Aman
We were doing this.
‘Yes or no? HELLO?’
‘Ma!’ I couldn’t help laughing. ‘Yes. YES, Ma. Listen, I’ve got to go now. I’ll see you in a bit,’ I replied as Avani walked up to me. I wrapped my free hand around her and kissed the top of her head. ‘You okay?’ I whispered into her hair.
‘Can’t wait to see you, Babu!’ Ma’s voice sang cheerily into my ear. I had forgotten to hang up.
‘Bye, Ma,’ I said and quickly stuffed the phone into my pocket as Avani giggled.
‘Babu?’ she said, an eyebrow raised.
I grinned. ‘You’ll meet her soon …’
I held the door open for her as Ashok carefully placed her suitcase in the trunk of the car. I got in and instructed Ashok to head to the airport.
Avani
The Mile High Club.
I stood at the foot of the six-step ladder that famous people pose next to when they enter or leave their chartered airplanes, wishing I’d worn a polka-dotted dress, dark shades and a large straw hat to hold on to against the wind. In large lettering on the side of the plane was stencilled the name ‘RAINA’.
Right.
But why would you spend so much money on an airplane and then write your last name on it when you could literally write anything you wanted to? Plane and Simple. Wingin’ It! Nimbus 2000?
‘Why the face? You don’t like it?’ interrupted my thoughts.
‘Do I not like your private jet?’ I raised my eyebrows at him.
‘Yeah.’ He smiled cheekily.
‘It’s okay, I guess. I’ve seen better.’ I shrugged as he grinned and shook his head, and we made our way up the steps.
Just as I reached the entrance, I was swept off my feet as literally carried me over the threshold and into the cabin.
‘nn!’ I whispered, conscious of the waiting crew politely trying not to look shocked. ‘Put me down!’
He just chuckled and continued walking until he slowly lowered me into a seat and leaned over, his hands on the armrests. His face was mere inches from mine, the scent of his aftershave like fucking morphine. I stared at him as he gently lowered his head and placed a kiss on my lips.
‘The airplane needs to take off for us to enter the Mile High Club, Mr Raina,’ I said, kissing him back.
‘I’m so glad you said yes to this,’ he said as he settled opposite me and got busy adjusting his seat belt.
‘Speaking too soon, aren’t you?’ I said as the captain locked the doors and announced that we were clear to take off.
He laughed and brought my hand to his mouth to place a kiss on my wrist.
I turned to look out the window. The retreating monsoon was blessing us with a light shower and the city lights twinkled in the droplets sliding along the glass as the plane smoothly took off.
There was no going back now.
All the heaven and stars.
‘How long is the flight?’
‘A little over an hour.’
‘Mussoorie has an airport?’
‘Nope. We land in Dehradun and then go up to Mussoorie.’
‘How far is that drive?’
‘It’s not a drive.’
‘OMG, is it a cable car? They really freak me out.’
‘Nope. Papa has a chopper waiting for us at the Dehradun airport.’
‘Of course he does … What happens to this plane then? Does it fly back to Mumbai?’
‘No, it stays in the hangar at the Dehradun airport for when we fly back.’
‘And the staff stays there too? Do they sleep in the plane? Like a camper?’
‘No, we put them up in a hotel close to the airport.’
‘You pay for their hotel? Or do you own that hotel too?’
‘Something like that.’
Avani had a lot of questions. About everything. And I couldn’t help smiling as I answered all of them.
We were thirty minutes into the flight to Dehradun. Avani had her legs folded under her, snacking on popcorn and leaning forward eagerly like I was revealing the hidden secrets of the universe.
‘Do you want to know something about my family too? Or are you only interested in the Raina Assets?’ I smiled as I moved a stray strand of hair off her face.
‘I mean I’m clearly interested in the Raina ASS-ets. Why else would I snag the most perfectly round one?’ She winked.
‘Oii! Behave!’ I said. ‘But seriously, aren’t you at all curious?’
She settled back into her seat and said after a pause, ‘I’m terrified, . Have you not seen how quickly I downed those three glasses of champagne?’ She sighed. ‘Tell me about your mom.’
‘She’s really excited about meeting you. She’s been asking about you very often, so I’m looking forward to the two of you spending time together.’
‘She knows we’re together?’
‘Of course she does. She was the first person I spoke to about you.’
‘What did you say?’
‘That I’ve met a girl.’
‘Wow.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘Iconic.’
I laughed. ‘I told her what I had to, and now she’ll see for herself and know that I was right about everything.’
‘What’s everything?’
Avani rarely fished for compliments, but when she did I made it a point to indulge her shamelessly.
‘Hmm …’ I began, ‘just that you love your books, particularly the dirty romances, the covers of which you try to hide from me very often.
You pretend to garden when in reality Shanta Tai does the watering and plucking and pruning, and you just click pictures of the hundred plants you have in your apartment.
You’re witty, intelligent and you make me laugh even when you aren’t trying.
You’re pretty, and very hot, but you’re so clueless about it that it makes you even hotter. You own some three thousand pairs of silver jhumkas in all sizes and they are clear indicators of what kind of day you’re anticipating ahead.’
‘What does that even mean?’ she asked, crinkling her eyes.
‘As in … when you’ve got your tiny jhumkas on, it’s go time—you have errands to run, bills to pay, kitchen counters to clean, tests to appear for, assignments to submit.
When you’ve got your big, dangly jhumkas on, it means that you woke up earlier than you intended to.
You had time to make your breakfast, do your hair, choose what you wanted to wear and possibly had a light day ahead.
You spent an hour talking to your Aaji on the phone before leaving for work, and you will have an extra croissant from Martin’s tray that day for fun. And then there are the jingling jhumkas …’
‘What about them?’ she asked, clearly amused.
‘When you have those on with your chikankari kurta and kohl in your eyes, I know you’ve been thinking of me. So those are the days I know I’ll have you all to myself.’
Avani parted her lips like she wanted to say something but chose to just draw a quick breath in.
She put the tub of popcorn down on the island between us and got up to come stand next to me.
She took my face between her palms, touched her forehead to mine and shut her eyes. I pulled her closer to me as I felt one lone drop of tear fall on my shirt.
‘Baby,’ I whispered as I wrapped her in a hug. ‘Too much?’
‘Not enough.’ She snaked her arms around me and hugged me tightly.
The rest of the flight went by with me telling Avani about every person who was expected to attend the party. I told her about Gagan and his pragmatic thinking. About Papa and his bad jokes.
And about how I could not wait to show her every corner of the house that was so close to my heart.
‘You think they’ll like me?’ she asked as the pilot announced our descent to Dehradun and the seat-belt signs dinged on the display above our heads. She slipped on her sneakers, settled into her seat and fastened her seat belt as she turned to me with nervous eyes.
‘They’ll love you.’
‘Be by my side, please. I’m not the best in family settings,’ she said quietly.
‘Always.’
The cabin lights dimmed as the twinkling lights of Dehradun homes came into sight from the plane window.
I rested my head back on the seat and took a deep breath.
Anybody looking from the outside would question what the big deal was about this one weekend.
But something told me that the time we were about to spend over the next sixty hours or so was going to decide where we were headed.
I wanted to be everything Avani needed.
Because if I hadn’t been sure enough thus far, I knew it clearly now—I could not live a life that didn’t include her. Not now. Not ever.
Avani
What in the Karan Johar cinematic universe is going on here?
A cool breeze and the fresh smell of damp earth hit me as I stepped off the aircraft about an hour and a good few glasses of champagne later.
A black SUV was waiting on the tarmac to transport us to an adjacent helipad, and before I knew it was strapping me into my seat on the chopper and fixing his own seat belt as the ground staff quickly loaded our luggage.
I shut my eyes tightly as my stomach rolled when the chopper took off, leaving Dehradun looking like a canopy of fairy lights under our feet.
I looked at with a wide smile as we flew further from the city towards the less populated, remote mountainside.
The noise-cancelling earplugs and the headphones reminded me of how fast my heart was beating as every breath I took sounded like a huge ocean wave in my ears.
It was almost 7.30 p.m. and the sky looked spectacular, the twilight hour painting the mountainside in fading gold. I looked at and realized he was watching me, a faint smile on his face.
‘We’re almost there,’ he said over the headset, his voice in my ear startling me.
‘OKAY!’ I yelled after fumbling and failing to find whatever magic button we had to press while speaking into the microphone protruding from the headset.
The chopper took a slight turn to reveal the silhouette of a gorgeous mansion sitting atop the highest hill in the area. A siren light on a tall tower turned green, presumably signalling to the pilot that it was clear to land.
‘We’re here,’ said, looking out and then back at me.
That’s when the mansion came into full, glorious view.
You’ve watched Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham … , right? Now take the Raichand mansion and make it slightly more believable.
It wasn’t as huge as in the movie, but it could easily pass off as an entire private school.
Or a secondary royal residence, the kind a queen would go to if she fought with the king. It had a sloping brown-tiled roof and countless little windows on all sides, rays of golden light streaming out from them to the surrounding lawns.
I could see a group of people standing at the main entrance of the house, with five big, fluffy dogs, ranging from the size of a wolf to a baby bear, and a small, furry puppy, held back by leashes.
I bit the inside of my cheeks and took a deep breath as the pilot announced our descent. I adjusted my sweater and fixed my hair.
’s smile grew wider as we got closer to the helipad on the sprawling estate.
As soon as we landed, he jumped out to greet the six dogs charging towards him.
The helicopter blades gradually stopped whirring and the sound of happy yelps filled the air.
I unbuckled my seat belt and took my headphones off.
The wind was much more chilly up here and the tip of my nose instantly went numb.
I thanked the pilot, jumped out of the chopper and quickly wore the trench coat that I had lugged around for this very moment.
I wrapped the coat tighter around me and looked up to see where was when I was quickly pulled into a tight embrace.
‘Welcome home, beta. I’m ’s Ma.’
She had a strong, kind face with ’s brown eyes and a wide smile.
I felt something foreign and gooey in my chest. ‘Hi, Aunty,’ I managed to say. ‘Thank you so much for having me here.’
‘Come,’ she said and, placing her hand on the small of my back, directed me towards the house.
All of a sudden people were milling around us, wanting to be of service in every way possible. Some went to pick up the luggage, others stepped forward to tame the excited dogs who were jumping all over , someone came forward to offer me a woollen scarf and a line of people stood at the main entrance with trays of what looked like steaming cups of tea. I was still taking it all in when I felt a strong arm around my shoulders and was tucked into ’s side.
‘I see you’ve met Ma.’ He smiled at me and lowered his head so his mom could place a kiss on his cheek.
‘Let’s get you both inside. It’s colder today than the past few days.’
‘You ready, baby?’ whispered, rubbing my arm affectionately.
‘As ready as I could be,’ I murmured, looking at the grand doors that swung open for us to enter.
I took a deep breath. Who was this man who had convinced me to leave every insecurity behind and follow him to a mansion on a faraway hill, with this warm, fuzzy feeling in my heart? I looked at and our eyes met. He could ask me to accompany him to the ends of the earth, and all I would ask is, ‘Am I driving, or are you?’
I vigorously rubbed the soles of my shoes on the rug outside the main entrance as I stared into the lobby with my jaw touching my knees. If the lobby was bigger than my entire Mumbai apartment, the rest of the house could easily host Badshah’s next concert.
The floor was black-and-white stone tiles arranged in a chequered pattern and there were large leafy plants in white stone planters along the walls on both sides. Aesthetic artwork adorned the walls and gorgeous wicker lamps hung from the ceiling. There were two ornate benches at the entrance, presumably where one could sit to wear or take off shoes (or perhaps sit and stare into nothingness, thinking about how to spend all the money one had).
slipped his hand into mine as he led me through the lobby to an expansive living room beyond. The room was … honestly, let your imagination run wild.
Everything that anyone could ever want in their home to make it look like it came out of someone’s dream was there. Yeah, they had all of that and some more. Each item was carefully curated and set in its designated spot, adding to the tasteful aesthetics.
There were floor-to-ceiling glass windows with linen curtains in soothing pastel shades carefully tied to the ends of the window trims.
The wall on the right had pictures of the family, the dogs and of holidays, illuminated by stylish light fixtures.
A massive painting in a distinctive style, clearly an original, covered a large part of the wall on the left.
A gigantic, cloud-like couch was placed a little away from the wall, with smaller couches placed at different angles to it and a bunch of floor cushions strewn around.
A grand armchair stood in one corner.
It looked like a family catch-up area.
Warm rugs on the parquetted floor and blankets thrown into huge bamboo baskets added to the warmth of the space.
The heating had been turned on and the temperature was set just right.
I took off my coat and carefully placed it on the armrest of the couch that I settled into, next to .
I did a quick sweep of the remaining space. Massive bookshelves, a large wooden swing hanging from brass chains, two stately armchairs next to a marble table with a vintage chessboard placed on it and more comfy couches at intervals.
’s mother sat across from us on one of the smaller couches. She picked up the intercom from the side table and dialled a number.
‘They’re here, Anil!’ she said, excitement brimming in her voice.
A house so big they had a private telephone line to be connected to each other. What was next? Horse carriages to take us from the living room to the bedroom?
A zipline from the terrace to the garden? An airlift from the backyard to the pool?
A server politely offered me the tea I’d had my eye on from the minute I’d got off the chopper. I picked up a delicate cup and handed it to . Then I took one for myself and nodded at the server. She smiled and moved on to ’s mom.
‘ Rakh do, beta. Thank you.’ She smiled at me. ‘This is Pooja,’ she introduced. ‘ Yeh Avani didi hain. Bhaiyya ko bolo bhabi banane ke liye. Ha ha ha ha!’
I choked on my fancy tea and ’s head snapped up.
‘Ma!’ he half-whispered, half-yelled.
‘Kidding. Don’t mind me, Avani. I will never let a chance to annoy my baby boy pass.’
I smiled awkwardly and hurried to change the topic. ‘You have a lovely home, Aunty.’
‘Thank you, beta. It’s part of our hearts. I’ll give you a tour tomorrow. You must see the tulip garden.’
‘THERE THEY ARE!’ The booming voice was ’s dad announcing himself from atop the majestic staircase on our right that led to the upper floor.
I looked up to see a man with a pleasant face.
He quickly descended the steps and walked towards us with a wide smile and open arms.
He was dressed in a grey-and-white striped polo tee and grey pyjama bottoms, with furry slip-ons on his feet.
His hair was silver with strategic strands of black placed like they had been painted on.
His smile, which reached his eyes, was kind and generous.
Something about his presence made me feel welcome and wanted in that huge house. Like ’s mother, too, had made me feel out by the helipad.
got up to hug his father while I put the cup of tea on the table and got to my feet.
‘Sit, sit, beta. Please. Be comfortable,’ he said, after hugging and patting him proudly on the back. I waved a weak hi at him and immediately felt self-conscious.
‘How was the journey?’
made a thumbs-up sign. ‘It was perfect, Papa. Thanks for sending the chopper.’
‘That wasn’t for you. I wouldn’t want Avani’s first time here to be a tiring mountain drive.’ He turned to me. ‘Are you cold, beta? Should I turn the heat up?’
‘No, I’m fine, Uncle. Thanks.’ I smiled.
I sat there in silence, sipping the tea, while and his parents caught up. His father and he started discussing business when his mother interrupted them and said, ‘We are being so rude. Please don’t mind them, Avani. You must be hungry, yes?’
Now I don’t know if this is just me, but every time I’m awkward or uncomfortable, I deny myself the pleasure of any comfort or any remedy for discomfort.
Cold? No, I’m fine.
Bored? No, I’m having so much fun.
Thirsty? Nope.
Hungry? No, no.
‘No, no, Aunty. I’m fine.’
‘Fine? How? It’s dinner time or well past it.’
‘Actually … umm … I don’t eat dinner, Aunty. Intermittent fasting …’ I heard myself say, and followed it up with a fake laugh.
I stole a glance at , hoping he wouldn’t call my bluff and force me to eat something. Needless to say, I was starving. But he just smiled and said, ‘That’s fine, Ma. Don’t worry about us. We ate on the flight too.’
We had not, but I was relieved when his mother stopped insisting and replied, ‘Oh, okay. If you get hungry in a while, I can always send some food up to your room. , beta, go get some rest.
Your Papa and I need to rest too. The guests will start coming in early tomorrow and we need to be ready. Lots to do!’
‘Isn’t Gagan arriving tonight?’ asked.
‘Oh, he’ll be here in a while. He likes heading straight to his room as soon as he gets home. We can catch up at breakfast tomorrow,’ his father replied as he got up and walked us to the stairs. ‘I’ll have your bags sent up. Goodnight, beta.’
‘Goodnight, both,’ said, turning around to give them both pecks on the cheek.
His father placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. ‘We are so happy to have you with us, Avani. Please feel free to ask if you need anything at all.’
‘I will.’ I smiled. ‘Thanks, Uncle. Goodnight, Aunty.’ ’s mother reached out, took my hand in hers and gave it a warm squeeze.
After they had left, wrapped an arm around my shoulders and led me up the gigantic staircase, to the right and then down a passage with two rooms on either side.
‘Which one’s mine?’ I asked.
scoffed and grinned as he opened the door on the right. ‘This one’s ours ,’ he said.
In a daze, I stepped through the door into a cozy lounge area with low cabinets and a tall shuttered cupboard on one side, and a living area, complete with a massive TV and recliners on the other.
Straight ahead there were sliding glass doors, through which I caught a glimpse of a plush four-poster bed with a fur rug on the floor and floor-to-ceiling French windows that seemed to open out to a huge balcony.
‘You have an apartment inside your house?’ I exclaimed as I set down my handbag and trench coat on the console table next to the door, and walked towards the balcony.
The sky was dark outside and the crisp chill in the air was a welcome change from the humid heat of Mumbai.
I pulled down the sleeves of my sweater and leaned against the railing, looking out at the sprawling gardens, the majestic property gates and stretches of forested land beyond that for as far as the eye could see.
I felt ’s strong arms envelop me as he hugged me from behind, pulling me towards him and against his warm chest.
I turned my head slightly to take in my favourite scent and he lowered his head to nuzzle against the crook of my neck.
‘Welcome home,’ he whispered.
I leaned back into him and sighed. ‘This is gorgeous, .’
‘I knew you’d like it. You’ll love it during the day. It’s magnificent, this view.’
We stayed like that for a while, staring at the moon-washed landscape before us as a cool breeze brushed lightly against our faces. I could feel ’s breath on my neck and his warmth against my back. I stood there in his arms, feeling … safe.
‘I’ll call for dinner in the room, then,’ said as he kissed my cheek and headed back into the room.
I turned to rest my back against the railing as I watched him call someone on the intercom. He placed the handset back in its cradle and walked up to lean against the door of the balcony. ‘I’ve requested for some basic dal-chawal and aloo ki sabzi. That’s cool?’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘It’s perfect.’