Sach hote Khwaab

Lunch

I was sitting outside with Mamaji, Bauji and Gautam at the dining table, right outside the kitchen.
Gautam was seated on my left. Further to his left, Bauji was sitting and Mamaji was seated at the head of table. The seat on my left was vacant along with five more empty chairs at the ten seater-dining table.
Thankfully no one else had caught me in the kitchen with Amrit. However staying in the kitchen had had another side-effect on me. I was extremely now. How on earth do women stay and work in the kitchen which is wafting with smells of delicious food and still have patience to complete the cooking?! How?!
Famished, I sat there resting my chin on my hands, waiting to devour the food. Just then Yash-Keerti came out of the kitchen, carrying plates and surprisingly talking amicably with each other. They laid the plates out on the table.
'Tum dono bina lade bhi baat kar sakte ho ek-dusre se?', I asked with a surprised smile.
'Bhaiya! Hum kya har waqt ladte rehte hain ek-dusre se?!', Yash said with furrowed eyebrows.
'Haan bhaiya! Ab humara ek dusre ke bina hai hi kaun!', Keerti said pretentiously, wrapping an arm around Yash's back. Yash too put an arm around Keerti's shoulder and continued the act. 'Sab ke paas kaam hai apna apna. Ye –', he said pointing towards Gautam, 'Bhaiya humaare! Ye bhi chale jaate hain 'Desh ki seva' karne! Humaare liye toh waqt hi nahi hai kisi ke paas. Hum apna sukh-dukh kisse baante?! Hum hi hai bas ek dusre ke liye!'
They turned towards each other and nodded with a false frown and then looked back at me.

I chuckled at their performance. Slightly laughing, Gautam said, 'Tum dono ki nautanki pe aake mujhe kaan kheechne chaiye dono ke! Par ... khair jao. Badi tez bhookh lagi hai! Itni taakat nahi abhi mujhmein!'
Walking over to us, Yash said, 'Aise kahiye ki susti aa rahi hai aapko! Hum kya jaante nahi?'
And before I could stop him, he dropped in the seat on my other side. Oh no!

Quickly Keerti came over and stamped his foot with a glare. 'AAH!', he yelped, getting up at once.
Mamaji and Bauji who were engaged in some serious discussion, turned towards them startled. 'Ki hoya puttar?', Bauji asked in a concerned tone.
'Oh kuch nahi fufaji, bas hum toh aise hi...', he trailed off turning towards Keerti. They exchanged a meaningful glance Yash pulled back from that seat and moved over to sit across me. Just when I was beginning to feel relieved, Keerti seated herself beside me. And I thought my sister was being considerate! Uh Great!

I turned towards her and she had a smirk on her face. I looked at her pleadingly. Resting her chin upon her hand, she slowly shook her head in a haughty manner.
'Koi farmaish?!', I asked in a whisper.
'Dilli ghumaane le chalenge aap mujhe!' she said in an authoritative manner.
'Bas? Itni si baat?! Jab tum kaho!'
With an excited smile, she vacated the place and took a seat on the left of Yash.

That's Mummyji, Mamiji and Amrit walked out of the kitchen, conversing gaily. Neero Bhaiya was towing behind them. Both Amrit and Neero Bhaiya had a porcelain vessel each in their hands. Our eyes met, and she slowed down for a while, holding my gaze.
But then she looked around at everyone else and regained her ordinary pace. Mummyji and Mamiji took a seat to the right of Yash. Amrit and Neero Bhaiya sat down the dishes on the table and returned to the kitchen.

'Ah! Khushbu te badi changi aa rahi hai!', Bauji remarked. We had started serving ourselves when Amrit returned.
Starting with Bauji, she served kalakand to everyone. She placed an extra kalakand on my plate and hastened ahead to serve it to others with a sheepish smile. I smiled to myself.
Bauji said, 'Aaja puttar, tu bhi ab baith ja khaana khaane vaaste!'

'Aaj ki sabse khaas cheez to aayi hi nahi ab tak!', Mummyji said with a sparkle in her eyes.
Confused, I looked at Mummyji and then at Amrit, who looked a bit excited.

Just then Neero Bhaiya returned with an eager smile and a big tray. As he placed it on the table, we saw there were puddings!
'Toffee Puddings!', Mummyji announced. Extremely taken aback, I looked at both Amrit and Mummyji.
'Hairan mat ho! Maine sikhaaya hai Amrit ko!', Mummyji said with an affectionate smile. Amrit beamed.
'Waah Bhabhi!', Gautam noted with an enthusiastic smile. Yash-Keerti exchanged pleased smiles.
With Neero Bhaiya's help, Amrit placed a small pudding in a quarter plate before everyone first.

To me – a person living in the prison for the previous years, we got bare minimum food- just enough to keep us alive. Fresh, warm, home cooked food everyday already felt like a privilege to me now. To be taken care of seemed like a luxury like never before. Here my mother left no opportunity to spoil me, and now Amrit tries her hand at a dish foreign to her, only because I used to love it back then and would probably relish it now too.

I was pondering over it, when Amrit seated herself beside me.
'Kya soch rahein hai aap?', she asked, snapping me out of my muse.
'Aapne pudding banayi hai?!', I asked.
'Bas koshish ki', she said softly with an expectant smile.
'Mere liye?'
'Bhala aur kiske liye?!', she said with raised eyebrows.
'Par Amrit –', before I could say anything, she stuffed a piece of pudding in my mouth with her fork, startling me. 'Aap pudding khaaiye!'
Umm Yumm! I was cent-percent sure this wasn't her first try at the pudding. It was just too good for the first attempt.

'Ahm ahm!', Yash slightly cleared his throat. Shoot! Everybody was looking at us, suppressing their chuckles. I and Amrit exchanged a glance, literally wishing to disappear from the spot. Ugh this was so embarrassing! This carelessness was not taking us anywhere.
'Bhaiya... Mujhe chole- chole dijiye na!', Yash asked me, drawing away attention.
I quickly passed the vessel, wishing everyone else too would divert their attention. Thankfully they acted as if nothing had happened. 

Unable to contain her curiosity further Amrit asked me nervously, 'Ab bataiye bhi? Kaisi bani hai?'
In a low voice, I replied, 'Dubara haath choomne ki ijaazat hai?'
Amrit beamed.

I and Amrit couldn't say another word throughout the meal. We just exchanged silly smiles every now and then.
As I had said, the food was extremely tasty.

 
'Puttarji, tuhaade hathaan'ch te bada swaad hai!', Mamaji said, praising her.
'Itthe aa puttar', Bauji called her fondly.
As Amrit neared him, he pulled out a box from his pocket and presented it to her.
'Ae tera shagun!' Astonished, Amrit looked at it for a while and then took it graciously. We all to were amazed. Everyone expected the shagun to be either jewellery or money as it conventionally was.
Gautam told me it was watch. Later I would know, it was a pretty silver-golden rectangular dial watch.
'Zindagi mein sabse keemti hota hai waqt. Kab beet jaye pata hi nahi chalta. Iski kadr karna - Apne bhi aur apne aaspaas walon ki bhi. Aur khoob mehnat karna!', he said,
Overwhelmed, she nodded obediently and bent down to touch his feet.
'Jaa bacche! Aur naam kama! Khoob tarakki kar!', Bauji said fondly, caressing her head. I was all smiles.