Karam admired this about Rajjo, she was well appraised of the world around. She read everything that came her way. With her fearless take on politics she always kept her father on tenterhooks, but to Karam that was the most desirable trait about Rajjo – her fearlessness. Rajjo, his warrior, she was the sharpest person he had met in his entire life. Maybe that’s why she was not going to be with him, because he was not smart. Now how the hell could he get smarter? How smart was this asshole she was planning to elope with? And how smart was it of her to plan to elope with a man she had just met?

He knew the woman he loved was counting the hours until she was going to elope with a man named Kashmir Singh! Well, perhaps Rano was right after all – he should stand in the village canal and try to drown himself!

Rajjo’s wait had begun. The hot summer months ended in June. A whiff of monsoon was in the air now. Time crawled with a heavy heart. She was supposed to be on her way back after collecting some groceries her mother had asked for, but here she sat in the open fields, thinking about her beloved Kashmir Singh, fondly called Kashi, remembering his broad shoulders, his twinkling eyes and hungry mouth.

She tried to distract herself by watching a noisy scooter chugging on the road that cut through the fields. She could see a faded poster of the movie Dil plastered on the back of the scooter. The hero reminded her of Kashi again! It was supposed to be a good movie and Rajjo wished she could get the videotape and watch it with Kashi.

She had been visiting the Shani temple every day instead of just Saturdays, offering oil and flowers. She was sure Kashi was going to call her soon and take her away. Her faith in the black diety was unyielding.

She closed her eyes to drive out thoughts of Kashi and opened them again to watch an aged man milking his buffalo in the fields. The buffaloes were tied to an old dilapidated cart that had not moved from the fields for decades. One of the buffalo stared directly at Rajjo. The silver bucket placed under the udders was almost full with pristine white milk. Not only her, the other four buffaloes standing next to this one, who were chomping on the fodder till a minute ago, looked up and gawked at Rajjo. As if they knew what she was thinking. Rajjo could swear they were sneering at her. Only what she could not tell was whether the feeling was a good or bad one. A wave of nausea hit her as she ignored it and started walking towards her house.

It had been almost three weeks now; Kashi had not called her. But Rajjo was sure he was fixing everything at his end. She could still smell him on her body and a shy smile sat on her lips as she slept under the stars on her charpoy, thinking of him.