Smitar's OS:Knowing Khushi Part 9 Page 123 (Mar 4) - Page 27

Smita,😊

Here is my interpretation for Part 4.

In this update Chairoscuro can be seen using the contrasts PHENOMENON and NOUMENON.

An object known through sense perception is termed as PHENOMENON.

In contrast, an object grasped by the intellect or intuition is termed as NOUMENON.

Khushi's phone rang.

She juggled her bags, and with great difficulty, managed to fish out her phone.

"Hello!", she gasped.

"Khushi'..", the husky voice murmured.

The world stopped for a moment, & then began to move at a very slow pace, as though in slow motion. Like in the movies'

"He drew me like gravity"

~ M. Leighton, For the Love of a Vampire

"Ji'..", she quavered, her voice just a breath.

"Can you come to the office now?", the soft voice asked.

She hesitated. "But..."

"Shyam is at home, watching a movie with my family. He won't see us."

"I will come.", she said.

Arnav heard another voice.

"Bitiyaa, will you take the karela?", the vendor asked.

"The sated appetite spurns honey, but to a ravenous appetite even the bitter gourd is sweet"

"Nahin, Bhaiyya. I will come later for the vegetables."

"Khushi, where are you?", Arnav asked.

"Ji, in the sabzi mandi near your office. I will be there in 10 minutes.", she promised.

"Use the front door this time. I have informed the security, the receptionist, & my private secretary."

"Once again...welcome. Come freely. Go safely; and leave something of the happiness you bring"

~ Bram Stoker, Dracula

"Ji.", Khushi had to smile. "Shukriya."

Arnav looked up as Aman led Khushi into his office. She was in a parrot green anarkali, her cloth bag hanging across her torso, her hair in a neat plait, her eyes wary. She looked like his plants after the rain, all fresh and bright and thriving.

"High above the noise and fear mongering of critics and cynics softly speaks your true self"

~ Mollie Marti

Arnav nodded at Aman, and showed Khushi a seat.

They stared at each other for a few moments in silence.

"Mysteries of attraction could not always be explained through logic. Sometimes the fractures in two separate souls became the very hinges that held them together" ~ Lisa Kleypas, Devil in Winter

Finally, he said, "You were right."

She heard the pain, the sorrow, the sense of betrayal behind the words.

She just nodded.

"God made truth with many doors to welcome every believer who knocks on them" ~ Kahlil Gibran

After a few more moments of silence and shared pain, Khushi asked softly, "Will you help me stop the sagai?"

"Yes."

Khushi sagged back in her chair, weak with relief. "Thank you." He watched her lips tremble in relief.

"With every choice you create the life you'll live; with every decision you design it"

~ Mollie Marti, Walking with Justice: Uncommon Lessons from One of Life's Greatest Mentors

A few more moments of silence later, the unlikely partners in Operation Flushing Shyam Out spoke at the same time.

"When is the sagai...?", asked Arnav.

"What shall we...?", asked Khushi.

Both looked flustered at each other, and then Arnav asked, "When is the sagai?"

"Next week. The 15^th. At home. Between 5 and 5.30 pm."

"We have just 4 days...", Arnav mused.

"The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is" ~ C.S. Lewis

"Ji.", Khushi sighed. "Amma & Buaji are busy shopping for clothes and jewellery... Jiji is so happy for me... Babuji is helpless... and the rascal is smiling all the time..."

Arnav clenched his jaw. Shyam deserved to be beaten to pulp for cheating on his sister who thought that the sun, the moon, & the stars rose out of Shyam Manohar Jha's backside.

"Do you want to deal with Shyamji without letting your sister know or do you want her to find out what kind of a man he is.", Khushi asked simply.

"The secret of many a man's success in the world resides in his insight into the moods of men and his tact in dealing with them"~ J. G. Holland

Arnav looked at her. His face was impassive, but he was filled with amazement. With her simple & direct way of tackling things, she had placed her finger on the most complicated and crucial part of their future plans. The crux of it...

"Again and again, the impossible decision is solved when we see that the problem is only a tough decision waiting to be made"~ Dr. Robert Schuller

Arnav swallowed. "She has to know. It will hurt. Very badly. Because she is blindly in love with her husband." Arnav shook his head in disgust. "Her husband!" He looked at Khushi with a stern face. "I will get him out of her life. Once & for all."

"Do you know why people cheat and lie? because they know it's easier to get forgiveness than permission..."

Khushi nodded.

"How can we tell her that...?", Khushi quailed.

"I am not going to tell her anything. I am going to show her.", Arnav declared.

"Show her?", khushi asked.

"That he is living in your house, that he is going to get engaged to you...", Arnav was certain.

"You are going to come to our house on the 15^thwith your family?", Khushi paled.

"Yes. Di has to see her husband's true face with her own eyes.", Arnav was decided on this.

"Tell me and I'll forget. Show me, and I may not remember. Involve me, and I'll understand"

~ Native American Sayings

Khushi nodded slowly. After a moment's silence, she said softly, "When caught out, Shyamji will say that I and my family trapped him into staying with us, that my Buaji tried to force me on to him..."

"Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short- lived" ~ Abraham Lincoln

Arnav stared at her.

"He will do anything, say anything to save his own skin. He is a coward as well as a cheat." Khushi met his eyes. "Your sister will believe him. Your family will think that we tried to entice Shyamji into marrying me..."

"It seemed there was no end at all to the lies a person could tell, once he got started"

~ Kim Edwards, The Memory Keeper's Daughter

"I have proof that you didn't. I got him investigated.", Arnav said.

Khushi smiled sadly. "It is OK. What does it matter what your family thinks of me & mine? What matters is that I don't have to marry him and that your sister will be free of him. Once & for all."

"Anything is better than lies and deceit!"

~ Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

They sat staring at each other.

"Khushi, save my number in your phone under some other name."

"Ji."

"Call me when he comes to your house to stay. I need to start dropping hints to Di so that the whole thing does not come as a shock to her."

"Ji."

They sat in silence.

"I've begun to realize that you can listen to silence and learn from it. It has a quality and a dimension all its own" ~ Chaim Potok, The Chosen

"Acha, hum chalte hein. You must have work to do.", Khushi got up.

"Is the sabziwala waiting for you?", Arnav asked.

"Ji.", Khushi smiled. The smile suddenly died, and a look of horror passed over her face. "What is the time?"

"One."

"Time is free, but it's priceless;

You can't own it, but you can use it.

You can't keep it, but you can spend it;

Once you have lost it, you can never get it back"

Khushi hit her head with her hand. "He Devi Maiyya! Buaji will make khichdi of me! She asked me to get karela & bhindi to prepare lunch, and I am here, karela & bhindi are at the mandi, & Buaji will be waiting for me with a belan in her hand!"

"...of all the hardships a person had to face none was more punishing than the simple act of waiting" ~ Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns

Arnav tried not to smile. He watched her walk out, talking to herself, "Khushi Kumari Gupta, you are dead today. Buaji is going to call you all the names under the sun... Sanka Devi, Parmeswari... You are dead!"

"I have found that the key to being happy... well, one of the keys, anyway... is to be easily amused" ~ Wil Wheaton

When Khushi's phone rang, with great difficulty she extracted her phone from her bag and answered it. She heard a husky "Khushi..." being murmured. She was transported into the endless time for a moment and slowly she came to her senses as though in a slow motion shots of a movie...

"I accept the hard reality that I maybe might possibly be just the slightest tiniest littlest bit kinda sorta interested in him" ~ Sarah Ockler, Twenty Boy Summer

When her answer in a tremulous voice elicited the response in a soft voice, of asking her whether she could go to his office immediately, she hesitated a bit. Sensing the reason, Arnav assured her that Shyam was at his place, watching a movie with his family. He would not be aware of their meeting. Once reassured she readily agreed to go. As she was talking Arnav could hear voices in the background. He heard, "Bitiyaa, will you take the karela?" a vendor question and a "Nahin, Bhaiyya. I will come later for the vegetables."

When Arnav asked Khushi about her whereabouts he was told that she was in the vegetable market near his office and would be there in ten minutes.

"If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?"

She was instructed to use the main door for entry as all concerned have been informed about her arrival. Being a well mannered girl she thanked him for his gesture.

As soon as she entered his Personal Assistant, Aman led Khushi into Arnav's office. Dressed in a simple Parrot green Anarkali, she reminded him of his plants after a shower, all glistening and glowing, fresh and bright, sprightly and thriving.

Her tote-bag was with her.

"There is no hospitality like understanding"

~ Vanna Bonta, Flight: A Quantum Fiction Novel

Arnav made her take a seat and just both of them stared for a few moments, relishing the silence, wondering how to open the talk.

"The problem with human attraction is not knowing if it will be returned" ~ Becca Fitzpatrick, Hush, Hush

Breaking the silence, Arnav acknowledged that she was right. She sensed, his voice was laced with the pain, the sorrow and the sense of betrayal. He had not expected this of his Jijaji. Acknowledging how hard it must be for him to admit it, she asked him whether he was willing to help her in breaking the engagement. When he agreed, Khushi felt relieved and lay back on her chair. Arnav who was observing her found her lips quaver with relief after hearing his reply.

The two unlikely allies in the Operation Flushing Shyam Out wanted to know when was the engagement ceremony and what is to be the next step and voiced it out simultaneously, taking the other by surprise.

Arnav, recovering fast, asked for the date and was told that it was four days after.

"Everything takes time. Bees have to move very fast to stay still" ~ David Foster Wallace, Brief Interviews With Hideous Men

They had very little time to prepare. She told him all the members of the family were busy shopping and were happy and only her Babuji who knew the state, was helpless and was unable to voice out as he was down with paralytic stroke and the rogue was in a constant state of glee. Her description of Shyam had Arnav grit his teeth. He felt that Shyam deserved to pummeled and pulverized.

"Don't break anybody's heart, they have only one.

Break their bones, they have 206"

Arnav's heart was breaking for his sister who worshiped her husband. Her world revolved around him. She thought he was the embodiment of all virtues and he was the one who created the sun, the moon and the stars in her horizon. Her love for him had blinded her to such an extent that she would not even think of him being the perpetrator of any perfidious deeds! He felt helpless while thinking about it.

"A man's own good breeding is the best security against other people's ill manners" ~ Lord Chesterfield

Khushi's question of, "Do you want to deal with Shyamji without letting your sister know or do you want her to find out what kind of a man he is." put his problem in a simplified manner, made Arnav feel amazed at her simple way to tackle the problem.

She had easily identified the most difficult as well as complicated part of the plan with ease. She had her finger on the part that needed to be solved first in order to get the tide turn in their favor.

"One thing is sure. We have to do something. We have to do the best we know how at the moment . . . ; If it doesn't turn out right, we can modify it as we go along" ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

He told Khushi he had no other option than to get his sister to open her eyes towards her stinker of a husband, who is a scourge. Looking at Khushi , in his impassionate stern voice he said, "I will get him out of her life. Once & for all."

"Cheating and lying aren't struggles, they're reasons to break up" ~ Patti Callahan Henry, Between The Tides

Khushi agreed that was the best path to take but how were they going to tell his sister. Arnav said he was not going to tell her but will show her that he is living in Khushi's house and is engaged to Khushi. Khushi worriedly asked him whether he would be coming to her house on that day. He said that if his sister witnesses her husband's deeds, of what he does behind her back only then she'll believe and turn to them for support.

"It is better to have less thunder in the mouth and more lightning in the hand" ~ Native American Saying

Khushi being the one who analyses all the possibilities, told him about another possible scenario that could occur. She said softly,"When caught out, Shyamji will say that I and my family trapped him into staying with us, that my Buaji tried to force me on to him"

"Force always attracts men of low morality, and I believe it to be an invariable rule that tyrants of genius are succeeded by scoundrels" ~ Albert Einstein

Arnav who was bogged down by the betrayal of Shyam and its impact on his Di, was stunned to hear her thoughts. Continuing she said, "He will do anything, say anything to save his own skin. He is a coward as well as a cheat. Your sister will believe him. Your family will think that we tried to entice Shyamji into marrying me..."

"Why must there always be a price to pay for every indulgence, and why must it so often be withdrawn from the bankrupt accounts of the innocent?" ~ Andrew Levkoff, A Mixture of Madness

When Arnav said he had proof against Shyam, Khushi smiled sadly. "It is OK. What does it matter what your family thinks of me & mine? What matters is that I don't have to marry him and that your sister will be free of him. Once & for all."

"A truth can walk naked... But a lie always needs to be dressed!"

Both engrossed in one another sat staring. Arnav asked her to save his number in her cell phone under a pseudo name and call him up when Shyam comes to stay in her house. He said he needed to slowly drop hints to his sister as he doesn't want his Di to undergo any shock.

Again silence prevailed.

"Silence is a source of Great Strength" ~ Lao Tzu

When she got up with a smile and informed him that she would make a move, he asked her whether the vegetable vendor would be waiting for her, she said yes and remembering something she was horrified.Finding out that it was 1 p.m. she felt troubled.

"Time is more valuable than money.

You can get more money but not more time"

Hitting her head with her hand, she said her Buaji will make a mince meat of her. She was asked to buy bitter-gourd and okra to prepare dishes for lunch. She was supposed to return early and now she'll have to face the wrath of her Buaji who will be waiting at the door with a rolling pin in her hand. She was seeking the Divine intervention from her favorite Godess Devi Maiyya against her aunt!

"I have noticed that the people who are late are often so much jollier than the people who have to wait for them" ~ E.V. Lucas

Arnav who was watching, her saw that she had completely forgotten where she was and whom she was talking to earlier, tried to suppress the bubbling laughter inside him. He was highly amused to see Khushi talking to herself, "Khushi Kumari Gupta, you are dead today. Buaji is going to call you all the names under the sun... Sanka Devi, Parmeswari... You are dead!"

"I used to be disgusted; now I try to be amused"

~ Elvis Costello

Arnav who could never put up with any such antics earlier, was now observing her with an amused smile and was enjoying her antics thoroughly.

In this update we see Khushi perceiving the call to be from Arnav without him telling his name just by sensing from his call. Arnav senses the reason for her hesitation by intuition when he asks her to come to his office.

When Arnav sees Khushi in green Anarkali his sense of perception makes him acknowledge that she is fresh, bright, sprightly and thriving reminding him of his beloved plants after a shower of rain. Her intuition made her sit quietly for him to open the talks.

When he acknowledged that she was right she perceived the pain, the sorrow and the sense of betrayal behind his words. She intuitively kept quiet as she knew he was undergoing a sea of change in his perception of the character of his Jijaji.

When her question whether he would help her elicited an affirmative he perceived her relief, and intuitively gave her some time to recover by being silent.

When Khushi said that her family was happy with her sagai, with the exception of her father, with what they perceived as true from the facade shown by Shyam Manohar Jha, Arnav's instinct was to crush the living daylights out of his Jijaji for having taken his sister and his family on a ride and making his sister think that he was her Universe.

Khushi's intuitive thinking that led her to zero-in on the task that needed to be given attention by him, as how to let his sister know that her husband is a Shri 420, a rogue with a glib tongue and dual personality, a wolf in a sheepskin, made Arnav perceive that, she had a sharp intellect behind her simple but beautiful face.

Her next pertinent question showed her sense of perception of the mammoth problem ahead of them. They had to convince his sister but how was the question. Arnav intuitively knew however much he tries he'll not be able to succeed in breaking the trust placed by his sister on her husband. So he told Khushi the only means was through letting her see it for herself. Only her husband had the capacity to break her trust in him.

Again her intuitive question, if Shyam tries to turn the tables against her family led him to perceive her sense of insecurity. He perceived that Khushi wanted every aspect to be covered and not take any chances, assured her that he had proof to prove otherwise.

When she gets reminded of time her sense of intuition told her that she was to become a cooked goose at home by her Buaji who was waiting for her vegetables to prepare the lunch. His sense of perception told him that his life with her would never have a dull moment!

That's why we see Arnav being amused with Khushi talking to herself at the end of this update in contrast to him threatening her and she apologizing to him at the end of the last update.

The tenor of his voice too has changed from harsh and hostile to soft and perceptive.

The last update ended with an intuition and this with a perception!

That's why I felt it was a phenomenal use of Chairoscuro with PHENOMENON and NOUMENON.

Smita, Loved it and here it comes 👏👏👏 and a 🤗

That's it from me. Hope you enjoy it!

Originally posted by: -Sadi-

Waiting :)