I can know it for myself?
"Hey Jo... leaving early today?" When she was about to set back on her way, another girl plunged in.
"Yeah."
"I too planned to leave early, but boss came and crushed my hopes" the third one wailed.
"What is it to him if you leave early?" the second one quizzed.
"Not he yaar, marketing-wali..." the griping girl winked. "I asked her to drop me home and we're supposed to start fifteen minutes back. Just then boss came in and... the rest you know. Now there is nothing I can do than pray for him to leave soon."
"Hey I discovered a new formula..." grinning, the first one sheepishly whispered taking everyone to her attention. "Marketing-wali's dupatta and boss's shirt buttons are inversely proportional to each other. The deeper his shirt is open, the upper her dupatta goes."
"What?!!" Making faces, the audience too craned their heads towards the direction the first one saw. The assistant marketing manager, along with the elderly marketing manager were seen talking to Jalal and obviously the spectators' eyes stalled at the lady's neck. The green silk was so tightly draped around her throat that one would fear she'd die of choking. As the covering of dupatta completely went missing, the broad neck appeared even broader, revealing a generous portion of her impeccable skin. Mutely giggling, the girls turned their gazes to Jalal but the boss's side postured profile didn't help them much to verify how deep his shirt was unbuttoned. They couldn't check that but they noticed the lavishly pulled up sleeve on his right arm - in fact, it was so lavishly pulled up that they got to see his biceps for first time ever in office.
"Drool all you can girls..." the first one slyly quipped, "...his modest dressing standards might not give us a second chance. But I pity him yaar, if only he knew his skin was under more intensive scrutiny than of infrared, x-ray, or UV rays."
"You should be pitied, not he." Trailing her amused glances off him, Jodha genuinely sympathized with the flock of his fan-girls. "If only you knew you are guinea pigs of his crooked experiments." Making a mental note to count his open buttons as the first thing to do after getting into car, she bid bye to the girls. Ten minutes later, when his car stopped before her, she indeed checked his dehisced shirt at top prority, much before she dumped her stuff in back seat or buckled the seat-belt.
"Two buttons down." She ticked in her mind, then shifted her eyes to the brawny arms that looked every bit manly in those cuffed up sleeves. Having discerned his intentions behind this sudden flirtatious appearance, a gale of laughter stemmed up within her. Biting lips, she looked away intending to initiate a conversation after her laughter has subsided.
"You said you had no work?" shifting gears, Jalal enquired on the drafter and charts she dropped in back seat.
"Unplanned work..." she answered. "How did the negotiations go?"
"As expected", his voice rang deep. "We did all we have to do. Its left to their call now."
"Tensed?" sensing the density in his voice, she sobered.
"More for Chetan than the deal. He had put in a lot of heart, time and effort to materialize this."
Don't worry boss. What is destined to be yours will be yours!
Jodha so wanted to soothe him with that assurance, but finding it silly to tutor a man who is better equipoised than her, she stayed silent. "Give it to them..." she earnestly implored her deity friend. "If only you believe they deserve it."
"You're right Jo."
Startled, Jodha opened eyes in a jiff and tossed a dubious side-glance at him. Was I praying loud?
"99% of my female employees abandon their work to see me!"
"Oh," Easing, she agreed with an impish glance at his semi naked arms. "You should have taken my word when I told you so. It'd have saved you this semi Salman Khan leela."
"Right, but the glorious discovery of this evening is... they not only abandon work to see me but also form groups to discuss me. What was the gang at coffee machine, YOUR gang... " he amended with a clipped smirk, "discussing?"
"Your shampoo, your buttons and your sleeves."
"That was STRICTLY girls' talk." Muffling fun and truth behind sealed lips she attempted to avert the discussion. "My loyalties towards my fraternity doesn't let me double cross."
"But it was me you discussed..." Jalal argued with prim authority. "I've every right to know." Royally ignoring his demand, Jodha switched on audio and started surfing through channels.
"Anything lewd?" The unyielding boss tossed a scrupulous side-glance.
"Why are you suddenly interested in girls' gossips?" Weaving a taunting brow, she demanded.
"I am more interested in the level of audacity the girls can get than in the real gossip."
"Nothing lewd or insulting..." stopping by a channel to hear the announcement of next song, she clarified. "Humor in all good terms."
"But your unbending loyalties are saying me something else Sweetie," he pressed on, glimpsing her reflection in mirror. Huh! Her fingers twitched at the swift lurch her heart made - a few inches down towards stomach. Why do you somersault every time he calls you dearly as if it is the first time?! Chiding her riotous heart, she proceeded to another FM channel. "I didn't say because you will find it too insipid. But since you believe it to be something offensive, let me clarify - the girls were only discussing your shampoo."
"My what?"
"Shampoo..." she repeated with sheer solemnity. "They were waging bets on secret of your thick, dark, lush, silky hair."
"Seriously?!" His face scrunched but his lips quirked into a toothy grin.
"Damn seriously."
Though he couldn't believe his employees are so jobless that they had time to discuss his shampoo, his beliefs in super-gossiping-powers of women got him to yield. "Were thick, dark, silky and lush their terms... or yours?" grinning, he pried.
"Theirs..." she clarified and added with a rowdy wink. "Of course, mine would be no different either."
Grinning at her brazenness, he prodded. "What did you answer?"
"What'd I answer when I don't know?" Her eyes glinted with mischief. "And even if I do, what should I say? That I live with him and I know his shampoo because I barged into his bathroom and checked?!"
"You could very well do that..." he soberly agreed, pulling Jaguar to halt for a red signal. "But please care to knock before barging in as I seldom leave the bathroom door unlocked. Not that I've a problem... but you might not be quite comfortable with what you se..."
The listener's eyes widened at his gall and before he could complete, her fingers whooshed towards his waist.
"Sss... idiot!" he cussed flinching in seat.
"Till three days back..." she gritted with flushed cheeks. "To me, you were the most decent man walking on earth. Now I regret for considering you so." In a fit of fury, she simply alleged not realizing what exactly she had welcomed.
"Yeah right..." gauging her, Jalal bitterly nodded but Jodha took light of the savage in his menacing depths . Had she given it a consideration, she'd have half guessed the badass attack brewing her way... if only...
"I'm very indecent... in the truest sense of the word. For, no decent man on earth brings home more helpers, rather kick them all out, when a lone lady arrives at his doorstep to live with him..."
Though wary, Jodha's eyes glistened with mirth...
"I'm very indecent, for, no decent man lets a girl knock him down to concessions rather toss her on her back and give her a taste of his might."
Her lips quivered in gale...
"How very indecent of me to bargain an auto for Jaguar, instead of shutting up the pretty mouth that laid the demand!"
Her fingers muted the giggles...
"How scathingly indecent of me to lend cheeks every time a girl had to thank, and yet not force my thanks on her..."
Her head shot up in shock...
"Of course I got to be indecent, for punishing a girl's misadventures with a kiss than spanking her black and blue..."
Her eyelids fell apart...
"And how very indecent of me to sit hand-tied when a girl lies atop, rather roll her down and..."
Her mouth dropped... and before long, his was assaulted! Brutally... barbarously... with her left palm.
Incredibly impudent and outrageously brazen!
She didn't utter a word of that, but her deeply flushed cheeks, bloating eyes, flaring nose and thinly pressed lips said. Her sides began to ache as she futilely tried to look furious despite the quaking laughter that simmered within.
...to sit hand-tied when a girl lies atop, rather roll her down and...
...and then it'd have been our wedding night. Her grey cells completed for her, her constrain cracked, and her forehead slammed against his shoulder.
"Don't stop me madam," the vengeful boss pulled her hand down. "Let's decide on my indecency quotient today." Laughing and rebelliously nodding in no, Jodha fixed her palm on his mouth and since the shoulders convulsively shook...so did her fingers against his lips.
Ravishing the fire she kindled in him, Jalal threw her clamping palm an amused glance and looked around to hold surveillance on surrounding vehicles. When any overtly enthusiastic pair of eyes ended on them, instead of correcting his girl's posture or withdrawing her hand, he answered them with a flattening glare.
"Such a luscious sway against my mouth and since I'll be labeled indecent if I do nothing about it..." he thoroughly kissed her fingers before the alerted lady reflexively withdrew. "Was that decent enough madam?" he boorishly solicited evoking more bewitching grins on her. With palms clasped above her head, Jodha bowed in complete surrender. "I...I take it back. You are the most... most... most..." she incoherently spoke, making him wonder if the three 'mosts' are for emphasis or a result of stammering the laughter caused. "...decent man breathing on earth."
"Sure?" thumping accelerator as the signal turned green, he jabbed.
Reclining in her seat and dunking into another surf of chuckles, Jodha attested. "I've never been this sure... and I'm not going to utter a single word hereafter till we reach home. Neither you, if you value our three lives."
"Three?"
"Yours, mine and Jaguar's."
"Jaguar is fully insured..." steering into a free lane, he jived. "So were you and I. Hence I've a question."
Another? When she's still reeling from the last one? Looking away grinning, she stuck to her rules, but her ears were all eager to receive his next question. "I always had this doubt but didn't find the right girl to ask..." he added, hiking her curiosity. Though she didn't give as much encouragement as a slight nod for him to proceed, Jalal nevertheless shot it. "Why is it that when I and our Asst. marketing manager talk, people loiter their glances over us a little longer than required?"
His brusque inquisitiveness benumbed Jodha for a second. Why do peeps stare? She repeated to herself in sardonic pleasure.
To invent new formulae between your shirt and her dupatta!
If she were to answer, she had to say that and since she couldn't say so, she resorted to innocence. Is it? She frowned nonplussed, carrying on with her not-another-word game. I-don't-know-anything-about-it. She added weight by innocently shrugging.
"O...I see" Jalal nodded skeptical enough for her to discern he didn't buy in her innocence. Yet, she didn't prolong, for, any other explanation from her would only ascertain she isn't as naive as she wanted him to believe. Shifting her attention to the number played, Jodha stayed wisely silent.
"I guess its jealousy," Jalal remarked drawing her attention to him again. "I think girls in our office are jealous of her."
"For what?" Her eyes squinted.
"Because she's beautiful, best dressed and efficient in her job." He calmly said, accurately calculating his move... and he was so right!
Beautiful, best dressed, efficient!!
Out of the three qualifiers his mouth uttered, the first and last didn't reach her ears and even if they did, they hardly mattered but the middle one got Jodha so worked up that she gave a full turn of head to him - so sharply that her jhumkis ferociously swung. "Best dressed? Like seriously?" Disgust and daze were very evident in her cringed forehead. "If body hugging and skin revealing is best dressing to him, how does he find my dressing?" She impulsively scanned her attire. "Modest? Poor? Or even worse... sick?" She looked up with full force to seek explanations for his disgraceful notion but reined the temper just in time. Giving him a swift head turn again, this time away from him, she succumbed to silent retaliation. Best dressed... The words kept pricking and along with it, the temptation to punch a retort on his face also grew.
100...99...98...
She began counting to pacify the frigid nerves but she didn't reach 80 when she breached her own rules- of game and of temper control. "I think you answered your own question..." she bit out, masking sarcasm behind grimness. "When two beautiful, BEST dressed and efficient-s talk, eyes tend to stall for longer."
"Hmm!" Jalal sighed and said nothing, neither in her support nor in refute and it only added to her frustration. Moments mutely rolled while the one on left seat sat utterly piqued with the one her right, and the one in right stayed utterly amused with the one on his left.
"I'd have perhaps considered your supposition..." sometime later, Jalal measuredly spoke. "...if I and Nina were also given similar attention."
"Oh, that's because her tops lacked deep cuts and..." Jodha ceased cringing in seat for falling flat to his bait, for setting her guard loose and for offering him win in a golden platter.
"And..." slowing down the vehicle for another signal, he instigated the fawning girl with a smirk and when she didn't react, he pressed further. "And you believed you could get away with innocence?"
She didn't react to that as well because she was hell engrossed in another unnerving realization - He wasn't ignorant to her seductive dressing implies he wasn't oblivious to her feminine assets too - She restlessly stirred in seat as the knowledge was as unsettling as it nettled. She had certain opinion on men who doesn't look in the eye while talking to women, and to think Jalal as one of those men, even momentarily... she despised her own cognition.
Jalal is no typical male. She disposed her thoughts with a blunt blow. If he noticed her body, it means she was too obvious. Anyways... why did he ask me this question when he knew the answer? She was about to confront him when his thick voice seriously reverberated.
"I do glimpse what's on a woman... any woman."
Having observed her furrowed brows for one whole minute, Jalal spoke answering her unvoiced worry. "But that's all I do - only glimpse, not peruse."
Squirming inward for failing to curb her thoughts before he read, and wincing in guilt for offending him with uncalled-for silence, Jodha quickly faced him. "I know..." she looked contrite. "... but that was not all of my silent thinking. I was also wondering why you asked me a question to which you knew the answer."
Appreciating her honesty in not denying her scornful contemplation, Jalal tossed her a half smile. "So that you'd pass on the message to all girls not to crane their necks each time I talk to AMM and spare me from embarrassment."
"When you flaunted you were quite an observer..." she stared in awe "...you're actually right. Conveying your message is no easy task, but I'll try. Now, I've another serious doubt." Her orbs kinked with curiosity and mischief. "You sure you never observed any woman's attire beyond a glimpse?" When she asked the question, the answer she expected was she, but after she did, the possibility of a second answer too flickered. "Exempting Aliya," she quickly added and eagerly waited for him to answer.
Smirking at her improved ease in taking Aliya's name, contrast to the hesitation she showed three days ago, Jalal slyly tilted his head. "There is one..." he confessed boring his gaze into her, "who I notice how she carries herself; on whom I observe every nuance that goes into her dressing - be it her jewels or accessories. In fact her adornments are so imprinted in my mind that whenever I think of her, a gentle sway of her pearl earrings flashes in my memory."
To the enthusiastic listener, what it felt like a melodious hymn when he began, ended like a sting of wrong chord in euphony. "Pearl earrings?" she frowned. "But I don't have one."
"Whom are we talking here?" Jodha fretfully inclined forward.
"Why?" gearing up, he quirked a smile. "Wasn't it obvious?"
A woman... close enough for him to observe every nuance?
"Ameena aunty", chirping the answer, she slumped back in seat... immensely relieved and equally disappointed. Wasn't any other woman's dressing, except your mother's, noteworthy beyond a glimpse of yours mister?
"Ammi's pearl jhumkis were my favorite..." he continued, watching her lackluster smile, "...till a pair of ruby & jade ones recently superseded it."
Slowly, very slowly... his admission sank in, lighting up her leaden eyes. "So much so that whenever I think of HER, its those earrings that first occur to my mind, except that their sashay wasn't gentle. It was fiery, much like the fire in her eyes as she sat opposite to me and spoke. I didn't quite like her attitude then, but the jhumkis made up for it." He finished and studied her lips pressing into thin line, cheeks molding into crimson roses and eyes illuminating like stars.
Akhan daa noor vekh ke..
(When I see shine in the(her) eyes...)
In the silent confines, Ayushman Khurana's voice jubilantly echoed inflicting the couple to see each other.
Akhan daa noor vekh ke.. Akhiyan chon hanjhu rul de!"
(When I see shine in the(her) eyes... tears drop down from my eyes continuously!)
A moment later they turned their heads away - one smugly grinning and the other demurely... and when Jodha's head lurched, the ruby earrings too gladly swung... for reasons obvious.
He noticed and liked my jhumkis... If the first discovery was euphoric, the second one elevated it to an altogether new zenith. And he had been doing so since the days of cold war.
Kothe utte beh ke, Akhiyan milaunde, na jaana mainu kabhi chhod!
(We used to sit on the rooftop, looked into each other's eyes, Don't ever leave me and go!
Tere utte marda, pyar tainu karda... milega tujhe na koi aur!
(Some one who is ready to die for you, who loves you.. you won't find another person like me!)
Tu bhi aa, sab ko chod ke..
(You too come leaving all...)
"How do you understand Punjabi?" Jalal asked, seeing her grin at the romantic lyrics. Bursting into girlish grins, Jodha answered his inquisitive orbs. "Samyu used to sing this song loud on their terrace for a handsome Tamil bachelor adjacent to her home", she smiled at the memory "That's how I knew its meaning."
"Flirting..." Jalal chortled. "with a song?"
"Mm. Especially with those last lines."
Trying to equate the guileless face of Samyuktha he saw in Jodha's facebook to the raucous image the incident portrayed, Jalal asked. "All this under the nose of her parents?"
"All this when Krishna uncle isn't at home. When he's at home, she's the most ingenuous kid," Jodha's eyes beamed with affection for her kin-like friend.
"How did it end? Did the flirting work?"
"He is a Tamilian, he didn't know a word of Hindi, forget Punjabi. Safe flirting, you see..." she winked.
"Did you ever flirt?" The smart boss pried on, making it look like a casual query.
"Uhu..." she sighed, "like I said, I was an obedient girl."
"Hard to believe..." he sniggered. "You sure there are no secret crushes or love proposals to share?"
"Oh those... I surely have..." she gladly agreed. "Lets keep this topic for our tonight talks. I have some questions for you on this very subject."
"If you're expecting melodramatic citations from me..." he ruefully sewed lips, "... you'll be disappointed miss."
"Let me see but tell me this," seeing his fingers tapping to the Kannada number that played next, Jodha asked. "How many languages do you know? Urdu, Hindi, English, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Punjabi..." she counted on her fingers and exhaustedly sighed. "O yeah.. most importantly F language..." she coiled another finger making him grin lopsided.
"I had a mini India in college and at work in the US. I'm ought to pick up few tidbits from here and there."
"Not all picks up just like that. I think you've a flair for languages." Her squinted eyed admiration fetched mushy grins on him. "Glad I've something to flaunt," he winked, "lest I should fall pale beside you."
"Beside me...of all?!" She laughed like it was the best joke, "...who knows only two things: dance and draw."
"And I know neither of them..." he feigned a lost face. "...which only gives you upper hand between two of us."
"How much I want to relish this flattery..." Jodha mirthfully shook head, "...the fact that your brain handles higher complicated subjects is acting as show stopper Sir. I can't enjoy your compliment to its fullest."
"Then lets expand your talent base," Jalal played along. "How about adding singing?"
"Ayyoo... no..." chortling, she rigorously nodded to emphasize her denial. "I'm as good a singer as I'm a cook."
"That awful?" the tickled boss raised a quirky brow.
"My track record proves so..." she jibed. "...whenever I sing Samyu ends up clutching her stomach... laughing."
"Why is it so," he looked intrigued.
"My expressions..." she turned to him making a sweet bitter face. "Samyu says they are at peaks of hilarity when I sing, especially romantic numbers. Initially when she used to request me to sing, I was under the blind impression she loved my voice; only later I came to know of the devious entertainment she derived from it. She's such a sadist that she asks me to sing over phone and laughs imagining my expressions." She complained to him so alluringly, in a tone of a small girl sharing her grudge against a bully with her best friend, that Jalal condemned the steering in his hands for depriving him of the opportunity to take his girl into arms. Since he could not show it in action, he limited his affection to words. "Help me prove how wrong Samyu is Sweetheart."
"What?" knitting brows, she asked in disbelief. "You're asking me to sing?" Seeing him nod, she stared at him sympathetically. "If I were you I wouldn't risk it Jalal, at least not while you're driving."
Mysteriously snickering at her kind warning, Jalal agreed. "I don't mind the risk but I'll go by your suggestion. I'll wait till I get my hands off the steering."
"Why?" she innocently asked.
To put them around you! He didn't have to say as she decoded it from the twisted smirk tugged at corner of his lips. Oh! Shoot!
"Giving it a second thought," rubbing her chin, she posed pensive. "Let me sing now. Since your focus is on road you won't be able to..." taunting him with a brief pause, she completed. "... to focus on my expressions and laugh."
The inscrutable boss stayed thoughtfully silent for longer than a second that impelled Jodha to almost confirm her victory... till his next words slashed her pompous smile. "As you wish Sweetheart. Why to disappoint you when I can always have a second opportunity and many more at home?"
Uff!! She grinned in defeat. Who is she baiting?
"I'm no Lata Mangeshkar that you keep listening to me again and again," she gibed, unwitting to lose to him so soon. "I'll sing only once and that is now or never. Make your choice."
"Now." Checking time, the conniving man made up his mind. "But if you were to stop for any reason, you've to resume anytime I ask. Okay?"
"It means you're going to stop me somehow," having studied him in and out, she immediately snapped back. "Not okay."
"I shall not flinch an inch from here," his timbre exuded confidence. "...nor will make an attempt to close your mouth, okay?" Having apprehended from his husky tone what kind of closing he's hinting at, Jodha stifled the pulsating heat from becoming evident in her cheeks. "You don't have to move, one funny comment from you and I'll end up laughing."
"I won't utter a word either," Jalal promised. Deliberating on other means of interruption if not for his wicked actions or instigating comments, and failing to surmise any, Jodha skeptically relented. She knew he had some plan and it'd come out only if she agreed to the deal. "You've a choice of song?" She asked and when he left the choice open to her, she apparently thought of the number that effortlessly rolled on her tongue - a song, she was forced to sing bountiful times before this. Looking down to her lap, she drew a labored breath but the recurrently drying throat helped her realize it isn't going to be as cakewalk as it was before Samyu.
"We're not looking at each other..." she gave a helpless warning. "My eyes down and yours on road... and strictly no laughing."
"Mm!" Reining the laughter that began sprouting even before she started, Jalal muted the audio.
"Ee velalo neevu..."
Two seconds later, the song came out of her mouth so low that Jalal had to strain his ears. Taking a quick deep breath to fill her lungs and to suppress the shake in her voice, Jodha tightly shut her eyes and resumed the rendition... this time a pitch higher.
"Ee velalo neevu... em chestu untavo
anukuntu untanu... prati nimishamu nenu..
na gunde enado... chey jaaripoyindi..."
Slowly, very slowly the mellifluous waves entered Jalal's ears, abated the simmering mirth and filled his whole self with pleasant aria. There is a little shyness, a mild quiver in her tone but it only made his girl all the more adorable.
"nee needaga mari... na vaipu ranandi
doorana untune... em maya chesavo...
Ee velalo neevu... em chestu untavo
anukuntu untanu prati nimishamu nenu.."
Once he had reeled out from the initial awe, Jalal concentrated on the essence of lyrics and a soft smile touched his lips. Jodha stopped a second for breath and when she resumed with the first stanza of song, Jalal felt a peculiar familiarity with the tune and with the words.
"nadireyi lo neevu... nidaraina raaniivu.. gadichedelaa kaalamuu..."
He was meditating on how he knew the song when Jaguar's clock ticked Six thirty one and its audio reverberated with a call from Four Wheels conference room. At that unexpected disruption, Jodha's eyes opened but her lips didn't give up singing.
"Pagalaina kasepu pani chesukoneevu..."
"Shucks!" Jalal dismissed the call, genuinely regretting the interruption.
"nee meedane dhyanamu..." she continued with an amorous smile but another long ring of his phone gradually subdued her voice.
"Monthly meeting with managers," he guiltily explained. "Pre scheduled."
Completely coming out of the lull the rendition nudged her into, Jodha easily laughed. "So this was the plan? I guessed all possibilities, expect a call."
"Another minute of delay wouldn't set hells loose." Disconnecting the call again, he glanced apologetic. "Bad ploy on my part Jo. Please continue."
"First stop looking so remorseful as if you plagued M.S. Subbalakshmi's concert." She seized his phone. "Second, the deal is still on. So...," she dialed the last received call and gaily whispered. "...wind it up fast and let the poor managers get back to their families soon." Bereft of acknowledging her sweetness with words since the call was answered by then, the besotted boss did the only next possible thing- pout his lips for two seconds, wink at her and then announce his presence to the participants. The enchanted lady on his left looked away... basking in the ardor of air kiss he blew her way.
~~~
Inhaling the aroma of fried besan, Jodha dropped the empty lunch box in sink and moved to the elderly lady seated at kitchen exit. "Oh, henna?! Where did this come from?" crouching on knees, she merrily enquired.
"My son got it this afternoon Jodhamma," Vasantha looked up smiling. "We have henna tree at home. My grand daughter and I love to fill our hands with henna for every festival. We don't like the store brought ones as it's filled with chemicals."
"Right, but these days, who has the patience to sit for two hours to let the hands dry?" Jodha said peeking at the traditional design on Vasantha's hand. "My grand ma's home too has henna tree. She used to get the leaves whenever she visited us. It's been very long since I tried it last."
"Why don't you try it today?" Vasantha expectantly asked. "We have enough and you don't have to wait for two hours either. Half an hour is more than enough for this henna to give a perfect shade of red. Shall I put on your hands?" Though Jodha held no special interest in Henna it's the older lady's enthusiasm that caused her yield. "After dinner..." she proposed. "Meantime I'll finish office work."
"Madam, shall I make bajji now?" Returning to kitchen after attending Jalal, Mani asked. "Or do you want me to wait till you fresh up?"
"Now," getting up, she smiled to the attendant. "The aroma is devastating Mani, I can't wait longer. I'll quickly fresh up and come." She was about to scoot out when Vasantha called from behind. "There is a bowl in fridge for you Jodhamma. Check it."
"For me?" Turning back, she intrigued but received no response than an impish nod from both peeps. Puzzled by their amused glances, Jodha traipsed to refrigerator, took a glass bowl out, and cried loud. "Rasmalai," she exuberantly turned back, "...where did this come from? You made it Mani? But when I asked on Sunday, you said you don't know how to make?!"
"I still say the same madam," Mani grinned at her childlike excitement. "I never tried Rasmalai and the one in your hands came from Delhi."
"Delhi?" She stared astounded. "Seriously? All the way from Delhi as if its not available in Banga..." her frivolous quip trailed as realization dawned. "Delhi?" she looked down to the bowl and this time a known smile crystallized on her lips. She is yet to know who sent it but she already knew on whose request, rather order it was sent upon. "Jalal..." Her smile elevated to an effervescent grin.
"A man got it this afternoon saying sir's Delhi friend sent it..." Vasantha was still explaining when Jodha rushed to the closet, grabbed a spoon, and vamoosed out of kitchen.
Keeping his ongoing meeting in mind, Jodha briefly halted by the door to get a grip on her excited giggles before she slowly tiptoed into his suite. However stealthy she was, the click of knob made Jalal momentarily pause and then resume, his eyes meandering from the 100watt glow on her face to the vessel in her hands.
Rasmalai... Stopping by the cupboard, she mutely screamed and vivaciously held the bowl up for his view. Blinking in comprehension, Jalal returned her zesty grin with an equally ebullient one and silently mouthed her a word ... Enjoy!
Instead of invading the most tempting dessert, Jodha planked against the closet watching him with an adoring smile and Jalal knew she wouldn't eat without him. Two minutes... he signed with fingers and she happily nodded.
"Suppose if I say I'm missing Ghantewala's Rasmalai, won't you get for me?" Stirring milk with spoon, she slipped into reminiscence of their conversation a week back. He denied then, so she had to compel him to submission later, but her instincts said the sweet in her hands wasn't the result of her coercion. He'd have anyways fulfilled her wish, to that point ANY WISH. He wouldn't deny her a thing...she only has to ask.
"Why do you agree to everything she asks?" Her memories traveled further down the lane, to a night she heard her Mom debate with her father... to the night she coaxed her father into buying a Scooty.
"Not everything..." her father corrected. "Things that are with in my reach and range."
"That makes almost everything." Outside the doors, she laughed imagining her Mom's scowling face. "I haven't seen you denying her one thing till today. If you continue to do so, Jo would forever believe she gets anything she asks. She would never learn how to take a NO. This is her home and its okay for her to demand anything. But remember, one day she has to go to someone else's home and situation might not be same there. If she's not used to denial, she will have hard time coping then and the worst irony is people will blame me and my upbringing... not you or your ladli."
"My exact point." Her father coolly said. "We don't know what kind of home she goes, or what likes of people she might have to live with... so let her be a pampered princess here..." Just when she's taking shameless pride of being a pampered munchkin, her Mom's words came as quashing warning.
"That'd only make her more obstinate Raghu. In name of pampering, you are spoiling her. Either you be strict or let me be."
"Meenu is little stubborn Sudha... but that is all she is. She's not as obstinate as you fret. Anyways, she's growing under the influence of Gautam, and with a brother cum mentor like him, Meenu can never be a disappointment. As to my pampering, I know the thin line between pampering and spoiling rot...
"I didn't know Rasmalai could be spicy too." Dragged to reality by a dab on her left cheek, Jodha looked up to the man thickly staring at her, his rugged arms anchored on either sides of her. Softly smiling, she batted lids and lifted a spoonful to his mouth. "How did you manage to get this in two days?"
"Seven days." He corrected
"I thought you said no when I asked you seven days back," she jeered, feeling proud of being right about him.
"If not for the designs..." he took another testing bite. "...and this is still a sweet. As far as I know, sweets don't bring tears."
... but your sweetness does!!
Donning a gentle smile, she dabbed the residue of milk above his upper lip. "Why do I feel you'd have anyways brought me this, though not for the designs; and why do I feel there is nothing you deny me... ever?" she said, searching his imperceptible depths.
Caught between her tender smile and devoted gaze, Jalal guardedly quipped. "Try asking me for another lousy drive..." he angled further, checking for any deviousness obscured behind her devotion. "If you're looking for more loose promises like - anything within my reach - like the one I had foolishly bailed out last time... you're mistaken. I hold no interest in lorry or road roller or submarine drives."
"I see..." the undaunted girl leveled him with a known nod while a devious plot conspired in back of her brain.
"And you didn't yet answer me on...
"Jodhamma... bajji is ready. Shall I bring it upstairs?" Vasantha's shout from the foot of staircase not only interjected his trial but also fetched a luscious grin on him. "You didn't take long to spoil them, did you?" His arms dropped to her sides, firmly clutching them. "Screaming at top of lungs is totally new to them and you taught it just in three days?!" Engaging his hands in a better task, to clamp the bowl instead of her sides, Jodha tugged herself free. "Fighting silence... together" she winked before she turned on her heels. "Be right back."
~~~
Continued in next post...
Edited by hemakeerti - 8 years ago
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