FF: Flowers of Despair Last part 13-pg17 - Page 4

Hey

Poor Jai

poor jai cant marry his love, cuz he has no money

I am sorry for the very short part!!!! Next will be part-3, so you can expect some action… …

2D

Indirani spread out the sets of golden jewels, silk saris; they were all ancestral ornaments, payals, jhumkis, neckpieces, kangans, rigns, toe-rings etc…all beautifully crafted.

"Choose which you like…" indirani asked Lolita…

"All are so pretty…" Lolita pursed her lips; it was difficult to choose…

"The jeweler has got some new designs, select some form them also…"

"Maa…I am confused, you only tell…"

"Lolita, there isn't much time left for the marriage and then I have to do so many preparations…and your father wants you marriage to happen in Durgapur…"

"Durgapur…?"

"Hmm…it your great-grandfather's house, it's a tradition… and since this is the first marriage in our family after so many years, baba wants it to be grand…"

"But when are we going…"

"We will leave in two days time…since only two weeks are left for preparation…"

"Two weeks…" Lolita shrieked…she didn't expect it to be so early…

"They want it to be fast, the boy has to leave somewhere, and he will take you along…I still can't believe my little girl would be soon gone…" indirani sniffed… Lolita hugged her…

"Maa…"
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With a chess-board in front of him, jai was playing against himself under the dim light of the single bald bulb dangled on a wire above…what pleasure he derived he only knew… she was amused at his high-handedness, playing against himself, she remembered him telling her that it was a self-discovery of sorts, you get better…and chess was not a child's play…it was meant for intellectuals… …

"Jai…" Lolita called out…

"Hmmm…" jai said, his palms cupping his face, he was pondering over his next move…

"The marriage date has been fixed…" she said, wanting to see his reaction, jai concealed his frown; he certainly didn't want to show his desperation for her…

"Good…congratulations…" he said, but for her it sounded as a sarcastic mockery.

"We will be leaving in two days for Durgapur, the marriage is there…"

"Hmmm…" he moved the horse…thinking about the counter-attack…

"Tumi aashbe…(You will come)" she asked with expectant eyes, he seemed least interested…

"Aami aashte parbo na (I won't be able to come)" he said…not moving his eyes from the chess-board…

"Ki bolcho tumi (what are you saying)"

"Aamarke kaaj ache (I have work)"

"Ki kaaj, exams toh hoyegeche (What work, exams are over)"

"Aami ashbo na (I will not come)"

"Jai tumarke aashte hobe (You have to come)"

"Lolita…aami…(I)"

"Theek aache aami thankuma ke bolbo (Okay, I will tell to grandmother then)" Lolita got up…

"Lolita…" he called out but before he could stop her she was out of his house running towards her house, he unwillingly got up and followed her…

"Thakumaa…dekhecho…jai aashche na… (See, jai is not coming)" Lolita complained to shakuntala who was sitting on the swing in the terrace, turning the beads of rosary, whispering…

"Kaino… (Why)"

"Thakumaa aami…" jai's voice interrupted them…

"Aami kichu jaani na…tumarke aashte hobe…" shakuntala said firmly…looking at his crestfallen face intently…jai knew better not to argue, he could never say no to her…

"Theek aache…" he agreed…Lolita got up, sticking her tongue out, she ran down the stairs, showing him her thumb…

"Aito raag kaino shona (Why so much of anger dear)" shakuntala asked

"Kichu na… (Nothing)" jai said, sitting beside her, pushing the swing a little with his lanky legs…

"Aamarke bolbe an… (You will not tell me)"

"Lolita…" he confessed…

"Aami jaani… (I know)" jai looked surprised…

"Whatever you say she is her father's daughter…" shakuntla pointed out, pride was something which she detested, she herself came from a middle-class family, even though a zamindar her husband was still struggling to make a foothold, with the sudden death of his father, there were issues over property and court cases too, but soon he split from his two brothers and did very well with his hard-work and determination. Even though she tried to give the best upbringing to her children, Bikram had grown into a pompous, proud man, alike her father-in-law, much to her chagrin. Lolita was no less strong-headed than Bikram, being brought up in wealth, she indeed felt like a princess. That's why she loved jai more than her own grand-children, he was grounded and level-headed, she knew he will do something, something great, something which will bring a change, but she knew one more thing that come what may, this boy will stand against it fighting and emerge victorious just as he had in his name…with the same humility and dignity.

"I can't see her getting married to someone else…" jai said…

"Jai…Bikram will never agree to marry his only daughter to you…you know that…"

"And I don't want to do anything which will hurt his image and Lolita's respect…" jai said…shakuntala smiled at him, he was a gem…

"Shona, there is a good hidden in every bad…probably something very nice is going to happen to you…"

"Hmmm…" jai rested his head on her shoulder…she patted his face…
XXXX

God bless
dhani

that is beutiful part
waiting for the real show
jai the good that will happen to u is finding bani ...

nice part

does lolita like jai?? waiting 4 bani!

Lolita is money minded girl. Good she is gone from Jai's life. Hope he meets Bani soon.

Hello!!

With"And the rain fell harder…" I have completed a total of sixty stories so far, including FFs/SSs/SSSs… …it feels great and it would not have been possible at all with all your love and constant support!!! I want to dedicate this to all my readers and some special friends who have been simply great, Ranju, kanta, teenu, sonam, jeenal, pooja, alekhya, bhavna who never fails to send a PM, I am sorry if I am missing a few but you guys rock!!! Love you guys…

THANK YOU so much!!!!!

Once these two stories finish I will be posting a very different story, meanwhile if you people have requests, do feel free to PM me, I will try my best to fulfill them!!!
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Part-3

"A man's finger always points towards a woman bani, remember it always…" kiran's voice echoed in her ears…

Bani looked straight…squarely at Nishikant who was timidly sitting beside his wife…after immersing her mother's ashes nishikant had brought bani to his house, the same house in front of which bani was sitting, waiting on the steps…the same house whose door was firmly shut for her entrance…

"Don't do this to me bani…" nishikant yelped…not meeting her eyes…

Bani smiled at his boastful fakeness…it felt as if SHE was accusing him of something horrendous…when in fact it was the other way round…Nishikant's wife was clearly unpleased to see bani in her house, she told nishikant to get her married…that too to and old 50 something…a cloth merchant form Dhaka, he was a widower and had recently lost his only son due to an incurable illness…

She couldn't forget his face when he came yesterday, 'to see' her. His face wrinkled, folds of his hanging skin glaring at her, his owl like eyes watching her lasciviously, his thin lips stretched into a crooked grin, showing off his unkempt teeth, the gaps between his calcium deficient teeth smirking at her, the redness of the pan stuck to those disarray teeth which had turned brown…She felt an extreme abhorrence in the lowest pit of her stomach, as if one more word and she would vomit all the pieces of morsels she had tried to gulp down her throat, drinking glasses of water while her step-sisters and step-brothers watched her funnily, giggling, certainly they didn't know about her. For once she was glad, that they didn't.

"You will shortly turn twenty bani, I was 15 when I got married, it's not wrong, you will have your family, your husband, children…" nishikant's wife said with an unconcerned reasoning…

Bani patiently waited for nishikant to speak up, at least defend her, for the sake of all the Friday's he visited her and talked to her lovingly…but his lips were sealed as if they were stapled together...he wasn't making an effort either…

The last flicker of hope thrashed when nishikant said a please…she felt disgusted for the first time in her life…the word illegitimate hit her again and again as if she was a punching bag…anywhere, any place, even hell was better than to be sitting in front of him…

"Okay…" bani said…she imagined her mother crying in hell, beating her chest, yes, she had committed suicide and it was unforgivable by the Almighty…

"I promise I will come to see you…" nishikant said feeling relieved…

"NO" bani's low voice raised…

"But…"

"You will never come to see me…NEVER…." She ran back to the guest room which was primarily allotted to her… …

She was being led around the fire…it was not the sacred fire but the pyre of her life…she briefly glanced at her husband, he smelled of tobacco and snuff powder…he was tall but lanky, his brown lips were broken due to dryness, a few specs of white on the thick hair, his eyes were disoriented…

Bani woke up with a start…she was dreaming…a cold shiver ran through her, he clutched her head…no...She wouldn't let her father destroy her life too…she had to live for her mother…she can't insult her death…she got up searching for her bag…
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Through the window he saw the sky, the sun had almost sunk behind the hills and dusk had painted the sky pink and purple. He stood watching the furry of changing colors, milled about the periphery of his life; he wanted to snigger at the irony of his name and at himself, Jaidev which meant "Divine victory", precisely he hadn't won anything till date, for him his ideals, his principle and proverbial knowledge of things was the wealth he possessed which he was proud of, a self-pride had consumed him, but Lolita's rejection had come as a blow, a severe blow, like a fully blown air balloon was pricked with a thin needle and the balloon lost its identity, his pride, his self-esteem had deflated just the bursting balloon…

He stood there. The darkness of the night had begun to yield to the first rosy streaks of dawn. It was time to leave.

He could see Indirani dishing out orders, workers were carrying the luggage, loading them into the car, and they would sail to Durgapur where the wedding would be held. His parents had dropped since his father was busy and also his mother wasn't keeping well, that left him no choice but to attend the impending marriage of his childhood, friend, and lover…no ex-lover. He caught a glimpse of Lolita walking out, with kajol by her side, both the girls were giggling at something shared only between them as she sat in the backseat…

If it were the English love stories which Lolita loved reading and he detested them this was the part when it would rain, rain heavily. He would run outside, his bare feet splashing rain water. He would chase the car, screaming for it to stop. He would pull her out of the backseat and tell her he was sorry, so sorry, tell her that he loved her, loved her very much, tell her that he would assist her father, tell her he was ready to do anything for her, he would tell her all this, his tears mixing with the rain water. They would hug in the downpour.

But this was not the celebrated, fantasy novel. He loved her. But he didn't cry and he didn't chase the car. For a brief moment he felt ashamed of himself, he felt like a dichotomous creep, for having been succumbed to his emotions and even ready to let go of his self-respect. Only she was capable of doing this to him.

He stepped back.

He could imagine drops of rain through the windowpane that looked like melting silver.

He sighed as his mother called him to leave.
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It hit her again.

The enormity of what was going to happen, what was actually going to happen? Her mother's words kept ringing in her ears…

And before she could even comprehend she was being decked up like a china doll…Bani was lead into the rickety red bus, the same bus in which her husband had come this morning…they were going to temple to get married…her father sat in the front… Nishikant tried to talk to bani…but she avoided him, shooing him away as if he was some disease and that touching him would communicate the disease to her…

Half an hour later they reached the Kali Mandir on the embankment of the River Hooghly. Bani watched her father, he standing near the bus; the sides of the red bus were brown covered with a thick blanket of dust with stains of dried vomits of passengers unknown, she had this terrible urge to see the child sitting beside the window puke on her father's head who standing right below the child's peeping head…but no such thing happened. They were heading inside the temple, she threw a glance towards the pundit who was eagerly waiting to start the marriage ceremony, she clutched her bag which she had hidden inside her sari, a new bright red cotton yarn. Her insides churned as if she had eaten something slimy. She stared at the idol of Goddess Kali as she ascended the few steps…she looked around, a ship was ready to leave the shore…she darted her glance back to the idol of Maa Kali…

"Give me strength Maa…" she whimpered, with a tremor of dread she ran… …
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Brisk, squally wind had started to blow…water was churning beneath the shifting winds…Jai waded in the shallow water, his trousers rolled upto his knees; everybody had boarded the ship, both the bride's and the groom's close kith and kin, he was down helping the skinny old man to lift the heavy anchor…

"Dhonyowaad…(Thank you)" the old man said…jai just shrugged giving a smile…he climbed the narrow plank of wood lying slanting across bridging the ground and the ship…suddenly he felt a commotion and the plank shook…he balanced himself while looking behind, a girl was stepping over hurriedly, she was about to fall off when he clutched her hand tightly…the bells in the temple rang…bani looked behind, she could figure out her father shouting at her…she let herself be pulled by the whoever it was… …
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God bless
Dhani