(Prescribed Insanity) Chapter XIV : Lucky Charms

 

 

“Khushi do you realize-” Arnav said from between clenched teeth, “-that I was in the middle of my lunch when you texted me about your “urgency”? That I literally left everything and came upstairs thinking that something-”

 

“Ohho. Tch tch.” Khushi interrupted him, and shook her head in mock regret. “You shouldn’t have left your lunch, no. Why didn’t you tell me? By the way you can bring your plate here and eat. I don’t mind.”

 

She was greeted with flared nostrils and a flexed jaw in reply. “No, thank you,” Arnav replied, “I would much rather leave for office. Once I find where the hell Di is, that is.”

 

“Di is still not home?” Khushi asked, surprised.

 

“Does it look from my face that she is?” he asked back.

 

“No, from your face it looks like she has eloped with Nihaal Khurrana and right now, somewhere in some temple in Delhi, a priest is tying them into an eternal knot. Geez. Will you relax? She’ll come home okay? She’s older than you. And might I say, much wiser.”

 

“No you might not.” Arnav snapped back. “And now you shut up and rest, and I’m going downstairs to look for her.”

 

“Okay, but at least have some water and calm down first,” Khushi said to him in an assuaging voice, pulling her Hello-Kitty bottle from her handbag and extending it towards Arnav with a generous expression on her face.

 

Needless to say, the offer was not accepted.

 

 

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Hardly twenty minutes had passed since, when there was a knock on the door and Anjali Singh Raizada barged into the guest room like a forceful gust of wind.

 

“Oh hi, Di. You’re back,” Khushi said pleasantly.

 

“Yes Khushi, and I heard you have a really terrible fever. I’m so sorry,” Anjali said, her eyes not on Khushi, but sweeping across the breadth of the room. She looked positively livid. “By the way Khushi, was Chotte here by any chance?”

 

“I’m fine Di,” Khushi replied, “I have been trying to make everyone understand but they’re hell bent on treating me like a terminally ill patient. And yes, Arnav just left a while ago. You’re looking for him?”

 

“Oh, I’m looking for him alright,” Anjali said icily as she marched the length of the room, walking to and fro in front of the bed on which Khushi lay. Something about the way her teeth were set together, and her nostrils flared, reminded Khushi of Arnav and in that moment, she could really see the resemblance between the siblings with her own eyes.

 

“Do you know what kind of a scene he created downstairs a moment ago, Khushi?” Anjali fumed. “Thank God, Nihaal Khurrana had left me at the gate otherwise I can’t begin to imagine how I would have explained Chotte’s behavior to him. And all for what? Because I took a ride from a perfect gentleman who is by the way just as dreamy in real life as he is on television, and that we happened to get a little delayed?  Anyway so what?! Tell me, what is wrong with that? Do you even know how dreamy that delay was? I would tell you Khushi, but right now I’m too furious at Chotte.”

 

Khushi shook her head sympathetically, allowing the woman in front of her to rant to her heart’s desire.

 

“And then before I could give him a fine scolding over how he was behaving like I eloped with Nihaal, and stabbed a knife into his back or something, he marched upstairs and has now disappeared. You wait till I find him. He will rue the day he raised his voice at me!”

 

“Di, do you want water?” Khushi offered, extending her Hello-Kitty bottle again, this time towards Anjali, and the offer was accepted. Anjali walked towards her and mumbled a quick “thank you” and then took a couple of gulps on the water to soothe her temper.

 

“Do you know Khushi, when Chotte was two years old, he had thrown up in my face once. Have I ever taken any revenge for that? No. But is he grateful for it? Hell, no! I call him “Chotte”. CHOTTE. The name by default means that he is the one who is supposed to be respecting me and not the other way around.”

 

The bottle had been handed back, and Anjali had resumed pacing across the length of the room. Khushi’s eyes followed her around, as she sat on the bed in the role of a mute spectator.

 

“But he’s forgetting that he is not the only Raizada in this house,” Anjali said, with pride and determination in her eyes. “In fact between the two of us, I’m the senior Raizada, so by default I am twice as obstinate. I’ll go find him now. And if he comes to your room again, Khushi, you tell him that I have said that one day I’m going to marry Nihaal Khurrana and he can sit and twiddle his thumbs on it for all I care!”

 

Anjali turned on her heels and marched towards the door.

 

“Di!” Khushi called out to her. “Will you really?”

 

Anjali turned around. “Really what?”

 

“Will you really marry Nihaal Khurrana one day?”

 

At this, a small smile broke out on Anjali’s face and her eyes sparkled. She chuckled softly. “Yeah right,” she said wryly, “like that’s ever happening! But doesn’t hurt to say it and make Chotte fume a little, does it? Now you rest Khushi, I’ll go downstairs and try to find my brother. Feel better, okay? Oh, and I heard Payal is coming. Great. I can’t wait to share juicy Nihaal Khurrana details with her before Chotte completely ruins the experience for me.”

 

So saying, Anjali smiled warmly and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

 

---

 

 

 

Five minutes later, there was a loud knock on the door and Arnav stormed inside the guest room.

 

“Khushi, was Di here?” he asked Khushi, who was back to swinging her feet to and fro in front of her, as she half sat, half lay, on the bed.

 

“Yes,” she nodded. “And she has said that one day she is going to get married to Nihaal Khurrana and you can sit and twiddle your thumbs on it if you want to. I must say, by the way – you are like, really bad at disaster management.”

 

“Like hell she will,” Arnav said through clenched teeth, and turned around to storm out of the door once again.

 

 

---

 

 

 

At the next knock, Khushi didn’t even bother craning her neck forward to see who it was. It turned out to be Devyani Raizada.

 

“Bitiya,” the matriarch of the Raizada household asked her gently but in a concerned voice. “I hate to disturb you but have either of my grandchildren been to this room by any chance?”

 

“Actually both of them were just here, Naniji,” Khushi replied with a sympathetic smile on her face. “Separately, of course. And then both went off looking for the other.”

 

Devyani Raizada shook her head in disappointment. “Who would say these two are grown-ups? They still fight like they did more than two decades ago. And you bitiya, what must you be thinking of us. Here you came in the hope of some rest, and we can’t even provide you with fifteen minutes of peace in this madhouse.”

 

Khushi laughed and shook her head dismissively. “Not at all Naniji. If anything, this source of entertainment is highly welcome. I am not a person who does well in isolation when sick. I don’t know what to do with myself while on bed-rest. As for the sibling fights, trust me I have a sister so I know very well how the equation works. When Jiji and I were kids, we used to pull each other’s braids with both hands in a fight and whoever managed to bring the other down and onto the floor in the process was declared the winner.”

 

If that imagery disturbed Devyani Raizada, she did not let it show on her face. With the exception of a slight crease between her brows that smoothed itself out seconds after its appearance on her forehead, she remained her graceful self and smiled back warmly in Khushi’s direction.

 

“So I suppose you wouldn’t mind if I sat with you for a few moments and catch my breath, bitiya?” she asked Khushi.

 

After Khushi’s assurance that she would, in fact be very grateful for some company, Devyani Raizada made herself comfortable in the wicker chair placed by the door. The seventy year old was known for her calculated decision making skills, and not even the simple act of catching a few breaths in a guestroom before she headed downstairs to pull her squabbling grandchildren apart was without ulterior motive. She had, after all, been meaning to have a tete-a-tete with Khushi Kumari Gupta for a while now.

 

“I hope Chotte didn’t give you a hard time on the way here, bitiya,” Devyani said, fixing her clever gaze upon the girl now sitting cross-legged on the bed in front of her. “He hardly ever bothers himself with people, but the few that he does care for, he tends to obstinately obsess over them. Quite enough to suffocate them with all the hovering around and attention, in fact.”

 

Devyani watched with quiet, mild, amusement as twin spots of pink appeared on Khushi’s cheeks at the implication that she was one of those “few” that Arnav cared for. They disappeared soon enough, but not without catching notice of a sharp pair of eyes.

 

“No Naniji,” Khushi said, shaking her head in the negative. “I mean, there was a lot of jaw clenching, teeth grinding, shouting, blackmailing, and obstinacy involved but I think he was just unnecessarily worrying over my fever- which to be honest with you, is seriously not that bad.”

 

Devyani Raizada now grinned on the inside. The girl certainly didn’t mince her words. Perfect. On the outside, however, she feigned worry and concern.

 

“Tell me about the jaw clenching and teeth grinding bitiya. Somedays I worry for his teeth, I really do. Good that you’re there to take care of that bit at least. But what do I do with this boy. What is it that he needs, I wonder?”

 

Khushi, ever ready to give a piece of her mind on every existing topic in the universe, immediately blurted out- “Yoga, Naniji. I think he needs yoga.”

 

And now, Devyani Raizada who was amused to no end at the suggestion, burst out into full fledged laughter.

 

“Yoga you say, han? Very well, bitiya. Very well. Have you ever suggested it to him?”

 

“No, but I will,” Khushi confidently replied.

 

“Please make sure I am around when you do,” Devyani said, a grin firmly plastered on her face. “But you know what would also help?”

 

“What?” Khushi asked, now properly invested in this conversation revolving around Arnav Singh Raizada.

 

“I think it would do him well to fall in love. I hear people lose their minds and gain their sanity quite simultaneously while falling in love. Don’t you think?”

 

At this Khushi chuckled. “Imagine Arnav Singh Raizada falling in love!” she guffawed, “I would love to be around to see that miracle if it were to ever happen!”

 

“Well I’m counting on you to be around bitiya,” Devyani said suggestively, and yet so quickly changed the topic in the next breath that Khushi hardly had time to dwell on what she had said. “Anyway forget all this, what about you bitiya?” she asked, “I’m sorry if I’m being an annoying intrusive grandma right now, but it’s the age you see. Do you have anyone in your life? I am sure you must, such a wonderful, pretty girl you are.”

 

Khushi blushed slightly, then shook her head in the negative. “No Naniji, I’m not seeing anyone. I mean, I have had boyfriends in the past- one second- I’m sorry if you-”

 

“Oh no, no bitiya. You can talk to me about boyfriends. Don’t go by my age- we old ones need to learn how to catch up with the times. Even my Anjali has dated before. So you were saying?”

 

With that green flag waved, Khushi proceeded without hesitation. “I have had boyfriends Naniji, three to be precise. Two in high school and one in college. All three of them however have lasted for one week, two weeks, and three weeks respectively. I’m almost expecting my next romantic engagement to be of sharp four weeks given the trend.”

 

“Heaven forbid!” Devyani interjected immediately.

 

“No seriously Naniji. I have the worst luck in men. So my first one left because MJ- you know our neighbor’s dog Manohar Jha?- Yes, so MJ bit him in the calf and he broke up with me via text the next day. The next one- well, I baked a cake for him for his birthday and after tasting it he kind of spiraled out of my orbit very fast. And the college boyfriend I broke up with on my own initiative. You would not believe what he did, Naniji.”

 

“What bitiya?” Devyani asked, properly curious and equally concerned by now.

 

“One day we were heading for home on a bus and I had been talking for forty five minutes straight, and when I stopped to catch for breath I realized he had plugged in ear plugs inside his ears and had not listened to a word I said all the while. When I confronted him about it, he said I talk too much. Me! Can you imagine that Naniji? I have never felt so insulted my entire life, so I left him. That lasted for three weeks, but that was probably because I didn’t discover the ear plugs sooner. After that I decided that I was quite done with men, and I said no to everyone who approached me since.”

 

Devyani Raizada managed to stifle the laughter in her throat with great difficulty.

 

“That…is very sad bitiya. Good that you dumped him. A man who cannot talk to you without ear plugs, does not deserve you at all.”

 

“Thank you Naniji. Although you know what Jiji says? She says that I am such an item that the universe will need decades between my first meeting with a guy and him falling in love with me, because that is how long it takes to come to terms with who I am.”

 

She said this with such a sorrowful and cute pout, that Devyani Raizada felt her heart flutter out towards the girl. If there had been any doubts in her head, they were wiped clean now. Khushi’s squeaky clean honesty and innocence, made Devyani yearn for the story that was unfolding before her own eyes to quickly pick pace. She rose from her chair with a smile. “Well then lets hope that a couple of decades are enough for the universe.” The suggestive remark was yet again brushed away with a quick “and you must definitely rest now bitiya. I have disturbed you quite enough in illness. I will send someone up to let you know once your sister is here.” So saying, she turned around and headed out of the door, feeling happier and more relieved than she had in a long time.

 

 

---

 

 

 

The next time there was a knock on the door, Khushi considered leaving it wide open once and for all. Clearly the Raizadas made no difference between guest rooms and living rooms. The door was pushed open and Arnav’s face emerged from behind.

 

“Hello again Mr. Raizada. Who are you looking for now? Seriously, you guys need one of those Hogwarts Marauder’s maps in your house given how no one seems to be able to locate anyone else.”

 

“I’ve come to tell you that Payal is here,” Arnav replied, ignoring her unwelcomed advise per usual.

 

“Jiji?”

 

“No, the piece of jewelry. Of course your sister. Which other Payal-”

 

“Oh my God can you answer a simple question without sarcasm? I just asked because I’m surprised she is here already- I had thought it would have taken her longer. But great, I can leave now,” she said, straightening herself on the bed and pulling her handbag towards herself.

 

“No you stay here. I’ll tell Payal to come see you here.”

 

“And what? Jiji will carry me in her arms downstairs? Have you seen my Jiji Mr. Raizada? Sometimes she has tumbled on the ground while carrying a basket of laundry.”

 

Arnav rolled his eyes. “I meant she can come and see for herself if you are fit to go back just yet. Otherwise you can just wait for the fever to come down a little in an hour or so and then leave. You’ve just had Paracetamol. No point harassing yourself for no reason-”

 

“Arre, why would I lie here when my perfectly good bed is waiting for me at home? And I’m not so weak and sick that I can’t even walk. I have run races in school with a fever, Arnav. Like I said, it’s all just inside the brain. Watch me.”

 

So saying, Khushi slipped her arm through her handbag and energetically swung her legs from the bed to the floor. Then in just as abrupt a movement, she stood to her feet and began marching across the wide length of the Raizada guestroom towards the door.

 

For all her big talk, Khushi Kumari Gupta’s body was after all a human body that was just about done with her shit and decided to revolt against the nonsensical torture she was inflicting upon it in a state where it needed rest and care. She had barely managed to reach the door, when the world began to swim in front of her eyes. Every object (including a certain Mr. Raizada standing at the door) immediately split into two, and danced in a see-saw movement in her line of vision. The handbag slipped from her hand and onto the floor as Khushi tried to grab at the nearest object of support to steady herself lest she fainted in a heap onto the floor. When she clutched onto nothing but thin air, she retracted her hands and pressed them on to her temples in the hope of clearing her vision.

 

The next thing she knew, she felt something solid wrap around her in a rigid grip and felt pulled into an embrace against a solid, warm wall, the support of which she gladly welcomed at that moment and her palms involuntarily fisted into what felt like the lapels of a shirt. She blinked rapidly, forcefully in a desperate attempt to clutch at the remnants of consciousness, and just as she did, she felt herself scooped up into the same solid arms that had wrapped themselves around her moments ago. As an involuntarily, feeble “oomph!” left her mouth in a gasp, she found herself raised a good length above the ground, and staring into a pair of honey colored eyes which were looking intently into her own.

 

She blinked again, and the face in front of her became clearer.

 

“I’m fine, I’m fine. I didn’t faint. Thank you,” she said, weakly.

 

“You were right,” he bent his head and whispered into her right ear. “It’s all in the brain. Too bad you don’t have one.”

 

If that couldn’t snap Khushi back into proper consciousness, nothing could. She let out an offended gasp and narrowed her eyes at him.

 

“Excuse me? First of all, you are supposed to wait for a person to faint before you lift them off their feet like this. If you had just waited, you would have seen that I wouldn’t have fainted and would’ve managed to stay on my feet. You didn’t give me time before pulling off a Clark Kent on me.”

 

“If I would have waited, you would be lying unconscious, horizontally on the floor,” he replied, his arms still holding her steadily within their confines.

 

“I would not,” Khushi snapped back, trying very hard to ignore the sudden appearance of flutters inside her stomach. “And look what you did- all my stuff is now on the floor. And Pingu I think has rolled himself underneath the bed.”

 

“I’m sorry, what?”

 

“Pingu the penguin. My penguin which was till moments ago inside my handbag.”

 

“Okay I have to ask,” Arnav said giving in to his curiosity finally, “in as few words as possible, what the hell was a penguin doing inside your bag?”

 

“Oh, that. Well, it all started some ten years ago-”

 

“Khushi I said as few words as possible.”

 

“Oho I’m trying to give you proper context. Shut up and listen. So ten years ago I went to this annual fair with Jiji, Maa and Baba and there was this contest going on where if you hit a certain score on the dart, you could take home a stuffed animal with you-”

 

(Arnav, now, had begun moving with her towards the bed.)

 

“-and I was losing every single time. One ticket cost like forty rupees and I had exhausted some four hundred rupees without any luck. And then suddenly the guy who was organizing the contest keeps Pingu at the desk in front of me and says “Madamji, this is the smallest soft toy we have available. Just try to win this. If its lucky for you, and if it’s meant to be yours, the dart will hit correctly this time”. So-”

 

“Khushi you know what? Stop talking. You will worsen your fever again. Tell me later, if you must,” Arnav said, now having reached the foot of the bed.

 

“-Oho listen quietly. This is the interesting part. So I hit the dart and what do you know? Guess, guess. That’s right, sir- straight to the bull’s eye! I have rarely ever been as ecstatic with joy, and allow me to tell you, I am ecstatic with joy very often. That was the day I realized that this penguin is lucky for me-”

 

“Khushi, quiet.” Arnav instructed, more strictly this time for nobody’s benefit since it had absolutely zero effect on the audience. He leaned lower towards the bed, taking her along with him, aligning her head towards the pillow.

 

“-Yes I’m almost done. So I realized that this penguin is lucky for me, and boy have I been proven right. Time and again, whenever this penguin has been near and around me, wonderful things have happened in my life. Guess who was around me when I checked every single entrance exam results that I have ever made through? That’s right. Guess who was in my bag the first time I got a client into the clinic on my own name? Him. Guess who was around when I finished my first critical dental surgery successfully? Again, him. Guess who was around when I-”

 

“Khushi,” she heard the raspy sound of her name and stopped mid-speech to look into eyes inches away from her, that had an expression in them very different from the high-handed, rebuking, tone of his voice. Arnav’s one hand was now trapped between her and the bed as he lowered her into it, and with the other, he raised a finger towards his lips in a gesture to silence her.

 

“Shhh. I said, shhh. Stop talking.” he whispered, close to her face.

 

So close.

 

Khushi swallowed forcefully, words dying on her lips as the sudden awareness of his presence inches away from her, and his arms still stuck underneath her back, dawned upon her in full measure. Her eyelashes fluttered in dazed confusion and she opened her mouth to say something, but suddenly, nothing seemed to come out. The deafening sound of her heartbeat was all she could hear at that moment, as her eyes trailed from his eyes to where his index finger was placed on his lips in a silencing gesture. As her gaze drifted south, his own eyes followed them and he swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing inside his throat. The smell of jasmine fused with woody fragrance of his cologne and left them both breathless in the next instant.

 

If after two decades, something had remained unchanged, it was a certain Arnav Singh Raizada’s ability to silence a certain Khushi Kumari Gupta in the embrace of his arms. From the time near the cradle, when he had effectively shushed her wailing, to now, some two decades later when he had effectively shushed her endless speech, Mr. Raizada seemed to have a few silencing tricks up his sleeve (which time would tell that he had only just begun to explore).

 

Oh, and guess who happened to be around again? If only lucky stuffed penguins could smile, there would have been one widely grinning penguin underneath the bed in the Raizada guestroom.

 

 

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Hola friends! How is everyone doing? I was sick myself the last week (talk about coincidences am I right?) and therefore haven’t been able to respond to all your comments on the last update of Untold Stories yet. I have however, gone through them all and will take this opportunity to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being thoughtful enough to spare a few moments of your time after reading the updates, to leave your thoughts and footprints behind.  

Also, I have been receiving quite a few pings regarding Unexpectedly Expected and when I plan to make it available here on the blog. UE is available on IndiaForums at the moment, and once I find the time to do the minimum formatting required to make it presentable for the blog, I’ll publish it here too. Unfortunately not getting the time for it while shuttling between two stories as of now

How did you like the chapter, btw? Eagerly waiting to hear from you! Tell tell. Or as SRK said in Main Hoon Na-

“Khamosh kyun ho, jo bhi kehna hai kaho,

Dil chahe jitna, pyaar utna maang lo,

Tumko milega utna pyaar, main hoon na” 😉 

[So, kiska hai ye tumko intezaar? Silent readers, are you listening? Hehehe.]