Hi Folks,
Writing something like this after years. Armu is irresistible. Long time ago , I had explained Aru's strange accusations in terms of physical intimacy on twitter. I have tried to capture all the nuances. Do feel free to read, like, comment and discuss. I hope you find it an engaging read!
Any questions are more than welcome!
Lots of Lubb
Piu🤗
PART 1
The Familiar Stranger
Sometimes familiarity is highly overrated. Two individuals in love discover unknown facts about each other every single day. Seconds, minutes, days and years do not matter. Love is a beautiful journey and discovery is the joy of being in love. It might be a shy smile from your beloved, a bewitching kiss or even a twinkle in the eyes while sipping tea. Discovery is a joy! Familiarity is serendipity.
The fierce torrential downpour was now reduced to a puny yet soft drizzle. It was as if the village was flooded with numerous emotions pouring from the heavens above. The occasional pitter-patter of raindrops falling on their tin can telephone canister lying on Mukhiji's makeshift cot in the balcony, tinkled the ghungroos attached to them in soporific rhythm.
The breeze was gentle and now blowing in soft yet virulent puffs intermittently with a sneak peek of thunder and lightning.
Inside their room, sweat had pooled damply and amply beneath Aru's messy curls fanned all over her bare back.
Her wanton fingers rolled every hair strand on Mukhi ji's chest transforming them into tiny tendrils. She had sighed the umpteenth time, her eyes twinkled, her heart billowing with pride watching her mini pieces of artwork. Her head was slumped in a promiscuous audacity on her usual pillow- her Mukhiji. The only difference was that today, her cheeks weren't resting on his usual reverential Khadi Kurta which snugly used to fit his bosom. His Khadi Kurta, she always felt, was so much like him- unostentatious, hand-spun, incredibly delicate in texture and unrivalled for its humility.
The Khadi was no longer present between them. Every day, she had felt admiring his graceful form that he carried his years well and today it was even more evident. His skin beneath her cheeks was enviable, flushing and had a unique weathered texture. She could hear his savage heartbeats beating like gongs today, her own barbarian ones defying any sense of logic.
She chortled admiring his fervid tepid breaths which came in the form of huffing and puffing. If Mukhiji would have jumped up now and told her that he had asthma, she would have believed it somehow! Aru thought meaningfully.
Mukhi's torso remained unmoved, with only a minor twitching as she snuggled snaking her arms around him to draw him closer.
Mukhi lied in his usual posture, one arm pulling Aru closer, keeping her steady as snug as a bug in a rug. The other one, beneath his head, with his neck craning towards the other side, away from her. His tunnel vision riveted to the bedstead where his own earrings and Aru's jhumkas were lying scattered randomly.
The occasional soggy breeze found its way through the half-opened window and cascaded threads of Goosebumps on her resiliently scratched skin. Fine dust particles danced back and forth in the beam of fine moonlight which was bathing their room from a tiny jharokha over their door. Chammo's occasional bleating added to the much-needed melody for this dance.
Aru was red-faced as her overtly graphic romp with Mukhiji flashed in her mind space like an old movie scene. Every bit of her coloured imagination was well-seasoned and enticing. At least, her dainty yet heavily sedated body told so.
From Mukhi's sacrificial ceremony leading to their loss at the Shravanotsav, her wearing those jhumkas in jubilation of their love, Mukhi's snatching them like a praying mantis, everything seemed surreal as if she had imagined all of this in her wildest dreams.
She was mortified at the dexterity with which her otherwise calm Mukhiji fulfilled both their desires.
"Maybe, he had watched some videos as a part of the preparation of his wedding", she tried to reason, recalling his eagerness.
She guffawed remembering how scandalized he once was with the idea of them being filmed together.
"Tere Aise bhi Shauk hain?", he had screamed in horror at her outrageousness. Even the hazy recollection of his brazen humour thrilled her.
Was he the same man? She needed some serious corroboration.
He had ducked his head to muffle her objections into blissful oblivion with a greedy, needy and demanding kiss. There wasn't even an ounce of care and delicacy in that harsh kiss. In fact, his years of loneliness and maybe deep dark hidden desires had suddenly found a new transference in Aru.
With his lips on hers, at first, she had sensed fresh milk laced in his breath. It reminded her of the time when she had nuzzled her new-born nephew back in Ahmedabad. And then the freshness of neem twigs had coalesced with her insane breaths.
"No wonder he had ruby red gums!", she had blinked her eyes which had started to flutter in fierce intoxication by then.
Her senses had been assaulted by the years of his strength. The fire had consumed both. When he had sunk in the depths of her delectable and timid frame, she felt as if she was being caressed by a moist stack of hay. She certainly knew this aroma. It was her Mukhiji's ! He had always smelt like the fresh whiff from Chammo's wet fodder and fresh mud after being drenched by the first droplets of rain.
His rough palms had steadied her tiny ones while she was writhing like a fish out of water in wild abandon. Her meek incoherent moans had reached a maniacal crescendo as she threw her hands and feet in nervousness and naivety.
They had died a slow death with his lascivious kisses on her quivering lips.
"Tu theek che na", he had muffled some incoherent words in her ears and rest was a shower of tingling stars for her. Cavorting and catapulting into depths of pleasure which she never knew existed, time flew by.
Tears welled up Aru's eyes as she recalled everything. It came in as a storm and now all was silent.
She couldn't understand how she felt as she remained tight-lipped for any conversation.
She keenly wanted Mukhiji to say something to her but he remained unforthcoming and all clammed up.
She probably missed his palms which used to cup her face and his deep voice which used to tell her that it was fine to be childish! Now too, she wanted him to pat her back and tell her that it was perfectly normal to be with each other like this. She wanted to howl with choked emotions which were threatening to overpower her. Why? It didn't make sense to her.
She wondered where was the man who used to jump out of his skin when she even used to accidentally brush against him?
In the will-o-wisp of the dying candlelight, she saw the face of a strange man who was not cradling her to sleep. Who was this man? The beard was the same but its impressions glowing in vibrant detail on her sheer skin were different. The big hands and the callosities were familiar but the aggressiveness with which they had clasped her waist diffidently was unknown to her.
His toothy grin was familiar but the torrid passion with which his teeth had dimpled her skin, marking every inch of hers, had left her in utter bewilderment.
She had always seen him lowering his eyes, his hands fumbling even to tie a dori on her bare back whilst with her. But today, they stared at her with unabashed desire. The eyes were the same, his sinful gaze was a mysterious discovery for her.
She felt as if she had somersaulted from a giant wheel when he had passionately loved her. At least, her giddy headedness and fluttering butterflies in the pit of her stomach told so. Her body was on fire, bursting from its seams in extreme dopiness. But her heart had suddenly started sinking now. She suddenly missed his patronizing, his chiding and his cajoling. Where was her Mukhiji who would care for her as if she was a foam bubble? As, if she used to be cocooned with a fluffy cloud of his care. Instead, she felt like clay today which he had kneaded and shaped into a figure out of his own fantasy.
His assurance-she missed it!
In his towering frame where she used to hide like a child, she searched for the man she had once loved.
This was certainly not the one!
The one by her side was an equal to her. She missed the parent in him and feared he would never nurture her whims and fancies.
She had been left part amused, part astounded and absolutely baffled when a few moments ago, a sigh had escaped Mukhiji's mouth. In his fervid passion, he had moaned her name 'Arundhati', not 'Meri Guarani or Mukhiyani'.
Not even 'Aru'!
It was as if the age difference between them never existed.
Who was this stranger? She failed to fathom.
This discomfited feeling settled in the pit of her stomach like a handful of cold gravel. The butterflies had long gone! Her tiny warm feet suddenly transformed into lumps of lead, refusing to obey her commands. She lied there dolorous because of her passionate encounter with a stranger and delirious, desperately searching for the parent, she always saw in HER Mukhiji.
For the first time, she had probably met Raidhan Raj Katara and not her hero Mukhiji.
How would she deal with this stranger, she was clueless? Her face grew paler from the deep shade of crimson she was once basking in. Her curled smile was now nonplussed and her thrill was completely loused up.
Who is this stranger who had claimed her?', her foggy mind was perplexed.
to be continued...
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