Is forever a myth?? Chapter 5 & 6

CHAPTER 5

A MELTING SUNRISE WITH HER

I dialled

the number she had mentioned in the mail. One…two…three…four rings later the call

was picked.

What to say? I felt nervous. ‘No need to feel nervous. You know her,’ I motivated

myself.

She picked my call, ‘Hello.’

I didn’t reply because this was the time to have fun.

‘Hello. Who is this?’ she asked again.

‘May I talk to Ria?’ I just said this, though I knew she was on the call.

‘Hitesh!’ the voice came from the other end. I didn’t speak a word in response and

remained silent. She repeated my name again and I responded in my style as I used to—

Tu door hai aur pass bhi, teri kami hai aur ehsaas bhi,

Jeena chahta hun har lamha tere liye, tu zindgi hai aur ek aas bhi.

Chadar ki andheri silwaton me teri yaadon ko gale se lagaya,

Juda na tha kabhi ek pal tujhse, tujhko hamesha apne kareeb paya,

Yun toh log bahut the is rah par sath dene ke liye,

Apne apne hote hain, yeh tujhse milke is dil ko samajah aaya.

Tere aane ke jashn me yeh dil tujhko salam karta hai

Parwah nahi ek pal ke liye jab yeh zamana tere naam se badnaam karta hai

Chal un gamon ki silwaton ko mita, ab ek naya jahan banayein,

Jahan bas hum sang jiyein,

Aur sang hi ek doosre ki baahon me hamesha ke liye so jayein.

Words were coming from my heart itself and then I felt the magic of love. Love never

demands preparation, it just happens and demands purity of heart, which makes

everything special and precious.

Sniffing over the phone, she cried with my lines and said after sometime, ‘Is this is a

dream? Where are you?’

All of a sudden I felt like a boy who had lost his mother in a crowded fair and after

crying in the middle of the fair alone, he finds his mother.

‘Your voice has changed and you’ve become mature it seems,’ I said softly, in a

romantic voice.

‘Where are you?’ she asked again in excitement.

‘Just next to you,’ I said.

She took a minute; it seemed like she raised her neck to find me and said, ‘Please tell

me. Where are you?’

‘Just near you,’ I was standing at the same place we had first met. She was

looking here and there, standing not far away from me. I disconnected the call and tried

to approach her.

‘This is called destiny and the world is round, hence proved.’ My heart said and

mind passed a green signal to it. Dreams come true if you are dedicated to them.

My cell phone vibrated, I took her call, ‘Where are you?’ she asked.

‘At the same place where we met the first time,’ I replied.

‘Oh really,’ she murmured into my ears from the back. She turned to me and my eyes

saw an oval face, curved eyelashes, and her emerald hazel eyes glistening in the bright

sunlight. Her hair was dark brown, almost to the point of being black and it hung loosely

over her shoulders giving perfect contrast to her dress. She looked prettier than angels

when her untied hair fell on her cheeks with a light gust of wind that came from

somewhere. Black fish shaped earrings suited her fair complexion. Light chocolate

colour lip-gloss on her pink lips seemed like rose petals. She was wearing a grey

coloured t-shirt, earphones in her ears, red cheeks, and cute face as ever. We stared at

each other for a moment and then she jumped on me.

She just hugged me tightly and I took her in my arms. People were looking at us but

that wasn’t the day to think about others, that was the day to love. We just hugged each

other for a couple of minutes, ‘I missed you a lot.’ She sniffed two three times. ‘I missed

you too,’ and then we let go.

My eyes were also watery because those dreams were in front of me.

‘You haven’t changed a bit,’ I just blushed.

‘Yes, same as I was, except these marks on my hand,’ she showed black spots of

syringes on the upper side of her palm. ‘Now these will go away soon,’ I said and she

agreed with a smile.

‘But you have changed a lot and that was important by the way. From those weird

shoes to your hairstyle, everything,’ she grinned.

When she touched my hand with hers, I forgot all my worries, tension, and tiredness

and felt that someone is there to listen to me with love and care.

She looked like old wine, prettier and enough to make my heart skip a beat.

‘Someone else is roaming around in your mind or are you still thinking about me?’ she

laughed

‘No, just a girl is roaming around in my mind who is the prettiest one I’ve ever met.’

‘Now this is not the time to listen to old instrumental songs, it’s the time to rock on

my beats. Let’s go home,’ she said in her own style.

‘But what shall I do there?’ I tried to say something but she interrupted and said,

‘Why? Why can’t you go with me? They aren’t aliens, you shouldn’t have any problem

meeting them,’ she pulled my hand. She walked and I just followed.

What was going to happen at home—that was the only question in my mind at that

moment.

CHAPTER 6

MISSION IN LAWS

I had met her mother at her home many times but this was the first time when I was

officially invited to their place. I was happy but nervous. Meeting someone from future

in-laws’ family is tougher than clearing IIT with a few months of preparation. My mother

didn’t know this would happen, so she hadn’t prepared me for this.

Two white marble pillars leading to the entrance, a large wooden double door,

pointed at the top and antique silver knockers on the door. The long garden view around

the walkway leading to the entrance with many small flowerpots looked beautiful. I

looked at the nameplate on the door.

‘What happened? I’ve never seen you like this before. Are you okay?’ Standing at the

door, Ria asked. She rang the doorbell and my heart started beating wildly.

‘Hey, stop,’ I pulled her hand. I rearranged my shirt, set my hair like a kid and took a

long breath. I smiled at her.

‘Hitu, she’s my mother, not your boss. No need for formalities,’ she rang the bell. I

started memorizing our values, culture and tradition. I was gulping air and her cousin

opened the door and looked at us. ‘Hey, how are you?’ she asked both of us.

I nodded with a reply, ‘Good.’

‘Come, come,’ she said loudly and called her Chachaji. First thing that I knew was,

one should keep away from males at the in-laws’ home, as they will try to pull your legs

and ask weird questions. In Indian families, the toughest part is to make the father, elder

brothers and other elders happy. Therefore, I prepared myself to smile at silly jokes and

to agree to whatever crap they would say. We entered and I just followed Ria. My

situation was like a school child on the first day of school who just followed his

teacher’s instructions.

‘Be cool and just chill,’ she smiled, blushed and looked happy but I looked nervous.

‘H-I-T-E-S-H-H-H-H-H…’ she looked at me and held my hand when nobody was watching. Her

home looked like a palace as it was built with mostly white marble and granite, with

grand balconies and circular staircases. The fragrances of roses and lavender filled the

air. There were small lamps glowing on the window in a row, few around the sofa and

one on the table with a sunrise couple in a dancing pose. There were old brass

showpieces hanging on the front wall. I liked the deer neck with long horns. A honeyed

tone of ankle bells and bangles dropped into my ears and I was alert like a puppy. Her

mom came to the hall.

‘Mom, this is Hitesh,’ she said to her mother. Ria pointed her hand first to me and then to

her mother in respect, ‘Hitesh, my mom…’

‘We have met before and know each other,’ she smiled. I came forward and touched

her feet, ‘Namaste, aunty.’

Ria grinned and blinked at me when I touched her mom’s feet. The first card

worked, I felt happy. Long way to go, I thought.

‘How are you, beta?’ she asked me. She was wearing a blue sari with a golden

border. The way she talked made me conscious for a moment that she wasn’t like other

mothers.

‘I’m good, aunty. She has told me many things about you,’ I replied.

I wanted to say Ma as she was going to be my mother-in-law but I stopped myself.

‘No stupidity…no stupidity,’ I remembered.

‘Even I’ve heard a lot about you,’ she gave me a smile. I was confused whether it

was a good or a bad thing. ‘Sit comfortably,’ her mother said, wiping her forehead with

the towel in her hand. I was sitting on the sofa next to Ria. ‘She must be cooking

something for me,’ I guessed and then realized, ‘she didn’t even know that you are

coming…popat.’

‘Take it easy, it’s not easy to become a son-in-law in a few minutes, you haven’t

impressed her yet. What’s next in your love quiver?’

‘So, would you like some coffee?’ aunty asked. ‘So would you like to have coffee or

juice?’ Aunty repeated again and broke my reverie.

‘No, nothing, aunty, I’m good, will have after sometime. Can I have a glass of

water?’ I smiled and responded very politely. I didn’t talk to my own mother like this.

Everything was fine and I was comfortable now. Mother-in-laws are not that bad. They

are bad only in Ekta Kapoor’s serials.

Ria blew a kiss in the air to tease me and fortunately, aunty didn’t notice that. I

made a sad face.

You’ve come home for the first time, you have to have something,’ aunty left for the

kitchen. Making myself comfortable, I looked around. Two walls of the room painted

with white paint and other two, with light blue that matched her sari. A lamp with a heart

shaped bulb was glowing at the corner of the room. Ria jumped in my sofa, kissed on

my cheeks unexpectedly, and said in a low voice, ‘You impressed my mom, carry on.’ I

pushed her, ‘Hey! Someone will come and will kill me. Please…’

‘Muahh…love you,’ she blinked her eyes and sat on the other side of the sofa.

I looked at the photo frame with the picture of her father on the table with a mala of

flowers on that. Her Vijay Mama and Geeta Mamiji entered. Her Mamaji was in a white

kurta and Mamiji in a black sari. She looked so gorgeous. All of them looked as if they

were going to some party. A long gold chain around her neck and big round earrings

gave me a rough idea of their bank statements. Then, I corrected myself, ‘They are going

to be a part of your family soon.’ I stood up and touched their feet.

‘I can’t talk much as I have a throat infection,’ he said in a butter-soft voice.’ I didn’t

know what to say to that so I gave a smile saying, ‘No problem, really nice to meet you.’

Her Mami started questioning me about Chandigarh and celebrities. We laughed and

enjoyed.

‘My mami has performed plays at the Prithvi theatre in Chandigarh during her college

days,’ Ria came to her and hugged her.

‘Oh, that’s nice. So where did you study from?’ I asked because Ria’s mother was

busy cooking for me and her Mamaji was reading the newspaper sitting on the divan in a

royal style. ‘I did my graduation from Ramjas College, Delhi University and completed

my MTech from DAV College, Chandigarh.’

Ria added, ‘She used to do modelling in her college days, is it right Mamiji?’ She

smiled, ‘Yes, but after my marriage, his family didn’t allow me to do these things and I

left,’ she said looking at Mamaji.

‘Then come to Chandigarh’ I said.

‘Yes, next week mami is coming with Mamma and me,’ Ria said.

‘I’m not sure, beta. I won’t get leave from office,’ her Mami was working with a

bank. After sometime, her Mamaji left, and we all sat together. I won their hearts without

any blunders.

After spending almost half a day at her home, in the evening, we all went to a mall.

The whole day we enjoyed together and the day actually made me feel that I was with

my mother-in-law. Now it was time to leave but we planned to go for a movie the next

day.

After shopping with her and her Mamiji, I planned to leave.

‘I will take a cab and call me, once you reach,’ I said to Ria who was

standing in front of Shri Gol Gappe cornet.

‘What’s going on? Who is going where?’ her Mamiji asked turning towards me while

having the last bite and wiping her mouth with a handkerchief.

‘May I leave?’ I asked while taking out my wallet to pay the guy

‘Stop it, don’t be ridiculous,’ she stopped me and paid herself.

She added, ‘You can leave, if we allow you to. It’s already eight. Let’s go home and

you can leave tomorrow morning,’ her Mamiji said and Ria looked happy.

‘But…’

‘No buts no ifs, dinner is ready at home, just come with me.’

‘Is it fine to stay at her home? What will others think?’ I was confused and they

forced me to stay. Then I decided to leave after dinner. We reached home and her

Mamaji opened the door.