#urkkgsr

[laadgovernorandsankadevi]

OS: Khanak

can also be read here as well: wordpress

What once was, was no longer a secret. Arnav Singh Raizada’s eyes were reserved for his wife, and there wasn’t anything that would ever be distracting enough for him to not notice what was his Khushi thinking.

This fateful evening, the two were getting ready to attend a dinner thrown by one of the investors of AR. When he had first asked Khushi to start accompanying him to dinners, he had been skeptical of her fitting in with the snooty society that valued brands, and summers abroad over local cuisine and monsoon, but much to his surprise, Khushi was a favorite amongst the wives of the men he associated it for her animated responses to their absurd stories.

He was stuffing the neck scarf when Khushi finally stepped out of the bathroom dressed in a bright orange silk sari with sequins bordering the length of it. Her hair was partially dry with a towel wrapped at the ends with the overgrown bangs framing her face. His eyes automatically shifted to observe her movements while continuing to adjust his own clothes.

She moved frantically towards the vanity table he had been standing in front of to pull out blush and kajal. He was always surprised by how little make-up her skin required after moisturizing. How did she never get pimples? She carelessly threw the pink pigment on her cheeks while the towel hung over her shoulder.

Her eyes met his in the mirror, and she stood still for a moment. “Humein zada waqt nahi lage ga! pakka!” [I won’t take too long! Promise!]

Her hands moved towards the small brass holder with kajal, one that she pulled out the stick of with startling ease and slid in between her waterline and lid. He stepped back giving her more space and picked up his cologne before observing the flush on her face. She reached for a colored pencil to underline her eyes with before using the leftover blush on the brush to brush over her eyelids and using the liner to accentuate them further.

Her eyes now appeared more bright than before. He had fallen for her eyes, and every single time he looked at them, he couldn’t figure out whether he had adored them as much as they deserved to be.

She rushed to throw the towel off her hair and threw it over the bed. He let out a sigh and picked it up to place on the back of the recliner. Was it her, or did girls barely care where they threw things in haste to get ready? His eyes had moved away from her face for a second, and he missed the moment she put the jhumke on.

Her hand hovered about the vanity table for something else. What else did she need, he wondered. She looked perfect as is. But he was wrong. She bent slightly to open the drawer for something. He peeked in to see what it could be. He was pleasantly surprised.

She pulled out bangles. Yellow and orange, glass bangles that jingled the moment she placed the box on the table. Was it the one he thought it was? Her fingers ran through her hair to set them behind her before slowly moving to displace the bangles from the box to their rightful place but what she was unaware of, was that her husband had been standing back observing every single movement.

“Ruko.” [wait] he said, and her hands halted midair with a surprise.

“Kya hua?” [What happened?] she asked, confused

“May I?” His hands stretched out towards her while the other covered the box before them. She smiled, and her eyes twinkled.

His fingers slipped inside the box, and slowly took out a couple before moving towards her hand. Her fingers, ever so delicate rested in between his. Ever so gently, he slipped the glass bangles onto her wrist, listening to their khanak as they fell over one another.

“Yeh wohi hain na?” [they are those ones, aren’t they?] He asked.

“Aap ko yaad hai?” [You remember?]

“Kaise bhool sakta hoon.” [How can I forget] 

He continued slipping them in, letting the jingling echo in between them while meeting her eyes. The small smile refused to leave their faces. It felt like yesterday when he had found himself lurking around her to get a glimpse of whether she had accept his gift.

He had wanted then, when she had been asked to remove to dupatta from her hands; and now just as he slipped the last of the set onto her wrist for time to suspend itself with nothing but the echos of her bangles to ring in between. He stared at her adorned hands, and pulled them to his lips to kiss her wrists and fingers.

“You look beautiful!”

“kyun ke hum ne aap ki pasand ki chudiyaan pehni hain?” [because I am wearing your choice of bangles?] she teased.

He shook his head but then pulled her hand towards him. The bangles crashed against one another, and her eyes looked into his’ from merely an inch away. “Tumhe kya lagta hai?” [what do you think?] He asked.

She didn’t reply, but he saw the twinkle in her eyes. She broke away from his pull without answering, to fill her part, fix her hair, and spray the perfume he had gotten for her all while his eyes remained transfixed on her.

“Chalein?” she said once done. He nodded and walked over to pick up his phone while she picked up the small potli to slip onto her wrist.

The remainder of the night was engaging but not enough for Arnav Singh Raizada’s ears to not perk up at every jingling of his wife’s anklets and bangles. His eyes would momentarily lose sight of her every now and then, but her ornaments did their best to beckon him towards her.

If his eyes looked for hers at any given instance, then his ears listened for twinkling sounds that wrapped around all of her presence.

[thatcollateraldamage]

 @8tracks: The Ultimate Arnav-Khushi Playlist by ohmygrabovski.

this playlist and urkkgsr on SoundCloud got me through 2012-2015

[laadgovernorandsankadevi]

OS: Here

can be read here as well: wordpress

He yawned while flipping the channels to ultimately settle on the sports channel replaying highlights from a test match earlier. Rarely the one to turn on the bedroom tv, his attention shifted to his wife sitting across from on the green recliner in front of the television.

Her head was bowed in concentration. Yards of fabric lay in her lap which was being embroidered with small golden motifs. It must be for her sister, he concluded recalling the list of presents she had made and narrated to him.

“Suno–” [listen] He called her out softly.

Her head shot up and her hands stilled with the needle in between her fingers. Her brows furrowed at the softness of his tone and the way he had beckoned her, “ji?”

“Idhar aao.” [come here] He said. The words felt like lightness in midst of the silent night and buzzing of the voices from the television.

She smiled, her face softening. “Kyun?” [why?] She breathed.

“Yahan bathe jao na?” [come sit here please?] He requested, pulling her pillow towards himself. A coy smile danced on her lips.

“par—” [but—] she resigned a sigh pointing out the fabric in her lap.

“Thodi dair ke leye?” [for just a little bit] He asked, his voice lowering and his face appearing dejected.

She looked at his pouting face, the needle in her hand, the lingering sourness of her wrist, and the fabric left to be embroidered in her lap. She looked up again. “Theek hai!” [okay] She replied.

She put the threads and needles into the tin box next to her feet and left the fabric on the recliner. She climbed into the bed, scooted over to wrap her arm around his, and placed her head on his shoulder.

“We can watch whatever you want.” He offered.

“Nahi.” [no] She said, “Yeh theek hai.” [this is okay]

He lowered the volume of the television, pulled his arm out from hers to wrap it around her. She frowned for a moment before wrapping her arms around his torso. Her head leaned on his shoulder.

She tried paying attention to the statistics shared by the newscaster but his heartbeat wouldn’t stop echoing in her ears. He kissed her head.

“Khushi?” He said.

She didn’t reply. He looked down to see her sound asleep. He smiled shaking his head. She could be quite predictable at times.