It was a bedtime story Anita told her a long, long time ago. She had learnt all fairy tales by heart and Anita was confused as to what story to tell her now. So she decided to make one herself. One night, when Raavi just wouldn't sleep without hearing a story, Anita told her the tale of Laila and Majnu. Of course, she gave it a happy ending, and made other tweaks to make it suitable for a ten year old girl. In fact, she reinvented the whole story.
Once upon a time, there was a beautiful girl, Laila. She lived in the mountains and was known for her beauty. Anyone who looked at her would madly fall in love with her. But Laila wasn't interested in these people, because her heart belonged to one and one man only, Majnu. No one knew who Majnu was or where he came from. He looked like a simple labourer. There was nothing exquisite about him. He had a labourer's body but a poet's heart.
Majnu was a poet. He enchanted people with his poetry. But ever since he laid his eyes on Laila, she became his muse. Her beauty, her smile, became inspiration for his poetry. The words that came out of her mouth sounded like poetry, something Majnu couldn't get enough of. They fell in love, but Laila was too shy to speak of it. Majnu might have been a poet, but no one words came out of his mouth wherever he tried to declare his love for her. They would spend a lot of time together but not being able to speak of their love was killing them from inside.
One day, Laila got sick. She was weak and couldn't eat because of this love which she could not express. Her heart was sick and her lips were desperate to kiss Majnu. Her lover, on the other hand, was heartbroken since Laila didn't come to meet him for days. He wondered if she'd abandoned him and began to roam around her house, trying to catch a glimpse of his fair lady, but she would never come to the balcony. One day, he heard Laila's brother say that Laila was ill. Majnu immediately knew why. She was sick because of love. He decided to confess.
That night, he climbed her balcony and sneaked into her room. Laila was sleeping on her bed peacefully. He saw how weak she looked, how frail, all the colour from her face had vanished, and she was too thin. Majnu bent down beside her and took her hand in his. This woke Laila from her slumber. He quickly slipped some green bangles on her hand. These bangles were a symbol of his love. Laila smiled with tears of joy. Her cheeks retained its usual rosy colour and she became visibly healthier.
"With these bangles, I now pronounce you my wife." Majnu said.
Laila kissed him. Hearing the commotion, everyone came upstairs to see Laila healthy and hearty. They were so happy to see Laila healthy and smiling, that they got Majnu and her married immediately, and they lived happily ever after.
For Raavi, these weren't just stories. These were her truth upon which she based her world. The first time she heard a fairy tale, she could picture herself as the beautiful princess. The day Shiva pulled her pigtails, Dev, like Prince Charming, came to save her. She began to see him as the tall, fair beautiful prince, and Shiva as the evil villain who tried to create hurdles between the prince and princess and tried to keep them from uniting. This became the first truth of her life.
However, when Anita told her the tale of Laila Majnu, she took it to her heart. The next day she sneaked into her maasi's room and took out a set of green bangles from the cupboard. She marvelled at the shine and beauty of these bangles. Then she took them to Anita's room.
"Anita di, yeh mummy ki chooriyan thi na?" Raavi asked.
Anita looked at the bangles and nodded yes.
"Papa ne diya tha unko?" Raavi asked.
"Haa. Shaadi ke pehle diye the shayad."
Raavi jumped in joy. "Iska matlab green chooriyon mein sachhi magic hai? Hari chooriyan matlab shaadi guaranteed?"
"Haa.. aisa kuch hi! Tujhe kisine hari chooriyan de di toh tu usse shaadi kar lena." Anita chuckled.
"Aapko Gaumbi ne di hai hari chooriyan?" Raavi asked.
Anita sighed. "Nahi. Par de dega jaldi. Tu fikr mat kar."
Raavi looked at the bangles and smiled. Then she quickly went and kept the bangles back in its place before her Maasi could catch her. She was sure Dev would gift her a set of green bangles when they were older. They could get married and she could live with Pandya family. That would be her happily ever after.
