Hey guys,
Now, this is something I love. Love, separation, longing, hatred et al…I may sound a bit physic but I have a tremendous fascination for separations, there is something extraordinarily sensuous about them… (I don't know if that made sense) anyways…Hope you all will enjoy it!!!
Please do comment!!!
Hope you all have a very joyous, healthy and peaceful New Year 2009!!!
ENJOY!!!
*******
Burnt Shadows…
The heavy oppressed air was filled with an aromatic scent of the freshly baked coffee beans…a faint slush-slosh noise snored…a man was unmindfully stirring a spoonful of sugar in the coffee mug…keeping aside the spoon, he picked up his mug, sipping the brewing coffee, his eyes stared outside, to the lush green meadows and the few healthy cattle grazing in the autumn sun…he liked to do things by himself, at least certain things, it reminded him where he had been once, and where he is now…he was going back from where he had come…but he was not the same what he had been once. The youthfulness was gone which was now replaced by a stern manly avatar, the playfulness had disappeared to give way to disciple and order, he averted his determined steel grey eyes to see the pale orangeade sky, the eyes were cold and ruthless, the same eyes which were once so warm and affectionate…the eyes which once had unfathomable depth, today held unreadable mystery…he rethought about his decision…he was sure, he knew he would go back, he knew it the moment he had stepped on this unknown, unaccustomed foreign earth which had eventually become his home for a long seven years … …
Jai slogged day and night, looking into the accounts of a small departmental store, working as a waiter in the evening in an upscale restaurant, then as a bartender in a posh nightclub in Canada…an entire year he not slept properly, not eaten properly, just to save an extra penny, it was his competence which helped at last and he got a job as the assistant manger in a hotel, he worked hard saving every piece of money he earned, after then he rose from ashes to glory, he bought a hotel which was running in losses and was about to be shut down, from then there was no looking back, he went on to buy many more and scaled new heights in a span of 5 years… …with just one aim in mind…to go back from where he came… …
"Sir, shall I pack your things…" his servant asked a bit unsure…he nodded his head in negative…
"I will do it…" he said in a deep, cold, authoritative baritone…his servant left without cross-questioning…
He walked out of the spic and span modular kitchen towards his room, the time had come, and shortly after a few hours he would reach his destination… the ultimate destination he ever dreamt of… his only dream…a dream which emerged from the burnt shadows of the past… …
Jai Walia was coming back… and no one knew about it…
*******
He liked the way she looked, cream colored soft skin, almond shaped eyes with light brown eye balls centered around a pitch black dot, silky black-brown hair, petite frame, average height, she was indeed a picture perfect beauty in every sense, he was not quite kicked about the idea of getting married but the moment his parents showed him her photograph he was completely smitten by her beauty…Tarun Sablok smiled at his fiance Bani Dixit…she was looking somewhere else…it had been a month they had been engaged on much insistence of their fathers who wanted to transform their long friendship into a relation…but still Tarun felt as if she was an unsolved puzzle for him, her quietness confused him even further, she hardly spoke, he attributed it to her shy, reserved nature in the beginning but she was clearly an aloof individual as if she had no interest in him or his talks…
He saw her immersed in cleaning up, he had come to share a dinner at her place, she hardly entertained him…he got up, he reached to touch her, she didn't flinch, he took that as an approval…he lead her to her bed, she didn't move, he laid her down on the soft mattress, she uttered nothing, he unbuttoned his shirt, he threw away her scarf which landed on the floor…he came over her, she turned her head sideways…he moved his hands over her, he couldn't gauge any response either from her or her body, she just lay there as a stone statue…
Bani smiled as he neared her…she bent her head shyly as he held her waist, caressing it… evoking a myriad sensations inside her young heart, he kissed her softly...tasting the nectar from her plum lips...teasing her till she gave in to his demand and her need...his fingers felt like the delicate brush strokes on her nude skin…his sweet nothings whispered in her ears spelt like measured cadences…it was breath-taking filled with unknown passion and a certain urgency to claim each other…the first time he had touched her so intimately...the first time she had touched him so intimately…the first time they loved each other completely through mind, body and soul… …
Tarun's hand reached her back to unzip her top…but he froze the moment he examined her eyes…
He got offended by her emotive beautiful eyes…the same emotive beautiful eyes which laughed once…Those same emotive beautiful eyes behaved as though they belonged to someone else…as if they were watching someone…looking out of the window at the sea…as if waiting for someone…as if they were mourning over someone's death…
He was exasperated because he didn't know what that look meant. He put it somewhere between Un-acknowledgment and Avoidance but in reality it was something between Conflict and Agony... He didn't understand that her personal despair was so desperate enough. That something happened, and that the personal turmoil dropped by at the wayside shrine of the vast, violent, circling, driving, ridiculous, insane, unfeasible, mind of hers…that it howled like a hungry monster demanding obeisance…
He couldn't be expected to understand that. That the emptiness in her same emotive beautiful eyes was only a version of the quietness in someone else's eyes…the two things fitted together. Like stacked spoons, like familiar lover's bodies… …
Bani blinked her eyelids, she didn't feel tarun's hands on her…her clothes were intact, covering her…she saw Tarun bent down to pick up his shirt, buttoning it he left before giving one last look at her…she was still lying in the same position unmoving, he walked out in quick steps… the faint sound of the banged door reached her ears… she still lay in the same position, unmoving…
*******
Jai sat in the expensive BMW…he looked outside as the car drove smoothly over familiar roads…he spotted a bunch of children playing around, laughing at their innocent naughtiness…running behind each other to catch…he smiled…
"JAI!!!!" she shouted…running around his small rented apartment…
"Bani…come here…" he shouted back…
"Catch me Jai…" she ran around, laughing, jumping over the single bed, making faces…
"Bani…" he called out…
"I am not coming, catch me…" she threw a pillow…before being imprisoned in his firm, muscular grip…she giggled as he nuzzled her neck…
"Caught you…" he said huskily…bani hit his elbow and wriggled out of his arms, but he was too fast and caught her waist toppling over her on the bed…their infectious laughter roared in the claustrophobic dingy room… …
The screeching tyres brought him back to the present, his car stood before the palace like mansion he had purchased recently…he got out…and entered the beautifully furnished and decorated house…he carefully took out a huge golden framed photograph of his mother, he hung it on the main wall, he found his mother smiling at him from the photo, he felt a sudden ache in his heart, today he had everything except her, she had brought him up single-handedly after his father had abandoned them, he still remembered the day she died out of poor medical care, he was 16, he had become an orphan, it took him nearly months to cop up but till today the pain was very much intact, but over the lengthy glum period of time, the degree of pain did reduce but never went away… he walked away… he had things to do and the sooner he did the better…
"Mr. Sharma…" jai called out for his manager…the middle-aged manager made a meek appearance before him…
"Yes, sir…" he said…
"I already have the rough details of Dixit Industries…but I need to know everything about it, EVERY DAMN THING… am I clear…" the crystal clarity in his voice had an intensified effect on the listener…
"Yes, sir, by tomorrow everything will be done…"
"Good…" he left… …
*******
She had only known comfort and security all her life…she had never walked the less-traveled and forgotten paths…she always kept to the sunlit, paved roads carefully marked with directions and warnings…living a life equivalent to a princess of a forlorn land…she had everything in the practical sense of the word…her father Nishikant Dixit an accomplished businessman, a millionaire owning proverbial properties...she got everything according to her whim and fancies being her father's only daughter and her brother Pushkar's only sister, but something which she didn't ever get was love and care, having lost her mother early in life she was brought up among maids and servants looking after her, pampering her, she hated it, her father was too busy in his business to even remember her existence, though her brother dotted on her but he suffered from his own insecurities of seeing their mother's death…her ears longed to hear a caring word, her heart yearned to feel a loving gesture…she was like the bird imprisoned in a golden cage, which had everything except it's freedom…but soon she found that love in the form of her brother's best friend…Jai Walia…the young man who freed her…the young man who loved her madly…and so did she…
Bani felt a sullen reprise as she walked the furlong corridor which led to the huge mansion which was once her home…she wondered why she was summoned all of a sudden, she couldn't precisely remember the last time she had been here…
"Bua…" a chirpy voice greeted her excitedly…her 3-year old niece diya…diya stood before her with an extended palm, bani knew what she demanded…bani pretended to search her bag…
"Abra ka dabra…" bani said getting out a big bar of chocolate for her…diya jumped…quickly opening the wrapper…
"Bua, aap kahaani sunayegi na…" diya asked munching the chocolate…
"Haan, thodi der baad theek hain…" bani kissed her cheek…diya nodded her head and went to play; bani looked up to see her father and brother assembled in the living area…
Pushkar looked at his little sister, it pained his heart to see her princess like that, she resembled a corpse, lifeless…yes, the fun-loving, lively, bubbly, vivacious girl was dead long ago…he closed his eyes to stop the tears ready to sprout…bani stood…
"Sit bani…" pushkar said…
"It's okay…" bani replied not moving from where she stood…
"Tarun aaya tha…" pushkar said, getting no response form her he continued…
"He…he has broken the engagement, he was telling that you didn't seem to be happy from this engagement, so it is better not to get married and destroy two lives…" pushkar waited for her to say something…she mutely removed the priced ring from her middle-finger and placed it on the glass centre table… pushkar sighed…bani turned to leave, when she hear her father speak up…
"Mujhse baat nahin karogi…beta…" nishikant said sadly…
"Ajeeb baat hain, ek waqt tha jab mere pass kehne ke liye bohot kuch tha par sunne ke liye aap kabhi nahin the, aaj sunne ke liye aap hain par kehne ke liye mere pass kuch bhi nahin…" bani said without turning and left… …
*******
As Bani walked out of the brick and cement building, her eyes fell on the gardener watering the flowering plants, the lilies were still surviving, sawayign in the evening breeze, the same lily plants which she had planted once…the first time she had met him… …
"Ramu kaak, aap jaayiye main kar loongi…" bani said confidently…
"bitiya, aap ko kahaan aata hain…main karta hoon…sahib ne dekh liya toh bohot gussa karenge…" ramu kaka said worriedly…
"Arre, kuch nahin hoga, papa kahaan abhi aayenge…aap jaayiye, warna main papa se bol doongi…" bani warned…
Ramu kaka left giving up…Bani immersed herself in planting the lily shoots, she had specially ordered for white lily saplings, she loved lilies, she loved all kinds of flowers but lilies were her favorite, they were divinely beautiful…she planted them in two circular rounds…satisfied by her job she got up to water them…getting the water pipe she started flowering them careful not to flood the still young plantlets…finishing her job she washed her hands and legs which were laden with mud…her naughtiness got better of her and she raised the water pumping tube to shower herself in the water…soon she was playing with the water, sprinting from her and there spilling water everywhere…and before she could realize she had already drenched a man from head to toe… …
Jai kept looking at the beautiful sight before him, he had never been so mesmerized by something, the young girl twirling around playing with water symbolized absolute purity…personifying the lily flower which she just planted……he stood there in a trance…not even minding that he had been drenched by water…quite unaware of the cold and the dripping water…
Bani looked at jai aghast…she had totally wetted him, bani rushed to him…
"Oh God!!! I am so sorry…I am so sorry…sorry…" bani rambled out of nervousness…
"You are beautiful…" jai uttered, bani was stunned beyond words, surprisingly she felt herself blushing at a stranger's impromptu comment…she ran inside…jai kept looking at her retreating back…he ran his fingers through his damp hair, foolishly smiling to himself…
Bani hurriedly walked out of the imposing iron gate, deliberately forgetting her promise to tell a story to diya…before she slipped into flux of emptiness …
*******
Jai Walia was busy studying the files comprising of the intricate details about the Dixit Industries sitting in the comfy leather chair of his newly constructed branch office, he had to be very cautious regarding his first step…any leeway or slip would effect him gravely, he had already made a plan, it was now time to execute it…
"Sir, 2% shares of Dixit Industries has been bought…" his P.A. informed him…
"Hmm…make sure no information about us is leaked out, I don't want people talking about us…" he said…
"Yes, sir…"
"You may leave…" the P.A. left as instructed, the first stage was cleared… …
He pulled out the drawer of his teak wood table…he took the picture lying abandoned within the four closed walls of the drawer…was it only an image…not true…for years it has been the center of his mind and thus outside of his circle of attention…it was his and bani's photograph…
She haunted him from the moment he had placed his eyes on her wet state…she was coincidently his best friend Pushkar's 18 year old sister. Pushkar was his very good friend, they were doing MBA together, though pushkar came form a very well off family but he was unlike any snobbish brats, he was ironically very down to earth. Jai, who was studying MBA thanks to the college's scholarship and his part time job, felt really nice and wanted having a friend like Pushkar. After his mother's death he had gone into a shell, mainly restraining to himself but with pushkar around he opened up…
And it was in no time since he and bani got along, it was a maddening spree, high on energy and intensity … …but pushkar was safely kept away from this for many months…and the day they told him he funnily resembled a gaping goldfish as if the sky broke loose over his head, but he was happy seeing his sister so cheerful and genuinely happy for the first time…
When he held her in his arms, her cheek rested against his heart, he was tall enough to see the top of her head, the dark tumble of her silky brown-black hair…when he put his finger near the corner of her mouth he could feel a tiny little pulse. He loved its location. And that faint, uncertain jumping, just under her skin. He would touch it, listening with his eyes, like an expectant father feeling his unborn baby kick inside its mother's womb for the first time…
He held her as though she was a gift. Given to him in love. Something still and small. Unbearably precious.
Yes, she was a gift, a precious gift, presented to him…who filled his lonely heart and hearth with the colors of happiness, joy and love… …
Jai reluctantly kept the photo back and pushed the drawer close… …he returned back to his file… …
*******
Nishikant wheeled himself into his cabin, he was now restricted to his wheel chair having lost his legs in an almost fatal accident 4 years ago…he wondered why he didn't die, but he knew why he didn't die, God had kept him alive to face this pain, to go through this immeasurable suffering, the same suffering which he had made his daughter go through…he lived to see his son remaining away to him as far as possible, he lived to see his daughter almost alien for whom he was dead long back, he lived to see himself every morning in the mirror only to feel ashamed and guilty…and he would live to pay for his sins, to pay for his blunders, to pay for killing an innocent life… …
"Bani, tumhe yeh bacha abort karvana hi hoga…" Nishikant roared…
"Nahin…nahin…main apne bache ko nahin maarungi…" bani said tears rolling down her eyes…
"Agar tumhe lagta hain iss gande khoon ko main iss duniya main aane doonga toh tumhe bohot galat lagta hain…"
"Nahin…"
"Iss bache ko marna hi hoga…"
"Nahin…nahin…"
Nishikant slapped her hard causing her to fall on the ground, blood oozing out from the corner of her lip…he went out locking the door…ruthlessly avoiding her loud bangs on the door, her helpless cries and shouts…her pleadings……
At the end...her every scream poured like a river into silence……
Two days later bani was secretly wheeled into the operation theater, she was given a high dose of amnesia, she was in a sound state of unconsciousness, unaware of what was going to happen to her, unable to save herself from the cruel clutches of her father…and a couple of hours later his grandchild was dead in the womb…
"Please, take good of her…she is very weak, and mentally she might be disturbed…" the doctor had informed him…
"Fine doctor…but remember you don't know anything about it and it should remain like that…" nishikant said handing him a cheque of humongous amount… …but he didn't' realize that while killing his unborn grandchild he had killed his own living daughter…
Nishikant picked up the file…some mistakes didn't have forgiveness, it was only punishment which balanced it, and he was practicing it, his crippled life was a punishment, and he knew he wouldn't die so peacefully… …he has to serve this punishment life long… …
*******
The ignited flame of the candle flickered, casting a shadow, bani clasped her hands, looking at Jesus crucified to the Holy Cross…she came here almost everyday to the old yellow church…to question the Almighty, to blame him, to curse him…she got up…
She saw a group of people huddled at a distance in the cemetery behind the church…she walked closer to them…a small purple coffin was being lowered into the earth,
The sad priest's voices muffled by mud and wood…reached her…
We entrust into thy hands, most merciful Father,
The soul of this our child departed,
And we commit her body to the ground,
Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
After sometime the group left silently…a woman was crying bitterly…bani reached the tomb…she kneeled down…
The silent epitaph said…A Sunbeam Lent To Us Too Briefly…Beloved daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Vincent…
She kept staring at the tombstone…when the Father of the church kept his hand on her head…
"Child, She was God's own child…very special…" he said and went away… …
She kept staring, kneeling there for hours… …
*******
"Yeh sab kaise hua…" nishikant said calmly, pushkar who was expecting a thunderous dressing down from him was surprised to see his father so calm…
"Pata nahin, kal market close hone ke kuch der pehle only 15% shares were brought, but then aaj subah check kiya toh they were upto 24%, last minute par kharide gaye…" pushkar stated…as the board members looked n…
"Kaun hain, kuch information…"
"Some Krishna Industries, koi information available nahin hain, company ka base Canada main, recently India aaye hain…"
"Lekin, humare shares koi itne high price pe kaun khardega…"
"Pata nahin, aur bulk main nahin kharida hain, over a month they have bought it, in a steady way…"
"Hmm…koi purane rivals, ya kuch…"
"Nahin, humari competitors ka haath toh nahin hain, jo bhi hain the person is very discreet and intelligent…"
Their serious discussion was interrupted by a frantic phone call from Pushkar's secretary…before pushkar could comprehend his secretary had barged into the board room…
"I am sorry Boss, but a big problem…Mr. Suri…" she said huffing…
"Kya hua Naina…" pushkar asked trying not to panic…naina silently handed him a letter…pushkar read it hurriedly…they were finished…he suddenly realized Mr. Suri was absent in the meeting…
"Kya hua…" nishikant asked…
"Mr. Suri has sold out his shares…, the person has taken over our company…he owns 52% majority shares…" pushkar stated horridly…nishikant looked blank while the other board members looked aghast…
*******
"Tumhe kya lagta hain, tumse main apni beti ki shaadi karvaonga…" nishikant said sarcastically…
"Sir, I promise I will take car of her…" jai replied, it was a plea more than a reply…
"Really, tumhe lagta hain tumhara pyaar uska pet bhar paayega...ek dhang ki naukri nahin hain, khud ka koi thikana nahin hain, meri beti ki ek dress ki kimat lakhon main hain, de paoge…"
"Koshish karoonga, par main bani ko bohot khush rakhoonga…I promise…"
"isse pehle ki main tumhe dhake maar ke bahar nikaloon, chale jao…"
"Sir, please, ek baar meri baat toh suniye…"
"Tumne soch bhi kaise liye ek anaath, bhikari se main apni beti ki shaadi kar doonga…"
"Sir, aap apni had paar kar rahen hain…"
"Had to tumne paar ki hain, meri beti ko phasa kar…yeh sab paison ke liye hi kiya hoga, arre kitno ko dekha hain…"
"Sir, aap galat samajh rahen hain…main bani se bohot pyaar karta hoon…Sir...please…"
"Security…" nishikant shouted, the security guards came at once…
"Isse bahar lejao…aur phir kabhi aas paas bhi dhikha toh hadi pasli tod do…"
The security guards held jai by his arms...and dragged him out…
"Sir please, meri baat toh suniye...Sir please…" jai pleaded…
"Papa…" pushkar said seeing jai being dragged away mercilessly…
"Shut up pushkar…tum toh bhole ho, aise logon ko nahin jaante, paison ke liye ameer ladkiyon ko phasate hain…itnki jaat hi aisi hoti hain…"
The security guards threw jai on the street…they closed the iron gate…
"Yehi tumhari aukaad hai…" nishikant hissed from behind the iron bars…
The click sound of the door disturbed him…must be Mr. Nishikant Dixit, he mused...he was standing with his back to the door…he had waited for this day for seven long years and the time had come to reveal himself…
"Welcome Mr. Dixit…" he said in an icy cold voice…
"Aapko kaise pata chala…" nishikant said, while pushkar found the voice exceedingly similar, he wondered who the person was…
"Well, jo insaan aapki company ke 52% shares khareed sakta hain, aapko nahin lagta he might have some brain…" jai said turning around…
Nishikant and Pushkar stared at the man wide-eyed…jai gave them a sly smile and perched upon his seat…
"Jai Walia…" pushkar whispered…
"Hmm…the very same Jai Walia…How are you my best friend…"
The father son duo couldn't utter a single word, still reeling under the shock…
"Wahin anaath Jai Walia aur kya kaha tha aapne…bhikari…Jai Walia…"
"Jai, meri baat suno…" pushkar said trying to have a dialogue with him…
"Tab meri baat kissine nahin sunni thi, ab main nahin sunoonga…yeh toh bas shuruvaat hain, aapki barbadi shuru hoti hain Nishikant Dixit…kal board meeting main milte hain…" jai said and left in a huff…
*******
Pushkar couldn't believe his eyes, it was Jai Walia, his best friend jai…a part of him felt happy to see him, but a part of him feared the unexpected, it was not the warm old jai who had returned, it was a cold man born out of extreme hurt and anger who had returned to avenge…he wanted to tell bani that her jai had returned, but before that he needed to talk to jai…but jai refused to listen to him, he had very easily influenced the other share holders, and they had swapped parties within minutes, he had completely overtaken Dixit Industries over the past three months and not once did he ask about bani…but the surprising element was his father who didn't retort, in fact he didn't even protest when jai had reduced him to a mere peon…suddenly he realized his father was punishing himself for his endless misdeeds… …
Pushkar came inside Jai's cabin…
"Jai…" pushkar called out…
"Mr. Walia or Sir Pushkar, you are just a mere manager here…" jai said looking at him directly…
"I am here to meet my friend and not my boss…" pushkar said confidently…
"Your so called friend had died long back pushkar…"
"Jai please bani…"
"Oh!!! Bani, the princess bani, how is she, must be fine living in riches… "
"Shut up jai…just listen to me once…"
"What do you ant me to listen jai, WHAT that she is happily married, I can't listen to that, I can't…I DON" WANT TO…" jai shouted…
"Why jai, why you don't; want to listen about her…" pushkar asked understanding fully what bothered jai…
"YES, I DON"T WANT TO LISTEN ABOUT HER BEING WITH SOMEONE ELSE BECAUSE I STILL LOVE HER DAMN IT!!!!" he banged his fist on the table, making the table tremble…
"She still loves you and is waiting for you and only you…" pushkar said calmly…
Jai slumped into his chair not believing what he heard just now…
"She is still surviving, just for you, she left the house years ago living in a one bedroom flat, teaching the deaf and blind students…she is living a life worse than any one else…"
"Ek sach hain jo tumhe jaana hain…" pushkar said, seeing jai remain silent he continued…
"After you left my house, bani searched for you everywhere, but you were gone, she waited for you but you never came back, papa had grounded her, she had become lifeless, almost sick and depressed, ek mahine baad pata chala that she was pregnant, for the first time I saw her happy, she was happy extremely happy, but papa came to know about it, and her child was aborted forcefully, that was it, Bani was dead…tab se she had not spoken a word properly… aur main dekhta raha…usse bacha nahin paya…" pushkar said wiping his tears…
"Jisne janam dya usne ki ghav diya, jiski kalai par raksha ka dhaga bandha woh chup chap dekhta raha, jisse beintehaah pyaar kiya woh chod ke chala gaya…mujhe toh kabhi kabhi hairani hoti ki woh abhi tak zinda hain…" pushkar said remorsefully…
"Woh zinda hain kyunki kahin na kahin main zinda tha…aur main zinda hoon kyunki main jaanta tha ki woh zinda hain…" jai spoke up for the first time in the entire conversation…he got up and walked out in swift steps… pushkar didn't see jai's face smeared with tears…
*******
He saw bani sitting amongst the children…bani signaled in sign language teaching the deaf and dumb students…she looked like a ghost, she was still the same just a bit fuller, but her face lacked any hint of happiness, her eyes looked lost and disoriented… he saw her teach a blind child to read the Braille… …he shut his eyes unable to see her like that…she was nothing but a inanimatepostcard of violence and repression…
It was because of him, he was so blinded by his insult and hurt ego that in a fit of mad anger he had left hardly giving any thought to her… …but now he would change things, he would bring back the same old bani, his bani, he said to himself with an unforeseen determination…
Bani wondered who might be at this odd during night, she never had visitors…she opened the door only to encounter the man who freed her…the man who loved her madly…and so did she…she kept looking at him shell-shocked…
Love is the eternal quest and the eternal answer. The rising ode to everything that is existent. The one bond that gave their life a whole new meaning…
It took birth inside them, nurtured itself within their hearts like tiny dew drops budding into a lake and went to form a world, a world that couldn't be amassed or summarized, a world that was only their own which went beyond words…beyond form…and beyond definition…
The beauty called Love, lied in the churn and siege inside them when they were apart, the longing and yearning, the expression that erupted from inside when together, the reverberating heartbeat they felt within, what followed was a journey…a journey which they both undertook hand in hand putting any doubt aside and trace of pain to sit back and take a rest…they lived the love inside them but soon faced the brutal realities of life which was far away form their own bubble dream world… …
Jai looked at her intently, he led her inside…
*******
She felt him cradle her in his arms…she rested there unaware of anything else…he slowly slid his hand under her, the touch held nothing passionate, moreover it was soft and soothing, his hand traveled downwards, lower to her navel, below it…fingering the stitch marks…the same marks from where her baby was killed, the stitches had long paled away but the pain still remained…
"I am sorry bani…I am so sorry" he cried out…kissing her…the walls of the damn crumbled…she broke down into shreds of salty tears…he stroked her gently…trying to take away her pain and despair…he rocked her body slightly…
"Our baby…" bani let out a small wrenched whisper…he cried along with her…
"Its okay bani…Ssshhh…I left you alone, that's why our baby was angry so it left us, now I have come back, I will never leave you, our baby will come back, I promise…" jai said kissing her head…bani looked into his eyes…they held love and only love… …she buried her face in his chest crying for the brunt shadows of the past… …
All night long, jai held her close to himself...
*******
Tan butterflies rose up briefly…and then come down again to settle in slightly different places, as though the letters of a word have been rearranged to spell a new word… …
"Pushkar, I hope you will come, kanydaan toh karoge na…" jai said as he handed him the wedding card standing in the living room of the house…pushkar dumbly nodded his head over-whelmed by emotions…nishikant come out…wheeling his chair…jai turned to face nishikant…he went near him a handed him a few legal papers…he had given back Dixit Industries to him…
"If you want you can come too…" jai said after a pause…nishikant looked surprised…as well as happy…
"Kya kabhi tum mujhe maaf kar paoge…" nishikant asked hesitantly…very well knowing that he didn't deserve forgiveness…
"Pata nahin, maine khud galti ki hain, main aapko kya maaf karoonga…" jai said and left…nishikant kept looking in his direction… …
*******
"Jai, bring me down…jai…" bani said happily, cajoling her husband to put her on her feet, he was carrying her to their room…
"Nahin…" jai said stubbornly as he climbed the stairs, the wedding was a grand affair, as said pushkar and his wife pia gave away bani, nishikant had come but he only watched form a distance, tears had slipped down when jai and bani had come to him to take his blessings…
Jai led her to their bedroom…it was looking majestic…decorated with streamers of fresh flowers, lighted candles of different shape and size giving an intoxicating aroma…the huge bed was strewed with rose petals…bani's eyes fell on a crystal vase full of white lilies, her favorite…
Jai carefully laid her on the soft bed… he lay near her…enjoying the feel of being finally having her by his side…slowly the burnt shadows of the past were withering away…he turned to place his hand over her waist, bringing her slim form to himself…he started removing the heavy ornaments adorning her… …
*******
Bani squinted her eyes…disturbed by the faint faded smell of the rose petals which tickled her nostrils and the dull morning rays which struggled to hit her face enslaved behind the closed heavy curtains…the reddish maroon sindoor was smudged in her parting, her long silky black-brown tousled hair was strewn carelessly on the fluffy pillow to her side…she felt the cold touch of the diamonds studded pendant of her mangalsutra resting in the space between her breasts…she felt a slight shiver run through her naked body as the cool morning breeze hit her exposed bare leg which was deprived of the thin satin sheet covering her…she opened her same emotive beautiful eyes which were glowing with happiness…
Her eyes fell on her husband's face who was looking at her intently lying on his stomach…she smiled at him lazily…he kept looking at her unmoved, his handsome face unsmiling…she sensed tears forming in his eyes…she knew he was happy, sad, guilty, sorry…but it was not his fault, they had been victims of circumstances…she raised her hands and stretched them, nodding her head slightly, indicating him to come near her…he lifted his body and buried his face in her chest, she lovingly embraced him tightly…she ran her slender fingers through his thick black hair…gently threading the short strands of his hair, messaging his scalp, as if singing a silent lullaby to him, she felt wetness seeping on her skin through the now moist satin, he was crying…he enclosed his hands around her waist holding onto her protectively or rather seeking protection…they stayed like that as long as they could…she took a deep breath…
"I love you…" she whispered dreamily…
"I love you too…" jai replied in a choked voice…his hands proceeded to remove the barrier of cloth which was separating them…to show her how much he actually loved her… …
*******
The End… …
God bless
Dhani
P.S.: I know the same old 'ameer ladki aur gareeb ladke ki prem kahaani, khadoos pita', but I hope it was not so boring!!!!
Anupamaa
