chapter 3

   

 'Sweet-and-Sour'

         Khushi was marching towards 'Bankilalji  Halwai' shop in Lakshmi Nagar market for those much needed piping, hot jalebis.
  
 "Bankilal ji , Bankilal ji?" She called out unable to find her favorite jalebi stall friend.

 
       A young ,lean figure facing his back to the road was frying jalebis with much devotion. He wore a loose dirty vest and seemingly white dhoti. A red cloth was adoring his soft  charcoal black gelled hair wound into a half turban. He turned around hearing Khushi.

          Looking at the man in front of her, Khushi could not control her mouth from dropping into her signature look of astonishment which was but of course ' a big O'.

 "Arn..ava..ji, aa..p? "  She stammered by the shock.

 "And why are you frying jalebis here?"  the idea of him doing this was too much to take .

 
 "Hi,Khushi. What a coincidence, we met here." He tried to smile.


  "Coincidence? Yeah right Arnavaji ! It's just a coincidence that you met me at Bankilalji's  shop today. Otherwise you always go to those five star hotels to fry jalebis, don't you Arnavji ?"  she rolled her tongue in her cheek.


  "What the?"  Arnav could only come up with this.


  "By the way , what made you change your taste & choose such 'far-from -even-close- to- your 'standards'  shop instead of those high class sweet marts for frying jalebis?" ..ohh ya..that was right on target..
Here he goes...3-2-1..


 "It's none of your business, Khushi."  ASR bit out through his clenched jaw.  "Just tell me why did you come here?"
  

   The site in front of her was worth bagging the 8^th place into 'Wonders Of The World' thought  Khushi. ASR stood there..fuming...wearing some dirty vest and dhoti ,his feet enclosed in his usual formal leather shoes (shine intact) and holding colander in one hand and half fried ,hardly any geometrical shaped  jalebi in other.  Ohh..and not to forget his Bluetooth device tucked to his ear peeping out of that turban!

  
  The scene tempted Khushi  to laugh her heart out which shot another level of anger into ASR's  mind already a bubbling molten lava by now. It took all of him to fan that for now n speak,

"See, I don't have all the time in the world to stand here and look at your laughing face. Just make it clear why have you come here?"


   Composing for a second or two she spoke, "Actually I had come to discuss about Barak Obama's decision to call back American army from Afghanistan with Bankilalji"..making animated gestures with her hands.


  "What the.." that was it..he stepped ahead making her jerk back.  


 Putting up a hand to stop him she said sincerely,"Of course , I have come here to buy some jalebis , Arnavaji! if only you have made some edible jalebis." She wont give up anytime,will she?
  

 "How much you want?" he bit out.


  "Umm.. Actually ..woh   Arnavji...I wanted to buy 1kg for all my friends but you know I don't have that much money" She smiled sheepishly.

   
    That was his undoing.. the temperature dropped down instantly to zero from the highest mercury level of a thermometer, 

"It's fine Khushi. Have as many jalebis  as you want. Don't worry about  paying for them. I will take care of it." He offered her quite a big box of jalebis.
  
   Khushi couldn't help her 1000 volts smile from flashing. Due to her chloroment  effect  even Arnav  grinned.

  
 "How sweet of you Arnavji!" showing the  gratitude she turned and took a few steps towards home, when she suddenly remembered Payal's words,

 'You know khushi, when a boy truly loves a girl , he does such things for her which otherwise he never would do.'
    
  
 She turned hastily towards  Arnav who hadn't moved an inch gazing at her retreating back. She asked uncertainly,

"Arnavaji , umm..Have you ever made jalebis  for any other girl before?"
   
   She searched into  those chocolaty caramel eyes expectantly. His thin line of lips felt disturbed while hesitating to answer those expectant hazel orbs...   
  

   
      When  suddenly two strong arms grabbed  box of  jalebis from her and started shaking her vigorously.

  "Are o titaliya, Ab uth bhi jaiyyo (Now wake up, Titaliya)" , Buaji had generously spared her of any morning exercise with all the shaking.

  
  "Nahi...My jalebis..."...she sat up with a screeching scream. Making her buaji  pick the action of that trademark  'NAHI !!!'

 
Smacking her on her head..buaji spoke,
   
"Yeeeh  Lo,  Chahe  sari duniya  dub jaye  par ee ladaki apne muh me thhuse jalebiyan ke sath hi dubegi.."
(See, even if the world sinks, this girl will only sink with her mouth full of jalebies)

  
"Are o Parmaeshwari, wake. I don't want you to miss Payal's wedding  because of your crazy dreams."
        
     
    Disappointedly realizing that it was just a mere dream and shrugging that thought away Khushi woke up and clapped her hands in excitement ,
    

 "Are wa, it's jiji's wedding today!" Jumping out of  bed and dancing to the tunes of 'aaj mausam hai suhana ,jiji ki shadi ka hai bahana'  she ran to get ready.

  Buaji muttered smilingly "Pagli" and resumed her chores.

Chapter 2

                                                     
                                              Bangles' Musings.....

   It must be some magic wand whirled around Khushi Kumari Gupta indeed because she was uncharacteristically more than silent during the whole ride  from Raizada mansion to Lakshmi Nagar on the night before Akash and Payal's wedding day. Guptas were returning from 'Shantivan' where they had been  attending the 'Havan' arranged by naniji and Anjali. Khushi was continuously staring at her hands adored with new beautiful set of bangles without blinking even once.Her family was too tired to pay any heed to new antics of this  crazy girl so they plainly didn't notice her and were discussing about  remaining preparations for the wedding. 

  

  
           After reaching home Buaji and Payal retired Shashi to his room and started talking to Garima when suddenly buaji heard some sounds of vessel from kitchen.

  
   "Hai re Nand kishor, it seems some thief has barged into our house. Don't you worry . Let me handle this. Hum bhi dekhat hai kaise bachake jaat hao woh '"

   

          She picked a stick and went tiptoeing towards kitchen. Looking at the scene buaji dropped the stick with a noisy thud. Khushi was standing near  kitchen platform cutting brinjals and stirring something on gas.

  

       That sound startled Khushi and she looked at buaji. She was standing throwing daggers at her keeping her hands on hip.

    
    "Sanka devi, May I know what are you doing here at midnight? And are you planning to make some stupid experiment of brinjal  flavoured jalebis now?"

 Khushi noted the tip of making jalebis with brinjals.

 "huh? Are no no, buaji. I am preparing dinner for us."

 Buaji rolled her eyes and shaking her head she warned her

  

   "Look Parmeshwari, I want you to stop whatever you are planning or thinking with all your sanak. Tomorrow is Payal's wedding and I don't want to witness  any of your new antics till this function ends peacefully. Stop this, you won't get to eat more after all that u gobbled down while dinner at shantivan. Hai re Nand Kisore..eeka pet ka tanker to full hoveka naam hi nai lewat hai."

 Khushi tried to strain her memory and then reality dawned on her.

"Are ha..Humane to khana khaya hai...Ohh.. that's why I am feeling my tummy full. Wahi hum soch rahe the..."

 Buaji was at loss of words now.Silently pleading her Nand Kishore to come to her rescue.Composing herself she firmly spoke

  
"Sanka Devi, go get some sleep. Hopefully, that will spare us " and before she could say anything  further she warned her again 

 "And don't even think of making jalebis now. Go" with that buaji went marching to her room.

  Khushi glared angrily at those bangles.

"It's all in all that Laad Governers' fault . What was the need to gift me these adoringly beautiful bangles?  What does he think of himself? And he even didn't tell me the reason why he gifted me these. Now what am I supposed to deduce out of this?"

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[Related video links from the show]  

  {1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITbxJT3gjzg   : Khushi finds out bangles. 

  2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_HPCa-sTLQ: Khushi asks Arnav about the bangles

  3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z1Qvx9lLQw  : Arnav and Khushi at night }

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  She put her palms together,closed her eyes and called her deity 

"Hey Devi Maiyya,  why you always choose me to trap into such situations?" Staring at those bangles again she retired  to her room.

*****************

   
         When Payal didn't see any chance of Khushi turning her glance away from her hands, she said disinterested ,

  

 "Khushi, Are you going to sleep  with  so many  bangles  in your hands?  Are  you  not  going  to  take  them  off ?"

  "No jiji,I won't  keep  them  away  from  me  whole of  my life." Her eyes still on those  bangles.

  

  
  "Pagal", Payal silently shook her head unable to come up with any story  which that heart of Khushi Kumari Gupta  must be cooking up this time.

    

  

 It was  the  universal  truth  that Khushi Kumari Gupta's  heart  does all the thinking business instead of her brain.

           Payal and khushi were lying on the bed waiting for sleep to overtake them but somehow sleep was miles away today.They were lost in their own thoughts when Khushi suddenly popped an unexpected question (As usual of course )

    "Jiji?"

  "hmm?"

  
  "Are you sleeping?"

  "what is that Khushi?"

  "Jiji, what was the first gift that jijaji gave you?" she was busy admiring her bangles.

  
  "you remember that dupatta Khushi? You had gifted me on my birthday?  That was the first gift Akashji gave me." She lost in those memories.

  

 Realizing something she continued , 

   
  "But actually it was just a coincidence then. Akashaji had given that to you for gifting it to your  sister unknown to the fact that I am ur sister. So technically it can't be his  gift right?...umm...so if I say it is a gift then my first gift was potatoes."

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[Related video links from the show]  
{1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njqO0PhrlL8 : Akash buys dupatta for Payal

   2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGWs-uEDUdk&list=PL1A637DDA754D2E9C :Akash finds out that Payal is Khushi's sister

   3.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-N_l7KB3KQ : Akash buying potatoes }

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  "What?" Khushi woke up with a jerk and sat crossing her feet on bed.  

  "Akash jiju gifted you potatoes , jiji?"

 Payal smilingly nodded saying,

 "And that made me think that he might  be in love with me..." speaking of her love made Payal closing her eyes in shyness.

  
"Offo  jiji, wake up no! Tell me the whole story. Was that so easy to woo you? Akash jiju gifted you potatoes and you fell in love with him?" There was mischievous glint in her eyes.

 "No silly" now Payal too sat up besides khushi. Slapping her on head she spoke,

"It is not a matter of gifting potatoes or rather what he gifted me. You know khushi, when a boy truly loves a girl , he does such things for her which otherwise he never would do. 

            
                   That day I went to market to buy potatoes for you. Akashjji  met me there coincidentally as he pretended it to be .Can u believe , he reasoned me that he had come to buy some vegetables. Which of course  I didn't believe. You see, being a billionaire Akashji ,he would had never entered   Laksmi Nagar Vegetable Market for any reason and in any case he really does not need to go for  buying  vegetables  either. So I did not buy that excuse but didn't show it too. Because I knew ,he had come just to meet me. Can you imagine? A rich businessman wearing a branded three piece suit holding a bag parks his white  Mercedes at Lakshmi Nagar Market and buy Potatoes at a stall? He did those things which he could not even dream of doing remotely. And that made me think that he is in love with me. "

  

    Payal had lost herself in that magic world when Khushi's chirp brought her back on this very earth.

  
 "How romantic , jiji!" Her clapped hands ,closed eyes and overwhelmed voice were enough for Payal to understand how much the idea was romantic. Before she could anticipate Khushi grabbed her into bone crashing tight hug. 
"Ohh jiji."

     

     Khushi's  eyes fell over her own hands again where those beautiful bangles were tinkling slightly. 'Even I don't  think that Arnavji would have bought bangles ever otherwise.' She spoke to herself in a trance.

 Removing herself from the embrace khushi asked Payal,

     "Jiji,what does it mean when a boy gifts bangles to any girl?" Her voice was slightly shaking.Reason unknown to her.

    "As I think Khushi, bangles are the most valuable gift any boy can give to a girl" Payal answered thinking over the question.

 "Why so,jiji?"

  
    " Khushi, Devi Maiyya has divided the world into two parts. One is masculine and another is feminine.  When any boy falls in love with any girl or vice versa then irrespective of who they both are , it's always that masculinity and femininity fall in love with each other. It's the basic rule of the universe.

          
            Now speaking of bangles , they signify femininity. When a boy gifts bangles   to a girl, then it represents that he  respects  her femininity and  wants her to belong to him. So gifting bangles  shows the pure and raw confession of love from masculinity to femininity. In short , the boy loves that girl, khushi."

   
     Khushi's mind went numb..The darker shade of those bangles rose on her cheeks and again her heart drummed erratically.. Dhak.. Dhak ..Dhak..Dhak..!An unfamiliar feeling churned her stomach with the light caress of bangles against her wrist.

      

   
     Composing herself not letting her excitement to be noticed by Payal,she spoke nonchalantly

   "Ohh no..jiji, those philosophical books you always read really have damaged your brain so badly. Now what will  Akash jiju  do? Poor jiju." 
        She pouted her lips in sarcasm. Before she could complete  all her teasing business,Khushi received a hard slap on shoulder from Payal.

  "Ouch,jiji it hurts."

  "Khushi, stop pulling my leg and let me get some much needed beauty sleep now.Good night!"

  "Good night,jiji."

  

      It was not so long when sleep fairy sprinkled sleep beans over Payal and landed her in dream land. But it was not that easy for her to do the same with Khushi. It was almost dawn when she finally succeeded.

Chapter 1

                           The Uncanny Morning !

   It was the day of Akash and Payal's  wedding. All other functions like Sangeet, Mehandi, Haldi had been completed with surprisingly pleasant incidents for both the families, except KKG & ASR who were into an infinite mind churning process to figure out what came over them. Guptas were going to arrive at the mansion by evening where the main wedding function was to be held. All the preparations were done  by the event managers already with  fair amount of  'what the' and 'Do it fast , Damn it!'  from ASR. So there was nothing left much to do for Raizada family. They were sitting at the table and having their breakfast.

         Arnav descended down the staircase and sat on his chair. HP served him his toast and juice. He looked around the table. Nainji was feeding Laxmi. Mamiji  was discussing about different shades of eye shadows with Anjali. Mamaji  the only blessed soul  bestowed with silence eating silently. NK was busy smiling to himself and Akash ,where is he? Somehow  these days he used to skip  breakfast or meals saying he is not hungry or has to make some important call and  other family members were not  even bothered much about his weird behavior . 

   'Unbelievable..' he thought.

  "Di,  everything is done. You don't have to worry ok?" He said to Anjali.

  
  "Of course Chote! Has it ever happened that I needed to worry about something  when my Chote is there?" She beamed.That made Arnav feel warm.


 "But chote, how come you are at breakfast table before your usual time? Is everything alright?"
  

 "It has to be alright Di. I just came early from jogging to check if all the preparations are done or not.  Khushi  should not feel that anything is left undone'" he vaguely completed only to be startled with the outburst.


 "Phati sari?"

 "Khushiji?"
  Mamiji and NK asked in unison with confused faces ...


  "I meant to say Payal's family should not feel that anything is left undone. And some of our important clients  are attending the wedding too. So everything should be perfect" He answered keeping his eyes on his plate.


 "You are right chote" Anjali said trying to hold her laughter and winked at Nani. Nani nodded in understanding.


 After few minutes strangely feeling something missing out he added,
   
 "Waise Di, I am surprised as you have left discussing about my settlement kind of things at breakfast table nowadays. What made you to stop thinking  about  the whole and sole purpose of your birth on this earth?"
  

 A pin drop silence spread over whole Rzizada mansion. Even Laxmi stopped chewing something and HP composed himself as he was going to drop the water jar held in hand. And then suddenly the air filled with different kinds of coughing sounds.



    A quick glance around the table made him wonder and concern took over. Arnav realized  how careless he has become towards his family. All family members are suffering from severe cough and he even did not notice. He decided to make a call to his family doctor.

   If only he knew to be less alien to all this teasing and leg-pulling business. 'And here adds number two to the Cardinal business list never known to ASR.'


  "chote'" Anjali started too overwhelmed  by the topic chose.

 That put his guard ON and At that exact moment Arnav left the table in two strides and reached at the foot of stairs and declared 
 " Di, I have to prepare for an important deal. No one should disturb me till Guptas arrive."


 Shrugging her disappointment, that was immediately replaced by mischievous glint she said 
" You don't worry Chote and you don't bother about attending Guptas. We won't  disturb you for that too" How hard it is to tease your brother  keeping your face strait ..Anjali thought.


 "It's fine, Di! I can manage that one" Arnav said earnestly and went to his room.
  

  "Hello Hi Bye bye, wbhat  exactly happened  to Arnav bitiwa? Bhy ijj he carings so much for gupta peoples ? Pahale hi hamar akash bitwa carings for khoon bhari tang's family. Now Arnav bitiwa too bites the dustwa? Hamaka to lagat hai wu koi bilack magic kar diye rahe hamar beton pe." Mamiji could not control  herself from mentioning about Gupta's capabilities of doing Black Magic on 101th time. 


"Manorama apko tayar hone nahi jana?" Nani tried to divert her attention.

 "yes yes sasuma,Hum to forgetiya hi rahe. Wu parlour wali ane wali hai hamar help kare khatir. Humka jaayka  padi taiyar hone" Mamiji went to her room surprised.She had almost forgotten about an appointment with a beautician. It must be Gupta's another black magic trick indeed.

Ironically,Magic wand had indeed whirled over, few miles away on a certain Khushi  Kumari Gupta.

Prologue

 

Sweet  Dreams 

It was a seemingly normal morning at Raizada mansion resuming another day which would turn into something otherwise. Starting with a pinch of it, today THE Arnav Singh Raizada had come shockingly 55minutes earlier than his daily 60 minutes jogging routine. And was chanting "Unbelievable 's" and "What the's" with uttermost devotion.
He flew to his room.
   
"Unbelievable..."
        
exactly..thought his jawline muscles..rather they hardly knew any other set of words more to be worshiped by themselves..sure enough they marveled at their own elasticity growing day by day.

" Why am I getting so anxious for a mere deal? It's just a normal deal. Yeh..a deal..just a DEAL..! And there is no any deal on the earth which Arnav Singh Raizada can't crack'"
      
He was assuring himself while trying to make his unused organ reduce its rate of banging against his lungs.


 "Yeah..Exercise would have worked out as usual if..if only that crazy girl could keep herself out of my thoughts...It's entirely her fault..What does she think of herself?... She can't make me think of how not to think of her all the time. Arnav Singh Raizada never thinks..uhhh..no! Arnav Singh Raizada doesn't give two hoots to anybody other than his family.. no matter even if she is being/would be/may be a part of my family?"

Arnav Singh Raizada had decided to go for his daily exercise routine after failure of his umpteenth attempt to grab some sleep that night, not that he adored insomnia. He had hardly closed his eyes when that crazy girl had barged into his private area of dreams without his permission of course . He had seen her feeding jalebis to him. That had startled him even in the sleep and he had to keep his eyes open whole night so that the crazy girl wouldn't make another attempt to kill him by feeding her jalebis ..HER jalebis..piping hot.. dripping with sugary syrup..as sweet as her. 

                         



   And the thought that he called her sweet mentally, had made him jump out of his bed & start his day much earlier. So he went for jogging, hoping that would be a bit of distraction. He was just feeling better in that fresh air when he heard sound of bells in the nearby temple. And as if on cue..the next thought popped in his mind,

'I can bring her here when she accepts my deal ' before realizing what he was thinking.
 
"Unbelievable..Why should I bring that pagal Khushi Kumari Gupta to a temple? What the ? To a TEMPLE?? Really?"

Finally giving up all that distraction business from her thoughts..the only business he just found out THE ASR cannot excel' , he had to return home only 55 minutes earlier.