CHAPTER-44
SURPRISE
The sky turned orange in color. A red car with its brand, announcing, ‘Swift’ in an italic style and grey in color, below its rear windshield, stopped at the entrance of a temple. Nisha, in a dark green designer saree, having tiny gold circles on its body, stepped out from her driver seat. She had left her hair loose; it extended to her waist. She looked hither and thither.
“Where is Alok saar?”, wondered she, locking her car with a small remote.
She headed towards the footwear stand on the left. No sooner did she begin releasing her foot from the soft footbed of her sandal that she was unable to overcome the black belt embracing her heel. She looked up and struggled to take her foot out but all in vain.
“Oops!”, exclaimed she, losing her balance to stand. She witnessed someone’s gentle arms wrapping her just at the right time. She shrank her eyes and followed his hands. She blushed at Dr.Alok, in a violet formal shirt tucked into grey formal pants.
“Nisha medam, why do you strive to remove your sandal when your Alok saar is here?”, asked he, blushing in return. Her eyeballs rolled hither and thither to spot a group of women having their sari’s pallu(the loose end of a sari) on their heads, chuckling at the love birds.
“It's fine, saar. I can manage…”, said she, releasing herself, from his arms.
He shook his head. “Sexy! How will you handle it on your own? By falling down on the ground?”, he teased her.
While she raised her eyebrows and smiled cluelessly, he knelt in front of her.
“Saar! No don’t do this”, whispered she, shaking her palms, gesturing a ‘no’ to him.
“I know what's running in your mind. Medam, don’t bother about what society will comment on a man helping a woman like this in public. Let's live for ourselves and not for the world”, he consoled her, as he removed her sandal. He placed her slipper on the rack. He untied the lays and removed his shoes as well.
Nisha couldn’t take her eyes off Dr.Alok as they washed their hands and feet. “You are so sweet, saar. Love you!”, she thought, blushing and scattering the water in her hands.
“Yes yes, I am sweet and caring. And, love you too, medam!”, he whispered.
“What! How did you read my mind?...”, asked Nisha, chuckling along.
“Sexy! Because, I love you and you love me!”, he explained, sprinkling a drop of water right into her eyes.
“Aye!”, she exclaimed, closing her eyes.
“Ooo, are you okay?”, he enquired. She pretended to be unable to open her eyes. “Saar, no. It's burning. Ouch! Looks like your nail too touched my eyeballs.”
“Oh no, I am so sorry. I did it only for fun. Hardly did I know my game would turn out this way…”, said he, with his meek and hesitant eyes turning light brown at her. He took out a white handkerchief from his pockets. He blew hard on his kerchief. He then pressed it over her eyes. After repeating the same twice, she slowly opened her eyes. She chuckled.
“Sexy! You are alright?”, he squealed.
“Yes yes, saar. I wanted to feel your love that's it”, justified she.
He blushed and chuckled along. He caught her hands. She looked hither and thither. “Saar, we are in a public place. We are at the temple…”
“I know, medam. Calm down!”, he reassured her. “I am not going to kiss you now.”
“Aww!”, she dragged.
"All I wanted to inform you was that you don't need to invest your brains in a cute performance demanding my affection. Just order me to love you and I'm there", he assured.
His eyes went all over her following her forehead to her feet.” Saar! What are you doing? Dirty boy!”, she whispered, bulging her eyeballs at him.
“You are beautiful in this sari, Nisha medam”, he complimented her.
She blushed and thanked him. “You bought it for me a few days ago. Don’t you remember?”, she questioned him.
He chuckled, shaking his head along. He commented, “Bullah! Medam is talking like a typical wife.”
“Hmmm…and saar is acting like a typical husband”, she returned another comment. He pointed at the road outside the temple. They stood at the entrance.
“We met again after twenty-eight years right there. Jai Shri Ram!”, said he. She nodded, recollecting how Ashitha had pushed her upon a car. She blushed at the scene of Dr.Alok getting down from the car and asking her if she were alright back that evening.
“I was numb when I indeed witnessed the face which had till then thrived only in my heart”, she shared, pricking her heart with the long nail of her right index finger.
“Namaste! Are you a couple?”, asked a young lady.
Alok and Nisha traced the faint female voice to spot the flower vendor sitting inside a blue tent. She waved at them.
May it be a second, a minute, an hour, a day, a week, a month, a year, a couple of years, or even throughout one's life, relishing the most beautiful feeling on Earth-the love, it still matters.
While most couples are almost near the silver jubilee of their wedding anniversary, Alok and Nisha are just about to begin their love life!
Love at any age is love. Why not a middle-aged love story?!
As the two neared her tiny shop, she offered a tulsi garland in Nisha’s hands. She smiled widely, adding, “It's auspicious to pray with the holy plant at the temple. Devote it to Lord Ram and Lordess Sita.” She joined her hands and nodded, wishing them, “Happy married life!”
Nisha blushed at Dr.Alok who blushed in return.
“How much?”, she enquired.
“Fifty rupees”, conveyed the seller. Alok grabbed a fifty rupee note from his pocket.
“Thank you! Have a nice evening!”, wished the excited lady, after bowing her forehead at the currency note.
“Panditji!”, Nisha called out, as she smiled and gave the holy garland to him. He nodded and rushed inside the sanctum sanatorium that housed Lord Ram in the center, Lordess Sita to the right, and Lord Lakshman to the left. Nisha joined her hands.
She slowly shut her eyes, praying in her mind, “Hey Bhagwan! Thank you for blessing me with the love of my life the man whom I have always loved ever since I first tasted love. Please forgive me for having been a little rude to you in the past. I love Dr.Alok very much. What else do I do? Tell me. So, I was pissed when you gave him away to someone else.”
She smiled, concluding, “But, now I realize, although you have written my love life to start late, it's still fresh and young. None are old in love. I won Dr.Alok’s heart…I am feeling his love…And it's not a dream. I am happy with it. I’m glad at the fact that you finally heard my prayers.”
“One last request..please help me reunite Dr.Alok with his family including his long-lost son. He repents every day for losing his hand carelessly at the mela years ago”, added Nisha, sighing along.
Dr.Alok smiled at Nisha smiling while a drop of tear rolled down her pretty cheeks, which he witnessed from the mirror opposite her face. He joined his hands. He smiled at the statue who was busy listening to the purohit’s mantras.
“Hey, Ram! Give my to-be wife whatever she asks for because her wishes are associated with everyone’s well being including mine. I can feel that she is praying for my happiness. Bless it away, Ramji! Jai Shree Ram!”
“Prasad(A tiny amount of food offered to a devotee on visiting a holy shrine)”, said the purohit, heading towards them. Each of them took a ladoo(a round sweet). They broke it into smaller pieces and hogged the latter. Alok and Nisha made their way to the surrounding grey tiles.
“Alok beta has a girlfriend”, revealed Dr.Alok, dashing Nisha’s shoulders.
“What! Who is she?”, squealed Nisha, shrinking her eyes.
“Sit down, medam!”, said Dr.Alok, pulling Nisha’s hand and dragging her to sit closer and beside him.
“But, how come he told it to you…he didn’t open his mouth to me…”, worried Nisha.
“Wait! Wait!”, he consoled her. He released her from his hands which he wrapped around her shoulders.
“Sexy! When did your son come and tell me? I, being a professor, at his university, observed everything. He knows that I know. I caught him romancing her in the lab…”
“What? Why is he ruining the decorum of the educational university? This is so bad…Why didn’t you warn him, saar? Both father and son are mad in love”, argued she, getting up.
“Nisha medam, calm down. Nothing big has happened…”, he convinced her.
She bet his shoulder amiably. “To stop something big from happening, we must take an action. See, I am not against their love. But, they should know their limits…”
He placed his finger on her lips. He clarified, “Medam! What's wrong with you? Wait until I finish. You're exaggerating the ‘romance’ I was talking about. They were just blushing at each other. That's all! Perhaps, his friends know the matter. I have seen them teasing son Alok with Tanya…”
“Tanya! The other topper? She?”, exclaimed Nisha, removing his finger from her lip.
“Ooo, chill. Let's not interfere. Alok beta is no longer a kid. I wanted to inform you that's all. Chuck it”, said he. He caught her hands, emphasizing, “Let's not worry about it. Alok beta will come and tell us someday. Let's see then. Got it?”
She nodded. “You are right, saar.”
As they walked along, he was a step forward. She suddenly took out a black cloth.
“Aye! Nisha medam! Sexy! What are you doing?”, wondered he, chuckling along, as she tied his eyes with it.
“You have a huge surprise!”, revealed she.
“Oooo okie! I trust you. I shall come wherever you take me”, agreed, he. He blushed, extending his left hand. She blushed, catching his hand. She walked him straight followed by the stairs.
“Where are we going? I feel like I am in an amusement park”, he chuckled.
“Patience! Just a few more seconds, saar”, Nisha convinced him.
What is Nisha's plan?
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