So this is what happens when you praise my writing. I flood you with more. Lol! But seriously, thank you so much everyone for the love and warmth you showered on my previous OS. I honestly don't know what made me write this OS and generally when I write something, there is a purpose to it like bringing closure to a track, re-imagining a scene in my way. But I honestly had no purpose or idea why I started writing this one. So pardon me if it does not match up to your expectations.
As always, let me know how you like it/hate it.
Cheers,
Neet
||ArMu OS Yeh Moh Moh Ke Dhaage||
"Hello sir!"
"Hello Aru! Are we all set to meet tomorrow?"
"I.. I was calling about that Sir.. I won't be returning to Ahmedabad for a while."
"What?! But why? The last time we spoke you said you'd be back in four days. You've worked so hard on this project! Look.. if it's about the money then we can still negotiate.."
"No sir. It's definitely not about the money. I've had a personal emergency."
"An emergency bigger than your dreams?"
Aru looked into the room at Mukhiji lying on the bed, "Relationships are always bigger than dreams, Sir."
"I still don't understand."
"Actually Sir.. Mukhi.." Aru paused. She took a deep breath, mustering courage to say the words out loud, "my husband got into a bad accident. He is in a lot of pain and still recovering. I can't leave him and go." There. She'd said it. That Mukhiji was her husband. The thought, the words caused a strange tug in her heart. True that they'd been married for a while now but they'd constantly asked each other to not behave as a spouse. But now..
"Oh okay. I understand. I'm sorry. I really need to get this project started or I would have put it on hold for you. But whenever you do return to Ahmedabad, please get in touch me with and we will see if we can work something out."
"Thank you so much Sir. I appreciate it."
Inside the room, Mukhi had been listening to her phone conversation. He was trying to get up so he could go stop that Gaurani from giving up on the golden opportunity she'd gotten to realize her dreams. That's when he heard her call him her husband and he went still. He looked outside the window just as Aru hung up the phone and looked at him. For a second, their eyes locked and time seemed to stand still.
She was the first one to look away. She walked slowly into the room, the night time breeze playing with her hair, her hands fiddling with her phone. Had he heard her? She wondered.
He made an effort to get up again and she immediately was by his side, supporting him. "What are you doing?" She chided him. "What are you doing Gaurani?" He asked in turn. "You have such a golden opportunity to realize your dreams. Why are you letting it go?" "Those iron rods were meant for me. Why did you push me out of the way and get hurt instead?" She asked him. "I couldn't let you get hurt," he replied. "And I can't leave you here hurt," she responded. "I am alright Gaurani. Nothing has happened to me," he attempted to sit up again, but white hot pain shot through his chest. "I can see how alright you are! Now just be quiet and let me help you," Aru said sternly. She hooked her hands under his arms and helped him sit up. In the process, her head was nestled under his chin and he inhaled in the sweet fragrance of her hair.
She turned her face to look up at him and there was just a breath separating his lips from hers. This change in dynamics in their relationship was getting hard for her to comprehend. From calling him Dukhi Mukhi and Uncleji and what not, now she was having all these feelings for him. She loved being around him, whenever he saved her and took her in his arms, she felt as if nothing in the world could harm her, and when he'd taken those iron rods to his chest saving her, she'd felt as if her world had ceased to exist. Why was she suddenly becoming aware of him as the man who was her husband and not just the Dukhi Mukhi she always referred to him as?
What are you thinking Aru? You are here to take care of him and that's all. Just focus on that, she chided herself as she helped him get comfortable in a sitting position. "It's time to change your dressing," she commented, consciously avoiding looking at him. As she turned away to get fresh cotton and gauze to change his dressing, he caught hold of her hand. "Gaurani, listen! This is not your job. Go fulfill your dreams. There are so many people here to care of me. ""Then you should have also let those so many other people rescue me every time I got into trouble from the fire, from the well, from those iron rods," she replied calmly. "But you are my responsibility!" Mukhi blurted out.
They both fell silent. "Look, knowingly or unknowingly, willingly or not, your parents gave your hands in mine in marriage. And as long as you are with me, you are my responsibility. But you don't have to.." "That's a great sense of logic you have Mukhiji. My parents gave my hand to you in marriage so I am your responsibility. That way, even I made promises to be by your side in happiness and sorrow, health and sickness when we took the pheras. So I have my responsibilities towards you too, don't I? And Aru never shirks away from her responsibilities," Aru argued. "But you don't believe in this marriage," Mukhi replied. "And you do?" She responded without missing a beat. The words hung in the silence between them, those spoken and those left unsaid.
Why was this man being so stubborn, Aru thought as she turned away to get his medicines, cotton and fresh gauze for his dressing. When she turned back, Mukhi was struggling to get his kurta off with his one good hand. "Do you not understand a thing when it's told to you just once?" Aru said, slamming the medicines on the bedside table as she reached to help him.
"Ae Gauarani! What are you doing?" Mukhi asked horrified. "I'm practicing conquering Everest!" Came her reply. "What?" Mukhi asked even more confused. "How many times do I have to tell you. I am trying to help you," she replied, trying hard to calm the frantic beating of her heart and the blush creeping up her skin as she reached for his kurta edge. "No! No! No! You don't have to this. I'll do it. Or or call Mastana. He'll do it" "It's late at night Mukhiji. Mastana must've gone to bed long ago. And as it is, if someone asks why I can't do it, what are you going to say?" Mukhi had no response for Aru's argument.
She'd given him all the practical reasons why they couldn't call anyone else for help but how could she get her own stupid heart to look over the intimacy of the act and focus on just helping someone who was in need. Jisne ki sharam uske phoote karam, she reminded herself as she closed her eyes and reached for his kurta.
With his left hand, he tried to help her as much as he could. He saw that she had her eyes closed and took the time to just look at her. She surprised him so much. Just when he thought he'd never seen a girl more childish than her, she'd do something that would impress him with her maturity. She'd face the biggest of problems in her life and not complain and yet, she'd fight with him over the simplest of things and pout till she got her way. She'd be silly enough to add four times the amount of black pepper in a kadha but smart enough to make a makeshift telephone out of tin boxes and spare ghungroo so they could talk whenever. She would constantly ask him not to behave like her husband and yet, she scolded him and took care of him with all her wifely rights.
As she fumbled and fidgeted trying to get his kurta off, their fingers kept brushing against each other in an awkward symphony of sorts, seemingly getting tangled in the unseen threads of attachment that were weaving their destinies together. A fact that both of them were very aware of but chose to ignore.
When the kurta was finally off, Aru sat down by the bedside and started to remove his dressing. The breeze coming in through the window brought a wayward lock of hair onto her face. This time, she didn't have to ask, she didn't have to threaten to call Mishri. As if of their own volition, his hand came up and his fingers gently tucked the strands away from her face, behind her ear.
Desperate to say something to ease the thick tension in the air between them, Aru started blabbering, "Remember Mukhiji, when I lost my job at dulhadulhan.com because of Gautam?" Mukhi nodded his head. "I told you then, that only one path towards my destination had closed. My destination was still very much there. It's the same today also. There's just a slight delay in getting to my destination, fulfilling my dreams. As it is, my dreams aren't running away anywhere," she said, cleaning his wound. When she put the antiseptic on his wound, he inadvertently hissed from the stinging. She immediately apologized and leaned in just a little closer to blow on his wound while she applied the medicine.
"There is something else too that I wanted to say," she said as she reached for fresh cotton and gauze. "What is it?" He asked. "Actually.. I wanted to say thank you.. for all those times you saved my life.. from the fire, the well, and now these iron rods," she finally met his gaze as she tied the new bandage in place. That reminded him of something he'd been thinking for a while now. "Gaurani, that's another reason why I want you to go back to Ahmedabad. These attacks on you.. the fire one could've been an accident. But you said someone pushed you into the well after sending a note for you saying they were Anshul. And this incident with the truck? What are the chances that a truck carrying iron rods would reverse without looking and crash into the windshield of our jeep and just keep going without even checking?" Mukhi asked, "I think it's in your best interests to go back home."
"As long as you are with me Mukhiji, nothing can happen to me. You won't let anything happen to me. I am sure if that," Aru replied smiling. Looking into her eyes, Mukhi knew that she truly meant what she said. "So I think you should stop worrying and take rest."
With that, she helped him back into his kurta. He made a move to stand up but she gave him a stern look. "I was going to sleep outside," he tried to explain. "Mukhiji, I'm not that heartless that I'd ask you or let you sleep outside in this state. You can sleep right here and I'll make my bed on the dewan right there. And I will hear no arguments at all," she said as she gathered her stuff and moved it away. She then brought him his medicines and water. Then she helped him lie back down and tucked him into bed. "Good night," she said smiling.
He watched her as she settled on to the dewan. Neither of them knew what the future held for them but right here, right now, they both realized that they were happy, content. Maybe the tangling of the threads of their destinies wasn't too bad after all.
****
Anupamaa
