Chapter 10

rulama

@rulama

[MEMBERSONLY]

[NOCOPY]

RECALLING ARNAV

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Part 6

Section 1

Nani and the other walked up the steps to Arnav.

"Chotey, that was Khussi bitiya, wasn't it?" Nani asked uncertainly.

"Yes," Arnav whispered.

"Nannav, she didn't stop to talk to us," NK complained. "How can Khushiji walk by without talking to us?"

"Chotey..." Anjali began.

Chotey cut in. "There is something seriously wrong, Di. Khushi... Khushi did not recognise me." His voice trembled; his face was wan.

All gaped at him.

"Arnav Bitwaa, we need to talk to the Guptas. At the earliest," Mamaji was pale.

ASR nodded.

"Garima, I will take Payaliyaa to the market with me. Our friends and neighbours will be glad to see her, Nandkisore," Buaji smiled.

"Ji, Jiji," Garima smiled.

Buaji turned towards the door to see an army of people standing at her doorstep. She jumped in shock seeing the faces looking at her. The Raizadas!

"Garima..." her voice trailed away.

Payal & Garima joined her in gaping at the Raizadas.

Babuji sat in his wheelchair seeing all their carefully-laid plans to separate Arnav from Khushi go up in the air in a puff of smoke.

"Arnav bitwaa!" Buaji exclaimed weakly. "Devyaniji! Anjali bitiyaa! Hai Re Nandkisore!" Her voice trailed away.

The Raizadas entered the house without waiting for an invitation.

Nani said, "Madhumatiji, Sasiji, Garimaji, Payal bitiyaa, I am sorry that we have come to Lucknow and your house without giving you prior information. Especially after the painful and tragic way in which we parted a few months back at Chotey and Khussi bitiyaa's wedding. Lekin humse raha nahi gaya. Please excuse us."

Buaji looked at Nani standing with her hands folded in apology.

How could she let that elderly lady stand at the door? Buaji and the Guptas' innate good manners forced them to pretend that this visit was not a calamity.

"Please come in, Nandkisore! You are our Payaliyaa's in-laws. Why do you need our permission to visit us? Please come in. Please sit down." Buaji and the Guptas made the Raizadas welcome.

"Buaji, please tell us the truth," Anjali was pale. "We don't have the right to ask you this, but I..."

"Bhat is wrong with Khussi bitiya?" Mami was blunt.

"Wrong with Khussi?" Buaji looked at her family with warning in her eyes. "Nothing, Nandkisore."

"Buaji... Buaji, she didn't recognise me," Arnav whispered.

The Guptas paled.

"Buaji, she looked at us in the temple just now and walked away. How can Khushiji walk away without talking to us?" NK asked, his face perplexed.

"What happened when she fell down the steps, Madhumatiji?" Mamaji asked, scared of the answer.

Buaji looked at Garima, Sasi & Payal. She sighed. They had tried. They had tried so hard to keep the Raizadas away from Khushi. Now the matter was out of their hands.

"Titliyaa was walking down the steps, Nandkisore, with the newspaper in her hand. Maybe her attention slipped for a moment, Nandkisore. We don't know how and why she fell. We heard a loud noise and rushed to the hall to see her lying at the foot of the steps... there was blood every where. Her head..." Buaji swallowed hard, unable to continue.

"When she woke up after three days, Khussi knew us. She couldn't remember anything that had happened after a point in time. She remembers getting dressed to attend Payaliyaa's shaadi... the first wedding that got cancelled. She thinks that Akash bitwaa is the groom who married Payaliyaa that day." Garima said softly.

"Arnavji, she does not remember going to Sheesh Mahal and disrupting your event... or meeting you," Payal said softly.

There was absolute silence in the room. The creaking sound of the old fan as it whirled and the sniffs and sobs of the ladies could be heard.

The Raizadas sat looking at the Guptas. Not a single eye was dry. There were no more words to be said.

Payal went to the kitchen, made tea and served it along with snacks. All the cups and plates remained untouched. The tea cooled as the two families grieved.

After a long time, Buaji said softly, "Arnav babua, it is good that she lost her memory."

All looked at her.

"The first month we were here..." Buaji could not continue.

"There was not a moment her eyes were dry. Day and night she would weep," Garima buried her head in her hands.

Arnav swallowed hard in pain.

"She wouldn't leave the house. She wouldn't meet anyone. She wouldn't eat or drink. She wouldn't sleep. She would only cry, Nandkisore!" Buaji heaved a long sigh.

Arnav felt her words stab him like a sharp dagger.

"When she woke up at the hospital and smiled at us, it was like the sun coming out from behind the clouds, Dadiji. Everything unpleasant had been wiped out of her mind," Payal explained.

The Guptas nodded.

"She was the old Khushi, the Khushi who had lived in Lucknow, the Khushi she had been before falling in to Arnavji's arms. All she could remember were the happy times we had spent in Lucknow. Going to the temple, watching films, giggling over Salman Khanji's photos, buying chudi, feeding the pigeons at the temple, eating pani puri, dancing at the weddings of friends..." Payal sighed.

The Khushi he had willfully destroyed with his cruel words and every more callous actions, Arnav thought, his mind filled with regret.

"Doctor sahiba said that we should not try to make her remember. That it should happen naturally. But Nandkisore, we were selfish. Arnav bitwaa, we did not want her to remember all the unpleasant events of the last two years. So we removed everything that could remind Khussi of Delhi and you." Buaji confessed.

Arnav could not speak to save his life.

"We hoped you would forget too, marry again, be happy," Garima sighed.

"Khushi does not remember you, Arnavji. Nor does she remember anyone from RM." Payal said. "She knows Akash from our wedding photo. We cut out the rest of you from the photos so that she wouldn't see you and remember the past."

Nani sobbed. "My Khussi bitiyaa..." she wept.

Anjali tried to dry her wet cheeks but to no avail. Mami's eye make up ran down her cheeks.

The men sat helpless, horrified at the turn of events.

Arnav closed his moist, red eyes, cursing himself for having hurt Khushi. He had asked her to leave him, go far away from him and his family. But he had never imagined that she would leave him here and go so far away, to another world where he did not exist.