Winner of Wattpad India Awards 2020 (Judge's Choice) in the New Adult category.
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"The lights are cheeky, you can't live without them, and yet if you get too close, they'll blind you. Darkness? Well it doesn't cheat. It's cool and soothing. It's r...
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Madhulika decided to visit the temple again the next day. She had to tell Pundit ji that she'd started working on the murtis, which would be ready by Diwali. When she told Nakul about her plan over breakfast, he looked surprised.
"Pundit ji asked you to make them? But...he isn't in Bhabra right now."
"What?"
"The priest of the Rama-Sita temple beside the river has gone to Kashi, something about studying the Rig Veda, he said he will return after Diwali only. I didn't know there was a pundit in the temple right now."
Madhu thought back to when she had first bumped into that pundit, or mechanic, for he had told her that he was just a servant of Rama. "I think he's just a religious person taking care of the temple while the priest is not here, he's also papa's old friend you know?"
Nakul slowly nodded, brows still furrowed in confusion. Quickly shovelling down the rest of his poha, he got up. "Do you mind if I join you? I have some work there too."
"Yeah of course." Madhu wondered what work Nakoo might have there, but she wasn't complaining about the idea of spending the morning with him, for on most days he preferred to lock himself inside his workshop.
She caught herself wanting to skip back to the room to change, which was ridiculous. She was almost thirty, yet she was acting like a giddy teenager. But yesterday, he had showed a completely different side of himself. Thinking about the way he had looked at her in awe when Madhu had won the pebble skipping game, or the memory of his warm hand over hers when he helped her get acquainted with Gayatri made pleasant jitters run down her back.
Madhu reminded herself that they were just friends. And that was what they'd ever be. Nakul had made it quite clear that he rejected a government job just to stay and help out in Bhabra, and Madhu's life was back in Delhi. Roshan had been partly right when he said things couldn't work out between them, though of course caste wasn't the reason.
However, even the sobering voice in her head wasn't able to dampen Madhu's mood. So, when she met Nakul outside on the porch, holding a large cardboard box, her lips tilted in a genuine smile that he returned.
They made their way to the temple, walking through the thin crowd of the bazaar. He had ditched the aid, so when Madhu offered to help with the box, he didn't reply for he wasn't facing her.
It was still a pleasant walk though, and it took half an hour for them to reach the steps of the ghat inside the temple compound. While Madhu removed her shoes to step in, intending to offer prayers, Nakul started walking around it after saying a quiet, "See you in a minute."
She found the friendly Pundit inside the surprisingly well-lit shrine, sitting on the floor in a meditative posture, right before the murtis of Lord Rama, his wife Sita, brother Lakshman and Lord Hanuman. They were always crafted together in a set. Though the temple was dedicated to Lord Rama and Ma Sita, it also housed the murtis of several other deities, including those of Lakshmi-Ganesh from last Diwali. Several bells were hanging at the entrance and Madhu stretched out her arm above her to sound the largest of them.
