The Wish
A part of the garden was renovated for the special occasion
that he had planned for her. A table for two had been set in the center with
fairy lights on the shrubs around them. It had been a long time since he had
arranged for a special meal for her. Dressed in his best suit he admired the
freshly plucked flowers tied together with a string and ribbon. The gardener
would surely come after him with his tools upon learning of act.
“Love. It makes you do things such as these,” he caressed
the ribbon design. He heard footsteps and a smile came upon his face
“You made me wait a long time,” he spoke up. “Today
is the anniversary of the day when I first saw you. Surrounded by those flatterers
you looked so stunning and ready to kill them all….”
He turned around and bent down and raised the
flowers in his hand, “I only wish I had come to rescue you early but today I
confess that I fell in love with…”
Before he could finish his sentence, a loud laugh
erupted and Udai Singh found himself staring into the eyes of his father’s
butler. Sangram Singh cracked up watching his son’s failed attempt at romance.
“Celebrating the anniversary of the day you first saw
her,” Sangram Singh shook his head, “did you forget your actions on that first
meeting- broke the ancestral vase gifted to the family by British historian, destroyed
her painting that she intended to gift her elders and best of all, you completely
ruined her favourite saree by….”
“I got her a new saree,” Udai Singh interrupted, “that
too from Chandini Chowk- it was a complete 100% fake original piece. Cost me
nearly 1200Rs.”
Sangram Singh tilted his head as Udai Singh corrected
the price, “fine I bargained and got it for Rs800 but I sold two pieces of his”
He recalled his experience of a salesman when he draped a saree for two
customers.
The guard announced Jaiwanta Bai’s return and Udai
Singh looked at his father, “please do not tell her about my failed attempt at
romance with your butler.”
The elderly man nodded his head, “go make tea for
us and I will keep your secret”
London
The sun hid amongst grey clouds as winds picked up the pace. She sat near the London Eye looking at all the happy faces as they
enjoyed themselves. Families surrounded her as they went their way of making merry
and living every moment. It had become a daily thing for her to come and see
happy strangers around her.
“Mum!! Look at me mum”
“Mom smile,”
“Mum wait for me”
“Hey Mum, look at me and grandfather”
“Grandpa!!!”
Her ears seemed to only care about one word. The word that meant the world to her, it was her beating heart and soul.
“On the day of birth, your father left you and today your
mother left you too. Now, your decision will cost Kunwarsa his life. Don’t you
see Ajabde” she stressed on her name, “everyone close to you, whom you claim to
love and cherish- dies. Your Nanosa, Maasa and next in line would be Kunwar
Pratap”
Her body trembled as those words came back to haunt
her. Six months had passed since her mother left her alone,26 weeks she walked
the doors of her home, 182.5 days she last heard her mother’s voice, and 4380
hours since she walked out of his life.
“I love you, Pratap” she confessed her truth as they stood on
the terrace. “Every moment I spent with you has been beautiful and full of love
and laughter. I have no regrets of falling in love with you but I need you to
be strong. I wish for you to become the person you want to become- fulfil your
dreams. Make your parents and grandfather proud of you. Be the good son. If
possible, then do forget about me. I’m not worth it”
He stood watching her sit alone in her pain and
despair. Six months since he last laid his eyes on her, 4380 hours since he started stalking her through every
channel possible, 262800 since he decided to become the successor of his family
and work on his dream project and after all this time, he found her hiding
place. Only she would manage to hide in plain sight. Her confession had given
him a glimpse of the breaking point she had reached and it was all because of
that woman
“It’s not as if I lied to her, Meera defended herself. She
chose to become the head of the family- fine. Then she should lead her family.
Patta, my son is the successor of Punwars, not some fling of yours that resulted
in a child”
The sound of a slap echoed in the hall of old Punwar house as
Ramrakh Punwar’s patience was finally crossed. He glared at the woman who stood
before him
“Patta will never be the successor of Punwar family. A
successor is the child of the family, that child is of one’s blood. Patta is
neither my blood nor does he carry Dadabhai Jaimal’s blood. We all know the
identity of Patta and Heer’s real father. Their father was not of royal blood- he was a simple man who fell in love with the wrong person”
Meera looked at him scared as the hidden truth was reminded to
her. Ramrakh looked at her with eyes blazing with anger,
“Just because you pleaded innocence in front of my father and twisted
his words of promise does not make your child the successor. Ajabde in every aspect
is the true successor and she did the right thing by assimilating Punwar household
into the main family- Chauhan.”
“Do not push our buttons, Meera” Jaimal stood by his brother, “consequences
will never be in your favour.”
Drops of rain brought him out of his thoughts as he
looked back at the girl he had spent searching for since her departure from
everyone’s lives. His eyes softened as he walked towards her,
“Make sure you get the files from the HR department for my
next meeting,”
“I neither like sunrises nor do I like sunsets- I love the
night because then I can see all the shining stars that twinkle like diamonds
in the sky”
“Parle G is my absolute favourite. If not Parle G then I can
go for either 50-50 or Milk bikis”
“Only you would climb up a tree to steal fruits from his
personal orchard. You could simply ask the gardener to give you some”
“Just tonight and then we go our separate ways.”
“No regrets”
Memories hit him as he walked closer to her. With
only a few steps away he remembered her last words before the disappearance
“I love you, Pratap. Forget about me, I’m not worth it”
She felt her heart thump faster and louder like it
used to in his presence and closeness. Her heart, unlike her mind, still kept a
ray of hope alive of his image. She knew better than her heart who refused to
give up or lay down in battle. Her mind, on the other hand, reminded her of the
truth- her Nanosa, and Maasa was gone and they would never come back. Pratap needed
to stay away to stay alive because she won’t be able to bear losing him.
Rains drops fell heavily as she sat uncovered from
their wrath. She didn’t care that her clothes were getting drenched or that she
had started shivering because of the cold. She had become habitual of the cold
for she forgot the essence of warmth. Suddenly a figure moved to the front
holding an umbrella on top of her.
“You plan on catching a cold and then making me
serve you,” Pratap spoke as he covered her under the umbrella. She tilted her
head to look at the one person who always made her feel warm and fuzzy. His
eyes softened watching the drop fall down her face as she continued to stare at him. He pushed the umbrella in her hands as he quickly took off his overcoat and
covered her with it
“You fall sick from a slight cold breeze and here
you are getting drenched in the rains,” he grumbled as he closed the buttons
and tied the belt around her thinner waist.
“Are you on some crazy diet” he teased as he pushed
her a little back and checked her out from head to toe. “London food is not
suiting you at all, you need some samosa, kachori, and jalebi to live well.”
Her fingers trembled as she touched his face while
he talked of samosa and jalebis. Her imagination had gone wild to conjure him
in front of her. Maybe she had passed out and was dreaming or maybe she was
dead. There was only one to check if she was dead – in one swift move, she
pulled him close to her and planted a kiss on his lips. His hands tightened
around her waist as the umbrella fell down and flew with the wind as they stood
underneath the falling drops of rain lost in each other’s embrace
My only wish is for Ajabde to live life and experience love. I
want my little girl to come back to me and only you can do that
Will you fulfil my wish, Kunwar Pratap? Will you love and
cherish my Ajabde and bring her old self back - Hansa
