FF(SR)**partners forever**(fial part on page 35) - Page 7

( sid is in his bedroom rocking himself on a chair facing the window)

Kitni ajeeb bath hai mere parents mujse shadhi ki bath kar rehe hai..mai jisne ek bar nahi do do bar shahi ki..weird na'sid thinks about his second re-marriage with ridhima' in 6saalo mie tumhe bhoolne ki koshsish ki yeh sooch kar kit um kisi aur ki ho..main bhool bhi chukka tha lekin ajj jab mai fir se tumhare sath kam karta hu thoo purani yadeen taza ho jathi hai'apne dimag ko thoo kisi tarah samjah diya..lekin iss dil ko aur in yadoon ko kaise mittao..mai hamesha india anna nehi chahta thaa kyon ki yaha avu thoo yeh yadeen muje fir se satha thi hai..yeh yadeen bhi bahut dard deti hai ..jab tumhare bagayir jeene ki adadth ho gayi hai thoo fir kyu ayi hoo tum meri zindagi mie vapiss 'sid feels low and slowly drifts towards his sleep..

(In ridhima's bedroom)

She too is thinking of him, of all the moments they have spend together..inn sallo mie zindagi ne muje bahut kuch sikha diya most which is ki meri zindagi mie meri priorities kya hai..

Next day

It's a Thursday afternoon, it was nearly sid's break.Rahul was having a day off from school so he decided to pay a visit to his dad's work place, meanwhile his granny sends him with some lunch for sid..

Sid was finishing off a meeting with the head of other departments,where tam was also present.Once the meeting is over they slowly make their way together

Sid: kya plans hai ?

Tam: kuch nahi lunch hai

Sid: cool mera bhi lunch hai ..chaloo cafeteria mie chalthe hai..

Tam: nahi rukho muje apna steth aur lab coat vapis rekhna hai

Sid: ha voh tho mai bhool gaya..muje bhi

Tam: ek kam karthe hai mera cabin yehi pass mai hai thoo vaha chalthe hai pehle fir tumhare cabin mie

Sid: thik hai

Meanwhile sid gets paged by ridhima ' hi I was working on rohan's case so was looking fot the while do u know where it it ?'

To which sid replies 'its on my desk u can get it from there '

Rahul arrives with his driver at the hospital, the driver speaks to the lady at the reception and makes arrangement for rahul to be taken up2 to sid's cabin.Sid is completely unaware of the fact that Rahul is around.Rahul is escorted into sid's cabin and is left alone there..he places the bag he has, on to the table, scan's the office and then sits on his dad's chair.He opens sid's drawer and , puts on the extra pair of glasses that Sid always reserves for himself..He is beginning to fiddle with the stuff on his dad's desk when someone knocks on his doors..the door opens and ridhima walks..she is surprised to see this cute little boy but thinks it's a patient who is just messing around so she walks towards the boy , they boy has a sweet smile on his face'for some reason the smile seemed familiar but she couldn't recollect who it ressembled to'.

Rids: hmm apki smile bahut achi hai

R: thanku

Rids: vaise ape yaha kya kar rehe hai apko tho ward mie hona chahiye

R: mai yaha Dr sidhant modi se milne ayah u

Rids: ooo! Kya main apki koyi madat kar sakti hu

R: no muje Dr Modi se kam hai

Rids: acha thik hai..mai yaha ek file lene ayi hu

R: thik hai app lelo

Now, the door swings open and sid is entering the room with tam..Seeing sid Rahul jumps from his chair screaming Dad he runs towards his dad'Ridhima is completely shocked, to hear this..both dad and son embrace each other..sid picks rahul in his arms 'he looks around to see 2 ladies watching them

Sid: oo sorry guies ..this is my son Rahul Modi

'this is my son Rahul Modi'!!! these words echo in ridhima's mind again again she finds it hard to engulf the truth that's been rubbed on to her..

Sid to Rahul: rahul this is tamana a collegue and a very good friend

Rahul: Hi J

Sid: and this is Dr ridhima my collegue

Ridhima was slightly offended and jelious by the way sid introduced her to his son she was only a college to him, where as tam as a good friend too but her mind was just set on the fact that rahul was sid's son

Rahul: Dr ridhima..hi

Rids : hi ( she forces a smile on her face)

Rahul to his dad :dad kahi yeh who ridhima tho nah hai jinke bare mie mummy ne unki diary mie likha tha

Sid: nahi who yeh nahi hai ridima nam ke bahut sare log hothe hai iss duniya mie ( in a disappointed tone )

Sid: vaise tum yaha kaise

Rahul: apko surprise dena chahta tha aur vaise dadi ne apke liye khana beja hai

Sid: oh cool'oh! Noo batho batho mie bhool gaya ridhima( rids looks up she was dying to hear that from him ..she has lil tingle of joy Sid suddenly realises his mistake) .umm I mean Dr ridhima kya apko apni file mil gayi..

Tam notices how uneasy collegues they (sr ) were..

Rids: nahi Dr modi

Sid: its there on the table, le lena

Then sid to tam

'Chele '

Tam: chalo, bi ridhima

Rahul: Bye Dr ridhima

Rids: bye rahul

The door closes, rids sits down on a chair ..usne keha tha ki who apni zindagi mie age bade gaya lekin uska ek bacha bhi hai'she closes her eyes and tears comes down her eyes..divorce ke badh thoo sid par mera haq nahi hai jab haq thaa tab kuch nahi kar payi, lekin na jane bahut dard hita hai yeh sooch kar ki Sid aj kisi aur ka hai..

Downstairs in the cafeteria tma,sid and rahul have a lovely lunch together..After sometime Sid calls the driver to get rahul,driver gets rahul and leaves for home..Tam and sid are on their way back to resume their duties, when she asks sid

Tam: sid hope u don't mind asking , yeh bacha Rahul..umm

Sid: mera hai

Tam: so divorce ke badhe tum ne uski custody claim kar lee

Sid: rishte dil se banthe hai unhe cheene ki koyi zaroorat nahi hai ( with a thoughtful smile)

Tam smiles and she thinks Sid bahut badal chukka hai yeh voh ladka nahi hai joo 6saal pehle doctor banne ke liye india aya thaa'hutson ka bigda hua NRI ..yeh ek samajdar insane hai jo apni zindagi ko sawar ne ki koshish kar reha hai..

Sid; acho thoo fir badhe mie milta hu

Sid walks into the ward he sees Ridhima standing near the nurses station,she was till caught up in her thoughts, he decides to ignore her and walks past he when she calls him from the back 'sid!'..sid twitches his eybrows yes Dr Ridhima

Rids: Sorry dr modhi bus muje apse iss case ke bare mie kuch poochna tha

Sid : bolo

Rids asks him some medical question, they have a good 3mins discussion and then when he was about to walk off

Rids: apni biwi se nahi milaoge'????

They finish their work and leave for respective houses

In the evening Rids is in her bedroom thinking about sid

Rahul.sid ka beta..tho sid ne fir se shadhi kar liee but fir bhi voh aj bhi mujse nafrat kartha hai, humare beech aj bhi misunderstandings hasid hamesha bachooo se bahut pyar karta tha, akhir un dino mi eek bacha he tho tha voo'ridhimia has few flashbacks of the panchgani scene , when she was kidnapped etc..she remembers how sid had been kids favrioute ' ridhima comes out of the thought bubble..

Some thing strikes her brain Rahul said ki usne apne mummy ke diary mie kisi ridhima ke bare mie pada tha 'well! Sid ki life mie sirf mi eek ridhima thi..kya sid ne apni wife ko apne past ke bare mie bataya tha? Voh vaise bhi bahut honest hai, voh apno se kuch nahi chupata ..shayad isi vajaise Rahul mere bare mie janta hai'lekin sid ne rahul se jooth kyon bhola, ya uski zindagi mie kayi aur ridhima..nahi ..hmmm

Rids debates heself 4 a while and then drifts off to sleep'..In the morning Rids gets a call from ajalie

Anjie: rids weeked ke liye kya plan hai

Rids: koyi plan nahi hai dee bus ghar par rukh rahi hu

Anji: acha essa hai thoo ek kam kar tuu mere ghar aja tujhe yaha aye huve bahut din ho gaye hai vaise bhi

Rids: nahi mera koyi man nahi hai

Anji: kya man nahi..u have to come, even simi( Simran ) bhi tujko bahut misss karthi hai

Rids: but dee

Anji: koyi butt nahi tumhe ana padega, vaise atul ki bhi chooti hai tho hum log sab milke ghoomne ja sakthe hai

Rids : teek hai mai ajavoongi

Meanwhile Sid gets a call from sanjeev saying they were coming shimla for a 3 weeks holiday starting next week.So sid is all excited to see him..

At the hospital

Its 9: 30 and they have a new admission, it's a 6months old baby suffering from acute asthama and other breathing difficulties'Sid and rids start to work on the case together however they are also given a presentation to work on which is for a meeting that is scheduled for 7:00 pm the same evening, so sid sees less of the baby.However

Sid loves babies so he goes to the childrens ward to check on their admission..Rids is by the bed side of the baby checking patient history..Sid comes over and lifts the baby who has few tubes going across his body, he carefully holds the gorgeous kid in his hand and admires him..sid thinks to himself ' this was the sort of the age when I saw Rahul for the first time, he too was 6 months old then'..He carefully caresses babies cheeks and kisses his knuckles , He smiles sweetly'Ridhimma who is watching this sweet bonding between the baby and sid is quite surprised to see Sid's smile, she hasn't seen his smile in years and it had seemed like he has forgotten to smile'Ridhima gets carried away for a moment and thinks how it would be for Sid to hold their baby, she comes out of ther thought bubble and quickly 'yeh main kya soch rehi hu'sid ka thoo ek beta bhi hai aur voh shadhi sudha hai;

Sid has now placed the baby back in his crib and turns to face rihima,

S: kya tumne who sab test karva liye jo maine pehle karne ko kehe thee

R: yes doc ..yeh voh sab test hai aur uske results..

Sid and rids are both aware of the fact that the baby had less chances of surviving as there is something wrong with his neurons that transmit the impulses to secrete mucus in the trachea of the baby's lung.As a result of which there is excessive mucus production and the baby is struggling to breathe..Sid has a disappointed face'

S: hows his condition now ?

R: it has stabilised now but cannot garuntee till when

S: hmm..okay ..thanku ( in a very low voice)

Dr Ridhima u are aware we have a meeting scheduled for tonight its nearly 1 now,will it be possible for you to join me in mi cabin so that we can make essential preprations ?

Ridhi : yes thats k

Sid walks into his cabin gets some surgical books and starts making notes, while he orders his attended to get him some files.Sometime later Rids walks in..

Knock on the door

S: come in

Rids walk in, so does the attended with the files.Ridhima looks at sid's desk which is filled with some surgical books and othe medical books.

S: right lets get working, hmm I was thinking if you could work on the presentation for tonight and I would work on the baby's case

R: is that the reason why you have these books laid down ?

S: yes pretty much ..btw these are some files which will help in your work..you can start working if you want. Take my laptop for the presentation and I will use this computer. He hands the laptops to her, their skins barely brush, Ridhima feels a tingle but Sid has cold expressions)Rids starts his computer and gets to his settings when the computer promts for a password. She asks him and he says' Rahul is the password' she types in and makes through to his profile, where she finds a background which is a collarge of Rahul's picture right from when he was 1 to when he is 6'He loves his son a lot she thinks'

They both get on with their work and are busy doing their respective jobs but Ridhima does take occational sneaks at him.Sid's phone rings and its Sanjeev on the other hand.

Sid: hello

Sanjeev: its me

Sid: did u hear the voice mail I left 4 u

Sanjeev : yess I did

Sid: tho tera kya khayal hai is case ke bare mie ?

( rids is listening to the convo although she is pretending to do work)

Sanjeev: dude this case is pretty clear , the baby needs a surgery.However, the matter of concern here is that if the baby would survive the surgery ..

Sid: I don't know man, I just wanna save this baby, if we don't go ahaead with the surgery he will die

Sanjeev: I know

( rids is touched by the amount of care sid has 4 this baby who is not even his )

Sid : Listen thu Sunday india aa reha hai na..aur thuu thoo inmamlo mie specialised hai I want u to perform this surgery

Sanjeev: that's fine by me, but what about the hospital authorities, will they be happy?

Sid: don't worry about them I will take care of them..

Sanjeev: u are aware of the fact that inorder for the baby to survive till then u need to have a clear action plan

Sid: yes I am aware of it and I am working on it

Sanjeev: good then, don't worry man this baby will be fine

Sid : I so want him to be 6 months, u know what seeing him brings me memories of Rahul.

( rids is now understanding his emotions and learns y he is so bothered about this case)

Sanjeev: anyway Sid I am at work got to go ..u tc aur ha airport anna mat bhool na

Sid: no down't worry I won't forget'

Sid hangs up and slides the phone back into his pocket, closes his eyes and rubs his head.Rids who is watching this understands his concerns, she longs to hold him, hug him and make him feel much better however she knows he is beyond her reach'

Sid on the other hand gets on with the action plan , he refers to several medical textbooks.Finally he gets up from his seat and walks towards Ridhima

S:Ridhima ( she lifts her eyes ) ..sorry I mean Dr Ridhima I have decided to perform tracheostomy on the child and then put him on observation , a friend of mine who is specialised child surgeon is coming on Monday he will perform the surgery.

R: so u have decided 2 perform the surgery on him ?

S: well I have to otherwise as well the kid will die

I am gonna leave now go in and do it meanwhile u can work on this.Sid goes int the ICU and performs tracheostomy on the kid, he then comes back into his cabin 45mins later .. He goes into his cabin 2 find ridhima still in there, he glances on the clock

Hung on the wall.its 2:45pm

Sid: Sorry its way past ur lunch, I relieve u can come back after the lunch

Rids: don't worry I can keep working on this

Sid: noo please go and have a break

R:are u sure

S: indeed I am

R: are u not going on one ?

S: no I have got stuff to do

T: hey ridhima ..I din't see u there

R: Hi

T: hello Mr modi chale..I need 2 go supermarket tumne kaha thana tumhe bhi kuch cheese leni thi apne naye ghar ke liye so thought of taking u along ..so chalee

S: aj nahi meri ek meeting hai aj 7 pm ki aur main usse pehle nahi aa saktha

T: tik hai ni problem; vaise aj tum lunch ke liye kya kar rehe thee..tum dhike nahi

S: voh muje waqt nahi mila

T: omg! Sid, tumhe apna dyan bhi rakhna chaiye

At this point rids was beginning to get jelous

T: sorry ridhima mai tumhare boss ko apne sath le kar ja rahi hu 20 mins ke liye..saying this she pulls sid by hand and doesn't give him any orppertunities to react and drags him straight outside for a small break

Rids who is on her own in sid's cabin thinks ' mai agar kuch kahu thoo suntha nahi hai lekin agar koyi aur kahe tho fate se mane jatha hai, mujse iss kadar nafrat kartha hai aj bhi

Sid is back soon ..time passes by , when its 6:15 he looks at rids , she seems to be slightly uncomfortable

S: u k ?

R: yh

S: r u sure ? u seem a bit uncomfy

R: haa voh kuch nahi, mere gale mie dard ho reha hai..

S: u have been sitting in that poison for a long time now, that's y

He gets up from his chair goes and stands behind her, hmm let me help u

Rids is a bit hesitant in the beging but the later

S: I am a doctor I can help u

Rids she gives away..Sid removes her dupatta from her left neck, he slowly touches her skin, his hands are cold which sends a shiver through her , she closes her eyes'He slowly massages her neck, rids is enjoying every moment of his contact on her bare skin, its been years since she has felt that, she felt alive when his smooth fingers stroked her tender skin.He then stops and puts her dupatta back to where it was.She feels a bit shy and thank him..he looks away.He has bad flashback from his past and so grabs his notes and heads for meeting , the meeting is over and by the time they leave the hospital its nearly 8'Sid walks into the parking slought and gets into te car , he notices Ridhima getting out of her car and looking concerned.he decides to ignore it at first but , his heart gives away.Although he hated her but somewhere deep inside he still cared for her and there was no arrgumets to it.He drives his car along to where she was standing ,

S: whats the matter ..tum teek ho ?

R: ha who meri ghadi karab ho gayi hai lagta hai

S: hmm..tum bayto mai tumhe chod deta hu ( in a cold voice)

R: no its k 'I will take a cab home

S: its too late and its not safe 4 u 2 go looking 4 a cab now, u get in and I will drop u

R: noo dw its not a coI will be fine

S: Dr ridhima its Dr Modi offering u a lift not Sid so don't worry( gives her a cold expression)

Rids finally gets into the car'(ridhima thinks ) every time he is around me he make it clear that I no longer matter at all for him , then y do I still keep my eyes on him'.umm he has moved on yet he still hate me..he is married today with a kid yet he doesn't even offers a hand of friendship..

He drives off and asks rihima to guide him with directions, while he is driving his phone rings, Sid presses on speaker and talks it was his son

Rahul : dad why have u not reached home yet ?

Sid: voh beta I had a meeting 2 go to

The car comes to an hault as it gets stuck in a traffic jam

Sid: ape abhi thanke soye nahi ?

Rahul: voh mai sone ja reha thaa tha lekin apki yad aa rehi thi ..jab ape yaha hothe ho thoo apse good night kahe benaye sotha nahi huu

Sid: gd nyt beta its way past ur bed time ..apko sona chahiye

Rahul : but papa tmorrow is Saturday an I don't have school

Sid: but u still have 2 go to bed because u have to decipline urself 2 the routine's of u r life

Rids is loving this dad-son conversation, she is surprised by the fact how sid explains 2 his son about decipline 'the sid I knew was never like this but he has become mature not that he never was but this tim indeed its an overall changed, may be to fufill his duties as a dad..Sid is more composed, he is not that old chatty lad.. soon Sid hangs up an turns his aattention on to the stering of the wheel, he is looking out of the window..

Rids : apne bte se bahut pyar karthe ho ?

Sid: hmm yess

It starts raining and in the car SR are listening to radio..the song 'chup tum reho chup hum rehe' is playing in the background..the irony there was the atmosphere in the car was similar to the lyrics of the song ..sid softens up his expressions a bit, they both are speaking in their mind

Sid: ajj ek ajeeb see kamoshi hai hamare beech, hum dono sath hai fir bhi sath nahi

Rids: dooriya ithni hai ki pass ho kar bhi door hai

Sid: patha nahi iss sab ke liye kise ko dosh doo ..apni kismet ko ya rids ko nah jane mera dil kyo ajj bhi kehta hai ki voh kahi mujse p..'in 6 saloo voh sab kar chukka jo muje iss aurat se nafrat karaye lekin mujse voh bhi nahi hoo paa reha, muje ridhima se jyadha lagav karne ki koyi zaroorat nahi hai 2 weeks later I need to return back..

Rids: patha nahi sid kabhi muje maf kar payega.. do hafte bade who bhi chala jayeg a patha nahi main fir se usse mil pavongi ya nahi ( she glances at sid who has his eyes closed

Sid:weird na do bar shadhi karne ke badh bhi ajj bhi Rids aur mie , ek doosre ke liye ajnabee hai, he has flashbacks of good moments with rids but his bubble is suddenly broken whe he recollects arman's face..sid opens his eyes..his soft expressions changes into tense 'meanwhile the song stops playing and th RJ starts talking about love .Sid gets irritated and tunes the radio for news,Rids is slightly surprised with his mood swing ..they soon get out of the traffic jam..Rids keeps giving him directions and they reach the destination..Rids invites him in 4 a coffee but he refuses I have got to go he says and drives off without waiting for her reply..

Rids is again disappointed on the fact that she has been turned down however she consoles herself thinking he must have his wife who would perhaps be waiting 4 him , that's y he rushed off. That was lesss of a conselation and was more of a feeling that was making her aware of what she had lost.

Next day in the morning Sid moves into his new house with his son, they get stuff in and everything is done.It was nearly evening and Sid and Rahul were getting ready to pick Tam and tia up so that they coud go to some restrurant for a dinner'Meanwhile Rids too was spending some quality time with her dee,jeej ( atul) and simi( her neice)..Anjie enquire ridhima about sid.She gives a negative feed back saying his feelings are quite cold.In the evening they tooo decide to go out for dinner.

Sid and rahul get to Tam's place and pick them up they make it to city centre and walk into a good restrurant.They pick a quite corner where they cannot be easily overlooked, they enjoy their dinner . On the other side rids,anjie,atul and simi walk into the same restrurant but sit on the opposite side'they have only started eating, when sid-tam decides to call it a day..they are walking off when atul notices them and shouts sid's name ..SR are surprised to see each other..

Rids says hi to everyone .Simi suddenly runs to Rahul and introduces him to rest of her family

Anji: thoo ape hai Rahul 'hamare ghar mie din rat hap ki tariff hoti hai

Atul on the other hand is talking to sid and tam to rids

Few seconds later atul starts a conversation with tam..Rids is quite surprised to findout that atul knows tam ..Anjie on the otherhand is introduced to sid's son Rahul she compliments saying he is adorable..After a while they say good bye and leave, the highlight of this meeting was the fact that SR did not talk to each other at all apart from usual glances.Rids, atul,simi and anji settle back'

R: atul! Tum tamana ko kaise jante ho ?

Atul : main usse sanjeevni se jantha hu..She did her internship there..well part of her internship there

Rids: really 'lekin maine tho kabhi usse vaha dekha nahi

Atul: well voo isliye kyonki voh tumhare ane se pehle chali gayi thii..

Rids :I don't understand sid aur tam hamesha ek dosre ke sath ithne comfy laghte hai..Sid department mie sab se ek professional level par relationship rakhtha hai par lekin tamana jo ki uski collegue thak nahi usse bahut bath kartha hai..

Anjie: well voh log ache dosh honge..

Rids: lekin, take tonight for instance I am surprised Sid dinner par aya lekin just Rahu ko lekar not uski wife ko aur na he tam ne apne pati ko

Atul : tam ka pathi kuch saloo pehle ek accident mie guzar gaya

Rids :oo

Atul: ..yeh dono..inki kahani bahut purani hai..it goes back to the days jab sid ne internship shuru kithi sanjeevni mai ..tum sid ke past ke bare mie kuch nahi janti'Sid thaaaa ek laid back, spoilt NRI jo ki forcefully beja gaya tha India apne bade bhayi Dr Abhimanyu Modi ke pass so that voh bhi doc ban jaye..uske family mie sabhi doctors hai uske papa se leke uski sis thak thoo yeh unka family tradition thaa so he 2 was send India, although he never wanted to study medicine,'voh tha bahcha lekin kafi clever thaa uski IQ bahut high thii but he always wasted his talents infact I remember usne thoo thane lie hi ki he will get himself permanently expelled from sanjeevani,in the first few weeks of internship jiske liye usne bahut kuch kiya bhi..Now, tam she belonged to a vey modest family it was her dad's dream ki voh ek badhi doctor banhe,so she joined sanjevani too.. fir kya thaa yeh done mile ..tam east thoo sid that west 'aur patha nahi kaha in dono ke beech mie pyar hogaya ( rids is qite shocked at this point because rids didn't know about this before )..but iss story mie bhi twist thaa ladki ke ghar wali usse kisi susheel ladke ke sath settle karwana chathe the aur sid wasn't pleasing to them. Sid wanted to be with tam but he never considered himself old enough to get married ..So aur kya tha the ladki gave away to parental expectation and left for Canada for a new life and sid had to forget his pehla pyarr..infact jab tum usse pehli bhar aiprort mie mili thoo voh vaha tam ko chodne aya thaa..lekin got accused bi u lol..poor him'I was quite surprised when he agreed to marry u ..kyon ki jo bandha tam se shadhi karne ke liye tayar nahi thaa voh tumse shadhi karne ke liye ready hogaya..aur fir rest tum janti hoo'lekin ek bath zaroor hai sid ne hamesha apno ka bhala chaha hai, voh chahta tha thoo tam ki shadhi rukhva saktha tha lekin ek mature bandhe ki tarah usne tam ke parent's ki expectations ko samja aur tam kho chod diya'usne apne pyar ko kho tho diya dosro ki khushi ke liye aur shayad isi vajaise kismet ne use eska dosra pyar bhi jaldhi hi diya, jot hi tum..lekin( atul then realises where he was heading to so he holds his words back)

At this point rids has tears in her eyes, she realises what she has lost 'Rids was quite touched to hear about sid's past, it made much more clear sense of things that happened between him and her.' Abh mai samji ki sid ne meri arman ko dhoodne mie itni madat kyon ki ..kyo ki voh kisi ke pyar ko khone ka dard samjtha tha kyon ki usne apne pyar ko khya tha. ..