ArHi FF! Gravity - Thread 2 - [Completed] - Page 62

It's a beautiful chapter, loved it. Thanks for the pm.

Hurray! Arnav going home! Can't wait! Thanks for the pm.

I wish that these two pained souls realise that their peace and happiness lies with each other and not without each other. Brilliant update.

Chapter 29: Sunshine in the rain

Suman's hands which were chopping vegetables stilled. She yelled at her two kids to be quiet and asked Arnav to repeat his last sentence. She could almost hear Arnav roll his eyes.

"I asked about Khushi, Suman. How is she?" Arnav repeated patiently.

He had ended his pilgrimage in a contended state of mind and had flown to the capital almost immediately. Once he was neatly showered and dressed, he had started planning. There was this impending talk with Khushi but before that he had to meet everyone else. Maybe along the way he would start reconnecting with people and just…talk with a newer perspective.

"Khushi is fine Arnav. Why are you asking all of a sudden?" Suman asked glaring at her children whose mischievous looks gave her prelude to the mess that was going to happen very soon.

"I am coming back." He said simply. Suman was rendered speechless and when he didn't receive response from her for more than twenty seconds, he called her out. "Are you there Suman?" He asked.

"I will make all the necessary arrangements Arnav. Do you need anything?" She asked recovering from her speechlessness.

"No, thank you Suman. I got it covered. I am sitting in flight back home right now. I will see you when I see you." He said about to hang up.

"Arnav wait," Suman stopped him. "Khushi doesn't live here anymore." She said haltingly.

"Where is she then?" He asked. Suman noted the haunting calmness in his voice. The intensity with which he spoke was gone. It had gradually reduced with every passing day but now it was practically non-existent. She wondered if he was the same man she met in college and worked for a decade or a better version of it. It was matter of few hours, she thought.

"She was commissioned by Aman almost a year ago to facilitate drinking water facility in collection of villages. She has been living in Rampur for several months now." Suman said.

Arnav was silent for moments. "I will meet you in few hours." Arnav said and hung up. Suman could hear the air-hostess requesting him to switch off his phone. She didn't know what he was thinking but knew well that the next few days would be interesting.

*****

She had lived in absolute isolation for seven years and for past year she was cocooned in her own loneliness and heartache. But coming to Rampur had added a different spin to her self-isolation. She lived alone with a house help in a fairly large country home owned by Aman but the small village community had adopted her rapidly. It had been seven months since she set up her shop in village and the tight knit community had made her one amongst them. After few weeks of adjustment issues, she had forgone jeans and t-shirt and embraced sari wholeheartedly. Back in city, sari was worn on special occasions and she needed both her mother's and Payal's help to achieve desired results. However here, she felt it was natural to wear the attire and the simple cotton ones made her feel elegant and simple at the same time.

She was thrilled to find out the head of village council, Sarpanch, was actually a woman. Malvika was forty year old widow who lost her husband in line of duty. She was a high school graduate, confidant and held her position with conviction. It was she who had contacted Aman to facilitate clean water project after fighting with district commissioner to release enough funds. Khushi developed a fast friendship with the woman and Malvika listened to Khushi about the changes happening in the outside world.

The villagers hadn't warmed up to her when she had arrived; they were weary of the city dwellers arriving in the village in the name of change but never stuck around to really fix the issues. Only when the first load of PVC pipes had come in and Khushi jumped out of the truck in her red sari did the villagers started looking at her with new-found interest and respect. With slow acceptance came understanding and with passing time Khushi found herself teaching girls in privacy of her home as the girls' parents refused to send them to school. Malvika had softly shaken her head when Khushi stood up to argue with the elders of Panchayat when they flatly refused to send their daughters, young daughter-in-laws to school. As an alternative proposition, Khushi put forth a plan where girls could be taught informally without boundaries of an education system. The elders had simply shrugged and given their consent. Malvika and Khushi had celebrated their small victory that evening with three glasses of thandai.

The village lacked continuous supply of electricity and the people had organized their life to accommodate frequent power cuts and lack of water supply. Living in central Africa had made her extremely adaptable but here the case of absolute lack of governance and nothing else.

She called home every other day and it touched her when she heard everyone in her family on speaker phone and talking at once. The life she had embraced was different, unique and very…basic. Payal had observed that Khushi's language had greatly improved and she spoke with a better diction and confidence previously unrecognizable. Khushi hummed in retrospection wondering if this is the kind of lifestyle she was most comfortable with. Basic food, sometimes extreme physical activity, teaching, helping villagers understand the progress the world had made, telling them about internet and how two people on different parts of the world can see each other while they communicate. And most importantly, she showed them a picture of woman who travelled to outer space and back. She felt a surge of pride run through her spine when one of her girls asked her to tell more about women's accomplishments.

A sense of peace and contentment had slowly crept in her life and one day when she was sweating in hot sun and wiping her forehead from veil of her sari she realized that she was happy; not the kind one feels when they hear a good news or discovered something new. It was her mind and body working completely in tandem and celebrating being alive and well. It was primal and extremely simplistic. This happiness wasn't dependent on others nor was it a by-product of an elaborate scheme of things coming together for her. It was a mere reflection of her life at present. She liked what she was doing and she knew that when she wrapped up things here, the ending would be bittersweet but she would leave the village only after making it a little better than before.

Arnav's absence had swaddled around her heart and she had learned to live with it. His absence wasn't similar like hers and beat in her throat like a raw nerve – throbbing and perpetual.

Unknowingly in his absence, she had fallen in love with him all over again not because of the life they once shared but because of the man he had become during her absence and the way he had held her on one lonely day of despair and heartache. Her eyes turn moist when his memory hit her hard; instead of running away from that pain, she accepted it.

She was done running away from problems, complexities, misunderstanding, emotional asymmetry, sensual inequality and…him.

She wasn't waiting for him anymore.

She was look forward for the wind which would bring him to her when both of their metamorphosis from hopelessly miserable people to contended souls – the way they were destined to be.

It wasn't what she hoped for. It was what she honestly and sincerely believed in.

Monsoon had set in and this year it would be a special one for the village as her project would go live with water storage facility, plumbing, pipes and taps would go functional with rain gods looking at them in favor. Her yellow cotton sari was wet and she was drenched to the bone as she oversaw the working of her handiwork. Rain poured mercilessly and joy sprung in her nerves when she saw water getting collected in decent quantities. She smiled happily ignoring the rain bites on her skin and twirled waving her arms around. Her happiness was pure and genuine which came with the knowledge of betterment of people.

"Even when you are wet and completely drenched, you still manage to look like early morning sunshine."

She stopped twirling and her heart was in middle of an avalanche of emotions. She had her back to the person who had said those words and it had been exactly nineteen months and seventeen days since last heard it. Her mind gave out the possibility that being in rain for an hour had somehow managed to induce auditory hallucinations. To test the theory, she slowly turned around and looked at a man standing few feet away from her. Rush downpour made his profile hazy but she knew it was him. Maybe she had visual hallucinations? She wondered briefly.

He walked towards her and she held her breath and waited with aching breath for him to come near. He did come near, invaded her personal space, grabbed her waist and held her close to his chest. She smelled his perfume diluted in rain and recognized the tautness of his arms. A rash of goose bumps rose on her arm when his warm breath hit her naked shoulder. Her arms automatically circled around his neck and found the familiar spot between his neck and shoulder. When she pressed her forehead on the crook of his neck, his arms tightened around her and he hoarsely whispered in her ears – "Hello love."

The penultimate chapter of the story. I am half glad that this story is ending because it has completely taken over all of my spare time making me ignore my other ventures. But sorta sad cause it was enjoyable while writing and challenging to explore a story using only characterization.

QUESTION TO ALL: Which is your most favorite and least favorite moment in this story? It could be with respect to the storyline, characterization or even writing for that matter. Let me know!!!

The character Malvika is a dedication to all the We, the people readers :=) When I decided to write this chapter, having Malvika as the Sarpanch was an easy and implicit decision.

Next chapter - tomorrow, I hope :=)

Have a great weekend everyone!

R

Hello love...indeed

Edit

Which is your most favourite and least favourite moment in this story? It could be with respect to the storyline, characterization or even writing for that matter. Let me know!!!

R

1- Hello Love ... It brought tears to my eyes... Its strange but it is by far the best reunion to date...

My favorite by far has been the one where Khushi stood for a long time on the side of the road only have Arnav come & rescue her :)

nineteen months and seventeen days

I like this track for Khushi...a lot.😃