~*~*~* Tera Deedar Hua *~*~*~
Kesar khanna hurried to the lift, he couldn't believe of all days today he is late. He is supposed to meet the prospective bride today and he was late for that. The meeting had taken forever to finish and now he was whole of ten minutes late. Finally the lift decided to grace him with it's presence and kesar quickly got in and pressed the button for the rooftop restaurant. The lift was about to close when it again opens, kesar looks up in irritation when she entered. Gulaal malhotra. The prospective bride. kesar starts grinning, even she is late. kesar was about to say hello to her when he noticed that she was talking on the phone, and looks like she didn't really notice him if he was to go by the lack of reaction from her side. "Dhani, I'm so tensed. I just don't know what I'm going to do... yeah yeah I remember everything. *taking deep breaths and confidently says* I'll handle this Kiddu... hey let's go through it one more time... movie won't start for another five minutes Dhani... wait... one last time... Dhani? Hello? " kesar who was listening to her conversation starts frowning handle Kiddu? Kiddu? How did she find that out?
"Hello." he hears gulaal saying, he turns his attention back to her. Is she blind? I'm standing next to her and she is looking at the door? "Hi" she says again. "Erm.. hi... I'm here." kesar replies really wondering whether she had some problem with her eyes. gulaal suddenly turns to look at him frowning "I'm not talking to you." she informs him. Confused kesar starts looking around for the third person in the elevator. "I'm practicing." gulaal says irritated seeing him looking around. "Oh." kesar says thoughtfully. Is she crazy? She is practicing in front of me what she is going to talk to me? And why is she not recognizing me? "I'm Gulaal malhotra, I finished my post graduation..."Is she here to see me or for an interview? Suddenly everything goes dark and the lift comes to a halt. "What happened?" both of them asks out loudly shocked and tensed. The emergency light starts blinking and then it turns on. "What is it? Did the electricity go? Power cut?" gulaal asks. "I don't know." kesar replies and he picks phone to talk to operators.
"What did they say?" gulaal asks him seeing him hang up. "They said that there is a major power failure and we will have to stay here for a while, maybe up to an hour." "WHAT? One hour? I am supposed to meet Kiddu. He is waiting for me." I am Kiddu! No I'm Kesar khanna! Get that right woman! kesar was about to tell her that he is THE Kiddu, when gulaal starts talking on the phone. "Hello Baba... no I didn't meet him... I'm in the lift and there is some power failure here and I'm stuck in here for sometime... they said that it could take time... okay baba... bye." gulaal hangs up the phone seeing the stranger frowning at her she gives him a hesitant smile and kesar smiles back at her. Why is she lying? I'm standing right in front of her. Hasn't she seen my photo? "Hello." kesar greets her in order to start a conversation and find out why she is not recognizing him. "Hello." gulaal replies back. "Are you here to meet someone?" kesar asks suddenly confused whether he got the right person. "Yeah." gulaal smiles as she turns to look at him. "There is this proposal for marriage, so I came to meet the guy." "I assume that guy is this er.. *shuddering* Kiddu you mentioned." kesar asks her. "Yes." gulaal confirms. Okay so it IS her! Then why is she not recognizing me? "So practice was for that?" kesar asks her again. Suddenly frowning she asks him "Why are you so interested in all this?" "We are going to be stuck here for a while, so I thought we could just talk." kesar replies with a shrug. gulaal keeps staring at him for a while then replies "Yeah." After that they were silent for a while each lost in thoughts. kesar 's cell starts ringing bringing them out of their thoughts. kesar picks up the phone it was his father calling to inform him that gulaal was stuck in the lift, without telling his father that he was also stuck in the lift along with gulaal, kesar hangs up.
Noticing that gulaal was sitting down on the ground kesar also sits down. gulaal again dials a number, and starts talking on the phone, "Hey Dhani... I'm stuck in the lift there is a power failure" then she looks at kesar and then whispers "No I'm not alone... who is with me? I don't know. Some guy." Looks like Dhani was a loud person, because kesar heard her asking gulaal whether he was good looking. Girls... "Yeah, you could say that." gulaal replies not realizing that kesar heard Dhani's question. kesar smiles hearing that making gulaal cautious. "Dhani, can we get back to the matter in hand?" gulaal asks getting all serious. "plz ek baar or practise krte hein na...plz?... Come on... the movie hasn't started... because I can hear the advertisements over the phone... please Dhani don't do this... I'm so nervous... nahi... hello? Hello?" gulaal looks at her phone in shock and mutters "she hung up on me! AGAIN!" she sees kesar watching her and mutters "so easy for her, married!!." kesar chuckles. "What are you laughing at?" gulaal asks pissed. "Nothing." kesar replies while she glares at him, then an idea occurs to him. "If you want, I can help you." kesar offers, this way I can know her better and also know more about her. God knows what this Dhani has coached her. "Help me?" gulaal asks confused. "Yeah... you wanted to like practice what you were going to say to this *shudders * Kiddu with this friend right? Since we are going to be stuck here for a while, and nothing to do I can help you. And always better to practice with a guy than a girl in matters regarding men." kesar explains. gulaal gives him a suspicious look for a while then with a shrug starts "I'm Gulaal malhotra. I finished my Post Graduation last year. I got fifth rank in my university..."Wait" kesar says making gulaal stop. "Yeah?" "Let me get one thing straight. Are you here to see this guy so you can decide whether you want to marry him or are you here to apply for the post of his wife?" "WHAT?" gulaal asks giving him weird looks. "You sound like you are here for an interview." kesar explains. When gulaal looks confused, kesar says "Okay, let's start at the beginning. A simple Hello would do. A smile goes a long way." gulaal smiles and says "Hello." "Perfect. And you have a beautiful smile." "Thank you."gulaal smiles. "So, gulaal tell me something about you." kesar says "acting" like the prospective groom. gulaal looks lost for a moment and then starts "okay... let's see... ummm... ummm..." she brainstormed something to say, though there were lots to say, everything was going to come out like she is at an interview. kesar smiles, "First time?" "Yeah." "It happens... okay, then I'll say something about myself." Then kesar starts thinking for a while then chuckles "Even I'm at a loss." gulaal laughs hearing that and then says "it's okay, leave it. I know this won't work out. I just came for my baba and the experience. But thanx for trying to help me." gulaal says with a shrug. "Experience?" kesar asks frowning. "Yeah, so next time when I'm meeting some other guy I won't be nervous."gulaal explains. "Why do you feel this won't work out?" kesar asks confused. "Because I know, he and I won't work out." gulaal explains. "Why do you feel like that?" "Lots of reasons." gulaal replies. "ya but kuch to batao." kesar persists. "Why are you so interested?" gulaal asks frowning. kesar tries to act casual, "Just curious. And we don't have anything else to do." If she was going to reject him, then he will damn well know the reasons.
"Okay. First of all, his name is Kiddu." gulaal says shuddering. "That is not his name." kesar bursts out without thinking. "How do you know that?" gulaal asks, "and why are you getting so hyper?" "umm... it's because Kiddu sounds more like a nickname than a real name. Deciding someone won't suit you because of their name is plain stupid. Just stop calling him with that disgusting name." kesar tells her. "Yeah... Kiddu is not his real name. But who allows themselves to be called Kiddu?" gulaal asks. "Maybe he doesn't like being called Kiddu. Maybe some friend for example a college friend who was drunk called him Kiddu in a drunken state and his less drunk friends around might have picked up the name from there and refuse to stop using that from then on, and he hates that name but can't seems to make people stop calling him that." kesar explains. "Oh!" gulaal says "didn't think so... I always thought that he liked it." "No he doesn't." kesar replies strongly then when he noticed her frowning at him he amends "if I'm him, I would definitely won't like it." gulaal nods being convinced. "What is your next reason?" "He is dumb." gulaal says. "WHAT?" kesar asks highly offended. "Yeah. My friend told me, he used to fail." gulaal explains. "First of all, a person who fails doesn't mean that he is dumb or stupid, Ho sakta hai usey wo subject pasand nahi ho or usey wo parhne mein interest na ho..bt sirf isi wje se tum yeh nahi keh sakti k wo dumb hai. For all you know, he might be good in maths." kesar replies pissed. "Yeah you are right. Matter of fact, he used to top in maths." gulaal says amazed. "There. A person who is good in maths is never dumb." kesar says till pissed. "Yeah you are right." gulaal replies after realizing what she had been thinking and blushing slightly for her small thinking. "And secondly, you don't seem to be impressing Kiddu all that much." kesar says. gulaal looks at him offended. "You are too judgmental for Kiddu's liking." kesar tells her. How he hated people calling him Kiddu and now he himself doing that, and to top it all of, her these thoughts. "How do you know what Kiddu likes and dislikes?" gulaal asks. "Normally, people hate others being judgmental." kesar explains. "I'm not judgmental." gulaal says and then starts wondering why he said that and then slowly realizes that he was right. "Oh God, I feel so terrible. I hate people when they judge me without knowing and I did that to Kiddu. That was so terrible of me. When I meet him I'm going to apologize to him. He doesn't know about it, but he deserves it." gulaal says. kesar starts smiling appreciating her character. "gulaal, just be your true self and you are going to impress the hell out of Kiddu." gulaal smiles "It would all depend on how he reacts when I tell him what I did." "You don't have to tell him, you know." kesar tells her. "That would be wrong, right? And I would feel too guilty about it whenever I look at his face." I'm sure Kiddu will like you for your honesty." kesar reassures her.
"Dhani told me all this and I just let it go to my brain without thinking. This Dhani na.." gulaal says shaking her head. "Who is this Dhani? And how does she know all this?" kesar asks confused. "She is my friend. Her husband Kunal was Kiddu's classmate. He told her all this. And she told me." gulaal explains. "Kunal!!!" kesar exclaims. It was that fool. Wait till I get my hands on him. First he gave me the stupid name Kiddu and now this? "You know him?" gulaal asks shocked. kesar realizing his folly quickly smiles, "I'm supposed to be Kiddu, so I assumed this is how Kiddu would react." "Oh... I wish he is this easy to talk to." gulaal says hopefully. kesar starts smiling and then asks, "If you were so sure that this won't work out why were you so nervous?" "I've been asking myself that." gulaal says rolling her eyes. kesar chuckles, then asks "Okie, tell me your other problems with Kiddu." "No.. it could be all Dhani talking." gulaal says. "Still, let's see."kesar urges. "Okay. hmmm yeah this one, I don't think I'm being judgmental about this." "What is it?" kesar asks. "He doesn't watch movies and I'm a total movie buff." gulaal explains. "WHAT? Kunal said that?" kesar asks shocked. gulaal looks at him appreciating "You are a great actor. I keep forgetting that you are not Kiddu." kesar fakes a chuckle. "Kiddu doesn't like movies... huh? I wonder why?" kesar asks trying to find out the reason. "I know movies do not play much of a role in a married life, but then, for me every week I at least have to watch one movie. So if I'm marrying someone who hates movies then it'll create problems. "Why do you think so? Or rather Dhani and Kunal." kesar asks. "In college, whenever they call Kiddu to go for a movie he rarely goes. 3yrs and Kiddu has gone for a movie with them only twice." gulaal explains. "How do you explain that?" gulaal asks him. "Okay, if I was Kiddu then maybe, me being a movie buff might have already watched those movies on the first day of release. He might have not gone for the movie with them because he has watched it. And since he had to pay for the movies with his pocket money as his father didn't like him living in a theatre as his father would put it, he couldn't afford to pay to watch a movie twice even if he loved it. And the main reason could be that his friends talked non-stop while watching a movie irritating him and he prefers watching movies alone." kesar explains. "Then we would have to go separately for movies. I like it if my husband comes with me." gulaal says disappointed. "Marriage is all about compromises, gulaal." kesar tells her.
"What other reason?" kesar asks. gulaal remains silent for a while then says "This is a pretty big one. Actually the main reason." "What is it?" kesar asks getting a little tensed and very curious "His family is very conservative." gulaal starts while kesar starts frowning. "So?" "I love movies. I live movies." "I know that." "I want to be a director but I doubt his family would allow that. You see, I'll have to travel a lot and stay away from home for long time due to shootings if I become a director and I doubt his family would agree." gulaal explains worriedly, "Even if all the other things work out between us, and this doesn't I don't think I would marry him, because I won't be happy." kesar was silent for a while as he thought about what he was going to tell gulaal and then says "Have you ever thought that maybe Kiddu might have wanted to take a profession related to films, like be cinematographer for instance but then since he was color blind he couldn't be one. So he might never come in the way of your dreams. If he is supporting you, I doubt his family will have that much of an issue." "Color blind person can't be a cinematographer?" gulaal asks confused. "How are you going to shoot breath taking sceneries if you can't differentiate a few colors?" kesar replies with a shrug. "You are color blind." gulaal states softly. "Yeah. Red-green colorblindness." kesar tells her not much hurt about his loss as he had come to terms with it ages ago. "I'm sorry." gulaal says sadly. "Don't be. I'm happy now. I enjoy my business, I love it and strange thing is I never thought I would. But it is like a part of me now." kesar tells her all happy.
"Now, what are your other issues?" kesar asks smiling. "Nothing else. If Kiddu is half as good as you portray him then I think I'll like him. But then I don't know what type of a girl he wants" gulaal says smiling. "Let's see, if I was Kiddu I would say that I never thought what type of a girl I wanted but now I know, I don't want any other type,just like u." kesar says grinning at her. "You are such a flirt." gulaal says laughing. "Harmless." kesar replies and they laugh.
"Kiddu will like you, gulaal. And liking someone and seeing your future with that someone is the first step to an arranged marriage, and love slowly happens." kesar tells her. After thinking about it for a bit gulaal nods agreeing with him. Suddenly, the emergency light goes off and main light comes on and with a jerk the elevator starts. gulaal and kesar get up and start brushing off the dust. "How does Kiddu look?" kesar asks. "No idea. Baba gave me his photo to see, but I was on my way out and in a hurry, so took it with me to see. I left it in the rickshaw I was in and I never saw the photo." gulaal tells him. Aahh! "So are you worried about how he is going to look?" kesar asks as he couldn't help himself. "Everybody has their own beauty, a quality to them er..." gulaal stops and then softly laughs. "I've been talking to you for so long and I don't even know your name." Finally! kesar starts smiling. He looks up and realizes just one more floor and decided to make it truly filmy. "What's your name?" gulaal asks. Elevator door opens and kesar turns to her and says "Kesar khanna."
kesar gets outside and turns back to see gulaal gaping at him with her mouth wide open. Realizing the door is going to close, decided to make it more filmy and says "Since marriage is about compromises I'll go with you for every movie as long as you don't call me Kiddu." Seconds before the elevator door closed he added in true Jack Sparrow style "Savvy?"
Note:
I have no idea whether there is any problem with a colorblind person becoming a Cinematographer, it was purely my imagination. If it is a blunder pls forgive me.😊
kesar and gulaal did talk after getting out of the elevator (and gulaal out of her shock) before they formally agreed to get married to each other.😉
I know this os was not tht great😕, as i had written the first few paras weeks ago, and just stumbled upon it today and decided to finish it, I forgot half of the things I had planned for this.
Pls do comment and if you like it, pls press the like button.
Ayushi!😊😃