𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘭𝘢, 2020
𝘋𝘪𝘷𝘺𝘢𝘢𝘯𝘵

The major problem of life is learning how to handle costly interruptions. The door that slams shut, the plan that got sidetracked, the marriage that failed. Or, that lovely poem that didn't get written because someone knocked on the door, or, the resplendent and gripping story of love & passion that got sidelined by two overstimulated crazy birds, I further added narcoleptically to the transcendent quote of the great Martin Luther King Jr, a brilliant spokesperson of the era of 1950s.

"What? You had just neglected our gorgeous Pritika on our wedding day? And what had happened to your case? Why are you skipping the important parts?" the crazy couple definitely had taken some insomniac pills the way they were fully stimulated at even two in the night. I, along with Pritika, both had sleep evident in our foci but they were inevitable to hear our story. I could've recommenced but I noticed the drowsiness in the kernels of my wife, and I adhered to start our story tonight.

Yawning babyishly, Pritika released out her little irritation, "Meera, we'll continue this story in the morning, please? I am feeling drowsy now". I knew how implausible her siesta was to repress and how much avaricious she was about it whenever our Rasgulla was gullible-sleeping.

Giving I-don't-have-a-choice-other-than-to-sleep look to my friends amalgamating it with my sorry smile, eventually, I made them go to their room which they had secretly booked according to their surprise plan for us. But I couldn't overlook the Better-you-tell-us-the-story-in-an-interesting-way look that they had thrown at us while getting up from the couch.

I dropped them till our door as any good host and a best friend would do even at two in the twilight and when I returned, I saw that Pritika was already snoring on the rug where she had sat earlier.

Was I really a poor storyteller or was my story a boring one? I couldn't fathom and looked at my Boo girl in adoration. Three years had passed yet she's still the same.

Bubbly, funny, prank-specialist, carefree, lovely and short-tempered too.

These were the adjectives that she had made me a master in from the cosmos of her arousing life and pizzaz nature.

Also, another hallmark on her featured-list, she was resistive to the insomnolence of any beverages. Coffee, water, tea, everything had already waved a white flag in front of her ascertainment for sleep. That's why caffeine didn't affect her resolution against her sleep and she had just catnapped on the rug.

Smiling at her sleeping figure, I plucked her up from the rug and settled her on the mattress. "Good night, Boo Boo," she breathed sluggishly opening her one eye in her drowsiness. No doubt I found her as the cutest and the most beautiful teddy bear of the world, I chortled at my thoughtfulness and pecked her forehead. After making sure she was correctly covered under the comforter along with our Rasgulla, I closed all the openings and the lattices, embracing the queen of sleep to submerge me too in her tranquillity and dormancy.

****

"Rasgulla, such a sweet name you've given to your daughter, Preet," cuddling Divyanka in her arms, Meera rustled out looking at our baby in adoration and love. Pritika and I could only chuckle sheepishly at that as only we were aware of the inference behind the name Rasgulla.

Contemporarily, we were in the toy train from Kalka to Shimla, it runs on a narrow-gauge track and is known for its dramatic views of the hills and surrounding villages. The historic Kalka Shimla Toy train is part of the UNESCO World Heritage List and takes individuals on a ride amongst vast green hills and deodar and pine forests and the breathtaking mountaineering ranges of Shivalik.

My mother, father, brother, sister-in-law and my niece, and nephew, everyone had already left for Chandigarh, we were the only ones who were left behind as I had taken a few days off from my firm as even I knew how unavailable I had become in the foregoing few months, I couldn't contrive to give my time to my woman and our baby. This was a golden chance to compensate out for all the times I hadn't been with them.

It was Preet's idea to go for an outing, so we as in, me, Preet, Rasgulla, Rudra and Meera had come out the four walls of our resort into the lap of the mystic nature. We had toured every famous and exquisite place of Shimla and its nearby villages, favourably, Rasgulla was in a convivial mood too, otherwise, kids could be crotchety at important outings like these.

Dusk was falling, the mosquitoes were out, goosebumps were on my arms from the evening chill, the green shrubbery now looking almost black, silhouetted, colours muted, as if they had been drained away by an invisible hand as if the artists' palette had been changed. We were returning to our stay at Shimla and four-past-thirty was the estimated time of our arrival and call it our sheer luck or a coincidence we were the only passengers inside the train so all the seats were ours to explore. The day had been spent splendidly, I breathed felicitously and looked at the slumberous and dropping eyes of all the co-passengers beside me. Five co-passengers to be precise, I added later.

Hills have early night falls, I could deduce when we finally reached the Shimla Railway station after passing through numerous tunnels and bridges and of course, those scenic beauties.

Taking my baby Rasgulla in my arms, I had made her nap using my delicate pats and thuds on her back and forehead. She had dozed off instantaneously, and when we had subsequently entered inside our rooms, we too were snoring like pigs as the hilly excursion had taken a toll on our resilience and vitality.

After a few hours of deep slumber, we were eventually awakened and the night sky stood an inky canopy of darkness freckled only by the fewest of stars, where just hours ago it had been a blue summer's day. The occasional hoot of a hidden owl was the only sound to permeate the silence until a chorus of slapping footsteps and crunching gravel echoed angrily into the emptiness of the night.

Meera and Rudra, I welcomed them both on our doorway and let them come inside our chamber. This time the story wouldn't stop, the sleep was already exercised and the food was not needed as our stomach were now elevated with the meals we had taken after waking up.

Rasgulla was still snoring and she wouldn't be waking up anytime soon as the day had been tumultuous to her too, giving us the chance to delve the chronicles of our love story. Preet was seated beside me and Rudra and Meera were settled on our front lush seat and the blower was the only electrical appliance operating inside our room as the lights were turned off, only candles were lit, creating an aesthetic aura for an amateur storyteller like me to start his eye-popping and rib-tickling tale.

****

𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘩, 2017
𝘋𝘪𝘷𝘺𝘢𝘢𝘯𝘵

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon and the truth.

Today, I was surely bestowed by some divine power or some magical vigour, a strong witness had suddenly appeared out of the blue in the court today, blindsiding each of the person present inside the dull courtroom who were already prepared to hear the death sentence of an innocent. I'd be called a liar instead of a lawyer if I am not counted in such people.

The same girl's friend had come forward to share the hideous and abysmal side of the liar who had pressed charges against my client because he had rejected her marriage proposal, citing he had raped her but the reality was, they had consensual sex. The eye witness, the phone recordings, the extortion for cash and a blackmailing video was triggering and gutsy enough for the judge to put the much-needed charges against the goddess of prevarication, using section 182 of Indian Penal Code along with the IPC ACT 499-500 which would give her a pleasant and fashionable time inside the jubilance jail along with other financial liabilities.

The truth belatedly won!

But I was still not convinced, someone's magnanimous helping hand was already inculcated in this case as I had scanned every part of the house where the crime was said to be operated but not a single source of the shreds of evidence could be vouched. The CCTV was not functioning, the police was always a crying-cranky baby to me and my men, so, not only this girl but a big party was also involved in this case, that much I could decipher.

The eye-witness was like the haven inside a parched desert for me. If not for that girl, I'd have lost along with my righteous client.

But I let it stop here only as the evening too had befallen and there was no end to my thinking process and reasoning. I exited my cabin and raced my wheels towards my residence.

The moment I merely crossed the vestibule, the most sweet-smelling aroma smacked my nostrils that was coming from the galley. Bhabhi surely was preparing my favourite exotic cuisines, I sighed in contentment and tip-toed towards the kitchen.

Walking slowly like a clandestine hoodlum, I was just going to surprise her when she turned abruptly and saw me training like a thief towards her, "Ahan. So, someone won and is in a jovial mood today?" she kidded in her happy tone, coming towards me with a steely spatula in her hands. "Yes, Bhabhi, we finally won, the truth cannot be long hidden, could it?" muttering like a baby, I hugged her, closing my eyes in sheer happiness and tranquillity.

"Congratulations, Chutku, I was so confident that you'll win this case, but am I seeing some positive drastic changes in you? What had happened so suddenly? Say, say," performing some exorcism of voodooism and related principles, she tantalisingly asked me giving me those I-know-something-special-has-happened look. I could not guess what she was hinting at? "Will ask you after our dinner," winking at me, she plodded away towards the counter from where the main mitochondria of ambrosial aroma were located at.

What was she indicating at? I couldn't get it. Giving it no second thoughts, I footslogged towards my chamber having my heart bubbling in another mysterious contentment and joy.

After having my favourite delicacies down my oesophagus, I was sauntering carelessly in our garden under the enthralling moonlit night when I heard Ambika Bhabhi's voice calling out for me. She was just behind me in her night suit with a glass barrel in her hands. I looked puzzled registering her accessories and sudden call for me.

"Head massage?" bringing the bottle a little in the air, she asked doubtingly. Who could say no for a head massage, I nodded my head with a smile and advanced towards the garden bench. She perched on the seat and I, on the lush ground with my eyes closed as her magical hands started doing wonders on my head.

Not being able to hold her inquisitiveness anymore, she asked dubiously, "You wanted to say something?". I could only close my eyes more tightly as I knew at what she was betokening at since the beginning. Three long hours of processing and rationalising had asserted these out. "Bhabhi, can someone's mere glance change our whole day which we hadn't even dreamt about?" I asked the one enigma which was playing table tennis in my cognisance since the time I had conquered this lost case.

"It can happen, Chutku. Sometimes some people are serendipitous for us and they bring immense fortune and prosperity for us. But why are you asking this?" still massaging my head, she articulated in a catechism manner. "You know I was losing this case, all the pieces of evidence I had collected were not enough to claim those charges as false but today, out of the blue, everything changed and I won, ultimately," I explained emphatically, the flashback of yesterday's night and today's morning event already playing merry-go-round inside my crest.

"So, who's responsible for this sudden winning of yours?" her hands had stopped working inside my tendrils and her voice too had lowered down. I could just wish that she won't hyperventilate once I tell her that it's about a girl that I was talking about.

"A girl I met yesterday in Rudra's engagement ceremony, I mean she wasn't even a girl but a grown-up kid in the body of a woman, but I don't know why I had felt very confident and sturdy when I had encountered her again in the morning on the traffic signal. Before that, I was exploding tension and raw tension in my environment," I had opened my eyes and started explaining all the things that had happened with me since the last night.

Sighing soundly, I continued, "You won't believe it, Bhabhi but she was very unconventional than all the girls I have been confronted with. You know, yesterday, she was playing hide-and-seek with some invisible person and had booed on me thinking I was that invisible friend of hers. And consequently adding to her type of dark game at that ungodly hour, she was wearing a black dress too. Can you believe that?".

I snickered and recommenced, "And today, she was bursting her larynx apart and croaking out a song in her car when we were on the signals. And crazy girl, she hadn't even worn her seat-belt! Even our Tannu and Mannu are aware of traffic rules, but that kiddo! Albeit she is very entertaining, you could've seen her reaction, Bhabhi. She was behaving like she had seen a demon when she had noticed me just beside her. Joker girl," I ultimately concluded my fascinating story at a laughing note, reminiscing about all those teheeing times that she had presented to me in just two rendezvous.

"Divyaant, this is the first time that you had noticed so much in a girl and also retrieving about all those minute details that had trespassed between you two, isn't it incredulous?"

Suddenly I sensed that I had been launched on a stage full of judging audience, my face turned heated and my hands had already stopped extirpating the green blades.

The curvy smile on my lips had been rotated by 180º and later, migrated towards my forehead, knitting a deep frown on my crest.

"Bu..." I was out of words momentarily, all the merchandise of my words were stock-out, I was left empty with just one person's thoughts and about her reminisces only.

Whatever Bhabhi said was unconditionally true, I hadn't even regarded any girl before forget about her wearing a black dress or a seat-belt, I hadn't cared much. Instead of hormones and haemoglobin, LLB and LLM were running inside my system, I was a no-heck given person, not a knocking-on-the-windowpane-for-helping-a-girl-in-need kinda person.

This was the first time I had broken my own legacy and acted on my instincts and not on my susceptible brain cells. But this incident was different. All the day long I had kept recollecting about the events that had transpired since yesterday night, from our first meeting to our second rendezvous.

Could a girl leave such an ever-lasting effect on me? Was she L'Oreal Paris, leaving long-lasting effects? I would've laughed it off if someone would've asked me a day before yesterday but today even I was worn out in the web of being affected and cemented to the one-day-old past.

Ambika Bhabhi likewise left me on my own reverie but not before whistling and humming a famous romantic song of the era of the booming and glorious old songs.

Pehla Nasha, Pehla Khumar
Naya Pyaar hai, Naya intezaar

(The first intoxication, the first hangover
This love is new, this wait is new)

Does black magic exist? I started playing quiz with my brilliance.

~**⁕**~

So, how's it?

What do you think about black magic?;)