Mann yeh sahib ji
Jane hai sab ji
Phir bhi banaye bahane
Naina nawabi ji
Dekhe hai sab ji
Phir bhi na samjhe ishare
Mann yeh sahib ji
Haan karta bahane
Naina nawabi ji
Na samjhe ishare
~~ Sameer, Priya Panchal
~~ Shor in the city
We all have often heard the phrase "Love at First Sight", loads of us have lived it. When girls are young they grow up thinking about the perfect one. Aarohi was one of them. More so because her parents were in love before they got married.
Lt. Aditya Mathur was the adjutant to Maj. Gen Sheikh when he met Aarohi's mother, Aalia. Aalia was a beautiful singer and took classical music lessons. And when Aditya came home int he evenings for work to visit Gen Sheik, he heard her. The first time around, he came home to hand over some papers and discuss the a project and suddenly he heard a female voice, it was like the Jhelum in Kashmir, calm, sweet and flowing beautifully. The house suddenly seemed radiant with that voice, just how Kashmir looked even more bride-like with Jhelum. He drowned himself in that song and little did he realize Gen. Sheik was staring at him for the past 5 minutes. He looked up, did the work and rushed outside. He finally got to meet the lady with that voice at a Diwali Party at the Defence Services Officers Institute (DSOI). She was as beautiful as the voice that day. Aditya asked Gen Sheik if he could dance with Aalia. Gen Sheik was quite happy high himself and loved Aditya, and said "Sure my boy, go ahead". And when Aditya took Aaliya into his arms for a dance that night he knew he was going to hold her for the rest of his life. They fell in love. When Aditya asked Gen and Mrs Sheikh for Aaliya's hand, Gen Sheikh, didn't think of religion, language, or any other such boundaries, Aditya was one of his best officers, was a good man at heart, and above all loved his daughter. Mrs Sheikh supported her husband's decision and Aaliya and Aditya got married: twice. Once the hindu way with Pheras and once the muslim way with a Nikaah.
Aarohi was born two years later. Her name meant "the tune of a song". She was a chubby baby. And grew up to be a beautiful young woman who sang as beautifully as her mother. Aaliya had this quality in her, that just drew people towards her. She was sincere, intelligent, well-read and genuinely fun to be with. She loved to read. If left alone with a book Aarohi would lose herself to it completely, so much so that every time a book got over she would actually get depressed. There was this sense of loss associated with the end of a book, that Aarohi could never really explain to anyone. She loved to sing. Her mother taught her the basics of classical and but Aarohi was more into Bollywood songs, she loved the easy going melody in those lyrics. Her mother never stopped her or forced her to do one thing or the other. She studied history in college, it was never really something that she needed to study, they were all like stories and she loved studying it. After a B.A she went on to do an MA in history. Education done, she could now do whatever she wanted to. Aditya and Aaliya had never pressurized her to choose a subject or a certain profession. They knew she was smart, had a head of her own and will do well n life, so when after the MA results were announced and college was done, she announced that she wants to take time off and write a book, they completely supported it.
The best thing about being an Army child is that you get to travel and make friends and go to school all over the country, like literally all over. So while you would have attended a private school in Delhi, you would also have attended a school in Maipur which didnt have teachers in te 2nd standard, simply because there weren't any! In all these travels were hidden a million stories that Aarohi had. She had stories about people, places, weddings, funerals, friends, enemies, peace, love, war and much much more. Her own parent's love story was something that she believed to be beautiful. And she even had her own dreams of her perfect one coming along and sweeping her off her feet. One of her favorite books was Gone with the wind, she loved it absolutely. One night, Aarohi was at her grandparents place in Shimla, Gen and Mrs Sheikh had retired for the night, and Aaorhi was sitting with her notepad and her ink pen in front of the fireplace. She used to have a ritual of reading Gone with the Wind every winter in her grandparents place in Shimla, she was reading it on this trip as well. The book was lying next to her. She was far far away in a world of her own, dreaming. She was dreaming of her Rhett, but he wasn't here, not yet at least. Aarohi Mathur will have to wait for a bit..
Dheere dheere
Naino ko dheere dheere
Jiya ko dheere dheere
Bhayo re saibo
Dheere dheere
Naino ko dheere dheere
Apna sa dheere dheere
Lage re saibo
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