The Dream

3.

The next day Raavi left her home quite early in the morning. Her dream was troubling her and she needed to forget about it. So she went to Pandya house. She thought a glance at Dev's face would calm her down.

"Dhara di!" She ran to her Dhara di.

"Tu itni subah subah?"

"Mujhe ek baar Dev se milna hai Dhara di." Raavi said.

"Raavi woh toh subah subah nikal gaya."

Raavi pouted. Why hadn't he come up to her even once since their wedding announcement. Couples are supposed to spend a lot of time together now. They should be discussing their wedding plans and honeymoon plans but Dev was always busy doing god knows that.

"Waise achha hua tu aa gayi. Main tujhe khud hi phone karke bulane wali thi."

"Kyu kya hua Dhara di?" Raavi asked.

"Kal hum log Somnaath ke mandir jayenge, Shiv ji ka ashirwad lene taki tum dono ki jodi humesha salamat rahe. Aur isske liye tujhe humari di hui saari pehenni paregi. Main khud khareed leti, par maine socha tumhe le jato hu taaki tum apni pasand ki saree choose kar lo." Dhara said.

"Oh Dhara di, aapki pasand meri pasand. Ek hi baat hai. Par chalte hai. Shopping karne mein bohot maza aata hai." Raavi laughed.

"Haa par thodi der baad. Gaumbi dukan ke liye nikal jaye phir. Filhal tu kuch khaa le. Breakfast karegi na?"

"Zyada kuch nahi par thoda khaa lungi."

Dhara went to the kitchen and Raavi started roaming around the house. She found Krish sitting in a corner, buried in his books. She went and sat in front of him.

"Tu kabse itni padhai karne laga?" Raavi asked.

"Exams aane wale hai." Krish said in the saddest manner possible. "Aur upar se ek essay submit karna hai."

"Main kuch help karu?" Raavi asked.

"Yeh samjha do." Krish passed her his book and Raavi looked at the most complicated math problem she had seen in her life. She felt like she could pass out just by looking at it.

"Main toh humanities student thi. Yeh maths mere palle nahi padti."

"Sirf aapki nahi. Mere bhi palle kuch nahi padti." Krish said. "Yeh essay dekh lo kaisi hai. Isme full marks aa jaye toh kya baat."

"Haa yeh main kar sakti hu." Raavi took his essay. "Tu maths Dev se puchna."

"Dev ke paas time kaha hai? Ghar mein dikhta hi nahi hai aaj kal.

Raavi felt uncomfortable with Krish's statement. If he wasn't at home, nor at the store nor with her, where was he all the time? But one look at Krish's essay made her forget everything. What had this boy written? Gaumbi was right! He had no interest in his studies.

"Yeh kya hai?" Raavi asked.

"Kya hai?"

"Aisa lag raha hai tune kahi se copy ki hai!"

"Haa copy hi ki hai maine." Krish said.

"Ae gadhera!" Raavi hit his head with his notebook. "Wapas likh. Iss mein tujhe zero hi milega."

"Tu na dheere dheere Shiva ke jaise banti jaa rahi hai." Krish grumbled and got back to work.

Meanwhile Dhara called both of them at the breakfast table. She found Gaumbi and Shiva already seated. Shiva was wearing only his vest and his hair was a mess, indicating that he had just woken up. She thought he looked cute in the morning. Raavi intentionally took the place next to Shiva just to irritate him. Dhara bought aloo ke paranthe for everyone.

"Bhabhi aap baitho, main serve kar deti hu sabko." Raavi said.

She gave one aloo ka paratha to Dhara di, two to Gaumbi and Krish and four to Shiva, and took one herself.

"Arrey waah Raavi, tujhe toh yeh bhi pata hai hum log kitna khaate hai."

"Haa toh, meri Raavi hai hi perfect bahu material." Dhara smiled.

"Haa aur mujhe yeh bhi pata hai ki Shiva ko apne parantho mein ghee pasand hai. Isliye main khud ghee laga deti hu." Raavi put ghee on all his paranthas and then sat down to eat herself.

"Bhabhi yeh mami ki behen ki beti ko bata do yeh sab karke hume impress nahi kar sakti." Shiva said as he took a bite.

"Dhara di aap bhi iss bhootnath ko bata do aap log mujhse already impressed ho." Raavi said.

"Wapas shuru mat ho jana tum dono please." Dhara pleaded. "Aur Shiva tu khake jaldi ready ho jaa."

"Kyu?"

"Tu mujhe aur Raavi ko shopping le jayega."

Shiva stopped eating and looked at his Bhabhi incredulously. Raavi, seeing his expressions started laughing, which soon turned into a coughing fit. Shiva poured her a glass of water.

"Mujhe dukaan jaana hai." Shiva said.

"Main abhi zinda hu." Gaumbi said. "Main dekh lunga. Tu jaa."

"Aap kyu nahi jaa sakte?"

"Meri meeting hai na..." Gaumbi tried to think of a lie. "Woh Janardhan Seth ke saath." He didn't want to go shopping with the girls either. He knew what a pain that was. And it might be a good practice for Shiva because his number would come after Dev.

Shiva's hunger disappeared as he heard that he had to shopping with the chipkali and his bhabhi. He remembered the last time he did that. The chipkali got the lead role in a play and Dhara di took both of them to buy her costume. Shiva had to roam around for 3 hours before this mami ki behen ki beti actually liked something. His bhabhi was no less when it came to shopping. Why did women like to shop so much? 

"Phas gaya tu toh." Krish whispered to Shiva.

***

As Shiva had suspected, these two women were making his life hell. He had been roaming around the market for the past one hour but as it turns out Raavi and Dhara liked nothing. Shiva asked his bhabhi if he could sit somewhere while they shopped but mami ki behen ki beti said no. She said she wanted his opinion and bhabhi agreed. He was cursing his luck.

"Raavi uss dukaan mein chalte hai." Dhara pointed out. "Thoda expensive hai but waha ka collection bohot achha hai."

"Okay chalo bhabhi."

They entered the shop and sat down. Both the ladies started viewing the saris one by one. "Colour achha nahi hai, design thik nahi hai, Yeh Raavi pe suit nahi karegi" Shiva was tired of listening to both of them refusing the sarees one by one. He'd had enough!

"Kya bhabhi! Kaunsa yeh abhi Deepika ban jayegi yeh saree pehenke. Ek hi toh puja ki baat hai. Koi ek saree select karo aur chalo yaha se." Shiva shouted.

"Ab koi achhi saree mil nahi rahi toh kya karu?" Dhara asked.

"Yeh salesman aap logo ko 100 saree dikha chuka hai. Aap logo ko ek bhi pasand nahi aa raha?"

"Sab teri tarah nahi hote ki jo mila wohi pehen liya." Raavi said. "Itna hai toh tu hi bata de kaunsi achhi hai. Main wohi pehenungi."

Shiva looked around the shop for two minutes. "Woh!" He pointed out.

The salesman took it out and it was a beautiful light blue colour saree. Raavi loved it! It was simple and sophisticated, and it was light enough for her to carry. Shiva had selected the perfect saree for her.

"Yeh thodi si simple hai." Dhara said. "Kuch aur dekh le."

"Nahi Dhara di. Yeh mujhe bohot pasand hai." Then she looked at the salesman. "Arrey bhaiyya yeh pehle hi dikha dete. Itna time waste nahi hota."

"Ab ho gaya? Chale?" Shiva asked.

"Nahi. Abhi toh matching chappal aur earrings leni hai mujhe."

Shiva hit himself on the head. He vowed never to come shopping with this maami ki behen ki beti, no matter how much his bhabhi pleaded. Both of them were incorrigible!