Till now you have read – Kusumita  a young girl from a poor family is forced to marry Nihaar Singh who is heir of a rich family of Delhi.  Soon she comes to know the reason behind their marriage as Nihaar has a dark past. His first wife had a mysterious death.

Indira Devi, the grandmother of Nihar, notices the awkwardness in their relationship, and forces them to go on  their Honeymoon to Agra.

Part 4 : dew and the Mist

The deep silence in the car made Kusum anxious. It was almost 2 hours since they had started for Agra, but not a single word either of them uttered. Total deep silence, like being inside your grave. Kusum thought.

She looked at Nihar, who was driving and very much engrossed with the road ahead. He hardly even glanced at her. She decided to look outside at the green spaces passing by. They crossed a water canal, and she remembered the water canal of her village where she used to frequent along with Bindiya. They had lengthy, short, unnecessary, important – all kinds of conversations while sitting near the water canal.

Soon she was gripped by guilt as she realised she had made no phone calls to her parents or Bindiya after her marriage. Her heart turned heavy with anger as she thought about her parents. She can never forgive them for lying to her. She then abandoned the thought of talking to her parents but decided to make a phone call Bindiya after returning to Delhi. This decision relaxed her and a smile came on her face.

‘Kusumita, what is making you smile?’ He asked.

She was little surprised that he was not that deadwood as she had thought about him.

‘Have you been to Agra earlier?’ He again asked.

She again shook her head in denial. She waited for him to ask or say further. But he did not make any attempt to continue the conversation. She was a little disappointed and again diverted her attention to the passing by villages.

Though her eyes gazed at the scenes passing by, her mind dwelled upon what Mohit had said. She tensed up and was fully alerted. Through the corner of her eyes, she noticed, his face wore no expression, and his eyes were ice-cold. Gripped by fear, all kinds of horrifying contemplations crowded her mind. Eagerly she waited to reach Agra.

It was late evening when they reached Agra. She came out of the car and took a deep breath of relief but as she saw the hotel,  the thought of sharing the room troubled her. Her smile disappeared. She kept on praying for some miracle to happen. Finally, she could not control her apprehension and went to Nihar.

He widened his eyes in question. as she stood like a muted statue in front of him.

Forced to speak, she almost whispered, ‘Can we take separate rooms?’

He was amused, ‘I do not mind but Dadi-maa would come to know about it, and surely would not like about it.’

Disappointed by the helplessness of being forced into a situation, she followed him into the room. Once inside, she tried to appear normal. As he went to the washroom, she took out the knife from her purse and kept it below her pillow. Then she got inside the bed, tucked herself inside the quilt, and pretended to be into a deep sleep.

After a while, she heard his footsteps coming closer to her which made her nervous and fearful. She tightened her hands on the knife and waited for him to make a move on her but then his footsteps faded away. Curious, she opened her eyes and saw him lying on the sofa.

What a relief! But she cannot let her guard down. She closed her eyes again with a promise to herself that she would not sleep. Gradually the tiredness of the long drive took over, taking her to deep sleep.

A few hours later, Kusum woke up as chilled air touched her cheeks. She tried to see through the darkness. Her eyes traced the source of the chilled air and saw that the window was wide open. Then she noticed a figure standing near the window.

She squeezed her eyes to have a thorough look, and then she recognised. It was Nihar.

In fear, she tightened her hands again on the knife. She silently observed him without making any move. She could make out that he was looking outside. He appeared to be in deep thoughts. Perhaps he had not realised that she  was watching him.

Suddenly, she was not scared. She got down from the bed, and without making any noise, went closer to Nihar. She found he was gazing at the Taj Mahal, which was at a distance, but visible. Mesmerised, she also stared at it as the beauty of the monument enthralled her.

He spoke without looking at her, ‘I am sorry, I disturbed your sleep .’

‘Yes! the cold wind, and then the window was open!’

She realised that she stood very close to him. Hurriedly she took few steps back. He noticed her promptness but kept staring at the Taj Mahal silently.

Suddenly he said, ‘Love is beautiful….!’

‘He said love..?’ She was damn astounded, her mouth opened up, her eyes widened. Again and again, she looked at him. Hard to believe what she just heard. She had always thought of him to be a lonely type of person. In the last few days, her observation about him was that he was a work alcoholic, hardly with any other interests.

‘Kusumita, do you believe in love?’ He asked.

She didn’t know what to answer, stared blankly at him.

He waited for her answer and then looked outside the window, ‘I am so jealous of Shah Jahan. He got eternal love from his queen Mumtaz which compelled him to build this Taj. Not everyone is lucky to get so much love, and not everyone gets a chance to show so much love…!’

Completely dumbstruck, she was lost on words, simply nodded.

He then closed the window, and looked at her, ‘Please go to sleep.’ 

She slowly came back to the bed and tried to sleep but couldn’t. His eyes captivated her, and she became thoughtful.

‘What is behind those eyes? Will she ever understand him? And what he said about love?’

Rakhi Sunil Kumar

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