Sajjan woke up as usual around 5am. He freshened up and smiled at Leela who was busy preparing his morning tea, getting ready to cook breakfast.
“Why are you up so early?” she asked, one eye on her preparation, “You said you weren’t going out for next 2/3 days.”
“Yes”, he said, “I did say that I won’t be going out. But I never said that I won’t be working on my plan.”
“You could have had an extended sleep.”
“You forgot, I got to start working on my stamina.”
She handed him his mug of tea. “How are you going to do that?”
“I’m going to jog around Amar’s huge field followed by some simple exercise.”
“Can I join you?”
“Yes. Please do.”
They emerged out of the outhouse using the back door and walked toward the fields. He had just begun to jog around when she raced ahead of him, her arms wide open to the nature and disappeared into the field. He smiled at her childlike behaviour and kept jogging around the field. He finished jogging around and started off with jumping and other stretching exercise. She emerged from the field and joined him following his moves. He then did few sit ups, push ups and a plank. He was amazed to see that she could match him with every type of exercise. Once done, they walked back to the outhouse, looking at the rising sun. She bowed and prayed to the rising sun.
He freshened up and sat on the writing table with the copy of the maps. She freshened up after him and joined him in short time, breakfast in her hand. The entire day passed as he marked his maps, thinking and planning his work ahead. She tried peeking into the sheets he worked on a couple of times but couldn’t understand the odd signs and codes he put on them. She was all around him, all the time. She had everything ready and served him even before he could ask for it – be it tea, snacks, meals. Exactly, as a good wife would…
The evenings passed on as usual with their stroll through Amar’s fields, sitting on the machan, chatting away on various topics of her relevance. She was happy about the way these 2/3 days passed, Sajjan being there, working hard on his plan, she being all around him. Spending few moments with Lajjo, listening to tips about how to be a good wife, (Lajjo it seemed never gave up on her mission to see a good domesticated life between Sajjan and Leela.) She hoped these days would never end. He turned the leaves of the book he had been working on and smiled in satisfaction.
“Finished the planning?’ she asked, a bit in a low voice, understanding that Sajjan would now start going out again.
“Yes, sweetheart”, he said folding his book of maps; “I’ll ask Amar if he would like to join me from tomorrow.”
Amar was excited to know what Sajjan had planned and immediately made plans to accompany him.
After a short discussion with Amar, Sajjan returned to the outhouse and was promptly served his dinner as a good wife would serve. She finished in the kitchen and they walked into Amar’s fields as usual. Sajjan noticed that she was hiding something beneath her dupatta. She walked carefully and didn’t rush out into the fields like she used to. This made him curious but he didn’t ask.
He climbed onto the machan and she followed with a bit of difficulty using one hand, the other still hiding something.
“Would you like to hear some other song I haven’t sung yet?’ she asked him once they were comfortably settled on the machan.
“I’ll like to hear the song you normally sing. You do that melodiously. I’ll listen to the new song once I listen to the song I’m accustomed to.”
She blushed at his request. He sat with his back resting against a pillar of the machan with one folded leg. She moved closer to him and started singing; her voice was softer and sweeter. She sang the first song and then shifted close to him. Her voice grew softer and sweeter as she started off with the new song. It was too melodious. Still singing, she slowly stretched her feet and toward the end of song, she lay down on the machan, her head resting on his lap, blushing away to herself.
He gently patted her and caressed her shoulder. “This one is sweeter and more melodious” he said in a gentle voice, “and your voice was sweeter and softer than usual. What do the words of this song mean?”
“I’ll let you know the meaning some other day” she sat up, her face away from him, blushing again and again.
“Why?”
“I don’t want you to get any weird ideas” and started laughing.
‘Be careful, Sajjan’ he said to himself, ‘It seems she is falling in love with you. You can’t afford that. You got a mission to complete.’
“What are you hiding all the way from the outhouse to this machan?” in a bid to turn the conversation away from her feelings which seemed to be getting intense.
“You saw me hiding something?” she asked in almost a complaining tone, “I thought I would surprise you.”
“It’s okay”, he said, “now that you know, that I know, you are hiding something, get it out of hiding and let me know what it is – it still is going to be a surprise for I don’t know what it is.”
She almost sprang up and sat next to him and looked around, “Wait – let the moon rise – then I’ll show it to you.”
He was curious as to what she had brought along and what exactly was going through her mind. He decided to wait for the moon to rise. Within minutes, they saw the moon rise at the horizon and she uncovered a jar full of milk and held it as if she was offering it to the moon.
“What’s this?” he asked amused.
“Sshhh! Let me pray”. She folded her hands and prayed to the rising moon. She looked at him, “Today is the rise of an auspicious moon. If you say prayers and then sip at this specially prepared sweetened milk, the moon, the stars and the universe bless you.”
“Really?”
“Yes. The moon, the stars and the galaxy bless you for success. If the intention of your work is good and your mind is pure, then they join you in your work making it easy for you to accomplish your goal and make you successful. Please fold your hands and pray along with me. I want you to be successful in your mission. It helps lot of people.”
He looked at her solemnly praying face for a moment and thought… ‘Yes – I do need all the blessings and prayers. The mission I have undertaken is not only difficult but also dangerous. It’s going to do good to millions of people if I can accomplish it properly. I do need all the support that I can get.’ He joined Leela in her prayers. He prayed for success of his mission and then with an afterthought, prayed that Leela was able to settle down in her life and doesn’t have to go in fear of anyone.
He opened his eyes and looked at Leela who was intently looking at him pray – there was a different twinkle in her eyes as she smiled and blushed at the same time.
“Now sip at this blessed milk.”
“What about you? Don’t you want to get blessed?”
“We have to share this together to make our individual prayers work in our lives. So, you take the first sip, then, I’ll sip at it. We have to finish this jar in this manner.”
‘Thank you Lajjodi. He seems to have accepted my prayers and the ritual of marital acceptance.’ she thought and blushed and blushed again as they finished the jar of the milk.
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- Prasad Deshpandehttps://storiesandme.com/author/prasad/
- Prasad Deshpandehttps://storiesandme.com/author/prasad/
- Prasad Deshpandehttps://storiesandme.com/author/prasad/
