Chapter 10 :: Eyes notices everything
1288 Words
More days have gone by......
what suppose to be was no more than a 7 day trip has now extended to more than 20 days now......
20 frigging days!
Everyone has already started doing preparations of upcoming Nikkha,.....
yes! the wedding was happening............
everybody looked so happy, excited about it, especially in their family. But among Raichands' it a completely different matter.
Rahat was gone the day after they buried Amma.....good riddance according to Insiyaa, because Shawkat sometimes let go of how careless can she get,.....
She still doesn’t know how Rahat was doing in Jodhpur now, he surely had noticed that she was not in Bikaner and must have had the police involved considering she was not anywhere in India.......
than hearing about this nuptial, he'd come back here any time now, Insiyaa was just counting days because judging by the silence in this side, Baba doesn’t know it yet and hell would break loose that day he would......
she felt so sorry for putting Raanisa and Ranaji through everything too,......what they must have been doing!
she really hoped they gets the letter she left them,.....
One thing though...... Insiyaa noticed while working around the whole family that, where the elder son, Shadaab was average looking, still, he's quite confidant, cocky and very conscious about his looks,......
Yes! Very very conscious,.......as if he is on some kind of film's set or something,......in fact one time he even talked about some kind of job offer he got in USA and he'd leave right after his and Rushda's marriage. Rushda blushed to the root of her hair hearing about their marriage.....
That was when Insiyaa realized why Rushda had no problem with any of it, she just didn’t care about past,........she always wanted to move away from India, from the very beginning. So, she is seeing this marriage as an opportunity, she was quite happy.
younger one, Shezaad however was kind of nervous, in fact jumpy, Insiyaa would say....
ALERT someone could say even and disgustingly submissive type too,.......in everyday conversation he stayed quiet, unless of course he was spoken to as if one mistake and the whole Rahils' clan would pounce on him.
One day he simply tried to help some heavily pregnant maid named Farida regarding carrying some heavy ration, which was extreme physical work and not good in pregnancy, but then he was drove away from there instantly by the Tayiji [ aunty ]. Later it was Insiyaa who helped that maid silently.
Shezaad was quite reluctant leaving the maid there and the maid Farida was sniffing under her veil, though Farida was grateful for Insiyaa's help.
Where Shadaab was very socially active and enthusiastic of talking about almost everything and was getting very comfortable with Rushda......Insiyaa got the vibe that he was kind of a Ladies' man, Shezaad on the other hand kept at least a feet of distance everytime he was near Ruthba.
And this was just a start!
Recently she noticed something else....during a phone conversation, between her brothers!
A cold iciness in that voice of her elder brother Rahat Raichand......and no, she wasn’t the only one, Shawkat noticed that too, she tried to confront him few times but every time something or somebody would come up and she had to leave.....
Recently her baba looked little tired too......dark circle around his penetrative black eyes!
One day, Rahil sisters were nowhere to be found and when her baba, Shawkat were sitting around small living area after dinner,........
She took small tentative step towards him and said in small voice.......
"umm....are you alright, saabji, aisa lagta hai jaise aap ne thik se soya nahi kuch dino se"
[ are you alright sir, looks like, as if you are not sleeping well for few days ]
Shawkat stiffened,.....and a tired chuckle left her baba's throat, pulled out his glass and rubbed his eyes for a while.......he turned to look at her smaller frame and sighed.
''betiyan kaab bari ho jati hai pata hi nahi chalta......abhi in dono ki shadi ho rahi, kuch dino ke baad meri Insiyaa......meri apni bacchi wo hai India me,.... uski bhi shaadi ho jayegi kuch hi waqt mein, phir to pura ghar khali ho jayega mera"
[ Daughters grows up so fast, in a blink!......Now both of them are getting married, in a few days my Insiyaa.....my own daughter, she is in India now, she will also get married within some years, my entire house will be empty. ]
Insiyaa stood there frozen while Shawkat sat beside his father, he looked little guilty......Amarendra Raichand continued....
''ek din ek chota sa ghungru pasand ayaa that usee.....ek mele mein gaye the hum, to jab maine usse khareed kar diya, to wo itna khush thi us din, ke utara hi nahi ek baar pehen ne baad..... jab tak uske paair ghungru se bade ni hogaye!'' He chuckled again looking no where......"Pura din baas chaam chaam chaam, all around the havelli....... Baba ye, baba wo! Baba, baba''
[ One day, she liked a small ghungroo (anklets) that was... in a fair, so when I bought it for her, she was so happy that day... she wouldn't even take it off for once she wore it........not at least until her feet grew bigger than Ghungroo itself ! ]
[ The whole day just Cham Cham,.....running all around the whole house......Baba this , Baba that!.....baba, baba ]
She looked at her brothers from under her veil.....and saw how their eyes were watery, their face looked flushed! It wasn’t something she expected........Shawkat was looking at her as if saying "look you were blaming this man......just like that?" She looked away
Going down the memory lane all of a sudden!......she repeatedly blinked in order to make the tears goes away that was already gathering at the corner of her own eyes.
All those mixed feelings and negativity towards everything here must have drained out her......because suddenly she felt exhausted!
All of a sudden she felt like hugging this man infront of her tightly.....and say sorry.
no matter how many times she felt frustrated about how her dad tried to shackle her with rules or hide her from the world,.....it would not change the fact that he loved her more than anything just like she loves him. And that that moment everything done by him felt justified!
She felt guilty for thinking that he didn’t care for Rushda and Ruthba or that he would do something that would be against her or their wellbeing.
Suddenly she heard a sniff and turned to see that her baba was wiping the corner of his eyes and rubbed his temple.....
"are you having headache......i can give you an oil massage" She enthusiastically offered, still under her veil and he smiled giving her the permission.
She did gave him a head massage after almost half an hour later he was peacefully snoring on the chair.
Rahil sisters came back by then and they were surprised when they saw Insiyaa giving baba oil massage.....and on the other hand she noticed how tensed Shawkat was.
Yet again!
His jaw tight, eyes cold.....free of any emotion, spine ramrod straight!
Ruthba went straight to her room while Rushda was at the balcony smiling and talking to someone in phone......
Who else if not Shadab miyan!
just once, it was like a blink or something.......his eyes flicked towards the balcony and flashed at_____
Rushda ?
Why though ?
Oh! Hell!
He isn’t in l__ no no no this can't be!
Is he ?
That's a big problem then,......but why didn’t he never showed it, never before!
No Insiyaa it's just your imagination!.......saying that to herself and sighing she went back to where she belonged, at the servants room.
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- Writer
