Vitthal was thinking...well that was all he did these days.No matter how much he tried,his mind would always go back to that fateful night .How his rajkumari had been broken,how she had been used,the events that followed.Even two years down the line,the wounds had not healed.It had come like a tornado on the unsuspecting people and upset so man lives,leaving a trail of destruction and grief.The kapoors had sinned but ,unwittingly the Jadhavs been punished,he thought
Kalpi,he thought with a sad smile.How bold she had been for all their sakes,hiding her sorrow and carrying on as though nothing had happened.After that night when she had sobbed her heart out to Kamala, she had shed no more tears.But,more importantly,she had never smiled.She had become a human automaton ,going about her work,losing belief in people.Now she was determined,focussed but ,yes ruthless.She had only one goal in life...she would show all those who looked down upon her what she was worth.In the pursuit of her goal,she had forgotten all else.of course,not only Raghav,Kamala was equally to blame.That night ,she had been a wonderful mother.But at dawn,she had gone back to sympathise with Pooki,oblivious t her daughters pain.She had spent all her time in kapoor mansion.She had even gone and tried to convince Raghav but to no avail.At one point,she had requested Kalpi to talk Raghav into accepting Paaki.That was when Vitthal had felt enough was enough.He had seen the disgust and pain on Kalpis face yet she had started to fulfil her mothers desire.He had issued an ultimatum and ,not surprisingly Kamal had chosen Paaki over all of them.She now lived with her.
The first six months had been living hell for Kalpi.She could not resign because of the contract and she did not have the money to break the bond.Sammy had offered it to her,but she had politely refused.No more she said would she be indebted to anybody.So she silently suffered.Raghav had relentlessly pursued her trying to make her realise his point,but he had met with a stone wall.For that was what kalpi had become,a woman of steel.Finally he had given up ,but had always watched out for her.On the last evening,Kalpi had submitted her resignation and walked out with her salary and an excellent reference.Thanks to that and her results ,she had got a decent placement.But she had not been satisfied.She wanted more.He had seen it in her eyes.The desire to prove her worth.The desire to give back in full measure,those people who had continuously taunted her.
Eight months later...
Kalpi sat at a cafeteria sipping her coffee wondering how to go about her plan.She felt lonely.In the pas,she would ask God to guide her,but ow she had lost faith in him too.She trusted nly herself.At that point ,she felt a and on her solder.
Well what a pleasant surprise.I knew it must be you,"said the pleasant faced girl.
"Disha",she smiled.and shook hands with her
Rewind to those years in the boarding school.Kalpi had always been a loner,quiet,studious and aloof.All she thought of was that she had to study well to fulfil her mothers dream.She intrigued a lot of students because who does not like mysteries.But only one of them went the extra mile to solve it.She was Disha Joshi, apple of her fathers eye nd heiressto her fathers empire,but more importantly,a child with a heart of gold.She had admired Kalpi for her grit and her single minded devotion t her mothers dream...she had tried to get close to her but Kalpi had always mantained a distance telling her they were from two different worlds.Yet Disha looked upon Kalpi as a friend
As they conversed,Disha realised what had been troubling her.Kalpi ...she had become hard,embittered and even more reticent.She wondered what had brought about the change in the girl who had looked so optimistically at the future.Disha probed and did not let go.Kalpi too did not open up..But Disha decided that she would not accept defeat.She insisted they meet again the next day.It took a whole month before Kalpi warmed up to Disha and told her of her dream to make it big in the construction business.How she feared it would remain a dream.In the meantime,Disha had done her homework.She had got herself acquainted with Pakhya and once she had convinced him of her genuine concern for Kalpis welfare,she had gotten the whole story out.Her heart had bled for this girl who had met with double disappointment at the hands of the two people she had cared for the most...Raghav Singhania and Kamala Jadhav.
Disha Joshi was no ordinary girl.She was an investment consultant and a successful one at that.She had a keen business acumen and could accurately smell a winner a mile away.And in Kalpi,she saw the dark horse..the one who was capable of stealing the thunder from under everybody's nose.She also analysed the opponents...she had the resources.She had acquired an in depth study of both.Kapoors were shaky...raghav had all but destroyed them.They were hanging by a thin thread.Prem had no business acumen,was still trying to cut costs in construction and use underhand tactics for deals.Paaki assisted him in the file work.Hercredentials did not speak too highly of her work.Snap the thread and they would drown in no time.It was Singhania who interested her.His personal life was a mess.He was being sued by Paaki for cheating her.But professionally he was still at the top.That was because of the loyalty he commanded from his employees.Samar Raizaada...Raghavs backbone and inner voice,he interested her.He seemed the key man behind Raghavs sucess,the one who was steering the ship when the captain had taken a break.
A few calls later,Disha had a smug smile on her face. She told Kalpi her dream would soon come true.She could start construction business.Kalpi was skeptical.Was this one more of Dishas optimistic dreams?un known to Kalpi , Disha had called up her brother.Daksh Joshi was head honcho at Skyline constructions,Boston,USA. A man who had tasted success in foreign soil ,overpowering all the racial prejudices to reach the top spot.Yet like his sister,he had never let success muddle p his brains.Down to earth,polite and more importantly, blind faith in his sister whom he loved from the bottom of his heart.So when Disha called him and told him to start a construction business in India with her friend,he had not asked any further questions.
So the foundation for JD constructions was laid.It had three partners...daksh,the silent one,Disha ,the face of the company,and Kalpi,the backstage one but the brain behind the projects.Though she was partner,kalpi had insisted that she be paid a salary...she would have no share in profits till she had contributed sufficiently to the growth of the company and felt she deserved it.Disha had told her to be undercover and face the world only when the right time came.
It took another year of hard work and kalpis gruelling determination to put JD constructions on Mumbai's map.They started with small deals...but never treated them as such.Each deal was big,they put their heart and soul into it.Kalpi would do the official and field work,Disha would take care of the costs,Daksh would give his valuable inputs.He had been so long in this line that it was easy for him to point out their potential errors and ways to avoid unnecessary expenditure.The first year they broke even,the second quarter they showed a profit...at the siblings insistence,kalpi was no longer a salaried employee.She was share holder and partner in profits.baba,Pakya and she moved into a bungalow.Disha too joined them.
Kalpi had grown to look upto Daksh as friend and mentor.She valued his opinion and admired his foresight.Any project of hers would first be shown to Daksh and only after his seal of approval would she proceed.And despite their growing friendship,they had never seen each other.Whenever Disha had been webchatting,kalpi had always been busy at the site or company.Call it the strange hand of fate that these two people whose lives had become intertwined had yet to see each other.
To the outside world,Kalpi was an employee,albeit an important one in JD constructions.No one was aware that she was the third partner.Her financial status no doubt had improved and so had her living conditions.Raghav was happy for her,but kapoors ...well they could never be happy for anyone else.Kamala , she was not even aware of what was happening in kalpis life .She was still worried that paakis life was in shambles,paaki was working too hard,paaki was too thin...she had not changed at all
Part 2 page 2
Part 3 page 2
Part 4 page 3
Part 5 page 3
Part 6 page 4
Part 7 page 5
Part 8 page 7
Part 9 page 7
Part 10 page 10
Part 11 page 11
Part 12 page 12
Part 13 page 12
Part 14 page 14
Part 15 page 14
Part 16 and note page 15
Edited by bhaironnath - 11 years ago