Hola Buddies!
Tried to combine two separate Mehendi rasm wishes in this OS. Let me know how it has come out!
Happy Reading!
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Goenka House never lost the festive look ever since Akshara and Abhimanyu’s tilak. Manish walked around as if his chest was bursting with pride; not just because it was his pyari laadli Akshu’s wedding but also because of Abhi. In so many ways Abhimanyu reminded him of his Kartik and having him around was like having a piece of his son back. He used to hate it whenever Abhimanyu addressed him as bade papa. But now, every time he heard it, it had the similar note of his Kartik calling out, papa!
Abhi came every morning before going to Birlas and again at night on the pretext of doing a post-op check-up for Manish. Manish wasn’t an idiot. He knew Abhi used that as an excuse to spend time with his Akshu. He noticed the way the boy’s eyes always searched for his pothi from the moment he parked his bike. He conceded that even he had begun to look forward to that vroom sound that signaled Abhimanyu’s arrival. One of these days he would ask Abhimanyu to take him out on his bike, he thought, rubbing his palms in eager anticipation.
But today, today was Akshu’s mehendi and he needed to focus on that. It should go without a hitch. Whatever Akshu had dreamt of her bade papa would fulfil every single one of them, he decided.
“Bade papa! Yeh leejije!” Akshara handed him his meds along with a glass of water.
“Arre, is this the time for you to think about my meds?” he scowled. “You need to get ready for your mehendi, guests would be coming in any second…”
“I know, I know but if you don’t take these on time, Abhi will scold both you and me. He gave strict instructions. No matter what, your meds need to be taken on time!”
Manish hid his delight behind his grumble. “Pehle ek thi ab do do mere peeche padgaye hain!”
“Haan toh?”
Manish emptied the water glass. “Aru, where are you going?” he asked, as he saw Arohi dressed up not for the upcoming function but to go outside.
“Bade papa, Akshu, sorry! Really sorry! Mahima ma’am just called up. She is going to do a complicated surgery and I need to be there.” When both looked like they would shout out their objections, she went on hastily. “I know, I know. And I really, really wish I was here, but this is really important. Aur waise bhi, it’s Akshu’s mehendi. Not mine na. What? Don’t look at me like that!” she countered, going on the defensive when Akshu looked hurt and bade papa looked like he was about to growl out, Arohi! for daring to offend his favorite granddaughter. “I’m not feeling bad or anything. Just saying that I’m not going to get so many day-offs for my sister’s wedding. If I go to the hospital now, I’ll get to take off for the wedding. OK, I’m getting late, bye, bye.”
She hurried away slowing down long enough to add, “Akshu, I decided and called the designer who is going to come to apply your mehendi. So forget about all that photo chipkana on your palm. I chose a few designs too so pick your choice from them. OK?”
Akshu brightened up at that, nodded eagerly and waved off her sister before Mimi and Swarna hustled her up to get ready for the function.
~~~~~~~~
“Neil beta, go see if Abhi is ready yet.” Manjari instructed, her face creased with worry. She didn’t want anything to go wrong this time around. Her glance fell on her husband who was once again dressed in a simple sherwani, checking his watch, looking impatient. At least he was going to come, she thought. It didn’t matter that he was reluctant and never stopped taking digs at his son and Akshara. He was there at the events. That was enough for her. Kaanha ji, please, just let everything go well this time, she sent a silent prayer.
“Bro, you ready yet? Ma is getting tense and…whooo hooo whoa wow!” he exclaimed in delight just as Shefali finished adjusting the top button of Abhi’s Sherwani and stepped aside. The peacock green sherwani with its self-thread embroidery and gold buttons, coupled with the gold shaded dhoti style pyjama turned his brother into a groom. Add that bright, shining face with joy and peace stamped on it…Neil grinned to cover up his blurred eyes.
“What do you think? Apna Abhimanyu kitna smart dikhraha haina?” Shefali announced.
“Obviously! Sherwani ki selection kiski hain?” he bragged, finger-combing his hair and laughingly dodged Parth’s smack aimed to the back of his head. “Achha, aapka sajna savarna hogaya ho toh chale? Late hogaye toh kya pata, bhabhi hi yaha aajaye!”
The way Akshara had come to his window by climbing the ladder flashed in Abhi’s mind. Oh yeah, pushed enough, she was completely capable of doing just that. He wouldn’t mind but the rest of the family would probably throw an apoplectic fit. Chuckling to himself, he let himself be hustled by Parth and Neil with Shefali and Anisha hurrying ahead of them.
~~~~~~~~~~
The function was in full swing with Abhi constantly reminding himself to look away from his bride. But it seemed to be an impossible task. She too was dressed in green. Not peacock green but more of an emerald green with maroon and gold embroidery all over it. Emerald and ruby choker around her neck, matching earrings and another stylish gold hairclip pulling her slightly curly hair away from her face. And that small twinkling bindi! No, more than all those put together, it was that bright happy face, those sparkling eyes full of joy that kept him enthralled.
In that moment, she looked up and caught him staring at her. Tilting her head, she gave a slight nod asking – what?
Smiling, he hummed in his off-beat, “Chaudvi ka chaand ho yaa aaftaab ho, jo bhi ho tum khuda ki kasam…lajawaab ho…”
Akshu bit her lower lip to stop her grin even as her cheeks turned pink. Darting a quick glance around to make sure everyone else was occupied, she hummed back, “Aapki aankhon mein kuch mehke hue se raaz hain…aapse bhi khoobsurat aapke andaaz hain…” Abhi’s eyes darkened with desire, flaring up further when Akshu didn’t look away despite the blush once again steeling her cheeks.
“Akshu, aaja beta! Abhimanyu, tum bhi!” Swarna gestured them to the small makeshift dais they’d put for the occasion.
Harsh, once again a reluctant guest at the Goenkas, was sitting on the couch, sipping a soft drink as he waited for the function to be over and done with so that he could leave. It was Mehendi, for God’s sake! He was not even needed here. But this Manjari! He gritted his teeth. She refused to go without him and he couldn’t be the one to spoil his son’s happiness. He watched Abhimanyu sitting beside the love of his life, Akshara, laughing at something Manish was saying, his palm extended towards Anisha who was applying a nominal mehendi on it. Akshara’s sister was not there so they’d decided Abhimanyu’s sister will do the rasm. Fine. Whatever.
“Just look at him,” he huffed to Manjari, who was sitting beside him, watching the event with an indulgent look in her eyes. “Look at your laad saab! Dekho kaise ek lattu ki tarah uss ladki ko dekhraha hain!”
Manjari too watched her son who was barely showing any interest in what Anisha was scribing on his palm, all his attention locked on to Akshara’s smiling face. A lock of her curly hair slipped out of the hair clip and fell across her cheek. She tried to shake it off and push it back with her forearm as both hands were being applied mehendi by two girls. Abhi gently held her arm, guided it back until the girl resumed applying. When Akshara pouted, he smiled, and just as tenderly guided the wayward locks back from her face. And completely ignoring Shefali, Parth and Neil mercilessly laughing and teasing him, he made sure the lock of hair went back into the clip. Just then Anand walked up to the couple to bless them. Both Akshara and Abhimanyu got up. Abhimanyu held and adjusted her dupatta as it began to slip off to the floor.
“Buss, yehi dekhna baaki tha! Yeh bhi dekhliya!” Harsh fumed, wiping the smile off Manjari’s face. “Dekho! Dekho meine kahaa tha na! Pehle tera pallu aur ab uss Akshara ki chunni pakadke dekho!” He gestured to the couple. Abhi took the safety pin from Vansh with a thanks, carefully pinning the dupatta to her choli over her shoulder. “Yeh Akshara haina…isne mere bete ko kabza karliya hain! Apne pallu se baandh liya hain aur yeh ladka ussi pallu ko pakadke Akshu Akshu karte…”
“Ji uncle?”
Startled, Harsh looked up to find Akshara standing in front of him and Manjari. “Kya?”
“Aap ne mujhe bulaya?” she asked, her wide, guileless eyes full of expectation.
“N-nahi toh!”
“Oh! Mujhe laga aapne Akshu karke bulaya! Isiliye poochi!”
Manjari quickly pasted a smile on her face. “Arre aisa kuch nahi hain, Akshu beta! He is just saying that soon Akshu would be coming to our house…buss itna hi!”
Akshara’s whole face lit up. “Ji. Aur tab mein aap dono ko maa aur papa bulasakti hoon. Haina?”
For once Harsh looked stumped. “Kya?” Papa? No way in hell!
“Haan, haan! Kyu nahi beta! Bilkul!” Manjari darted him a pleading glance not to create a scene before leading Akshara away.
“Abhi, chale beta? Der horahi haina?” Manjari prompted Abhi.
“Sab kitna achhe se hogaya! Buss Mahima ji aur Arohi ki kami thi aaj,” Swarna acknowledged. “Lekin Anand ji, Harsh ji aaye hume bahut achha laga!”
“Of course, we’d come! It’s Abhimanyu and Akshara’s wedding so we’re going to be celebrating every little event,” Anand assured them all.
“Maa, you all go on, I’ll come in a bit.” Abhi said, darting a quick beseeching glance at his siblings. Taking the cue, they chattered on, not giving Manjari a chance to object and hustled everyone away.
“Kyu Abhimanyu? Ghar nahi jaana? Manish, lagta hain humare jamai sa ko yahi rehna hain.” Mimi teased.
Abhi’s grin turned sheepish. “Woh actually Akshu told me that AG makes awesome tea. So I thought…”
AG’s grin was wide enough to split his face. Snapping his fingers, “Mein ek dum mazedaar adrak wali chai banake laata hoon!” He strode off in the direction of the kitchen with Vansh tagging along wanting to know if they should maybe add some snacks to go along.
Manish waited until until Swarna and Mimi too left to oversee the clean up before walking up to Abhi. “Toh Jamai sa chai keliye ruk gaye, eh?”
Akshara, who was perched on the couch, with the beautiful mehendi design spreading all over her palms until it almost reached her elbow, looked at the two men indulgently despite the blush once again steeling her cheeks at bade papa’s teasing comments.
“Ji!” Abhi nodded, biting back his own grin.
“Aur chai peethe hi chale jaayenge, haina?”
“Nahi gaya toh nikaldenge, kya?” Abhi teased back.
Manish’s chuckle was rueful as he patted Abhi on his shoulder and left the couple alone. Or rather as alone as they could be, in the main hall of the Goenka house.
Abhi plopped down on the couch beside Akshara with a relieved sigh. “One step closer,” he drawled, his voice turning deep.
“Matlab?”
About to take her hand as was his habit, he stopped himself. Mehendi. He turned sideways on the coach, with one foot planted on the floor and another one folded at the knee on the couch. “Matlab, one step closer to you becoming completely irrevocably mine and I, yours.”
“I’ve always been completely irrevocably yours, Abhi.” His eyes darkened as emotions filled them. “Woh toh…”
“No! No talk of anything that hurt us in the past.” His forefinger on her lip, he silenced her. “What I meant was, I want to tie you to me in every way possible. Tie myself to you in every way possible. Emotionally, legally…physically…”
“Shhhh! Abhi!” Akshara darted a quick look around.
“What? We’re getting married! With full permission from both sides of our families. You still want me to edit my words?”
He looked so grumpy that she chuckled. “Chidkuraam!”
He scowled at that but it melted as he looked at her laughing face. “Achha, tumhari mehendi toh dikhao mujhe!” he bent a little to get a closer look but Akshara snatched her arms away, shifting to the other end of the couch. “Arre! Yeh kya?” he asked, confused.
“You shouldn’t see it now.”
“But why?”
Akshara turned shy but went ahead and explained. “Iss poore design mein kahi pe tera naam chupa hain. Shaadi ke baad tumhe doondna hoga. Aur nahi doond paaye toh mujhe gift dena hoga!”
Abhi thought about it for a second. “Haan toh I can search for it now na. Why wait until after the marriage?”
He started to get up, but she yelped and raised up her hands. “Arre nahi nahi. Abhi nahi,” she screeched in a low tone. “Shaadi ke baad bola na!”
“Par kyu?”
Once again darting another quick glance around, she leaned in to whisper in his ear, making sure to keep her arms out of his line of sight, behind him, in an almost hug, hoping that her blush wasn’t that obvious at such a close range. Abhi fisted his palms as he fought the urge to close that little distance between them. He won. But barely.
“Shaadi ke baad hum dono ek saath…akele…humaare kamre mein…”
He didn’t dare move or breath lest that last thin thread of his self-control would snap, and he’d grab her, carry her off to bring that imagery she just drew to life.
“Chai and samosas, here they come!”
AG and Vansh’s exuberant voices startled them both. They sprang apart. And the next hour flew by with chai, samosa, chatter and friendly banter. Manish and Swarna shared indulgent looks as they watched Abhimanyu hand-feed Akshara, patting her head when she started to cough, getting her to sip some water even as he grumbled at her desire to talk while eating. She pouted saying he was feeding everything to her without him eating to which he scowled and ate off one whole samosa without feeding her. Her sulky face drew laughter from everyone.
“Haso mat Kairav,” Abhi drawled. “Kal ko tumhe bhi yeh sab jhelna padega Anisha ke saath!”
“Jhelna?” Akshara huffed? “Matlab tum mujhe jhel rahe ho? Bade papa dekhiye na, kya bolraha hain?”
Manish who had been about to laugh right along with rest, quickly turned it into a cough and assumed a serious expression. “Abhimanyu, kya hain yeh? Aisa koi kehta hain kya? Galat baat. Yeh sirf tumhare aur Kairav ki baat nahi hain. Saare shadi shuda mardon ki yahi haal hain!”
The men burst out into guffaws as Swarna joined Akshara in protest.
“Achha teek hain. Shaant hojao aur yeh lo. Chai peeo. Good girl.” Dampening a tissue with some water, Abhi wiped Akshara’s mouth before helping her drink the tea by holding the cup.
Watching Abhi hold Akshara’s tea cup in one hand and his own in another, blowing lightly on her tea, getting her to sip, it struck Manish that his little kiddo will soon be leaving him and going off. To build her life. Away from him. He looked around the house. Without her chatter, the sound of her laughter, this house would feel lifeless. Empty.
“Bade papa?”
Dragging himself out of the impending gloom, Manish quickly pasted a smile as he turned to Abhimanyu. “Haan beta?”
“Will you come with me?” The question was casual enough but in Abhi’s eyes was the knowledge that he knew where Manish’s thoughts had led him to.
“Oh, of course. Chalo. AG, get the car keys!”
Abhi shook his head, lips stretching into a devilish grin. “Nope. No car. Aaj aap mere saath, mere bike pe chalenge.”
Ignoring Manish’s half-hearted protests on shaadi ka ghar and so much to be done, Abhi hustled him out of the house towards his bike.
Bhole Bhole Pairon Se Chalii Chalii Re
Baabul Terii Chhotii Thii Galii
Biite Mere Piichhe Rah Gaye Rah Gaye
Paatriyon Ke Niiche Rah Gaye
Gaiya Merii Pyaasii Rah Gayi
Tulsii Vaalii Baadii Rah Gayi Rah Gayi
Chuulhaa Mein Jalaake Rah Gayi
Chhalka Chhalka Re Kalse Ka Paani
Chhalka Chhalka Re O Aankhna Maani
