Sapno Ka Shaher

Mai Hun Naa...

It was night's time but still some children were playing in the garden of the Sea Queen society. Some of the children were already done with their final school exam and some were studying for the upcoming ones. But the longer days and warmer breeze kept their playful mood alive.

The Maheshwari couple had had their dish-wash routine some time back and were now in their room talking about the day. Sameer was sitting on the mattress on his side, with his legs spread and crossed over one another. He had a copy of Kadambini Magazine in his hand, and he was reading something. Naina had rested her head on his lap and she was sleeping parallelly to the wall. She was just playing with the strings of the knot of her night dress and thinking about something deeply.

"Sameer, tumne kaha kyun nahi ki tum hero ke role ke liye aaye ho...." Naina bleated.

Sameer looked at her peeping through the magazine, "bataya na Naina... mai gaya tha unke paas... lekin woh mujhpar hi barasene lage... toh mai kya karta..."

"Lekin aise kaise tumhe dost ka role de diya unhone", Naina whined again.

"Haan toh thik hai na... Ab Salman ki pehli film me bhi toh woh hero ka bhai hi tha. Lekin baad me bann gaya na Hero?" He shrugged.

"Mr. Maheshwari, woh Salman ke pitaji Salim Khan hai na, isliye." Naina rolled her eyes.

"Naina... Hamare Papa ne kabhi Filmon me try kyun nahi kiya? Villain ka role toh aasani se mil jata unhe..." He looked at her to get a stare back from her, but still continued, "Gussa karna kitna achchhese aata hai Papa ko... aur mere liye bhi thoda aasan jo jata..."

"Sameer..." She grabbed the cushion from her lap and whirled it to the back to hit his arm.

Sameer acted as hurt, "Aahhh... Sorry sorry..." He apologized while taking the pillow from her hand and laughed.

She smiled, "Lekin koi kuchh bhi kahe... tum toh ekdum hero material lagte ho Sameer. Yaad hai na, Anant Mahadevan ji aur unke assistant ne kya kaha tha. Tum na Salman, Aamir aur Shah Rukh Khan ka mixture lagte ho."

Sameer sighed and folded the magazine keeping his finger in between, "Naina, agar hum Anant Mahadevan ji aur unke assistant ke baaton par dubara na hi fisle, toh achchha hai."

"Aisa kyun keh rahe ho?" Naina frowned.

"Naina, yahan Mumbai me rehne ke baad itna toh mujhe pata chal chuka hai. Yeh Film industry wale log matlab par bohot chalte hai. Aur shayad uss din bhi, unhone kuchh matlab ke liye hi yeh sab kaha ho... Shayad woh hamara swimming pool use kar rahe the isliye..." Sameer reasoned.

'ya shayad unhe bhi side actor ke liye meri zaroorat pad gayi, isliye...' the line was on the verge of slipping from his mouth, but he refrained himself with a sigh.

"Woh chahe kuchh bhi kahe... Mere liye toh tum Hero hi ho... hero ke dost nahi..." Naina said.

Her voice got him back to their conversation. "Haaaann... lekin isme toh Hero wahi hai na... tumhara Rishabh Malhotra...", he chuckled.

"Sameeeerr..." She was miffed. "Mere toh sirf tum ho. Aur mai toh uske acting ki tareef kar rahi thi. Aur tum ho ki bass chhed rahe ho mujhe kabse..." She twisted her mouth.

Sameer looked at her cute antics. He cupped her jaw into his fingers and thumb, and squeezed her cheeks a little to make a pout of her lips. "Achchha baba, nahi chhed raha." He left her cheeks, rested his hand on her bosom and continued, "Suna hai, woh dono bhai Ahmedabad me hi padhte the... aur ekdum hero types the... tumhe toh pata hoga na..."

"Offoo... Ab St. Xavier's me padhe ladko ko mai kaise jaan sakti hu... mai toh gareeb bechari Hindi medium me padhne wali seedhi-sadhi ladki. Jisko sirf ek buddhu ladka hi pasand aa sakta hai..." She said dramatically, modulating her voice in a typical ablaa heroine mode.