33

The girl was cleaning the court yard in the morning. Inadvertently she looked up at the haweli (Palace) she saw a figure on the terrace. She froze. "No! I am imagining!" she said to herself shaking her head and resumed her morning chores. She couldn't stop looking up. Someone was waving at her from the Terrace. She ignored and went inside the house.

The boy waited for her to come out. She did not. His anger mounted the peak. "How dare ...!" he blurted under his breath. 

"Was that the same girl?" his mind raised the doubt. "I should find out!" he said to himself.
He was on the lane. Nothing had changed in these five years except that her house looked new with new paint on the walls. He walked past her house and strode down towards the Mandir!! He was sitting beneath his favorite tree on the stone bench. He had grown up into a handsome man with mustache. He wore the same "Firangi" British attire with a hat and stick in his hand. He was waiting for her but was not sure. He paced up and down. The wait was testing his patience.

"Let me go to her house and find out!" he thought. He Stepped ahead and saw someone coming towards him with dupatta on her head covering her face. He waited with bated breath. She went into Mandir. He followed. She prayed for a long time. He was staring at her controlling his anger.
She turned and started descending the stairs. He stood there flabbergasted. There was no recognition in her eyes. He was shocked. She was the same. Grown up and looking stunning on the thresholds of her womanhood. She looked beautiful! He couldn't stop himself. He vanished from there and waited for her at the backside of the Mandir! 

She came hurriedly and almost broke into a run to go back home. "I am imagining ...This is not him! He is someone else!" she thought to herself running. He stood before her and she bumped in him. He held her shoulders and looked into her eyes. She looked confused. He took out the mannat key and kept it on his palm. Her smile made him smile. She took out hers.

"I thought I was imagining .... I am in my dream!" she said sitting next to him on the bench. All her awkwardness had vanished. She was the same talkative, bubbly beautiful girl. He kept gazing at her.
"how many years? Four? Five?!" she sighed. He had not spoken a single word. "Every day I used to look up at the terrace!" she said in a small voice. "Did you miss me?" she asked him. He never took his eyes off her. He nodded "Five years, thirty seven days!" he said.

She felt his gaze touching her. Shyness took over! She straightened her dupatta and tried to take it over her head. He held her hand stopping her from doing it. She felt a surge of shiver run through her spine. She shivered slightly. He immediately released her hand. Her face flushed so did his. There was a awkward silence for a long time.

"Finished your studies?" she asked him. He sighed looking away. "She has started off..!" he thought to himself hopelessly. 

"You have come back for good?"She asked him. He never wanted to answer this question, but said
"No! Going back!" he was serious.

"What? ... why?" she asked painfully. He did not answer.

"When?" Came a small voice.

"Next week!" he answered. She had lost her words. 

"I should be going!" she said in a bear whisper getting up. He again grabbed her hand.

"No! wait!" he said. She withdrew her hand from his hand and said. "I must go!" He stared at her.
"I am going to the fair in the afternoon!" she whispered and turning back broke into a run!
He stared at her fading figure. There was someone else following her keeping pace with her. He stood up with a jerk clenching his fists. "How dare him!" He threw the stick forcefully.


Arnav got up with a start with the bang on his door. He looked around. Khushi was asleep. He opened the door to find Ram Prakash with the morning tea. He took the tray. 

He felt frustration mounting. "I wanted to see what happened in the Mela(fair)!" he blurted and surprised by his reaction.

"Am I obsessed with these dreams?" he wondered throwing himself on the bed again with eyes wide open. "This girl is driving me crazy!"

********* ******** *********

"So Mrs. Raizada, You saw Sham and Anjali in the temple! Then what did you do?" asked the lawyer.
"I called up Arnavji in the night!" she said.

"Ok, then when he asked you the truth, why did you not explain?" asked the lawyer
"I couldn't! I was in a shock!" she said getting nervous.

"Does this mean, you kept quiet and let the things happen, because you were in shock or you wanted it to move it that way?" he asked raising his voice intimidating her.
She looked at him aghast.

"Point to be noted your honor; she kept quiet and let the marriage happen!" 

"When sham accused you for forcing him into the engagement, you did not react, right?" asked the lawyer.
"I was shocked!" she repeated her answer.

"When you had illicit relations with Mr. Sham...!" started off the lawyer.
"I did not have any relationship with him!" she retorted back immediately, raising her voice.

"You reacted instantaneously, Mrs. Raizada! Even though you are shocked, by the allegation!" he said smiling to her. "Point to be noted!" the lawyer went ahead. Khushi's blood boiled. She clenched her fists in rage. Sham had a broad smile on his face. 

"Let us go ahead with your story, Mrs. Raizada! Mr. Arnav Singh married you in the temple. Was there anyone around?" he asked.
"No one, except sham!" said Khushi under her breath fuming with rage.

"And he took you home, right?"
"Yes " she said.

"What reason did you give for this marriage in haste?" he asked
"He offered no reason!" she said.

"And the family members agreed, right?" he asked in a surprise tone.
"I don't know!" she said calming herself down.

"This is very dramatic, Mrs. Raizada. You do not know!" exclaimed the lawyer. She felt doomed again.
"So you left Raizada house after your marriage. May I know the reason?"
"I couldn't stand the humiliation and insult!" she answered on the verge of breaking down recollecting the memories of her plight.

"Did you have a fall back plan?" asked the lawyer.
"What?" asked back Khushi.

"Did you have some place to take refuge?" he asked piercingly.
"I chose to go away!" she said. "That is not the answer to my question, Mrs. Raizada!" he snapped back.
"I went to Kolkata!" she said hiding all the details.

"Ok. What did you do there?" asked the Lawyer smirking, thinking that he would fill up the blanks in his argument.
"I took up the job!" she said calmly.

"What work did you do Mrs. Raizada?" he asked her kindly.
"I worked as a caretaker!" she said.

"Again with a very rich family?" he asked contemptuously.
"Ye.. Yes!" she was losing her composure.

"My lord, I beg to defer this cross examination till the next date!" begged the prosecutor looking at Khushi's condition.

The court was adjourned till next week.

***** ********* **********

"Don't worry! These questions do not carry any weightage. This is only to bring your morale down and to mislead you!" Said the prosecutor assuring Khushi. She forced a smile on her face. They were heading back home. Arnav was in the office as there was a restraint order against him. Khushi's phone rang. It was Dasgupta.

"Khooki!" he called her pleasantly. Her spirits lifted.
"Uncle!" she said smiling.

"Khooki... when is the next date?" he asked.
"Next week Wednesday!" she said wiping off her smile from her face remembering the Court Room trauma.
There was a silence for a while. Khushi waited. She knew, uncle was looking into his diary.

"Bhalo! I am coming !" he said and disconnected. Khushi smiled broadly. 

********** ************* ***********

Arnav went to bed early that day. He desperately wanted to know what happened next in the fair. But for next few days he did not get those haunting dreams. He tried to push aside the thoughts resolutely.
"These are only dreams! They cannot be coherent! They cannot be controlled!" he thought to himself. He buried himself in more work. 

Khushi's spirits lifted a bit. She waited for her uncle. He came to Delhi on Monday. He was a fair, short stubby man with protruding belly. He had a deep soothing voice and piercing dark eyes. He had the gift of seeing through the person. His arguments were always based on facts and law and not on dramatic presentation of the case. He had earned respect in judiciary over a period of time not losing a single case. 

They had a meeting with the Prosecutor. The prosecutor was overwhelmed to meet the stalwart like Dasgupta. He listened to him with rapt attention taking down the notes. 

"I see some loopholes here in this case. The way the proceedings are moving are not encouraging. You have to be more focused on the facts. Lots of facts are missed out in this. Do not allow any question other than the incident. And Khushi...!" Dasgupta spoke for an hour or so.

"Khushi's cross examination should end with the mention of the fact and then you file an application for inclusion of new evidence and get those facts on board. Understand?" asked Dasgupta! He prosecutor nodded.

"We should always keep something up our sleeves. Do not open all your cards. Keep the opposition always in dark and then strike!" said Dasgupta. 

"Khooki, Balwindar has them. But you need to get them officially. The FIR was already filed when it happened. Balwindar had managed to keep it unsolved. Your cross examination should end with a hint to this earlier attempt. Understand?" he said raising his index finger to Khushi. She nodded.

"Khooki, remember! You stick to the facts! Nothing will go wrong! Don't try to give your interpretation of the facts. Just state them as they occurred. Right?" he placed his hand on Khushi's shoulder.

"Thank you uncle!" she said gratefully.

"Oh! Don't thank me, Khooki! I am paid handsomely for this advice!" he said laughing.
"Balwindar is rich enough to pay my fees! I don't do anything free of cost, you see!" he had put it simply. Khushi smiled.

"Wish papaji was here!" she said wanting to meet her papaji.

"Oh, No, Khooki! He can't be here. He must stay away till all the facts come on board. Once the arguments are over, you can meet him. Till then stay away as far as possible!" said Dasgupta seriously.
"What do you mean?" she asked angrily.

"If my predictions go right, you will know it soon!" he said and took her leave.


Khushi wanted to see Arnav desperately. She dialed his number. He said he was busy with the client and would call later. She disconnected sulkily. 

Arnav had a meeting with the client and was perusing the minutes of the meeting. Lavanya walked in.
"ASR! Can you have a look at the samples of our consignment? I need to approve the designs" she said.
"Oh! Yeah right! I will just make a call to Khushi and be right there!" he said turning his back on her.
"Khushi..!" he called her. "Arnav ji, Das uncle was here! We had a meeting!" Khushi started off excitedly.
"Ok!" he said listening to her.

"ASR! Hurry up... we are getting late! We need to go for the try outs of the samples!" said Lavanya loudly from behind not bothering that he was on phone! Khushi heard this from the other end.

"I think you are busy Arnav ji. We can talk about it later!" she said and disconnected the phone abruptly fuming with rage. Arnav could not understand what was wrong with Khushi. He looked puzzled.

"ASR! Let us go!" Lavanya said wrapping her arm around his and dragging him with her.

Khushi felt alienated. She sat alone in her room thinking over the proceedings. She felt lonely and laxminji walked in. Khushi smiled and hugged Laxmi! "Laxmiji, how do you know I was alone?" she asked her fondly. Laxmiji jumped on the bed. Khushi too threw herself on the bed and said "Time to rest, laxmiji!" she fell asleep immediately.