"Naina..." uttering her name with utmost adoration, Sameer remembered the pretty face that he met just half an hour ago.. The enchanting black eyes of her truly justified her name, Sameer thought while sitting on the edge of his bed.. His lips curved into a sweet smile recalling the unexpected beautiful incident...
"What's wrong with you Sameer, you were never like this.. You always kept distance from girls in your whole academic life.. Now how you can let any girl to take possession of your mind.. You should stop thinking about her..." Sameer tried to shake off his internal thoughts, and decided to take a tour to the balcony of his new apartment...
In between the time, coming out from the library gate Naina had rebuked herself more than hundred times not for giving a final check in her bag before leaving as she found the library card was not there..
As there was no point of standing outside of the library she decided to go back to home...
********
Resting his hands on the balcony railing Sameer was enjoying the outside view.. He started thinking about his new job at this new city.. In Ahmedabad, he had his mother and nanu to take care of him but here life would be difficult as he was all alone.. He had no idea how he would adjust himself in this new surroundings..
"Hello..." A voice came from nearby.. Sameer's chain of thought broke by this sudden interruption... To find out the source of the sound he turned his head sideways and found a girl waving her hand from the balcony next to his..
The girl flashed her wide smile and said, "Hi, I'm Preeti,Woh kuch der pehle aapne jisse mila tha na woh meri mummy aur behen thi.."
A tiny smile crept on his face at the mention of Naina.. Then, immediately taking control over his thought he continued the further conversation with her... "Nice to meet you Preeti.. By the way, I'm Sameer.. from Ahmedabad..."
"Haye.. Ahmedabad!!! Hum bhi Ahmedabad se hi hai.. Daas saal pehle yahan shift huye.."
"Kisse batein kar rahi hai Preeti??" her mother inquired from the kitchen..
"Kisi se toh nahi.. Khud se hi batein kar rahi hu.." raising her voice, she gave a quick answer to her mother to avoid further question..
"Accha mein chalti hun.. Nahin toh mummy ne aagar dekh liya na toh bohot daant padegi.." before Sameer could say anything she left in a hurry..
Standing there Sameer wished if there was Naina instead of Preeti & he could talk with her... The smile came back to his face unknowingly...
"No, not again Sameer.. And why are you smiling?? Stop smiling like a fool.." Giving himself a mental warning he entered his room to complete the unboxing..
********
Naina was turning the pages of her text book but the written words seemed alien to her as her focus was in somewhere else...
"Aise kaise bhool gayi main library card check karna... Ab phirse kaal jaane padega.. Yeh sab na uss ladke ki liye ho raha hai.. Kya naam tha uska... umm.. Sameer, matlab hawa ka jhonka.. Ha, hawa ka jhonka hi toh hai.. Ekdum achanak se meri aakhon ke samne aake Mera aaj ka pura routine ulajh diya.." Naina muttered to herself, accusing Sameer for taking possession of her mind.. She could neither concentrate on her study nor in other works for rest of the day..
The day remained a tiring one for Sameer as he was busy in unboxing his stuffs and placing them in proper place...
That evening brought two contrasting pictures from the two different houses of the same floor.. Like the other Sundays, the Agarwal family was busy in chatting in their living room and was enjoying Bela's home made pakodas.. The room was filled with the giggles and some banter of Naina, Preeti...
On the contrary, the air of Sameer's room was filled with homesickness as he was missing his family.. His heart was yearning for his mother's home made snacks and the warmth of his nanu's embrace... He just wanted to enjoy Deepika's irritation by pulling her pigtails.. All he needed was to talk with his family members.. In search of a phone booth, he came out from the house and finally got one at the distance of five minutes..
The night fallen faster than other days as the winter started spreading the blanket of fog to wrap up the whole nature... Soon the lights from the nearby houses were went off and
The sisters were also taking preparation for sleeping..
"Naina, sacchi batana... subha Sameer ko dekh ke tujhe jo jhatka laga usi ki karan tune library card lena bhool gayi thi, hain na?? Winking at her sister Preeti sniggered.
"Mm..matlab?? Kaun Sameer?? Aur usse dekh ke mujhe kyun jhatka lagega??" Naina pretended to be unaware...
"Bol toh aise rahi hai jaise tune yeh nam pehli baar suna.. Maine dekha, kaise tune pura din kitni bekhabar hoke ghum rahi thi.. Yeh sab uss Salman jaisa Sameer se milne ki baad se hi ho raha hai na.." Preeti poked her sister by elbow..
"Aisa kuch nahi samjhi.. aur tujhe woh kahan pe mila??"
"Balcony pe aur kahan.. Meri behena, tu bhool gayi kya ki uski ghar bilkul hamari baaju mein hai aur balcony pe jaake thoda sa side dekhegi na toh uska balcony ekdum clear nazar aata hai.." She continued describing her short conversation with Sameer...
"Tune usse yahan se baat bhi ki hai!! Pagal hai kya.. Aagar mummy dekh leti toh.." Naina's voice was filled with both astonishment and concern..
"Pehle ye baata ki tujhe meri chinta ho rahi hai ya phir iss baat ki jalan ho rahi hai ki tujhse pehle maine usse baat ki hai.." Preeti continued her teasing.
"Chup kar...nahin to thappad khayegi.." Naina tried to stop Preeti, but she was on a roll..
"Itni gussa kyun ho rahi hai.. Gussa mat kar behen tere Salman pe na mera koi interest nahi hai.."
"Preeti ki bacchi..." grabbing the pillow from her side Naina started hitting her sister..
"Chod de meri ma.. Aur nahi chidaungi... Chup chap so jaungi, pakka promise.. " Preeti pinched her throat.
"Yaad rakhna.. So jaa aab.. Kal subha college bhi jaana hai.." Naina said in an administrative tone before lying down on the bed.
Hours went by.. But sleep was far away from Naina's eyes... The picture of Sameer's smiling face flashed in her mind whenever she was trying to close her eyes.. Getting up from her lying position she looked at Preeti's sleeping from and rebuked her mentally for mentioning about Sameer before sleeping.. His first sight had done something major to her heart that she could not forget that memory in spite of her trying hard.. Not being able to fight with her inner turmoil anymore, she stepped towards the balcony for collecting some peace of mind...
She could feel the harsh bite of the chilly wind of the winter night as soon as she opened the balcony door..
Meanwhile, Naina's next door neighbour was also spending sleepless hours.. Sameer should have had a sound sleep after a mood lifter conversation with his family over phone... But Naina's thought gradually took over his mind with the passing hours of night and sleep disappeared from his eyes... She was beautiful, he thought embracing his pillow tighten to his chest.. Those eyes of her must've cast some spell upon him that they were not ready to leave his subconscious mind at all.. And her cheeks, there were unusual redness in them.. Was she blushing.. If yes, then why? Was she also awake at this late hour of night like him?? He needed to check.. Sameer got up from bed with an urgency and rushed towards his balcony as if all the answers were stored there.
Disappointed, he found his surroundings was covered with the heavy sheets of fog.. Naina, somehow felt a bit relief seeing the fog at the thought of avoiding the sight of Sameer's balcony, but somewhere in her mind she wanted the fog to be disappeared.. Nevertheless, the fog remained constant making an invisible wall between the two balcony which made the two people unaware about the presence of each other..
Piercing the silence of the night, the chilling wind was carrying the sound of a melody from a far unknown place...
" Jaane kya baat hai...
Jaane kya baat hai..
Neend nahi aati..
Badi lambi raat hai.. "
The song continued describing the condition of the two restless soul....
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