BEZUBA, PART 3

~BEZUBA~

~PART 3~

Matter between asterisk in pink is Geet’s monologues.

Geet- *pink*

When they reached the haveli Maan was still furious. Tumne unhe kyu nai bataya ke… humare beech kuch nai hua? Ke tum gaadi ke saame aa gai thi? When she didn’t say a word his anger crossed all limits. Speak dammit!! Yeh khamooshi tumhe kuch nai deni wali samjhi tum. Agar wo tumhe maar rahe the toh tumhe chillana chahiye tha, madad bulani chahiye thi. Par tumne kuch nai kaha. KYU?

Caretaker interrupted- Maaf kijiyega saabji. Par yeh bechari bol nai sakti. The floor slipped beneath Maan’s feet. Kuch saal pehle… bahut bura hua tha iske saath tabse yeh sirf teen-chaar shabd hi keh pati hai. Aur kuch nai bolti.

 

 

 

All of a sudden Maan heard the sweet jingle of her bangles. He looked at her n she was furiously moving her hands looking at the caretaker.

 

Caretaker- Aaraam se beti. She slowed her movements and once done looked at Maan. Yeh keh rai hai agar yeh kuch bolti toh bhi wo vishwas nai karte. She nodded, moved her hands again. Aapko shukriya keh rai hai. Geet looked down and moved her hand one more time. Par ab iske ghar wale aur bhi naraz ho jayenge.

 

Her family was really conservative n every woman in house had to endure the rules made by men. If anyone went against them the punishment waited. It was another thing that for Geet the punished always went really far.

 

Caretaker said on his own- Aapko isse yaha nai lana chahiye tha. Waise bhi iske ghar walo koi bahana chahiye bas aur iske taaya ji toh yaha ke sarpanch hai.

 

Maan- Mai isse kuch nai hone dunga. Surprised, she looked at him but he turned his head away. Mere saath aao.

 

She followed. He took her to his bedroom, the same room where she had spent the night. Baitho. *Kitna order dete hai babaji* She sat on the bed n watched him bringing the first aid box. As he sat before her she observed him from head to toe. *Kitne fit hai yeh, humare yahan ke ladke toh itne fit nai*. He lifted her hand n she winched. *Pehle bata toh sakte the* To her accusing eyes he muttered a sorry. *It’s okay* She smiled a little n he took her hand again this time more carefully n put ointment on the bruised spot. It burned at first, then felt good. She looked up from her hand n his fingers were coming towards her lips. *yeh kya kar rahe hai?* She screamed in her head.

 

Mai ointment laga raha hu. He told when she backed on the bed. She shook her head n moved her hands. *Humare yaha aisa nai hota, anjaan ladke ladkiyon ko idhar udhar nai chute* She sighed realizing Maan couldn’t understand. Maan just held her ankle in a wise grip n pulled her closer to him. Their breaths mingled. He held both her hands in front n very slowly first cleaned the cut on her petal soft lip n then put the ointment. All the while she had her eyes closed n when she opened them, they stung. How could a stranger be so kind n tender n her own family cruel? Maan was confused as he dropped his fingers from her lip down to her milky neck. He brought them up again to glide along the curve of her neck n cheek to the corner of her eye where he took the tear on the tip of his forefinger.

 

Tumhe accha nai laga maine tumhe chua? He was so very near that his whisper fanned her skin. An odd sensation went through her, her whole body electrified. *Mere aasuon see aapko fraq padta hai? Kisi aur ko toh nai padta* She heard the hateful words of her taayi ji, cousins, felt the beating of the men in her family on her body, thought the night where she wished to be in another place, days when she wanted to go back to that night n come home safe.

 

Her eyes met his n she shook her head. Toh rona nahi. She launched forward into his arms n wrapped her hands around his broad torso. Her body shook but she didn’t cry. First time someone wanted her to not cry n she wasn’t going to deny the request. Waise bhi uski aadhi zindagi toh roote hue hi beet gai.

 

But nobody before asked her to not cry they just gave her reason to shed tears.

 

For few seconds Maan didn’t know what to do. Although the thing inside his chest tightened n yearned to cocoon her. A protective instinct taking over, like this fragile girl belonged to him n he needed to keep her safe.

 

He had to do it just once if anything. He draped his arms around her, pulling her closer, tighter, so tight that she could have been crushed. God his skin burned, he felt the pain, the agony passing n covering him, coming from all around, closing all doors. He needed her. He needed to keep her safe n sound. He needed her so damn much because this weight was unbearable.

 

Maan pulled apart.

 

He was panting when he looked down at her confused eyes. Maan raked a hand through his hairs. Bathroom uss taraf hai. Kaka ko bula lena agar kuch chahiye ho toh. He walked out n Geet stood up to go into the bathroom. *Geet tujhe unhe gale nai lagana chahiye tha. Wo acche ghar ke hai, aur kya sochenge wo tere bare me. Par unhone bhi toh- bechara sochke tujhe bhi unhone do pal ke lie gale laga lia, toh kya? Tu toh chipak hi gai.* She recalled his face when he had broken the contact. *Babaji maine unhe dara toh nai dia? Darpok lagte toh nai wo aur maine aisa toh kuch kia bhi nai. Par- mujhe jake sorry kehna chahiye.*

 

 

 

 

After some searching she found him in the sitting room. The fire crackled in the hearth n he sat before it on the lush couch with a file on lap.

 

Kya chahiye? His hard voice made her jump. Don’t know how he knew about her presence without even looking up.

 

Geet came inside. Sorry. So that was another word that she could speak. Maan thought. He never had heard of an inability where a person could speak just a number of words and nothing else. Mai jaan sakta hu tum kis baat ke lie sorry keh rai ho? She nodded, moved towards the table and came back with a pen n rough paper. Without invitation she settled on the couch beside Maan facing him. Her fingers moved then she turned the pages for him to read.

 

Maine aapko dara dia iss lie. Was written on it. Mai dara nai tha.He told knotting his brows. Tumne kitni padhai ki hai. She showed 10 fingers n then 2 more. Maan nodded n noticed that she used clumsy signs what regular people generally used, it didn’t look like the sign language deaf n dumb used to communicate. Have you learned sign language?As expected, she shook her head. Tumhari age kya hai? Geet showed 10 fingers n then 10 again. His jaw tightened n breathing stopped altogether. The sound of her bangles brought him back. She remembered that he couldn’t understand her like that n wrote on the paper. Aapka naam kya hai? It read.

 

Maan.

 

Her breath choked n then she gasped his name out. Maan. She stood up on shaky legs, stumbled and before he knew ran out of the room.

 

Stilled and dumbfounded, Maan stared at the doorway. Did she… did she said his name?

PRECAP- 

Taaya ji coming with village people for Geet. What will Maan do??

 

 

Just a comment to make me happy

Waiting eagerly