5.2 • Shahi Paneer

Aabru could eat without a pause when she is upset about something. And that's what she was doing the next morning. Everyone on the dining table was looking at her as if she had grown horn like a unicorn.

“Rehaan, Shahi Paneer pass karna.” She beckoned him to get the bowl of Shahi Paneer.

“Aaj toh yeh purey shehar ka khana kha jayegi.” He mumbled to himself while passing her the bowl, but Arham heard him as he was sitting on his right.

“Aabru ko upset hone par bohat zyada khana khane ki problem hai.” Arham told him. And he was sure when he had left all of a sudden she must have over-ate at the time as well.

“Aabru beta, aaram se khao. Khana bhaga nahi jaa raha.” said Samina.

“Lekin maine toh bhagna hai naa iss table se.” She thought to herself. Arham's presence was bothering her.

“Ladki, insaano ki tarah khao.” Roared the seventy year old lioness.

“Jee, Dadi Jaan.” Aabru replied positively with her mouth filled with rice.

Rehaan snickered at the scene.

💕💞💕

Rehaan was sitting in the canteen of his university. He was deep in thoughts when his friend Duniya interrupted him.

“Rehaan, kya soch rahe ho?” She asked.

“Mai yeh soch raha hoon ke Allah miya ne insaano ko itna bewakoof kyun banaya hai.” He replied, speaking his mind.

“Aisa kyun?”

“Dekh, yaar, ek baar ho hum agar deen duniya ko sideline karde toh hum insaan ek life partner kyun chahte hai?”He asked.

“Kyun ki... puri zindagi akele bitana mushkil hai.” Duniya put forth her view.

“Aur agar hum apne partner ke saath khush nahi hai toh? Again, sideline the society.” The conversation was getting deeper and deeper.

“We should let them go if things don't work out.” Duniya shrugged, because he had told her to sideline the society. Or else you all know how toxic our society is.

“Agar mai kahun ke mai apni biwi se talaak lena chahta hoon, because I know hum kabhi ek doosre se pyaar nahi kar payenge, do you think it makes sense?”

“Pyaar kyun nahi kar payenge?” She asked.

“Kyunki woh kisi aur se mahobbat karti hai aur woh koi aur mera apna bhai hai.”

“Hmm... himmat chahiye, Rehaan. Ghar wale tanaa marenge aur log baatein banayenge.”

“Agar mai logon ke bare mein sochne lag gaya toh mere bare mein kaun sochega? Duniya gayi tel lene!”

“Oye!?” She threatened him with the fork in her hand.

“Arrey, teri baat nahi kar raha!” He said with his hands up.

“Toh kya tum sach mein Aabru se talaak lena chahte ho?”

“Haan.” He nodded.

“Aur woh sach mein Arham Bhai se mahobbat karti hai?”

“Hamesha se. Aur mai aaj tak yeh nahi samajh paya ke Arham Bhai Nikkah ke dinn kyun bhag gaye.” He shared his biggest problem with his friend.

“Shayad woh Aabru se pyaar naa karte ho.” She assumed.

“Woh bhi Aabru se pyaar karte hai. Iss baat mein mujhe koi shak nahi hai.” He saw that just in the morning when Arham told him about Aabru's problem of emotional eating.

“Phir toh Arham Bhai hi tumhe asal wajah bata sakte hai.” Duniya raised her hands up in defeat.

“Bhai toh sach batane se rahe. Duniya, mujhe meri family bohat wierd lagti hai. Aisa lagta hai jaise kuch hai jo mai nahi jaanta.”

“Yeh sab tumhara weham hai, Rehaan. Ab chalo, lecture ka time ho raha hai.”

Saying so Duniya picked her bag and stood up to leave. Rehaan followed.

💕💞💕

After three bowls of ice-cream, Aabru was panting like a fish without water. Her nose and cheeks turned red. And she was coughing vigorously.

A hand forward her the medicine.

This time she knew whose hand it was. She looked at him, who was towering over her as she was sitting on the stairs.

“Agar itna khayal hai mera toh Nikkah se bhag kyun gaye the?” She asked him with a hardened expression.

“Majboori thi.” That was his reply. He put the medicine beside her and moved to leave.

“Aisi kya majboori thi ke meri bhi parwah nahi ki?” She cried.

“Tumhari parwah thi, tabhi toh chala gaya.”

Before Aabru could say something a loud roar boomed on the terrace.

“Tum dono chhat par akele kya kar rahe ho?” Dadi Jaan asked angrily.

“Dadi Jaan, woh-” But Arham was interrupted by the old lady.

“Chup! Apni hadh mein raho tum. Aabru ab Rehaan ke Nikkah mein hai.” Dadi Jaan shouted at Arham rudely.

This didn't sit well with Aabru. After all, just like Rehaan, Arham was also her grandson. Why her words made her seem so partial?

Arham silently left from the terrace.

💕💞💕

“Arrey, Rehaan, zara meri madad karna.” Samina saw Rehaan passing by the room so called him for help.

“Jee, Ammi.” Rehaan entered her mother's bedroom.

“Zara almaari ke upar se woh petiyan utaar do.” She politely requested.

“Lijiye, abhi utaar deta hoon.”

Saying so he, without need of a chair or stool, picked the containers from the top of cupboard. Thanks to his tall frame.

“Iss mein kya hai, Ammi?” He asked curiously. The containers looked pretty old.

“Inn mein mera purana samaan hai.”

Rehaan opened the containers to see old-fashioned clothes and a few albums. He randomly opened one of the albums and it had his parents' wedding photos. He smiled looking at them. His father looked so much like him in his youth while his mother was much like Arham's female version.

But then something strange caught his attention. Every picture had a date at the bottom of it. And the year was 1997. Twenty five years ago.

However, Arham was born in 1995. Two years before their parents married.

“How can this be possible?”

•••

Thoughts? 💭