Sach hote Khwaab

Catching up

The first rays of dawn woke me up. I straightened to realize that I had fallen asleep on the diwaan in my balcony. It took me a moment to recall the events of last night. Randheer had sneaked into me room. Well, it even sounds weird to say that he sneaked into my room. No. He didn't. He came into my room to meet me. It's just that it was midnight and everyone was asleep including me. And he would probably have returned if I had not woken up on time.
Now that I think about it, yesterday seems like a dream - an extremely beautiful dream.
I turned towards his balcony to find him sleeping there.
Mere Randheer... He looked even more handsome with the morning sun shining softly on his face. Who could resist falling in love with this man every moment?
I leaned back a bit again, to gaze at him.

Kis taraf hai aasman, kis taraf zameen khabar nahi
Jab se aaya hai sanam, mujhko khud ki bhi khabar nahi
Hosh gul sapno ke main baandhu pul
Aankh kab khuli khabar nahi

But he was sleeping on a jute stool, leaning against the wall. It must have been so uncomfortable! Oh Why did he sleep here?! He should have gone inside and slept comfortably.
it was that I realized it was very early in the morning. An idea popped up in my mind. I rushed inside to check the time. It was six in the morning. Why miss this opportunity ?!
I found a spare sheet of paper, wrote down a short message for Randheer, clutched a couple of sheets more and returned to the balcony. Crumpling the paper with message, I aimed at Randheer. It missed it mark but nevertheless landed in his balcony. I crumpled another sheet of paper and aimed it. Unfortunately, it hit Randheer right on his nose. I clapped my hand on my head. Oh Gosh ! What did I just do !
He woke up with a start, rubbing his nose, not knowing what on earth had hit him. Embarrassed, I waved to him. On noticing me, he stopped rubbing his nose and gave me a big grin !
Oh this man !
I felt even more sorry for what I had done. I held my ears apologetically. He gestured with his hands that he was fine. I meekly pointed towards the crumpled piece of paper. He picked it up, read it and looked up to me with a puzzled look. I had asked him to get dressed and meet me downstairs in ten minutes. I gestured him to come soon and went inside. We were going to spend a beautiful morning together.
I donned a red salwar-kameez with a colourful dyed dupatta. I took a few more things I needed, in a bag and hurridly scribbled a note to Vashma. Just when I was leaving the room when I remembered, it was still chilly outside. I swifted opened my almirah, grabbed a muffler for Randheer and ran downstairs. I was half-way down when I thought, I should just go a bit carefully, lest I wake up my family.
I opened the gate to find him already waiting for me.
'Good Morning, Amrit',he beamed. 'Itni subah subah jaa kahan rahe hain hum'.
'Ek khoobsurat jagah ! Aap bas chaliye'

He was wearing a grey full-sleeved shirt. And I handed him the muffler. 'Pehle aap ye pehen lijiye. Thand hai abhi.' He gave a surprised yet gentle smile. 'Aap hi pehna dijiye !', he said with a twinkle in his eyes and lowered his head.
I gave him a shy smile and obliged him.
'Aap apne liye kuch nai laayi ?'
'Mainu thand nahi lagti Randheer.'
'Kuch to laana chahiye tha aapko Amrit ! Shawl ya scarf kuch toh le lijiye.'
'Randheer mainu sach mein thand nahi lagti. Par thik hai aap keh rahe hai to ek scarf le aati hoon.'
I rushed inside, stuffed the first scarf I found in my bag and came back.

'Acha ab jaldi chaliye, hume bus pakadni hai'
'Bus ?! Aisi kaunsi jagah jaa rahe hai hum ?!'
'Aap abhi chaliye, raaste mein batati hoon', I replied and we headed towards the bus stand.

The bus stoppage was a five-minute walk from our house. The streets were mostly empty except for a sweeper cleaning the road at a distance. I glanced towards him. He was indeed rubbing his hands for warmth. I was right. He couldn't bear the cold.
I smiled to myself.
'Aap muskura kyun rahi hai ?'
'Ji kuch nai', I replied and smiled once again.
He gave me confused look and then continued.
'Acha bataiye Amrit. Kaise bitaye aapne ye saal.
Ab to aap ek mashoor likheka ban gayi hain. Bilkul waise jaise aapne sapna dekha tha ! Aapko bata nahi sakta ki main kitna khush hua tha jab mujhe ye baat pata chali thi ! I'm so proud of you!
Par mujhe sab jaanna hai. Aur bhi kya kya hua aapki zindagi mein. Sabkuch !'
'Sabkuch to pata chal hi gaya aapko Randheer. Inna vi kuch nahi hua meri zindagi mein. Haan shehar badal gaya to aisa laga ki duniya poori ulti ho gayi meri. Lahore to meri rooh mein basta hai. Usse door jaana ki takleef kade kam na ho payegi. Kabhi kabhi lagta hai us din jab Bauji ne Lahore ki mitti se door na jaakar, wahan marr jaana zyada munasib samjha to kya vo galat the ? Ek shehar jahan unhone apni poori zindagi bitayi. Us shehar se bahar vo kade kahi gaye hi nai. Us shehar ne unhe sabkuch diya - unka naam, unki pehchaan, unka rutba. Zaahir si baat hai batware ke waqt unhone ne apni zindagi se badhkar apne Lahore nu maana.'
'Aapki ek ek baat bilkul sach hai Amrit. Apni mitti se aisa pyaar mujhe apne saamne dekhne ko mila, is liye main apne aapko khushkismat samajhta hoon. Par aise chunaav ki naubat hi nahi aati agar batwaare ke samay dono mulko ke logon ne dono mazhabon ko barabar samman diya hota.'
I fell silent. I was thinking about Bauji. The horrors we had gone through, I could see them in front of my eyes. I did not speak for a few minutes and Randheer did not say anything either. After a while he just held my hand reassuringly. I did not know what good deeds I may have done to deserve a person this sweet, in my life.
'Randheer, wahan jail mein to aap bilkul akele ho gaye honge. Hum sab se to aap door the hi. Aapke paas ek bhi aise insaan nahi tha jinse aap apne mann ki baatein kar sakein. Aapne jo jo saha hoga, vo soch kar to meri rooh kaamp jaati hai !'