MEHENDI ki RAAT
Geet initially resisted but daadi was persuasive that this would satisfy her and it was the most apt occasion being her first karvachauth.
Geet hesitantly confided into meera that she has a mehendi booking so if she would accompany her. Nuts was unexpectedly ready to accompany them. They went to the parlour after their classes in the evening. Geet got mehendi on her legs upto her knee and upto her elbow on the hands.
Nuts was trying to lighten up the moment as she knew the whole occasion must be hurting geet somewhere deep. Karvachauth was no festival but deeply associated with her stupid marital status.
Mehendi wala ' madam apke husband ka naam likhna hai?
Nuts ' haan magar hath mein nahi. Legs pe vo niche mein likhna. Toes pe best hoga.
Meera and geet started laughing.
Meera ' nahi yaar bechare ka naam kuch upar likhenge. Bhaiya mujhe zaara cone dena. She wrote AKDOO on one hand and KHAROOS on the other.
They again laughed. They had a laugh riot all thru the process. Meera kept feeding chocolates to geet. They kept cracking silly jokes.
Finally geet reached home late as the mehendi took a long time to complete. Geet entered the dining hall. She looked so sweet. Salwar pulled upto her knee and secured there with help of safety pins and her hands raised high in air with palms open. She walked like a toddler who had just learnt to walk and keeps each step with care. Geet walked softly not to spoil her mehendi.
Daadi had just completed her dinner. Dev was busy feeding NT. Maan had had too much of the coochie coo dev was doing for NT who sat there with mehendi in her hands. He was anxious to complete his dinner to get rid of such drama of love. He saw geet and left a silent laugh on her awkwardness. The girl had a specialty in looking appealing in whatever she did.
Dm ' geet apki mehendi dikhaiye. Wow its beautiful. Finally apne meri baat man k lagva liya. Dekhiye ab kitna acha lag raha hai.
# daadi ' maan se to geet ko khilane ki umeed karna hi bekaar hai. Vo bilkul aise nahi hai. So mein hi khila deti hu. Dekho tb se dev ko dekh k kaise frown kar rahe hai. #
Dm ' geet aiye hum apko khila du.
G ' nahi meine thora khaya hai. Meera ne chocolates and chips khilaye hai.
Dm ' kal fast hai geet. Proper dinner kar lijiye.
Geet took a seat near daadi when nakul pulled a chair for her to sit comfortably. Daadi started feeding her.
Dev was meanwhile searching his name in NT mehendi.
Dev 'I cant find it.
Maan ' what r u trying to search in that. Map of delhi.
Dev smiled nahi bro mera naam. They write husbands name in the mehendi. Geet aapne bhi likhvaya hai na.
Geet gulped in. aaa haan haan likha hai'.
Dev ' geet u got it on your legs too it looks good. NT tum legs kyu nahi lagvati?
NT ' I dnt have the patience to sit for that long.
Dev ' how do they apply on ur legs.
NT ' oh we sit on the chair with our legs placed on the persons lap and he applies it.
Dev ' now I know why there are so many men in the business of applying mehendi.
All three women glared at dev and then started laughing.
Maan's attention was drawn to this explanation. He looked at geet's small soft foot. He imagined the whole scene in his mind and shook his head. # maan tu ye kya kar raha hai. Imagine kar k gussa kyu ho raha hai. Leave it. # he got up and left for his study room.
Maan was settling to go to sleep, when the door opened. Daadi and geet entered. Daadi asked geet to sleep. Geet had scraped off her mehendi by now and had applied some oil to enhance the color. It was orange in colour now.
Geet ' daadi aap jaiye mein so jaungi.
Daadi ' nahi pehle aap soiye tab mein jaungi. Fir mein aapko subh 4am tak uthane aungi. Mein sargi banaungi aapke aur NT kliye.
Geet ' aap kyu trouble leti hai. Nakul bana lega aur vaise bhi mujhe subh kuch nahi khana.
Dm ' geet chup chap soiye mein subh aa jaungi.
Daadi drew off geet's duppata and kept it on the sides of the bed. Geet lowered her head and then looked towards maan. Maan immediately started looking in other direction.
Dm ' chaliye late jaiye. Geet humbly lied down. Daadi covered her with the blanket.
Hum subh aenge aap door lock mat kijiyega varna maan apko uthna parega geet ki jagah. Ye to subh knock karne se uthegi nahi. She smiled and left.
Geet started to get up to leave.
Maan ' tum aaj yahi so jao. Subh daadi uthane aegi to tumko khojegi. he didnt want a chaos in the morning.
Geet ' vo apki sheets gande ho jaenge. She raised her hand to show the oil.
Maan ' koi nahi.
He lied down and switched of the lights.
In morning daadi opened the door to enter maan's room. Maan immediately woke by the click on the knob. Lights were switched on and maan sat up in the bed.
Dm ' jise uthna hai vo so rahi hai aur aap uth gae.
Nakul entered with a tray filled with food' fenia (sweet vermicelli dish, specialty of sargi), dry fruits. Halwa and lemonade.
Maan ' ye kya hai?
Daadi ' ye sargi hai meine geet kliy banayi hai. Aaj uska fast hai na.
Daadi tried to wake up geet.
Geet ' uuumm mujhe nahi uthna. Nahi khana' koi itni raat ko khata hai kya.. daadi shook her. mujhe nahi khana.
Daadi ' geet thora sa kam se kam ritual karke paani pi lijiye varna kal pyaas lag jaegi.
Geet lazily sat up somehow, her eyes still close. She didn't want to wake up at all. Daadi fed her with little fenia to complete the ritual. She gobbled it down somehow. Daadi handed her with the glass of lemonade. Resigning that she wont eat more. Geet slipped in maan's direction in her sleep and landed her head on maan's shoulder. She let it rest there as if found some support to doze off. Daadi smiled at the sight. Maan cudnt straighten her up as daadi was looking at them. Geet brought the glass to her mouth to sip but the glass almost slipped. Maan moved quickly and held the glass and made her sip. Geet's eyes were still close she adjusted her head on his shoulder rubbing her cheeks on his bare shoulder. KODAK.
Dev took the snap instantly. Geet resting her head on maan's shoulder and sipping thru the glass. Her mehendi clad hands were holding the glass and maan's long fingers holding her soft ones. And maan's other hand holding her shoulder to keep her up while drinking.
Dev had come to call daadi as NT was waiting for her.
Dm ' maan aap geet ko dekh lenge plzz. Koshish kar ke thora aur paani pila dijiye. Mein zaara in do bacho ko khila du.NT wahan khane ko ready hai and dev will eat some too.
They were left alone. Maan somehow managed to give geet one more glass of water. She didn't eat anything and was finding great comfort in sleeping in his arms.
Maan tried to make her lie down on the bed but she clinged to his vest and slept on his shoulder. Maan lied there awake with geet in his arms sleeping. Maan cud feel her deep breaths and the warmth she exhaled on to his skin. With so much realization he was not being able to even close his eyes. He combed his fingers thru her hair.
The smell of mehendi had filled his senses. Small pieces of dried mehendi had stuck to his body and her face at so many places. He looked at the dark coloured mehendi on geet's hand which comfortably rested on his chest. He raised her hand to look at her palms and started searching for his name. She had mentioned downstairs that's he has got it written and husbands search it. He couldn't make it out for some time. He found some letters scribbled in caps in the center. He started reading the letters one by one. It was K.H.A.R.O.O.S. he read and tried to pronounce it for some time then realized she has written kharoos instead of his name. He immediately lifted her second palm this time he was faster. it was AKDOO. He smiled at the innocence and audacity of geet. So this was the reason y she had been hesitant in front of daadi and not showing the name to her. She had kept names for him. She believes that im kharoos and akdoo. His smile didn't fade.
He thought of the girl lying in his arms. She was everything a man wud desire as a wife. She was beautiful, innocent and his family loved her. Her laughter could fill any void in life but did he want this.
Maan singh khurana was a powerful man, bold, adventurous, fearing nothing. Yet inside the hard exterior was a man with frailty. He had his hard shell to survive in this brutal world. His hard and rude ways helped him survive thru the worsts he had faced in life. People see u by what u achieve but within he knew how much he had lost.
Maan knew his own weakness was emotion. Once he had yielded to it so completely that it nearly destroyed him. Determined never to succumb again. Never to make the mistake again, he imprisoned his heart behind bolts and bars so that nobody should suspect the truth. Nobody could hurt and shatter him again. He had learnt well from his mistakes in life and this was his biggest lesson which had changed his life. He had believed in someone to be hopelessly betrayed.
Was he willing to open to this girl? She seemed pure but could he just naively believe in those innocent eyes. Was she as vulnerable as she seemed. He couldn't decide. He closed his eyes to banish all the thoughts.
He lived that moment enclosing her in embrace tightly to let it last for a lifetime. He inhaled her scent, breathed in rhythm with her and absorbed every moment keenly.
I will never fall for her. This will either destroy me or shatter her.
It was time for his workout he slipped out of the bed. Tucked the blanket to make her cozy and left.
PHEW finally a long one.... i will take time to post the next. now if u all want long updates then its fine. i can write but then i will update only after 2-3 days or so. writing and editing takes time. i was giving short posts daily but i think u all want long ones so plzzz let me take time to post the next update.
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