Happy Reading

There is no sun rising behind mighty mountains or no beaches with beautiful sunsets but this place is the closest to Naina Agarwal's heart - Ahemdabad. Another lazy city waking and working with its own pace, hiding a million stories in its heart. One such story belongs to Naina Agarwal and Sameer Maheshwari.

At 6 in a Summer morning, the door of the balcony of a flat in Nirmal Jyoti Society opened. A girl, 21 year old, stepped out in her old, purple night suit. She rubbed her eyes and welcomed the morning with a smile.

Mile sur mera tumhara
Toh sur bane humara

The familiar tune caught her attention.

"It's another Sunday." She mumbled and released a long breath "Every day seems the same since I finished college."

She saw her neighbour Megha ben's mother run across the street to talk (read: argue) with the milk man.

"Atleast I'm not getting forced into a marriage like other people of my age." She thought about Megha whose alliance was being fixed with a stranger.

"Naina"

She heard her name being called out and turned in the direction of the voice.

"Papa." A million bulbs lit up in her eyes as she saw the face of the man she respected the most in this world, holding a lota after offering his religious respects to the Sun.

"Where is your sister?" He asked.

"Sleeping ... Like always."

"Just like her mother."

They chuckled.

"Come let's wake her up."

Naina followed her father back to her room where her sister, Preeti was extending her good night's sleep into the morning.

Their father tip toed to their room and sprinkled a little water on his youngest's eyes.

She didn't stir.

Naina took the jar from his hands and emptied it on Preeti's face. She woke up with a scream.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?" Preeti asked her.

"Maybe." She jerked her shoulders and ran away, followed by an angry Preeti.

Anand Agarwal, the man of the house, sat down on an empty chair and laughed his heart out. This was his world -His daughters, his wife and his brothers and their families who stayed next door. Their family was chaotic, a mixture of conservatives and liberals, a mixture of discipline and pampering with the right tinge of crazy.

"Your daughters are running around the whole house." Bela, Anand's wife said.

"Nothing like a morning laughter." He replied.

On the other side of the city, in a room as big as Naina's living room and kitchen combined, the most handsome man in Ahemdabad (atleast he said so) was still sleeping.

"Sameer Bhaiya! Sameer Bhaiya!"

He opened his eyes and got up with a jerk. He looked at his bed side table. It was empty and his alarm clock was lying on the floor. He had pushed it away when it was ringing and had ended up breaking it.

"I'm so dead." He slapped his face.

"Sameer Bhaiya!"

He changed into a formal shirt immediately and ran to the door.

"I'm ready." He smiled at the woman standing outside.

"You are going to your first day of work wearing a red shirt, upside down and not to forget these pyjamas." She raised her eyebrows.

"Poonam Bhabhi ..." He smiled sheepishly. "Give me 10 minutes."

"Fine but Papa is getting mad as hell." She told him. "10 minutes means 10 minutes only. Okay?"

"Okay." He gave her a thumbs up and ran back inside to get ready.

Thirty minutes had passed when Sameer Maheshwari was finally ready and had reported at the breakfast table.

"This is not right Sameer. Today is your first day at our factory and you couldn't even get ready on time."

Sameer slowly pinched his ear and said, "Sorry Nanu"

The man reprimanding him broke into a smile. "This is how you get away with everything."

"You are too soft with him, Kaku sa." Kamlesh, Sameer's Mama said.

"Let him, after all he is the Prince of our house." Prabha, his Mami defended him.

"You'll be working under me Sameer. Don't expect me to be liberal with you, just because you are my brother. I'll be very strict with you and I expect you to excel in every task I give you." Devang said.

"Yes boss." Sameer replied with a salute.

Sameer Maheshwari, was the grandson of the owner of the biggest textile company in Gujarat, JayPrakash Maheshwari. He lived with his Nanu, his Mama-Mami and their son Devang and his wife, Poonam Bhabhi, Sameer's favourite.

Kamlesh Mama was Nanu's nephew. He had moved in with him after Nanu had a serious heart attack, two years ago. Nanu's own daughter Vishakha, Sameer's mother lived in Delhi with her second husband and his family. She could not shift to Ahemdabad or cajole her father to come to Delhi, so Kamlesh Mama had to decided to be Nanu's health incharge.

Sameer's father died while he was in his infant years and his family did not keep in touch with the Maheshwaris after Vishakha re-married.

"All ready?" Nanu asked them.

Everyone nodded and started preparing to leave for work.

Back in Nirmal Jyoti Society, Naina had thrown the 50th newspaper since morning.

"Naina! What are you doing?" Preeti threw one newspaper in her face.

"I'm a year older. Call me Didi, first." Naina threw the paper away.

"No one's calling you Didi here. What are you looking for?"

"My results. I need to get into IIM A."

"You will. You will. Just relax for a while okay? You did well on the tests. You'll get your admission in MMA MBA whatever you want."

"MBA! MBA! You don't even know the course's name. You're doing BBA, right? You don't even know what your master's degree is called."

"I don't have to. I'll get married after my graduation like Pooja di did and live like a boss."

Naina shook her head.

"I can't believe that you, me and Pooja di are sisters. Both of you aren't even a bit ambitious, like me."

"Haa toh you take after Papa and we're cool like Mummy. Anyway, get these papers out. Looks like you've scanned every Hindi, English and Gujrati newspaper."

Naina nodded.

"If the result would have been out, it would be in all the newspapers. Don't take so much of stress."

"Easier said than done." Naina walked out,  leaving behind Preeti to clean up her mess.

The day had started on a sunny note but the clouds had gathered as Naina's spirits dampened. She walked through the market, aimlessly. Anand had raised his daughters with equal independence that sons have. If Arjun and Pralay, the sons of his older brothers could go out of the house for a walk in spoiled moods, Anand's daughters could too. He had raised his girls on the foundation of trust and not on what the society thinks.

The Gola vendors, Golgappa stalls, Bollywood music playing from a cassette shop, nothing could lift her spirits and relieve her anxiety. When she felt her mood could not get any worse a big drop of water landed right on her nose.

"No! No. No. No. No. Please don't rain. I don't have an umbrella." She muttered to herself.

As an answer to her prayer, it began raining heavily.

"Yes. Why not?" She shouted at the skies.

Everyone in the market began running for shelter. Outside an old wheat grinding store, Naina found a place to stay till the rain stopped.

"All my clothes are wet!" Naina whined while jerking the drops off her hands.

Just then, a white Maruti entered the narrow market. Cycles were parked carelessly on the sides and the car was having difficulty in passing.

"How does it feel to get late on your very first day of work Sonu beta?" Mamaji asked Sameer.

"Not so great." Sameer said while trying to roll up the cars jammed windows.

His entire attention was fixed on the rollers. When he was done, he looked out of the window for a second when his eyes met with a girl, in a pink suit, looking like an annoyed, wet cat in rain.

Naina stopped jerking water from her hands and looked up for a second. She saw someone looking at her with amusement. She stared back but the car with the stranger moved forward.

The rain, traffic jam and a wet cat. Some snippets are meant to become stories.

Precap - Rishta aaya hai

A/N - I posted the prologue and went to sleep. Boom! After 5 hours there were 99+ notifs and then I logged out and boooom! back to so many notifs. If I am not able to reply to comments, I'm sorry in advance because this is huge.

Thanks for all the love. I hope the story, as it unfolds, will be able to make a place in your heart.