Happy Reading

Nisha opened her laptop and sat yawning in front of it. Her day was boring because of Sonakshi's absence. She had two reports to study on her mail but all she could do was yawn.

"Aise toh kaam hi nahi khatam hoga." Nisha rubbed her eyes. "Kya karu? Kya karu?"

She kept on thinking over ideas which could send her sleep on a world tour and then suddenly she got it! She closed the G Mail window and opened the Google search bar.

Devrat Dixit

She typed and waited for the results to load. There were links of wikipedia, facebook, instagram and twitter. India Forums threads lay in front of her. Links to fanfictions and VMs were also on the page. She first stalked Dev's insta account. His bio read "Actor" nothing else. He hardly posted pictures, he barely tweeted or held #AskDev sessions. The last one he had was when he had waited at the hospital for her. The one before that was held in 2017.

She next went on to read what Wikipedia had to say about him. After a brief introduction of his name, it's meaning, his year of birth and nationality, the page was full of his work and awards he had received. It talked about his female fan following and him being one of the handful TV celebs with 1M+ followers on Instagram.

Nisha went back to the search results and was about to hit the back button and go back to work when she read the title of a link which opened at India Forums.

It read:

Devrat Dixit is a popular name in the Indian Television's history but what is interesting is the absence of any information about his past, about his life before becoming the known face he is today. None of his social media accounts have any mention of his parents or where he is from?

There is no day out or family visit of Dev with any news channel.

Why do you think it is so?

"Dev's an orphan. Sonakshi told me." Nisha said. "What's the point of hiding his background like this? Well there should be something about him on any web portal."

Nisha read the comments but got bored of the blind fangirling and aggressive supportive remarks to the one who dared to write this.

She searched Dev's parents and Dev's hometown but only met with similar theories about him. Youtube was filled with videos about this theory. The edits, the uploaders had used were cringe worthy but still the fact that Devrat Dixit's past had no mention of it on the world wide web made her suspicious.
...........

Sonakshi had joined work on the sets. The show had been damaged beyond repair but she had to do something. She was too busy watching the episodes, reading the scripts, discussing various ideas with her team that she lost track of time.

Sonakshi was the one who had bound the team together. Without her the oldies had had a fall out with Nikki and Sourabh. She was having a tough time in making the team work with each other in harmony.

Oblivious to all the problems Sonakshi had been facing, Dev was standing outside the canteen at the same time when they used to meet earlier.

"Pehle toh khud mere peeche peeche ghumti thi, mujhse pehle yaha khadi hoti thi. Aaj madam ka koi naam aur nishan hi nahi hai." Dev said.

He went inside the canteen, ordered his regular coffee and sandwiches. He took small bites so that he could waste as much time as he could. Why was Sonakshi not getting out of her damned cabin?

"Shot ke liye bula lenge Sona." Dev muttered.

*play the video*

He rested his head on the wall behind him and stared at the ceiling. The wall was shared between the canteen and the writer's cabin. After getting exhausted Sonakshi touched her head with the wall behind. The day was so tiring!

Tere Mere Beech Mein
Tere Mere Beech Mein
Kaisa Hai Yeh Bandhan Anjaana
Kaisa Hai Yeh Bandhan Anjaana
Maine Nahin Jaana Tune Nahin Jaana
Maine Nahin Jaana Tune Nahin Jaana
Tere Mere Beech Mein
Kaisa Hai Yeh Bandhan Anjaana

Dev went to prepare for the next shot.

"Sir shot ready hai." Someone called him.

"Shot!" He laughed remembering one of his initial encounters with Sonakshi and her dairy milk shots.

He looked at his outfit. The T shirt was too loose for his taste. He liked the print and design though. He remembered the mini war Sonakshi had waged against his dress designer. His clothes had improved after it but the girl had to listen to so much from Ishwari that day.

She was within a radius of a few metres from him and he hadn't seen her for the entire day. Restlessness was rising within him.

Ek dor kheeche duja dauda chala aaye
Ek dor kheeche duja dauda chala aaye
Kache dhage me bandha chala jaaye
Aise jaise koi ...
Aise jaise koi deewana
Aise jaise koi deewana

Maine nahi jana tune nahi jana
Tere mere beech me kaisa hai ye bandhan anjana

He went to rehearse for the scene and to his delight Sonakshi was there already. Some things never change, she wouldn't let Ishwari sabotage her script with her stupid direction.

"Waise tum nahi thi Sonakshi toh mera kaam thoda jaldi nikal jata tha, koi tokne wala nahi tha." Ishwari said with a fake smile.

"Iss umar me itna tez nahi chalna chahiye. Dheere dheere kam karengi sehat ke liye bhi sahi rahega." Sona gave it back to her. Some muffled laughters escalated the drain of colour from Ishwari's face.

"Lights!" Ishwari screamed.

"Good one." Dev tried to encourage Sonakshi but she just smiled and focussed her attention back to the scene's preparation.

She was trying her level best to focus on her work. She knew Dev was right beside her but she couldn't let her feelings control her now.

Dev took 13 takes before the shot was approved by Ishwari. He couldn't concentrate any more.

Neend na aaye mujhe chain na aaye
Neend na aaye mujhe chain na aaye
Lakh jatan karu roka na jaaye
Sapno me tera
Sapno me tera aana jaana
Sapno me tera aana jaana

Maine nahi jana tune nahi jana
Tere mere beech me kaisa hai ye bandhan anjana
Kaisa hai ye bandhan anjana

Dev had difficulty in shooting the entire day. He resigned to his make up room. He had seen Sonakshi hang out with the other members of the cast. She, he felt, wasn't missing him. She was happy with her dad.

"Good! She has moved on." Dev muttered.

He looked at his reflection in the big mirror of his room. He dumped himself in a chair in front of the mirror. Slowly he opened the drawer on his desk. He saw a file kept in it and with hesitant hands he took it out. There were yellow tainted pages in it and in between them, he found what he was looking for it.

(Pragati Dixit)

Dev stared at the picture and lost track of time. He was floating back to his past.

Devrat Dixit was born and brought up in Thane. His father was in the police services while his mother looked after him and his orphaned cousin Vikram Tripathi (Vicky).

Dev grew up in a house run by discipline and values. He was sort of a rebel and with his cousin, he loved breaking rules at school. Both the brothers were inseperable at college too. They would always hang out in the college canteen or basket ball court. Their professors hardly recognized them for their class attendance but mostly for the bunks and troubles they caused.

Dev was the boy's basketball team captain and Vicky was the second best player at the court. They were the regular cool guys.

There was only one girl at college who did not swoon over the charisma of the two brothers. Her name was Pragati Koli - the captain of the girl's basket ball team. Dev fancied her. His crush kept on growing day by day.

Devrat Dixit got everything he had ever asked for in life except Pragati who never seemed to take notice of him. He used to follow her like a puppy but she was too absorbed in the game and her classes that she didn't actually care for him.

One day, Dev, counting on his nerve proposed Pragati, in front of the entire crowd assembled in the canteen. She, as expected, denied the offer. Dev felt dejected but did not back out. He apologized for putting her "in the spot" in front of so many people. He asked her if she could accept him as her friend and he promised that in return he would unconditionally support her and guard her honour.

Pragati couldn't reject him this time.

Dev's life turned into a Bollywood movie where he became Rahul and Pragati became Anjali. He could hardly ever supress his true feelings for her and with time, Pragati could see the real Dev and she too told Dev that she loved him.

When the whole world seemed to be singing in his happiness, Dev forgot that their was one person who was not too happy. Vicky felt ignored and forgotton in the entire DevGati scenario.

Vicky was still a petty lout but Dev had turned mature and responsible. For Pragati, Dev was becoming a better person.

Dev's parents who had taunted the two boys for their mischiefs now began comparing Dev and Vicky. In a rude fight at college the two of them, fell apart! Jealousy led Vicky to get serious for his education and after finishing college Vicky got a good package in a multi national company.

Dev signed up for a post graduation programme but his heart was beating for his passion. He told Pragati about his dream to become an actor. She supported him even when his parents weren't too happy about his audition.

His looks and skill soon got him into ads. He did few music videos and then finally got a daily soap. It was November 2011 when Vicky contacted them again.

He was running a start up of his own when the concept of it wasn't popular. He wanted the Dixits to join him on an event in Taj Hotel where he would be awarded.

Meanwhile, the crew of Dev's show were prepared to leave for Singapore where he had to shoot a honeymoon sequence. Pragati's insecurity was growing day by day. She feared that the lime light may snatch Dev away. So she insisted on getting married before Dev left for his shoot.

Dev had to do something for taking her insecurities away. So, in a jiffy, Pragati and Dev got married.

Dev left for Singapore in the middle of November. On 26th November 2011 Dev's parents reached Taj Hotel. They asked the staff about Vicky's event but surprisingly they had no clue about it. Before they could leave the hotel they were caught in the 26/11 bomb blasts.

Dev came back to find his parent's dead body. It took him months to get back to normalcy. He could barely focus on work and lost the daily soap he was doing.

Vicky prospered exponentially. Dev suspected him to be behind his parent's death. How did he expand his business so much in such a short notice? Why did he call his parents to the hotel when there was no such event? Where was he during that time?

Dev never got answers to those questions.

He grew miserable over the coming months. Pragati was running their house on her income. She was nursing her husband like he was a little kid. She heard all his theories about Vicky and his hand in his parents' death. He suspected him to be connected to the underworld but Pragati refused all such possibilities.

Dev began to lose touch with sanity and fell into clinical depression. His medicines began costing a fortune in their financial conditions.

Dev could hear voices in his head - of his parents, of Vicky. He had visions of Pragati with other men. He used to shout at her. She used to explain his medical condition but he never believed her. He threw his medicines away.

All of Pragati's relatives advised her to quit the marriage. It was getting difficult for her to manage her job with a mental husband at home.
Her parents advised her to admit Dev to a hospital for lunatics.

She finally decided to consult another doctor for Dev's depression which had now changed into schizophrenia. The doctor gave Dev high doses of medicines to bring him back to reality. When he began to recover the psychiatrist told Pragati to let him join some TV commercials or anything else that he liked to get him distracted and engaged.

Slowly and gradually Dev could be trusted to act like a normal human in public places. His passion for art made him find his way back to TV commercials and as a background dancer for music videos. He began painting and his art became famous.

"It's normal for a schizophrenic to do well in the field of art. Their brains are hyperactive and Mr. Dixit is making a speedy recovery." The doctor used to say

Dev gave auditions for side characters and began appearing on small screen as the male lead's friend. Then he did comedy shows on Sab TV. Finally, after his exceptional performance in a mythological series Dev became established as a well known face on TV.

Pragati was like a war casualty in Dev's journey to normalcy. She had sticked to Dev for a long time but she had nearly finished her career for him. The medicine's Dev ate had a lot of side effects, one of them was cutting down his life span. They were anabolics and increased his weight so Dev had to spend a lot of time in the gym.

For Pragati, the marriage stopped being a two people affair. The love between them had vaporised. Dev's life was an uphill climb and even after his recovery, it was always about him. It was only about nursing Dev. She had been there for Dev but when he could, for once, care about her, her ambition, he was busy in mending his life. They became two people living together as roommates. All emotions of a marriage were gone. She was expecting some care and attention from him but he wasn't even aware about her disappointment.

Finally, after several interviews she found a job for which she had to move to Australia.

The doctor advised against shifting Dev from his home ground. Anything could trigger his disease back.

Pragati Dixit had had enough of matters being only about Dev. She moved to Australia leaving her vulnerable husband behind.

Dev kept himself together with the thought that he was staying behind to let Pragati fly.

It had been 4 years that Dev had not heard from Pragati. None of his colleagues knew that he was even married.

He had accepted Pragati's betrayal as a return gift for the tough times he gave her.

He had forgotten about love until he met a girl at his current show's launch party. They had bumped into each other that day and in the dim light he felt like he saw Pragati Dixit again. The girl introduced herself as Sonakshi Bose, the creative head of his project. He knew nothing would remain the same ....

.... To be continued

Precap - The DevAkshi story from Dev's POV

That's why bade budhe have said don't judge a book by it's cover :)