1.3

I was standing at the train station waiting for a taxi. By Allah's grace, I finally got one.

"Maidam, kidar jaana ko mangta hai?"(where you want to go, madame?) the taxi driver in a big blue turban, tanned face and big moustache said in a proper Marathi accent. 'Marathi?'

"Railway colony, sector 8," I said and got up on the taxi after my luggage, the driver tuned in into a Marathi song, "tumhi marathi aahat ka, dada?" (brother, are you Marathi?) I asked.

"Aho, nai maidam," (oh, no madame) he said, "my mother was a Maharashtrian, she married a Punjabi guy so, I am half Marathi half Punjabi," he said, "maidam, tumhi marathi aahat ka?" (madame, are you Marathi?) he asked with great enthusiasm.

"No, back in Pahalgam, there was a Maharashtrian Auntie in our neighbourhood, she used to speak in Marathi with me," I cleared, "her son was in the army and now, he's dead and, that Auntie is also no more, so no one to speak Marathi with," I told and we talked a little more till I reached my home, I mean, the rented one, my father made all the arrangements for that, he had a friend of his, namely, Rishikesh Khurrana, they studied together in the Muslim University, Aligarh. No, no, it's not necessary to be a Muslim to study in AMU, it's as simple as being a Muslim in Benaras Hindu University.

"We reached, madame," the taxi driver said dragging me out of my thoughts, this time in Hindi.

"Thank you, bhaijaan," I said, "how much do I need to pay?"

"200," he said and I reached for my already stolen purse. I moved my hands everywhere to search for it, "chalo na maidam, kaiko time khoti kar ri ho, jaldi karo," (madame, make it fast, why you're wasting my time) he said looking at me through the mirror.

"I lost my purse," I said.

"Madam, you shouldn't have taken a taxi if you didn't have money," he said, "you wasted my time, passengers and fuel too."

"I'll pay for her, don't worry," a very familiar feminine voice came to me, "get out, Shaheera," she said opening the door of the taxi, "how much, bhaiya?" she asked the taxi driver.

"200," she said and, I got down and recognized her, it was Nivishthi. She paid the taxi driver the money and helped me unload my luggage and, the taxi driver left.

"Thank you so much, Nivishthi!" I thanked her with all my humbleness.

"Oh c'mon, it's okay, Shaheera," she said, "come, I'll leave you to your house," she added picking up one of my suitcases, "and, if I won't help you, who else will? You're our tenant," she said with a huge smile.

"What!" I exclaimed, "Rishi uncle is your relative?" I asked picking up the other suitcase.

"Yes, he's our father's younger brother," she said.

"He studied with my Waalib in their college days," I said cheerfully.

"Oh wow!!" she cheered, "come, I'll show you the way to home," she said and took me to a house, its walls were painted in light-blue, it had so many and bigger windows that I wondered as if it has a door or not. The house was surrounded by short boundary walls which were too easy to jump from. She went near the short and narrow iron gate and searched for keys in her pockets of jeans and shirt but, she didn't find them, "Oh god!" she face-palmed and asked me to wait and placed her palms on the boundary and lifted her legs and climbed the wall.

"Aaram se!" (be careful!) I said and, she nodded after climbing down the wall. Nivishthi went near the window and broke the glass of it, I didn't question her as she was the landlady, she can do anything with the house and, went in the house through the broken window and came out.

"Yeah, here are the keys," she said giving me the keys from above the gate and dragging me out of the thoughts and, I took them, unlocked the gate and got in with the suitcases one at a time and Nivishthi guided me to the house. It was a big house with very small rooms, like, just one bed and an almirah and done, the space is finished! Though, it had a huge lawn area. So, there were two main doors to enter the house both of them opened in the front lawn itself. One door opened in the hall and the other one in a room, "this could be your office, Shaheera," Nivishthi said pointing towards the room, "this is the hall," she said taking me to the hall, "and, this is the kitchen," she said pointing towards the area behind the two two-seater sofas. It was an open kitchen with two sets of platforms, one in the middle and one at the corners, the space between two corners was filled by small cupboards. It was a well-furnished house, I was busy admiring the beauty of the kitchen and the vintage furniture but, I heard Vineet's voice coming into the house, "Vinu!" Nivishthi exclaimed, "why is he here?" she asked and, I shrugged.

"Shaheera, it's Abhishek over the phone," he said passing me the cream-coloured landline, the wireless one, "talk to him," he added and handed me the phone and, went near Nivishthi.

"Hello," I spoke on the phone, "did you reach?"

 "Yes, Tilli," he said, "I reached and, I'll be coming tomorrow to help you arrange ya house, so, don't haste yourself, just eat something and sleep for now."

"Okay!"

"By the way, did you talk with Farooq Uncle?"

"Uh, actually I lost my purse, Abhishek, can call him and tell him that I am all right?"

"Aye, stupid girl, this is your cell phone, you call and tell him, or else he'll get worried and come all way to Delhi to see her daughter."

"No, this is Vineet's cell phone."

"No, Shaheera, it's your cell phone," Vineet spoke from the kitchen.

"Oh, okay okay!" I exclaimed.

"Got it? dumbhead," Abhishek mocked cutely.

"Yeah, yeah!" I said, "okay, I'll talk to you later, see you," I said and hung up the call.

'I've never talked with him over the phone in front of other people so, it got a little awkward and uncomfortable and, I couldn't talk to him nicely,' I thought and a huge thud came from the other room opposite to the kitchen, I went there and saw Vineet lying on the floor and Nivishthi laughing like maniacs, "What you are guys doing?" I asked looking down at Vineet.

"Nothing, Shaheera," Vineet said.

"Wait, I'll tell," Nivishthi said, "this person, is afraid of lizards, there was one on the wall and he slipped after seeing it," she added chuckling. Being unable of suppressing my laughter, I broke into a huge sound embarrassing Vineet.

"I... I'm so sorry, Vineet," I said still laughing, "get up," I said opening my left hand towards him and he grabbed my hand and, got up.

"Laugh out, girls," he snapped, "I curse you both will be eaten up by a lizard someday."

"We will see," Nivishthi mocked at him, "Shaheera, this is your bedroom and, that is another room, here we have an almirah you can use it to keep your clothes and that room has two bookshelves there you can keep all the books of yours," she told me pointing towards the room which opened in the back-yard.

"There is one let-bath in each of the rooms," Vineet stated and, I nodded in agreement, "drinking water will be coming twice a day, once at 7:00 AM and once at 5:00 PM for one hour each," he added and I nodded again. I was very cold at this time as I wanted to talk to my Abbaji, without him I didn't feel good, I wanted to ring him and tell him that I am safe and sound and he need not worry about me. The brother-sister duo told me everything about the newspaper boy, milkman, garbage management and, all the necessary things and, went back. 

I locked the doors and opened the windows, Delhi sky looked so clouded at night, back in Kashmir I could see stars from my window. I immediately picked up the cell phone and dialled Abbaji's number.

***