Re-cap : Purushottam Sabharwal's family is introduced. Its lunch time on Sunday and all of them are waiting for Robbie to arrive.
PART 2 - "AAIYE.....JAHANPANAAH" !!!
"Bas....bas yahaan...yahaan rok deejiye" the pillion rider gives direction to the bike driver. The driver slows the vehicle down. And before the bike comes to a complete stop, the pillion rider gets off and jumps onto the road. The driver looks at the neat apartment complex. Its named 'Aashiyaan". Its a 5-floored apartment complex.
"Bahut bahut dhanyavaad, bhai saahab!!" says Robbie shaking the hand of the driver. 😛 The driver accepting the thanks, says...."Arre koi baat nahi! Mei waise bhi iss taraf hi aa rahaa tha".
He drives off and Robbie starts walking into the apartment complex. He looks at his watch. Its 2.40 PM! 😳 He thinks...... "Aaj toh bahut der kardi meine, sabko bahut bhook lagi hogi! Agar meine uss bhai saahab seh lift nahi liyaa hota, toh abhi tak bus stop mei hi khadaa rahtaa!!" And he fastens his pace. He reaches the elevator and presses the button. He hears the whirring sound of the elevator moving....its coming down. After a minute the elevator reaches the ground floor and Robbie sees Mr.Sharma and another man with him behind the grilled double door of the elevator. Robbie says to himself...."Mar gaye! ". But there is no escape, because Mr.Sharma has already seen him and is heartily wishing him while opening the elevator/lift doors!
Mr Sharma : Arre Ranbir!!!! 😃 Kaise ho beta? Aaj kal bilkul dikhayi nahi dete??
Robbie sighs.....He quickly holds the door open and says
Robbie (with a smile): Sharma Uncle....Mei bilkul theek hun. Aap kaise hai? 😊 Woh exams shuru hone waale hai na......isiliye thoda busy ho gayaa hun!
Mr.Sharma : Arre beta....tujhe exmas ki tension kab seh hone lagi?? Tujh jaisa honhaar student toh meine kahin nahi dekha! 👏
Robbie replies : Ji....aap toh mujhe bahut sharminda kar rahe hai.....
He is still holding the door open and praying that someone........someone..........and his prayers are heard!!!! Mrs. Iyengar yells angrily from the 3rd floor........"Arre lift ka darwaaza, theek seh band karo!!! Hamesha khula chodh dete hai....kitna bhi samjhao, logon ko bilkul common sense nahi hai!!!!"
Robbie yells back : Aunty, mei abhi band kar deta hun!
And he looks at Sharma ji and says.........
Robbie : Sorry, Sharma Uncle.......mei ab chalta hun. Aap seh phir baat karta hun!
Mr Sharma is loathe to let him go but before he can say anything, Robbie slides into the lift, closes the doors and hits the 4th floor button! The lift starts up and he sighs in relief. On the 3rd floor he sees Mrs.Iyengar waiting for the lift. He wishes her while crossing the floor and gets off on the 4th. Meanwhile Mr.Sharma is telling his guest about Robbie........"Bahut hi accha ladhka hai!!! Aaj kal ke ladhkon seh bilkul alag!! Delhi University mei apni final year MCA (Masters in Computer Applications) kar rahaa hai!! Aur woh bhi North campus mei!!
His friend is impressed and exclaims "DU - North Campus mei!!!"
Mr Sharma : Haan!!! Aur usse, Merit basis peh woh seat mili.....donation deke nahi.......
Meanwhile Robbie has reached his apartment, #405 and rings the bell. Divya runs to open the door. She opens it and sees that it is Robbie, in his blue jeans and red shirt. She immediately spreads both her hands out like she is welcoming a King and says mockingly...."Aaiye.......Aaiye...Tashreef laiye.......Jahaanpanaah!! Kab seh aapka intezaar ho rahaa tha!!!!!
Robbie keeps up the charade.... 😉 he walks in like an emperor smelling an invisible rose and says...."Raaste seh hat jaa.....kaneez!! Tujhe shahi tameez nahi maaloom??? Iss baat keliye ham tumhe sazaa dete hai"........He claps his hands and mocking anger, says..........."Kaun hai wahaan! Iss kaneez ko kodon (hunter) seh sau baar peeta jaaye!"
Divya pounces on him saying........."Mujhe pitvayenge!! Mujhe pitvayenge aap...!!!!" Robbie burts out laughing 🤣 and tries to shield himself from her punches. There is a huge shopping bag in his hand that he is trying to hold from falling down!
Devika yells at Divya........."Divya, chodh usse!"
Divya lets go and stands there breathing heavily because of the exertion. Robbie winks at her and pushes past her.
Devika : Robbie....kitni der lagaa di............
Robbie : Sorry, Sorry.......I am very sorry! Aaj mujhe thodi der ho gayi.....Mei thoda shopping karne gayaa tha!
Devika quizzes him : Shopping?? Kya khareedna tha tumhe?
Robbie directs everyone to the shopping bag and says : Yeh!
He looks at Divya and opening the shopping bag, brings out a............
"MERA RACQUET!!!!!!!!" screams Divya and rushes to him!!!! Everyone put their fingers in their ears trying to shield themselves from the high intensity decibels of her shrieks! "Bhaiyya......aapne meraa racquet khareed liyaa???" And she rips open the package and the packing material and quickly gets to the Racquet.......Oh God it was beautiful!! She quickly checks it from all angles and hits singlehand, doublehand, backhand and forehand shots with it and feels it and its weight on her hands and is simply ecstatic to see it!! Robbie quietly looks at her astounded and extremely happy face and his heart fills up with satisfaction!!! 😳 And Devika looks at Robbie's satisfied smile and her heart just fills up with love and affection for him 😳 and her tear glands start churning 😭 and she thinks........"He surprises me everytime!!!"
Divya jumps to Robbie and gives him a tight hug and says........."I LOVE YOU, Bhaiyya!!!!".
Puru is looking on at this exchange. He is not very happy 😕 but he decides to express his thoughts later and says......."Chalo, ab khaana kha lete hai! Bahut der ho gayi hai! Alaana, beta Shivani ko bulaa deh thoda!"
Devika notices the slight edge in her husband's voice and she knows what is going through his mind. And yes, the same thought was passing through her mind too. That edge in the voice has not escaped Robbie's notice either!! He was expecting it.....and he was expecting the 'talk' too! The 'talk' that his uncle and aunt were going to give to him after lunch!! Alaana goes to one of the bedrooms and opens the closed door. Shivani is sitting at the computer, indexing some articles for future reference.
Alaana : Shivani.....chal khaana lag gayaa hai.
Shivani : Itni jaldi???
Alaana shakes her head and says : Jaldi??? Tujhe time ka kuch idea bhi hai??
Shivani turns towards her and pushes up her glasses that have slipped slightly down her nose........"Kitne baje hai?"
"Teen!!!" says Alaana. "Ab jaldi chal, bahut bhook lagi hai!"
And she leaves and Shivani follows her with a sigh........she wanted to finish what she was doing.....but, she would have to come back to it. Because it was a rule in their house that the whole family had their Sunday lunch together, no matter what!!! That was the only meal they had together and it was not a rule, actually it was a ritual!! And nobody broke that ritual!
Devika survyes her whole family sitting at the table.........Alaana, her first-born....she turned out to be a very pretty girl!! Not only was she pretty, but she had a beautiful heart too. Every week she spent umpteen hours in emroidering and doing zari work on sarees. She was very creative and had a knack about designs and artwork! Alaana kept doing it insisting that it was her hobby, but Devika knew that it was her secret way of adding to the family monthly income. And Devika was proud of her!!! 👏 Her middle one....Shivani.....an extremely intelligent and sharp girl....her husband doted on her, because he believed that Shivani had inherited his genes 😊 ......he thought she was a complete Sabharwal.......smart, intelligent and ambitious!!! Devika involuntarily smiled and knew that she was very proud of this daughter too! And the last one......yes she had hoped that the last one would be a boy....she would have loved to have a boy! Devika chuckles in her heart thinking that Divya had amost fulfilled this wish of her's!!! 😆 😆 She was a complete tomboy! Nothing about her was feminine other than her gender and her looks, which she tried hard to cover up by cutting her hair short, always wearing jeans and T-shirts and absolutely no jewellery!! She was Robbie's laadli!! He would do anything for her. Not just her, he would do anything for this family!
Devika then slowly turns her attention to Robbie who was holding a conversation with Shivani.......more than her own children, she loved him!! Sure, she had not given birth to him.......but he was her son............he was the son she always wanted to have! He was a complete Sabharwal.......smart, intelligent, ambitious and he was more than that....he was self-sufficient, a go-getter and passionate about everything that he wanted to do! He brought such joy to her heart and that same love was the reason she was worried for him now!!!
Since the time he had come to live with them, he had tried hard not to be a burden on them! She and Puru had always treated him as their own child.........but Robbie was always guilty about.........suddenly entering their lives without notice! Even as a child he was always worried that he was taxing them! And this worry was what made him always do some or the other odd jobs to earn money!! He was a very bright student and so always had enough time on his hand to do some part time job and still pass out with honours!!
Devika was very unhappy with Robbie doing all these odd jobs and had innumerable times disassuaded Robbie. But he would'nt listen. Even during Rakha bandhan, when the girls tied Rakhi to him, he never took money from Puru to give to the girls. He always bought them gifts from his hard earned money! But what had started as small gifts, have over the time grown into larger gifts and that is what was bothering her and her husband. Robbie was now working 2 jobs.......Every sunday he tuitioned school kids for 4 hours and his second job was that of a computer instructor at NIIT, where he worked 4 days a week, in the evening from 5.00 PM to 8.00 PM. And as a result they both were very worried that Robbie might be adversely affecting his education. He was in the middle of his final year.........his final exams were going to start in 4 months. He absolutely HAD to concentrate on his education. Devika could not let him spoil it for anything!!
She comes out of reverie hearing the loud laughing at the table. Apparently Shivani had cracked some joke!! Shivani was so different. Once in a while, she would do or say something so unpredictable that people around her would be stumped!!
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