I was awakened by the bright sunlight coming in from the windows. I fluttered my eyelids open but did not get up. I hadn't slept this sweetly in years! I hugged the pillow a bit tighter and stayed in bed for a little longer, thinking about the time I had spent with her in the past two days.

Neenden veenden rehti aajkal
bas uske hi khaabon ke libaas mein
jaane kab tham gaye ye kadam
ek uske ghar ke paas mein
raasta....
bhoola main apna raasta...
bahara bahara hua dil pehli baar ve...
bahara bahara ki chain toh hua karaar ve...
bahara bahara hua dil pehli pehli baar ve...

But then I got up, thinking maybe I could somehow meet her before going to Dainik Bhaskar office today. I had my interview scheduled at 9 am today. I got ready and went downstairs for breakfast.
The stairs were directly opposite of the main gate. The main door opened into the drawing room. On the left of the stairs was Mummyji-Bauji's room while on the right was the kitchen. Beside in the kitchen, we had our mandir in the drawing room itself.

Mummyji was sitting in front of the mandir praying. Bauji was seated on the sofa, reading the newspaper. He looked up and said, 'Aa gaya Puttar !' Mummyji too turned. 'Aa puttar. Tere Bauji ke paas baith. Main naashta lagaati hoon. Kahin tujhe der na ho jaaye'

Bauji folded his newspaper and sat up straight. 'Sun puttar, aaj tu interview dene jaa raha. Ae to mainu pata si ki tu vadhia hi karega. Par ek aur badi zaroori gal hai jo tujhe pata honi chahiye. Table ki is tarah to hum dono hi baithte aaye hain par is baar table ke us taraf baithkar kisi aur ke liye kaam karne ki baari hai.
Puttar, hum khush kismat hain ki batwaare ke waqt humaara poora vyapaar tahas-nahas nahi hua. Dilli-Amritsar ke hisse ka karobaar bach gaya jiski wajah se hum yahan bas paaye. Haan is baat ka bohot dukh hai mainu ki Nav-Hind Samachar jo mere puttar ne itne mann se shuru kiya tha, jise itni mehnat se tune oochaiyon tak pohonchaya tha use hum bacha na sake. Par koi gal nahi. Ab bhi tujhe utni hi mehnat se kaam karna hai jaise ki ye tera hi basaya hua karobaar ho.'
'Tere Bauji bilkul sahi keh rahe hai puttar', I turned to see Mummyji arrive with the breakfast tray. I took the tray from her hands and set it down on the table and she sat down beside me. 'Puttar kaam chahe khudka khada kiya hua ho yaa kisi aur ka, mehnat utni hi karni chahiye'
'Ji main poora khyaal rakhunga is baat ka. Aur aap dekhiyega Nav Hind Samachar bhi dobaara shuru hoga. Kuch saal yahaan kaam karke aur paise jod kar hum wapas Nav Hind Samachar ki shuruvaat karenge. Vo sirf mera hi sapna nahi tha, aap dono ka bhi sapna tha. Aur main poori mehnat karunga iske liye !'
'Hmm. Aur ek baat.' Mummyji said, turning my face towards her. 'Amrit ne pehle hi tujhe wahan itna mashhoor kar rakha hai. Uski naak nahi katni chaiye !'
I turned scarlet on hearing this. 'Ji mummyji', was all I could muster.

I looked at my watch. It was a quarter past eight. I needed to hurry up otherwise I might miss Amrit.
'Puttar ghadi dekhke koi fayda nahi hai', Bauji noted. 'Amrit puttar to adhe ghante pehle hi college chali gayi hogi.' I glanced at him. Can they atleast pretend that they didn't know I was thinking about her?! It'd be much easier for me.
Humph! I wouldn't even see her before the interview. And even after that, I would have to wait for God knows how long. This was not done.
Trying to keep a sober face, I ate my breakfast and got up to leave after taking their blessings.
'Waise College 12 baje khatam hota hai !' Mummyji said and smiled.
I swear I have the sweetest and coolest parents in this entire world!
I grinned, hugged them both and left.
I was just getting into a tanga when I saw Uday coming towards me.
'Randheer Sahab, aapko meri taraf se bohot saari shumbhkamnaaye. Aapka interview bohot acha hoga.'
'Bohot bohot shukriya Uday !', I smiled at him.
'Acha ye lijiye. Ye Amru ne aapke liye diya hai !', he beamed, handing out a folded note.
I grabbed at it and thanked him. As the tanga set off for office, I unfolded the note.

'Ek baar fir aapke liye kahaaniyan likhne ka intezaar rahega !'

I was going to ace the interview.

*

I did land the job. I would join from the next day. I was just leaving Dainik Bhaskar office. Looking back, that was a time when I wanted Raanjhan to work with me. Today I'm the one who is getting to work with her. And I love this role reversal!
And soon there would be a time when we'd together set-up our newspaper – that is, only if she would want to.

Now time to go and give her the good news. Oh wait! I should take something for her. I looked at my watch. It was 10 am. Good! I had enough time.
I took a tanga to Lahori Gate. Hopefully, I'll find something really special for her.

*
Lahori Gate was as grand as I had heard. A beauty in red sandstone.
But I was more interested in the Meena Bazar inside it.
The meena bazar was a two-storied covered arcade, with an octagonal court in middle, from which the sun shined in. It had arched bays serving as shops. One could buy anything and everything from this place – right from curtains and carpets, clothes and jewellery, wares and showpieces to spices and perfumes. Now the difficulty was to find her a perfect gift.

I was missing Sharfu Miyan. Not that he would have helped me choose a gift. But just his non-stop chattering would have made me think faster.
Should I gift her juttis to adorn her pretty feet? Should I buy her a colourful dupatta ?
Nah! I wanted to gift her something which she could keep with her all the time? Should I gift her a watch? How unromantic! Should I gift her a ring? Too predictable ! Moreover she had a silver ring which she wore all the time. Should I buy a bracelet for her? But that bracelet whose colourful beads had brought colours to my life– I would not be able to find anything even close to it.
A paayal? No! Though I had no intention to return her the paayal now but buying a new one?! I'll have to think about it! It had to be something which would mean something to us.

I roamed about here and there, looking in all the shops offering accessories or jewellery of any sort. After seeing about a hundred of jewellery pieces, my eyes got stuck on a pendant. It was a golden crescent moon pendant with a delicate chain. Was it a coincidence that on seeing her for the first time I had compared her to the moon? Now, years later, I stand by what I had said. Us chaand ko dekhte hi roshan ho gaya tha mera aasman ! Aur usi chaand se roshan hai aajtak.

Ye pendant itna pyaara hai. Meri Amrit itni khoosburat hai. Agar vo ise pehengi to aur kitni pyaari lagengi !
I bought it and really hoped that she would like it and wear it.
Next I went to the florist and bought a bunch of white lilies – just as pure as my Amrit.
Time to go to the Stephen's now.

                                        *

The campus stretched across acres of land with a huge U-shaped brick red building standing high in the centre. The college building was surrounded by pathways on all sides with a grassy lawn in the front.
Stephen's was actually a different world from our ordinary life. One would find European professors all around. And the students, though Indian, were conversing as if English was their native language. It reminded me of my days at Cambridge, though I had had very few fellow Indian students there. How different would Amrit sound, speaking English?

Searching for Amrit should not be so difficult here, as there were very few female students here. Once I find the English Department, it might be even easier to find her!
But soon I realized that I shouldn't have brought the lilies with me inside the campus with me. It was catching every passer-by student's eye. How very stupid of me!

I recalled the day when I was searching for the-girl-with-the-bracelet, outside her school to return her diary, disguised as the tangawallah. I was pacing around restlessly and was literally peering at every maiden's hand, who crossed me in a burkha! I was lucky that I didn't get slapped by any of them!

Keeping up a straight face, I walked around the lawn but didn't find her anywhere. I went in the building and walked through the open corridors looking into the classrooms, but half the class rooms were empty. From the past half-an-hour I was roaming around in the campus searching for Amrit but couldn't find her.
Finally I spotted Vashma among a group of girls, coming towards me. She had seen me. Thankfully I didn't have to wave. The girls seemed to be in a deep discussion and Vashma had a mischievous grin on her face. I wondered if I was in trouble again?!
'I'll be back in a moment', she said taking a leave from the group and came up to me.
'Aapko kisne kaha tha yoon guldasta liye yahan chale aane ko ? Ye college hai, baag nahi !', she laughed.
I gave her sheepish smile.
'Aapko pata hai pehle sabko ye laga ki college mein koi naya professor aaya hai. Poore college mein charcha ho rahi hai ki aapne kaunsa department join kiya hai ! Fir aapke haath mein phool dekhe tab ye to unhe samajh aa gaya ki aap professor nahi hai ! Ab baatein ye ho rahi hai ki vo khushkismat hai kaun jiske liye ye phool aap laaye hai !', she said with a glint in her eyes.
'Toh kya kaha aapne ?', I asked with a smirk.
'Maine kuch nahi kaha. Ab jise kuch bhi poochhna hai vo seedha aap hi se poochhenge !'
I smiled. My first visit to Amrit's college had caused a stir. Nice!
'Acha vo sab chhodiye ye bataiye Amrit kahan hai ? Main sab jagah dhoond aaya ?!'
'Amrit Library mein hai.'
I parted from Vashma with a smile.


The St. Stephens library was probably one of the biggest in the country. It was spread across two floors. It had so many shelves, all laden with books- some thick, some thin, some old, some new.
Amidst the smell of books, it was the scent of Ruh Gulaab that captivated me ! I navigated through the row of book-shelves and finally saw her. Amrit was standing with a rather thick book in her hands. But she seemed distracted. She looked around her as if searching for someone. Then sighing, she returned to her book.
I was not exactly hiding. If either one of us came forward one or two steps forward, Amrit would be able to see me. Should I go up to her immediately or should I stay here for a while and admire her?

As I was considering this, a boy, probably a friend, walked up to her. He stood there for a while silently probably waiting for her to look up. But Amrit was too engrossed in her book to pay any attention
'Amrit ?!'
She looked up for a second and returned to her book. I had never seen her ignore anyone so plainly!
'Will you marry me Amrit?'
I looked at him flabbergasted. This was something I had not expected in my wildest dreams.
'Why have come up here with this useless question again?'
'Do you even consider my proposal for a second before rejecting it?'
'I don't need to', she said extremely disinterested. Clearly, this was not the first time she was being asked this question.
Amrit soon found the book she was looking for and started to go.
'Par kiske liye. Uske liye jise tumne chaar saal se nahi dekha ? Batwaare mein khoye logon ko agar milna hota to ab tak mil jaate !'
'Main unke liye chaar saal intezaar karu ya chaalis vo meri marzi hogi.'
'Why do you behave as if you are already married to him?!'
'But I am as good as married to him!' Though it was intended to be said plainly, she couldn't hide the sparkle in her eye when she said this.
'Kshitij, tumne mujhse ek sawaal izzat se poochha aur maine izzat se uska jawaab diya. Ab mujhe umeed hai ki dubaara ye sawal lekar mere samne nahi aaoge'
'Tumhaare hisaab se to mujhe pehle bhi nahi aana chahiye tha. Par-'
'Meri shaadi hai, Randheer se, attharah march ko. Ab bhi kuch kehna hai tumhe ?!', she said interrupting him.
Shocked would be an understatement. This boy had expected me to be dead probably. And Amrit looked as if murder wasn't a crime, this Kshitij would be dead by now.
'Matlab tumhara vo – vo Randheer sach much wapas aa gaya ?!'
'Unhe to wapas aana hi tha mere liye. Ab tumhe ye baat samajh leni chahiye ki ek baar na bolne ka matlab na hi hota hai '
She didn't even bother to listen to what he had to say and walked away, actually, walked towards where I was standing. And seeing me she hastened with a bright smile.
I was still processing what I had witnessed.