Hamesha Wala Pyaar – Chapter 48
Sidharth freaked out as all the eyes were trained on him.
He looked at Shehnaaz for some relief but she seemed equally nervous as Dadi let out their secret.
Mrs. Gill, looked like she was watching a tennis match, her gaze bobbing from Sidharth to Shehnaaz and back.
He swallowed a lump in his throat nervously anticipating what was to come.
Suddenly he panicked when Mr. Gill turned to Shehnaaz “Puttarji kya keh rahi hai dadi? Sach hai yeh?” he spoke harshly as she hid behind her Dadi.
“woh, papaji.. main.. woh” she was stuttering as her father unexpectedly went charging to her and raised his hand to hit her, surprising every one.
”Uncle please” Sidharth exclaimed and at the same time he heard another voice “Santokh” her Dadi shouted with all her might “khabardaar jo meri gudiya pe haath uthaya” she said standing between her and her father, looking at him with eyes wide in anger.
“Mata aap hatt jaao, isko yeh sab karne ke liye bheja tha maine Sheher mein?” he said angrily as Shehnaaz started weeping.
“accha?” dadi glared “yaha rakh ke kaunsa uske liye rajkumar dhunda tune hain? Uss haramjade Rajbeer ke saath meri bacchi ki zindagi toh swarg hi ban jaani thi jaise, bol? Bata ab?” dadi asked him furiously to which he obviously had no answer.
“yeh ladka kitna sohna hai, ghar parivaar accha hai, kamata hai accha khasa, naam hai bada iska aur sabse zyada Meri Shehnaaz ko bohot pyaar karta hai, khush rakhega usko hamesha, aur kya chahiye tum logo ko?” she asked taking turns to look at both Shehnaaz’s mom and dad.
“Dekh liya maine kaise faisle leta hai tu” Dadi spoke with her wrath directed at Mr. & Mrs. Gill.
“Pehle toh apne pariwaar ko chhod ke khud chala gaya germany, fir meri bacchi ko bhej diya uss kamine Kulwant ke paas.”
Dadi’s adjective for Shehnaaz’s mama didn’t go down well with Mrs. Gill. She frowned but knew better than to speak against her angry mother in law.
“Pata nahi hame kya ki uski voti kaise pitayi karti thi iski? Kitna dara ke rakha tha meri beti ko. Fir waha se aayi nahi ke usko boarding bhej diya. Pammi tujhe sach mein bacchi se pyaar bhi tha ke nahi mujhe toh shaqq hi hota hai kabhi kabhi” dadi spoke sternly as her parents bent their heads in despair.
“pehli baar meri bacchi ne apne liye ek faisla liya hai, aur wohi sahi faisla hai, main bilkul uske saath hu, chahe tum log kuch bhi socho. Abhi se wohi hoga jo Shehnaaz chahegi” Dadi’s words silenced everyone, and it was evident that it was the final verdict.
Sidharth was in awe of dadi’s fiesty personality.
She had articulated her pent up feelings so easily.
Her robustness made him forget his nervousness from earlier and he felt nothing but greatful to Dadi.
Only he knew how difficult it would be for him to utter all that she had just said.
Dadi had made things so much easier for him.
Although her mother looked like she agreed with Dadi and was now smiling happily, her father was still nursing his wounded pride and sat on the couch with an irked expression.
“Pammi, chai nashta nahi karwayegi bete ko, jaa tayyari kar?” Dadi spoke to her mother who instantly paced to the kitchen instructing their house help Jassi to cook up a few dishes.
“Sidharth, Shehnaaz tum dono chalo mere kamre mein, mujhe akele mein baat karni hai tum dono se” she said and held their hands as all three of them walked into her room.
Once the door was closed, her face broke into a warm smile as She hi-fived Shenaaz who was clapping her hands gleefully.
Sidharth was amazed at their reaction.
“Dekha kaise chup karaya tere baap ko? Maza aaya na?”Dadi said with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes as both her Shenaaz giggled like schoolgirls.
“Dadi aise hi thodi main aapko rockstar kehti hu? Chhaa gaye aap toh aaj” Shehnaaz cooed back.
Sidharth who was feeling left out, interrupted them by clearing his throat.
As both of them looked at Sidharth, he noticed Shehnaaz’s smile die down but he will deal wth it later, he thought.
First things first.
He stood near Dadi, touched her feet and folded his hands, gratified by her support.
“Thank you dadiji. Main kya kahu, aapne toh mujhe meri life wapis dedi” he spoke looking at Shehnaaz fondly.
“hmm, tere se abhi baat karni hai maine puttar, ther jaa” she sat on her bed with a pained expression as her aged knees caused discomfort.
She indicated them to sit down near her, which they promptly did, each taking their spot at her feet.
“Accha ab batao, tum dono sach mein ek dusre ko pyaar karte ho?” she asked to which an excited Sidharth replied with “Bohot” but Shehnaaz kept mum.
He playfully poked his finger in her knee egging her to reply, but she kept looking at Dadi with a dead pan face.
He haplessly looked at dadi, who was watching all the fun
“Puttar tu uski chinta mat kar, itni si chuhiya jaisi thi jab paida hui thi, tabse janti hu isko main” her dadi flashed her scrunched palm to him to show how tiny she was when born “woh chahe muh se kuch na kahe uska chehra bata raha hai ki woh bhi tujhse bohot pyaar karti hai” Dadi caressed her hair softly, as Shenaaz placed her head on Dadi’s lap looking at him with tears in her eyes.
He rubbed his face helplessly.
He wanted to hug her, wipe her tears, say all that he had been saying in his emails, to her face.
Apologise a thousand times over and tell her how much he loved her and missed her a million times over.
But all he could do right now was just sit and stare at her crying face.
Their gazes were locked as if engaged in a silent conversation with each other.
“Ek dusre ke pyar pe bharosa rakho, chahe kuch bhi ho jaye, agar tum dono chahoge to koi tumhare bich mein fik nahi dal sakta“ She spoke to both of them and sighed
“ chalo jo ho gaya, so ho gaya. Isse sabak seekho aur aage badho. Iske baad chahe kuch bhi ho jaye gussa aur zabaan dono pe kaabu rakhna hoga” she said looking at him.
It was well deserved he thought and nodded his head in affirmation.
“Aur tu” she turned to Shehnaaz now “Gussa kar bhi liya isne, toh woh gusse ki ek leher nikal jaane ke baad sab kuch shant ho jata hai, insaan firse sahi sochne lagta hai, but uske pehle hi bhaag aayi? kuch bhi ho jaaye, bhaagna nahi hai. Jatti hai tu, wahi khad ke cheezo ka hal milega, bhagne se nahi milega.” Dadi spoke, swiping Shehnaaz’s tear stained face.
She kissed her forehead.
“Mujhe nahi kiya?” Sidharth feigned dissapointment touching his forehead.
“Tujhe kyu karegi? Meri dadi hai” Shehnaaz pouted as she sat on the bed hugging her dadi possessivley.
“hayye siyappa” Dadi smacked her forehead “rabba kaha in nikke balko ke bich fasa diya tune mujhe” she chuckled smacking both their heads turn by turn.
“Ab suno” she looked at Sidharth who was ardently listening to her again.
“Isko Mumbai leke jaa apne sath, jo usko job jub karni hai karne de. Loonala mein tum dono saath rehte the na?” she fumbled making them both cackle out
“Loonala nahi dadi Lonavla” Shehnaaz corrected
“ha jo bhi hai, sath rehte the na? waise hi abhi bhi raho, woh jaise ladka ladki nahi rehte aajkal taaki ek dusre ko samajh sake acche se” she uttered deriving a gasp from shehnaaz and a shocked expression from Sidharth.
“Dadi” they both spoke at the same time astonished at her words. She had just asked them to Live In together.
“Dadi yeh aap keh rahe ho?”Sidharth asked stunned by the old lady’s liberal thinking.
“Ha toh? shayad aajkal yehi chalta hai bade shehero mein, sahi bhi hai waise. Hamare time pe kaha hota tha yeh sab, Bass bhed bakriyo ki tarah khute se baandh dete the. But abhi toh zamana aage nikal gaya hai, puri zindagi ka sawaal hai, aise ankh band karke thodi kisi pe bhi bharosa kar lenge, Jaan parakh ke, dekh bhaal ke faisla lete hai saare.“ she continued to speak nonchalantly
“Ek do mulakaat mein toh sab bade acche bante hai, lekin asliyat tabhi pata chalti hai, jab katthe rehte ho, ek dusre ki aadaton ko, acchai burai ko nazdeek se dekhte ho, tabhi asli insaan ka pata chalta hai.” her thoughts had clean bowled them both, and they looked at her, perplexed, as if she was speaking in latin.
She smiled inwardly at their gobsmacked faces “ismein itna hairaan hone jaisa kya hai? main bhi sax and the city dekhti hu, mujhe bada accha lagta hai woh show. usmein yehi sab dikhate hai,” her words made both their jaws pop out in surprise.
“itni english samajh bhi aati hai aapko? Shenaaz teased.
“Oye kudiye, zyada na chantt na bana kar, hindi mein bhi aata hai star channel pe, duper mein” Dadi told them about her source of modernised mindset making them both smile warmly.
“Aur Mumbai mein yeh tere sath rahegi toh hame bhi chinta nahi hogi. Iska khayaal rakh puttar, chhoti hai abhi, duniya nahi dekhi isne, hamesha sath rakhna isko, hamesha aise hi pyaar karna” Dadi took Sidharth’s hand in hers lovingly.
He too assured her by squeezing her wrinkly hands softly.
In a second she twisted both their ears in her hands
“Aur agar kuch ulti sidhi harkatein karke meri naak katayi, toh mere chittar hai aur tumhara muh hai, samajh lena dono jane” her unannouced action caught them off guard.
“aahhh dadi” “oww dadi” they both went wincing in pain.
Dadi laughed and released them both.
“Dadi main samajh gaya aapki baat, I promise, jaisa aapne kaha waise hi hoga” Sidharth assured and got kissed by Dadi on his forehead too.
He playfully wiggled his thumb at Shehnaaz making her scowl.
Replete after talking to them both, she geared herself up for the next task.
Dadi summoned her son into her room to reason out with him, while Mrs. Gill took Sidharth to shower him with the Gill hospitality which mostly consisted of a variety of stuffed parathas, topped with dollops of home made white makkhan, followed by a tall glass of thick lassi.
With the way Shehnaaz’s mother was refilling his plate with a loving smile, he felt he would burst out any moment.
In his mind, he swore he wont go anywhere near food for atleast four days ahead of this.
Shehnaaz was just observing him with a straight face.
Despite chastisng herself over and over, she could feel her angry resolve breaking down piece by piece looking at a helpless Sidharth being stuffed with love in the form of food by her mother.
He looked so adorable trying to ward off every attempt her mother made to placed another paratha on his plate that she wanted to kiss him right away and tell him how much she had longed for him.
How much she loved him. And that her heart still belonged to him.
She quelled down her raging thoughts in dismay as she remembered her promise to her angel.
She wasn’t going to back down until instructed.
She sighed in despair toying with her paratha.
After being packed to his throat by Mrs. Gill, he sat in the living room with Shehnaaz’s brother shehbaaz who had just arrived from his call centre job and was expressing his dismay on missing all the fun that just went by, as Shehnaaz filled him in with the gossip.
He sullenly noticed she was chirpy when she spoke to her brother, but every time she looked at him her smile faded away.
He was this close to losing his mind over her confusing behaviour.
But somehow calmed himself down, pushing the discussion for later.
A while later, Mr. Gill emerged from dadi’s room, and approached them with a grim expression.
Sidharth went in panick mode again.
Licking his lips nervously, he stood up as if preparing himself for a blow.
But to his surprise, Mr. Gill smiled at him.
A genuinely warm smile.
Sidharth smiled back, triumphant.
“Betaji, khayal rakho hamari beti ka, mata ke samne aaj bhi nahi chalti meri, bina kisi roke rishte ke aapke sath bhej raha hu isko Mumbai wapis. Sirf aap pe bharosa rakh ke. Lekin ek hi baat kahunga, jo bhi karna dono pariwaaro ki izzat ka soch ke karna” Mr. Gill folded his hands in front of Sidharth embarassing him
“Uncle please” Sidharth held his hands
“yeh sab mat kariye, Aur tension mat lo, main Shehnaaz ka pura khayal rakhunga”
Sidharth bent down to touch his feet but got pulled into a warm, loving hug by Mr. Gill instead.
“Betaji, aap na Mumbai jaake apni mata se meri baat karwa dena, Shenaaz, tu yaad dilana inko” Mrs. Gill spoke with reverence looking at Sidharth.
He went upto her and touched her feet too, as she awkwardly patted her forehead.
Phew !! he let out an audible sigh of relief.
It felt like a heavy object was moved away from his chest.
They had the approval of both families now.
The only thing he felt was elation.
He had almost lost his plum, lost the light of his life, but thank god destiny had other plans.
He had sensed Shehnaaz was feigning anger, something was holding her back.
But more than that he was glad atleast she had agreed to come back with him.
Sidharth knew his plum wont be able to hold her stance for long, specially when they are together again, breathing the same air.
Thanks to the breakfast that he was sure had made him pile atleast 5 kgs, he absolutely refused to eat lunch.
After much cajoling he settled for Shehnaaz’s half finished glass of buttermilk, earning coy smiles from Dadi and her mother.
A riot of funny banter kicked up in the Gill household, as dadi and the happy siblings along with their parents engaged into a pol khol session, letting Sidharth in their insider jokes from all these years.
Their childhood antics right from papa gill to shehnaaz to shebaaz were described in a funny way making Sidharth tear out with laughter.
Without wasting a moment after Mr. Gill’s permission, he had booked them both in the evening flight back to Mumbai.
It was just a matter of a few hours until he will be alone with his plum, he thought smiling sheepishly.
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The warm feeling of winning back ur lover one specially after u feel like u have lost them is unmatchable.
Hope you guys like today's extra long chapter. Flow flow mein itna likha ki mujhe pata hi nahi chala. Lol.
Please click on the star and comment your review on the chapter and my story so far. Suggestions are welcome too.
Lots of love and luck to all.
Sidnaazkidiwani