Chapter 4 | Di
"Paison ke ameer, dil ke gareeb?" Payal looked in disbelief.
"Kya? It was appropriate for the situation. Please abhi aise judge bhi math karo humein" Khushi complained.
They both stared at each other before bursting out giggling, Khushi began tickling her sister until it turned to full blown laughter.
Turns out Khushi was right to expect her family to burst out in hysteria. Her Babu Ji was absolutely furious, Bua Ji was devastated and Amma inconsolable. One might think that someone had died in the Haveli that day. Khushi didn't know what to do with herself as her mother yelled at her for meddling in affairs that are far from her concern. Bua Ji, weirdly was the least upset of the trio. In fact, she was trying to console her parents instead of revving them? However, as expected her father expressed disappointment in Khushi.
"Tum se yeh umeed nahi thi humein" her father had shook his head, looking at her with a detached expression.
Khushi thought she had mentally prepared for this but it hurt nevertheless to hear it out loud.
"But Babu Ji-"
"Kya zaroorat thi?"
"...Woh dahej maang rahe the...loan....kaise chukate hum?"
"Kya dahej dahej?" he nearly shouted.
"Babua-" Bua ji tried to interject but he wouldn't stop, "Chuka lete kisi tarah! Woh tumhari responsibility NAHIN thi Khushi. Tumko is mein dakhal dene ki koi zaroorat thi hi nahi!"
"Kaise nahin zaroorat thi, loan ke karz ki chukane ki responsibiltiy sirf aapki nahin hoti Babu Ji" she said in a low voice.
What a society they lived in... where the social status of a family was decided by how well the parents married their children off. It was one thing if it truly cared about the well-being of it's constituents but no! It only cared about the impossible standards it sets. No consideration of economic disparity. A disparity so unforgiving that it compelled families to fall into debt trying to keep up with the so-called culture. Khushi has always despised these facets of her culture she had seen growing up and could not have hated it more than she did it in that moment. Society doesn't care if you live or your die or your well-being for that matter , yet it has to have a say in every aspect your life, who you marry, the sect of the person you marry, the family, the stars, how much are the families spending, what gifts are the families exchanging, was it arranged, was it an affair?? And what a sick misogynistic society they have evolved into where men's needs dictated women's right to be happy and feel secure. It feels like same the face looks different.
Khushi believed herself to be a grown woman but she'd be lying if arguing with your parents don't reduce you to a babbling fool somehow. She fought her tears and that itch in her throat so hard. She will not cry guilty tears for doing the right thing - inspite of all the chaos.
"Ab chhodo bhi Babua, kya karlo ge ab. Jo hona tha so hogaya. Kyon in baaton ko lekar apne jee ko jalate rahoge!" Bua ji intervened.
Khushi shot a grateful look at Bua ji but received a reprimanding stare in return. She braced for it to turn into scolding but thankfully Buaji only shooed her away - half-heartedly "Aur tumhein itna drama karke pet nahin bhara jo aur karne ke liye yahan khadi ho kya? Jao...andar jao, Payal bitiya ke yahan baitho! Pura din toh thithur thithur ke yahan wahan bhag rahi thi.. ab toh jao behen ka thoda saath do.
She didn't need to be told twice to get out from the Angan where she was confronted by the entire family like a predator pouncing on its prey. Some of her cousins were trying not to wince at the intensity of the onslaught. Bua Ji was awfully quiet through out this ordeal.
Finally freed from the ear chewing, Khushi ran towards her Jeeji's room with urgency. She'd almost forgot about her sister in these futile arguments.
She wiped her now running tears and walked into the room. Surprise would be an understatement when she entered her Jeeji's room. Her Jeeji was was seated on her work desk - typing away on her laptop as she murmured numbers and some financial jargon on her phone. Spreadsheet was open on the screen. Her iPad on the display stand beside it, showed an ongoing video conference?
Is she actually working? Now? 12 am? Khushi blinked her eyes to process what she was seeing.
"Jeeji" she gently called. The said Jeeji signaled two minutes to her sister. Not knowing what to make of the scene Khushi carefully strode in and sat on the edge of the bed. Trying to think of how to approach the unfolded scene in front, she reached over to grab a glass of water on the bedside table, this situation was way more disconcerting than the chaos that ensued downstairs. At least she knew what to expect!
"Yeah, the results are sufficiently coincidening with the predictions....yes, it's all looking good for now. Lemme know if you need a back up or anything else...alright I will leave you to it then...glad to have been there to help you....also, I quit."
Khushi spit the water in shock.
That was the last thing one would expect of her. Not her workaholic, overworked, lack of boundaries, married to her job Jeeji quitting it.... willingly. This HAS to be that one weird dream where nothing would happen as you would expect. Payal shut the laptop after clicking sent on a really long pre-written email, all while cutting the call without any explanation. Khushi immediately came to her sister's side to check on her, only to find her smiling at her.
"I did it " she said.
"Sab theek hai na Jeeji?" Khushi asked in concern. Her sister held her hand and with a confidence she had rarely ever seen her muster she said "Ek dum" with her head held high. Khushi blinked and stared trying to read her face which shone with nothing but pride and self-belief. "I am proud of you if that is what you want" she reassured while trying to parse what really was happening with her sister. Payal blinked and nodded in confirmation. "Aur...aapne change karliya?" she treaded slowly. "Haan, I didn't see the point anymore and I had a pending work - " she gestured,"..isliye changed. Could she be trying to avoid the situation? Khushi speculated. Yeh kabse itni impulsive hui hain?
"Jeeji aap theek toh ho na," she decided to cut to chase.
Payal closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "Haan. Hum theek hain" she opened her eyes with disbelief. Like she was surprised that she'd meant the words.
Khushi took a moment to settle and confessed "Hum bohot dare hue the...humein laga..Jeeji -" Khushi kneeled on the floor taking hold of Payal's hands "aap sach mein theek ho na? You don't have to be strong for us. We can take it if it's not okay - I can take it. Hum vaada karte hain. Koi kuchh nahin kahega aapko, dekhna aap." Khushi didn't realize she started crying until Payal wiped the tears and held her sister in a strong embrace. She just wanted her Jeeji to be okay, society could go burn at this point. Khushi will not bend to make some entitled patriarchial construct of a society to tell her what's right and wrong. Her Jeeji's happiness is the priority for her!
"Shhhh"
"Chalo ab bas bhi!" her Jeeji scolded, "Shaadi meri tooti hai aur depressed tum ho rahi ho!"
"Kuchh bhi kehti ho Jeeji. I was worried" Khushi retorted.
"Please tumhe bas mera thunder churana hai aur kuchh nai"
Khushi's stuttered "kya..matlab..hum toh aise hi..." Payal chortled in repsonse, "Pagal ho tum"
Khushi smiled at the familiar phrase from her Jeeji.
"Aur Payal ho app" Khushi giggled at her PJ.
"Neend aa rahi hai tumhein" Payal cringed, rolling her eyes, fighting a smile.
She stared at her sister, at the newness of her demeanor, the glint in her eyes - the joy of clarity found herself and not tears as Khushi had expected.
However, she had to ask one last time - for her own sake more than anything. Last few hours were catching up to her. Her Jeeji being her Jeeji knew her question before she opened her mouth.
"Haan hum sach mein bilkul theek hain - never better...sach batayein toh humein kuchh der ke liye bura laga tha. Lekin phir humein ehsaas hua ki kisliye. Isliye nahin ki wedding tooti, isliye ki wedding ki tayyariyan bekar hui, itna sab karz se kiya kharcha bekar hua. Aur yeh sab sirf isliye kyun ki humne apna ghar nahin kiya unke naam? That's like adding insult to injury. Humne, hamesha apni pasand ke saamne dusron ki pasand ko aage rakha hai. I didn't want to marry for me Khushi, I wanted to because Babuji aur Amma liked the guy so much. Did you know the first thought I had on hearing the news? It was relief Khushi. I was just relieved we didn't have to sign off the house for the karz?
"I can't believe I let this happen in first place Khushi. This wedding didn't make sense from the beginning. It was ill-fitted from the moment the guy's family hinted a demand. I was too afraid to accept that. Call it for it is. So, I consider myself lucky, all things considered. I don't want to be a that person anymore. That person who is okay to settle just because it's easy to say yes. Or someone who is living a passive life driven by other's expectations and by what I truly need. I deserve better!"
Khushi nodded fervently, "You do!"
"Isliye hum yakeen se keh saktey hain ki hum theek hain. In fact, I feel grateful because it made me realize my worth. It forced me to confront my fears and face them with courage I didn't know I had. I am okay, I can see myself being content with this decision."
Seeing this confidence filled Khushi with such joy, she momentarily felt like everything was okay.
Grateful, she sent a quick to her dear Devi Mayya.
As relief crept in, Khushi realized she was dead tired. The high energy she had been running on the whole day, seemed to be crashing.
Payal sensing the energy change, grabbed her touch screen device and pulled her visibly tired younger sister towards her bed. She switched off the lights and they cuddled under the blanket.
Khushi instantly closed her eyes breathing in relief hugging her sister tight.
"Kitna bhaag daud karti ho tum" Payal teased her sister while looking for a cozy movie on her touch screen device, they both can escape to.
"Tch Jeeji, sone do humein, subah uthke aapko saari khabar bhi toh deni hai" Khushi pouted, hugging her sister tighter inspite of her sister's 'takkiya banalo humein' remark.
"Ab aur kya khabar dena bacha hai, itna sab toh humein pata hi hai"
"Kuchh nahin bas jo sunaya hain na humne us aadmi ko tumhein - "
"Kya?" her sister sat straight, "Tum usse mili?"
Khushi's sleep evaded just like that. "Haan..mathlab humein laga aapko pata tha -"
"Khaak pata tha! Weddkng ka plan toh tumhare nikalte hi kuchh minton baad hi cancel hogaya tha. Humein laga tumhein pata hai, Bua Ji ne toh kaha tha ki tum traffic phasih ho. Tabhi bolun itni der kyun hui, do ghante tak itna bhi kya suna diya tumne?" her jeeji asked grinning in bafflement.
"Humara bas chalta toh aur dus ghante sunate us b****r*m ki aulad ko, lekin b*w*k**f se behes thodi na kiya jata, hai na Jeeji?"
Payal chortled lightly in reply. "Thoda bohot hi sahi, akhir bola kya tumne?"
So, she recounted. Her Jeeji's mouth lay ajar by the end of the story.
"Khushi bua ji sach kehtin hain, tum Pagal ho" she muffled her laughter but Khushi could tell she was pleased to hear the way she handled it. Ping, Ping, Ping, Payal's tablet notifications, it was Insta - Khushi's Insta account. "Khushi kitni baar bola hai tumhe, mere work tablet mein apne account mat kholne ke liye. Mera work tablet hai."
"Tch, theek hai na. Kal subah logout kardeinge hum, ab itna naraaz bhi mat ho, app mein glitch hora toh"
"Badi meherbaani" Payal shoved Khushi playfully. Khushi took that physical momentum to roll on to an actual takkiya this time to go to sleep. Sleep came and hugged her like an old estranged friend, only to be violently jerked out of it by her Jeeji.
It was early morning 7am.
"Khushi yeh asrkidulhan ke hashtag kya matlab hai?"
Khushi was disoriented as hell from sleep. Payal went on "Aur tum Arnav Singh Raizada ki baahon mein kyun ho?" Payal said pointing at one of the thousand notifications that popped up on her tab. What? Dulhan, Khushi grappled to understand her sister's words.
"I woke up from sleep to the most annoying sound of continuous pinging," she said pointing to the still pinging sound of notifications which was now starting to overstimulate Khushi's senses. Payal continued "What is the meaning of all this. What are these pictures? Is it AI or what?"
"Woh jiji...Khushi began..zara sal kya hua ki -"
"Kya? Kya hua Khushi?"
"Please naraz mat hona Jiji, woh hum us aadmi ka ghar ghalati se....fashion show"
Leave it to her sister to always end up at wrong place at wrong time, Payal sighed.
"Aur yeh hua.....?" her Jeeji looked at her with exasperation, like 'what happened this time?' expression.
Khushi tried not to get offended at that. She does have tendencies to get into run into weird situations. She hesitated though, stifling her yawn as an excuse. Payal had to pinch her and demand" saaf saaf batao Khushi"
"Ouuuch! Please yaar Jiji, aap daantna mat."
"I'll think about it" payal made no promises.
"Tch!" Khushi pouted, straightening up to continue.
"Woh kya hua ki, hum ladke walon ka ghar dhoondte dhoondte ek...fashion show mein pahunch gaye" Khushi cringed thinking how ridiculous that sounded.
Payal was too shocked to say anything except a loud "KYA?"
"Sorry Jeeji, hum jaante hain how this sounds, but Devi Mayya ki kasam hum ghalati se pahunche...woh-"
Khushi sneaked a glance at her sister for her reaction and got swatted in return by her.
"Ahhhh Jeeji! Bola toh humne naraaz mat hona" Khushi pouted, complaining while rubbing her arm.
"And I made no promises!" Payal retorted. "Itne bade label hai?? Kya kar rahi thi tum wahan? Aur kaise pohunchi???"
Khushi snorted, "Yakeen kariye, hum achhe se jaanthe hain Jeeji kitna bada designer brand hai! Everyone in India does!!"
"I still don't understand how even you ended up there!" Payal was confused.
Khushi silenced the device, "Haan! Waise humein bhi nahin pata humein nahi pata hum kaise pahunch gaye."
"Pehle hi us manhoos aadmi ne humein khoob sunaya ab aap bhi mat shuru hojana. Fikr mat kijiye, aap ke hisse ka bhi sunadiya us ne."
Payal straightened at the that detail. "Kya matlab, kya hua wahan?" she said trying to ignore the pinging on her Ipad.
Edited by Rizz-ington - 10 days ago
Ufff Yeh Love Hai Mushkil
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