ShiVi FF~Nishaani~

Part 6

ag•nos•the•si•a

The state of not knowing how you really feel about something or someone.

.

.

Raavi saw him start his bike as he yelled her name telling her to stop and she clearly was in no mood to talk with him, her heart had ached, and she didn't even know why, if he asked her what would she tell him of why is she upset?She was battling with her own feelings at the moment and amidst that how would she even answer his 'truck bharke questions', only for him to endup teasing with weird names and 'sanki chudail', she sighed, she won't be able to avoid him for a long time, but she wanted to escape, before his bike start she just sat in the nearest rickshaw telling the auto driver to drive the rickshaw fast as someone was following her, she told him to take the rickshaw far away from local markets so the person would not able to find her then.

They reached on highway and when the autodriver asked of where exactly did she wanted to go, she realised that she had forgotten all the notes in her bag which contained the addresses of shop they would be surveying and the bag was in his hands when he was starting the bike, She sighed, she had nothing with her except the small purse like bag and its strap dangling from her left shoulder to her right waist where the embroidery hand woven purse was resting, she paid the autodriver the money and got down from rickshaw.

"Ab kya karu?Highway tak toh aagayi pan ab Shiva jaldi aajayega aur dhundh bhi lega, aur daantega woh alag, jungle mein chali jaun?Ped pe chadh jaun?Koi khadda hai kya usme chhup jaun?ya ped ke piche jaun?"she asked to herself and slightly hit her head, typical dobi Raavi, having useless plans which could even drown her more in problems, she sighed, and added, "sahi kehta hai Shiva, mai sach mein aafat ki pudiya hoon, pan ab kahi chupna padega nahi toh Shiva hi aafat ka tufaan banke barsega mujhpe,par kahan?", she started walking and then said to herself, "Jungle mein chali jaati hu,adventure ka adventure bhi hojayega aur ekdum mast Shiva mujhe dhundhne aayega fir mujhe bachaa ke lejayegaa haayee....",'aur tujhe taane maar maarke aur daantke jeena bhi haraam kardega'(head in her voice said), the big hanger like smile got coverted into a frown as she scrunched her little nose, she shrugged her mind and continued going in forest, thinking of how he will come to save her and would be tensed about her, she suddenly stopped in her way, "shit shit shitttt mai toh bhool hi gayi thi ki iss time pe toh somnath ke junglon mein sher bohot hote hai,Junagadh vale sare yahan aajate hai nahi nahi nahii Raavi tu andar nahi ja sakti agar koi angry sher ne tujhe kha liya toh?Abhi toh Ved tera boyfriend bana bhi nahi,Abhi toh shaadi bhi nahi hui, na pyaara sa puchku hua, aur Shiva?Usne bhi toh aajtak mujhe 'somnath ki sabseee sundar ladki' nahi bulaya,nahi nahi,bad idea Raavi, ek kaam karti hu wapas chali jati hu highway, ped pe chahd jaati hu,best!", with this she hurried back to the highway.

She saw a huge old neem tree, with thick branches having hollow spaces and bumped out parts of trunks which were cut years back, maybe, she climbed up with support of bumps and hollow spaces, in the process her arm got chaffed with the trunk, thin line of blood oozing out her porcelain skin, a sharp cut making her hiss in pain as she settled on the huge branch and sighed.

While on the other side, Shiva was worried as he saw her leaving abruptly like this, as he saw her sitting in rickshaw and depart, his heart ached, he felt strange, he didn't knew that this annoying mami ki behen ki beti's silence would annoy him more than her stupid rants, he genuinely wanted to know what was going on and why was she upset, what was the reason for that, and of course for her to not attract any of trouble, after all she's 'aafat ki pudiya' for a reason. He sighed, though he did cursed her mentally to act so irresponsible for leaving her bag like that and also, wasting half of day like this disappearing without informing anything, how would they complete the assignment, was she out of her senses, and indeed he was right when he had said earlier that God has sent her without even an ounce of brain. He started following the rickshaw but caught up in the traffic, what else can be happening the rickshaw got lost and the only thing he knew that it took a turn on three way road which lead to Somnath Bhavnagar highway, he went nearby the highway, and with a rustling sound, and some smoke his bike got grind locked, he sighed and looked up in the sky, and said, "Hey Somnath yeh kis paap ka  badla le rahe ho,kya manhoos din hai pehle voh chipkali gayab hogai aur ab yeh khatara bhi bigad gaya", he got down, as he looked upfront and narrowed his eyes on it, there she was on a tree sitting hugging a tree leaning on to it, he sighed on finally finally her but what on Earth was she doing up there sitting in a tree and she was literally sleeping, who sleeps on a tree like that? Can she be anymore dobi? But wait, was she sitting on that same neem tree where he used to go every time he was upset, how did she know about that tree, no one knew about that tree, was that a mere accident, but how can it be a co-incidence, the exact tree, the exact branch, he shrugged all the questions which attacked his nerves, and rushed to the tree; he climbed up on the branch and silently sat on it watching her.

She was sleeping clasping the trunk of tree, discomfort visible on her face, his eyes fell on the scratch on her arm, the little line of blood dried now, he extended his finger to touch it, she tried to budge and he adjusted himself near her and put his arm around him quickly, she as if felt his presence she opened her eyes widely and saw the surroundings, she saw he was sitting besides her, how did he reach there, was she still sleeping and was it a dream, she scratched her eyes wide open, and he was still there, she adjusted a little and spoke up, "tu...tujhe kaise pata mai yahan hu?", to which he said, "Tu aafat ki pudiya hai aur isiliye mujhe tu mil hi jaati hai, voh chod yeh bata tere mein akkal hai ki uss mami ne bhare bazaar mein bech di?Ped pe kon sota hai?Voh bhi aise?Abhi gir jati toh...aur..aur yeh chot kaise lagi?", she sighed, and bended a little, she said, "Mai voh..mera mood off tha,bohot sad sad feel horaha tha Shiva toh mai yahan aagayi,phone bhi nahi tha toh bore hoke kab sogai pata hi nahi chala", Shiva face-palmed and asked, "Aur yeh jo tune khatron ke khiladi vala stunt kiya hai, aur koi jagah nahi mili?", she shook her head and said, "Maine socha ki jungle jaun pan vahan toh sher hai,mujhe kha jata toh?Fir maine socha khadde mein chup jaun par khadda hi nahi mila toh mai yahan chadh gayi mujhe kya pata tha tu yahan se bhi dhundh lega", "Mai na tujhe ped kya duniya ke kisi bhi kone se dhundh leta samjhi chipkali kahinki, bandar mujhe bulati hai bandariya vali harkate khud karti hai, ab bata mood kyu off tha,subah toh bandaro jaise sandwich thoosne ladh rahi thi", she hit him lightly and replied, "Pata nahi, thoda sa darr lagraha tha, jaise...jaise tu mujhe bhul jayega, sab mujhe bhul jayenge,mai akeli hojaungi...mujhe akela nahi rehna Shiva,mujhe parivaar chahiye...haan masima aur mausapa ne bade laad pyaar se bada kiya hai pan humesha kuch na kuch adhoora lagta hai", she gulped, a tear rolled down her cheek.

Shiva has never thought about this, indeed since last couple of days he had noticed that though she managed to be cheerful and giddy all day, deep down she felt alone, she missed her parents, she yearned for warmth and love, she wanted a family, and now it strike him that all these years despite of him shooing her away every time she came to Pandya Niwas she had took it lightly and kept coming back, there wasn't even a day when she failed to visit them, and after all this years, if there was one day that she would not visit the house, Dhara, Gaumbi, Suman would get worried that if she was okay, all these years she has been smiling, forgiving him for being rude and ruthless to her and always talked to him sweetly, for him it was just that annoying mami ki behen ki beti who would come every morning to irritate her, but he never thought on how she had feared of loosing everyone, that was the reason she would always initiate conversation, always chuckling and smiling with glittery eyes, always forgiving; it strike him on how he had failed to understand this girl, that beneath a big mask of smile, she hid the tears and thorns that pricked her heart.

He wanted to hug her and assure her that she was not alone and she will always have him with her, he was pulled back of thoughts as she quivered his arm, asking "Kya hua Shiva,kahan kho gaya?", he gulped down and chose to not display what he felt suddenly, he needed to think about it, "Chal" he said,

"Kahan?", "Kya kahan, chipkali bhool gai kya hume survey pe jaana hai?", to which she hit hr head and said, "Oh haan pan Shiva utrenge kaise?" she said in quavering voice, "aey gadhedi jaise chadhe they vaise hi utrenge na yeh kaisa sawal hai" he said rolling his eyes, she clutched his hand and replied, "Darr lagraha hai", "Dobi kahinki, jab darr lagraha tha toh chadhi kyun?",he said, she glared him, which he ignored, he held her hand and got down with a jump, she shrieked in fear and as they got down with a thud, she clutched him tightly and a smile crept up on his face. It was a strange feeling, maybe all of this was sudden but he was feeling peace with her being in his arms, a tinge of contentment in his smile. She checked if the locket was alright, turning around still thinking about a strange puddle of emotions she was experiencing around her, with a pine to being with him and around him, even more than ever, she had never felt this way for Ved, she thought, as he sat down fiddling the bike parts, and she thought to ask the palmist her third and final question.