Breath of
Fresh Air
CHAPTER 7
"aayyoo murgan!! Tumhari himmat kaise hui mujhe aise choone
ki kutte kamine, mai tumhe suspend karwa dungi, toh kya hua agar tum yaha ke
boss ho toh, mai iss company ke CEO Raman Sir se tumhari shikayat kar dungi,
bloody stalker"
Raman entered his office to the sound of coming from
somewhere between his and Mihir's cabin. No the first day of his office
couldn't go this horrible "hey bhagwan, yaha bhi ek aur jhansi ki raani
madrasan, har jagah mujhe madras hi kyu dikh rahe hai yaar, jispe bhi yeh baras
rahi hai na use bacha lena upar waley"
The entire staff stood up to give him a welcome. He looked
at them; they seemed dedicated workers specially the way they worked without
even flinching at the loud noise that could almost burst his ear-drums as if it
was the regular office anthem they hear everyday.
He peeked inside to see a girl in her mid twenties spitting
fire at Mihir and to his surprise Mihir stood with his head lowered listening
obediently like a kid being spanked by his teacher. Strange, here Raman thought
Mihir was the head of his Delhi branch. While the girl continued to abuse Mihir
with her pointed fingernail poking Mihir every now and then, Raman ran out of
patience.
"yeh ho kya raha hai yaha?" he shouted
They both looked startled. Mihir replied "arre bhai, aap
itni jaldi aa gaye?"
"oh toh ab apne bhai ko bhi apne plan mein shamil kar liya
tumne ha" she said. Turning towards Raman "aur aap, joh bhi naam hai aapka,
aapko sharam nehi aati, ek toh aapka bhai galat kaam kar raha hai aur upar se
usse daantne ke jagah aap yaha aa gaye" mihir tried to tell her something "tum
to chup hi raho, baat mat karna mujhse" "ha toh mai kaha thi, naam, naam kya
hai aapka?"
"Raman Kumar Bhalla" he said with arrogance
"ha to Mr. Raman mai aap dono ko yeh last warning deti hu,
agar aap... aap aap Raman Bhalla, hwww, ayyo ayyoo ayooo murgan, yeh kya kar
diya maine" she pouted and was on the verge of crying
Oh that pout, god I hate Madrasis and their pout "you are
fired" he said in a high pitch voice and turned towards his cabin.
"bhai aisa kuch nehi hai. Meri galti thi bhai"mihir said. He
could hear Mihir consoling the now-wailing (or would howling be a better word?)
girl as he finally entered his cabin. Ahhh peace, atleast his cabin could be
made sound-proof whenever he wanted to.
Evening:
Ishita quickly poured the coffee in two coffee cups and
headed to the stairs "amma mai chatth hoke aati hu" she shouted on her way. She
had a hard time consoling Mihika after she was ousted off her office. Mihika
had dozed off crying "I hate Mihir" was her final words. Ishita was in no mood
to talk to Raman after the Mihika drama at home, but Ruhi was important and so
was the talk with Raman. She decided to have some coffee to get rid of her
headache.
As she reached the
roof top, she realised that Raman was already waiting for her and by the amount
of cusses he was hurling at the invisible her, she could make out that he was
waiting for a long time.
"ahem, I'm so sorry Mr Bhalla woh kya hai na woh meri sister
boht upset thi toh usse manane mein thoda time lag gaya" she sat beside him on
the bench and forwarded a cup to him
She waited for a while, but he didn't take the cup from her.
She looked at him to find him looking at her her with a weird expression. Is
that a smile? "why are you giving this weird expression?"she asked
"Tumne mujhe itni izzat de di, hazam nehi ho raha hai by
god"
Oh, it dawned upon her "nehi woh mai aapko utne aache se
jaanti nehi hu na, toh first name se kaise bulaun"
"arre wah, history, GEOGRAPHY toh sab jaan chuki ho meri,
aur kya baaki reh gaya, tum jitna jaanti ho utna toh meri ma nehi jaanti mere
bare mei, baat karti hai, yeh Mr Bhalla mat bulao, buddha sound krta hai" he
said half teasing half irritated taking the cup she offered.
Her mouth gasped open at his declaration. But she decided
she won't take it this time, she would give it back to him "lo kar lo baat
buddhe ko buddha nehi toh John Abraham bolu kya?"
"Phir se John Abraham, arre hai kaun yeh banda yaar, itna
fantasize karti rehti ho isko, jaldi bolo tumhare iss boyfriend ko ki shaadi
karke le jaaye tumhe yaha se, peecha chootein mera is pagal madrasan se"
"kaash yeh mumkin ho paata, but aisa hoga nehi, aur aap john
ko nehi jaante? Hwww kaise admi hai aap, aur waise bhi mai yaha se kahi nehi ja
rahi, mai Ruhi ko aur apne family ko chodd ke kahi nehi ja rahi samjhe aap" she
retorted
"Ruhi, ha tumhe Ruhi ki baat karni thi na?" he reminded her
A serene look crossed her face, shee took a deep breath,"bohot
saari baatein karni thi" she smiled looking at the starry sky "Ruhi ke bare
mein kya bataun aapko, Ruhi jaan hai meri, uski khushi, uska gham, uski
bechaini ka, uski tanhaayi ka ehsaas usse pehle mujhe hota hai" he looked at
her in awe, she continued "mujhe pata hai aapko yeh ajeeb lagega, aapko lagega
ki mai jhooth bol rahi hu" he shook his head " aapko pata nehi hai na mere
barey mein, main kabhi conceive nehi kar sakti, aur yeh baat mujhe paanch saal
pehle pata chala aur uss waqt bohot kuch hua meri life mein, bohot se taklifein
jhele hai maine, woh ek aisa waqt tha jab jeene ki koi wajah nehi tha mere
paas. Tab amma appa mujhe Chennai se yaha leke aaye, taki purane jagah aur
rishton se aazadi mil sake mujhe" he looked at her with shock, his family has
never told him about this "Aur pata hai yaha aake mujhe kya mila, Ruhi, Ruhi ko
dekhte hi pyar ho gaya mujhe usse, you know, love at first sight" she smiled
brightly "itni choti si thi woh" she showed him by stretching her hands "bilkul
ek choti si doll, toshi aunty aur aapki puri family ne mujhe bohot help kiya,
unhone mujhe Ruhi se milne diya, usse khelne diya; usse khilana, usse nehlana
even uski potty saaf karna, inn sab cheezo se mujhe apni kami ko pura karne ka
mauka mila. Bohot selfish thi na mai; motherhood ke har ehsaas ko jeena chahti
thi" she looked lost "Ruhi ne mujhe phir se jeena sikhaya, life phirse normal
ho gayi, ab mujhe bhagwan se koi shikayat nehi hai" she said with finality and
looked at him.
He didn't know what to say "Ishita, i'm so sorry, mujhe
mujhe sachme nehi pata..."
"nehi" she shook her head "aapko pata hai yeh sab maine
aapko kyu bataya? Taki abhi joh mai aapko batane wali hu na woh aap aasani se
samajh sako, mai yaha apne bare mein thodi batane aayi hu" she chuckled "Ruhi aur
aapke bare mein baat karni thi"
"mere bare mein?" he asked, startled
"ha, aapko pata hai Ruhi aapse kitna pyar karti hai?"
He could see where this was going, he didn't want to talk
about it, but he couldn't tell that to Ishita because he knew her concerns as a
mother were genuine "Ruhi ne kuch kaha tumse?" he tried not to meet her eyes
"sawal ka jawab sawal nehi hota, nehi Ruhi ne nehi bataya
mujhe, aapki beti hai 5 saal ki but woh apne papa se zyada mature hai" she said
making face at him
"what do you mean? Baccha hu mai?"
"arre nehi baal safed hone ko aaye hai aapke, maine kaha ki
harkatein baccho wali hai aapki"
"safed? Nehi abhi subhe hi toh check kiya tha" he tried
pulling his hair to check their colour. Ishita laughed to her heart's content
at his foolishness. That was it, he was
lost again.
Raman, you need to get a grip over your hormones, those
teenage hormones can't come popping up where-ever they want. Its well embarrassing
if not outright scandalous. Women are trouble to the T, didn't u have a first
hand experience with Shagun? No emotional connections, that's what you decided
back then. And this woman didn't fall in the physical connection category
either. She's Ruhi's mother for crying out loud. She is the danger-zone; quiet
an attractive danger-zone I must admit.
Shut-up he said to himself. Get a grip. That delicious mouth
was saying something and he needed to concentrate. He shook his head trying to
buzz off his censored thoughts
"aapne kuch kaha?" she asked
"nehi toh tum kuch keh rahi thi"
"ha, dekhiye mujhe pata hai aap Ruhi se baat karna chahte
hai, usse pyar karna chahte hai, but ek toh woh aapme naturally aata nehi hai
aur dusra itne saalo ka faasla mitana aasan nehi hoga, but aapko Ruhi ke liye
koshish karni hogi, aapko pata hai aapke harkato se uske chote se dil ko kitni
takleef pohochti hai?"
He couldn't thank Ishita enough for understanding his
turmoil so well and also for putting it forward so mildly, she could have
slapped him for his irrational behaviour "pata hai mujhe" he finally said after
a long silence "but kya karu, faaslein itne hai ki ab usse khatm karna namumkin
sa lagta hai"
"mai help karu?" she asked mildly
He looked surprised "tum? Kaise?"
She had this naughty glint in her eyes "aap bas mujhpe
bharosha kijiye, this will be fun, aur Ruhi bhi khush ho jayegi"
He looked at her suspiciously "kya karne wali ho tum?" he
remembered something "and what did u mean when you said ki mujhe naturally nehi
aata?"
"pyar" she said
"pyar?"
"ha pyar, aapko pyar jatana nehi aata"
"kyu?"
"kyuki aap Ravan Kumar ho" before he could protest she put her hand forward and said "Toh kal se
mission 'Ravan Kuman ko banao Prem kumar' shuru" she grinned at him
He made a face mumbled something that sounded like
'pagal-madrasan' and put his hand over her's and said "deal"
*****
Precap: Day 1 of mission 'Ravan Kuman ko banao Prem kumar'
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