First Posted on 05/05/2015

It was 8 o'clock in morning and Anaisha still wasn't awake as she apparently wasn't over her jetlag. Her mother, Khushi entered her daughter's room and saw her baby girl sleeping with a big smile adorning on her face. It reminded her of the day when Annie was born. She had smiled the same smile that day and filled their lives with endless happiness. She soon allowed herself to relive her sweetest memories. Well let's take a look at Mama Gujral's most cherished memories.

Khushi and Arnav had a love marriage. Though initially they faced some resistance from their families but soon their families accepted their marriage. Her husband, Arnav had always wanted a daughter but to his luck, their first two born were boys. When Khushi informed him about her third pregnancy, he very confidently told her that this time they'll have a daughter. He even told their sons, Aarav and Advay, who were six and four at that time respectively that they were soon going to become elder brothers to a baby girl. Not only their sons but their families too!

Leaning against the wall adjacent to the door, Khushi laughed recalling Arnav and her sons' dull and sulking faces when she told them after her sonography that the coming baby was a boy. Both her sons cried saying they didn't want a brother but a sister. And she was 200% sure, Arnav too had shed a few tears ... Ugh how much she wanted to tell them the truth but she controlled herself. Though it was true that she was expecting a baby boy but that was half truth and she decided to keep the other half a secret.

Much to her shock, her crazy husband and sons came up with a unique but bizarre idea. They told her that it was okay with them that the new member was a boy but they would treat him like a girl and will paint his room in pink and purple ... poor Aarush!

He should be thankful to his Mom and Bua for stopping his Dad and brothers from implementing their plan. On Khushi's delivery day, except her, Avni and Raghav, everyone else was shocked beyond words. They knew the new baby was a boy but to their surprise, she gave birth to not only Aarush but to an angel as well. Her and Arnav's little princess, Anaisha!

When Arnav cradled his baby girl in his arms for the first time, it felt like the world had come to a stop. He felt actually complete. Though he felt complete whenever he was with Khushi and his sons but this time he felt contented in his life. Sure, Anaisha became the apple of everyone's eyes, but she was dearest to her father and no one could deny that. Her father loved her, the most and she was his most pampered child.

The joy of Gujral family came to a halt when they got to know that their new born daughter was infected by jaundice and had to be kept in observation in an incubator till she was better.

It was the most painful sight for her parents. It hurt them severely to helplessly see their little girl cry in pain and suffer so much. They both were very much scared to lose her due to this though her jaundice was not of that high degree and was rather mild but still for parents even a small scratch on their kid's hand is a damn big deal.

Everyone in their family prayed for her health, even the kids. And God did hear them and soon Anaisha recovered. Aradhna, Annie's grandmother had named her Anaisha, saying she was very special, which was very true. And since her birth she had become her parents' prized possession.

Khushi was still lost in her reverie that she didn't even notice Arnav entering the room and wiping her tears off of her cheeks. She came back to her senses when Arnav called her name a couple of times and told her, "You know well, Khushi, how much I hate to see you cry."

He knew what she was thinking but why to waste time crying over sad memories when they could smile remembering the happy ones.

She kept her head on his shoulder and said emotionally, "She looks so cute in her sleep, just like an angel. I wish she could stay with us forever. But that's not possible. In a few years, she'll get married and will go leaving us behind ..." And before she could complete it, Arnav interrupted her.

Arnav abruptly cut her in between, "I'm not gonna let her get married till she's not 27-28 or at least till she, herself won't be ready for it. And don't worry she won't go anywhere 'cause we'll find a 'Ghar Jamai', who will stay in our house with us. And please stop talking about all this. She has just returned back from London and you ... Leave it! Just enjoy this beautiful moment with me."

Khushi smiled and along with her husband, continued admiring their only daughter, who was looking really like an angel, like her parents thought her to be, completely oblivious of the future which was awaiting her.

The two weeks that Anaisha had exclusively named for her family and friends, passed in what felt like a fraction of second. Neither she nor anyone else knew how the two weeks got over, leaving their brain with now almost millions of new memories to cherish.

Since after coming back home, Anaisha was a little star sort of girl, she had a hard time deciding what she'll do first and with whom. Not to offend anyone, Anaisha spent the first few days with her family, catching up with everything she had missed and also telling her family members how she missed them all. This obviously was slightly shocking for her family, as Anaisha had never done anything like this before.

The five years that she had spent in London, did change Anaisha's habit of taking her loved ones for granted. She now valued her family and loved ones very much. Knowing well that one or the other time, she had hurt every one of her dear ones, she made amends for her past mistakes and her family was nothing but happy with this change in her.

While at home with her family, she got to learn about the newly developed romance of her second eldest brother Advay, with her best friend, Zaina's older sister, Suhana. She was quite happy to know this as she had always adored Suhana.

And as she was back now, her parents decided to finalise a date for her eldest brother, Aarav's engagement to his longtime girlfriend, Leher, who too was a doctor and the daughter of Arnav's closest friend and business associate, Shashank Sehgal.

After few days, when Anaisha had spent a good deal of time with her family, all her remaining time was for her best friends, Rohan and Zaina. She really had much fun with them, though her twin, Aarush tagged alongwith her all the time, given the fact that he was dating Zaina and Anaisha. Although awkward with this romance, Anaisha had to accept it as she knew both Aarush and Zaina harboured strong feelings for each other. And because of this, she had to reluctantly allow Rohan's girlfriend Tamanna to hang out with them, who turned out to be really cool, much to Anaisha's relief.

Amongst all the couples, Anaisha somewhere felt a bit lonely and odd. She really wanted to meet her Prince Charming. She wanted him to come on his white horse and rescue her and save the day. Why couldn't he come soon? She wondered every time she saw a couple.

Yet she wasn't desperate. Being the strong headed, intelligent, independent, well educated, modern girl, she knew she was strong enough to stay single rather than allowing anyone less worthy of her to play with her feelings. If not then she wouldn't have stayed single for so long.

But anyway this void in her life was nothing in comparison to the happiness of finally being united with her family and friends.

On the last evening of her two-week-vacation, Anaisha was sitting in the backyard garden of her house, drinking her hot chocolate when her dad came there and settled himself beside her on the white wooden chair.

Her father, Arnav side hugged her and sipped his coffee which he had brought with himself there. After a silence of few minutes, in a soft and nostalgic tone Arnav said, "You know what, Princess, I feel like you have grown up really fast. Just yesterday, you were my little baby with those two pigtails, moving from one place to another and doing those crazy pranks on your brothers. And now you're a grown up, all ready to start a new phase in your life tomorrow."

He paused for a second as a lump formed in his throat with the realisation that his baby girl was a woman now, who was independent and won't need his help anymore, but this would never change his protectiveness or care for his daughter. Feeling a grip on his emotions, he continued, "All I want to say right now is, no matter what be, baby, you'll always be my little girl. Though you're bound to make some right choices and some wrong, just know that me and your Mom will always be there for you in every situation! Just remember that princess! You are our best gift and we both love you deeply!"

Anaisha became teary-eyed listening to what her father had told her. She hugged him tightly and with a teary smile, mumbled, "I know that, Dad. You and Mom will always be there for me. I really did miss you both a lot. And I promise you, that I'll make you both proud of me and never let you down."

"You already have made us proud. Living without your family for five years that too in a different continent is not easy! But you did it! And I'm proud of you for that!" said Arnav with fatherly pride.

They both smiled at each other and enjoyed their hot drinks. A few seconds later, Arnav, with a sly grin, said, "By the way princess, I'm just wondering, how come you became so mature. I'm sure you didn't get this from your Mom. I mean you are least like your Mom, if she was in your place then I bet she would've came back only after a week. I really wished your Mom was like you. But now that can't happen! Poor me!"

As soon as Anaisha heard this, a chuckle escaped her lips, soon followed by her genuine childlike laughter, which made her father chuckle as well. She wanted to reply to her father but her laughter wasn't ready to die and when it finally did, before Anaisha could reply, her mother took the initiative to give a reply to Arnav.

From the glass window of her bedroom, Khushi saw her husband and daughter sitting and talking in the backyard garden of their house. She walked down to the backyard garden, and stood at a little distance away from her husband and daughter, admiring them near the potted plants.

Khushi had always adored the bond between her husband and their daughter, probably because she too used to share the same bond with her father and felt really rejoiced seeing her husband and daughter share such a sweet bond.

Since the father-daughter duo was talking to each other, she decided not to eavesdrop their conversation and go inside. But just as she was about to go inside, she heard what Arnav was saying. She knew he had purposely said that as he had seen her standing near the plants. So she too played along with him.

"What did you say? You mean to say I'm immature and can't stay away from my family for even a week? That's so mean! If that was the case then I wouldn't have left my family in Mumbai and shifted to Delhi after my marriage to you! But you ..! Hmm ... Don't talk to me," grumbled Khushi with fake anger and left from there as she knew Arnav would follow her surely.

And as she thought, Arnav passing a playful smile to his daughter, followed her inside the house to pacify her, leaving their daughter to admire them.

Seeing the love between her parents, who had been married for thirty years, Anaisha wished to have a similar love filled relationship like her parents. But it was just her Mr. Right who was hiding away somewhere.

But she shrugged her shoulders as she knew he would enter her life only when God wanted him to and there's nothing she could do to make happen sooner than its scheduled time.

She sat there on the white wooden chair, gazing at the sky which was full of the stars. All of the stars of the sky, seemed to be making her feel happy, for a reason unknown to her. Smilingly, she continued star gazing, feeling even happier with all the bright, jubilant, twinkling stars as she found them very similar to her chirpy personality, and after some minute, she walked inside her house, mentally preparing herself for the new start of her life.

While all this was happening here, in the other part of the city, Dr. Kabir Thapar was sitting in his black leather chair in his office, going through the diagnosis files of his patients. Seven in evening, and yet it wasn't anything different for him as for him every minute of the day was same. Nothing special, nothing extraordinary, perhaps because he believed for a person like him, who had taken up Medicine as profession, time really didn't matter as his job was to save his patients and cure diseases, be it anytime of the day.

And maybe that's why even when his shift was nearly over, he was still in his office, not really wanting to go home, whose environment was no where as peaceful and calm as his office cabin, which had menacingly dead silence hovering inside the four monochromic walls, that somewhere made Kabir feel more at home than he ever felt at the house which he was supposed to call home out of compulsion.

But this silence that Kabir cherished or had come to accept, couldn't stay for a minute more as through the door of his office, walked inside his three friends, with goofy smiles plastered on their faces, ready to fill some life in Kabir's room and his otherwise lifeless life.

"Hello, Kabir!" wished his three closest friends, Aarav, Shaina and Anuj in such gleeful tone that for a minute Kabir thought it was his birthday, which didn't really hold any meaning to him but to his friends, it was the biggest deal ever.

Without waiting for him to formally ask them to make themselves home, his friends casually went and settled on the couches in his office, which were used mainly by them only, the main reason for Kabir not getting rid of them as most of Kabir's patients' relatives preferred the chairs opposites his leather seat, probably as they found Kabir more polite and friendly in his chair with his white lab coat than the reserved and silent guy he was without his lab coat in his off duty visits to his patients, which to be honest were very rare.

"Hey, guys! What are you three doing here in my chamber? Want to taste the elixir of life or want the Philosopher's stone?" asked Kabir with his quirkiness in a tone of sarcasm.

His childhood best friend, Avi or Dr. Aarav Gujral, who had been Kabir's friend for the longest, chuckled and in an equal sassy tone replied, "No, buddy, we aren't here to taste the elixir of life, because we know you must've poisoned it already to get rid of us and nor do we want the Philosopher's stone because we know the one you have isn't original as Dumbledore had destroyed it already."

Kabir rolled his eyes and chuckled as his best friend always had a good comeback for all of his sarcastic remarks and he truly loved this. Getting up from his leather chair, he walked up to his friends and settled beside Shaina, who was sitting alone on the white two seater couch and said, "Okay, I know that well, Mr. Potterhead. Anyway, on the sober note, what are you guys doing here? It's not my birthday today, nor any of yours, right? So what's the special occasion today, that you three decided to grill me together with that pathetic sense of humour you guys accidently happen to share."

Shaina slapped his arm lightly and indignantly replied, "Of course not, our sense of humour isn't pathetic! It's actually cool. But you won't understand that because you don't know how to appreciate, appreciable qualities of great people."

"Yeah maybe, but I happen to know the difference humour and the torture you guys call humour," replied Kabir immediately.

Anuj, who was silent till now, shook his head and playfully said? "Ohh, so Kabir knows humour. But, Bir, then why did you never crack any joke for us? It's not like we won't enjoy it. In fact we just love to hear good jokes."

"I know that well. But do you guys know my sense of humour is something which I discovered because of you guys and is exclusive to only you all. You know how and why?" asked Kabir to his friends, who nodded their heads affirmatively and Kabir added, "Every time I see you guys, my sense of humour becomes functional and urges me thank you guys, which I do, but you all never understand that."

"Oye, Kabir, when did you ever say a joke? I would be lying if I say I heard something funny coming out of your mostly sarcasm loving mouth," said a puzzled Aarav.

Kabir shook his head and sighingly said, "I thought you guys were dumb, but I never imagined you guys to be this dumb. Anyway, let me explain that you. Every time I see you guys, my sense of humour comes to life and I, with due respect and gratitude towards you three, thank you guys with sarcasm, which for me is my amazing sense of humour."

The other three first stared at Kabir with puzzlement and as it registered in their minds what Kabir had said, they irritably rolled their eyes at him, making Kabir chuckle wholeheartedly. Seeing him laugh heartily, his friends too started laughing as well, since this jovial and off guarded Kabir was frankly a very rare. The sort of guy his was, he was always on his guard and quiet.

A few moments later, when the laughter had faded, Aarav informed Kabir of the real motive of coming to his office.
"It's only 7 now, and we all are free. Let's go out for dinner today, and Kabir no backing out. Leher and Sameer would join us there in hotel directly."

Kabir stayed quiet and then tried to deny, "No, Aarav, I'm not interested to join two couples for dinner. It'll be awkward for me to sit there staring at my plate while you and Leher, and Shaina and Sameer feel all uncomfortable with my presence. So, it's a no from me."

"C'mon, Kabir, neither me and Sameer nor Aarav and Leher ever feel weird with having you accompany us for dinner. And even Anuj's single, still he agreed for this. Then why can't you?" asked Shaina, looking straight at Kabir.

But instead of answering her, Kabir turned to Anuj and with surprise, asked amusedly, "You again had a breakup? I though Tia was your true love or something."

Anuj shrugged his shoulders and looking down at his hands, quietly said, "She couldn't keep up with my hectic work schedule, like all of my other exes." He paused and then said, "Anyway, it'll be cool to go on dinner today. It's been long since we all chilled together. And Kabir, please find a new excuse and also change your relationship status. You've been single like since..... forever. Get a life and a girl, man. Enjoy your life."

"I'm happy being alone and single, why can't you understand that? I'm perfectly fine with this simple life I have. And as I don't want to talk about my uninteresting love life more, I agree for this dinner thing, okay?" said Kabir defiantly as he knew his friends would make him say at any cost by any means.

"Okay, let's go," said Shaina and all four of them left for the hotel where Aarav had already made reservation for six people.

While on his way to the hotel, Kabir called his GM up and informed her about the dinner plan, to which, she said, "Of course beta, go and enjoy your time with your friends. That's what you should do frequently after all you're just 28. And haan get me the dessert please."

Although Kabir acted as if he wasn't too interested in joining his friends for dinner, but secretly, he felt kind of relaxed with this idea as for some hours, he'd be free from his painfully quiet life in which his GM was the only person, who ever cared enough to fight the eerie silence, that had been a part of his life pretty much since his childhood. And sadly there was no way to get rid of it so Kabir had learnt to accept it without any complains.

The dinner went well and Kabir enjoyed it thoroughly. His friends except Aarav, whom he had befriended during his internship, were very understanding and never pushed Kabir to his extreme regarding his personality and nature and he really liked it because he hardly ever allowed anyone apart from Aarav or his GM to invade his personal life which was occupied by his past, though even Aarav and GM had access to only a certain extent.

He reached his home at 11 and walked inside after parking his car, next to his father's black SUV, which was parked beside his mother's red luxurious car. As his parents' cars were in their parking places, he knew his parents were home and preparing himself for the awaiting drama, he walked inside.

As he walked inside, he heard a female voice yelling and immediately recognised it as his mother, who was back from her business trip in Sydney, he guessed.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK? YOU ONLY CARE FOR EVERYONE, AND I DON'T? WELL DR. KARAN THAPAR, THAT'S THE MISUNDERSTANDING, YOU'VE KEPT WITH YOURSELF FOR LAST SO MANY YEARS. BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN I'M GONNA STAY QUIET AND ALLOW YOU TO SAY WHATEVER YOU WANT!"

Kabir humourlessly felt like laughing, listening to what his mother was saying, as at the moment it was her, who was shouting at the top of her lungs. Unexpectedly, he heard a male voice, obviously of his father, retorting back.

"OH SO HERE'S THE EVER CONCERNED SHILPA THAPAR TELLING ME THAT I HAVE A MISUNDERSTANDING. IF YOU'D EVER CARED ENOUGH FOR YOUR FAMILY THEN THINGS WOULD'VE BEEN DIFFERENT THAN THEY ARE NOW."

And then Kabir heard the helpless sobs of his grandmother, which angered him to core and he stormed to the living area where his parents were standing, facing each other while his GM was sitting on the sofa, crying hysterically.

Throwing his office on the sofa, he turned to his parents, who were about to yell again and in a very loud, infuriated voice, he shouted angrily, "ENOUGH BOTH OF YOU! ENOUGH NOW! CAN'T YOU SEE HOW YOUR STUPID FIGHT IS AFFECTING GM? ARE YOU TWO BLIND? OH, SORRY, SORRY, I FORGOT, YOU BOTH CARE ONLY ABOUT YOURSELVES AND NO ONE ELSE. BUT STILL, YOU TWO HAVE DONE ENOUGH DRAMA, NOW STOP IT! I DON'T WANT ANYMORE YELLING NOW!"

His parents turned quiet, but only for a minute as his mother, in an agitated and hurt tone said, "Kabir, is this the way you talk to your mother? Is that what you've learned? Just because you're a grown up, doesn't mean you can talk like that to me."

"And just because you're my biological mother, doesn't mean you have the right to question me or my actions," said Kabir bitterly, and helping his GM to get up, left from there.

His parents shot each other a glare, and stormed off to their rooms. Gayatri, his GM, too went to her room, embarrassed to even speak to him at this time as being the matriarch of the family, she couldn't keep her family intact.

Kabir grumpily went into his room and slammed the door shut in his anger. Not wanting to think about the argument that happened minutes ago, he took his clothes out of his closet and went to take a nice calming shower.

The hot water of the shower somehow relaxed him and cooled down his anger, which wasn't a part of his mature and sensible personality. Wearing his night clothes, he walked out of the bathroom and made his way to the balcony which was attached to his room.

Settling on the chair there, he stared at the sky which was dark, yet full of stars. Whatever happened today was the nothing unexpected as it was the usual happening of the Thapar Villa. But Kabir was deeply hurt by whatever happened today because after the outing with his friends, he was quite jovial and calm. Yet his parents had to ruin it, like every time.

Since his mood wasn't getting any better, he took out a cigarette and started smoking it. He wasn't a smoker but sometimes smoking a cigarette did calm him. But it seemed like neither the cigarette nor the all of the brightly shining stars of sky were helping his mood, as staring at the sky, his pain filled eyes, only searched for those stars, which had lost their lights as he found them similar to his own self.

So extinguishing his quarter smoked cigarette, he walked inside his room. He switched the lights off and went to lie on his bed, with his mind still pondering over the fight with his mother.

His mind wasn't in mood to stop thinking about the ugly truth of his family, so he with his every might, stubbornly silenced his thoughts and soon after some minutes, fell into sleep, clearly unknown to the next twist his fate was about to introduce in his life, which might make him see and feel things, he stayed oblivious of.