Chapter 133

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"Boyfriend bhaiya... where's Nandini miss ?"

"She is in office champ"

The bed was still unmade, clothes, mostly Manik's, were strewn all over it and some lay scattered on the floor. He had tried some 6 - 7 looks before choosing one for that fucking interview and now he wasn't in the mood to figure out how to arrange them back in that tiny wardrobe of theirs.

"Oh accha.. But abhi to aapki wedding ko ek hi din hua hai, abhi se job?" Chirag blurted out, innocently.

What could one possibly reply to that. "Wo thora urgent kam tha champ"

"Ok, waise ek problem hai boyfriend bhaiya."

"What?" they both were sitting on the floor, on a large blue rug, in a corner overlooking the balcony.

"Abhi to aap boyfriend nahi ho na Nandini miss ke.... Husband ho gaye ho, to main aapko bulaun kya??? boyfriend bhaiyya to nahi bula sakta na?"

Despite having a crappy frame of mind, Manik couldn't help being amused at the innocent question. How naïve is a child's world, that he is worried about a name.. And how it will gradually transform into a rotten prison one day.

"Koi nahi, you can call me Manik bhaiyya, yaar whats in a name.. Kuch bhi bulale."

Chirag thought for a minute, with absolute seriousness as a tiny frown formed on his face. "Can I call you superman bhaiyaa?"

"Tera favourite character hai hai kya?" Manik asked giggling.

"Nahii...actually main yeh baccho wale comics cartoons nahi dekhta..par aap superman jaise hi lagte ho minus the red chaddhi wala part."

"Why so??? Superman jaise kyun?" Now Manik was a little curious.

"Superman has super powers and so do you. You made us win when our song was copied. You sent us the gifts wen Nandu mam forgot - something she never does, and you made her smile. Smile to wo aapke aane se pehle bhi karti thi par usme teeth nahi dikhte the... smile to thi par teacher wali. But you came and her smile changed to bacchon wali. Aap nahi samjhoge I know, thora complex concept hai, but itna samajhlo ki aap superman isliye ho kyun ki aap kuch bhi kar sakte ho..jaise kisne socha tha ki main Nandu mam ki shaaadi mein unke saath hunga.. Magic hai sab."

Manik was dumbfound. For a minute, he couldn't utter a word. Chirag had spoken everything casually, but his words had left an indelible mark on Manik. At a time, when he had started to doubt his own abilities, this child was calling him a superman, someone with super powers. We are all born with a full heart and an empty mind. The older we grow, the more the brain develops, and we start letting it take the centre stage. But in this humdrum, somewhere the heart loses its place. Brain makes us intelligent, not necessarily wiser. Miracles though, always happen from the heart.

Manik had been silently observing this pattern. There was a time when the only people he could call family were his friends, then Nandini came and along she brought a string of other people, each one of whom was once a mere stranger, but today they all meant so much to him... Navya, Rishab, chachi, chirag. But what was that one common thing in these people, what made them so dear to him? Well the only common thing they shared was a heart and a sort of blind faith in him. Why, he would never know. Because he had seldom done anything for them, yet in bad times, in sad moments, at times when nothing seemed right, they had and were continuing to stand by them. May be this is what family is, united by intention, held together by love. May be this is why we get to meet people, because God gives us another chance to choose a family we weren't fortunate enough to be born in. He had never been the sort of guy to value relationships with people in general, to open up and let people step inside in his world. But it seems when Nandini forced her way in, she also broke down his walls.

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