Aaj samajh aaya hai.
Kitne barso baad.
Aaj fir tujhpe marne ka khayaal aaya hai.
Chal kahin door chale, jahan sirf tu or main ho
Jee le apne zindagi ke wo haseen pal j.i.s.me sirf pyaar ho.
Baahon me baahein ho, aankhon me aankhein ho.
Bas tumhara khayaal ho, aur sirf tumhara saath ho.
Three months later...
"Listen up Aadi. I am bored with our daily routine and desperately need a change," said Mohit while we were having food in the cafeteria. Both Riya and Sonam had left for their respective homes.
"Let"s plan a trip. We will go somewhere far off for two weeks. We must apply for a leave now," I suggested.
"That"s a great idea. Sonam too wanted to go visit her parents," said Mohit in excitement.
"Really? How about going to Delhi and Ma.n.a.li?"
"Oh! I hope Sonam agrees to go. Let me ask her once I reach home," said Mohit.
"Yes you do that. In the meanwhile, I will try and persuade Riya to come along too. Getting permission from her parents would be a bit difficult, so we will have to think of a good excuse to convince them. Oh, it will be so much fun," I said smiling.
Mohit called me up later that night to tell me that Sonam had agreed to come on the trip. She believed it would be a good relief from the monotony of going to office everyday and doing the same mechanical work over and over again. She also suggested that while in Delhi, we could stay at her guest house which is quite near her house in South Delhi. She also liked the proposed of going to Ma.n.a.li. Mohit then asked me if Riya had agreed too and I told him that I had been on the phone with her precisely a minute before his call and that she was equally excited. We decided to call this an office trip so as to convince our parents.
It was Monday evening. I was having dinner with my Mom. I could sense that she was in a good mood.
"Mom, this coming weekend my company is planning to send me on an official work trip to Delhi for few days," I lied.
"Are you sure? I hope you have not planned a trip with your friends," my mother questioned sounding suspicious.
"Why would you think that? You can ask my team leader. He too is coming along with me," I said, having already forewarned Mohit that my Mom could give him a call to enquire.
To my surprise, Mom instantly agreed and asked me the number of days the trip would last.
"The trip is for eight days but I am not sure whether it would be extended it or not. The team is leaving for Delhi on Friday night. Our company is taking care of the accommodation but all other expenses have to be individually borne by us."
Mom asked me a few more questions regarding the trip and I was finally able to convince her to let me go. I went into my room and messaged Riya.
My sweetheart, I told my Mom about the Delhi trip and she has agreed to let me go. She did have a few reservations about it as she could sense I was lying. However, I managed to convince her. I told her that the company was paying for our accommodation. So gear up, Madam-I am all set to love you. Two weeks without parents-just you, me, Mohit, and Sonam.
She replied back saying she was yet to tell her mother about the trip and would do so after dinner. Meanwhile I sent a message each to Sonam and Mohit telling them that my parents had agreed. We were just waiting for Riya to confirm after which we could apply for leaves. Everyone kept their fingers crossed.
The next day, Riya recounted the exact conversation she had with her Mom the previous night. She told us that after I had hung up the phone, she had an early dinner and called her Mom to her room to resolve an urgent matter. Her Mom asked her if she was facing any problem at work.
She had told her Mom that it was an official trip organized by the company and that the entire team had to go for it since they had been asked to meet high-end clients in Delhi with whom they had maximum interaction. She further told her mother that she had to leave for Delhi on Friday evening for an eight-day trip.
Her Mom had questioned her about the expenses to which Riya had told her that the company would pay for their accommodation and railway tickets.
Riya told us how her mother was still not convinced, saying that the trip would turn out to be a costly affair and reminding her of the critical financial condition of their family. She said that Riya should have denied the offer when it came to her!
"I made it clear to her that it"s not like I get to choose these things. The management board had asked our team to go and we had to agree to their decision and that I don"t have a say in it. She dismissed me by saying that she will confirm after talking to my Dad in the morning," recounted Riya.
All three of us were tuned in to her woes.
"My mother"s cold response makes me feel that she would not agree to let me go on the trip. I cried all through the night. She thought that because of her the entire plan would fizzle out and none of us would be able to go. I tried my best to convince her."
"Jaan, we all understand your situation and even if your Mom doesn"t agree to let you go, its okay. You can try convincing her again one last time tomorrow," I said, trying my best to console her.
The next day while I was getting ready for work, I got a message from Riya: Mom has agreed to let me go. I am so glad that I can barely believe it. I cannot wait to meet you and see the happiness on your face. You are the best boyfriend in the world. I will never let go of someone so precious to me. I love you. I want to live these eight days with you without a single worrying thought. The world seems to be a totally different place with you by my side. It"s like a beautiful, never-ending dream. I promise to love you forever. You are my Mr Perfect.
I messaged Riya back saying:.
My imagination is full of dreams-both happy and sweet ones. You are a flower in full bloom; your radiant smile brightens up my day. If I tried to paint you, no colours would be able to describe your true beauty. And yes, I am eagerly looking forward to our pa.s.sionate nights in Ma.n.a.li. Love you a lot. Muaahhh!
Since all four of us had been pretty regular to office, we had a lot of pending leaves. So securing leave from office was a piece of cake for us. We went holiday shopping to Bandra and Malad. Since we were also going to Ma.n.a.li, as a precaution we took a few woollen clothes in case the weather got cold. For the Delhi heat, we took a few summer outfits as well. I couldn"t wait to see how short and revealing Riya"s clothes were.
Everyone was pretty excited about the trip but Sonam and Mohit looked more excited than us since it was their first trip together. Thankfully, we had informed our parents that if need be the trip could extend by a few days. We got our tickets booked for Friday night, Garib Rath AC. It was a sixteen-hour journey to New Delhi and we had decided to stay at Sonam"s guest house. I could not wait to spend a few pa.s.sionate moments with Riya alone in our room.
I thought about what we would do on our first night together. First, I could dim the lights and carry her to the bed. We could then start with a pa.s.sionate kiss on the lips followed by smaller kisses all over her body. I could imagine our bodies melting together as one.
I pushed aside these thoughts from my mind and headed for the railway station.
Jab they Met her Parents.
We boarded the train and took our seats. A group of young boys and girls were sitting next to us. I kept our luggage under the berth and settled down on my seat. Riya sat beside me while Mohit and Sonam had berths opposite ours. Even though Riya had come in casuals, she looked gorgeous. She was wearing brown capri parts and a loose white t-shirt with a sling bag looped around her shoulder. I looked outside the window where people were waving goodbye to their relatives. The train left Mumbai exactly on time.
A cool breeze blew through the open window which lifted a few strands of Riya"s hair and brought them to her face. I slowly pushed them behind her neck and gently ran my fingers through her hair. After an hour or so, we decided to play antakshari. We also asked the other group to join us. They agreed and we made two teams. They were in one team and the four of us were in the other. They sung the first song which ended with the alphabet "p".
I started singing, "Pyaar diwaana hota hai, mastaana hota hai. Har khushi se har gham se begaana hota hai..." I was looking at Riya all the while and she kept blushing. It was their turn now.
Har ghadi badal rahi hai roop zindagi, chaav hai kabhi kabhi hai dhoop zindagi... Har pal yahan jee bhar jiyo, jo hai samar, kal ho na ho. "Its "h" for you," said a guy in the other team.
Humein tumse pyaar kitna, ye hum nahin jaante, magar jee nahi sakte, tumhaare bina... Mohit held Sonam close to him while singing.
The songs continued for a while after which the ticket checker (TC) came and told us to either switch off the lights and go to off sleep or maintain silence for the sake of the other pa.s.sengers on the train. All of us apologized for creating such a racket and retired to our respective berths. Riya sat with me on my berth for a bit longer. She kept her head on my chest and in the spur of the moment said, "Let"s get married".
"You are anyway my wife. We just need to officially tie the knot. And that we will do soon," I said kissing her on her forehead.
She went to her berth after sometime. Sonam too was fast asleep. Mohit and I were still awake, gossiping about girls. I took a packet of cigarettes from my bag and went towards the pa.s.sage. Mohit followed me along with some of the other boys from the group. We stood near the door and checked if anyone was awake. The entire compartment seemed to be deep in sleep.
I lit a cigarette even though I knew smoking was prohibited in the train. However, I thought to myself that if the TC could drink alcohol on the sly, we could smoke too could. We bribed the TC to let us smoke. As I guessed, the lure of money was enough for him to temporarily forget his duties.
"Where are you from," I asked the guys from the other group. They had followed us into the pa.s.sage and were smoking along side.
"We are from Churchgate and are on our way to Agra," said one of the boys.
"Is the Taj Mahal visible from the train?" asked Mohit.
"Yes, you can see it, but not during the night," the same guy quipped.
We didn"t know whether to take them at face value or not. They seemed like an innocent lot. We ended up gossiping on various topics late into the night. They asked us if the two girls accompanying us were our girlfriends. Their queries about the girls made me feel jealous and a bit possessive too. I felt like they had no right asking about them.
Gradually, our pa.s.sage was filled with smoke, the smell of which woke up a few pa.s.sengers. Before one of them could get a chance to get up and complain, we stopped smoking and went to our seats to retire for the night. Riya and Sonam were busy sleeping. I was excited because within fifteen minutes our train was going to stop at Ratlam station.
I shook Riya from her sleep, telling her that Ratlam was about to come. She was a big Kareena Kapoor fan and had seen the movie Jab We Met at least ten times. The train finally came to a halt at Ratlam station. We got down to see if it was similar to the movie. It did look like the station from the movie, except that it was a lot more crowded now. We disembarked and went to the nearest food stall. We asked for a water bottle and to our surprise, the vendor handed us a bottle with the label "Jab We Met mineral water" written on it.
As I expected, Riya drank a sip of the water and said a dialogue from the movie in full filmy style, "Paani ka kaam toh paani karta hai", leaving us laughing. We clicked a lot of pictures in different poses around the station. We asked the stall owner about Hotel Decent and whether such a place actually existed. He told us that there was in fact a hotel by that name which was at a fifteen minute dostamce from the station. I couldn"t believe it and thought he was lying. A few moments later, we boarded the train and left.
Mohit and I played games on my laptop. We even browsed some tourism sites on the internet and particularly searched for honeymoon resorts in Ma.n.a.li. We wanted to make our partners feel special. We searched for a few and then went off to sleep.
We got up late in the morning. When we had already pa.s.sed the Mathura station. New Delhi was still around two hours away. We freshened up and ordered a light breakfast from the train pantry. By the time Mohit and I returned from the washroom, Riya and Sonam had already eaten their share.
"What speed!" I teased the girls. They were sitting huddled up together in their blanket as the temperature had unexpectedly dropped that morning.
"Sonam, how far is your guest house from New Delhi?" I asked.
"It is pretty far from New Delhi station. But it will be easier for us if we get down at Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station instead as that is much closer to the guest house. We can hire a prepaid taxi from there. It should not take us more than an hour to reach," Sonam replied.
Whenever a cold breeze pa.s.sed us by, I used it as an excuse to hold Riya tightly.
At last after sixteen hours of journey, we reached the Hazrat Nizamuddin station. We got down from the train and crossed the bridge to hire a prepaid taxi. Mohit got into a brief argument with Sonam as she caught him smoking soon after disembarking the train. Both Riya and I laughed at them as they really didn"t know how to quarrel.
It was an awesome feeling to be in the capital of India. Driving through the crowded streets of Delhi in cold winter is almost a novelty for most Mumbaikars since Mumbai weather remains almost the same throughout the year. The temperature in Delhi seemed to be below 10 degrees.
We were going to stay in Chittaranjan Park, which is popularly called CR Park by the locals. Sonam told us that it is a Bengali colony and is a peaceful area. It was nine kilometres away from the railway station. Our guest house was in "B" block. While driving through Nehru Place, we also noticed the metro station.
"It"s the violet line. Like in Mumbai we have the Western, Central, and Harbour lines for the local train, similarly, we have violet, red, and blue lines for the Delhi metro. With a major expansion plan underway, other lines are increasingly being added to the Metro, connecting all parts of Delhi with each other," Sonam said pointing towards the metro station.
We were extremely excited with the prospect of exploring the city. I loved the big streets and the state emba.s.sies. Most of all, I loved how green Delhi was as compared to Mumbai. Rows of trees planted on either side of the road.
After an hour-long drive, we reached CR Park"s B-Block. We took out our luggage and unlocked the gate of the guest house. The security guard was comfortably sleeping on the chair. Hearing the creaking sound of the gate, he suddenly woke up with a jolt.
Recognizing Sonam, he saluted us and helped open the gate. Sonam took the keys from him and we all walked along the pa.s.sage. There was a black Jeep parked outside the guest house. Sonam told us that it was her brother"s prized possession. We went upstairs and lounged on the bed. Riya and I settled for the room which had a garden view. Sonam and Mohit kept their luggage in the other room. Our room even had a huge balcony and a king-size bed. A single beam of light entered the room through the gap between the curtains.
While Riya got busy unpacking, I went to check out the other room. Both rooms had been painted in different tropical colours. The theme running through them seemed Caribbean, with tropical plants placed in each corner of the room. I looked for Sonam who was in the kitchen making coffee for all of us. After the coffee, we went straight to our beds and slept for sometime so as to wear off the tiredness of the journey.
In the evening, Mohit and I went for a walk near Nehru Place metro station. Even though we noticed quite a few hot chicks cross our paths along the way, we didn"t bother much about them as we had two equally hot girls with us at the guest house.
We made a spontaneous decision and decided to travel in the Metro. It was a completely new experience for us as the only one among us who had ever travelled by the metro was Sonam. We purchased tokens that enabled us to get on the train. We saw others using a card for easy entry and enquired if we could get one too instead of the tokens. It would have saved us much time while in Delhi because we would not have to stand in the queue to buy tokens every time we got on the metro.
The person at the enquiry counter was very helpful and provided us with a tourist card worth hundred rupees each, fifty out of which was refundable. I was concerned that we may not be able to use the full amount of the card and that it may not prove to be useful for occasional visitors like us, but the person at the counter told us that we would get the remaining balance whenever we returned the card.
I was impressed. After travelling in Mumbai local trains all my life, I found the Delhi Metro sophisticated, well connected, and one provided with a great serving staff. The crowning glory was of course its air-conditioned coaches to take care of the Delhi summer heat.
The girls joined us shortly on our metro ride through the city and we decided to head off to Lajpat Nagar. We were not allowed to click photographs once inside the Metro premises but still we managed to click a few on the sly. We reached Lajpat Nagar quite comfortably.
"Lajpat Nagar is a commercial joint, most famous for its kurtis and Indian wear. It is also one of the most crowded markets in Delhi," Sonam explained.
"She is our tourist guide from today," I teased her.
We shopped in Lajpat Nagar for an hour. Riya and Sonam purchased a few kurtis while Mohit and I accompanied them.
We reached our guest house in the evening and had an early dinner.
We then went to our respective rooms as the shopping expedition had tired us out and we knew a long day awaited us.
After changing into her nightwear, Riya dived straight into bed. She had coupled her tiny shorts with a grey crop top that left little to the imagination. I came and sat next to her, resting her head on my thighs.
"How was your first day in Delhi?" I asked her, gently stroking her hair.
"I love Delhi. Being here and visiting a few places made me get rid of a lot of misconceptions I had about the city. So many of my friends had warned me saying Delhi is not a safe place to be out alone in the night, especially for young girls. But personally speaking, I really like Delhi and would love to live here, if given an opportunity." she replied while she stroked the palm of my hand with her fingers. Exactly my thoughts, I realized.
Since our room shared a common wall with Mohit and Sonam"s room, we could easily hear whispers if listening carefully. At that precise moment, we had no difficulty in figuring out what they were upto.
"Now that"s what I call "having a good time"," I teased Riya.
"Shut up Aadi. You are such a dog," she laughed.
Riya and I shared the same blanket and got intimate, taking inspiration from our dear friends. After a pa.s.sionate lovemaking session, we dozed off to sleep.
I woke up to a delicious feeling of warmth. The early morning sun was up before me. I let my eyes remain shut, allowing the rays to fall on them. I could feel two hands crawl their way towards my waist and knew Riya was up from her sleep. Then Riya got up and pulled open the curtains to let in the light. She walked towards the tray kept on the table and made me a nice cup of hot tea after which both of us stood in the balcony for some time.