chapter nine (part two)
2 WEEKS LATER
Poonam came into the room, Gulaal was sitting on the bed lost in her own thought's.
"dekho toh, iss ladki ko, parso iski shaadi hai aur aise mooh bana kar baithi hai" she sat down next to her daughter and took her hand,
"gulaal mein samajhti hoon beta, tumhare paapa ka dookh abhi tumhare man se nahi gaya, par tumne hi mujse kaha tha ke tum unka sapna zuroor pura karogi,".
"haan maa, main zaroor karoongi", fot the past two weeks gulaal had become nothing than a mere body without a soul, she missed her father ever so and then kesar... the sweet kesar, she had been ignoring his sms's, email's, phonecalls. She knew that even thinking of him was a big paap now, she had explained to her mind but heart felt like it was burning into charred cinder's.
"chal toh phir mein chalti hoon, vasant mujse koi baat karna chahta hai", "jee maa".
" aur haan gulaal muje pata hai ke humne shaadi ki koi rasam nahi ki, lekin iska yeh matlab nahi hai ke tu khush na hoh, teri doston ko maine bulaya hai".
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kesar looked up as vasant walked in "kahan gay the aap"
"voh maine nirja ki maa se,kuch baat karni thi, abhi sab theek hogaya" he said with a evil look in his eyes.
"kya theek hogaya" kesar asked.
"kuch nahi, tu chor"
just then rewa and devika walked in, "hum kab jaenge bhabi se milne ke liye, kitne din hogaye hain, aur parso apki shaadi hai aur abhi humne apni bhabi ka chehra bhi nahi dekha.
"dekh lena, lekin shaadi ke din, aap dono ko to pata hai, ke koi rasam vasam nahi hogi, toh direct shadi par hi milna, abhi mein jata hoon, kuch zaroori kam yaad ageya" and he left, kesar stared behind him concerned wondering what his brother was up to.
kesar had been very stressed for the past two weeks, gulaal was not speaking to him and he did not undersatnd what to do, ek baar vasant bhaa ki shaadi hojaye, toh phir main kudh jaonga usse milne" he thought.
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2 DAYS LATER.
There was noise in the whole house, all of gulaal's relatives from near and far had come, they knew that they had to be a part of gulaal's happiness because that is what revji would have liked them to do.
"dekh gulaal baraat agayi".
"mujhe nahi dekhna" she sat infront of the mirror with a red lehenga and light jewellery.
"arrey yeh kya, jeeju nazar nahi aa rahe, chal hum jaa kar dekhte hain.
In the hall downstairs poonam had heard news to shake her out of her wits, vasant had gone.
"mujhe maaf kar dijye, yeh hath ke elaava humey kuch habar nahi hai ke vasant kaha hai" and motaba started reading the letter out loud.
main yeh shaadi nahi karonga, mujhe apni zindiagi ke saath samjhota nahi karna.
Nirja naa hi sundar hai aur naa hi mere layak.
meri fikar mat kijeye, maine doh din pehle, poonam ji se mil kar unse, unke saare ghar ke paper's le liye aur unki sari property.
Poonam trembled and she couldn't believe what she was hearing.
kesar, paanba, rewa and devika all stood at the back with there heads down, kesar could not believe what his brother had done, which poor girl's life had he spoiled.
motaba spoke in a clear and loud voice "kya yeh sach hai samdhan jee, apne usse apni sari property deh dih"
poonam fell onto the floor crying "haan haan maine socha ki main kya karoon gi, yeh sab damad jee aur vasant ka hojay ga toh accha hoga".
meanwhile gulaal had heard all the commotion and came down the stairs.
kesar looked towards the stairs his, hone wali bhabi was coming down in a red lehenga, he struggled to see her face...
Gulaal tu?.