How I Met Your Bhabhi - Kairav Goenka

Through her eyes

Kairav expected lingering silences, averted gazes and long sighs to fill their evening. He was right, but only to an extent. He met her outside the gates for their tour. He forwarded his hand, and she offered a hug.

Their initial awkwardness poked at Kairav's anxiety until it got a rise out of him. His hands wouldn't keep still; they'd jump between his pockets, scratching his neck's back. He rubbed his palms together for a moment, but they were too moist to be gratifying.

All that was lost when Kashaf led him through the palace. He'd been there before, with an actual tour guide, but it felt like he was exploring something else.

His last tour guide, Manav, pointed to the palace's grandeur and riches. "Sir, this is the venue where Isha Ambani got married. The Ambani's could've married anywhere, but our villas were the best!" Manav cheered.

Kashaf appreciated the artistry. There was no hallway they visited where Kashaf's hands didn't trace the patterns on the walls as if she was absorbing its energy. She named each room. The entrance was the 'galaxy,' Kashaf said as she gushed over the sunny dome ceiling. "Like the stellar population; a golden centre studded by blue stars." The bird room was next, for its dome ceiling had a cloudy sky mural. "Humans can't navigate those weathers, but birds would soar!" Kashaf said.

"Did the years of corporate Goenka work dry out my palate?' Kairav wondered. It had been forever since Kairav looked at the world as a painting come to life. 'Or am I so consumed by myself and my family that I failed to see what's around me?'

They settled on the lawn in front of the fountain; Kashaf pulled her knees into her chest, mesmerized. Kairav could imagine Kashaf sitting before the water a thousand times, the sound of running water lulling her fiery spirit like music soothed Akshu's cries.

Like that first night many years ago, Akshu and Aaru led their conversations. He told her about Akshu's big book of wedding plans and the chaos that the wedding ensured. He let it slip that he found another venue and she blushed, knowing he still came for the tour. Their banter continued about the museums they've yet to wonder about and whether the Mona Lisa was truly Da Vinci's best work - 'No!' Kashaf insisted as she went on to rant about the simplicity of the Head of Leda. 'Imagine how beautiful that painting must be if its rough sketch is so delicate and powerful' -. Some awkward pauses snuck into their company; questions about where they disappeared to and what her sisters scolded her about. As vocal as Kairav wanted to be, Kashaf stiffen at those questions. 

She liked her elusiveness, Kairav realized. 

Yet the same water that lured her into a trance tore through her stoic exterior. In Rajasthan, hail was not a thing; its warm desert-like climate didn't lend itself to icy pellets. Yet, with the gusto that raindrops hit the windows, it felt like an avalanche hit the window.

Kashaf had come to drop Kairav off at his hotel when the storm hit.

With each flicker of light, Kashaf flinched and coiled.

"Bade Papa, main theek hoon. I'm in the room, aap chinta na karo," he assured his family. His phone rang non-stop with worried relatives. But was it really okay? He looked to Kashaf in the opposite corner, scribbling through her black notebook. A checklist, he learnt when things settled down, of the people she loved. She called and texted everyone in the state until her frenzy wore off. "A methodical approach," she explained, but anxiety-ridden nonetheless thought Kairav. 

He wished she knew how much her silences gave away. In the span of 8 hours, he'd seen so many sides of Kashaf but neither were sang by her fruitful voice.