chapter sixteen the next morning talli, giga and jamuna left for there house.
after that days passed without much happening, the whole household got into a sort of routine, gulaal would go to work in her calll centre, kesar and motaba would go and work in there factory and paanba and jamuna would look after the household with gulaal helping as much as she could, rewa and devika continued going to college.
on a similar everyday, paanba addressed motaba as he got ready to go to work.
'jee muje ek baat kehni thi',
'haan bolo na'
voh mujhe kehna tha ke ab gulaal ka kuch sochna chahiye, bohot din hogaye hai voh aur unki maa hamare ghar mein reh rahe hai lekin yeh theek nahi hai, unka ab kuch karna chahiye'.
'mujhe samaj aa rahi hai paanba ke aap kya keh rahi hai, lekin yeh baat bohot zyada nazook hai, ab maine gulaal ki zimidaari li hai, toh kuch toh karna hi hoga, lekin aap ko thora sa sabar karna hoga, lekin kya main pooch sakta hoon ke achank yeh baat kyun'
paanba looked away from his questioning eyes , 'aap th jante hai ke talli ka bachpan se saapna raha hai, kesar se shaadi karne ka, lekin maine dekha hai ki, voh gulaal ke baare mein kuch zyada hi sochta hai'.
'paanba yeh aap kya keh rahi hai, gulaal aur kesar mein bohot farak hai, aur mujhe maaf kijiye agar mein galat hoon, lekin mujhe toh lagta hai ki kesar uss bechari ki halat par bohot hi taras khata hai, aap toh kesar ko jaanti hai paanba, ab main chalta hoon' and he picked up his stick and left.
paanba suddenly said aloud to herself 'taras hi toh hai, bechari gulaal aur bechari uski maa, mera hi ghar mila tha kya, , ek beta toh mujse chin ke legayi aur ab kesar bhi' she said disgustingly staring at the ground.
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on the same day a incident happened to change there lives...,gulaal left for work in the morning on the bus but it had become a routine for kesar to pick her up after.
gulaal waited on the street looking around 'phir se late she thought to herself, yeh ladka bhi na'.
suddenly two women came up to her and said 'kya hua abhi tak nahi aaya'. without waiting for a answer the other one continued,
'isne toh uss bechare ko naukar baana ke rakha hua hai'. gulaal stared at them stunned unable to say anything.
the other woman then said' tune toh aurat ke naam par kalank laga diya hai, chii kabhi koi aise kisi gayr mard ke ghar mein rehta hai kya'.
gulaal tried to answer them rigidly ' main kesar ke ghar mein motaba ki beti ban ke reh rahi hoon aur kuch nahi, mere upar savaal uthane se phele please apne aap ko dekhyi, aise koi kisiki zindagi main dakhal deta hai kya'
'accha tu humse aise baat karegi, mein bhi dekhti hoon kaise' and one of the lady's picked up a rock from the gorund and threw it at her.
blood began to flow from her head and kesar who had just arrived, came over in anger.
'aap ki himmat bhi kaise hui' he said furiously retreating towards them. gulaal who had blood flowing from her head said weakly'jaane de kesar'.
'sach hi toh kaha humne, aurat ke naam pe yeh kalank hai, kya rishta hai iska aap ke saath ke yeh aap ke ghar mein asie reh rahi hai' and then suddenly the lady started calling people, 'aao dekho sab, iss dabhe ko, itni giri hui aurat hai' and then lots of ladies gathered around them, all talking fevrishly at once, kesar could hear them saying several words about gulaal that disturbed him and he began to shout at them, the ladies all shouted back until one lady said something that made kesar see red 'mujhe toh lagta hai, isko najayaz rishte rakhne mein maza aata hai, ghar mein bhi unke raho aur maaze bhi utne hi loh.
kesar felt like going and punching each of the lady's teeth out but he knew that would not make them stop saying things. he turned walked over to gulaal who was looking down, as blood flowed from her head and tears from her eyes, he got his thumb and forefinger and gently took some blood from her forehead, he then filled her maang, gulaal left was speechless.
'ab kisi ko kuch kehna hai, he said looking at the ladies. the ladies were left standing speechless as he put his arm over her and took her to his bike, he gently made her sit on it and sat on himself and then they rode off.
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gulaal and kesar walked in as paanba, motaba and poonam sat around the table drinking tea, poonam's cup fell out of her hand as she saw gulaal's head covered in blood, she quickly rushed over to her daughter and it was then she noticed that gulaal's maang was also covered, she just stared speechless, paanba also went through the same routine not being able to say anything, she stared at gulaal her eyes filled with hatred. motaba slowly came over and looked at gulaal's mang, he knew at once that it was none other than kesar who was standing with his head facing the ground, he slowly began to walk away and at the bottom of the stairs he turned 'kesar mere kamre mein aa' and he slowly began to climb the stairs.
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poonam called gulaal into the kitchen and gently began to clean her wound not saying a word, when the wound was dressed, poonam stared at gulaal's mang, she did not have the courage nor the wish to wipe it off and she too began making her way to there room. gulaal went over to the sink got herself some water and also made her way upstairs, whilst outside her door she gently opened it and saw her mother standing 'andar mat aana, yeh ab tera kamra nahi raha aur na hi mein teri maa hoon, chali jaa, jaa jaake kesar ke kamre main'.
gulaal helplessly began to protest 'yeh aap kya keh rahi hai, muje andar aane deijhyy'.
'nahi gulaal tu jaanti hai, joh bhi mard hamari mang bhar de wohi hamare pati ban jaata hai, baki ki rasme toh sirf naam ki hai, yahi toh hoti hai ek asli suhaagan ki nishaani, aur yeh' and she pointed at gulaal's forhead, 'yeh saboot hai ke ab tu meri nahi rahi' and with that she closed the door.
gulaal made her way to kesar's room, on opening it she discovered there was no one inside , abhi bhi motaba ke amre mein hoga, she feared the worst and hoped he was not shouting at him too much, she went and helplessly sat on the bed.
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kesar opened the room door and was shocked to discover gulaal inside,
'tu yaha kya kar rah hai', gulaal who was tired and still a little in shock over what had happened replied,
'aur mujhe kaha hona chahiye,patni banya hai, toh tere hi kamre mein rahongi', and tears started rolling out of her eyes, kesar immidiately ran over to her and jumped on the bed also, he took her in his arms, and began to speak
'im sorry gulaal, tu please yeh mat samajh ki maine tujhe sirf apne fayde ke liye patni banaya hai, teri jaga mein kisi ki bhi aise bezzati hoh rahi hoti, toh main aise hi hosh ko betha' he looked up at her forehead 'yeh maine kya kar diya, im sorry main kya karoon, tujhe itne din hogaye aise hi dookh mein dekh kar main bohot shamrminda tha, aur ab dekh maine khud hi teri sari zindagi barbad kar di, gulal im really...' his sentence was left unsaid as she gently moved her lips over to his forehead and kissed him 'he stared at her stunned, 'gulaal tu',
'chup kar, kitni dher se bol raha hai, ek baat kahon kesar, tune meri zindagi bilkol nahi barbad ki, jab se maine tujhe computer par dekha, sirf tumhare hi sapne apni ankhon mein saja kar rakhe aur agar yeh sab beech mein na hojata toh ab tak toh main mrs kesar bhi ban gayi hothi' she said giving him a weak smile.
he gently touched her face 'toh tu kush hai,
'haan kesar, main khush toh hoon lekin mujhe dar lag raha hai, motaba paanba, yaha thak ke meri khudki maa sab naraaz lag rahe the'.
kesar smiled at her, his beautiful wife who always cared abut other's 'lekin atleast aaj raat ko hum dono ko sab ke baare mein sochna chor dehna chahiye' and he moved closer and pulled her in to hug her, she gently put her head against his chest and they just lay there, until kesar said,
'waise gulaal tune mujhe kiss kyun kiya',
'voh tu, um baatein bohot acchi karta hai,
kesar started laughing 'accha toh main aise hi acchi baaten karta gaya toh pata nahi aur kya kya mile ga mujhe',
'chup ka beshamram' she said moving away from him and lightly smacking him, she suddenly felt very shy as she realised the reality of all this, she was actually in a room, with kesar, the person she loved, he pulled her and they both moved back against the headboard and smacked there heads 'ouch' kesar said rubbing his head, she put her hand on his head and gently started rubbing his hair, she concentrated fully on his hair 'tere baal bohot acche hai' she said casually,
'bas kar, idhar udar ki baatein band kar' he said staring into her eyes and then genlty moved over towards her lips and planted a light kiss on them, he then moved away to see her expression, she was burning bright red, 'tu hamesha itna sharmati kyun hai, kabhi kisi ko kiss nahi kya', she looked at him embarresed and realised he was joking, 'chup kar pagal' and she looked down again,
'main pagal, chal toh phir main chalta hoon' he said and tried to get up, gulaal who had, had enough of jokes pulled him towards her and kissed him with a sense of urgency, she then moved away again and said 'ab jaa'
'main kya tujhe pagal lagta hoon ke ab jaoonga aur waise bhi main toh mazak kar raha tha, main toh kahi nahi jaoonga'
and he swooped down to kiss her only this time she pulled away 'tujhe kya lagta hai, sirf tu jaa sakta ha, main jaa rahi hoon, sofe pe sone ke liye' as she tried to get up, he pulled her back and she fell into his arms 'bas mazak hogaya' and he kissed her with the passion and deisre that she urged for, she gently put her hands in his hair and moved her fingers through them, this gave him the most pleasured feeling in the world and he kissed her back even more passionalty, as they both came up for breath, she suddenly looked at him and said 'kesar ek baat kahoon, to bura nahi manega',
'nahi jaanu, bol na'
'voh isse zyada mujhe kuch nahi karna, jab thak ghar wale humse bilkool khush nahi hojate' she looked at him with need in her eyes, 'tu samjh raha hai na',
'ofcourse whenver your ready, itni dher wait kiya, abhi aur thoda time hi sahi, par tab thak' and pulled her close and genlty started to kiss her again, gulaal pulled away and softly carresed his face, 'i love you'
'me too' he said and they resumed where they had left off.
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the next morning gulaal awoke and kesar was not there, she got up and did not know how to dress she went and stood infront of the mirror and it was then she noticed there was little sindoor box, a light pink sari, and a beautiful necklace set, light and simple just how she liked it, on her table, she knew kesar must have left them there and she smiled wondering where he had got it from.
once dressed she slowly made her way down the stairs, paanba was sitting alone in the kitchen cooking something, she looked up angrily as gulaal walked in, 'kesar kaha hai paanba'.
paanba got up walked over to her and grabbed her arm tightly 'voh kam par gaya hai, leking tu mere saath chal, mujhe tujse baat karni hai'.
Edited by rimjhim1 - 13 years ago
Ishaani
Cricket
