Khilli Re

Khili re Khili re
Khili re Khili re
Raat ki rani
Jhumo Sawariyan
Phir se basuriya
Bheeni basuriya
Honto se phunkon re
Bheena badan mora,
Bheena bheena hai badan mora
Aaja piya aaja
Haathon se chhuna re
Surila badan mora,
Surila surila badan mora
aaja piya aaja

~~~ Gulzar
~ Raavan


Siddharth kept staring, the workers came and pulled at his over coat, he was getting drenched, but he didn't care. In front of him, he saw a beautiful girl, dressed in jeans in a kurti, covering her head with a dupatta, playing with kids in the rain. Aaorhi's cab had broken right in front of Siddharth's estate, and it started to rain. While the driver was fixing the car, Aaorhi spotted a few school kids, little boys and girls, returning from a madrassa. They had kept their bags and satchels aside and were dancing in the rain. Aarohi, looked at them and saw how without a care for the world or anyone, they were dancing in the first rains of the monsoons amidst lush green coffee plantations. She thought to herself, I wish could do that. And then she asked herself, what's stopping you! At that instant, she got down from the car and joined the kids. That is when Siddharth saw her and stood and watched in awe.

When the rain started slowing down a bit, Aarohi bid the kids goodbye and asked the driver how long it will take, the driver said he has no clue and will need to go to the nearest town to get this rectified. The nearest town was 19Kms away and Aarohi was to reach Mercara by 6pm latest. It was already 5pm. She told the driver to lock the car and find help, she would go ask the nearest house for help.

Siddharth, got out of this gaze and walked towards Aaorhi, he said hello, introduced himself and asked the driver what the problem was. He then invited Aarohi to spend the night at his parents house, since it was geting dark and it was not safe to travel in the elephant-infested area after 6pm. She reluctantly agreed.

As they walked up to the house, she asked him about coorg, the estate, what he does and other conversation-making questions. He asked her about her trip to coorg. She told him, she was here to attend a friends wedding. When he enquired further, the 'friend' turned out to be Siddharth's first cousin! While this took Aarohi by surprise, Siddharth laughed and went on to explain how everyone in Coorg is connected to the other person by relation. The more he spoke, the better Aarohi felt about her decision to accept Siddharth's invitation to spend the night at his house.

When they entered the house, all the dogs came running towards Siddharth and greet him. These dogs, mostly Labs, and a few cross-breeds, were Siddharth's companions, his babies, he loved them and they loved him. He looked at Aaorhi to assure her that they will do no harm, and to his surprise found her to be playing with Tommy. "So you love dogs?", he asked, "I think they are better that human beings in a 1000 ways and make for beautiful friends", she said. Siddharth, suppressed a smile and said "True". Siddharth, walked into the house and called for his parents, "Daddy, Amma". His parents were on the other side of the house, sitting on the front porch, enjoying the breeze after the rains and sipping on their evening coffee. He led Aarohi to the front of the house, kept the bag down near the door and introduced her to the his parents and told them about the cab briefly. They welcomed her and pressed her to stay on the night, in fact as long as she wanted to. She thanked them profusely and asked if she could call her friend and inform her. Aunty got up and said "nothing doing, you will first freshen up, get out of those wet clothes, get a hot cup of coffee and then sit down to inform people", she dragged her to guest room and left her alone to change, while she busied herself making coffee for the visitor.

Siddharth sat down and gave his Father the daily report of activities at the Estate. The father said "the workers said you stood staring at someone when it started raining and would not come inside, was it her?" and he winked, Siddharth stopped his report and said "Daddy!" and they laughed.

Aunty came out and Aaorhi came behind her, in a fresh light pink salwaar kameez and sat down in a chair. Aunty gave them both two hot cups of freshly brewed Coorg filter coffee. They asked her about her parents and how she knew Tanya Aiyappa, the friend who was getting married. It was a nice conversation. The only person who did not talk was Siddharth, he pretended to read the paper and stared at her from the corner of his eyes.

Aunty and uncle, after a while walked in to catch their serial at 6:30pm. Siddharth and Aarohi sat in silence, Aarohi looking around at the serene beauty that surrounded her. At this hour, when the workers had left, all work had stopped, the estate that engulfed the house was drenched in silence with the occasional sounds of crickets and the dogs playfully chasing each other. It was peace in the true-est sense of the word. Siddharth knew what she was thinking and said "It's beautiful isn't it? I love this land and the life here. Nothing can force me to ever leave it and settle down in the chaos that the cities today have become" Aarohi looked at him and agreed with a "hmmm so true.....if I had the option, I would have made the choice you made" They went on to talk about loads of other things and Aaorhi later asked is she could call her friend and tell her the whereabouts. Siddharth pulled out his cellphone and dialled Tanya's number. Tanya was one if Siddharth's favorite cousins and he chatted with her for a while and said "Someone wants to talk to you" and handed the phone to Aarohi. When Tanya heard Aarohi's voice, she was confused and then Aaorhi went on to narrate the sequence of events that led her to this house. Tanya laughed and said "Trust you to make it to one place without any dramatic happenings in between" The friends talked for a while and Aarohi gave the phone back to Siddharth. Tanya asked Siddharth to drop her at Mercara the next morning, Siddharth agreed.

Aunty, called from inside for dinner. The Coorgs take bath in the evenings as well after an entire day at the estate. Aarohi continued to sit outside while Siddharth was bathing. She went to her room, got her cellphone, put it on charge and messaged Tanya saying "I think your brother is very cute"

She sat in the room and smiled to herself.


Piya re piya re
Piya more aa
Raat ki daari kab se
Jhur rahi hai re
Daariyon ki godi bhar ja
Saari raat mehki hai,
Saari raat behkegi
Sej suhaani kar ja
Honton pe rakh ke
Phoonk basuriya,
Tan bhar tan bhar ja