Chupanke Ki Saaza
-PART 6-
A Paint Fest
Bani walked into her room to find it dark
and quiet.
"Jai?" she called. "Are you
here?" It was common knowledge that she was scared of the dark.
There was nothing in response. Just as she
was about to turn on the lights, a hand came down upon hers.
"Pay back time," said a wicked
voice, which she figured was Jai's. And before her mind could process anything,
the lights turned on, blinding her eyes and she felt herself being sprayed with
athick liquid, whch turned out to be paint!
Bani's mouth fell open, and Jai began to
laugh and continue his assualt on her.
"Stop it Jai," she yelled, trying
to shield her face from the on coming paint.
"Kya kaha tha tumne?" he said.
"I am irresponsible? Jab inzam lag hi gaya, mujhe aisa karne mein kya bhurai
hai?"
Bani glared at him in reply.
"Kya hua?" he said. "Accha
nahi laga? Koi baath nahi. Bahut saare colours hai... take your pick!"
He offered her, her collection of paints, on which she spent alot of money and
effort, in order to put together her art supplies a long time ago, when she
took art lessons. And that was her breaking point.
"How dare you use MY art
supplies?" she screamed. "Now you wait Jai Walia." She picked up
a colour and splashed it on Jai, which fell on his perfectly ironed shirt.
Jai was taken up momentary shock.
"Kya hua Jai?" Bani taunted.
"Bolthi band ho gayi?"
But Jai just picked up the next paint
bottle in reply. Bani ducked and the paint went flying in the air, splashing
the walls. But Jai didn't care. He kept going, while Bani ran around the room,
smirking everytime he missed his target.
Just as they both drained the last supply
of paint, Krishna walked in.
"Jai main tumhe kabse bhula rahi
ho-" She stopped halfway, seeing the state of the room and also of Jai and
Bani, both of who were drenched from head to toe in paint.
There was silence for a couple of minutes
as Krishna stared in shock.
Jai cleared his throat. "Umm... woh
kya hai na Maa," he started. "Main aur Bani ne decide kiya ki room ko
redecorate karna chahiye... issi liye..."
Bani stared guiltly at the floor, as if she
was five year old child caught in a wrong doing. However, Krishna
burst out laughing. Bani stared in amazement as her mother-in-law called all
the occupants of the Mansion.
They all walked in, amazed to see a
laughing Krishna and an embarassed Jai and
Bani.
"Kya hua?" Rano asked. "Yeh
saab paint, yahan kaise? Aur aap kyun haas rahi kai Kaaki?" she asked Krishna.
"You won't believe Rano," Krishna answered. "These two just had a paint fight
because they wanted to redecorate their room!"
Rano didn't see what was so funny in the
situation, but what amused her was that Bani was quiet for the first time in
her life.
"Zaroor in dono ko jagada hua,"
Ranveer said. "Warna yeh kaise redecoration hai?"
"Who started it?" Lakshmi asked.
Jai said "Bani", while, at the
same time, Bani said "Jai".
That was enough to get them all laughing.
As they left the room, giving them time to change, Bani turned on Jai.
"Yeh saab tumhari gaalthi hai,"
she in a cold voice. "Samjhe tum?"
"Meri gaalthi?" Jai replied
outraged. "You were the one who ripped all my clothes and made me buy a
whole new wardrobe!"
"Well," Bani said. "Now,
because of you, we have to buy a whole new room." And with that she
disappeared into the bathroom.
* *
*
"Hum kaha jaa rahe?" Bani asked,
as Jai pulled out of the parking lot of the Walia Industries.
Jai ignored her.
"Main tumse baat kar rahi hoon!"
"Clearly, main tumse baat nahi karna
chatha hoon."
"Atleast tell me, where the hell are
you taking me?"
"Itni curiosity kyun?" Jai said
sarcastically. "Thodi
dher mein pata chal jayega!"
Bani rolled her eyes. "Why do you have
to be so irritating?"
"Why do you have to be pathetic?"
"JAI!" Bani yelled.
"BANI!"
Bani gave up. There was no point arguing
with Jai. He was as stubborn as ever.
"Waise," Bani said. "Why
didn't you tell everyone about the divorce?"
"The same reason you didn't," Jai
replied. "Didn't want to ruin their peace of mind a month early."
Bani nodded. Soon, Jai stopped at a
shopping mall.
"We are shopping?" Bani said,
excited.
"Haan," Jai replied with a sigh.
"Because of our little paint episode, Maa really wants us to redecorate;
the stains won't come out."
Bani knew that. She was the one who bought
the colours and she made sure, they were of the lasting kind.
The couple walked into mall and soon became
engrossed with picking out colour schemes for the room along with the furniture
and decorations.
"Green," Bani said. "The
colour scheme should be green."
Jai disagreed. "White... mujhe white
chahiye."
"Apna common sense use karo,"
Bani told him. "Your room has the view of the garden, so make the room to
compliment it."
Jai rolled his eyes. "And what should
I do, when the garderner decides to change the flower beds three months from
now?"
"Green is a neutral colour... it will
go with anything."
"No white is a neutral colour."
"Hamesha argue karna tumhara shauk hai
kya?"
"Sirf tumse argue karna shauk hai,
kyunki tum meri baath sunthi toh nahi."
"Of course nahi sunthi, kyunki tumhari
choice bahut hi gaatiya hai. White is so bland and boring."
"And green is so ugly."
"I have an idea," the lady
helping them out said. "Combine green and white together. They compliment
each other anyway."
"NO!" Jai and Bani said together.
"Green looks bad with other colours!"
The lady stared at them and started to
laugh. Jai and Bani looked at eachother, not understanding the joke.
"Aap haas kyun rahi hai?" Jai
asked.
"You two were fighting two minutes
ago," she answered. "And yet you agree on the same things. I don't
see why you guys argue."
Bani looked away. She didn't want to be
reminded about how perfect they were for each other - because they werent. The
truth was no matter how much she loved Jai, she could never be with him. She
knew that and accepted it by now.
As she looked back at swatch of colours,
one colour caught her eyes.
"This one," Jai said, pointing to
the same shade as Bani was looking at. "I like this one."
Bani couldn't help but smile as the lady
proceeded to pull out different complimentary colours. Despite their
difference, Jai still did things the way she liked them.
"Tumhe kaise pata mujhe woh colour
pasand hai," Bani asked, once they came out of the shop, finalizing the
colour schemes.
"I dont," Jai said, in a
dont-care voice. "I like that colour."
And he continued walking, without noticing
the somewhat disappointed Bani.
* *
*
"Aandar aane se pehle, knock karna
manners hota hai!" Jai said, not taking his eyes of his laptop.
Bani didn't care. "Main tumhe kabse
call kar rahi hoon. Phone nahi uta sakthe kya?"
"Main busy tha."
It was a friday afternoon in the Walia
Industries, a week since Bani joined the company. While everyone was excited
about the upcoming weekend, Bani was busy following up a project that Jai was
handling. And like everything he did, she had an objection to this as well. So,
she was standing in his luxurious office atop the Walia Industries, glaring at
him.
"Well," she said, finally.
"Too bad. This is more important."
"No it isnt. I have work to do."
"So do I," she snapped. "And
its my job to tell you that your London
project is ambitious."
Jai looked up, caught off guard.
"What?"
"Haan," Bani said, placing the
file infront of him. "You want to build a seven star hotel at the price of
a three star hotel. How?"
"Kya tum finances ke specialist
ho?" he asked rhetorically. "Nahi na. Jaab unhe koi problem nahi hai. Toh
phir tumhe kyun?"
Bani sighed. "its not that they don't
have a problem. They are too scared to tell you the truth."
"Rubbish."
"Its the truth. If not now, they will
realize it tomorrow. But it will be too late. The construction would have begun
by then."
"I have no idea what you are ranting
on about!"
Bani began to explain her logic, while Jai
tried to be patient. But five minutes later, he couldn't help but be irritated.
He considered all these things before finalizing the project and had even
thought of solutions for them.
"Tumhe kya lagtha?" he said. "Maine yeh saab nahi soocha
hai? I have been working for five years. I know what I
am doing."
"No, you don't," Bani
contradicted. "You are hoping for too much. All you planning is on
guesswork!"
"Yes," he replied. "because
I know how the market works. Its called instinct, which you clearly lack!"
"And if you fail?"
"And if I succeed?" he questioned and
then added "which I will?"
They both glared at each other stubbornly.
"What proof do you have that
everything will be alright?" Bani asked.
"What proof do you have that it
wont?" Jai challenged.
It was stalemate. Neither of them wanted to
relent.
"Jai," Ranveer said, walking in
without knocking. However, he regretted his decision as soon as he stepped into
the office and saw his cousin glaring angrily at his wife. "I will come
back later."
"No, tell me." Jai said ignoring
Bani and turning to Ranveer.
"There is something wrong with the London project."
Bani smirked, victorious. "I told
you," she taunted.
"What happened?" Jai said in a
very calm voice.
"The builders are saying that we have
to pay them more," Ranveer continued, awkwardly. If Jai and Bani were
having a fight, he did not want to be
in it. "The market is too slow right now and everything costs almost twice
as much. They refused to sign the deal."
Bani's smile grew even wider. "I only
thing left to do now is to change the style of the hotel. We cannot afford to
pay the builder his price. And even if we do give in to his demands, other will
start objecting, also demanding for increase in their shares."
Ranveer couldn't help but agree with Bani.
But he also knew Jai, having watched him for five years - he always had a plan and the look he had right
now, confirmed that he was quickly recalculating.
"Call a meeting," Bani said, when
no one spoke. "This project is
off."
Jai made up his mind. "Yes, call a
meeting," he said. "Not with the company, but with the builder,"
making Ranveer smile.
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