Smitar's OS:Knowing Khushi Part 9 Page 123 (Mar 4) - Page 60

Originally posted by: smitar

<font color="#FF0000" face="Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="5">Posted Part 7.

Enjoy!

Smita</font>

Originally posted by: sruthirishi

Where is part 7??????

Smita,😊

Here is my interpretation for Part 7

This update, though filled with conversation, is the laying of the foundation and reinforcing it. It is PILOTIS.

Well, what does PILOTIS mean?

It is a type of foundation.

It not an ordinary slab foundation but it is a foundation in which pillars are used as stilts to lift the building above the ground water.

Arnav looked at his sister as they all sat around the dining table, partaking of dinner.

"Did Jiju call, Di?", he asked.

"No.", Anjali pouted. "He never does, Chotey." A worried look passed over her face.

Arnav swallowed.

"Sorrow looks back, Worry looks around, Faith looks up" ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

"He is always working, Chotey. I don't know how a person can be so busy.", she complained.

"That is because work is your Nutan, Di.", NK said, spooning kheer into his mouth.

"Nutan?", asked Akash. "The actress?"

"Souten, NK Bitwaa, Souten!", Mami sighed.

All laughed. Arnav watched his Di with eagle eyes.

"You can observe a lot just by watching" ~ Yogi Berra

She laughed with the others, although a worried look lingered on her face.

"Do lawyers have to travel so much?", asked Arnav.

Akash nodded. "I was wondering the same, Bhai."

Nani too nodded.

"To him that watches, everything is revealed" ~ Italian Proverb

"I don't know, Chotey.", Anjali said. "Shyamji never talks much about work. And if I ask him, he gets angry.", she sighed.

"This ijj a mystery. Inbestigation karega padi!", Mami Bond declared.

Arnav changed the topic. This was enough for now.

"One must always tell what one sees. Above all, which is more difficult, one must always see what one sees" ~ Charled Peguy

This time, Arnav was more prepared to receive Khushi's call. He locked his bedroom door. Today, no one would eavesdrop on their conversation'

He placed the phone by his laptop, and sat working, stealing glances at the phone at regular intervals. When would she call?

"Everything comes to him who waits, except a loaned book" ~ Kin Hubbard

He added a few more figures to the sheet, and peeped a glance at the phone. It lay as dead. He frowned at it.

What must she be doing now?, he wondered. Trying to steal away to her room to call him? A smile moved his lips as he imagined her crouching under a bed sheet to call him'

"I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the Heart's affections and the truth of the Imagination" ~ John Keats

The phone rang. 'Happy'!

He grabbed it.

"Hello!", he said, his husky voice travelling over the distance to play on her nerves.

"Ji'Y...you asked me to c..call'", he heard her voice faintly. He could hear the sound of water falling in the background. He looked out through his window. It was not raining. He frowned. What was that sound?

"Sound is of no use to human evolution. In fact, it gets in the way" ~ Haruki Murakami, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

"Khushi, where are you?

"Ji...In the bathroom. How else can I call you? The house is full of people. The sagai is on Tuesday evening, & now it is Sunday night.

Arnav smiled. "The water... Khushi, have you turned on the tap?"

"Aur nahin to kya? I told Buaji that I needed a bath urgently. That it was too hot for me to go to bed otherwise. Thank God we have water supply at night. Had this been in the morning, this excuse wouldn't have worked. We don't have water from 9.30am to 1pm.", Khushi said seriously.

Arnav smiled. "The trouble you go to just to talk to me, Khushi...", he crooned.

"For every failure, there's an alternative course of action. You just have to find it. When you come to a roadblock, take a detour" ~ Mary Kay Ash

Khushi was silent for a moment. Then she said, "Y..you asked me to call?"

Arnav smiled. He said, "Khushi, I will bring my family to the temple you frequent. Where is it?"

"On the Main Road. The big temple with the huge banyan tree in front."

"The white-coloured one with lots of steps?", he asked.

"Ji."

"Each step you take reveals a new horizon. You have taken the first step today. Now, I challenge you to take another"

~ Dan Poynter

"We will be there at 7."

"Ji."

"Let's meet near the banyan tree."

"Ji."

"Khushi, make sure that Shyam is at home when you leave the house, and that he intends to stay there. I don't want him seeing us."

"Ji. He almost never leaves the house when he comes to stay here. But I will make certain."

"People will do amazing things to ensure their survival" ~ Patricia Briggs, The Hob's Bargain

He heard Buaji call, "Titliyaa... O Titliyaa... Are you planning to sleep in the bathroom, Nandkisore?"

"Coming, Buaji!", Khushi answered.

"Shall I bring your bed to the bathroom? You can sleep there if you like the bathroom so much!", Buaji said.

"I am done, Buaji...", she said. She turned the pipe off. Both buckets were full of water. "I have to go now.", she whispered in to the phone.

"You have to imagine a waiting that is not impatient because it is timeless" ~ R.S. Thomas, The Echoes Return Slow

"Khushi, what will you call me tomorrow?", Arnav asked, loath to let her go.

Khushi frowned. "Your name, Mr. Raizada. What else? Or have you changed it?"

"Khushi, Khushi... Girl friends don't call their baaifriends Mr. Raizada. You should call me Arnav."

"He Devi Maiyya! How can I call you by your name? Paap lagega! You are so much older than me!", Khushi was scandalised.

"Oh! So you can try to strangle me. That is OK with your Devi Maiyya. But you can't call me by my name!", Arnav smiled.

"Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right" ~ Henry Ford

Khushi flinched at the unwelcome memory of her leaning towards him with her fingers almost around his neck.

"I can't call you 'Arnav'. Calling you 'Arnav' is a sin." She thought seriously about what she could call him.

Arnav smiled. She had already used his name twice now.

"Why don't you call me 'Jaan'?", he suggested, tongue in cheek.

"What?", Khushi yelled in surprise.

"Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers" ~ Voltaire

"What happened, Nandkisore? Is there a snake in your bathroom?", asked Buaji. "Or a wasp in your dress?"

How could she tell Buaji that there was a more dangerous thing at the other end of the phone?

"No, Buaji. I... I Just slipped."

"Tum theek ho, Sanka Devi?"

"Haan, Buaji."

"Maybe 'Balma'?", Arnav suggested. "Saajan', 'Saiyya', 'Pritam'..?"

"'Arnavji'! I will call you 'Arnavji'!", she gasped.

"I take thee at thy word:

Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized;

Henceforth I never will be Romeo"

~ William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

"Khushi, my family thinks that we are in love. So we will have to behave like lovers do.", he warned her, trying to keep the smile away from his voice.

"Behave like lovers?", Khushi asked.

"O Parmeswari! Are you stuck in the bathroom? Faavicol Se, Nandkisore? Shall I call the neighbours?"

"Buaji, I am coming!", Khushi shouted. Then she whispered into the phone, "Hum Phoon Rakte Hein, Mr. Rai... matlab, Arnavji..."

"Goodnight, Khushi.", Arnav smiled.

"Shubh Raatri.", she whispered.

"Touch your heart, Close your eyes.

Make a wish, Say Good Night"

The update begins with the Raizada's at dinner. During the conversation, Arnav casually asked his Di whether she received any calls from Jiju?

When Anjali with a sullen and worried expression, told him that she didn't, he felt bad for her. Here she was waiting for him and on the other side of the town he was getting ready to commit bigamy. Shyam Manohar Jha was enjoying cheating his sister! Grrr!!!

"Times will change for the better when you change" ~ Maxwell Maltz

Anjali told her brother that Shyam was always busy with work and she wondered how can a person be so busy. NK supplied words for her thoughts, He said work was the other woman in her life. But the interesting part of this dialogue of NK was he used Nutan instead of Southen. At first everybody wondered what was NK saying with Nutan. Akash was reminded of yesteryear actress, but Mami corrected NK that the word was Southen not Nutan. All laughed at NK's mix up! But in fact NK usage was on target! Shyam was on a business trip to acquire a new wife, Mission Nutan southen for Anjali. Hence it was a fair choice of word, Nutan southen. Knowing this Arnav was keenly observing his sister.

"You can see a lot just by observing" ~ Yogi Berra

Though she laughed with others, she was a worried woman. She asked Arnav, would all lawyers be travelling so much? Akash too seconded her thoughts and said he too had been wondering about it. Nani concurred with both of them.

"A few observations and much reasoning lead to error; many observations and a little reasoning lead to truth" ~ Alexis Carrel

Anjali who got encouraged by their support told Arnav that Shyam never talks much about his work and whenever she asked him about it all she found was that she was on the receiving end of his anger! She was extremely unhappy about it!

Mamiji aka Manorama Bond, ever ready for investigative work declared,"This ijj a mystery. Inbestigation karega padi!", to put her grey cells to use. Arnav thinking that it was enough for now changed the topic.

"All of us are watchers--of television, of time clocks, of traffic on the freeway--but few are observers. Everyone is looking, not many are seeing" ~ Peter M. Leschak

Today Arnav was all set to talk to his girlfriend. He had locked his bedroom door and made it sound proof. He knew he could trust his family to eavesdrop their conversation if given a chance. Keeping his phone close-by, beside his laptop he set about to do his work. He kept glancing at it and checking, waiting eagerly for her call.

You don't get everything all at once. You wait" ~ Elizabeth Berg, Until The Real Thing Comes Along

He continued with his work and seeing that the phone was not ringing, he scrunched his brows.

He wondered what she would be engaged in doing now. Would she be trying to sneak away to get some alone time amidst the jamboree in her house, so that she could call him. The image of her crouching under a bed sheet as per her description last night brought out a smile.

"Imagination is the golden-eyed monster that never sleeps. It must be fed; it cannot be ignored" ~ Patricia A. McKillip

At last the phone rang with the display 'Happy'!

His hurried husky "Hello!" had her nerves tingling and she felt butterflies in her stomach. Her faint voice asking him the reason for her call was heard by him with the sound of running water in the back ground. Seeing that it was not raining, he asked her where she was. Her reply was, that she was in the bathroom, as the house was filled with people for her engagement in two days time. Amused by her explanation he asked was the tap turned on?

"In every sound, the hidden silence sleeps" ~ Dejan Stojanovic, The Creator

Her serious answer with her dime to dozen explanation made him smile. "Aur nahin to kya? I told Buaji that I needed a bath urgently. That it was too hot for me to go to bed otherwise. Thank God we have water supply at night. Had this been in the morning, this excuse wouldn't have worked. We don't have water from 9.30am to 1pm." He admired her will to call him going through all the trouble just because he asked her.

"Have you got a problem? Do what you can where you are with what you've got" ~ Theodore Roosevelt

Hearing his admiration Khushi was silent for a moment. She then asked him why was she asked to call? Arnav asked her for the location of the temple she visits, to bring his family to meet her.

She said it was on the Main Road. It was the big temple with a huge banyan tree. He had it confirmed by asking her was it the white-colored temple with lots of steps.

"Steps can be special and mysterious, they become a powerful way to define the truth. After

taking a first step, no one ever stops cold. It is the succession of steps moving forward with a purpose that has true meaning in our lives"

~ Patricia Vaccarino

Then he told her she could expect them to be there at seven and decided to meet near the banyan tree. (One thing I was curious was the time of the meeting! The time is seven. It is one the most auspicious number since time immemorial.

Be it Hindu or any other culture seven plays a significant role. We have seven colours in the spectrum of light, rainbow, seven sounds in music, Do re mi or sa ri ga ma, seven sages known as saptha rishi's, seven vows 'saath pheras' taken for seven lives, seven days and the list goes on... All these things are associated with only auspicious things!)

He cautioned her to ensure Shyam was house bound as he didn't want Shyam to have any inkling of their meeting. Khushi told him that Shyam never goes out when he comes to stay with them but she would make sure that he would not be leaving the house, just for safety.

"Only actions performed with perseverance can ensure success" ~ Yajur Veda

Just then Arnav heard her Buaji call out to her,

"Titliyaa... O Titliyaa... Are you planning to sleep in the bathroom, Nandkisore?" Khushi shouted over the sound of running water, "Coming, Buaji!". But her Buaji seeing that she was taking her own sweet time asked her, "Shall I bring your bed to the bathroom? You can sleep there if you like the bathroom so much!" Saying that she was about to come out she turned the tap off. She whispered into the phone that she had to go.

"Yea, I shall return with the tide" ~ Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

Arnav asked Khushi what she would be calling him the next day. He was reluctant to let go of her. Surprised at his querry she told him, "Your name, Mr. Raizada. What else? Or have you changed it?" He enlightened her that, "Girl friends don't call their baaifriends Mr. Raizada. You should call me Arnav." Khushi who had never called any body older than her by their name was in a dilemma. "He Devi Maiyya! How can I call you by your name? Paap lagega! You are so much older than me!" With a smile Arnav countered her with, "Oh! So you can try to strangle me. That is OK with your Devi Maiyya. But you can't call me by my name!"

"Most of us have nicknames... annoying, endearing, embarrassing.

But what about your true name?

It is not necessarily your given name. But it is the one to which you are most eager to respond when called.

Ever wonder why?

Your true name has the secret power to call you."

~ Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

Khushi didn't like to recall her behavior which he had just reminded her off! She flinched at its memory. She told him firmly, "I can't call you 'Arnav'. Calling you 'Arnav' is a sin." She started to think as to what she could call him.

"We are addicted to our thoughts. We cannot change anything if we cannot change our thinking" ~ Santosh Kalwar, Quote Me Everyday

Hearing her, Arnav smiled as he realized she had taken his name twice while denying to call him by that name. Then teasingly, he suggested 'Jaan' making her yell in surprise. Hearing her yell, Arnav could hear her Buaji asking her, "What happened, Nandkisore? Is there a snake in your bathroom? Or a wasp in your dress?" Khushi who was caught in between couldn't tell her the truth. She just told her Buaji that she slipped eliciting a concerned enquiry. As soon as she assured her Buaji that she was fine she heard Arnav suggesting, "Maybe 'Balma', 'Saajan', 'Saiyya', 'Pritam'..?"

"The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it." ~ Terry Pratchett, Diggers

She had always added a suffix to other's names, thought hard and came up with an alternative to address him. "'Arnavji'! I will call you 'Arnavji'!", she gasped. He told her that since his family believes that they are in love, they would have to behave like one. She was stumped by this. Just then came her Buaji's shout, "O Parmeswari! Are you stuck in the bathroom? Faavicol Se, Nandkisore? Shall I call the neighbours?" Shouting back that she would come out she whispered into the phone that she would be cutting the call addressing him as Arnavji.

With a smile, Arnav wished her "Goodnight, Khushi." getting a whispered, "Shubh Raatri.", in return.

"No matter if the sky is black or blue,

No matter if there are stars or moon,

As long as your heart is true

Sweet dreams will always be with you"

In this update we see that Arnav probing his sister about his Jijaji's whereabouts. By doing so he is placing various people as pillars of strength to his sister to rise above the murky waters, by name Shyam Manohar Jha, when the time comes.

When he gets to know that she has no clue and is also unhappy with her husband's behavior in general and trips in particular he keeps quiet.

He realizes that by making her voice her dissatisfaction he has achieved a two-fold victory. One he has made the rest of the family, aware of it by probing her during the dinner. The other is giving her the knowledge and thereby the strength that she is not alone in thinking so. She is being given confidence that the family is there for her.

"Three brothers, three fortresses" ~ Proverb

By briefing Khushi about the meeting next day, and how to convey that they are in love to his family, he laid the foundation there too covering all the aspects. In this saga of lifting his sister above the murky waters, Khushi too is not forgotten. Both Arnav and Khushi are the stilts to lift her family too from the grip of Shyam Manohar Jha.

"If you have a strong foundation then you can build or rebuild anything on it. But if you've got a weak foundation you can't build anything" ~ Jack Scalia

That is why this is called ...PILOTIS...

Originally posted by: shaz007

Not fair such a short update it finished even before I realized. Oh God I waited so long for an update so I have to complain officially such a short update for such an interesting story is not allowed at all. So can I expect a longer update for art 8? Plz do reply...waiting ...

Originally posted by: smitar

Hoping to post part 8 by evening today.😉

Smita
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Thanks Smita will look forward totally hooked to this story. I don't have words to tell you how much I am in love with this story...