Aashiqui - Winner's Anthology

Meri Hansani

This one is the winning entry for our February prompt - Saraswati In A Saree - in our monthly contest series "Mohabbatein". Have a look at the entry that captured our attention the most :)

Here's "Meri Hansani" by ishitascribbles 

The sunlight coming in from the window forced me to get up and open my eyes. I sat up on my messy bed yawning and stretching. I could hear the birds chirping, indicating it was early in the morning. I looked at the alarm clock on my nightstand. It was still six in the morning.

Groaning loudly, I got down rubbing my eyes, and walked towards my balcony glass door. I opened the door to see the girl on the exact opposite balcony drying her hair, wearing a yellow saree on a yellow morning.

I rested my face on the sliding glass door frame, looking at her with a lazy smile on my sleepy face. I had to squint my eyes to look at her as the sunlight fell on my face. She dropped the towel on the swing on her balcony and bent down to pick up her golden.

typical namrata.

She always loved animals more than humans. After begging her parents a billion times, they finally agreed for her to get a dog. What they didn't expect was hearing the woofs of a puppy the very next day.

Sensing someone's gaze on her, she frowned and turned her head towards me. She pursed her lips, while I slowly raised my hand t wave at her. She entered her room and closed the glass door, dropping her puppy on the ground.

I frowned and walked into the balcony, forgetting that the balcony floor in one step is lower than the bedroom floor, making me stumble. Thankfully, I clutched the railing, preventing myself from falling down and hurting myself.

I looked up in her direction, after taking a deep breath only to see her red tomato face laughing at me, shaking her head.

way to impress your crush, Vinish.

I sighed and went inside my bathroom to take a long shower and rinse away the embarrassment. As I walked out of my bathroom into my room, with the towel on my shoulders and around my waist, I could see all of my kurtas laid out on my bed. Mom must have done it.

I couldn't decide which one to wear. I picked up a brown one and stood tried it on, looking into the mirror, it looked dull. I removed it and threw it on my bed. I could feel someone's eyes on me. Furrowing my eyes, I turned my head to see Namrata watching me from her room, through the sliding glass doors.

As our eyes me, her face coloured up a beautiful shade of red. Smirking at her reaction, I decided to ask her to chose. I took the violet kurta and held on to my upper body as if I was wearing it.

As expected, she shook her head vigorously, showing how much she disliked it. I threw the one and took another kurta which earned an 'Okay-okay' rating. After three more kurtas, I took a red one and held it again.

She bit her lip, suppressing her smile and nodded, giving me a green signal. I removed the towel from my shoulders and wore the red kurta selected by her. She smiled and curled her index finger to meet the thumb to tell me that I looked good.

"Vinu, come fast, we're getting late" mom shouted. I shouted a 'yes' back at her, signing Namrata that I would meet her downstairs.

Today was Saraswati puja and it was a tradition of ours and our neighbours to celebrate it by going to the nearby mandir and doing puja. I made my way outside the house, wearing my black mojdis.

Namrata's mother, Malu aunty, and mom were walking ahead of us, talking to each other, while Namrata and I were walking behind them silently, stealing looks of each other. Each time our arms brushed with each other, the butterflies in my stomach exploded, and each touch was electrifying.

As we reached the temple, Malu aunty asked us to go to the lake below the temple, while both the ladies entered the temple to start the pooja. Namrata walked ahead of me as I trailed behind her.

As we reached near the lake and were away from the earshot of the ladies, I started singing. I knew it was the best time to sing, she loved it when I sang. This time would be different, I was going to sing, for her. Only her.

"Oh hansani, meri hansani, kaha udd chali" I started with a small smile. She froze for a second and turned her head to meet my eyes. She blushed running away from me and circling the trees.

She finally stood at a tree, looking at the swans in the lack. I caged her between my hands, making her turn around and look at me. She closed my eyes, keeping her hand on them. She then escaped from my arms.

I tried my best but I couldn't open my eyes, even after she removed her hand. It felt like she was actually flying away from me. I tried to hold her hand but in vain, as she removed it from my grip.

When I finally could open my eyes, I couldn't see as the sunlight blinded me. I sat up only to realise that I was still in my bed, in my room and all this was a dream. My mood soured immediately and I got down from the bed.

I looked at her balcony only to see her drying her hair, wearing the exact yellow saree as I saw in my dream. I pinched myself to see if I was dreaming again or not. I felt the pain in my arm as I pinched too hard, but my focus was on the beautiful girl in front of me. She raised her head to look at me and blushed.

This was not a dream.

End