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Recap [S1E9] Harry, The Love Guru: Raima unburdens herself after narrating the attempted rape incident from her childhood to Harry. She thinks of him as the father she’s never had; her biological father having passed away when she was three years old. Harry advises her to busy herself with work to keep her mind from worrying excessively about Shom. However, he can’t help but give expression to the intense nature of the relationship between Raima and Shom. It takes a pure heart to understand love, the kind Raima and Shom possess, he says.

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The landline rang and Raima quickly answered it. She said ‘hello’ in a disguised, formal and enquiring tone. Shom – at the other end – was puzzled. He asked for Harry. Raima enquired as to the identity of the caller. Shom identified himself.

“Shom, who?” she asked, continuing her bluff.

There was silence at the other side. Imagining Shom’s reaction, Raima smiled to herself as Harry grinned away. Not being able to stop herself, she burst into laughter. She could hear Khush, Natasha and Swapna in the background as Shom put her on the speakerphone. All of them congratulated her on getting the rapist convicted. She asked them to come over quickly as they were missing out on the fun.

The doorbell rang and Raima jumped up to open the door. The whole jing bang barged in. Natasha grabbed Raima and gave her a tight hug. She wouldn’t let go till Khush separated the two, for Swapna and the rest to follow.

Natasha went after Khush grudgingly. “What have you got against me?” she barked at him as she tried to claw his face. He laughingly controlled her as she clung to him to draw his attention. Khush moved away laughing, to where Swapna stood. He had the hots for her, and not for the daughter.

He always dreamt of satisfying Swapna in bed; the sexy-looking widow that she was. She ignored him and said in a matter of fact tone, “You’ll be better off with someone younger.”

“What makes you think you are not young?” asked Harry, “The problem with Khush is, he loves all the females; Raima most certainly.”

“Why not I?” asked Natasha.

“Of course, I do,” replied Khush, “I am just scared of you,” he continued as Raima interrupted and kissed Khush on his cheeks.

“Khush, it’s all your doing, you always help me. Thank you so much,” said Raima.

Khush was well-connected with the police and criminal lawyers. In this case, however, that hadn’t been enough.

Khush pointed towards Harry. He had had to get Harry on a con-call with the commissioner to counter the rapist who was a big builder. They all looked at Harry in amazement. Harry put a stop to the attention by asking whether they wanted him to be a godfather or a love guru.

“Love guru,” said everyone in unison!

Harry had a beaming smile that said everything; he much preferred to be a love guru than a godfather although many would call him the latter.

“Let’s all celebrate Raima’s victory, give me five,” said Khush.

Raima slapped her palm jubilantly against his jubilantly.

“Yeah, with nothing synthetic only herbal,” said Raima mischievously.

Everyone joined in, saying ‘yeah’. Shom was taken aback to see Raima behave the way she did.

Khush got busy with getting the weed out; he knew exactly where it was. Natasha clung to Raima and Swapna was seen sitting cosily with Harry. Khush had the hots for her but was never encouraged. For that matter, her daughter Natasha could never get Khush to encourage her in any way. In any case, she got along well with Raima. Shom looked a bit subdued and kept to himself while giving Khush a helping hand with the joints.

“What’s happened to Shom?” enquired Khush, looking at Raima. “Why are you so quiet, Shom?” he continued.

Raima was alert to what was happening with Shom and was observing him from the corner of her eye, very concerned.

“I don’t know, he’s changed a lot lately,” she said, sounding concerned.

“I could say the same thing about you,” said Shom, looking at her directly.

Their eyes met. There was so much going between them in a split of a second that no one other than Harry could understand. Seeing how helpless they looked, he came to their rescue.

“Both of you have changed because the situation has changed,” he said.

“I haven’t. I love him and always will,” countered Raima.

“True love doesn’t change, it only matures. The behaviour keeps changing with the situation,” responded Harry.

“You are so right, Harry,” said Shom and Raima was equally agreeable. Both of them had been going through a lot of stress.

“We know about Raima’s stress but Shom keeps it to himself. We all know the economy is down and the engineering industry – the OEMs in particular – is going down the drain. Everything around us is actually collapsing. It is understandable because Shom is exposed the most,” added Khush.

“What’s keeping us going is the fact that all that’s happening to the country is definitely for a good cause and hopefully it will become apparent sooner then we think,” commented Harry.

Raima was suddenly by Shom’s side and in a making-up mode, warmed her cheeks against his. This gave Shom the high he was craving. Sensing this, Harry went on a drive to woo his favourite couple. Why he would be called a love guru if he did not, he thought.

“Reason often overrules instinct or emotion, therefore the purity of the heart yields to social norms,” counselled Harry.

Shom and Raima went up to Harry for some badly-needed gyaan (wisdom).

In the meantime, Khush had lit a joint. Taking a deep one in, he passed it around. Harry took a big drag, then Raima. Swapna was happy with her chilled glass of Chardonnay.

Natasha and Shom shared another joint that Shom had rolled and lit up. The party was all set with Shom and Raima being the centre of attention. Harry turned pensive as he began to recite a poem.

What the heart craves, the mind often rejects

The truth the mirror shows, man never detects

What your love desires, your reasoning suspects.

Ignorance blinds us, while light around us reflects

Tenderness of the heart, peer pressure often affects

But when you balance the two, bliss connects

Jo dil se chahiye, usse dimagh aksar thukrata hai


Aaina saamne ho, lekin sach nazar nahin aata hai


Jo dil se chahiye, usse dimagh aksar thukrata hai


Raushni mein rehkar, aankhon mein andhera chha jaata hai

            

Jo dil se chahiye, usse dimagh aksar thukrata hai

Duniyadaari ka baar, nek-dili par bhaari pad jaata hai

Jo dil se chahiye, usse dimagh aksar thukrata hai

Lekin dil-o-dimagh se ho, to santulan banaata hai

They were all ears, trying to absorb the thought. Suddenly Raima sprung up, mumbling the last stanza.

“How would you balance the two; the heart and mind?” she asked.

There was a lot of murmur, they all had questions. The mood had turned serene, enveloped in the fragrance of marijuana smoke.

Next Story: S1E11 A Flirt or A Love Guru?