Part 3. There’s going to be a 4th and final part.
Dhara came on the stage. “Thank you Krish. Toh mera pehla sawal hai Rishita se. First question hai isliye kuch easy puchti hu. Dev ka favourite khana kya hai?”
“Yeh toh bohot easy hai bhabhi. Dev ko biryani bohot pasand hai. In fact, Maine humari first anniversary pe iske liye apne haatho se biryani banayi thi.”
“Bilkul sahi jawab.” Dhara said. “Dev same question tumhare liye.”
“Rishita ko pasta bohot pasand hai.” Dev answered.
No one knew Rishita’s favourite dish so when Rishita said yes, they took her word for it and Anita put 2 in Devta column. Now was Shivi’s turn.
“Bata Raavi Shiva ka favourite colour kya hai?” Dhara asked.
“Black.”
“Correct.” Dhara smiled. “Aur Shiva, Raavi ka?”
“Yellow.”
“Correct.” Dhara and Anita shouted together. Anita quickly gave 2 points to Shivi.
“Tujhe kaise pata Raavi ka favourite colour yellow hai?” Krish asked.
“Humesha toh chapad chapad karti rehti hai. Kabhi bol diya hoga usne.” Shiva said, but his mind flashed back to three years. Raavi saw a bouquet of flowers which Gaumbi had given to Dhara on their anniversary and she squealed loudly.
“Ae Mami ki behen ki beti, chilla kyu rahi hai?” Shiva asked.
“Yellow flowers. Yellow mera favourite colour hai!”
“Ab second question.” Dhara continued. “Dev, Rishita ka favourite holiday spot kaunsa hai? Rishita ne yeh fb pe post kiya tha. Krish ne dhoond ke nikala.”
“Manali.” Dev replied.
“Galat jawab.” Krish said. “Goa!”
“Manali tumhe jana tha, mere favourite nahi hai!” Rishita looked annoyed.
“Sorry, main bhul gaya tha.”
“Achha ab Rishita. Dev ko kis cheez se allergy hai?” Dhara asked.
“Nuts se.”
“Sahi jawab.”
Anita gave them one point, but Rishita looked annoyed.
“Raavi bata Shiva ki favourite film kaunsi hai?”
“Sholay aur Agneepath.” Raavi hated Shiva’s choice of films. Whenever she would go to his house, he would be watching either of these films.
“Correct.” Dhara smiled. “Shiva, Raavi ki jab tabiyat kharab hoti hai toh use kya chahiye hota hai?”
Shiva’s mind flashback to the time when Raavi fainted in their house. As it turned out, she had a 102 degree fever. Dhara bhabhi spoke to Maami and arranged it so that she could spend the night in Pandya house.
“Sabka attention chahiye hota hai. Aur ice-cream, par fever hota hai toh ice-cream nahi milti. Phir muh suja se baith jati hai aur chocolate mangti hai.”
That night, Shiva had secretly crept into Dhara bhabhi’s room to see if that Maami ki behen ki beti was fine. She tightly hugged Dhara bhabhi and was sleeping peacefully. Shiva never understood why he felt the need to go and check up on her. But he didn’t get much sleep that night. The next morning, she was back to normal and was fighting with him as usual. He went to sleep when she went back to her house.
When Shiva came out of his thoughts, he found everyone staring at him. Even Raavi. Her jaws literally dropped. Shiva felt slightly uncomfortable.
“Aap next question puchiye bhabhi.” He said.
Anita gave them two points which enraged Rishita. Shiva and Raavi had taken the lead. How did he know so much about her?
“Rishita, batao Dev ka sabse bara sapna kya hai?” Dhara asked.
“Dev ko Somnath ka sabse bara businessman banna hai.” Rishita answered.
“Thik toh hai par adhura jawab.” Dhara said.
“Rishita mujhe sabse bara businessman nahi banna, mujhe humari family ko Somnath ka sabse bara business family banana hai.” Dev said.
Then there was some argument whether Rishita should get half a point, but it was Mami who suddenly stood up and shouted. “Yeh half shaf such nahi. Aadha answer nahi chalega.” Suman agreed with her and the matter resolved quickly.
“Dev batao tumne Rishita ko kab propose kiya tha? Date batana parega.”
“2 saal pehle, 14th Feb, Valentine’s Day.”
“No Dev.” Rishita looked frustrated. “14th Feb ko tumhari koi family emergency aa gayi thi. Tumne mujhe 15th Feb ko propose kiya tha.”
“Sorry, mujhe dates yaad nahi rehte.”
“Slap day.” Krish chimed in. “Aapko toh bara mann kar raha hoga apne Dev ko slap karne ka.”
“Chup kar Krish.” Dhara said.
“Iss round me tum dono ko koi points nahi milenge.” Anita said.
“Raavi, Shiva ka first crush kaun tha?” Dhara asked.
“First crush?” Raavi didn’t know Shiva had a first crush. He never shared it with her. Even Krish and Gaumbi looked clueless about it. It made her very angry to think that Shiva had a crush on someone. Raavi recognised this feeling and knew it was jealousy. But why was she feeling jealous?
“Kya hua Raavi?” Dhara asked.
“Mujhe nahi pata tha iska koi crush tha.” Raavi said somewhat upset.
“Madhuri Dixit.” Dhara smiled.
Raavi sighed in relief. She realised she would have been extremely jealous and upset if it were not a celebrity. “Aap celebrity crush ki baat har rahe the. Mujhe laga koi real ladki.”
“Raavi bhabhi aap tension mat lo. Shiva ke life mein bachpan se leke aajtak bas aap hi ho.” Krish said.
“Ae gadhera, chup kar.” Shiva shouted.
“Sorry Raavi par iss baar tujhe koi points nahi milenge.”
Rishita was relieved. Her frown turned into a smile. She didn’t care about the points, only the fact that she was the only girl in Shiva’s life.
“Shiva, Raavi ne life mein first time kaunsa khana banaya tha?” Dhara asked.
“Shivaaaaaaaa,” Raavi came out of nowhere, right in the middle of the road.“Yeh dekh, maine cake banaya hai. Sabse pehle tujhe khila rahi hu. Taste kar aur bata kaisa bana hai?” She fed him a bite before he could say no.
Shiva spit it out. It was the worst cake he ever had. “Ae Maami ki behen ki beti, yeh kya gobar banaya hai? Chabaya toh jaata nahi hai par se itna kadwa bana hai.”
“Chocolate cake.”
“Galat jawab. Raavi ne first time mere saath halwa banaya tha.” Dhara said.
“Nahi Dhara di. Shiva thik keh raha hai. Maine first time cake banaya tha aur Shiva ko sabse pehle khilaya tha. Par woh sachhi bohot bura bana tha isliye maine kisiko nahi bataya.” Raavi confessed.
“Shiva thik keh raha hai. Isne pehle cake banaya tha par woh puri tarah se jal gaya tha.” Anita said.
“Iska matlab Shiva ne bacha liya. Shivi ko ek point milta hai iss round mein.” Krish said. “Achha yeh bataiye bhabhi, aapne first Shiva ko hi kyu khilaya cake? Humlog kya marr gaye the?”
If she was being honest, Raavi didn’t know why she thought of him when she made the cake. But all she knew is she wanted Shiva to taste it first. She wanted his opinion. But it turned out to be useless, as she had burned the cake. “Shiva sabse pehle mila mujhe isliye.”
“Ab yeh last sawal humare dono couples ke liye.” Dhara said. “Rishita Dev ka best friend kaun hai?”
“Main.” She smiled.
Dhara and Dev both looked at her awkwardly. Dhara didn’t want to tell her that she was wrong, so she asked Dev to tell her the truth silently.
“Rishita main Gaumbi ko apna best friend manta hu. Tum meri second best friend ho.” He smiled.
“Yeh kya Dev? Main aur Shiva tere kuch nahi? Wah wah, bhai ne bhai ko dhokha diya!” Krish said.
“Tujhe toh main baad me dekhunga.” Dev said.
Rishita looked like she was about to cry. Not only were they losing, but Dev said she wasn’t his best friend. It hurt. She looked at Shiva and Raavi’s score. They were so much ahead of them. But how could it be? They couldn’t stand each other.
“Dev bata Rishita ka favourite brand kaunsa hai?” Dhara asked.
“Manish Malhotra.” Dev said. “Humare college ke farewell mein usne Manish Malhotra ka gown pehna tha aur sab meri Rishita ko hi ghoore jaa rahe the. Aur woh mujhe.”
This finally improved Rishita’s mood. She smiled at her Dev. Anita gave them one point. Devta had 4 points and Shivi had 5 points. Rishita prayed they would get zero points in this round.
“Shiva, Raavi jab bohot upset hoti hai toh kya karti hai?”
“Apni diary mein apne dil ki baat likhti hai aur phir chocolates khaati hai.”
“Usne mujhe orphan bulaya. Maa, papa, aap log mujhe chod ke chale kyu gaye? Kya main ek achhi beti nahi thi?” Raavi wrote this in her diary. Shiva had followed her when she ran from the library crying. She was writing in her diary and when she left, he read that passage. Then he went and beat up that bully and got suspended for a week. Dhara bhabhi and Gaumbi scolded him a lot, but he didn’t mind. That boy had it coming. Later, he took a handful of chocolate from the store and kept in Raavi’s bag when she came to Pandya niwas. But of course, she thought they were from Dev.
He found Raavi staring at him with an astonished look. She obviously didn’t expect him to know so much. Shiva looked around to see Gaumbi, Dhara and Krish grinning at him. He decided to ignore their stares.
“Ab Raavi tu bata, Shiva kya chahta hai apni zindagi se?”
“Bhabhi, Shiva apne liye kuch nahi chahta. Shiva bas aapko aur Gaumbi ko khush dekhna chahta hai.” Raavi said this with a smile. This was her favourite thing about Shiva. He just wanted his family to be happy. Nothing else. If they were happy, he was happy. Her smile was that of a proud wife.
Dhara kissed both Raavi and Shiva on their foreheads. Anita added another 2 points to the Shivi column. Now Shivi were at 7 points and Devta were only at 4 points. Rishita looked like she was about to cry. Raavi couldn’t believe they had won!
“Ruko ruko Rishita bhabhi. Abhi toh ek surprise baaki hai!” Krish shouted. “Last round of Shivi vs Devta!”
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