Its been a month that I chanced upon the magical world of Manik and Nandini. It's such a pity that the personal equations between the cast turned so sour that an epic story of love and friendship had to untimely die out. However, I feel they (Manik...
She was standing with her hands placed firmly on the hips, in a typical 'dare-you-utter-another-word-of-excuse-to-me' pose. Her eyebrows, pulled down together in a frown, her upper lids, raised in a piercing gaze , making her already large eyes, pop out of their sockets and her full lips, pressed tight in a straight line.... that face of her's, looked bloody pissed off, so much so that Manik couldn't even dare to roll his eyes down to revel in the rest of her, below the neck, the part clad in a traditional Sari!
'Ranbir you are so dead!' Manik cursed under his breath 'And trust me I will soon settle the scores'. But what about now, Manik thought? How would he tackle the emergency situation at hand now, how to pacify this human volcano of a wife?
"Nandini, ye le tu aarti kar." Manik still didn't know their names, but he knew they lived on the forth floor, the two young ladies in the early thirties who had walked up to Nandini, one of whom carrying a thaali in her hand. Caught by surprised, Nandini fumbled "Aarti... main?"
"Haan tujhe bola to tha.. Is society mein, jo sabse choti bahu hoti hai, wahi hi ganpati ki aarti karti hai. Last year to humne ki thi, par is saal to tu karegi.."
'Thank heavens for this timely distraction, Manik thought. He had never imagined, 'AN AARTI' could ever do him any good, but now, he was pinning all his hopes on it. By the time she'd be done with it, her temper would hopefully hit a plateau. Weren't religious activities supposed to calm the mind.
"Har saal larkiyan hi aarti karti hain?" Nandini's eyes moved swiftly from them to Manik and back and in that fleeting moment when her's met his, he sensed danger.
"Kya matlab? Ab aarti to bahu hi karegi na?" One of the women retorted back.
"To is sal kuch naya karte hain, Har saal bahu karti hai, kyun na is saal beta kare?" He should have trusted his guts then, it wasn't shooting false alarms after all. 'No Nandini, you aren't going there.' Manik pleaded fervently with sealed lips.
"Kuch bhi Nandini....and tujhe lagta hai ki koi mard raazi hoga is auraton waale kam ko karne ke liye."
"Who to aap mujhpe chor do, is baar aarti sabse choti bahu nahi, sabse handsome beta karega...and agle saal se logon ki line lag jayegi, yehi aarti karne ke liye..just wait and watch."
Manik was simply watching the horror story unfold. Was this his wife? How could she be so mean? He had only wanted to give her the surprise in person, was that a crime, was that a crime that could call for a punishment like this? He hated her, absolutely hated her, and he would just put an end to this shit and walk out.
"Manik, you will do it, won't you, for me?" she pressed his hand softly and gestured him to come with him. Damn wasn't he supposed to walk out? Why then were his wayward feet following her instead. That's the fucking problem with love, even if you hate someone momentarily, you end up loving them only. There's no escape from it, even if it lands you in situations as sticky as this.
So in the next 30 minutes, he obeyed her in silence, fuming inside, yet not fuming enough to refuse or revolt. He took a shower, changed into the kurta churidar she had set aside, let her put a tika on his temple and quietly listened through her page long instructions. He waited by her side as she patiently put together the thaali for the aarti, stealing occasional glances at her. And then they came downstairs, still not uttering a word.
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