Smitar's: Marrying Khushi#1 Part 9(1,2) Pg 125 (4/11)Link to#2 on Pg 1 - Page 51

"Khushi, tum kahan reh gayi! It is so late! Tumhe pata he, Buaji was waiting in the courtyard with a stick to beat you till a moment ago!" a petite and beautiful girl hissed, her face anxious.

"Jiji, it is a long story!" Khushi sighed. "Phursat mein bataoongi...like when we have two years to spare!" Khushi turned her head to glower at Arnav Singh Raizada who was watching the exchange with an expressionless face.

Anjali looked at Aman. What was this girl made of? Khushi was totally fearless, and ready to go two rounds with ASR!

"Jiji, meet Shri. Arnav Singh Raizada. He has a kapde ka dukaan. In Delhi. This is my Jiji, Payal."

Payal folded her hands in greeting, her heart quailing. What had Khushi done now?

"Jiji, this is his sister, Anjaliji. And this is his manager, Amanji."

Payal greeted them politely. "Please come in. Please sit down. Khushi, go inside and inform Buaji, Amma, & Babuji that we have guests." she instructed.

Khushi vanished inside.

ASR looked around the living room. It was a spacious room with white walls covered with framed photos. Leaving Anjali & Aman behind, he walked around the room to look at the pictures.

Khushi with Payal and three other adults. Must be her father, mother, and Buaji.

He choked. In one photo, Khushi had taken her Buaji's long plait of hair and placed it beneath her nose to make it look like a moustache!

"Chotey!" Anjali whispered in warning.

He turned around to see the three adults he had seen in the photos entering the room.

Anjali & Aman stood up.

"Baito, Nandkisore!" Buaji said.

All greeted each other and sat down. Payal rushed to the kitchen to join Khushi in making tea and serving snacks to the guests.

Babuji looked at the three well-dressed guests with confusion in his eyes. He asked, "Khushi said you wanted to meet us?"

"Ji." ASR said. Now he had to ask their permission to make Khushi his... model... He felt his throat muscles protesting, his heart thudding in nervousness...

Garima looked anxiously at Buaji. What had Khushi done now?

"Bitwaa, Titliyaa did not cause you any harm, did she?" Buaji asked ASR, serious.

"Ji?" he asked, a frown of confusion adorning his temple.

"Oo kaa he Nandkisore, woh thodi sanki he! She gets in to the most awful of scrapes with very little trouble..." Buaji explained with a worried look at her brother.

"Err...no...no...Khushi did not do anything..." ASR started.

Three relieved sighs wafted on the air.

"Acha he, Nandkisore!" Buaji exclaimed aloud, relieved. "Trouble always comes in search of her. That is our Sanka Devi!" Buaji chuckled.

Payal & Khushi brought in trays of tea cups and bowls of snacks and placed them before the guests. Khushi served the Laad Governaar, glaring at him, and then moved on to his sister and manager.

Arnav sipped the tea. It was sweet. He placed the cup and saucer back on the tray.

"Kaa hua, Babua? Why aren't you having your tea?" Garima asked.

"I...I am diabetic. I can't have anything sweet." ASR spoke mildly to the kind lady.

"I will make fresh tea for you." Garima got up.

"No...it is fine..." ASR tried to protest, but Garima moved towards the kitchen.

All the people in the room stared at each other, uncomfortable. The Guptas had no idea why strangers were visiting them.

Finally, Babuji asked, "You are from Delhi?"

"Ji." Anjali smiled. "Arnav owns a company that designs clothes. We are holding a fashion show next month in Lucknow, in Sheesh Mahal..." She decided to help her brother.

"That big, white building..." Buaji thought aloud.

"Ji." Aman stepped in. "We want models to display our Indian clothes...the lehengas and the saris...They have to wear these clothes and walk on a stage. We have been hiring suitable girls as models and training them..."

"Oh!" Buaji exclaimed.

"Khushiji will make a perfect model. Her height, her skin, her beauty, her grace...Buaji, would you mind sending her to us as a model?" Anjali asked, a gentle smile on her face.

Babuji, Buaji, & Payal stared at her with their mouths open.

Khushi grimaced, looking at Laad Governaar's closed face. He looks like a bee stung him, she thought, and that too in some unmentionable part.

"She will not have to travel out of Lucknow." ASR said. "She can stay with the other models in Sheesh Mahal. And it is only for one month..."

One month of seeing him on a regular basis? It was better to take up sanyas, Khushi thought.

"The clothes are sarees and lehengas, all modest. And Khushiji will be safe with us. I will personally take full responsibility for her." Anjali smiled.

What was wrong with Anjaliji? Why was she so insistent on having her as a model? Khushi almost scratched her head in confusion.

Garima returned with tea for Arnav. He took it from her with a murmur of gratitude.

Babuji said, "Bitiyaa, I am sorry. Woh kya he ki, in our families, girls don't take up such jobs..."

Buaji added, "We have two girls to marry off, Bitiyaa. If we send Khussi to walk on the stage in front of hundreds of people, no good boy from a good family will be willing to marry her. It will affect Payaliyaa's life too...And as it is, she has one screw theela..."

Garima looked at her husband and her Jiji in confusion. "Walk on the stage? Khussi? Ka hua, Jiji? Is there some festival in our temple?"

"No, Garima. Arnav Babua kahe rahe, there's some function in his company. Girls have to walk on a stage wearing sari and lehenga, Nandkisore..."

Garima gasped.

"Naa Babua, naa... As it is the whole of Lucknow knows that she is sanki. Now if she does something scandalous like this, no one will marry her. Naa..."

Khushi smiled at ASR, all thrilled, as though to say, I told you no, didn't I?

ASR could feel his palms sweating. He had found his girl. Khushi...she could not hide from him any longer. But how to keep her within his realm, his area of control? He looked at Khushi, smiling at him, triumphant at her escape from him. She popped a piece of jalebi in her mouth, relishing the sweet taste of victory.

Anjali and Aman looked at ASR, sorry for him, desperately wanting to help him further, but not knowing what to do.

His composed face in place, ASR said, "I fully understand your concerns, Amma, Babuji, Buaji..."

Anjali, Aman, & Khushi stared at him in shock.

"If you don't want to send Khushi to Sheesh Mahal as a model, that's perfectly fine." he continued.

Babuji, Buaji, & Garima smiled at him in relief.

"Bura mat maanna, Bitwaa." Garima said.

"In our society, in our biradiri, such things are not acceptable, Nandkisore!" Buaji explained.

"I am sorry to disappoint you." Babuji said politely.

"That is fine." ASR, possessing a shatir dimag trained in Haridwar, said. "But I would like your help on another matter."

Garima, Babuji, & Buaji looked at each other.

"What is it, Bitwaa?" Babuji asked. "If it is in our power to do so, we will help you."

Anjali and Aman looked at ASR, holding their breath, waiting to find out what his inventive brain had come up with.

"Khushi was telling me that you own Satwik Mistaan Bhandaar and that she makes very good jalebis..." ASR began.

"Yes, Babua." Babuji said.

Khushi huffed in annoyance. So he hadn't believed her, and was now asking her father for confirmation! What a Laad Governaar! Rakshas kahin ka! She rolled her eyes at him like a mad bull eyeing the butt of a potential victim.

"There are 35 persons staying in Sheesh Mahal right now. They need to be fed four times a day. We have built a well-equipped canteen in the outhouse of the mansion, and brought Manju Singh from Delhi to work as canteen manager. But we don't have enough female staff who know how to cook. Finding good cooks at such a short notice is very difficult for us..." ASR began.

Anjali & Aman drew in sharp breaths of appreciation. Nobody could think on his feet like ASR!

"And I can't eat oily, unhealthy food from restaurants daily. My health..."

Anjali & Aman nodded furiously in agreement.

Amma, Babuji, & Buaji looked at ASR sympathetically.

"Hai Re Nandkisore! So young, and yet so ill!" Buaji muttered in sympathy.

"You can't even eat a laddoo!" Garima muttered in sympathy.

ASR said, "Can you send Khushi to Sheesh Mahal to work as a cook? She knows Lucknow and the people here. Manju Singh can take her help to employ more people in the kitchen, and she can prepare healthy meals for me. And the others..."

There was silence in the room. Even the air seemed to be waiting for the decision of the Guptas. Anjali clutched the arms of her chair, fearful of the answer.

"No, no, Devi Maiyya, please, no..." Khushi chanted in her mind. "I don't want to go to his Sheesh Mahal. I don't want to cook for him! I don't want to see him again..."

Amma, Babuji, & Buaji looked at each other.

"This is only for one month, Babuji." ASR reassured him.

The Guptas nodded.

"Tum itna keh rahe ho, Nandkisore, how can we refuse you?" Buaji asked.

No...screamed Khushi, silently.

"Are you sure you want Khussi to work in your kitchen?" Garima asked, pale, seeing the many hundreds of ways in which her Khussi could turn a simple job into a torture chamber...for her employer.

"Ji." ASR affirmed.

May Devi Maiyya protect him...from Khussi!, Garima thought.

"Khushi will help you, Bitwaa. After all, you are guests to our city. How can we refuse a helping hand?" asked Babuji.

ASR could feel his limbs tremble in relief.

"If Khussi does some mischief, kaan pakadke you throw her out, Bitwaa. And complain to her father." Buaji advised him.

ASR nodded. He stood up to leave. Anjali & Aman joined him.

"Manju Singh will come here tomorrow morning, and explain her duties to Khushi. Then Khushi can accompany her to Sheesh Mahal and start her work." ASR said.

All the Guptas except Khushi nodded, reassured.

"We have to go now." ASR said, bidding a fond farewell to the family.

Khushi stood at the far end of the crowd, grinding her teeth in fury.

"Khushi, we will see you tomorrow." he dared to say as he left, taking great pleasure in seeing her face mottled in helpless anger.

No jalebis for Devi Maiyya for an entire month, Khushi thought, furious at having all her plans overset. And the Laad Governaar? She would teach him a lesson that he wouldn't forget in a hurry!

As they drove back to Sheesh Mahal, Anjali teased her brother, "So we are not going to Delhi, Chotey?"

Chotey blushed.

"Looks like you will be busy in Lucknow for the whole of this month, Sir." Aman said, tongue-in-cheek. "Shall I return to Delhi tomorrow? I am sure you don't need my assistance in this negotiation."

The red colour spread down ASR's neck.

Anjali & Aman burst out laughing.