Do Anjane Ajnabi

Prolouge

अज्ज जाण नि मैं जाण तेनु देणा,

गल्ल संग वाली सारी मैं मिटा देणी आ

फोटो दिल के कोने च जो लुकके सी मैं रखी ,

अज्ज अंखा दे सामणे खड़ा देणी आ |

तकदा हीं जावाँ ऐना तेनु चावां

नजरा तेरे तों ना हटावां मैं ,

तेरा इंज शरमोणा अखां नु झुकौणा

तेनु वेखदा हीं थाण मर जावां मैं |

~ Kinna Chir 

-The propheC
______________________________________
Shit... I'm late..." Eeshaan, you can do it", I said to myself.

I tiptoed inside the house only to find my father cleaning his shotgun. Well, this isn't new for me."Papa, voh Mr.Mehta ke saath meeting thi na, isliye ...."

(Dad, I was in a meeting with Mr.Mehta, so..)

I was going to complete my sentence but my maa caught my ear, "Roz roz ka yehi bahana hai, mein aaj iske saath meeting mein, client ke saath busy tha... Simba apni health ka dhyaan rakhna kab shuru karega tu? Teri umar dekh, do mahine mein unatees ka ho jayega... Mujhe samaj nahi aata ki tu kab humari baat sunega... Bacha, health pe bhi dhyaan de..."

(You use this excuse every day, I was busy with this today, I was in a meeting with a client... Simba, when will you start taking care of your health?  Look at your age, you will be twenty-nine in two months...I don't understand when will you listen to me... Bacha, pay attention to your health too...")

I murmured a small sorry and went to freshen up...  As usual, the dinner was too tasty. I wished everyone goodnight and went to my chamber to continue my work... 

Well, let me introduce myself properly... I'm Eeshaan Singh Rajpurohit, soon to be 29 and my mom calls me Simba, which means lion... 

I was in search of some documents in my cupboard and my eyes caught the sight of this oxidized jhumka.

 The person who owns this jhumka is surely gonna be the death of me... I just know that she is a gynecologist... 

~ Valentine's Day,2022~

"Happy Valentine's Day Maa❤️." Text forwarded.

I had come to Jaipur for some work-related purposes. It was about opening a new branch of the Prithviraj Group of Industries. The meeting went smoothly and finished earlier, which means I had a whole evening to roam around this beautiful Pink City.

I visited the Birla Mandir and bought some gifts for my family members. My family includes my grandparents, mom-dad, elder brother, his wife, their two years old daughter, and my lovely younger sister who always pesters me to get married. 

Well, being the Prince is not easy coz I won't be able to make some time for myself. It's always family, office, and people. The air was chilly and the walk towards the park was good. It was just across the road. I was waiting for the signal to go red so I could cross the road. I saw a young lady trying to cross the road while there were a lot of vehicles. 

A car was rushing towards her at full speed. I tried my best and pulled her away from the road. The young lady was completely shivering as if she had seen something terrific. I helped her and made her sit on a bench in the park.

"Ma'am aap thik toh hai na!? Aap ese bina dekhe chalti rehti toh mar sakti thi."

(Mam are you alright? If you had kept walking without looking like this, you could have died.)

"It's better to die rather than live a life where you can't even fulfill a promise", She replied.

I don't know what she had gone through but felt the urge to console and help her.

"Wanna share ma'am?"

"I can't... I've been keeping it to myself for a long time and no one understands how I feel about it."

"You share about it with me, " I said, passing her a handkerchief.

"My mother died after giving birth to my younger brother. The doctor said that only one could be alive either my brother or my mom. My father chose her and the surgery was successful. She got a promise from me that I would never let a child die after becoming a doctor. But today", she sniffed and sobbed, "A baby died in my hands. He was just a newborn and he died, because of me." 

She shivered as the cold air hit her. I noticed that she would place a strand of hair behind her ear, every time she would try to calm her breathe. She was not in the right state of mind. I was going to ask her further about the promise. But she received a call. The phone displayed the person's contact name as "Papa <3".

She wiped her tears and tried to calm herself so that she could answer the phone. "Happy Valentine's Day bacha", a voice came. " Happy Valentine's Day Papa", she replied with a small smile. My eyes caught the sight of her jhumka which might have fallen while she pushed the strand of her hair back.

I saw that she was so engrossed in the talk that she had forgotten about the jhumka. Before I could give the jhumka back to her she had left the park. I kept the jhumka in the pocket of my jeans and left the park too.

~Flashback ends ~

It felt like I had just re-lived that moment and was going to call her out, my thoughts were broken by my sister.

" Mein bol rahi hu bhaiya shaadi karlo, vese bhi 29 ke hone wale ho. Agar jaldi safedh baal aa jayenge toh koi dhulan nahi milegi aapko. Ek kaam karte hai aapki shaadi is jhumke wali ladki se kara dete hai. Aapka jab man chahega, aap tab uske jhumko ke saath khel lena".

("Brother, I was saying that why don't you get married. However, you would be turning 29 soon. You won't be able to find a bride if your hair starts growing white. Well, let's get you married to this mysterious jhumka girl. It would be like whenever you want you could play with her jhumka's" )

These words were said by my lovely sister Aditi. She is a primary school teacher cause she finds peace with the kids around her. I don't understand why is she so eager to get me married.

"Arey bhai, I and Ruchika Bhabhi need one more member in our group. That's the reason I'm pestering you to get married." Did she just read my mind? If yes, then how?

" Chillax bro, your expression said it all, and haan I don't know to read people's minds. Muh band karlo makhi ghus jaayegi nahi toh. Well, aaj ke quota ki Samapti ke saath hum alvida lete hai. Duaon mein yaad rakhna, Shubh Raatri.", she completed her favourite dialogue and sprinted out of the room.

(" Chillax bro, your expression said it all, and haan I don't know to read people's minds. At least close your mouth or else a housefly would enter inside your mouth. Well, After the completion of today's quota, I bid you goodbye. Remember me in your prayers, Good night." )

I placed the jhumka safely inside my cupboard, cleared my files, and went to my bed. Gosh, I missed my bed after such a tiring day.

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Word Limit - 1750 +words

Well, how was the prologue?

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Ghar par rahiye , surakshit rahiye.

Jai Hind, aapki author.