Part 1: Musings of the Past Geet had planned every single step in her life after the sudden demise of her beloved mother, Anagha Handa, due to heart failure. Geet's thoughts went reeling back to her mother's death was a severe blow to the easy going and happy-go-lucky life of Geet and the set of events that followed. Her happiness and joy came to a standstill on the day her friend, philosopher, and guide left her alone to tend for herself in this wicked world. After her mother's death the already sour relationship with her father became non-existent and she never considered her over powering brother as even part her family. Her paternal grandmother had no say against her domineering father thus she was left with no other option other than tending for herself.
Anagha Handa was a woman of few words because of her status as a woman in the Handa household where women were mere machines that took care of the house chores and gave birth. Yet she had fed her daughter Geet Handa careful morals and ethics to stand against the male dominant society. She had strongly supported her daughters dream and goal to become a doctor against the wishes of her husband and son, who hated education for women. According to them, what was the need for women to educate themselves when they were not going to be allowed to even step out of the kitchen? But her mother had managed to educate her beloved daughter until 12th grade but faced quite a lot of opposition when she voiced that Geet would continue to medical school. Veer Handa, Geet's father, let Geet study until high school as he saw no harm in it but he could not digest her going to medical school for that would neither suit the Handa parivaar nor his reputation as the village head. But somehow Anagha managed to get Geet into Medical School.
Geet knew the importance of education as she saw her mother and grandmother being treated like shoes, used when needed and thrown when not needed. And education would give her the freedom from this kind of treatment but she was of a very happy-go-lucky type and took the day as it came. She knew her mother would always be there to protect her from the evil eyes of her father and brother. But all the security came crashing when she got to know her mother was suffering from Ischaemic Heart Disease and needed immediate medical attention. Her mother had continuously taken care of every single person in the household and thus had severely damaged her health in the process. The chances of survival were good only if properly taken care of, since she had failed to do so, the doctors had wanted to thin her blood supply to increase the blood flow rate to the heart. None except Geet had taken all the pains to admit her into the hospital but she had informed her father and brother to take a look at her mother before the operation.
Geet was pacing around the hospital room entrance expecting her father to show at least minimum courtesy to show up in the hospital, when the doctor came to remind her about the need for immediate operation.
"Doctor please wait a few minutes bauji will be here," she pleaded with tears in her eyes when she heard her mother calling her.
"Nahi beta voh nahi ayenge kyunki ek pal ke liye bhi unhone mujhe apni patni samjha aur unhe auraton unke pairon pe kadein hotein toh aur bhi nafrat kartein hai. Magar is samajh mein apni pairon mein kadi hona bahut zaroori hai isi liye maine tumhare bauji se ladkar tumhe doctor banne ke liye koshish kar rahi hoon. Dhyaan se meri baat suno, mujhe pata nahi ki mein is operation se phir se vapas aaun ya nahi magar mujhse vaada karo ki tum zaroor ek acchi doctor banoge?" Anagha said extending her hand asking for her promise.
Geet completely broke down hearing her mother speak and ran to clutch her arms tightly, fearing the worse. "Maa please aise mat kehna. Tum mujhe chodke nahi jaogi please," she said sobbing hard.
"Nahi please mujhse vaada karo Geet," Anagha urged taking a deep breath with a lot of difficulty.
Geet fearing she would lose her mother, she quickly promised she would indeed become a doctor. With her promise her mother was rushed into the operation theater and that was the last time Geet saw her mother alive.
Geet struggled to cope with the fact that her mother was no more to protect her but had kept her alive by keeping her word. She totally changed her lifestyle, became serious, and strived to achieve her mother's goal. However luck was not with her. With her mother gone, there was nobody to stop her father from marrying her off as early as possible.
During her final semester, her father had declared she would discontinue her studies and she would get married to the man whom he had selected for her and that was final. He had declared that the groom was the richest in their clan and even the most educated as he headed the construction business. While her father went on giving further details about the groom Geet was lost in her own thoughts trying to figure out a way to not marry. She slightly tried voicing her opinion but her father would not hear of it and warned her that he wouldn't hesitate to kill her if she did something against his wishes. She pleaded, cried, shouted and warned that she wouldn't marry, she even tried escaping but it was no use fighting a losing battle, she was shut in her room to prevent her from running away.
The day she dreaded finally arrived, the Handa Mansion was decorated beautifully and Geet was sitting in her room adorned with the most expensive jewelry and decked with various other ornaments that enhanced her already beautiful appearance. All the girls helping her were continuously teasing her while she quietly sat cursing her impending future with a man whom she did even bother to know the name of. All she could think was how she had miserably failed to fulfill her mother's last wish. Throughout the ceremony she was shoved around like a doll and with no choice she just moved around as directed.
Geet mechanically took the pheras with a man from what she could make out was little under 6 feet and seemed well built, while the pandit chanted away the mantras. She didn't bother to look at the man who seemed to be secretly glancing towards her in spite of the heavy sehra that adorned his face. At the end of the ceremony she was pushed around various relatives to take their blessings when she got a glimpse of the man whom the pandit had declared as her husband. From the corner of her eyes she saw his perfectly etched jaw-line with a hint of neatly trimmed stubble. His creamy white skin contrasted the dark black stubble on his face. While she was yet again bending down to take the blessings from another relative that she didn't even know existed until today, she noticed his long slender fingers seeking the blessings of the elder.
Next she was pushed to take the blessings of an elderly lady clad in silvery white saree. She had an aura of dominance and elegance yet her beautiful smile reflected her friendly nature. Both husband and wife took the blessings and looked up to see her smile lovingly at them.
"Maan bete hum bahut khush hai ki aap finally shaadi kar li, ab aap jaldi se hum ek aur choti si khushi de deejiye I shall die happy," she said caressing Maan's cheeks.
"Daadima aap bhi na please don't talk about dying," he said holding the hand that was held on his cheeks. That was the first time Geet heard him speak. He had a deep and husky voice that could easily command even the most unruly room. Geet silently heard the man beside her slightly scold his Daadima while she felt old and wrinkly hands caress her cheeks wishing her the best married life. Geet just nodded awkwardly not knowing how else to respond to such a loving wish.
After the long round of blessings, it was finally time to leave. Geet really upset that she was leaving the place that was filled with the memories of her beloved mother. People thought she was shy being a new bride and was upset that she would leave her family. But in reality she was really happy she would not be in her father's clutches anymore but was extremely upset she would leave the place that constantly reminded of her ever loving mother. She had carefully planned that once she would get lone time with this man beside her she would clearly let him know she was not interested in him and she would like a divorce so that she could continue her studies. While she was incessantly crying a assuring hand came to embrace her. She realized it belonged to the person whom the world addressed as her husband. She instantly flinched at his touch that slightly sent a shiver through her spine. She looked at the hand and then at the owner of the hand who had a calm and assuring smile on his face. She gazed at those beautiful dark brown eyes that gave her a sense of new security. She seemed lost in those deep brown eyes when people around her cleared their throats causing her to free herself from his grip. People around her teased him with ahs and oohs and giggling at his shameless display of public affection. He simply seemed to shrug away their teasing and smiled a cheeky smile.
The couple walked towards the car that was decorated with various kinds of roses indicating it belonged to a just married couple. Geet's father came around with tears in his eyes and kissed his daughter good-bye before taking a promise from his son-in-law to keep his daughter happy. Maan had nodded in the affirmative and guided Geet towards the car that was waiting to take them to his mansion.
Geet sat in the car as silent tears rolled down her cheeks. Maan came to sit beside her in the backseat and asked the driver to proceed to his house. He looked at the now pale Geet crying her eyes out. The car seemed well out of the radius of Handa Mansion and Geet was still ceaselessly crying. Maan was concerned for her but didn't know how she would take his consoling. He hesitantly came closer to her to wipe away the tears that were endlessly piercing his heart like a thousand needles. But before he could even bring his fingers near her, she wiped hard of her salty tears before loudly declaring, "Stop the car!"
here is the next part... sry guys i was originally intending to write it as one shot only, chronicling only one day's events but i have a very bad habit of going into too much details while trying to get one single point through... thus my one shot has become an SS that may extend upto 10 or so parts😕 i hope u guys dont mind... please let me know how it was... HAPPY READING...
Edited by Maaneet_09 - 14 years ago
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