ShubDaSara

The Lockdown Days

March, 2020
India

Lockdown was announced in India. It felt like the world had come to a hault. But there were two people who were taking maximum benefit out of this situation. They kept facetiming each other for hours. They felt like some teenagers. One day while they were talking, Shub patched Ishan on the call. They were discussing how Ishan has eaten Shub's head because now he is into some girl and he wanted Sara's help in order to approach that girl. Sara here was giving him some suggestions for the same.

Shub: (Laughing ) "I cannot image Ishan doing all this. He won't be able to do this, Sara. Please, suggest something else."
Sara: "Why ? This idea is so cute."
Ishan: "Haan mere ko bhi sahi laga."
Shub: "Yeah, it is. But I cannot imagine him doing it."
Sara: "Waah just because you cannot imagine him doing it, so he cannot do it.? Waah! I think he can."
Ishan: "Sara Bhabhi bol rahi hain toh bilkul kar sakta hoon."
Shub: "Chup kar. Bada aaya bhabhi ka chamcha."

They continued laughing. Shub kept laughing till his stomach started hurting and then when Ishan dropped off, Shub told Sara:

"You know, I know the world is in pain, but I am getting so addicted to talking to you everyday. I have no idea what will I do once the lockdown is lifted ? You don't call me for an hour and I start missing you. I am sorry but I think this lockdown is a "blessing in disguise" for our relationship and I am nothing but loving it. I don't think we would have ever gotten so much time for each other in normal times."

Sara: "I agree. I would have never got to know that you are such a terrible singer if you wouldn't have sung that punjabi song for me the other day."
(She also started laughing after saying this)

The lockdown was going great. They were exploring everything that they hadn't been able to do earlier because of no time. One day they would watch a movie together. Sara would watch it at her place in Mumbai and Shub at his place in Mohali. Another day they would decide to bake a cake together. Of course both of them had no idea about baking, but they would still do it, because it felt like they were doing it together. Technically, it was still a long distance relationship, but they couldn't feel the distance. They were so into each other.

Recently a new problem had started to emerge. Now everybody knew about "them being together" at Sara's place so nobody used to question her when she used to be on call for long hours. But that was not the case with Shub. Shub's father had always been very strict when it came to his cricket or his trainings sessions or even matches. He has always been the one motivating him, he was Shub's very own personal hero.

Shahneel knew, but even she couldn't answer a lot of times when their Mom would ask, "kiske saath phone pe laga rehtaa hai ye aajkal. Khana peena sab chor rakha hai phone ke chakkar me." Every other day, he would hear it from his Mom, "Ye dekho, ye India ke liye matches khelenge, pure time toh bss phone pe lage rehna hai ise." But he never gave any ear to these statements. He knew "Ghar ki murgi, daal baraabar." For him, this time was precious and he couldn't let anyone take it away. But somewhere he used to feel what will he do if at any point in life, his father confronts him about Sara ? How will he answer him ? It was difficult for him to explain these things to them.

It was an online LUDO night with Sara Shub and all their friends. They were all very excited about it. Shub snd Shahneel wanted to finish the dinner at the earliest so that they can then join the ludo, without any interruption. They were having dinner together. It is then when Shub's father asked him on the dining table:

"Mummy keh rahi hain tu pure time phone pe laga rehta hai aajkal. Aankhen kamzor ho jaayengi."
Shub: (Shocked) "Nahi toh. Aisa kuch nahi hai. Abhi sab practice band hai. Bahar bhi nahi jaa sakte toh bss isliye."
Shub's father: "Koi ladki ka chakkar toh nahi hai na.?"
Shub: (His immediate feeling was to deny it. But then he thought, shall he?) "Papa, vo...."
(Pin drop silence of few seconds)
Shub's father: "Matlab koi hai."
Shub's Mother: "Beta hum kya dushman hain tere. Bata de koi hai toh."
Shub: "Jeeeee."
Shub's Mother: "Lag hi rhaa tha mainu. Raat din bss phone phone. Koi heroine hai kya ?"
(As soon as she said that Shahneel started coughing)
Shub: "Nahin."
Shub's Father: "Athlete hogi phir."
Shub: "Nahin."
Shub's Mother: "Model-wodel type hai kya ?"
Shub: "Nahin."
Shub's Father: "Arrey toh phir mohalle ki koi hai kya ?"
Shub: "Nahin."
Shub's Mother: "Ab batayega ya hum guess guess khelte rahen."
Shub: "Aaplog pata nahi kaise react karoge. Shub's Mother: "Arrey!! Iska kya matlab hua ? Ladki hi hai na ?"(With full confusion and frustration)
Shub: "Haaan Mummyyyy! Obviously."
Shub's Mother: "Aajkal puch lena hi behtar hai. Bata bhi de ab kaun hai."

After taking some seconds pause Shub said "Sara. Sara Tendulkar."

Nobody spoke anything for another minute.

Shub: "Ab kya hua ? Tab se bata bata kar rahe the. Ab bata diya toh itne shaant kyun ho aap dono?"
Shub's Mother: "Sach me Sara hai?"
Shub: "Nahi mujhe raat me dinner ke baad faaltu ke jokes maarne ka shauk hai."
Shub's Father: "Shubbbbbbbb.!"
Shub: "Haan main jhooth nahi bol raha Mummy, Papa. Almost ek saal se saath hain. Shahneel ko puch lo."
Shub's Mother: "Aur hume abhi bata raha hai."
Shub: "Arrey ab toh bata diya na."
Shub's Father: "Tujhe samajh aa raha hai ye sab ?"
Shub: "Haan Papa, Sachin Sir knows. Uske ghar pe sabko pata hai, and they are Okay with it. Unhone mujhe kuch bola nahin, gussa bhi nahi hue."
Shub's Mother: "Lo, unhe bhi pata hai, bss hume hi nahi pata."
Shub: "Mummy thoda time lag gaya mujhe, nahi samajh aa raha tha aaplog ko kaise bataun? Sara bahut open hai apne parents ke saath, usne turant sab bata diya unhe, maine kabhi aisi sab baat aaplogo se kee nahi, toh mujhe thoda time lag gaya."
Shub's Father: "Career abhi shuru hua hai bete, aapka pura dhyaan uspe hona chahiye."
Shub: "Jeee Papa, bilkul."
Shub's Father: "Aur agar maine kabhi suna ki tune usko pareshan kiya hai, toh phir main tujhe bataunga."
Shub: "Arrey aapka beta Main hoon. Ye kya baat hui ?"
Shub's Father: "Phir bhi. Itni pyaari bacchi hai. Maine dekha hai grounds pe kuch saal pehle. Shayad medical field me kuch study kar rahi hai. Use bahut pyaar dena, humesha yaad rakhna, pyaar ko pyaar se hi jeet sakte hain. Aage ka safar tumhara bahut kathin ho sakta hai, par hamesha mehnat karte rehna."

Shub: "Haanjee Papa. Milwaaunga aap sab se lockdown khatam hone ke baad."

After this conversation and dinner, Shub ran to his room to call Sara and tell her about the new update. Mazaak mazaak me he had actually told his parents. He always knew telling them wouldn't be that scary but still, this was big for him. Sara was very excited to know about it too.

They had an amazing Ludo night. Obvio Team Sara won. Next day was the Picture editing night. Sara was helping Shub learn how to edit pictures. It was a group call and even Alysha and Jugnu were there. It was there when Sara edited two pictures of Shub into one which he even ended up posting on IG.

General Trivia:
1) Humans Of Bombay wrote about Shub's journey in March 2020 and "Sara" went on to publicaly like it. It is not even liked by Shahneel or any other celeb but Sara liked it.

2) The most talked about picture, that Sara had edited for Shub, but clearly couldn't take the due credit for it.