Abhigya SS - Endings UPDATED 23/12 Part 5 Page 7 - Page 5

"How dare he!" Pragya muttered to herself as she stormed out of her room. "How dare he!" She briefly considered running into Daadi's room that very minute and tell her exactly what kind of stunt her beloved grandson had tried to pull but stopped herself at the last minute. Even in the red haze of anger, shame and yes, desire, which blinded her, she couldn't bring herself lay the full ugly truth in front of daadi. Instead she headed out of the French windows to the garden to calm her thoughts. She hoped the cool air would succeed in blowing his warm breath off her skin.

Pragya walked the perimeter of the garden, slowly taking in every angle of the house that had meant so much to her - the house she had married into, the house she had fallen in love in, the house where she had somehow lost her sense of identity...and the house that she would be leaving very soon...Even though she dreaded speaking to daadi, she knew she couldn't put it off any longer.

"Dadi?"

"Come in, beta."

The older woman paled as soon as she saw Pragya's face. "Dadi, I...I'm so sorry but I can't do this anymore! You have given me more love than perhaps my own family but jis aurat ko apne pati ke dil mein jagah nahi, usko apni sasuraal mein bhi koi jagah nahi [for the woman who has no place in her husband's heart, there is no place in her marital home either]. I tried my hardest to be a good wife, a good daughter-in-law, a good sister-in-law but it wasn't enough! Nothing was ever good enough! I thought I will slowly bring him around to love me but a marriage that is not based on trust has no future. Dadi, I can tolerate anything - being called a gold-digger, thief, ugly, lekin yeh characterless ka aarop main nahi seh sakti, especially from him [but this accusation of being characterless I cannot bear, especially not from him]. Please forgive me but main yeh ghar chod ke jaana chaati hoon [I want to leave this house]."

"Pragya beta, it is I who would be asking you for forgiveness." Pragya looked up in shock. "I am responsible for all this." Suddenly her eyes hardened and fixated in the distance. "It is I who have failed in my upbringing. It is I who have brought up a grand daughter who can think of nothing but herself and a grandson who has no independent mind of his own. I had hoped that your presence would bring about a change in Abhi but that wasn't fair to you. I threw you into the lion's den for the sake of my own son." Suddenly, dadi looked very pained. "I hope you have it in you to forgive me one day."

"Dadi! Please don't break my heart like this. My relationship with this house may be ending, but our relationship never will. Aap itni aasani se apni bahu - nahi beti se chutkaara nahi paa sakte [you cannot get rid of your daughter-in-law, no daughter, so easily]," Pragya smiled and with a heavy heart, she turned to leave dadi. Then she saw why dadi had been looking so angrily at the door...there stood Abhi, looking heartbroken at the judgement his grandmother had caste on his character. Unfortunately, it wasn't her place to comfort him anymore.

Abhi stood there like a statue. His own daadi believed her more than him? The jealousy that was already simmering in him at the thought of Pragya and Suresh burned ever harder at the thought of Dadi preferring Pragya to him. Pragya preferred Suresh, Dadi preferred Pragya, then where did that leave him? Who preferred him, damn it?! The thought was too unpleasant to handle. Instantly the goofiness that he carried around like a security blanket wrapped around him and he went to find Chashmish.

Now all that was left for Pragya was packing. That shouldn't be too difficult, it's not as though I made much of an impact on his life anyway. But of course, her husband never left a chance to torment her. "Ek neeli chatri, ek pink chatri, ek red chatri, arre yeh kya? Yellow chatri bhi hai? Arre chashmish you have so many chatris you should go join the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong. Wahin tum lectures bhi jee bhar ke deh sakti ho. Chinese log mane ya na maane yeh main guarantee nahi deh sakta." [One blue umbrella, one pink umbrella, one red umbrella...Oh! What is this? A yellow umbrella too? Oh Chashmish you have so many umbrellas you should go join the umbrella movement in Hong Kong. There you can give lectures to your heart's content. I can't guarantee whether the Chinese will listen to you or not, though."]

"You've heard about the umbrella movement?"

"You don't need to sound so surprised Chasmish, I'm not as stupid as you think I am. I read the paper too." Well, that was half-true at least. He did read the paper, but only the celebrity and Sunday music sections. He only knew about the Chatri protest, perfect for Chashmish, because one of his international gigs had got cancelled because of it.

Despite his best efforts at teasing, her packing got over far too quickly and before he realised what was happening, she was dragging her faded suitcase to the door. He jumped in front of her. "What? Chashmish, itni aasani se jaa rahi ho kya? Aren't you going to bother proving yourself innocent? Or is it the truth that you've decided to let it stand?" [Chashmish, are you leaving so easily?]

If looks could kill, his ashes would be floating somewhere down the Ganga by now. "I don't owe you proof of my innocence. Not when you're proven guilty of the same crime you're only accusing me of."

"But .."

"And frankly, I don't care anymore." That was it. Those were her last words to him as she walked out of the house for the last time, dry-eyed and head held high.

As usual, all feedback is treasured 😳

Originally posted by: Taash

Fantastic! This is a direction I would like to see the show take. (Ha, ha. I know)