" NIYATI KA KHEL"
It was a very normal day for all; the cid team had been called on duty .There was a new corpse lying on the stretcher in the lab which the cid team had just sent, but what was abnormal, was that –even thought dr Salunke didn't seem to waste a minute before examining a body that entered his lab , the body lay as it was found even after a hour of sending it to the lab , because it seemed he wasn't there. Tarika on the other hand was sitting on another stretcher looking into blank space as if thinking about something of grave importance. It was evident that her thoughts were not pleasant, she then buried her face in her hands and at the very second the cid team barged in. Abhijeet, Daya, ACP Pradyuman, shreya, purvi, sachin and pankaj all seemed to be in the ever known "cid speed", eager to know more about the victim's death and to catch the killer, but as they searched the surrounding no one was to be seen, as tarika was sitting on the stretcher behind the door, Abhijeet's eyes scanned the room and he saw tarika holding her head, in one of his actions, purely affected by love he called out to her and said
Abhi: tarika, kya hua? tabyat toh thik hain na, nahi hai toh doctor ke pass ja aao. Sehat ka hamesha dhyan rakha kar ro. (he said it all in one breath)
Tarika, for the first time, even realizing the cid team's existence, suddenly lifted her head up.
Tarika: hain? (with a mystified and a totally lost look) mujhse kisine kuch kaha? Are aap saab yaha? Kaab aaye?(looking shocked at the team)
Daya with a devious smile said: are tarika, tumne "abhijeet" ki baat nahi suni? (laying emphasis on abhijeet) Abhijeet ne kaha tabyat thik nahi hai toh "vo" tumhe dr ke paas leke jaa sakta hain! (and turned his gaze towards abhijeet, teasing him with a smirk )
Abhi: (desperately trying to change the topic) hain…..hain …voh…voh …. dr sahib kahi nahi dikh rahe? (looking here and there)
This too didn't seem to reach the pretty woman's ears as she was staring blankly as it seemed at-"nothing."
ACP at last said "tarika?tarika? hain… sunn sakti ho mujhe? Hain! good! Kya hua tarika ? esi khoi khoi kyu lag rahi ho? Kuch gadbad hai? Koi problem hai?
Abhijeet suddenly joined acp n said ; hain tarika kuch pareshan dikh….
His talk was cut short by the stern gaze of the elderly fellow,
Acp continued(while the others tried to hide their smiling faces at the cuteness of the "always soo strong" senior inspector.) tarika? Tum thik hona? Salunke kaha hai? Khuch mila ya nahi?(now in a irritated tone)
Tarika mumbled (more to herself than to others) : mere liye pareshani ki pudiya lane gaye hai! Itne saal unki help ki par mereliye itna nahi kar sakte? Hump( and then realizing that she was just asked a question she put on a fake smile and continued) hain sir mein ekdam thik hu lekin sir abhi tak kuch nahi mila hame abhi chalu hi nahi kiya kuch dhundhana! Aur salunke sir ek naye forensic dr ko lane gaye hai airport par! ( the last sentence came out of her mouth, and her expression looked as if the words tasted to her-extremely bitter)
Pankaj suddenly raised his voice and asked with a confused look: matlab dr tarika aap aab chali jayengi?
Baring acp everyone suddenly looked at tarika and simultaneously started screaming at her how they would hate for her to go.
She just kept looking from pankaj to sachin to purvi to shreya to daya and then her eyes stopped and looked at abhijeet who seemed to absolutely paralyzed at the sudden change of events and her heart actually skipped a beat when she looked at the face that she with time had grown to love (which she just won't admit) and his expression showed to her how much he loved and cared and adored her. She then on the top of her voice she ordered all to shut up and to her surprise there was, then pin drop silence. She continued with a small smile
Tarika : are pankaj, kuch bhi mat bolo mai kahi nahi jaa rahi….. aur na hi salunke sir kahi jaa rahe hai (as she saw that pankaj was about to ask another question). Who naya expert aa raha hai wo sirf kuch dino ke liye aaraha hai, delhi cid mein hai aaj kaal!
Daya : toh dr tarika usme aap kyu itna pareshan dikh rahi hai? Kya app us naye dr ko janti hai?(with a concerened look)
Purvi asks the same question with a greater emphasis : hain tarika janti ho tum us naye dr ko?
Tarika looks at all the people in the room as if deciding whether or not to tell them this secret and at last starts talking- hain purvi mein us dr ko janti hu, meri senior thi college mein. Bada pareshan kar cuki hai muzjhe . vese buri nahi hai bas pata nahi mujhse hi kya problem hai use?muzpe bate banana shayad pasand hai use! Internship mein bhi ek do weeks thi mein uske saath tab bhi kitna parshan kiya hai usne!
Abhijeet : pareshaan matlab-ragging? Tarika yeh toh bohot buri baat hai.. tumhe…..
Tarika looked at abhijeet and continued: well ragging keh sakte hai yaa nahi I don't …jeet …. Abhijeet (she called him by his full name as they were at work and, well, you have to keep it as professional as you can) pata nahi vo muze directly kuch nahi kehti thi!you know kisi se mere barme kuch bura kehna, yaa fir internship mein muze ese kaam dena joh muze definitely na ate ho!(with this she sunk into a chair)
Abhijeet looked at daya as a sign to try and console her as he just didn't want to be the reason for any more smiles and smirks.
Daya understood perfectly and came a little closer to the chair tarika was sitting in: tarika koi baat nahi, abhi naa hi tum koi colleage ki ladki ho,nahi tum uski intern ho, tum toh kitni strong team ka strong hissa ho. Kitne bahadur ho tum!
It was shreya's turn now: haain tarika aur agar uss nayi dr ne tumse kuch bhi kaha toh hum hai na! (shreya and purvi touched each other's back and raised their hand to make their hands to look like a gun,then realizing that acp sir was watching the regained their original position.)
Tarika….. vese ye nayi dr ka naam kya hai? Acp asked
Everyone else started asking the same, simultaneously : hain tarika?/ Hain…/ hain ,… /hmmm … /bolo na.
Tarika : uska naam dr niyati hai.
No sooner did the words escape tarika's lips than the three senior officeres looked at each other and
Abhijeet: kya…ka..ka..kya naam bataya tarika?
Tarika repeated the name with a puzzled look: kyu aap log bhi use jante hai?
Acp and Daya were staring at abhijeet. And abhijeet seemed to be struck by lightning. He was just staring at tarika, possibly thinking of how to explain how he knew the other good doctor. Well, it would have been easy if the dr who was about to return wasn't always flirting with the officer and better if the girl he liked didn't hate the girl who used to flirt with him. The problem took care of itself(or so it seemed ) as the door opened and a woman with lab coat on, on her light blue scrubs entered the lab followed by a elderly guy popularly known as dr salunke.
Everyone averted their gazes to the new person in the room as she started to introduce herself….
The new doctor: are wah mere swagat keliye mere purane saathi pehelese hi moujud hai hain? Are acp sir, hello, daya! Hi kese ho? Aur abhijeet(she faced the already baffled officer and smiled in the most is-it-genuine-or-not smile) tum toh thik hi hoge! Tum toh bohot strong ho! (she said with a naught smile a lifted brow) wese to the new ones –mein dr niyati hu. Pehle, I mean jab dr salunke nahi the ,tab I was there. As her eyes settled on the beauty with curly hair, who at the moment did not at all look happy, niyati spoke with a air of superiority: dr tarika aapse fir mil kar " accha" laga!(though her expressions didn't seem to say so)
Tarika just gave her a smile.
Niyati again turn to abhijeet: abhijeet kya hua? Muze dekh kar khush nahi ho? Itne saalo baad mile ho! Apni famous aur cute si smile toh flash kar do!
Abhijeet's expression showed that he was totally caught off guard : hain…kya nahi nahi , dr niyatiji esi koi baat nahi hai! Matlab … hi.. hi (with this he looked at tarika who seem to be at worse a mood than before, like someone else was trying to take something that belonged to her.)
Niyati saw this and knew there was something going on, she continued: are abhi (without the "jeet") tum kaab se itne formally baat karne laga? Dr, ji ? kya hua, kuch problem hai?
Everyone exept acp and daya looked surprised and tarika's expression showed something of hurt, shock and disbelief. She looked at abhijeet and he looked at her, she saw on his face a expression that did not justify to her why the woman she didn't like at all was soo freely talking,oh no no flirting with the guy she "did" like! She looked at dr salunke and said : sir meri tabyat kuch thik nahi lag rahi hai mein ghar jaa sakti hu?
Salunke(concern in his voice) : are hain tarika thik hai, thik se toh chali jaaogi naa? Yaa mein aajau chodne?
Tarika : are nahi nahi sar bas sir thoda dard kar raha hai mein khud chali jaungi.(with these words and a intense look at abhijeet, tarika took her keys and purse and left the very second.)
It was evident that she was angry and abhi felt really bad that she was hurt because of him and he intended to make her happy.!