Mangal Kunj
Malabar Hill
Dec 29th
Sunday
A little after 1
Ritu and Khanak sat in her balcony, staring down,
Dadi was sending snacks every half hour, International and Desi, the house was
quiet, Ray was at the mehandi now, along with the other Gujral women and her
Mom…
Ritu:Nothing beats a smile on that face, trooper!
Khanak smiled.. yet again…
Bai had just spoken with Ritu, Ritu made plans
for Ahmedabad by speaking in terrible Gujarati… Bai laughed uncontrollably…
Ritu: I am glad you guys reconciled… I would have
killed you if you hadn’t… you know that..
Khanak:Hmmm..
Ritu:OK whats eating you? Phir ladai ki kya?
Khanak chuckled…
Ritu smacked her… hard, just as HL walked in with
home made strawberry lemonade and cookies…
Ritu:Tere ghar mein meri full seva hoti hai, my
MIL would hate me… (giggles)
Khanak looks at her worried
K:Abhi kaisi hain?
R:The same, opinionated, arrogant and Hitler like…
(vehement)
K:Mine doesn’t talk to me much
R:As if YOU would, even if she did…
K:Haan baat to teri theek hai (sheepish)
R:Atleast you have a culture, language barrier..
K rolled here eyes “Really Ritz? LANGUAGE?”
R:Mera matlab… Punjabi vs Gujarati
K:I probably speak better Punjabi than her…
(smug)
R:Oh! Ho!... but hun, the words, Gujral taught
you cant be spoken outside this room!
Khanak colors quickly…
R:So how is se-
K: Shuru ho gayi tum?
R:If you tell me, then I will! (bait)
K:Tum mujhe ROZ TEXT karti ho! (horrified)
R:Only if we do
K:You are insane!
R:Kisne banaya mujhe aise?
K points to the sky “Atleast usne to nahi”
(giggles)
R:I love your roses… how many kinds
K:14 going on 17 (walks around pointing to 3
stubby trunks in new pots)
R:You tend them all?
K:When I was… mera matlab, when we separated… the
indoor foliage company took over…
R:Do you still look for opportunities to be
single? (serious)
K is aghast…. That thought has actually crossed
her mind…
K:Ummm…mmm
R:Really?
K:Ritz (pleads)
R: He will hunt you down… you will be single, but
dead… (gushing)
K:Harlequin hai kya?
R:Close!
R:Hua kya tujhe?
K wanders gulps down her lemonade…
Picks out a dozen slices of strawberries, and
chews on them slowly…
R smiles… they would look at strawberries in
Chembur but buy rarely, Ritu would buy on her way home from the station.. “Too
pricey” Khanak would say…
She had eaten them thrice… growing up………..
She ate them, everyday… now… somethings were
natural and painless……
The pitcher is half full…
R:Lets spike it, isme Scotch daal de.
Khanak giggles “Abhi?”
R:Nahi… raat ke 11 baje… ABHI….
Khanak brings a new bottle of Bourbon…
Ritu is laughing out loud….
Khanak, uncorks it, after a struggle…
And pours half a glass into the half full
pitcher… the gold hides between the pink………..
Ritu pours some out… just as the girls giggle and
take their first sip…
Dadi arrives……..
Dadi:Chalo, iski aadat daal di na tumne (laughs)
Ritu:Aaajao, Dadiji, tussi vi…
Dadi whacks Ritu, as she laughs…..
Dadi:Beta khaana
Ritu:Hamey kabab chahiye aur dal makhani aur
chawal
Dadi: Main ja rahi hoon Haldi mein… HL laayega
towers se…
Khanak: Mere liye rabri…
Dadi: Shaam ko kya khaayegi…
Ritu: Abhi ka pata nahi, aur aap sham tak pahunch
gayin… jam abhi…
Dadi: Oh! God! Does she speak lines from B grade
movies?
K: Both Hollywod and Bollywood..
D: Have a good time… haan achha… tere miya ka
phone aaya…
Khanak thinks its Ritu…
Ritu is texting her miya…
Dadi:Mrs Gujral, aapke pati ka…
K:Oh! (sheepish)
D:He wants to know when you girls will go to the
salon for the make up and stuff
K:Meri shaadi thodi na hai (shocked)
D:Who to ho chuki… dobaara koi chance nahi tera…
R: Dadi tell him6… nahi 7…
K: Teri bhi ho chuki…
R:But since we are baraati there will be million
cute guys lining up…I need to look hot (pouts and protrudes her chest)
K laughs uncontrollably… tears forming in her
eyes
Dadi: 6!
Ritu:7!
Khanak sips her spiked drink as Dadi walks away…
K:He doesn’t want any kids (out of the blue)
R is totally silent…
wow so Khanak finally admits to least Ritu what is disturbing her, what would have happened had she been pregnant?
ReplyDeleteWow!!! Awesome!!! Loved it!!! Ritu and Khanak share almost everything to each other..:) and Khanak finally said what is eating her up to Ritu...Shaan understands all her unspoken words and her "hmmm", etc..so he'll understand it for sure..If possible, why cant she sit and talk her feelings about having a kid with him??? Khanak drank the spiked drinks..LOL:D now she can ramble a lot with Shaan..hope he come back soon to his home..:)
ReplyDeleteLooking forward and thanks for writing..:)
Loved khanak and ritus relationship, she tells her everything like their sisters..
ReplyDeleteKnow khanak needs to start telling shaan..
Xx
Lovely conversation!! Khanak and Ritu's friendship is really special where they can share everything about themselves!!
ReplyDeletethe 50th part was an amazing one with Khanak, Ritu, Dadi and the spiked drink......am excited for the next one!!
Congrats on the 50th part..:)
ReplyDeletecongrats on half century Aditee
ReplyDeleteLoved Ritu and khanak conv i just love their bonding
their friendship is unique
knows each other very well
dadi join them awesome
dadi, khanak n Ritu's talk was very nice
last pink line make ritu go into silence halt
hope khanak n shaan talk again about kids
looking forward for next part
Ritu-Khanak Convo! Lovely! :D Just like how two best friends are..sharing anything and everything!!And you certainly feel light and at peace! Love their bond! :)
ReplyDeleteI love it, how you point the yesterday, and today! Life has certainly changed alot, for good! :)
Oh! So its Dadi who caught the wild friends! ;) I wanted it be Shantanu! :P OMG! Would have been so awesome! :D
Wedding is going to be SO fun! Cant wait to live the fun filled moments again! :)
So thats again the topic! He doesn want kids AT ALL? Now thats not happenin..! Not now..but ofcourse, later!
Continue soooooooon!
^^
DeleteHeyyy...You good?
I think AT ALL means NO children, I mean going by how he is with Amogh, maybe at a later stage.
I don't know his reasons as yet, Aditee might able to tell us...but I completely understand his career orientated and wants her to himself for a period...but phir bhi NONE at all. Even at a later stage it will be hard to convince him, this topic will be a hard core contention between the both.
Hiii! :D Yup! You? Feels like its been long time!
DeleteHmm..! And I remember when for the first a talk about baby had come up..before wedding! Where she said she'll name her first born 'Calvin', and he had asked.. what if they have a girl first! :P Awwwwwwww..! I found that so adorable!
I know it does :D I'm good and busy :)
DeleteI know...I remember that, from this I assumed maybe later he will and he knows how passionate she is about have children...I totally agree on the fact not NOW is the best option, both have had a long tiring journey...marriage, separation, reconciliation and back to fighting, they needs to find a space were it feel comfortable enough to actually have a responsibility of a child.
Congrats on the 50th :)
ReplyDeleteI really really liked update for many reasons.
Firstly, the conversation and ease between the both, i don't even sense this with her own family.
AND
Secondly...the MIL ranting conversation was 'bahu' types. I hear it everywhere, even if the MIL is sugar coated, they still will have complains. lol!
Sometimes there are certain aspects in your life,that you dont tend to tell any one even family, maybe for several reasons.
Ritu is a amazing friend! She grasped and sensed something was wrong before she even knew it.
And the portrayal of Khanak's pink... she's been in a inner turmoil for ages. She might tell everyone that he doesnt want kids and seem 'okay'...but its shattered her emotionally and she needed Ritu for the outburst.
Though his reasons will be valid enough for him not to have children, but at a later stage were both find the middle ground? Hope so...taking the fact Khanak was very passionate about having children from the beginning.
Update sooooon :)
oh so at last she tells whats bothering her but i dont want her to be pregnant now and i think shan doesnt want kids now but in future ofcourse remember in delhi after reconcilation he was so happy when she talked about kids they should talk about this and sort it out once for all tension door :)
ReplyDeleteLOL!!! i loved ritu's line "the words, Gujral taught you cant be spoken outside this room!"
lovely!!!!!
finally she spits out... good..
ReplyDeleteLovely part :)
ReplyDeleteBoth friends were enjoying their togetherness after so many times loved their covo!