" Tumse Yoon Milenge ...Humne socha na tha
Aur yeh Zindagi
Guzaregi tumhari raah mein......" Ankahee (2006)
There were parties, gatherings, celebrations, bashes featuring top people in the business he worked which he never bothered to attend. And then there were events featuring Salil which he never failed to. Be it his birthdays' or graduation party or the successful launch of his first ever music album, if the celebration involved Salil, Arjun was happy to attend. Not tonight though. That was odd considering Arjun was always glad to be a part of Salil's happiness. He had tried to be ever since he heard that Salil loved Pandit Hariprasad Sharma's daughter but it had always been more of a half hearted attempt. And his persistent questions to self about why it was that way had yielded inadequate answers.
One reason could be that women could never be trusted to maintain a good relationship. They were fickle and capricious, governed by their whims and he'd hate for his friend to go through what he and his dad had when his mother left them several years ago. It could also be that Arjun's position in Salil's life could be undermined by the new entrant and Arjun would probably end up losing one of the few friends he had. But most of all it was who Salil was getting engaged to. Arohi Sharma.
He had a clear view of her from the window of his floor as she helped her father get out of the hired car. For a 'lady-of-the-moment' she was dressed rather plainly in a dodger blue and ivory salwar suit. He could understand that they were not very well off but that seemed almost irreverent to his friend. Not that she needed too many accessories when she had that radiant smile of hers. She didn't need to draw a man's attention when they willingly gave her theirs, he thought wryly, remembering how she had almost all the men on his floor, at some point of time, speaking up for her whenever he attempted to berate her for her mistakes.
He remembered how Mr. Desai offered to exchange his lunch box and buy lunch off the cafeteria when he had the menu suddenly changed to only-non vegetarian so that she would have nothing to eat for her lunch break. Or how Mr. Vyas offered to assist her for balancing the accounts books so that she wouldn't have to work overtime or on the weekends to get that done. Both times she had thanked the men involved affably and refused to take their help.
He did it on purpose he supposed, giving her all the tasks to complete with impossible deadlines, so that she would have to come in early, stay late, work overtime. Hey, he did that too'.came early, stayed late'More like stayed in the office for as long as she did. Because he rarely got any work done otherwise.
"Arjun'..will you please stop eyeing your future prospectives and come down for the function??" Salil's amused voice got Arjun out of his reverie about his most 'disliked' employee.
Salil knew Arjun well enough to know whom he was thinking about and even better enough to know why. He just didn't want to tell him yet. "Yaar'.tum bhi'.kuch bhi'I mean 'I was not'.I mean I was just'." Arjun stammered before regaining his composure to say "You go ahead'I'll follow. And you know I'll be there'"
Arjun delayed going down to the main hall for as long as he could. There was the crowd, the noise and perhaps the worst music of all playing as loud as it could he told himself. And suddenly there was a hush with a very mellifluous, very familiar voice singing, "
Yehi har pal karein hum ab to dua
Jodi yeh banaye rakhe khuda
Haathon mein haath aise rahein
Jo dekhe who bas yeh kahein
Saath ho to aisa, ho jo umrbhar
Kehte kehte yehi'.katein yeh safar
Haan hain humein tumse'itni mohabbat hai''."
Perplexed, he followed the voice down to the podium where she stood and sang looking at Salil and smiling. "Salil '.yeh.." "She sings so well na''That's my present'she said she didn't get time to buy me anything because she had to work late most of the time", Salil gave Arjun a "I-know-you-did-this-on-purpose" look. "So she said she'll dedicate a song to me for this occasion. I'm actually thinking perhaps we should do a voice audition and help her with an album. Instead of looking up non-existing accounting books and errors, you know" Salil's grin had Arjun scowling. "She's my assistant, I'll make her do what I want her to do" Arjun said sulkily as Salil moved towards the podium to begin the ring exchange ceremony.
"Of course Arjun'.You can make her do whatever you want her to do", Padma Mittal's said with an obvious reference to Arohi. "Including coming out of your room at 1:00 am or 2:00 am in the night. Kaafi 'smart' ladki hai, nahi?." Her voice sounded suggestive.
Arjun didn't know why but that aspiration on Arohi's character seemed to affect him so much.
"I guess she is or she wouldn't be the only girl working with Arjun Punj and lasting more than a month" he said, answering her questioning look. "Smart enough to make inconsequential out of what could be a big deal" ,remembering his behavior with her in the office the night after he was drunk, "when there are people on the other side making a big deal out of nothing but a small and thoughtful act of compassion." He finished frostily. "Now'if you excuse me'.I need to go and get some fresh,light air. Getting away from heavy-duty, intellectual conversation you know."
Arohi hadn't meant to eavesdrop on Mrs.Mittal and Arjun's conversation. But well, it didn't help that she had two ears and Padma Mittal had a loud mouth. And a very nasty thought process Arohi thought disgustedly. Really, all these women'..And Arjun had the guts to call her a gossip!!!!! But remembering him and his rejoinder to Padma Mittal's 'she-that-kind-of-smart-girl' question bought a smile to her lips. And cleared a lot of her confusion of why she had been Arjun's punching bag for the whole of last week and this one, why he insisted she come in to work on Sunday when she said she had to go get a gift for Salil for his engagement, why he made her proof and rewrite the offer letter for their newest studio executive 20 times till she missed the small dinner party Salil was giving their immediate family, why he was so annoyed that she assumed he took his coffee with foam just like Salil. Typical of him to misunderstand and not clarify. And atypical of him to be irritated and annoyed with her if he thought 'she' was being wooed by his best friend. With his attitude, she would have thought he should have directed his 'preventive' actions at Salil, not at her. Perplexed, she started walking towards the dais where the engagement currently in progress when she heard those faint, haunting strains of harmonica which to her were so familiar.
Arjun often played the organ to organize his thoughts, to overcome his emotions. It was the one connection he thought he still had with his mother, which he could not bring himself to lose. His love for music. And today, he felt the same ache, the same melancholy which he had when she had left him at seven. That he had lost something which gave his life meaning, but which he did not understand how. He knew his song and tune were lost in the noise which blared out and reached a crescendo as the engagement reached its climax.
As he thought about her, he formed the words he didn't want to say in his mind and played them to her tune,
"Teri khushboo bikhare hai sandali fiza
Chuye jo hawa to lage tune chua
Tune di sazaa ya kiya hai karam
Mujh mein samaye ho aise sanam
Dil pe deewangee cha gayi is qadar
Har jagah humko bas tuhi aaye nazar
Kaise kahein humein kitani mohabbat hai
"
Arohi didn't know what made that tune stand out of all the cacophony around her as her Purvi di entered a new relationship with Salil. And she knew she should be there, right beside her, supporting her in this time. But her heart and her brain were in conflict. All her feet were doing were following her heart and the source of the sound. She didn't know why but she had to find out who was playing it. Now. She walked noiselessly, till she was a couple of inches away from this mystery man who gave her lyrics rhythm and music.
Arjun was so tuned in to Arohi's presence, he guessed she stood right behind him. He abruptly stopped playing his mouth organ and started walking away only to hear her say softly,"I don't have to see you to know it is you '..'Arjun Sir."
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