THE BEFORE CONFESSION SCENES
There has been a strange quivering in her stomach since morning, as if a thousand butterflies fluttered in anticipation of their freedom. But, equal to the fluttering in her stomach there was a tense reverberation in her heart clamping and frightening her. She dug her teeth into her pallu, what a terrible state her nerves were in. "Kanhaji, help me, " Anupama could not hold herself from crying aloud for help to her Dear God.
"What a fool love has made of me ", Anupama wondered aloud. " At one moment I am dancing and tripping like a mad deer and the next moment I am shivering in anticipation of the upcoming dangers. What a terrible blessing this Ghalib Kapadia has made me, that pagal chokra, he was himself mad and has made me half- mad huff......
Ani went on muttering and complaining to her Kanhaji as she chopped the vegetables away, unaware that her very own kanhaji was standing by the door, hearing each and every word with a very elated smile on his face.
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Anuj threw himself on the bed, blanking out for a minute ; was it true, was it true, was the only thing he was capable of whispering having worked himself upto a frenzied level of excitement, he was breathless and on the ninth heaven. His thoughts ran at 750 km/h, there was no means, no power to control them, he had just heard the word love and his world shattered spining what will happen when they will.... He stopped, he was too chaste to think any further.
He wanted to call kaka, and throw at him the most joyful news of their lives but he was too overpowered by the frenzy of his feelings. All he could do was to let himself be overpowered by them and to drown in them.
But, beep, beep.... the reminder for the meeting with the P2P company (and his prospective employer) rang, throwing him out of his 19th heaven. The business had died but not the business man, his time was still negotiated into useful chunks and a busy schedule, but the ever-busy Anuj Kapadia wanted to just laze around in the thoughts of Anupama, Oh! even her very name arouse thrills in his body, and now that he had the legitimacy to dream, he should not be disturb.... ring, ring again this time with a call from the company head. Irritated and dazed, Anuj dashed out the call and hitting the cancel button furiously.
Just then his eyes fell on the date displayed on his phone-14th February, 14th February, Valentine's , the day of love......
On another such Valentine's Day, 25 years ago, he had experienced the same euphoria as today in his hand was the rise, in his mouth the words uttered umpteenth time before the mirror. But the euphoria has soon turned to devastation. Instead of a yes to his purposal, he had got a wedding card with the name of the beloved and the trashcanraj etched upon it.
Anuj still feeled a tinch in his heart each time he revisited his memory lane, he saw only loss, tears and devastation there. His was a life created by loss - first his parents, then Anupama and now Mukku, business and even his hard-won identity. No, he jumped from the bed, no he was not going to lose Anupama again this time.
Today is the day of love and he must hear from her lips the words he has died everyday to say and hear. She had whispered it to kanhaji, but she must boldly proclaim it for him, today, now, itself. He has obtained the legitimacy to dream, he must obtain the legitimacy to act.
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