Chapter 17 "Maya…how are you holding up?" asked an anxious Radhika.
Maya looked up at her friend and smiled through her tears. She was sitting in the garden, clutching a picture of her and her girls, close to her heart. Quietly she replied to her friend, "I am holding up Radhikaji. It's a bittersweet experience, isn't it?'
Radhika sat down beside her and asked, "what?'
"Watching your children grow up and find their way in life," came the reply.
Radhika nodded and said, "Yes it is. All we ever want is their happiness but the road to that is bumpy isn't it?"
Maya nodded in agreement and said, "If only we knew how to fix roads, right?"
Radhika laughed at that and wistfully said, "If only." She then turned to her friend and said, "But you shouldn't worry about Shreya. She is a strong girl, a survivor just like you. Remember the night she was born?" Radhika and Maya shared a chuckle at that and Radhika continued, "She will be fine."
"I know, it's not Shreya I worry about, it's Gauri." Maya replied.
"Gauri, why Gauri?"
"I don't know Radhikaji. She has always been a quiet child, always haunted by our terrible past. But I finally saw some happiness light up her eyes when she began maturing into a young woman. Lately, however, the old Gauri is back. She is so quiet again; sometimes I don't even realize that she is in the same room. At night when I pass by her room, I hear her quiet sobs and my heart just breaks. But the stubborn girl won't tell me anything." Maya looked at her friend and said, "She won't share her sorrows with me and I just don't know how to help her."
Radhika looked away guiltily and suddenly stood up. Maya looked at her friend curiously and asked, "Is everything okay Radhikaji?"
Without looking at her Radhika shook her head and replied, "No it's not." Then she turned to her friend and said, "Maya there is something I must tell you. Please don't take this as something a friend is telling a friend but take it as something a mother is telling another mother."
Maya frowned and said, "Radhikaji, please just tell me what's going on?"
Radhika again turned away and looking into the distance, she said, "I think I know the reason for Gauri's behavior."
*FLASHBACK*
Radhika was walking toward her car, when she spotted a tall ladder leading up to Shiv's room. Curious, she walked over there just to make sure everything was okay. As she got closer, she heard a soft strumming of the guitar and laughter. Radhika looked up and saw two silhouettes of a young man and a young woman, swaying arm in arm to the tune of the music. Slowly the taller silhouette leaned over and suddenly the two shadows entwined together to become one. A sweet smile lit up Radhika's face, as she too got swept away in the romance of the moment.
Radhika saw the young woman pull away slightly and step into the light. She squinted up at the face and despite the lack of light; she immediately recognized it to be Gauri Sarkar.
Radhika's heart stopped for moment. She looked harder, hoping and praying that what she saw was incorrect. But the image at the window burned through her heart and her mind. The image of Shiv and Gauri giggling and snuggling quietly, lost in each other's embrace.
Radhika quickly escaped to her car, as tears streamed down her cheeks. She sat in the car as her daughter, Mehar's voice echoed through her mind.
"Mama…guess what? I am in love!" Mehar had announced excitedly that very morning. Radhika didn't need to question her daughter twice to know who the object of her affections was. Radhika had always known and also hoped that someday Shiv and her daughter Mehar would find their way into each other's hearts and lives.
Radhika shook her mind out of her trance and fretted over the devastation, the scene she had just witnessed, would cause. Mehar's heart was physically very fragile and Radhika was afraid that this was more than she would be able to bear. No, she though to herself, she would not let this happen. She would not allow her daughter's heart to be damaged anymore.
Determined, Radhika waited silently in her car until she saw a smiling Gauri quickly climb down and sneak back into her house.
"Gauri," she called out quietly in the dark. Gauri stopped and turned, looking very much like a deer caught in the headlights.
"Choti ma what are you doing here so late?" Suddenly Gauri panicked; maybe something had happened to her already fragile friend. Uncertainly she asked, "Mehar?"
Radhika grimly replied, "She is fine so far."
Gauri breathed a sigh of relief but frowning at her Choti ma she asked, "But there is still something that is bothering you?"
"Where did you just come from so late at night Gauri?"
"Umm…well you see Choti ma…"
Radhika pointedly looked at the ladder leading up to Shiv's room and said, "I saw you."
Gauri blushed and immediately began stammering an excuse, "Yah…we were…we were trying to….umm…"
Radhika held out her hand stopping anymore lame explanations and merely stated, "Mehar is in love with Shiv."
Gauri gasped and her arms instinctively went around her waist, as she hugged herself protectively. Radhika cruelly continued, "They were meant to be, long before you ever came into the picture." She turned to Gauri, unshed tears blurring her vision, "Please spare him. You know how fragile her heart is and that she is fighting for her life everyday. This will break her Gauri, she cannot handle this." Radhika folded her hands and begged, "Please, please don't kill my daughter, please."
Gauri turned away and ran as fast as she could back to her house, leaving a sobbing Radhika behind.
*FLASHBACK*
As she finished her story, she quietly turned to her friend with lowered eyes.
Maya fell sobbing on the bench and clutched the picture even closer to her heart. She shook her head and asked bitterly, "And what of my daughter? Your selfishness killed her. But the worst part is that while you were able to protect your daughter and fight for her, I didn't even get a chance to do that for mine. I had no idea that I had to protect her from you, my best friend."
Radhika cried silently as she tried to reach out and comfort her distraught friend but Maya shrugged away from her and folding her hands, she begged, "Please…Please just leave us alone. You have done enough." Radhika nodded through her tears and slowly she walked away.
From his perch, far away at the top of his mansion, Ajit quietly observed his Maya sitting alone, staring into space, so near yet always so far.
"She is a lovely woman, isn't she?" Ajit quietly asked his friend Kavi, who had just slipped into the room. Kavi came and stood beside him by the window and said, "Yes she is."
Kavi looked at his friend and asked, "In all these years have you ever been able to stop thinking about her?"
Ajit smiled and asked, "Have you ever been able to stop thinking about Radhika, even for a moment?" When Kavi grinned and shook his head, Ajit continued, "When you find your soul mate, your heart can't help but beat only for her. Love like that never dies."
Kavi frowned at his friend's words. He looked below and saw Gauri walk over toward her mother and thought to himself, is that the kind of love she shared with Shiv? Then he looked over at Ajit's study table and saw a wedding picture of Mehar and Shiv. Kavi solemnly asked his friend, "Do you think that's the kind of love they share?"
Ajit looked at the picture his friend was staring at and misunderstanding him, Ajit smilingly patted his friend on the back and said, "Of course they do."
Kavi gave his friend a sad smile and repeated, "Of course they do." With those words both men turned back to the embracing mother and daughter in the garden.
Later that night, Shiv sat at his piano playing a tune that had been plaguing his mind for the past few days. He looked at the picture, he kept at the piano forte whenever he composed music and the words just flowed unabashedly from him:
Main Yahaan Tu Vahaan Zindagi Hai Kahaan
Tu Hi Tu Hai Sanam Dekhtaa Hoon Jahaan
Neend Aati Nahin Yaad Jaati Nahin
Neend Aati Nahin Yaad Jaati Nahin
Bin Tere Ab Jiyaa Jaaye Na
Main Yahaan Tu Vahaan Zindagi Hai Kahaan
Shiv slowly picked up the picture and as a tear fell on it, blurring the image, Shiv sang:
Teri Soorat Ab Ek Pal Kyun Nazar Se Hatati Nahin
Raat Din To Kat Jaate Hain Umr Tanhaa Katati Nahin
Chaah Ke Bhi Na Kuchh Kah Sakoon Tujhse Main
In the room above him, his father sat shrouded in darkness as a flash of his soul mate's laughing face flitted through his mind:
Chaah Ke Bhi Na Kuchh Kah Sakoon Tujhse Main
Dard Kaise Karoon Main Bayaan
Main Yahaan Tu Vahaan Zindagi Hai Kahaan
In the little cottage behind the mansion, Gauri sat by the window staring at the beautiful full moon that had lit up the night sky. She allowed Shiv's music to flow through her and when she felt a gentle tap on her shoulder, Gauri turned with a smile thinking that maybe, finally he had come but alas she found herself instead looking at Tarun's gently smiling face:
Jab Kahin Bhi Aahat Huee Yun Lagaa Ke Tu Aa Gayaa
Khushboo Ke Jhonke Ki Tarah Meri Saansein Mahkaa Gayaa
Ek Vo Daur Thaa Ham Sadaa Paas The
In the room next to hers, her mother echoed:
Ek Vo Daur Thaa Ham Sadaa Paas The
Ab To Hain Faasle Darmiyaan
Main Yahaan Tu Vahaan Zindagi Hai Kahaan
(Film: Baghban)
Edited by desi_chikita - 18 years ago
Vasudha
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