Noor

Zarre zarre mein uska noor hai,
Jhaank khud mein wo naa tujhse doore hai,
Ishq hai usse to sabse ishq kar,
Ishq hai usse to sabse ishq kar,
Iss ibaadat ka yahi dastoor hai,
Ismein usmein aur usmein hai wo hi,
Ismein usmein aur usmein hai wo hi,
Yaar mera har taraf bharpoor hai…
~ Prasoon Joshi
~ Delhi 6

Noor and Rizwan, grew up together. Literally. Their fathers were officers of the Indian Army. Both in the same regiment. The fathers met in NDA. Both were in Juliet squadron, in school the way you have houses, in the NDA you have squadrons. Juliet squadron always produced, if that word can be used, first-class officers , who were often decorated in their later years. Decorated is a phrase used when an officer in the Defence is conferred a medal. Lt. Khan and Lt. Siddiqui were best friends, they hit it on from the first day. They married at the same time, their wives delivered their first and second borns at the same time. They invariably got posted in the same stations. Noor and Rizwan, their first borns were quite naturally best friends. Their fathers were posted in Wellington, near Ooty when they started "toy-school" together. Their dinners were invariably in each others houses. When Noor started learning how to ride a horse at 7, Rizwan had already mastered the art. He helped Noor climb up her pony, as soon as he let her go, she fell on the ground. Instead of wailing like how girls that age would've have, she waited for Rizwan to react. And Rizwan was waiting for her to cry or smile. They stared at each other for the longest time, till Noor couldn't contro it any longer and smiled, all that laughter that was waiting to explode inside Rizwan, finally burst out. They laughed till they cried. When they had parties, and the army children were as usual locked up in the tv room with some Thumbs Up and snacks, Rizwan and Noor used to be the life of the little party inside the TV room. From one station to another, Noor and Rizwan moved, sometimes to be united again soon in the next station, or in a couple of years. While there used to be a gap between them meeting, their friendship never had any gaps. There was always the army intranet of telephones and the then in fashion habit of writing letters. They wrote about how Noor failed in Math and how Rizwan won the Football match, about Noor's first kiss and how Rizwan's girlfriend was in love with the color pink. As they grew up, their friendship only strengthened, the so-called long-distance acted as a adhesive to Rizwan's broken hands and Noor's broken hearts. Noor grew up to be a beautiful lady, thankfully like her mother (her father joked). Rizwan on the other hand was just like his father, an awesome sportsman and brilliant in studies. While Noor went to on to study Political Science and follow it with an M.A from JNU, Rizwan won the gold medal for Economics from Hans Raj College Delhi and completed his MBA from IIM Bangalore. He worked for Goldman Sachs for a year and realised that the dirty corporate world with its greed for money was not for him. He started his own start-up, providing Micro-Finance to farmers, his dream to take part in India's development. Noor was working with the UN in New Delhi. He was too engrossed in his work to take time out for his life, his last girlfriend was when he was in 2nd year in HansRaj. But he always took time out for Noor. Her one phone call, text, email made him smile. One afternoon, Noor called and asked him to meet her, she was crying. Rizwan, rushed to meet her at IHC (India Habitat Center). If he could, he would have apparated, like Harry in Harry Potter, and been beside her in a second. But he had to drive through Delhi's clogged mid-day traffic. Patient by nature, Rizwan was unusually hyper and impatient today. Noor had obviously cried before when her she failed or when the guy she didnt like her back, or when she missed her Mom in a Jaipur trip, but this time it was different. She had not cried on the phone, she had tried to contro her tears, but Rizwan could hear it in her strained voice and when she said 'I don't know what to do' he knew there was something seriously wrong. Noor always knew what to do, she infact liked to tell people what to do. She faced every situation with full confidence irrespective of whether a "situation" was her fault or not. While at a traffic signal Rizwan caught sight of a group of college girls. And it took him back to Noor, while she was in college, always dressed in beautiful kurat's with jeans and a dupatta, so synonymous with JNU girls. There was one day when Rizwan was visiting Delhi for an MBA project and both of them made a plan to go drinking. Noor got extremely drunk and couldn't differentiate between a lamp-post and a man. But when he drooped her home and Khan uncle opened the door, he patted his back and said "ah you were there right, then I am not worried". Rizwan smiled and settled Noor in her bed, and was leaving when she called his name and said "I am glad you were there to take care of me". Rizwan kissed her forehead and said "hamesha Noor, hamesha". The car behind him honked, the lights had changed, Rizwan changed the gears and rushed towards IHC. Something in him, told him that this was the doing of that rascal charming Veer she loved. Veer was a successful HR manager in an MNC. He was everything that the HR profession and the corporate world stood for: slick, shining, diplomatic but extremely charming. It was this charm that Noor was a victim of, what did he call her "Bud" yeah. Noor, his innocent Noor, who believed in love like Indians believed in ShahRukh and Sachin, believed that Veer and her were meant to be. She believed in him blindly. And Rizwan somehow felt that even though Noor was sure Veer loved her, like she did, Veer was hiding something. In all his dinners and lunches and movies with Noor, and all the hidden meanings that Noor took out of his doings, Veer was hiding something. In his mind Rizwan was making plans to beat the shit out of Veer if Noor was crying because of him, when Noor ran and hugged him and hid her face in his shoulders and cried. He held her tightly while she cried her heart out. He then led her to a bench and got her a cup of coffee from Eatopia, the foodcourt at IHC. After 10 mins of silence, interrupted only by Noor's hiccups, Rizwan stretched his hand to touch hers. She shuddered as if woken from a dream and looked at him with those light brown eyes of hers. Rizwan couldn't help but think how beautiful she looked in a white kurta, bandhni dupatta and pretty red silver earrings. His thoughts suddenly turned violent when she said Veer. He calmed himself down and asked him what happened. And Noor began with a "I am sorry Riz, I have hidden something from you for the past one month". Riz felt his heart sink. He asked her softly "What happened Noor", and she started her story, after much thinking and waiting she has written Veer about how much she loved him. Veer had replied the next day telling her that he had always seen her like a friend. A special one. Noor looked at Rizwan while she said this, she apologized again, he held her hand and told her to move on, with her story. She began again, she was shattered and didnt know whom to tell, she didnt want to tell him, because she knew he never liked Veer,she couldnt' believe she had been wrong, that all those signs had been wrong, that everything had been so wrong! Veer had met her after that and told her that he loved someone else and was to get married to her. Noor paused again and looked at Rizwan, who was looking far far away, and told her "continue Noor". To prove that their friendship was intact, Veer invited Noor to his house for dinner, he said he would cook for 'his friend'. Noor, still in love with him had gone. They ended up being very drunk. Veer kissed her and the kiss led to a lot more. The next morning, Noor woke up, washed her face and rushed home. She told her parents, she stayed over at office to work on a project. Veer messaged later that day to send her an sms "hug". She was too numb and in shock to think of anything, she slept for a bit and came back to office around 3pm. When she couldn't concentrate, she called Rizwan. Noor paused again and looked at Rizwan, his eyes were shut, and his face didn't give away anything. In situations of stress, it was this calm face that Noor had always drawn comfort from. When Rizwan opened his eyes, he looked at Noor and kissed her forehead and said, "i'll be there Noor, hamesha,come let's go to a chemist before it's too late". Noor hugged him and held him tight, Rizwan prayed to God and thanked him for Noor's safety. All the anger he should have felt towards Veer dissolved, he was just thankful that Noor was with him and safe. When he got up from the bench, he smiled at her and said, "don't worry, just like you broke your nose that day when you fell down from the horse, you've broken your heart. It's an injury which will take time to heal, but will heal nevertheless. And for the rest I am there, hamesha Noor" Rizwan and Noor got married 3 years after that day in IHC and as much in love as they were when they used to write to one another from one army cantt to the other, the difference being, this time they knew it. Their love as pure and as innocent as that train ride had been in their toy school in Wellington, when Noor sat holding Rizwan's hand, little did she know, she'll be holding it for life.