Chapter 5:
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Khushi woke up after yet another sleepless night. Sometimes life can be very cruel and hurtful. Sighing, she covered Asha with the blanket. She was just like Pooja. She also used to kick away her blanket in the middle of the night, she smiled at the thought. She had slowly realised to remember the happy moments and push all the sad moments to the back of her mind. But sadly she didn't know that until she let go off them completely, she cannot live in the peace, she yearned for.
She looked at the photo that stood so serenely calm, totally going with its surroundings. That was during Asha's first birthday. A ping sound from her cellphone announced the arrival of a new message. It was from Arnav Singh Raizada.
"I shall be there at 10. Tell me if it is okay with you, if not you can come at the time you prefer, I will loiter around, till then.
-Arnav"
"Arnav", the very name took her back to the previous day's events. A smile crept up on her face, the small smile she had started wearing for Asha's sake. She could never thank him for what he had done. Yesterday, when she stood there looking hopelessly helpless, he had very easily, but unknowingly helped her. She would give away anything to see Asha smile and be happy, since her aim was only that.
Yes, she hadn't let them get very close on a personal front. She did not want anyone to know of their past, something she had so carefully shielded away from the prying eyes, that were always thirsty for gossip. She did feel Arnav was genuine, but her mind was made. "After all, he will be here for just few days", she told herself.
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Just as Asha spotted Arnav, she ran to him and hugged him, taking him by surprise. Khushi was not surprised. In fact, after yesterday, she knew Asha, would do that. Asha easily accepted everyone, but there were only few people with whom she got attached to and Arnav was one among those. She didn't want to spoil the unique bond they shared. All she prevented was, their past. She knew her past will make her cry and Asha sad. She didn't want that.
"We can take the bus to Dolphin's Nose."
"Yeah sure."
As they entered the bus, there were only three seats. Two to the right, and one to the left. Asha who was talking to Arnav followed him to the single seat. When she realised she couldn't sit next to him, she looked up at him with furrowing eyebrows. He smiled affectionately at her and told, "Apni Ma ke saath baito princess." And before either of them could reply, they heard a voice behind, "Ma nahi maasi hoon." And with that Khushi took Asha with her.
Arnav was struck by the fierceness in her voice. It soon clicked in his mind that Asha was not Khushi's daughter. "What exactly happened?", he wondered. But as he saw Khushi speaking with Asha with so much love, all he could do was stare. He had so many questions yet everything seemed to fade out as he saw their bond. A bond, he never had, but he was glad Asha was having that.
Khushi looked at Asha, her mind replaying the previous conversation. "Ma nahi, maasi hoon." She herself didn't know why she suddenly turned so fierce. He couldn't have known. But she couldn't help it. She wanted Asha to be known as her Pooja and Rahul's symbol of Love. She never wished nor will she ever replace her. She will always be her "chithi". Asha was her sister's only memory she was left with and she never wanted to destroy that by giving her a new identity. But she knew she owed Arnav an apology.
Asha looked at her Chithi who was lost in her thoughts.
"Enna aachu? (What happened?)"
"Onum ila. (Nothing.)", Khushi replied with a gentle smile.
Asha frowned, her customary pout forming on her beautiful face. "Nee poi solra. Vara vara seriya ve pesrathu ila. Epo paathalum etho zzzoobie maari iruka. Nee enna maranthe poita. Hmmm. (You are lying. Nowadays, you aren't speaking properly with me. You have become like some zzzoobie (zombie). You have forgotten me." And with that, tears gathered in her eyes.
Khushi looked at her in amusement. She was biting her insides to prevent the smile that was threatening to burst out. "What a drama Queen! Like mother, like daughter. And how easily she opens her tears tank. Crocodile tears", she thought. She gently brushed away the tears and whispered, "It is zombie, not zzzooobie".
"Zoombie", Asha tried.
"Zombie."
"Zoobie."
"Zoobie nahi. Zombie."
"Nahi. Galat hain. Zoobie sahi hain."
"Acha? Tujhe kaise pata?"
"Woh Amir Khan gaate hain na. Zoobie Doobie."
Hearing that Khushi burst out laughing and almost every eye in the bus turned towards her. Arnav's eyes were trained on her. "It is good to see her laughing", he thought. "It is good to laugh", she thought.
She hugged Asha and placed a very wet kiss on her cheeks. Asha scrunched her nose and wiped off the kiss. "Wetty wet", she told. Khushi kissed her again. They continued their nhok jhok till they reached Dolphin's Nose.
As they got down from the bus, Arnav looked around with happiness. Pure joy swept through his heart. He was already very happy seeing her laugh and now looking at the astounding piece of God's gift, he was overjoyed. He couldn't wait to look at it more.
"Sorry." Arnav looked at her and nodded, unsure of why she was apologizing. "For being rude", she offered. He smiled and she reciprocated the same.
They walked passed the vendors selling corn, soda and herbal products. Arnav looked at them in pure disgust. "Jobless people", he muttered. Khushi, who was walking close to him heard that and immediately retorted, "They are not jobless, they are working for their living."
Arnav looked at her and was surprised she was actually making a conversation, however controversial. "Of course, they are. They had to put up their shops here too and dirty the place."
"You shouldn't blame them for the mess we people create. They aren't responsible for that."
"But if they hadn't put these up, in the first place, this wouldn't have happened."
"Then what do you expect them to do? This is a hill station. Do you want to set up a factory, pollute the place completely? They have no option rather than to do this. They have a family to look after. Their job opportunities are limited."
"Oh they can work in the tea plantations."
"There are already so many of them doing this. There isn't availability for all. Haven't you heard the survival of the fittest?"
"Surviving at the nature's cost?"
Both showed no signs of backing down and Asha, who's head was swinging between Arnav and Khushi, got bored and she decided enough is enough.
"Waterfalls", she shouted, putting an end to the deeepate (debate).
The two of them put an end to their conversation and looked ahead at the waterfalls, Asha was pointing at.
"That is Catherine Falls", Khushi said.
(The small stream is Catherine Falls. This is the view from Dolphin's Nose. Sorry couldn't get a better picture.)
Three of them looked at the stream in silence. Asha stretched her hands out as if catching the faraway water droplets. One hated the silence, other was fond of the nature's silence and the last young one did not know what silence or sound is, yet, today three of them basked in the serene silence that surrounded them. No words were spoken. "Silence is aptly called the powerful scream", Khushi wondered.
Khushi hadn't realised she had spoken her thought aloud until, Arnav remarked, "It depends on every individual's views. You can't generalise it. Silence is happiness for me."
"Maybe", Khushi accepted but she felt it to be remotely impossible.
After spending an hour or so there, they all decided to return. At the bus stop, Arnav hugged Asha and blew her a flying kiss, which she returned with equal fervor.
"See you, Khushi."
"See you, Arnav."
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"Hey Anji."
"Yes, I went to Dolphin's Nose."
"No no. It is named so since the tip of the peak resembles a dolphin's nose."
"No, but it looks like it might rain. But it is cold here."
"No, I haven't started writing anything, yet. I need to familiarise myself with this place. By mere seeing, I can't write anything. Words can't be pulled out Anji. You need to feel."
"You better leave this writing part to me and tell me how did you new magazine's launch go? Sorry I had to miss out on this."
"That's good. I would love to see the video."
"That girl? You mean Khushi Gupta?"
"Well I don't know what exactly to tell about her. She is good guide. You should see her niece."
"Yes, she has a niece. Her name is Asha. I don't know, Anji. I myself came to know about this only today. So, I have no idea regarding her family. But they both share a beautiful bond."
After a few more words with Anjali and Karishma, he put the phone down. As he inhaled the breezy air and sipped his evening tea, he couldn't help but think about them. "What did life to do them?", he wondered. Her tinkling laughter remained in his memory and it kept replaying in his mind. He just hoped to see that again and again.
He put on a new pair of dress and went out to explore his new heaven.
"Thambi, Antha pakkam pogathinga. (Beta, Dont go that side.)", an old man called out to Arnav.
"Sorry, what?"
"Tamil theriyatha? (You don't know Tamil?)", he asked Arnav.
Picking up on the word Tamil, he nodded in a no. "Hindi pata hain? (You know Hindi?)", Arnav asked him.
"Hindi thoda maalum. Vahan mat jao. No safe. (I know little Hindi. Don't go there. Not safe.)"
With his broken Hindi, the old man directed Arnav.
"Oh dhanyavad (Oh thank you.)"
He was astounded by the stunning landscape of the place. The place had so much of unexploited greenery which attracted him. There was a different flower on every tree. Bright colorful butterflies sat sucking nectar from the flowers. Another old man brushed past him. The old man climbed the hilly terrain with such agility that Arnav was left wondering whether the old man had legs or machines.
Soon it started getting foggy and he decided to return to his room.
"It was an eventful day", was his last text to Aakash, before sleep took over.
And when the whole world had slept off, two souls remained awake.
"Asha come here and eat."
"Last last."
"Asha."
"Two minutes. Yaaay Jerry won."
"Now that's enough." Khushi dragged Asha to the table and asked her to eat. "Eeew... kothambli..chi. (Eeew...Coriander..chi.)." Asha scrunched her nose in distaste. Khushi rolled her eyes at her antics and removed every "eeew and chi" items from her plate, lest she complains again.
"Bedtime story yaaay", Asha shouted.
"There was a young girl named Rupanzal..."
Under the canopy of stars, sound of birds, breeze from the trees and with the voice of her Chithi, Asha fell asleep.
Sun rose providing a welcome warmth for Arnav, who was jogging. He warmed himself considerably. Just as he was about to enter the room after his jogging session, he spotted a rather attractive flower. And he started his day with a click of the flower, hoping that his day goes as bright and sunny as the hidden beauty.
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There all done. This is my longest ever. Hope it wasn't very boring. The last picture was clicked by me in Connoor. Do tell me how is it! With every update, I will post a click of mine.
I have finally set the pace for this story and I hope I am doing justice. Arnav knows a little about Khushi. So how did this come out? I hope the reason behind Khushi's aloofness is justified.
A loud THANK YOU to everyone, who despite their busy schedules, comment here. I love you all!!
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Happy week ahead guys!
Thank You!
Edited by Sadh123 - 10 years ago
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