A/N: First of all a big SORRY who are still with me! I know I am too late – but kya karun, sach me time nahi milta – aur sach kahu, jo bhi thoda bahut time milti thi – yeh huge task complete karne ka mann nahi karta – ek ajeeb sa feel hota tha – jaise ki – exam close hai – bohot sare syllabus untouched hai (5 incomplete stories – you can compare it with HUGE SYLLABUS – nahi?) Yaar, sochna bhi to padta hai na! Warna aap logo ko pasand thodi ayega!
Chalo ho gaya meri bakbak khatam! Ab story pe dhyan dete hai –
He was completely lost in his thought – he did not understand – how much time he passed in that stat – was it only a few minutes, or hours? He was trying to control his own heartbeat actually – one single day – brought him into the bright light from the deep darkness he thought never ending! He is sitting now with Tarika – God! HIS Tarika! Did he ever imagined this even in his most daring dreams? Tarika! The girl he knew was the sweet beautiful girl – with whom he could enjoy his sweet little moments – his cute flirts – small fights on those petty issues! But this Tarika who is sitting beside him – how much did he know her? This girl – who has been raising her child (yes – he thought him as "her child" – how can he say him "mine" while he was completely unaware even of his existence! He cannot be so selfish!) without even knowing his presence! It is true that Abhijeet never give much importance to the thought "Log kya sochenge!" – for him it was always feelings that matters! But that does not mean that he had no idea how the society works! Even in this 21st century – in our so called "progressive" world it is tough for a woman to brought up her child without the presence of the "FATHER"! Yes – this is still the picture of our society – all those words "women liberty" "Feminism" "Gender Equility" end at the coffee table only! We can easily debate hard on those topics with the newspaper in hand but only after a moment we raise our eyebrows towards the single mother living in our neighbourhood! We did not even care to give the minimum respect and spare her poor character! We are the new age! The Progressive society people!
Abhijeet surely knows these! He could only be bow to this lady – who showed that courage to ignore all these social issues and stood straight against it – raising her own baby – keeping alive her LOVE! A drop of tear rolled down his cheeks. Suddenly he came into his senses with a soft, very familiar touch on his cheek.
"Abhi-" she called softly, "Abhi – hum ghar aa gaye -"
The word "ghar" made him shiver from the core!
Humara GHAR Tarika! Sapna than a yeh humara – ki humara bhi ek ghar hoga – jahan hum apney duniya basayenge! Aaj tum kitni asani se yeh labz keh diya – "hamara Ghar" – aisa laga jaise ke yeh ghar mera apna hi hai – wohi sapno ka mahal! Aur hoga kyu nahi Tarika – tum to humare ussi sapno ko zinda rakha na – pal pal – apne ek ek saanso mein!
Tarika: Abhi – tum yehi ruko – main bai ko bulati hun – pehle Neha ko sula dun andar, OK?
Abhijeet looked outside the widow – it was a really small house – but its simplicity made it look like heaven! There was a small garden in front of it – and white fence around it.
For a moment, Tarika's bunglow in Mumbai flashed in his mind!
Abhijeet: (self) Pyar ke liye aise hi sab kuch chhorna bina hichkichahat ke, aur phir bhi khush rehna – tum aurat hi kar sakte ho! (sigh) iss chota sa makam ko bhi kitni khubsoorti se "ghar" bana liya tumne!
Right at that moment his thought was interrupted with fragments of conversation -
"Baba so gaye kya?" – "Dekho bahar kaun aya hai!" "Tum wo bistar thoda saaf kar doge?"
Woh so raha hai? Matlab, abhi – bas kuch hi seconds aur –
His heart was racing like anything!
Tarika came out with a middle aged woman. Tarika took out the wheel chair and placed it beside the car. The curious gaze of the bai was not missed by him.
Tarika opened the gate of the car – Abhijeet tried to drag himself a bit towards the door! But it was damn too hard for him. Tarika held him immediately – their eyes met. The moment he found those deep black eyes – he felt as if someone placed a soft hand on his burning heart! In a moment – all his worry, all his thoughts, all his guilt simply flooded away with the rush of love that immediately attacked his mind. He controlled hard to not to hug her tightly in his arms!
Abhi suddenly realised that he was already on his wheel chair and Tarika is pushing it slowly and gently. The maid has already opened the small gate and there he was – finally entering their home! The door was left open – he entered – his heart was pounding.
Tarika moved the curtain aside – a small pile of clothes attarcted his attention on the bed. He looked at Tarika questioningly – Tarika nodded with a teary smile. They came near Him. Little Abhi was sleeping peacefully under the soft quilt. He was clutching something to his chest. Abhijeet was gazing at him without blinking – Fate took his childhood away from him! But he felt God gave him back his childhood in form of Abhi – Abhimanyu!
Abhijeet gently touched his cheek –
Tarika: (softly) Tum god me nahi logey apne bete ko?
Abhijeet looked at her with full eyes – Tarika took the baby in her arms and came to him! Abhijeet finally spread his hands out – world's most beautiful thing is now in his hands…
This time little Abhi moved a bit. Did he actually felt his father's touch? Abhijeet got a chance to look at the thing he was holding. And after watching it he could not control the flow of tears any more…
He looked at Tarika – Tarika could easily read the pain in his eyes…
Tarika: (teary) Jab bhi yeh rota hai na, bas tumhara photo lekar chup ho jata hai – pata nahi kaise!
At that moment the bell rang. Tarika stood up immediately – "Daya aa gaya hoga"
Abhijeet was still holding Abhimanyu! He looked at her shockingly.
Tarika nodded and continued, "maine call kar diya tha usse home se hi -"
