Sameer -Naina FF : Kati Patang

Part- 37

Hi my dear readers and friends.

          Sorry for keeping you all awaited. Awfully I was busy and that can best explain my long absence from this platform.

Here is the update finally to make sure that you don't feel that I abandoned the story.

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Maine hothon se lagayi to

Hungama ho gaya

Hungaama...Ho gaya..

Pandit struggled as a tipsy Preeti bellowed the song at top of voice. Muttering sorry to the taxi driver he pulled her out ,fumbling and tumbling. "Jara sa jhum lun mein...Aa tujhe chum lun mein.." Preeti pulled Pandit in imitation of Simran from DDLJ. "Preeti! Kya kar rahi ho? Arey yaar!Kahan phas gaya." Pandit mumbled,thinking hard where to proceed now.Her quarters or his quarters?

Holding her wrist in one hand, Pandit opened the key of his door.He held her as she mumbled away some more songs in slurred voice.He switched on the lights and looked at her face.Her hair was dripping wet.The water droplets from her hair dripped and percolated in the fabric of her shirt.Droplets of water travelled down from her nape to collar,moving further south..Pandit averted his gaze. "Waise mat dekh usse Ponga..Wo teri Bhabhi ki behen hai.Kuch to maryada rakh." His mind voice blared from within. "Maryada!" From when did he use such heavy rhetoric language? Perk of sitting with Hindi Dramatic Society students on weekends.

Preeti stirred in his arms, pulling him to reality.Her shirt correction his shirt which she was wearing now was also sodden due to the droplets dripping from her hair.He made her sit on the chair and rushed inside. Picking a towel and quickly stirring a cup of hot instant coffee,he reached near her.She looked at him and smiled.A bright true, amiable smile.He felt a satiated tenderness arouse inside him,seeing her smile in the moment instead of focusing of how far she has completed the plans on the planner.

He returned her a smile and tried drying her hair with the towel. "Tum bahut cute ho.." Preeti uttered,flashing her brightening smile,like a sunlight glistening on dew drops. "Yeh coffee pi lo. Bed pe naya bedsheet daal diya hai.So jana." Pandit said as he decided to go out to make his mind clear.So much has happened since the evening.As he tried going out,he felt a pull. "Yeh haath humko dede PT." Great! She has successfully gone from DDLJ to Sholay now.He freed his hand from her clutch and cupped her face. "Preeti Devi!Yeh haath ab dediya to kal hosh aneke baad zinda na bachunga."After much battle between mind and heart,he picked her up and laid on the bed.She protested and mumbled something incoherently. He adjusted the pillow and switched off the bed side lamp. "So jao",he said and quickly moved out of the room.

In the dark expanse of night,he tried shedding light on pestering thoughts of his mind.At first,several years ago,she was only his class fellow,though of a different section.She had been a fierce protector and fighter for her sister whom the world had wronged,the world that included him.He had last seen her carry messages to some boy on some girl's behalf.That was last he had caught sight of her until the fateful meeting in FTII campus. Why has she suddenly felt much more than a class mate from yester years and just a colleague sharing same hometown? Much to his amaze,he remembered how she had teared up on her sister's plight,how she had given a cold shoulder to his apologies and how after years she had hugged him infront of entire college fraternity.What has happened in these years which has taken away that inherent chirpiness of her and has pushed her into a world of distrust and irritability?

Pandit returned to his bedroom only to realise Preeti occupying the bed.Her face half-dented into the pillow.The laughter lines appearing around her closed eyes. He chose to sleep on the sofa in the dining.In the middle of midnight hour,Pandit woke up to sound of steel clang to the floor.As he woke from a deep sleep,trying to make sense of the source of sound,he heard a loud thud.Fearing the extreme he rushed to the bedroom.His fears were accurately true.Preeti had fallen off the bed.Adding to it,she was still not conscious.The steel glass still rolled on the floor. "Preeti! Jaag jao.Yahin zameen pe sona hai kya raat bhar?" Pandit shook her and in flick of moment,she grabbed his t-shirt. "Umm!Naina! Dekh na koun pareshan kar raha hai.Abhi Shahrukh ke saath kiss ho jata.Pahad se gir hi rahe the hum.."