......A little long one but needed to explain...so bear with it please
The familiar voice left her aghastâŚ..She couldnât move a boneâŚâŚShe felt the ground slip under her feetâŚ..was somebody playing a trick on her? Was she hallucinating? She decided that she was wasting her time trying to analyseâŚ.She did not bother to turn and decided to run away from thereâŚshe started towards the mansionâŚ..again the sameâŚ. chakkkkooorrrâŚ..This time she stopped and turned. What she saw, shook her up. Dumbfounded she stood glued to the spotâŚ..She staggered when Raghav started walking towards herâŚâŚHe came close to her and whisperedâŚ.. ChakorâŚâŚShe kept staring at that faceâŚ..She was goggle eyedâŚâŚthen two sturdy hands shook her out of her stupor and he saidâŚ..Chakor please say somethingâŚpleaseeeeâŚ...I am your RaghavâŚ.She finally found her voice and said âŚIt is impossibleâŚI have seen them bury my Raghav with my own eyes and she burst out crying âŚâŚ.and kept mutteringâŚ..you cannot be RaghavâŚit cannot beâŚ...who are you? She fell down on her kneesâŚ
Raghav sat down near her and hugged her tightly and saidâŚ..pleaseee stop cryingâŚI cannot see you in this stateâŚ.already I have tormented you enough but I had no other option....I will tell you everythingâŚ..believe meâŚ..I am your RaghavâŚ.
The warmth in the hug, the sturdy hands, the love brimming in the voiceâŚall seemed familiarâŚ...She looked up in those eyesâŚthe tenderness in them made her shudderâŚ..unknowingly she raised her hands to touch the face, the stubble and again hugged him tight and tears started rollingâŚshe wept incessantlyâŚâŚ.he let her cryâŚShe was shakingâŚnot having yet come to terms with the truthâŚâŚ..he tried to calm herâŚ...then when the cries turned to sobs, he said look at meâŚâŚpleaseeeâŚ..he stroked her faceâŚ..pushed those strands to see the moon like face well, moved his finger along her lips and kissed her foreheadâŚâŚOh God how I have missed you my dear Chakor all these daysâŚ..That was itâŚâŚShe seemed to have suddenly come to her sensesâŚ..she was fuming and started hitting him with her fistsâŚâŚWhy did you do this? Why didnât you tell me before? Why didnât you meet me earlier? Do you know I was a living corpse all these days? You donât love me at allâŚâŚHe just hushed her by keeping his finger on her lipsâŚ.sssshhhhh said heâŚâŚI will tell you everythingâŚplease give me a chance to explainâŚâŚ.She saidâŚ..I donât want to listen to anythingâŚ..Infact I think I am wasting my time sitting here with youâŚ..byeâŚdonât ever try to meet me ever againâŚ.He pulled her handâŚ.. Chakor if you leave now, without giving me a chance to explain, I will surely dieâŚâŚShe turned swiftly and kept her hand on his mouthâŚâŚdare not say like thisâŚâŚThen pleaseee wait and hear me outâŚ.he pleadedâŚ.
He took her to the lakeside so that they could talk without getting disturbed as the villagers were queuing up to watch Mr. John and the chhaoni go from Azadganj.
Raghav cupped her face and saidâŚ..Chakor do you remember when we had met hereâŚ..She noddedâŚhow can I ever forget that tranquil evening!
Raghav smiledâŚhe saidâŚ..That day, oblivious to us, Mr. John had sighted us together and had gone back fuming to his officeâŚ..He thought I was part of your group alreadyâŚ..He asked one of his guards to keep a watch on meâŚ..But fortunately for me, my father had helped that guard Bhanwar Singh and his family when they were in terrible crisis years backâŚâŚ.He was indebted to my fatherâŚ.So at the first opportunity he came and told him everythingâŚâŚ. âŚâŚ
They both devised a plan of which obviously I was not told anythingâŚ..My father asked him to continue giving information to Mr. John but only as much washarmlessâŚ.. and then my father started keeping a watch on meâŚ..thatâs how he knew everythingâŚâŚHe asked BhanwarSingh to be very alert âŚâŚ.one mistake and it could have severe repercussionsâŚâŚ.
Chakor was listening to him with her mouth wide open. She was speechlessâŚ.
He continuedâŚâŚBut that day after I had come to meet you late in the night⌠âŚwhen I came back from lucknowâŚâŚ.I chanced upon Bhanwar Singh and my father when I returned back to the mansionâŚI knew that he was a guard with Mr.JohnâŚSo I was curious as to what he was doing in our house and I insisted that they tell me everythingâŚâŚ..Very reluctantly my father told me the entire storyâŚâŚ..
Chakor interrupted him and asked âŚâŚthen why didnât you tell me the next dayâŚHe traced the outline of her face lovingly and said, dear remember the security was beefed up everywhereâŚâŚ âŚâŚone slip and the plan which we had come up with would go down the drainâŚâŚ.She looked at him quizzically and askedâŚwhat plan?
Raghav smiled and continuedâŚâŚ âŚâŚ..When I heard the entire story from my father, I came up with a plan for the 13th⌠âŚ.I told Bhanwar Singh that he had to ensure that Mr. John was kept satisfied by regularly giving him titbits of information on both of us..⌠Bhanwar Singh was supposed to become a confidant of Mr. JohnâŚâŚHe was to make Mr. John believe that you and me, both were upto something and thatâs why we were keeping a low profile, not meeting each other, acting normal etc.etcâŚThe plan was falling in place.
Now Chakor could visualise Raghavâs planâŚ.She saidâŚ.so you deliberatelylead Mr. John to us the last time we metâŚand you are the one who blasted his office on 12th nightâŚhe grinned and saidâŚyesâŚâŚbut I am indebted to Bhanwar Singh without whom all this would not have been possible..He is the hero of the storyâŚ.but the bullet said chakorâŚAh the bullet he exclaimedâŚMy father arranged for a cap gun which was cleverly replaced with the original by BhanwarâŚ. âŚ
Bhanwar Singh had told us about how incontrollable Mr. John was when he became angry âŚand we were supposed to take full advantage of thatâŚ..if you remember he was the one who was instigating Mr. John by butting in between and asking you to keep quiet and not to disrespect his officerâŚOh okâŚI now get it said chakor⌠we had hoped that the scene would play out as it didâŚ.âŚBut the bloodâŚ.He again smiled and saidâŚ.You remember your street plays, rightâŚâŚHow do you show blood on the revolutionary acting to be tortured or shot dead by the British????? âŚWe too tried something like thatâŚOfcourse it was Bhanwar Singhâs duty to create a ruckus once the bullet was firedâŚâŚ...And thats why he pushed you quickly and made two guards hold you so that you wouldnât come near me and the artificial colour would not come on to your clothes âŚ. âŚMy father was initially not ready for this at allâŚwhat if something went wrong somewereâŚâŚ..but I was firm and prepared to take the riskâŚthatâs what I learnt from the love of my life said heâŚâŚ.. âŚâŚShe smiled and rested her head on his chest. Then in a thoughtful mood she said what if something would have happened to you and she shivered thinking about that nightâŚâŚhe embraced her and saidâŚâŚ.Anything for the country , right dear?
And do you realiseâŚâŚ.This risk has resulted in Mr. Johnâs transfer and the Chhaoni being removed âŚisnât that a sweet reward!!!!
She said we could have up with some other simple planâŚ..he said yesâŚ..but chances of the planâs success would not have been so great in a small village like ours as in this caseâŚwhy asked chakorâŚ..because after I was dead and after you are arrested Mr. John would relaxâŚ.âŚby the way Bhanwar was to ensure that your arrest would happenâŚMr. John would trust him fully by then⌠Bhanwar would have had poisoned his ears against us substantially and cleverlyâŚâŚ
I am very very sorry my dear for putting you through all this âŚ.
My father then arranged for the puja so that Mr. John sees everybody there especially the core committee members and doesnât feel something amissâŚ..and I get a chance to do my work without hindranceâŚâŚ
I was going to come immediately today morning for you, but Bhanwar told us about the transfer and your releaseâŚso I decided to surprise youâŚ.
She punched him sayingâŚyou think you surprised meâŚyou scared me SirâŚ
He gave a hearty laughâŚ..
She then askedâŚâŚand by the way how did you come out of the grave? He said only Vikrant was told about the planâŚ..so that he helps me come out once all had leftâŚâŚthe others still donât know about thisâŚ
And where were you staying all these daysâŚnot easy to hide in our small villageâŚRaghav said in the cellar in our mansionâŚit is well stockedâŚ..right from the time Vikrant removed me form the grave I have been locked in that cellar and I resurfaced only yesterday night to teach Mr.John a lessonâŚâŚanyways he was so confident that I was dead that he never bothered to keep a vigil for me, right?
And then in an aggrieved tone he saidâŚ.in all this I have had to do two things that I will always regretâŚâŚshe said I knowâŚâŚone keeping me in the dark about the plan and second putting me behind barsâŚâŚ.She then held his face and saidâŚ..for everything to seem real and genuine this was needed RaghavâŚplease donât feel bad about itâŚ.and didnât you just say anything for the country and she smiledâŚ.he again hugged her lovingly and said thank-you so much dear for understanding everythingâŚâŚI am indeed lucky to have you.
But how did you bomb his office??? she asked....he grinned and said that was easy as Bhanwar had ensured that alongwith him the other guard who stays there was the one who had buried me......The moment they saw me, Bhanwar had just to utter GH...GH...GHOSTTTTTT and that fellow was running for his life.....I then could bomb the office very easily
She was laughing holding her sides, imaging the scene. She looked at him and saidâŚâŚI am very proud of you RaghavâŚ.I love you with all my heartâŚ..I love you too chakorâŚâŚ.God how I have stayed all these days, in that cellar, thinking how broken you must be âŚI had instructed Vikrant to meet you every day and if anything seemed amiss to let me know immediatelyâŚAlso Bhanwar was to make sure that you wouldnât be troubledâŚ.. âŚâŚthere was not a moment lost without thinking about you dearâŚâŚshe couldnât hold back and raised her head to him and gently brushed his lipsâŚâŚhe was pleasantly taken abackâŚshe felt very shyâŚ..seeing that crimson face he couldnât control himself. He lifted her chin and kissed her parted lips. Their mouths clung nibbling delicately at the soft interior fleshâŚShe responded whole-heartedlyâŚHer heart fluttered inside her chestâŚ.the gentle kiss gave way to a passionate one with both not getting enough of each otherâŚâŚshe moaned with pleasureâŚ..it drove him crazyâŚ..he kissed her neck, her forehead, her eyes, her cheeks before claiming her lips once againâŚShe was in the seventh heaven......As the kiss deepened it sent wild tremors along their nerves. Both couldn't pull away from each other..Raghav could feel the beating of her heart against his chest...finally when they came to their sensesâŚRaghav askedâŚ.are you ok? I am very sorryâŚ.I donât know what overcame meâŚwas it because of the pain of parting or the joy of meeting they wonderedâŚ.she was quietâŚhe lowered his voice and asked âŚwas I too rough?âŚIs it hurting??⌠âŚI have never felt so good said she looking into his eyes âŚâŚHis eyes twinkled and the handsome face broke into a grinâŚI love you he whispered with ardorâŚ..
Suddenly Chakor let out a shriekâŚRagggghavvvvâŚ.he jumped, looked around and said whattttâŚ..she saidâŚ.. O my goodness, I just realised that since your father was a part of all this it means he knows about usâŚ..Her eyes had grown wide with the realisation!
Edited by 77nikita - 6 years ago