"Bani , shaitaan ki nani, ruk tu , tere bauji ko batati hoon", Shanti cried, Bani freaked, she was caught red handed while stealing mangoes from the neighbouring orchard. Though she had been doing the same for so many days or you can say so many years which everybody knew but she was never caught. She cursed under her breath, "howcome this old hag saw me and that too at this time of the day", thought Bani aloud and earned a mouthful of selected curses from the old lady.
Bani could not escape as Shanti shouted her lungs out and everybody literally everybody gathered around the tree which she had climbed. She did not even get enough time to climb down and she dare not jump from such height. Her sisters Pia and Rano along with her cousins Rashi and Daksh had already ran away and were nowhere in sight. Uday Walia was standing with an army of his servants but what bothered Bani the most were a pair of eyes smiling at her.
"Come down." commanded Uday Walia. She was a nervous wreck by the time her grandfather and her parents joined the army planning to thrash her. The moment she saw her father, she lost it completely and could not decide what was she supposed to do. She adjusted one of her foot in between the branches and was trying to find a place for her another foot when her father shouted, "Are you coming down or should I come up." She lost her remaining balance with his scolding and instead of landing her foot on a branch; she slipped and came down like a ripe mango. The height from which she had fallen was enough to break a bone or two but she survived that fall as she landed somewhere in the lower branches of the tree. Now she looked exactly like a monkey hanging on to a branch. But all that scolding and fall had taken a toll on her and it was getting difficult to hold onto the branch with her legs. Jai was quick enough to rush to her; he could understand that it was difficult for her to keep hanging on that branch for too long. She did try to catch the branch with her hands but was unable to do so, not because she was not agile or flexible but because of the chaos around her and her nervous state. Jai climbed a few branches and reaching on a branch just below her and adjusting himself, he asked her to give her hand to him. Initially she hesitated but finding no way out and running out of energy she accepted his help.
As Jai put her down on her feet, she felt dizzy, but before she could realise what happened, Nishikant shook her violently while holding her by her shoulders.
"What were you doing up there? Stealing,Is that what we have taught you? Don't you get anything to eat at home?"
"Pa please, it was not completely her fault, we all wanted mangoes and she was getting them for us." cried Rano.
"Is that what you are supposed to do when somebody asks for something to eat? Could you not have brought them from the market or ask us instead of climbing on a tree." But he stopped midway of his preaching when he saw what she was wearing.
"What the hell are you wearing?" hissed Nishikant while glaring at his daughter and then shifting his gaze to his wife. Bani had tied her black skirt on both of her shoulders so that it did not come in her way of climbing. But it looked like a sac from which her neck and arms peeped out. Kiran thanked her Gods that atleast she was wearing tights underneath. Rano quickly opened the ties of her skirt and let it fall loose showing her bright red top.
"Bani this is very unlady like behaviour, atleast learn something from Pia." he was stopped by Uday who was finding it hard not to laugh at the situation. Bani raised her head to find everybody having a good laugh at her expense.
"It was Pia di who wanted to eat kachchi amiya and asked me to climb." she said with tears in her eyes. Instead of getting any sympathy it earned her roars of laughter from everybody. She could not stand there anymore being insulted like that, in her attempt to run away from there she hit Jai and fall on the ground with a thud. Jai gave his hand while trying to control himself from laughing and found tears in her eyes that were ready to spill any moment. He bent down to help her and as he touched her elbow to make her stand, she hit him sharply, "Stay away you creep, pervert." she hissed and got up to run away.
**********
Bani lived in Delhi with her parents and visit her bauji every summer. Randheer Walia was not only a neighbour but the one and only best friend of her grandfather RadheShyam Dixit. It was one of those summers when she saw him. He was their neighbours's grandson. "But howcome could he be grandson, he is way too old to be called a grandson, he could be a son or a father if not a grandfather", Bani thought impishly.
She was Nishikant Dixit's daughter, elder to Rano by two years and younger to Pia by three. They always spend their summer vacation with their cousins at their grandfather's place. This year it was no different from previous years except for the fact that Bani had finished her school and was planning to get admission in college. Nah! No way was she planning anything, she was waiting for her results, she would take admission in college only when she would clear her papers. Pia had finished her graduation and was planning to pursue her career in fashion designing. But neither of them knew what was in store for them this summer.
Anupamaa
