Malaal-Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

The sound of silence engulfed Modi Bhavan. As if the sound of this mourning was so shrill that the universe chose to be silent to give it a tribute.

It had been a day, yet things dragged on like years. Kokila paced the hall in weak, disheartened steps, even her strong headedness had become weak in the knees. Hetal had gone completely silent, and Baa, being the eldest, couldn’t show her grief to others, so she silently cried in her room. 

Jigar’s room was locked from inside since last night and everyone except Gopi had tried to call him. Gopi, the one who would always resolve conflicts amongst the family members, who would be patient with everyone, had finally lost her love for his brother-in-law. Not because he had some misunderstanding about Rashi, but because he made ‘their’ grief his ‘own’. He cried as if Sahir and Samar were only his children. And not Rashi’s. And because he had insulted her sister in a way that no one would’ve imagined. By throwing money on her face. Gopi couldn’t accept it just as a consequence of Jigar’s ‘misunderstanding’ and brush it off. Because she had seen how much Rashi had changed herself for the family. How she had quashed her ambitions for Jigar’s sake. And all she had got was insult.  Still, Gopi had this at the back of her mind, that she would unearth what actually made all this happen. She had called Rashi many times since morning but her phone was switched off. She thought that obviously Rashi needed some peace of mind to deal with what life had done to her. She decided to call Urmila.

“What? How can you be so careless Mamiji? Rashiben isn’t home since last night and you didn’t even tell us? You just assumed that she might’ve returned here? Are you crazy?”, Gopi screamed in her phone.

Urmila was shocked, Gopi had never talked to anyone like that. She heard Gopi mutter something to herself and cut the call. 

Kokila stopped in her tracks. “Gopi vahu, what happened? Rashi isn’t with Urmila ben? Hai Krishna Bhagwan!”, she exclaimed. Kokila’s cry broke Hetal’s trance. She stood up in anger and went to Jigar’s room.

“Open the door Jigar! Come see what you have done! Face us now! Or else you would see my dead face!”, Hetal cried in anger. All she heard was silence and after some time, the door opened. Jigar’s face was so distraught, his hair so disheveled and his eyes had lost their hue due to crying and being awake. Hetal couldn’t see his sober and soft son like this. She had an urge to hug him but stopped herself.

“Rashi isn’t with Urmilaben. Her phone is switched off. She left in distress. God knows how and where she is Jigar. You are her husband, you promised to be with her for seven lifetimes. Don’t you think you should...”, she was interrupted by Jigar.

“Mom. You are too innocent at heart.”, he said in a soft voice.

“Rashi might be with her lover and enjoying her life. Who knows they might’ve even celebrated last night..”

Slap. That’s what was Hetal’s answer. “You cannot talk about your wife like that.”, she said, in a newly found cold tone. 

Jigar just broke down and closed the door. He stepped on the broken glass and his feet bled. But it didn’t matter. His heart was bleeding too. The love of his life betrayed him. His children died and now, even his mother hated him. He clenched his fists and cried, “Why?”.

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“So, here we are. Have you thought about a place to live by the way?”, Ishan asked Rashi. It was obvious that any person would’ve some plans when they move to a new city, but still Ishan’s mind knew that Rashi was a unique case. Weird, rather.

“Umm, yeah, a hotel...till I find a place on rent.”, Rashi said hesitantly, trying to save herself some respect.

Ishan looked at her in awe. “Really? That’s your plan? Living in hotel till you find a house? Well, you definitely have money on you don’t you? Because that’s an expensive plan. I am sure.”, he said, sure that she didn’t have much.

 Rashi looked away. “See, I do have money in my bank account. But there’s only one problem.”, she said slowly.

Ishan rolled his eyes. “And that is?”, he asked. He simultaneously asked himself that why the hell he was doing this. Stuck with a broke woman, trying to sort her messed up life, about which he had no idea, instead of continuing with his fun life. Work, parties, hook ups and chill. 

“If my in-laws try to find me, they will surely try to trace my transactions. And that’s the last thing I want.”, she said, her face getting tensed for a split second.

“Find her? What the hell is she upto? Okay fine that’s her personal life. Than why am I putting myself in it? See Ishan, just drop her in an NGO for women and leave. Okay.”, his mind told him.

“I don’t know what are you upto...but you can stay at my home for some time. Until you find a job. Then you can pay me my rent too.”, he ended up saying. He kicked himself.

Rashi’s eyes widened. She was starting to get embarrassed now.

“No Ishan ,thanks. You have already helped me a lot. I will manage.”, she said, and quickly went to thinking deeply.

Ishan kept on driving until they reached his apartment. Rashi was brought out of her thoughts. She looked around and realised what he had done.

“Ishan, see you don’t have to do this. I-“, her voice trailed off.

Ishan brought his arrogant and low key naughty expression on and said, “Yeah why not. You ‘thought’ the whole journey to my home and still didn’t a solution right? And yeah, it’s no favour. I just do what I want. So come on now, there’s only one condition to stay with me: Don’t be a bore.”, he said in one breath.

Rashi just smiled sadly. She walked into his flat and went straight to sit in the couch. Ishan was surprised. “Okay, maybe she’s naturally not that shy and bore person. Thank god.”, he thought.

“Rashi, since I have done a large project in Rajkot last week, I’ve got some holidays to take rest. We’ll sort your life in that time okay?”, he said. He hadn’t even sorted his socks properly in his life.

Rashi looked unsure. How could her life get sorted? It was damaged beyond repair. Whatever she was doing was just to survive, to keep her hatred alive, to prove to herself that she wasn’t a toy to play with. Ishan sighed again.

“Hey Rashi! If you want to go in those ‘deep thoughts’, do it in my absence. I’ll grab some coffee for us and you get started on telling me your story.”, he said, saying the last phrase with slight hesitation.

Rashi looked at him in surprise. 

“What?”, Ishan asked casually.

Rashi blinked hard. She needed someone to talk to but feared getting judged. After all, even her family didn’t trust her, why would a stranger do?

“The first thing I need to do is find a lawyer and send a divorce to my husband.”, she said with hatred in her eyes. 

Ishan anticipated the story. He was about to give up when Rashi spoke again. “Shall I start without the coffee?”

Ishan couldn’t help but smile secretly. She was really a weird case. Unique, rather.

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