Dear All...
Anticipating quite a few shouts and screams for my extended absence... And as I take a
pause in Anjali's story...
Hold it! Happy Valentine's Day!!
This takes place a few weeks after Anjali's wedding...
Without much ado, presenting the next OS in the series...
Vignettes 28. An Old Friend
It was a normal weekday at Shantivan and the womenfolk had settled down
for the day after seeing off everyone to office. A rare break in the schedule
of Annapoorna meant that Khushi was also at home, and Anjali had
hopped over from next door, after seeing off Raghuveer and her
mother-in-law, who was planning a day at the library.
"Arre, Di, aap aa gayi?", Khushi exclaimed happily, seeing her sister-in-law settled on her usual spot beside her Nani. Quickly wiping her hands
on a tea_towel, she walked out of the kitchen, pulling Payal with her.
"Ghar ki kaam se aaj aapko bhi chutti hai, Jiji."
They were all happily engaged in pulling the leg of the newly married Anjali when the landline phone rang. "Hum dekhte hain," Khushi
jumped up and answered, "Hello?"
"Aha! Tum toh all sophisticated ho gayi ho!" came the reply.
Feathers ruffled, Khushi asked, "Woh hum dekh lenge, aap kaun?"
"Getting angry? Woh toh expected hai, considering who you're married to;
Mr. Angry Man himself!"
"Haun! Aap kaun hote ho humare pati ke baare mein aise baat karne ke
liye?" Khushi sputtered, annoyed thoroughly now.
The now laughing voice replied, "Main? I'm an old friend. Mujhe itni jaldi
bhool gayi, Chamkili?"
It was a shout that shook the rafters that came as Khushi's reply," Lavanyaji!"
Laughing in delight, she turned to the rest of the family and announced the
obvious, "Lavanyaji hain, phone pe!"
Putting the receiver back to her ear, she asked, "Aap kahan se phone kar
rahi ho, Lavanyaji?"
"From L.A., of course. Tumhein pata hain maine kitni mushkil se time
difference ko manage kiya, to make this call?
"Shukriya!", Khushi smiled, "Kaisi ho aap? Aur yeh boliye ki aaj achaanak
humein yaad kaise kiya?"
"Tum toh nahi karti!", Lavanya shot back, and smiling as she heard Khushi
frantically trying to make amends, "No issues, Chamkili! Main buss mazaak k
ar rahi thi! Actually ek wajah hai, yeh call ke liye. I'm coming to India!"
"Arre waah!" prompt came the exclamation. "Kab?"
"Next week. And I just wanted to make sure you will be there so that I can
meet you." A slight hesitation preceded her next words, "And ASR? How
is he? Will he be there too?"
Smiling softly as she understood the multiple reasons behind that hesitation,
Khushi replied, "Ji haan, woh bhi agle kafte Dilli mein hi honge. Aur hum
jaante hain ki woh aapse milne ke liye utne hi utsuk honge jitne hum hain."
"I would love meeting you all. Aur baaki sab log kaise hain? Naniji, Mamiji,
Anjali Di?"
"Sab theek hain. Aur yahan hain, aapke aane ki khabar sunke sab bahut
khush hain."
"Please convey my regards to everyone, Khushi. I'll call you up later to
confirm the date of my arrival, okay?"
"Ji. Hum bahut khush hain, Lavanyaji, aapse milke bahut saari batein karni
hain, puraani dinon ke jaise."
Smiling fondly as she remembered how their unlikely friendship had thrived,
Lavanya replied, "Pakka! Okay then, I'll talk to you later, bye."
**************
"Aur Arnavji, sabse khaas khabar! Pata hain aaj kisne phone kiya?" Khushi
chirped up from her post on the futon, as she watched Arnav setting down
all the office-related paraphernalia and shrugging out of his coat.
Smiling at his wife, whose habit of updating him about every single detail of
her day as soon as he walked in from work always worked like a charm in
helping him shed the stress of the day and unwind, he quipped, "Pata
hota toh bhi tum mujhe batati! Bolo, kisne kiya meri biwi ko phone?"
Scrunching up her nose as she acknowledged his teasing but let it go in
her excitement on sharing her news, Khushi semi-yelled, " Lavanyaji ne! Amreeka se!"
Eyebrows lifting in surprise, even as he fought a grin at her Lucknowi turn
of phrase which often made an appearance when she was at her most
unreserved, he asked, "Really? Its been ages since you guys talked, huh?
Maine toh usse baat karke lagbhag dhed saal ho gayi hogi! Magar tum
baat karti thi naah, aksar?"
Even though Lavanya had contunued to work for AR's overseas office for
a while, her contact had been another Vice President, with little official
interaction with Arnav, making it easy on both of them. An occasional
phonecall for some clarification or the other had been the extent of their
communication, until it stopped altogether when she joined another firm
with an office closer to her parents residence.
"Haan, Arnavji, baat karte the, lekin such maheenon se nahi. Hum donon
vyast rehte hai toh schedule match karna aasaan nahi hota. Isi liye toh
hum itna utsuk hai! Woh aa rahi hai, India, agle hafte!"
"That's good news, she hasn't been in India since...", Arnav trailed off as
he remembered that last conversation just after their engagement was
called off. Grimacing as he recollected her agonized face, his hand, busy
untying the knot of his tie, stilled.
Reading the expression on his face correctly, Khushi stepped up to him,
gently pulling his hand away, and starting to untie it herself. "Aap uss din
ke baare mein soch rahe hain naah?", she asked softly.
Looking down at her with a guilty smile, he replied huskily, "Hmm. I can't
even begin to imagine how much it must have hurt her, and how much
courage she must have gathered to make that decision to set me free."
Her hands smoothening down his shirt , she hugged him tight, "Hum
andaaza bhi nahi laga sakte ki unpe kya beeti hogi, unke aankhon ke
saamne, anjaane mein hi sahi, humein ek doosre ke kareeb aate hue
dekhkar."
She looked up at her husband with tear-filled eyes and contiunued, "Hum donon ko pata nahi tha ki humare dilon
ka naata jod chuka tha, lekin unko samajh mein aaya, shaayad iss liye ki
woh aapse itna pyaar karti thi. Ek pyaar karnewali dil shaayad doosre ko
pehchaan paayi thi, aur humari dil ki baat bhi humse pehle unko samajh
aayi."
Cupping her face tenderly in both hands, he whispered," Mujhe andaasa
hai, woh kaise feel ki hogi. Exactly the way I felt when I came to know that
you had gotten engaged... as if my heart would burst from the agony... as
if I was bleeding unnoticed by everyone around me... as if the mere act of
breathing was more effort than my heart could handle... as if I might feel
better only if I get the chance to scream out my pain at the top of my voice...
as if...", he trailed off, as a tearful Khushi shushed him with a trembling
finger on his lips.
"Agar aisi baat hai toh humein bhi andaaza hai, kyon ki yeh hi haalat thi
humari bhi. Kisi ko bata nahi paa rahi thi Shyamji ke dhoke ke baare mein,
aapko bataana chaaha lekin darr gayi, yeh sochke ki aap par kya beetenge,
apni Di ki parivaar tootne ki khabar sunke, lekin sabse badi dard toh pyaar
ki thi... aapke pyaar mein pagal hone ki thi," she sobbed.
Dropping a tender kiss on her forehead, he replied, "And in that attempt, I
made Lavanya a pawn, without any consideration to what she must have
felt. She was the silent victim in all my machinations, the unwitting target
of my frustration at my inability to convey my feelings to you."
Hugging his wife with all his might, eyes misting as he remembered the
torment he had put Khushi through, the pain he had seen in her eyes, but
had been unable to comprehend, he asked, "Aur maine tumhare saath
kya kiya? Kitna sataaya tumhein, maine? I was losing my mind, going
completely out of control, at the thought that you were getting engaged,
that you were going to become someone else's forever, with nothing that I
could do about it. Itna conflicted tha main tumhein le kar, with all the
emotions you evoked in me, all the longing and desperation I felt around
you, that I didn't even know what was happening to me. Mujhe buss itna
pata chala ki tumhein bhi aisi hi kuch mehsoos ho raha tha, and with all
the turmoil you made me feel, I just wanted you to suffer as much as I was.
Kya kuch nahin kiya, maine? Tum kaise seh payi, Khushi?
"Jaise ek baar ek Ranjhe ne mujhse kaha tha, iss pyaar mein sach ya
jhoot ka koi maina nahi, sahii aur jalat ka koi maina nahi, buss ek baat ka
maina hai ki aap humshe aur hum aapse hamesha hamesha ke liye jude
hue hain, aur saath janmon ka pyaar har ek pal mein mehsoos karte hain..."
"Khushi, I love you!", his voice sounded as if it were wrenched from his
chest. "With everything in me, itna ki shaayad main kabhi bhi express
nahi par paaoonga. "
Understanding him as she always did, his wife smiled tremulously, "Toh
yeh achchi baat huyi naah, ki aapke aankhein aapkeliye baat karte hain,
aur aapke aankhon ki boli aapki sanki biwi se achcha koi nahi padh sakti."
As she wanted, her reply eliciting a smile from Arnav, he hugged her to
him again, the loving silence washing away the memories of a time of
suffering.
Author's Note
As I said, Happy Valentine's Day!
The long delay was due to my prolonged illness, but am all better now...
TKD will be updated on Saturday...