Imlie was cleaning the house when she found a packet peeking out from amidst the flowers placed in the pot. Her brows furrowed in confusion and she picked it up to see what it was. It turned out to be a cigarette packet! Her eyes widened as it dawned upon her what it was that was there in the packet.
Cigarette smoking was bad and caused many problems, she had read. No she couldn't let whoever this packet belonged to go on with this practice. But for that she had to find out who that packet belonged to! But how? Should she directly ask? If she did, would they tell? The way the packet was kept spoke otherwise. This habit showed that the person had already got habituated to this since she had seen Mahesh Kaka in her village who did the same. She had helped Kaka leave it. She'll help the person here as well, she decided. But who was it? She hardly knew any one of them. It wasn't Babusaheb, she knew with surety though if asked she wouldn't be able to explain how.
A few moments of pondering and an idea occured to her.
___________________________________________
She moved towards her corner holding a yellow ochre saree, matching blouse and peticoat in her hand. Her heart felt heavy even as she registered, it was his engagement today and she had to be there for it. If only she could just skip the entire thing! But she was a servant in the house not a family member for her to have the choice to not attend the event and remain locked up in her corner! Just this thought stabbed her heart.
She placed the saree carefully on her potli and was moving to complete some other chores when she heard Aparna calling out to everyone. She moved towards the hall and saw everyone except Rupi Didi gathered there as well.
"We need some nice verses to print on Adi- Malini's wedding card so I thought of making this a competition as well. The kids will enjoy it. All of you have to write something and we'll ask Adi to pick out the best among all, which then will be given to publish on the wedding cards" Aparna said and everybody agreed.
She took the sheets and began distributing them. All of them settled right there, getting to work. Just as Imlie moved to take the sheet from Aparna, she took it back.
"Oh! Tum kaise likhogi? Main bhi na"
( Oh! How will you write?)
"Why can't I write Choti Kaki? Is it because I'm a servant?" Imlie asked slightly hurt.
Aparna's eyes widened at that.
"Arey no beta! Nothing like that! I just thought you weren't educated that's why"
"Choti Kaki, I come from a village but that doesn't imply am an illiterate. I have studied till 12th grade and have got scholarship as well. Only I couldn't avail it due to s-some reasons"
"I'm sorry Imlie. I know I shouldn't have jumped to that conclusion just because you come from a village. But if you're educated, why have you taken the job of a servant? You should go out and look for a job beta"
"I'm sorry Kaki but I can't share the reason. But I believe no work is big or small. I don't feel small doing this work. So don't worry!" Imlie replied with a smile.
Aparna patted her head and said
"I'm proud of you child. Not everybody has this maturity at this age. You'll go a lot ahead. I'm sorry for my prejudiced perception. I'll remember to not abide by it the next time"
"It's alright Choti Kaki! Now can I write?" she asked to which Aparna shook her head with a wide smile and handed over the sheet to her.
"Write in this and write your name behind"
Imlie nodded and sat down by the kitchen entrance to write.
___________________________________________
Aditya walked in doing something on his phone and was heading to his room when he heard his mother call out his name.
"What is it Maa?" he asked.
"We all have written something. Just select the best one out of all"
Aditya shook his head with a small smile. It was after so long that he was seeing his mother so happy.
Aparna handed over the papers to him. Just before reading the first one, he heard the sound of her bangles and looked up to see her coming from the kitchen with a tray full of tea. She served it to everyone till she finally moved towards him with his black tea. He signalled her to keep it on the table at the side and she nodded. Dressed in a pale lavender salwar suit with her hairs tied in a bun with few strands escaping unlike her usual plait, she looked different.
"See na Adi!"his mother said bringing his attention to the pages. He read through the first one and smiled. It was from the kids.
He then went on to read the second one and the verses touched him immediately.
"Yeh accha hain Maa!" he said
( This is nice Maa)
"Padhke bata na! Haan aur peeche naam likha hain woh bhi padh lena".
(Read it out na! And there's the name of the writer behind, read that out too"
Adi nodded and began reading
"Jag me jitni raahein hain,
Sab ek disha me mudti hain!
Jahan Ramji likhte hain,
Taqdeer wahi par judti hain!
Rishta man ka manjeera hain
Jeevan ki shehnaai hain
Iss baat ko jo na jaana
Samjho usne umar gawai hain!"
He turned the page and was shocked to see the name. His eyes lifted and met hers immediately. He stood shocked unable to utter a word.
"Waah! Kitna accha aur alag likha hain! Yeh likha kisne hain waise?" Aparna asked but it was as if Aditya hadn't heard her even.
(Wow! Very well written! Who has written it by the way?)
Annoyed at his silence she took the paper from his hand and her face brightened up when she saw the name
"Imlie! Adi ne apni pasand chun li hain! Imlie Adi ki pehli pasand hain!" Aparna said rendering both of them in shock. No one except the two seemed to have realised the impact of her choice of words.
(Adi has selected what he likes. Imlie is Adi's first like!)
All of them clapped but none of the two seemed affected by it. Aparna moved towards Imlie and cupping her face said
"Very good Imlie. You have written so well! Now this will be sent to the be published on Adi- Malini's wedding card"
Imlie smiled a small smile at her and just walked away when Aparna turned to the other side.
Aditya just stood watching her form till she completely disappeared from sight, the words she had written repeating themselves in his mind.
Love,
Pratyusha
YOU ARE READING
Lakeerein - Ties That Bind Us
Фанфик------ 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...
