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List of Smita's OS:
https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/2652341
Part 2:https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/3174896?pn=15
Part 3: https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/3174896?pn=30
Part 4: https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/3174896?pn=40
Part 5: https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/3174896?pn=50
Part 6: https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/3174896?pn=63
Part 7: https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/3174896?pn=78
Part 8: https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/3174896?pn=91
Part 9:https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/3174896?pn=99
Part 10: https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/3174896?pn=108
Thread 2 (Part 11- ): https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/3185727
Thread 3: Part 23: https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/3205723?pn=15
Thread 4: Part 33: https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/3222761
I hope to update one or more parts daily till the story is done. Please check the index. I won't be able to send PMs. Sorry.
All pics credited to uploaders.
Part 1
Arnav Singh Raizada watched the slip of a girl in a colourful red and green anarkali come down the steps of the temple. She was...she was... beautiful. To a man who had a low opinion of everything and everyone, even life, it was an astounding admission to make, even in the silent recesses of his mind. As he sat in the cool confines of his SUV and watched her, she smiled. For one second, his heart seemed to stop. Was she smiling at him? The twinkling eyes, the pearly white teeth, the pink, rosebud lips, the nose pin that glittered in the morning light, the dangling earrings that seemed to invite his fingers to send them swinging, her chotti si, laal naak... Then he saw her dive into her voluminous cloth bag and come up with a handful of something that she threw to the pigeons around her, the pigeons she had been smiling at. He gulped. The pigeons gathered around their kind, young benefactress. Her smile widened. Was it channa? He saw her throw a few into her mouth as she watched the pigeons feast. The smile on her face! As though all the joy in the world had been captured and stored there, in her heart!
He didn't see Di walk by the beautiful girl, limping down the steps, her hand held in Akash's. The first he knew was when Akash opened the door to help Di inside.
"You should have come with us, Chotey!", Di said, smiling. "The pooja was for you."
"Me?" He had to squeeze the words past the big lump in his throat.
"Haan, Bhai, for you.", Akash smiled, anticipating the fireworks coming.
"For your marriage, Chotey."
He sighed. "Di, how many time have I told you..."
"Too many to count, Chotey. But we can dream and pray, can't we?"
Arnav turned his exasperated face away from Di, his eyes stopping on the way, halting completely at the sight of the girl walking down the steps and getting into a rickshaw. The vehicle made its noisy way away from his car. All he could see of her was a bit of her red dupatta flying in the breeze.
"Aren't we going home, Chotey?", Di asked, curious at his fixed gaze ahead.
"Ha..an...", he muttered, starting the car to leave for home. He had to drop off Di at home before he and Akash could go to their office.
He drove on, till Akash exclaimed, "Bhai! Where are we going?"
Arnav looked at him, confused.
"We missed the turning to our home." He realised to his horror that he had been following the rickshaw.
The next morning, Arnav asked Anjali, "Di, aren't you going to the temple today?"
Anjali looked at Nani, surprised. Then she said, "Haan, Chotey. Why?"
"Err... I will take you there."
Anjali smiled at him. "No, Chotey! Don't bother. Mami & I will go with Mohanji in the other car. You and Akash can go to the office. Who kya he, it is Teej today. The temple will be crowded, and we will take a long time there. You will get fed up of waiting for us."
Teej! The girl would definitely come to the temple. "No, Di. I will take you both to the temple and drop you back home. Akash can manage the office without me." Akash choked on his tea. Nani and Mami looked at him with eyes wide open. He walked away before the ladies could ask uncomfortable questions.
Mami whispered in Anjali's ears, "Anjali Bitiyya! Bhat happened to Arnav Bitwaa?"
Nani wondered, "Chotey mandir ma?"
"Something is happening to our Chotey, Nani, Mami..." Anjali's eyes filled with tears. "Maybe... maybe our prayers that he should find a girl to love, a girl who loves him are finally coming true.", she whispered.
He scanned the premises of the temple, hoping for a glimpse of his smiling girl. He looked closely at the people climbing the steps to the main building of the temple. He peered at the people exiting the temple. Maybe she had finished praying and was buying pictures of gods at the stalls there. He marched over to the shops and looked around. The devotees gave the stern-looking man in formal clothes, his eyes hidden by dark glasses, a wide berth. Maybe she was buying flowers and coconuts and other materials for the pooja. He looked at each face in the crowd there. She was absent. He clenched his fists. Where was she? He looked around desperate for a glimpse of her. Then he heard a shout, "Channa, channa... Rs 10 for 100g... Channa le lo, channa..." He dragged in a deep breath. Yes, channa. She must be there. He rushed to the corner where the channa vendor stood, but his smiling girl was not one among the children and men surrounding him.
Where was she? Who was she? Why wasn't she at the temple today? Today was Teej, after all..., he thought, furious that he was being denied a glimpse of the sweetest face he had ever beheld. His phone rang. Aman. He cut the call.
He looked around from his vantage point. The chudi wala. Maybe she would be buying chudis to adorn her slender arms. As he was about to make his way to the chudi wala, he saw her. He pulled off his sunglasses for a clearer view, and looked down at the steps leading to the temple.
A vision in a red sari. His favourite colour. Her hair was unbound, lying low on her back, the wind playing with the silky dark strands. The sari clung to her, outlining the full curves of her well-formed figure. She had a pooja thali in one hand, and the other was curved around the arm of an older man who leaned on a stick to walk. A beautiful older lady, her head covered by the pallu of her yellow sari, accompanied them. There was another girl in a green sari with them, older than his smiling girl. Father, mother, elder sister, and his girl. He watched them as they navigated their way up the steps and passed him on their way into the temple. There was a curious sound as she walked past him. He looked down at her feet. Payal. Clinging to the slender ankles of the most beautiful feet he had ever seen.
His feet followed them. He removed his shoes when they removed their footwear. He matched them step for step. He stood behind them as they prayed to Devi Maiyya, their hands folded in devotion. His own hands lifted in prayer, his eyes on his girl in red in front of him. He followed her as they made their way around the temple, his eyes seeing only her...
"Chotey!"
"Arnav Bitwaa!"
He looked disconcerted at his Mami and Di who were clutching at the sleeves of his coat.
"Hello Hi Bye Bye! Bhat are you doings inside the mandirwaa? Devi Maiyya ko shock dene ka iraada he kaa?", his Mami teased him.
His Di said, "Did you come in search of us, Chotey! We are done now. We can go home."
Arnav looked desperately at and around the spot where he had last seen his girl. She was no longer there.
That evening, Nani was waiting at home with phase 2 of Get-Arnav-Married-Off-at-the-Earliest scheme ready. Phase 1 (appealing to Devi Maiyya) had been done admirably well by Akash, Manorama, & Anjali. Now it was her turn.
"Chotey!", she bearded the lion in his den.
Arnav lifted his tired eyes from the laptop to look at her.
"You work too hard, Chotey!"
"Did you want something, Nani?"
"Haan. Mishraji brought a proposal for you today." Nani sat down on his bed, placing a cover beside her.
"Nani!", he sighed. He was tired. Tired of thinking of that girl all day in the office when he should have been working... tired of trying to get her out of his mind, head, heart...tired of saving his freedom from the frequent attacks of his Di, Nani, & Mami... tired of wasting time battling his Nani when he could be dreaming of her, not Nani, but his girl in the temple...
"Chotey!", Nani looked down at her clasped fingers. "I know you don't want to get married. I can't blame you for this decision..." She sighed. "Your parents set a bad example. I can understand that whatever happened to them has put you off marriage. But..."
Arnav looked at the frail, grey-haired lady who had raised him, loved him for the past 14 years.
She continued softly, "Chotey! I go to bed every night scared that if I don't wake up the next day, you are going to be alone all your life."
"Nani!", his husky voice tried to reassure her. "Nothing is going to happen to you. I promise."
"You are Arnav Singh Raizada. You can buy the world, but you can't buy me time on earth." Her blunt, sad words tore into his heart.
"Anjali will soon have her own family. Akash will wait for you to get married as long as possible. When finally Manorama manages to have her way, he will marry and settle down. After I am gone, you will be all alone, Chotey!" Her thin voice tugged at his heart strings. He placed his hand over her clasped ones.
"Chotey, I am not asking you to marry someone tomorrow." She freed her hands from his to take the cover she had placed beside her and hand it to him. "Mishraji sent this photo to us. Her name is Khushi. She is an orphan. Her aunt & uncle adopted her ten years back when she was eight years old. She and her family are in Delhi now on a visit to her Buaji, but will return to Lucknow soon. Her uncle runs a big sweetshop on the Main Street. Just glance at the picture. If you like her looks, we can meet them. If you don't, then I won't nag you anymore."
"Till you get the next picture.", said Arnav wryly.
Nani smiled. "Till we get the next proposal. Chotey, will you atleast look at the photo?"
Arnav nodded reluctantly.
Arnav paced the length & breadth of his room after Nani left. Were they all crazy? Mishra, Nani, Di, Mami! Eighteen years old, dammit! What a match for a 28 year old businessman who chewed and spat out grown-up men daily! But ...but an orphan like him. From Lucknow. Pity for the girl compelled him to pick up the cover and slide his finger under the flap. He owed it to his Nani to look at the photo before he rejected the proposal. The image of his smiling girl feeding the pigeons in the temple flashed through his mind. He reluctantly opened the cover, and pulled out the photo.
It was his smiling girl in the temple. But without the pigeons.
Part 2: https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/3174896?pn=15
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