Originally posted by: Sagi.
Nagpur, five years ago.
“Virat, look at this!” Ayee was clearly out of her senses. Her hand held a letter, incidentally discovered in the masala cabinet. “Sai…”
“What now?” Bhavani Kaku did a neat eyeroll. This Jungli Mulgi, what has she gotten into now?
The family was about to start lunch. Samrat leapt from his place.
“What’s the matter, Mami? What happened? Why did you say Sai? Did something happen to her?” His heart skipped a couple of beats. Of late, he had grown particularly fond of this youngest member of the family.
“Sai’s gone!” Ayee was clearly hysterical as she handed over the letter to Samrat. “See, Samrat, she has written that she is leaving the house and going to GC. She is leaving us!”
“Not leaving, Ayee. She has already left!” The voice of the person who would bear the maximum impact of this, was unusually calm. The demeanour which was meant to deceive the shakiness beneath. The horse had already bolted.
All eyes turned to him.
Pakhi, who was serving at the end of the table, paused midway. Did that herald doomsday? Her mind carefully calculated her next move.
“Virat, I am not surprised. That girl was acting a bit strange of late. Even as though possessed!”
“Now will you please keep out this?” Samrat snarled back at her. “Virat, she mustn’t have gone far. Come, let’s go and get her back. Virat!”
He might as well have spoken in air. Virat was climbing the stairs that led him to his room.
“Virat!” his voice rose several decibels. The man on the stairs didn’t even register.
Meanwhile the occupants in the room sprang to attention and their own opinion.
“Oh that uncultured uncouth girl..”
“Good that she is gone. At least now we will be in peace!”
“But how could she go away like this? I mean, none of useven noticed. Did she climb down the balcony, like last time?”
“Oh my child…she is gone like this and all you can do is…”
Tongues waddled, accusations and justifications flew back and forth, unaware of the impact that the event was going to have on their lives.
It went on and on. Meanwhile, Samrat was knocking on Virat’s door. A few moments later, he entered the room only to stand transfixed at the sight within.
The occupant sat in his lounge chair staring in space. The astute police officer had missed out even on his Jeeva’s entry. Samrat tapped gently on his shoulder.
“Virat…”
He was shocked at what he saw. A broken man. A stoic police officer who had lost everything he had. His Sai, the love of his life, had recently walked out of his life. Samrat shook him, a bit less gently.
“Shiva!”
Jolting out of his reverie, his Shiva looked up. Blank eyes, save for the moisture that had trickled on his cheeks. He wiped his hand on his face. His pain was his alone. Samrat cupped his Shiva’s face, looking deep in his eyes.
“Care to share, little bro?”
That was it. The façade crumbled, the legs gave away. Virat buried his face on his big Bro’s shoulder and broke down completely. Samrat let him cry, get it out of his being.
“She has gone, Jeeva. She was never happy in this house, she never loved me. How much ever I tried to convince her about my love, she always had this notion about me being committed to Pakhi…” Virat continued, amidst a few sips of water that his Jeeva had quietly handed to him. “You know what happened on the anniversary day? I had planned this surprise party for her inMahabaleshwar. She threw it back to me saying that the marriage itself doesn’t exist, then the anniversary obviously doesn’t make sense. And I was trying to play emotionally with her, the same as I had done with Pakhi. She even accused me of…”Virat’s face contorted in sheer misery of the memory.
Samrat was quiet. All this was new to him.
“That was an eye opener for me. I realized that she had no feelings for me. All whatever she had done for this family was out of her innate virtues. Nothing more. And then I had this quiet talk with her Dean, the day after she applied for her transfer…”
“What? She applied for a transfer?”
“Her Dean, called me to inform about it. Nice of him. What he said shook me to the core. I realized something that I had missed so many days…”
Virat gulped hard on the remembrance. The cold voice of the dean he could never forget.
‘Mr Chavan, Sai is not doing well academically. She has missed many classes and most of her professors are complaining about it. Mind you, she is a very bright student, and we have very high hopes from her. But she is not meeting our expectations at all. If this continues, she will not clear her exams, I regret to say…all her dreams gone down the drain...’
“It was then that I took this decision. Staying with me, in this joint family was taking a toll on her growth, her dreams. Something that nobody else in this family would ever realize. A surgical procedure was needed here without the emotional factor. If, by going away from me, she was going to achieve her dreams, stay safe and be happy in life, it was certainly worth it. I had to let her go, Jeeva…”
“Shiva…” Samrat was speechless.
“I know, Jeeva. People are cursing me for not understanding her pain, her value..or letting her go. But what choice do I have? I could have stopped her. She, maybe, would have relented…but then killed her zest for life, her goals, her dreams, her soul shattered to pieces…what sort of Sai would that make out of her? I love her madly. And I didn’t want that to happen to her. SoI let her go!”
Samrat finally found his words.
“But Shiva..would she ever know..what you gave up for her happiness?”
Virat smiled sadly. “How does it matter? She will become a fine doctor one day. Serve humanity, make this world a better place to be in. She may or may not remember me. I may or may not be a part of her life. But if she is happy somewhere, its worth it…”
The conversation was interrupted by a soft ping of Virat’s phone. He answered it eagerly.
“Jai Hind!”
“Jai Hind, Sir. She has reached Gadchiroli. Yes, we are keeping a watch on her..”
“OK. Continue doing so, and keep me posted!”
The one sided conversation made no sense to Samrat. But what he could discern was a change in the body language of his Shiva. His eyes, vacant so far, now had a sense of purpose..
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
