Manmarziya

CHAPTER 1

Roop's POV

I hurriedly packed my things in my bag and made my room tidy before anyone entered my room.

Closing the window of my room  I looked at the clock on the wall, 4:00 it displayed. I should get going now, Vishakha must be waiting for me.

I came out of my room and checked if anyone was there, fortunately, no one was present.

I slowly made my way downstairs without making any noise. Soon  I saw the main gate and I sighed in relief as until now no one noticed me.

" Roop" 

I closed my eyes in distress and grabbed my bag tightly.

I slowly turned towards Maa and replied

 "Ji".

" Where are you going ?" Maa asked me looking at my bag 

"aah ji mai woh-"

"Me and Roop are going to Bulbul's house Mami ji" Vishakha came towards me and kept her hand on my shoulder and then continued.

" Our last exam is of history and Bulbul is quite good at history so we three have planned to study together."

" Ji Maa " I nodded agreeing with her words.

Maa looked convinced  and said 

" Come before 6 and be safe".

We both nodded and she turned back disappearing into her room.

Vishakha looked at me and we both sighed in relief, 

" I had a gut feeling that you are going to be in trouble ."

"I don't get it how you always get to know.."

With that, we continued on our way. Soon we found a horse cart and we settled ourselves, giving him the address.

Giving the right address was a risk for us. As people believe " The daughters of respectful families don't even let that place come in their dreams"

"Sharif Ghar ki betiya ..uss jagah ko apne sapno se bhi dur rkhti h"

So as usual we asked him to drop us three streets away from that area, near the marketplace.

After paying him, we both hurriedly covered our faces and made our way toward our destination that is "Gulabganj".

Gulabganj is the area captivated by the artists. Who spread their talents to those who genuinely respect the art, and have the passion to learn it.

Vishakha has always been interested in dance since her childhood. Her dreams were crushed as she grew up and understood that the society we live in would never understand the value of her dreams. But they were never dead.

I bumped into Vishaka while walking and muttered an apology.

In no time we reached her classes, where she learns "kathak".

Nobody other than me knows about her little secret.

She made her way towards her class and I looked over my right shoulder and as usual, I found my "guru" waiting for me.

I bent down to touch her feet and greeted her.

"Have you practised the song I taught you, last class?" She asked me

I smiled and replied

"Ji ... I even wrote it down on a paper so that I won't make a mistake while singing"

With that, we continued with our music lessons while Vishakha with her kathak lessons.

It's been 2 years since we started the journey of our passions. Yes, it has been difficult for us to do so. I can't remember the amount of time we had to lie to our families just so that we could come here. 

we only came here twice a week, sometimes only once, on Sundays. we are very close to completing our courses.

Within one hour we were done with our respective classes and soon made our way to our homes.

 This is our lives, we do have loving parents and beautiful caring families but somewhere we lack our freedom in British India. 

" Hum bhale apne Maa , Bauji ke aankhon ka tara hai magar hame chamakne ki ijazat nahi"

(We are the apple of our parent's eyes but we are not allowed to shine brighter.)

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