ShiVi: A Collection Of Short Stories.

daayre

In collaboration with hainyehchaandni

.....

Shiva walked around the town, trying to find Raavi. He was going berserk. And rightly so! His wife was missing for the last 6 hours! And no one had tried to find her! Both her families assumed she was with the other family! What kind of family were they? How did they not realise that she was missing!

Maybe if they’d started looking for her earlier.. they could have found her by now. Where could she have gone? He ended up at his tree. He climbed and sat at his usual spot. Playing with the creeper, he began to wonder why he wasn't able to find Raavi in that bungalow.

Location toh udhar ka hi tha, par uska phone bhi nahi laga. Lagne se pehle mera phone dead ho gaya. Maar goli iss phone ko, aur kaha dhundhu usse, pure sheher mein dhundh liya.

Kaha hai tu chipkali, kyu sata rahi hai mujhe aise?

“Ae gadhede”

Shiva looked around to see who was calling out to him, ready to blast whoever it was that dared to piss him off when he was already so worried.

“Aee idhar udhar kya dekh raha, neeche dekh”

Shiva looked down. He shook his head and narrowed his eyes. There stood, Chotu Shiva, looking at him, a mocking look on his face.

“Tu? Tu yaha kya kar raha hain? Jaa yaha se. Raavi kaafi nahi thi ke tu bhi aa gaya. Tu toh samajh,” he said, wishing he’d stop seeing people around.

“Main vo krne aaya hoon, jo tu nhi kr paa raha”

“Kya matlab?”

“Matlab yeh, ke Raavi ko tu dobi bolta hain aur khud ko dekh”

Shiva got down from the tree. Ready to burst on kid Shiva, spewing nonsense. He looked around only to realise that he was alone. He scratched his head and thought to himself, main yeh sab soch soch ke pagal ho jaunga. Yeh Raavi mil kyu nhi rahi? Vo mil jayegi toh-

“Toh kya haan?”

Shiva spinned back to see kid Shiva again, standing with legs and arms crossed, shoulder resting on the bark of the tree across him. 

“Raavi na, sahi keh rhi thi. Tu bilkul nhi badla. Abhi bhi ladaku vimaan hain jo sabse zyaada apni Chipkali se hi ladta hain.”

Shiva huffed in annoyance, “Acha, tu bada aaya bolne vaala. Yaad nhi tune kaise kaise usko rulaya hain aur pareshan kiya hain.”

Chotu Shiva pinched the bridge of his nose at the blame game and stated, pointing a finger at him, “Sab yaad hain mujhe, pan shayad tereko yaad nahi hain ke tere vajah se bewajah usko kitni takleef hoti hain”

Shiva stayed silent, as a series of flashbacks went through his mind, of moments of them as kids and then after they were married where he had hurt her because he blamed her for actions of her family, the latest being the kangan fiasco at the haveli.

Seeing him stay silent, chotu Shiva said, “Tu pyaar karta hain na usse? Abhi kuch din pehle tak toh tu usko I love you bolne ke liye mare jaa raha tha. Yeh kaisa pyaar tera, jisko apne pyaar par bharosa hi nhi hain?”

The question drained out every other thought for the moment, except for everything that led him to feeling that she might be involved in the whole IVF fiasco with Anita and Kamini bua. He walked back slightly and rested his back on the tree opposite, shoulders slumping, suddenly feeling weak physically as well as mentally.

“Pan vo videos. Aur vo vahi thi room mein, Anita kesaath....Vo sab....”

Chotu shiva chuckled and said, “Tu bhi jaanta hain vo Anita kaisi hain. Aur vo bua bhi. Aur sabse badi baat tu Raavi ko bhi bachpan se jaanta hain. Usse dekhta aaya hain. Chahe nafrat ka hi sahi, pan ek rishta humesha se raha hain. Pehle tu yeh galti kar chuka hain, apne rishte pe doosro ko haavi hone diya hain. Ab jab vo teri biwi hain, jab tu usse pyaar karta hain, toh us rishte ko nibhana bhi chahiye na tujhe.”