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Cast -
Vikram Seth-
Young Vikram -
Kalyani Bose -
Kusum Seth -
Chandu Kaka -
Subhsen Bose -
Sidhant Singh -
Anchal Singh-
Natasha Singh -
******************************
Those two old houses stood tall and strong, facing each other.
It was a normal day. The whole city of Indore came to life with the rising sun.
Beside the house of Mr. Bose, or people would fondly address as Bose Babu ka makan, there stood tea stall.
That nukkad chai tapri had witnessed many types of gossips and talks for like more than 150 years.
Let it alone be some common oldies reminiscing their days, college fellas discussing about their exams and stress or some people stucked in those 9 to 5 job, taking a break from their stress chamber, smoking and either discussing about their paycheck or cussing their boss over a cup of chai...
If that nukkad had the ability of speaking about the best phase of its life, it would have to be it's earlier days, when it was not about people , oldies, college fellas and youth dealing with their personal problems or making it a chilling point , rather than it were those revolutionaries and leaders who used to think about their country.
Those strategies and excitement, plans and praising of the leaders. That selfless gesture and innumerable attempts of making their country a best place on this planet.
That nukkad misses it all so bad.
******************************
(Vikram Seth's house)
Vikram Seth was a great revolutionary and a leader of his times.
It was hard for people to believe that he was atleast 95 years old.
Addressed by local kids as an arrogant old man, Vikram was never at peace. He fought for his country, only to witness the youth getting drug addicted , people becoming more and more lazier.
It was not the country he fought for.
Vikram was sitting on the balcony. His face was showing the tiredness and the wrinkles showing his experience. There was a constant frown on his face but not at that point. The moment his eyes fell on her window, everything stopped around him.
He felt as if she was going to show up in front of her window any moment. His gaze stood on her house, with anticipation in his heart. He knew that she would never come back to him,still just by looking at her now abandoned house gave his heart some solace.
His servant, Chandu was reading the current news headlines for him from the newspaper, but all his concentration was on that abandoned Bose Babu ka makan...
( Bose Babu ka makan )
Chandu was quite younger than Vikram. He was born in the year 1947. At that time , Vikram was hardly 25 years of age.
Suddenly there was crash sound and that was the end of the quite moment.
******************************
"Lagta hai aap Indore mein pehle ayein hain",the uber driver said while driving the car.
"Aisa kyun laga apko?",his passanger asked him.
The passenger sitting behind was just wishing for that journey to come to an end.
"Bas apke hav bhav se laga..."
"Nhi main pehli baar Indore nhi aya hoon."
"Accha? Pehli baar mera tukka galat laga!",and the driver laughed at his own stupidity.
Siddhant was already tired of this journey and now that driver was wrecking his nerves. He quickly pulled out the earphones and played the nostalgic playlist of the green day.
Sidhant was a pakkawala Mumbaikar but was born and brought up in Indore. Just a few years in Mumbai completely changed him. Even though he was married, he lead a life of a reckless bachelor. One odd thing in this perfectly bachelor life was that of affairs. He was a janam janmantar single. He never cheated on his wife. She was the only person whome he hated the most but was yet attracted towards her.
If he was west, then she was east.
If he was like a river, then she was a mountain.
If mountain and river met, then it will lead to a beautiful waterfall. But alas, these two were never on the good terms.
Siddhant was a freelancer photographer and his wife, Anchal was a professional writer.
There marriage was an arranged one. They got married two years back.
Siddhant and Anchal always wished for a happily married life, but never put the effort to make theirs a happy one.
Now, for past one year and six months, Sidhant lived alone in Mumbai whereas Anchal lived with her in - laws.
Their families regretted their decision of getting their kids married in such a hurry.
Even though it was not what they expected it to be, yet Sidhant and Anchal never complained neither blamed their parents for this meaningless life. Somewhere deep down even, they also wanted to get married to each other. The thing is that they never accepted this.
Life was still fun and games, until Sidhant's sister decided to tie knot with her boyfriend.
The moment he got to know that his little sister is going to get married to her prince charming, then he immediately decided to travel back to his home town, Indore.
He was so much engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't realized when he entered in the lane of his nostalgic childhood. The sudden breaks applied by the driver brought Sidhant back in reality.
He looked forward and saw that few kids were running for their lives. He looked around and saw those 10-12 year old kids, carrying stumps and bat,were running away from the same arrogant old man. Chandu kaka was running after those kids .
Those kids were crossing the road and that made the driver to apply breaks in order to avoid accident.
Sidhant rolled down the window and pulled out his head .
The house of that iconic arrogant old man. Vikram Seth was sitting on his chair,in the balcony, shouting on those kids who broke another window of his house.
Siddhant slightly shook his head, moved his head away from the window.
He rolled the window back and slightly smiled.
Nothing's changed....
******************************
He pressed the doorbell and stood there, waiting for someone to receive him. Precisely, waiting for her.
He was about to ring the bell for the second time when Natasha opened the door. She excitedly hugged him and called for others as well.
Siddhant followed her till the living room where his parents came to meet him.
He touched their feet and hugged them.
His eyes were looking for her.
"Arey tum khade kyun ho? Baitho na bhai!",Natasha beamed with joy and made him sit on sofa.
Suddenly he heard a sweet sound of anklets.
And as he wished for, his wife, Anchal emerged from the kitchen, carrying glass of water on a tray. She was wearing a simple salwar suit.
She had a confident smile on her face. Not a single trace of blush.
She gave him the glass of water and occupied the only vacant chair.
The others understood that this unlikely couple wanted some privacy , so after a few chats of 10-15 minutes they excused themselves. "Anchal beta, Sidhant ko room tak leke jao", his mother, Kavita said.
Anchal carried one of his airbag while he carried his suitcase and they headed towards their room.
******************************
"So? How are you?", Sidhant mentally smacked himself for asking such a lame question.
"I am fine",that was the only reply he got from her.
"Shadi kab hai ?"
"Teen hafte baad hai",again a simple one sentence reply.
"Okay, toh abhi tum fresh hoge ya phir main lunch taiyar kar doon?",she asked.
"Lunch please!",he begged .
Ofcourse he was starving hard.
She said okay and was about to leave when he suddenly held her hand and pulled her closer.
She collided with his chest.
That was something least expected.
"Mujhe miss kiya ?",he asked in a husky voice.
Anchal was taken aback but immediately composed herself. She put up a sarcastic smile and said "You wish!".
She freed her hand from his grip and left with the voice of her anklets teasing him.
He smiled looking at her retreating figure.
She is an intoxication.
He shook his head and moved towards the window.
It was still 10 in the morning.
His gaze got fixed on those two houses few blocks away.
He could easily saw backside of Vikram's house and the front view of Bose Babu ka makan. These two houses always remained a mystry for him.
Vikram Seth, his house, his servant Chandu and that iconic Bose Babu ka makan...