FF-I like the way it hurts-1/11ch17pg58+NOTE pg 59 - Page 38

Chapter 17- New Beginnings

When the plane is circling over Heathrow airport waiting for landing clearance the city below looks anything but pretty. It's a string of red roofs, tiny houses built so close together one wonders why this country is called 'progressive' when it's inhabitants live like canned sardines. But that is only how some people feel, they're like Prem. For others like Heer, London is beautiful. Everything speaks of culture and history, the old houses mean this part of the world was civilised when others were living in oblivion.

Prem had lived abroad for years but he'd somehow never gotten used to the cold, so when the captain announced ground temperature was 16 degrees Celsius on an October evening, he wasn't a happy man. Heer felt totally different about it, she'd had a hard time in Delhi as she loved the cold and was happy to be back. Prem sighed as he got up to get the luggage in the overhead carousel, a new life was waiting and the smile on his wife's face told him she felt completely different about this city.

In Calcutta

Ashlesha Maan was the happiest person on earth, things hadn't gone her way as she would have to stay in her uncle's house in Delhi but it wasn't too bad either. She was finally getting out of the jail she called home, she would live her dream, get a post grad degree, a job and be independent. She wouldn't have to marry a boy like her good for nothing brothers Gurwinder & Ranvijay, she'd fall in love and find someone who would give her space, love her, understand her and be educated and forward thinking

Maya Binder had wanted to move out of the Maan residence the day Heer got married. But her friend's parents asked her to stay saying that she was like a daughter and they would be happy to keep her as long as she stayed in the city. Work had finally started as Maya met a real estate agent and looked for potential properties to open branches of her dad's restaurant chain 'Evolution' in India. She had settled on a place in Vasant Vihar which would be the flagship outlet and managed by the office in London. She now had to meet a lawyer to set out things for subletting franchises of the restaurant chain. Her father's friend was a partner in Singhania & Dalal so Raj Binder had asked her to telephone the senior partner Parmeet Singhania to set the legal matters in order.

Parmeet Singhania had told her he'd hand over her case to one of the corporate lawyers who worked at his firm and the concerned person would call back to fix a meeting, three days later, Maya had a name and as luck would have it, it was none other than Harman Juneja.

Preet was super excited about MBA, he'd given an official notice at work and was quitting 3 days before classes were scheduled to start. He was glad he wouldn't be stuck in his boring job after a few days and to top things off, PB had given a standing order to his bank in India, Preet could now sit back and get 10,000 rupees deposited in his bank account every month- life was awesome! He realised he hadn't seen Meher since he got accepted into the programme and only talked to her briefly when she called to say congratulations, he made a mental to personally thank her and take her out to lunch somewhere later.

Lalit sat down in his easy chair and heaved a sigh of relief. Gayatri was making his favorite sandwiches and cardamom tea, he'd lost his wife the day their eldest child came back home. All her love, time and affection were poured on Prem, it was like she was trying to make up for lost time. Also Gayatri loved Prem the most and wasn't afraid of saying it. Now that he'd gotten married and gone away he had his wife to himself. She'd been worried at first but he'd carefully explained why it was important for Prem to go, he loved his family a lot, it was time he moved on and thought about himself, having a wife to take care of him meant he wouldn't be alone so they didn't have to worry about anything

Surinder Juneja had always sensed that his son was jealous of his eldest grandson and the bond the latter shared with Gayatri and he wondered why, his wife always put his worry to rest saying he was being over-imaginative and Lalit did what he was doing so that Prem would have a good education and a good life, all that love had turned Preet into a brat, having two of him would've made things difficult for the Junejas. Surinder didn't agree with his wife, Harman had stayed back at home and turned out all right, therefore he was aware that Preet was an exception and Prem couldn't be compared with him and now that Prem had gone, he closely observed his son Lalit, he didn't seem sad, nor did he seem to miss Prem, on the contrary, Lalit was sitting on the verandah enjoying sandwiches and tea and making smalltalk with a distracted Gayatri. Surinder knew where his daughter-in-law's thoughts were, she'd reluctantly sent Prem away but her heart and mind were with him.

London

Prem & Heer stood waiting in the baggage area when Prem switched on his cell phone, the message he received said 'this message is for me, the notification will tell me you've reached' and he smiled.