Kaarvan - AA & RK romance...pg 92 & 93 - Page 33

 

Kasturi turns her eyes back to the statue. She could not look into his eyes for too long for fear that she might reveal something to him that she was not yet ready to reveal!!! 😳 Robbie continues....."Wahaan ke artisans ko meine yeh murti banaate dekha. Mujhe ekdum aap yaad aayi....." Kasturi looks up sharply to him when Robbie quickly corrects himself....."meraa matlab hai.....aapki tooti hui statue yaad aayi! Toh meine usse jhat seh khareed liya". Robbie extends the statue. "Thanks a lot!" says Kasturi and reaches for it. Inadvertently their hands touch and they both pull their hands back hastily, Kasturi with the statue in her hand. The color on her face is really heightened 😳 and she tries hard to look normal!!! If Robbie had felt anything then he has managed to hide it excellently and says...."You are welcome".

"I think that was very sweet of you! Mujhe aur Kasturi ko bahut dukh hua tha, statue ke tootne kaa. Waise, aap gaanv mei kya kar rahe the?"....questions Gia.

 

Robbie moves towards her and Kasturi relaxes a little. Standing right next to him was like standing in front of a hot burning kiln and Kasturi was getting burnt!!
Robbie replies Gia : Mei ek theater group ka member hoon.......wahi jo iss studio ke opposite hai. Humlog gaanv mei ek play karne gaye the.
Gia : Oh wow! Toh aap actor bhi hai?? 😃
Robbie with a grin : Ji, bas yunhi kuch dialogs bol letaa hun!
Gia : Ha Ha....I am sure aap uss seh kai zyaada karte honge!

And she winks at Robbie and they both laugh. 😆 😆

 

Kasturi is listening to this conversation attentively eventhough she has her back turned to them and is trying to arrange the statue in such a way that it has maximum impact from the entrance. She is not satisfied with any location, basically because she is too flustered to think straight!! 😉 And so, frustrated she gives up and decides to arrange it when she is calmer!! She wanted to talk to him.

 

She wanted to ask him about his interview. She wanted to ask him if he got a job at Chawla.E..........but is not sure if that is a good idea or not! She had no idea what kind of a person he was, she was not sure how he would react to those questions!! She is wondering how to continue the conversation with him, when Gia says......"Mei aapka koi play dekhna chahti hun. Can I just visit and watch?" "Absolutely!....." says Robbie......"chahe toh abhi chaliye. We are starting to practice one in 10 minutes". He turns to Kasturi and says......."Aap bhi chaliye na."
Kasturi replies : Actually mujhe yahaan bahut kaam hai. Sorry, I cannot make it today. 😊
Gia says : Oh come on Kas.......yeh kaam toh hotaa hi rahega! Lets go and check this place out.
Kasturi refuses : Nahi Gia. Some other time....abhi hame yeh kaam khatam karnaa hai.
Robbie interrupts : Kitnaa time lagega aapke kaam ko khatam hone mei?
Kasturi says without thinking : Ek ghanta.
And then realizes her mistake but it is too late! Robbie immediately says : Toh ek ghante ke bad aa jaiye na! Hum log yahaan raat ke aath baje tak rahenge.
Gia agrees immediately: Great idea. We will do that!
Robbie smiles at both of them and says : Alright then, see you shortly!

And he leaves with both the girls staring after him. Kasturi immediately reacts with a......"Kya zaroorat thi tumhe, to get yourself invited?" 😡
Gia replies : Arre, toh kya hua? He seems like a nice guy. Dosti badhane mei kya harz hai? Aur tujhe kya hua? Why are you looking all red and puffed up? 😳
Kasturi hastily turns away and says : Kuch nahi! Ab jaldi aakar iss statue ko place karne mei meri madad kar!

Kasturi and Gia finish up whatever they had to do in 20 minutes but Kasturi stretches it out for another 20 minutes, after all she had told him an hour!! 😆 But Gia is irritated and she literally makes her close shop and drags her to the theater office. They knock on the door and a guy allows them in. Gia tells him that they were invited by Robbie Sabharwal and he directs them to an interior room where apparently the play is being practiced.

 

They walk into the room. Its a large room and the entrance to the room is upfront where 4-5 people are enacting a scene and several chairs are placed opposite where the audience is sitting and watching them. They stand at the entrance and look for Robbie. They find him sitting in the 3rd row and a beautiful girl is with him!! She is holding his left arm with both of her hands and was sitting quite close to him!! Robbie sees them and waves his hand to them asking them to come over. Gia waves back and moves forward while Kasturi is standing rooted to the ground. "Oh my god....he has a girlfriend!...........and she is so beautiful!!!" thinks a shocked Kasturi. 😲 😲 😲 Gia turns to see her not moving forward and so goes back to her and taking her hand, pulls her too and they go and sit a couple of rows behind Robbie.

Kasturi feels like she is sitting on thorns!! 😔 She just did not expect him to have a girlfriend, the thought had NEVER come into her mind!!! 😲😲😲 She sees the girl lean towards Robbie to whisper something and Robbie also leans towards her and Kasturi CANNOT stand it!!! 😒 She gets very restless and just wants to leave from there immediately!!! She tries to get up but Gia pulls her back and questions softly so as to not disturb the actors..."Kya hua?" Kasturi just shakes her head indicating nothing and just then Robbie turns to look back at her. Her movement had drawn his attention to her. Their eyes meet and his eyes will pierce her's and straight reach her heart!!! It seemed like he was not wanting her to go!!! 😲 Kasturi just sits there rooted to the chair and Robbie pulls his eyes away from her and turns back to the front!! He is trying hard to control his feelings!!!! 😳 For the past 2 weeks, there had not been a single night when his thoughts had not wandered to her!! And when he had seen that statue in the village, she had come to his mind immediately!! He had tried to stop himself but could not and had felt compelled to buy it for her!!! He was still trying to figure why he had wanted to buy it for her...........and then that touch!! 😲 😲 It was so unexpected and sudden!!!! They would have ended up with another broken statue if he had not held on to it tight and strong while handing it over to her!!! ( 🤣 ) Robbie again tells himself......"Robbie, she is NOT your type!!! Paagal mat ban!"

Suddenly Kasturi and Robbie hear clapping..........the play has concluded! 👏 👏 👏 They were so lost in thoughts that they had simply sat through the last 15 minutes of the play! Everyone gets up and goes to congratulate the actors on a splendind performance. Kasturi is just feeling very depressed and is in no mood to congratulate anyone! She just wants to leave and so lingers behind while Gia goes upfront and she sees Gia join Robbie and his girlfriend and they all are conversing with the actors. Soon, all 3 of them come back and Kasturi says impatiently....."Chale Gia? Bahut late ho gayi hai!"
Gia agrees and turns to Alaana to say : It was great meeting you Alaana! 😃
Alaana replies to Gia while Kasturi is thinking..."so, her name is Alaana!" : Same here! Aur tum jab bhi chaho...aa jaana. Its a lot of fun here! 😃
Then Gia turns to Robbie and says : Robbie, thanks a lot, tumhaare invitation ke liye! I absolutely loved the play and I think this whole idea of rising social awareness via plays is very neat!! 👍🏼
Kasturi notices that Gia had moved on from 'aap' to 'tum' with Robbie!! 😲 😲 Kasturi is very upset, sad and angry 😡 .....also she also could not stand this girl, Alaana.....plus she does not share the same enthusiasm about the play as Gia and so says........."Well, I don't think so! I don't think that a simple play will have the effect to change the mind-set of people that has been entrenched in them for several centuries!! Logon ke tatva aur soch badalna itni asaan baat nahi hai!
Alaana says : Kuch hadd tak aap theek keh rahi hai. Yeh itnaa asaan nahi hai....lekin hamaare naatkon ki wajah seh humne logon ki soch badalte dekha hai!! In fact isi wajah seh hame aur encouragement milaa hai, to continue this effort. 😊
Kasturi is not convinced about this process and so says : I am sorry but I don't believe this technique! 🤢 Aur agar yeh sach bhi hai toh aap kitne logon ki soch badal paati hai....ek? do?
Alaana says : Well that's true, the number is small.....but I always feel ke something is better than nothing!
Kasturi reacts strongly : Oh come on! That is so typical middle class!!! 😡 With that kind of mentality, it will take you forever to get something accomplished!!!!
Alaana feels hurt . Eventhough she knows that Kasturi is talking about the play, she takes it a little personal! Robbie notices that and he quickly tries to diffuse the situation by saying........"Hold it ladies....ek doosre seh argue karne seh pehle, ek doosre ko jaan toh lo!"
Kasturi was so upset that she almost does not hear Robbie say : Kasturi, yeh Alaana hai, meri behen.
Kasturi stares at him like an idiot 😲😲..........did he say 'behen'??? 😲 Is she hearing things? Her mind was now playing games with her!! 😲😲 Gia nudges her because she is not reacting and Kasturi comes back to her senses and asks Robbie..."I'm sorry?"
Robbie says again : Yeh meri behen hai, Alaana. And Alaana this is Kasturi Chawla.
Kasturi tries to recover from the shock and salvage the situation! She had not meant to be so hard on Alaana!! While she genuinely did not beleive in this concept, her current emotion was just to differ with Alaana, who she assumed was Robbie's girl-friend!! She feels very embarassed 😳 😳 and cannot even look at Robbie who was staring at her and trying to understand her!
She extends her hand toward Alaana, who takes it, surprised at the change of emotions on Kasturi's face! One second she seemed angry 😡 and upset and the next second, like a switch has been turned on, she had a wonderfully bright, animated and happy expression, washing her face up!! 😃
Kasturi says happily to a surprised Alaana : Really nice to meet you, Alaana!!! 😃
For Kasturi, the relief was unbelievable!!!!! 😛 And she just hopes that nobody had noticed her change of feelings and expressions! 😳 They talk for a little longer and then turn to leave. Robbie walks them to the door. Gia bids goodbye. Robbie and she, shake hands warmly and she walks out.
Kasturi turns to Robbie and says : Once again, thanks a lot for the statue! Pataa nahi kaise aapka dhanyavaad karu.... 😊
Robbie : For starters, mujhe 'aap' mat kahiye........bahut formal lagtaa hai! 😃
Kasturi smiles and says : Theek hai...........Good night! 😊
Robbie replies : Good night! 😊
They simply look at each other and bid goodbye. Kasturi is glad that Robbie does not offer his hand to her!!! She could not touch him another time today and the same thought was crossing Robbie's mind, he just did not want to touch her again today...........that one time itself had scalded him!!! 😉

That night at dinner Alaana notices her brother very pre-occupied and she somehow understands that it is about the girls they had met today! She thinks......."I hope bhaiyya, Gia ke baare mei soch rahe ho, she is a very sweet girl!" But contrary to Alaana's hope, Robbie was deep in thought about Kasturi....who herself was thinking about him lying in her bed! She has 2 thoughts bothering her.....the first one.... she wanted to kick herself for the way she had behaved with Alaana! 😡 How she wished she had behaved a little more decently with her and the second thought that was bothering her was that she was having the first thought, mentioned above!!!! 😲😲 Kasturi had been rude to several people, many times before but she had never given it a second thought........but for the first time, she could not think of anything else but her behavior and she was even feeling bad about it!! 😲 😲 She is very surprised at this change in herself and she knew it was because of Robbie, it was for Robbie!

To test herself Kasturi does not come to the studio the rest of the weekend. She tries to keep physically away from Robbie but that only brings her mentally closer to him because she cannot think of anything else but him for the rest of the weekend!!! On Monday, Robbie comes to know that Kartik got the opportunity with Chawla.E. 😲 😲 He is extremely disappointed 😒 but does not show it and heartily congratulates Kartik ! He just cannot believe that he was not able to impress them enough to get the job and Robbie cannot help but feel that Ajay had something to do about it!! 😔

But..........Robbie had no idea what fate had in store for him! By the time the week ended..........it was in complete contrast to how the week had started!! 😃