The evening brought with it the commencement of the Mela which was to run for 3 nights. It was a yearly event which brought enjoyment and an opportunity for sale of organic stuff and showcase of talents.
Aditya entered the ground, wiping his sweat stained forehead. He pulled out a bottle of water from his bag and drank it. Seriously, the heat here was too much. He knew it would get cooler as it was already late evening but the days were really hot. He looked around at the happenings and smiled. Surely he would click a lot of photos here. He had been to a mela just once or twice and that too when he was quite young. Now he decided to explore and also try to recall how it had been years back.
Imlie was helping her mother arrange things in her stall when her eyes fell on the women dressed in red holding each other and dancing.
"Amma, things are done here. Come let's go and dance" Imlie said excitedly.
"No Gudiya, you go and dance. I need to look after the shop. If Amma sees, she'll skin me alive!"
"Nothing like that will happen! Dadda is right here and she dosen't have any guts to do anything when he's around!"
"I don't know all that. You go and dance and let me do my work!"
Imlie sighed deeply and shaking her head left.
" I know Amma why you are refusing. But I'll make sure you come out of it because there's no end to your pain if you don't let go! That man will never come back! Till when will you sit pinning for him." Imlie thought as she rushed towards the women dancing only to collide with Aditya yet again.
"Oh God! Ladki ho ke toofan mail? Jab dekho tab bhaagti hi rehti ho!" Aditya said annoyed
(Are you a girl or hurricane. Whenever I see you, you'll be running only!)
"I'm not the only one running! You don't look around as well! Nazar toh hoti hi nahi hain aapki saamne ki kaun aa raha hain, kaha jaa rahe ho! Aur hum toofan mail hain na toh aap andhe...umm... andhe langoor!" Imlie replied back equally annoyed.
(Your sight is not on the road only to see who's coming, where you are going. And if I am hurricane you are blind....umm...blind langoor)
"Kya? Hum aur langoor?"
(What? Me and langoor)
"Haan! Sirf langoor nahi, andha langoor!"
(Yes! And not just langoor but blind langoor)
"Hum langoor hain? Andhe langoor?! Toh tum kya ho? Tum...tum...." Aditya fumed trying to come up with a name to call her who had the audacity to call him Langoor!
(I'm a langoor? Blind langoor? What are you then? You ...you..)
"Rehne dijiye! Koi naam na milega aapko rakhne ke liye toh chod hi dijiye!" Imlie said smirking.
(Leave it! You won't get any name to keep to just leave it!)
"Jhalli!" he said
(Silly)
"Kya? Jhalli aur hum?" she said even as she glared at him.
(What? Silly and me?)
"Haan!" Aditya said smirking triumphantly.
"Aapki toh!" she fumed and raised her hand and made an action of strangling his neck to which he chuckled, making her even more angry.
The change in music reminded her what she was going to do. Glaring at Aditya, she moved towards the women dancing while he just watched on, chuckling at her annoyance.
She joined the others in the dance and that's when he observed her properly. She was dressed in an off red saree while her other ornaments remained same as the afternoon. She looked even more beautiful than afternoon.
"She's looking beautiful!" Aditya thought.
"You shouldn't be thinking such things!" his mind reprimanded him making him pick his camera instead to take good photos.
Only, he ended up taking her photos!
Meanwhile
The Tripathi women were busy in their usual chores.
"Ma, Papa I'm leaving for work" Nidhi said even as she stuffed her mobile into her purse.
"Nidhi, atleast have little poha and go no!" Radha hollered from the kitchen.
"No Ma, I'll get quite late! I'll have something later on!"
"Yes Ma. Leave it no. Aur anyways, this food won't get down her throat because I'm the one who has made it na!" Rupali said.
"Jiji, there's nothing like that! Why do you always feel like that? I don't hate you or something!" Nidhi said with tears in her eyes. She did not understand what she had done such that Rupali disliked her so much.
"Rupi! Stop your nonsense! As if there aren't other things to do that now I have to sit and teach you manners!" Radha said stepping out of the kitchen, glaring at Rupali who just rolled her eyes.
"Ya right! Just because I said something to your favourite daughter-in-law whom you consider and value above your daughter, you're so angry huh? And there wasn't even quarter of this anger when you found out about that man!" Rupali said bitterly.
Radha immediately looked down and was about to say something but Rupali just stood up and walked away.
Radha moved towards Nidhi and caressing her cheeks said
"Do not take her words to heart beta. You know right, after what happened, she has become like this. She dosen't mean any of it."
"I know Ma. But it still hurts. Because I consider her my elder sister, my Jiji and love her so much and she.... Whatever happened with her was bad and I can't understand I know because fortunately I have got a good family. But that doesn't mean I don't want to help her or support her right" Nidhi said and hugged Radha.
Radha wordlessly patted her back as she did not have anything to say. They parted and Nidhi left for work.
"Till when will this family be like this? Can we never go back to how we were before?" Radha wondered.
Lots of love,
Pratyusha
YOU ARE READING
Lakeerein - Ties That Bind Us
Fanfiction------ Can Be Read As General Fiction ------ One night. One event. Lives of two people altered completely. When Aditya Kumar Tripathi, Chief Executive Reporter at Bhaskar times stepped into Pagdandiya and met Imlie, he did not know how his life woul...
