PROLOGUE
Once upon a time in Dilli, in Khurana Mansion
lived a small girl. The Mansion she lived in was built on an estate. The estate
was large and the Mansion was larger. It was so large that there was more than
three servants per job. The garden had three gardeners. The lawns were taken
care of by two specialists, one who maintained the lawns and other who
maintained the tennis court. There was also a patio in the back of the house
which was used for parties on several evenings. There were three lifeguards on standby keeping
an eye on the two swimming pools built on the lawn. There was even an observatory
few feet away from the pools with the green house attached to it where special
plants were grown. The observatory was made up of glass with a big telescope to
observe the stars. The plants and the telescopes had their own caretakers and
the observatory and the green house themselves were manned by several
specialists.
In
the house, kitchen itself had Main Chef, Sous Chef, Pastry Chef, waiters and
many more servants. Maintaining the house were the several servants with each
room having two servants assigned to it. And as the mansion had more main rooms
and guest rooms than one could count, you can understand how many servants
worked there. The person who headed these servants was the Butler aka Mr. Mohinderlaal
Handa.
Mr. Handa had joined the staff as a young lad
of 18. At that time he was just the driver of the Late Mr. Khurana also known
in the family as Daadaji. But as time passed, his job description grew and
today he singlehandedly ran the whole Mansion like a well-oiled machine. While
his professional life flourished, his personal life saw a tragedy. 18 years
back his wife died in childbirth and since then the poor man had to raise his
little daughter all alone. The little daughter is the Protagonist of our story,
Geet Handa.
Geet
Handa is normally found in the outhouse that was given to her and her father
for staying or in the garden playing with the butterflies. But today if you
searched for her, you would find her on the highest branch of a tree. Are you
shocked? Of course you are! Why would young girl like Geet climb a tree top? Well,
our Geet had a reason. And the reason was the party thrown by the Khuranas for
... for... actually I don't know why they threw the party. They tend to keep
throwing parties for one or other reason every few days. Infact, even they
don't know the reason behind their throwing parties these days. Music played,
couples danced, old people chatted and food was displayed nearby. All the elites
of Dilli were present there. Even Daadima was present with her group of elite
ladies. The only one not present was Maan Singh Khurana who was a workaholic
and preferred to entertain his clients with shop talk in the lounge. So he
mostly stayed in the lounge and didn't meander into such parties unless he had
been summoned.
In such parties, only wait staff were
allowed and hence, Geet had the option to only look from outside. And looking
from outside was also tough because the patio was surrounded by high walls.
Luckily for Geet, there was a tree growing near the wall whose highest branch
overlooked the patio. Anyone who climbed the tree can look in easily. Now you
can see why Geet was lounging around the tree branches!
But why was Geet so interested in these
parties? Ah! Therein lies the crux of the story. Geet eagerly looked into these
parties because of the Khuranas, especially one Khurana, Dev. But before we
talk about Dev, let me tell you a little about the Khuranas. The Khuranas
consisted of three people; Daadima, Maan and Dev. Daadima was the Matriarch of
the house. She singlehandedly ran the business after the death of her husband,
her son and her daughter-in-law. Now her grandchildren ran the business, or
rather one grandchild ran the business. This was Maan Singh Khurana, the
ruthless businessman who couldn't see anything beyond his work. He was a self
proclaimed workaholic. He even decided to remain bachelor so that nothing
distracted him from work. Or atleast that was the reason he gave to his
Daadima. The real reason was quite different. Maan had always been awkward
around girls and always spoke truth, something girls he met didn't appreciate.
He didn't know how to woo a woman and this made him withdraw into himself. Any
girl he met always were more impressed by his brother who was a charmer and
total flirt and that made Maan realise that almost every girl he met were
shallow and were easily influenced by few charming words and pleasant demeanor.
They never looked deeper into a person and that annoyed Maan. So he simply
threw himself into work and swore to never get married. Currently he was twenty
eight years old.
Now we come to 25 year old Dev, the
youngest son of the Khurana family. He had been spoilt since his childhood by
his Daadima and his Maan Bro and that has turned him into a playboy. He was
willing to have one night stand with any girl who was interested in it. But he
was not callous person. He was helpful to all his friends and always ready to
cheer anyone who was feeling sad. He was the life of the Mansion and he could
even make his grumpy brother smile. And this was what enticed Geet.
As a kid, Geet used to run a play in the
Mansion. Maan, who was a teenager by then used to be quite annoyed by her
constant chatter and her habit of barging in anywhere and hence sent her
packing with a glare. But Dev, who was only seven years older to Geet, always
took time to talk to Geet and even protected her from bullies in their
childhood. He always bought her gifts whenever he got pocket money and always celebrated
her birthday with great pomp. Hence, as Geet grew up, she developed a crush on
Dev. But unfortunately for her and fortunately for Geet, Maan and us, Dev never
thought of her in that manner.
Every party came and everytime Geet
climbed on the tree branch to have a look at her Dev. Its not as if she never
saw him other times. Its just that she liked to see him dance and imagine herself
dancing with him. And today also Geet was staring at Dev. She watched as he roamed
around the patio meeting all the guests. He was dressed in all white and had a
charming grin on his lips. Geet sighed dreamily. Oh Dev! How handsome you look!
You look so perfect! Her eyes narrowed as she noticed Dev glance at a girl
twice. She looked away as tears welled in her eyes. She looked back as Dev
grabbed the girl with her arm and dragged her to dance with him. She watched as
they danced for a while.
After half hour, Geet growled as Dev pulled
the girl a little closer. Now he will whisper something in her ear, Geet
predicted in her mind. And on the dance floor, that is what exactly happened. Dev
bent down and whispered something in the girl's ear. Geet frowned as she
wondered what exactly Dev whispered. Now he will excuse himself, Geet announced
mentally. Just then on the dance floor, Dev walked away. The girl ran off and
Geet knew exactly where she went. She would go to the observatory where she
will wait for Dev. Dev would then go to the bar and order a champagne. He will
pick up two champagne flutes and pocket them in the back pocket of his dress
trousers. Geet hissed in annoyance as exactly what she predicted happened. Dev
left for the observatory whistling. How did Geet know all this? Because this is
exactly what Dev did at every party. Only thing different was the girl who was
with Dev.
Geet sighed as she rested on the tree trunk.
I wonder what they did in the observatory, Geet mused. Unfortunately for Geet,
she never got to see what happened after Dev and the girl of his choice go to
the observatory as the observatory was always shielded. She imagined the
spacious observatory and the beautiful plants decorating the room. She imagined
the girl sitting in the middle of the room on a love couch and Dev heading
towards her looking at her lovingly! She sighed again. I know they must be
talking there, what else they will do, Geet shrugged. Poor Geet! She is so
nave! She was raised in an all girls' convent school and her father always
sheltered her from the world. Hence, Geet was too nave to understand what Dev
did with his girlfriend once they escaped the party. By the way, Geet is not so
nave that she didn't understand what happened between husband and wife on a
marital bed, but she just never imagined that Dev slept with every girl who was
interested in him.
Poor Dev! Geet sighed. Everytime he thinks
he has found the love of his life and everytime it turns out to be false. How
many times I have asked him the next day after the party if he was in love with
the girl and everytime he had the same answer. I spoke with her and realised
we are not perfect for each other.', he would say. Poor Dev! Geet frowned. Everytime
he must be so hopeful that this girl is his dream girl! And everytime he must
be so disappointed when they didn't seem perfect for each other. Sigh! He
doesn't know he is looking at all wrong places. If only he saw me, waiting
right here for him! But how will he notice me! I look so bland. Geet looked
down and pouted. She was dressed in plain colored salwar kameez, her hair in
two plaits. She looked like a school girl. I am so boring, Geet whined. I wish
I could dress up like those girls! She tossed a glare at those girls standing
on the dance floor, who she knew wanted to take her Dev away from her. If only
I could get one chance! And then I would be the one he would drag to the dance!
I would be the one in whose ear he would whisper! I would be the one who would
get to drink champagne with him! And then he will realise that I am the perfect
one for him! Sigh! She imagined herself dressed in an evening gown, Dev coming
to her and asking her to dance, them dancing and then them having champagne in
the observatory and then Dev would say -
Geet felt a harsh tug on her legs and she
came crashing down to the earth. She was shocked to see that she had actually
fallen down from the branch and was lying on the floor. Suddenly her arm was grabbed
and she was hauled up. It was her Papaji. "Come out of your daydreaming and see
the real world!", her father gently spoke. Geet pouted and looked down as her
father grabbed her hand and started to walk away, "Dev will never be yours
beta! Its about time you understand this! You are not a child anymore! They are
the people who live in the skies and we live on the earth. They and us don't
mingle! They will always be owners and we will always be servants. When will
you realise..." Geet tuned her father out as she forlornly looked back at the
party. I just want one chance! One chance to show Dev that I am made for him
and he is made for me! Just one chance!
So how was the prologue?
Did you like it?
Next update, we will see Geet interact with Dev and also with
Maan!
Thank you, take care and have fun,
Kalpana
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