Love in Mt. Abu- A SamAina FF

Part 17: The Dates...

The Temple Dates:

All through their courtship, Naina and Sameer would regularly meet at the temple at sharp 5.30 on Monday mornings. Naina would smartly leave earlier than Bela chachi and Taiji. Sameer and Naina would first do darshan of Lord Shiva and thank him for making the two of them meet. They had found love, happiness and completeness in each other. Sameer would keep his palm over Naina's and they would ring the temple bell together. After all, this was one sign that God had given them; that they were meant to be. They would often do gau maata ki seva together- though they had already gotten each other as their respective manchaha var and manchahi vadhu. After their mandir dates, the two would sit at a secluded, quiet corner of the temple and talk about each other, their lives, their families, their past. These chit-chat sessions would often have to be in secret for fear of being caught red-handed by Taiji and Bela chachi.

***

The Balcony Dates:

Naina and Sameer's 'Aashiqui' was racing ahead with full force. During the day-time, all they could think of were each other. As if a whole 8 hours in school, and 2 to 3 hours of study time were not enough, new Romeo Sameer would linger on under Naina's balcony every evening, hidden from everyone except Naina. The lovebirds would secretly exchange glances and gestures to and from the balcony. Sometimes, Naina would play love songs loudly on their cassette player for Sameer. And other times, Sameer would play songs on the loudspeaker in the shop in front of Naina's home.

The Market Dates:

These days, Naina was forever ready to help Bela chachi to get things from the market. Chachi was surprised at this sudden urge to help in Naina. And during these market outings, Sameer would follow Naina around, and then the two would try to catch moments to be together and talk to each other. Sameer would sometimes take her for a ride on his bike and the two would regularly visit the paani puri stall and eat meethi-wali paani puris to their fill, but yes, always from each others' plates. And slowly the two plates became just one plate. And one day, Sameer gathred courage and offered Naina a paani-puri from his own hands. He hesitated initially, thinking she might refuse, but Naina smiled. She gulped the paani-puri down from his hands. They both beamed at each other at this. And then Naina too offered him a paani-puri from her hands. Sameer happily accepted. Eating from each others' hands became a norm since then.

The Rooftop Dates:

At night, when everyone slept early in Naina's house and in her building, Naina would sometimes invite her roadside Romeo over to the roof-top. She would quietly sneak him up onto the roof. She would take care to put pillows under her sheets, lest someone came looking for her. Sameer's love had emboldened Naina to take such risks. And Sameer, well, he was already bold enough! Sameer and Naina would spend those beautiful nights sitting under the stars, basking in the moonlight, talking to each other, till the wee hours of the morning. Sometimes, they would just lie down there and gaze at the beauty of the star-lit sky; or at each other, whilst their eyes did the talking. They felt grateful to the Universe for making them meet and discover the love they had found in each other. Being in love made the world look so surreal and beautiful, they would think. However, the side-effects of their night-outs would include a sleepy Naina and a Sameer snoring on the school bench the next day. And whenever their late night star-lit, roof-top dates were not possible, the phone lines in Agarwal and Kabra residence would be engaged for a major chunk of the night. The two ring signal was still a secret. Neither Preeti, Swati nor Munna- Pandit knew about it. And about their two cough signal, the duo was to have a good laugh 4 years later, when they saw the movie, "Hum Aapke Hain Kaun!" at Sameer's place on the VCR with the gang. Naina and Sameer had looked at each other at the "uhhu uhhu" scene between Madhuri and Salman and smiled guiltily. Their love codes had been copied in a movie now.