The parts in italics are lyrics for the song and the intermediate regular text are Rudra's thoughts...And now without further ado I present to you ...Dard-e-dil ki sifarish...*Drum rolls*
Background
Rudra has already raided the so called baarat and caught a huge shipment of illegal guns. There had been many casualties (groom was one of them), but he had caught the bride and brought her in for questioning. He thought he would use the divide and conquer techniques of the Britishers and on one hand had poisoned her brain against Thakur and told her that no one was ready to accept her and on the other hand had convinced the Thakur that he had shown her all the proof against him and that she believed it as well. He was hoping that at least one of them would fall for the lie and give him the proof he wanted. Thakur did fall for the lie, but instead of cooperating with BSD, he in turn poisoned the villagers against her and told them that she was working under cover for BSD. She on the other hand kept repeating the same thing again and again that she was innocent and that she wanted to go back to her Mamisa. Eventually one day Rudra got pissed at her and asked Aman to drop her home. But, Mamisa was dead. Apparently she committed suicide as she couldn't bear that her niece was the traitor, but in reality Thakur had taken care of her, as she wanted to go and beg the BSD officers to release her. Aman had left her there to fend for herself. Something was disturbing Rudra, so in name of gathering more information he went to check on her. Good thing that he did, because her house was on fire and in the middle she stood, frozen to the spot starring at the flames that rose around her. He jumped in and saved her again and without thinking any further brought her back to BSD base. She didn't even bother opposing; she was just too stunned to fully understand the depth of her misfortune and loss. She lost her parents, then her Mamasa, then Jiji got married and forgot her, then Bindi was abducted and later reported to be dead and then her husband was killed right in front of her eyes. And now her dear sweet Mamisa was also dead. She had lost everything. She was living zombie who no longer cared where that BSD officer would take her. She wished that he would kill her, but instead he got her a job in the cooking team and got her a room in the servants quarters.
Cut to 2 months in the future
Aman had recently got engaged and his chirpy fianc had prepared him a romantic mixed tape. But, he didn't have a tape player. In the age of CDs and MP3 players, he never felt the need for it. But, today he would trade all his modern gadgets for a simple tape player. He knew of just one person who still used that antiquated machine and it was none other than Major Rudra Pratap Ranawat! Major Rudra hated it when people entered his quarters without permission. And he got really pissed when they used his things without his permission. But everything is fair in love and war, so the majnu in making (a.k.a Aman) entered the lion's den. Luckily the Major was out on his weekly drinking trip, so he would finish listening to her before he was back. At least that was the plan.
One mushy song after another kept playing and he was imagining his sweetheart with every song. He was amazed at how all the songs made complete sense to him. He was truly in love. Aman was almost blushing, when he heard Major Rudra's footsteps. His heart just skipped a beat. He was dead. Panicked, he hid the tape player below the bed and he hid behind the curtains.
Rudra was completely confused as to why music was coming out of his room. He entered to find that someone was using his tape recorder and that idiot was hiding behind the curtains. He ordered the offender to step out from behind the curtains. He wondered if it was her, but even before he could shrug that thought off, Aman stepped out. Rudra stared at him with a "what an idiot" kind of expression on his face. Aman launched into his extremely mushy and girly story of how every word was speaking to him and was making complete sense. He said that he was under a spell. Rudra couldn't begin to comprehend this and he dismissed Aman with a wave of his hand and ordered him to leave. Aman just started taking a step towards the tape, when Rudra stopped him with a "don't even think about it expression" and asked him to return when he was back in his senses.
As soon as Aman left, a new song started playing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-VTkT4dgmw
Yaariyan
ve... Yaariyan
Yaariyan ve... yaariyan ve..
Yaariyaan... yaa...
"Yaariyan Yaariyaan, What kind of
rubbish is this!", exclaimed Rudra. He started jabbing at the stop and eject
button to get the song to stop. The problem with his trusted tape player was
that it would need a special type of encouragement to work. Usually hitting it
would do the trick, so he gave it a nice bang. But, it wasn't working. He was
about to bang it again; when his eyes caught her distant figure...There she
stood outside her quarters dressed in white. She was just staring at something
in the sky, most probably the moon, when the breeze just blew the pallu off her
face and head. Her entire face was visible. She had a slight smile on, but her
eyes were still staring at the distant object, just as his were staring at her.
Dil mera hai nasamajh kitna
Besabar ye bewkoof bada
Chahta hai kitna tujhe
Khud magar nahi jaan sakaa
He was so lost in her, that he didn't even realize it, but he started humming the above stanza. She would look normal and may be even happy to some people, but her eyes were sad and he couldn't get over them. He wanted to take away all her pain and protect her. But, how could her destructor (as she might as well call him) protect her. But, he should probably do something...
Is dard-e-dil ki sifarish
Ab kar de koi yahaan
Ki mill jaaye isey woh baarish
Jo bhigaa de poori tarah (x2)
Yaariyan ve... Yaariyan...
He heard the above stanza and was
shockingly brought back to pseudo-reality. The song was talking to him. Had he
lost it or had Aman's fianc put a spell on him as well. Was the song referring
to him? It felt like his broken heart was singing it... extreme pain seared
through his body and he shuddered. His heart was yearning to make things right,
to get rid of the guilt, to get rid of the pain...The pain, he so clearly saw in
her eyes...He was a broken man who never cared for anyone, so why was he thinking
of her. It couldn't be care...
Kya huaa asar tere saath reh kar naa jaane
Ki hosh mujhe naa raha
Lafz mere thhe zubaan pe aake ruke
Par ho na sake woh bayaan
Dhadkan tera hi naam jo le
Aankhein bhi paighaam ye de
Teri nazar ka hi ye asar hai
Mujh pe jo huaa
He almost yelled in shock when the
above stanza was done. I don't keep calling her. Her eyes don't speak to me. In
fact, I don't even look at her. Saying
this he looked away. "What am I doing?", this is just a stupid song...it's not
talking to me...I should stop listening to Aman...that idiot and his idiotic fianc...
Is dard-e-dil ki sifaarish
Ab kar de koi yahaan
Ki mill jaaye isey woh baarish
Jo bhiga de poori tarah (x2)
The silly song writer should go and
dance in the rains and stop writing such dumb songs. He started hitting stop
button again...but as soon as the next stanza started his eyes searched for her
again...There she was standing in the same place and looking angelic as ever...The
moon light made her look even more beautiful...it lit up her pretty face...
Tu jo mila
Toh zindagi hai badli
Main poora naya ho gaya
Hai be-asar duniya ki baatein badi
Ab teri sunu main sadaa
Milne ko tujhse, bahaane karun
Tu muskuraaye, wajah main banun
Roz bitaana saath mein tere, saara din mera
Laila had just accused him of something similar a few days ago. Rudra kept the tape player down and walked towards his window as if he was being pulled by some invisible thread that connected them both together. Then he went into a monologue "First she said I have changed and that I have mellowed down and that I wasn't the tiger that she loved. Then she accused me of listening to her (as in her), when I was just doing the rational thing to do. I agreed to stay back on Monday, not because she told me, but because there was Rath Yatra and I would have got stuck in Birpur. I agree that she mentioned the Rath Yatra, but I would have stopped even if Aman would have mentioned it. And I am not interested in meeting her or seeing her. I just went to the servant quarter to make sure none of the cadets were eyeing at her. I mean all women and not just her. And to ensure that they don't make Aloo. And I trapped that butterfly and brought it here, just like that. Not because it would make her smile. Her smile or the lack of it doesn't bother me at all. Why would I care? And why would I ever want to spend my day with her? I don't try to meet her in fact I try to stay far away as she isn't anything...she's a traitor and dumb and scared and a traitor and ... Whatever, she doesn't exist for me."
Is dard-e-dil ki sifaarish
Ab kar de koi yahaan
Ki mill jaaye isey woh baarish
Jo bhiga de poori tarah (x4)
Even as he was justifying himself to a tape player, in his heart of heart Rudra knew that something wasn't right. Because when he caught the butterfly, he could still see her smile from the very first time he had met her and her childhood friend; Rukhmani, had paid her a visit. He had passed by the servant's quarter more in the past 2 month than he had done in the last 5 years he was in the force. He never spoke to her any more, but every second her thoughts would jump into his conscience and distract him. He had to remind himself that she's a traitor, so he could hate her. He had never needed a reason to concentrate or to hate the enemy before, but it was getting difficult with every passing day. But at least he could control his thoughts during the day. The nights were worse; every night he would see her eyes in his dreams and he would want to reach out to her ... Thinking this he very softly whispered "Paro..." and to his surprise she looked straight at him, as if she had heard him...
On realizing that Rudra was looking at her...she ran into her quarters and hid from his peering gaze...And he started humming...
Dhadkan
tera hi naam jo le
Aankhein bhi paighaam ye de
Teri nazar ka hi ye asar hai
Mujh pe jo huaa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-VTkT4dgmw
