Chapter 2 ~ Growing Up
Pragya narrowed her eyes as she saw Bulbul deliberately moving slowly. That was strange, her Bulbul loved going to school, especially on Fridays! Friday was music class after-all, and Bulbul could sing all day! She was up to something, but Pragya couldn't figure out what.
"Bulbul, the food is ready beta, hurry up. You will miss the bus otherwise!" she called out. Hearing her Sarla dashed out of the kitchen with a bowl in her hand.
"Arre Pragya wait, my little princess can't go without eating kheer! She specially requested for it! Amma went out early in the morning to get the milk!" Pragya looked at her otherwise rational mother and resisted a smile, it was so hard to discipline Bulbul with her nani' around.
"Arre Ma, she can just have breakfast and leave, after recess you feed her this? As it is she is moving like a slow poke today! Hurry up Bul" she added.
"After recess??" Bulbul rolled her eyes dramatically and looked at her mother! "Nani, she wants your princess to have cold kheer, can you believe it?" she complained gleefully knowing nani' would take care of mom!
"Arre Pragya, have you gone mad? What was the point of making kheer in the morning if my child cannot have it now? You want me to feed her stale food?" then she turned to Bulbul, "Don't listen to her bacha, you eat this first. Leave the cornflakes for today"
Pragya sighed as Bulbul danced around her nani' and had kheer! Her badmaash' was nani's' pet, and she knew that! But she still pondered why her drama queen was so reluctant to go to school today. On regular days, Pragya had a hard time holding her back, she would jump and run and be at the bus stop right next to her house at least quarter of an hour before the bus arrived, waiting excitedly for it to come! As she pondered about, she heard the bus arrive and blow its horn.
"Beta! See you're late, this is why i was telling you!! Hurry now Bulbul, come on!!" began Pragya in a hurry as she dashed to the door to signal the bus to wait for a moment.
"Arre beta finish the kheer at least!!" Sarla called after her. But Bulbul had a mission in hand, she quickly left the kheer and dashed to get her bag, she drew out a stack of graded papers and rushed to her mother,
"Hurry mom, sign this. I almost forgot about this! Fast, else I will miss the bus!!" she rushed.
"Arre what is this?" asked Pragya surprised, as she hurried to sign. One look and, "BULBUL is this the mid-terms pa"" she began angrily.
"No time Ma, just sign, rest later!!" she replied as Pragya signed and her little devil ran out of the door with a naughty smile. Sarla had no clue about what had happened of course and she kept on looking between her daughter to the now running figure of her grand-daughter! Pragya called after her for a moment, and once she left, she stood looking at the door furiously, before breaking down in peals of laughter. "Such a shaitaan her Bulbul was!"
"Arre Pragya what happened, what did she do now?" asked Amma concerned.
"Oh God. This child is impossible!! Again she failed Maths!! Just wanted to get my signature in a hurry, hence the drama!! Where does she come up with these ideas?" laughed an exasperated Pragya.
"And I fed her kheer for failing Maths?" mumbled Sarla startled, and Pragya burst into laughter again. Of course Pragya scolded her for such numerous things Bulbul was more often than not up to. But in her absence the family had a good laugh about it.
***
It was 6 a.m. in the morning, when Abhi received a phone call, under ordinary circumstances, he would never receive it - but it was from Purab, and it was time. He received the call without further delay and was alert already.
"All good Purab? How is Tara?" he asked urgently.
"Abhi!! Bhai!!! It's a boy!!!!!!!!" Purab shouted in excitement!!
"My God! Congratulations Purab!!! I am so happy for you!! When did she go in labour? Why didn't you call me?" he asked excited.
"We bought her in around 2 a.m. and I didn't call you because, if you left daadi would know. Her blood pressure has risen again right, so didn't want her to be tensed bhai. All is good now!! Bring daadi and come soon!!!"
As Abhi excitedly left for the hospital with his daadi in another half an hour, he was too happy for words!! His Purab was a dad now! He felt like he owned this baby. No one was ever going to question him about loving this little baby! He could always be with the baby..unlike the last time when Bulbul was born...that was a story Abhi didn't want to think of right now. He only wanted to have good thoughts.
~An hour later..~
Abhi and daadi entered the cabin and congratulated Tara and Purab, "What are you going to name him?" asked Abhi turning to Tara. Tara and Purab exchanged a glance before smiling at him.
"Bhai, ideally it's the bua' who gets to name the child. But we decided to give the responsibility to the chacu/mamu - so you decide!" laughed Tara. Abhi stared at the couple in amazement. After daadi and Purab, only Tara was as close to him. Tara was everything he ever thought his Aaliya would grow up to be. Aaliya turned out differently, well he still had Tara, and now his nephew.
"Aditya! He said at once. He had always secretly wished that if he ever had a baby boy, he would call him Aditya. Now times had changed, and he had no such plans, but at least Aditya could be. Purab smiled in satisfaction.
"Perfect! Aditya Khanna : Forbes Businessman of the Year!" replied Purab dreamily.
"Oh shut up Purab! He's going to be Aditya Khanna : MotorSport - The Racer of the Year!" replied Abji doubly excited!
"No way boys!! He's going to be Aditya Khanna: Filmfare - Best Actor in a Lead role" began Tara happily, and while both boys were staring at her, someone spoke from behind.
"No. No. No!! I get to decide, my brother Aditya Khanna is going to be a future rockstar like me!" everyone turned around to see Bulbul enter the room followed by Pragya, Sarla and Rodaadi.
"Rockstar it is then. Decided." replied Tara, as Bulbul ran to meet her aunt and new born brother as Pragya and Abhi nodded at each other in acknowledgement, and turned to look at the baby.
Purab sensing awkwardness, asked Abhi if he needed coffee, and after briefly hugging Pragya, Sarla and Rodaadi, guided Abhi out of there. He wished all things were normal once again. Who knew if they would ever be.
***
Pragya was correcting her answer sheets at night, when Bulbul came to the room and climbed onto the bed.
"No more shararat for the day. Now is bed-time love" Pragya told her gently as she came to her mother and curled next to her. Pragya stroked her hair gently and saw her daughter glide to sleep - there was a certain peace in seeing her doze off without a worry in the world knowing her mother was there to take care of all trouble. This peace in Bulbul's face gave Pragya a feeling of accomplishment. As she pulled the blanket on her daughter she heard her murmur in half consciousness,
"Mom, Aditya baby is so lucky nah?" Pragya was surprised.
"Why do you say that love?" she enquired softly, carefully ensuring she didn't wake her up.
"Becasue mamma, along with a mumma, he has a papa too!"
Pragya stared at the innocent face of Bulbul when tears that had abandoned her for years swelled back in her eyes. He had buried all her grief just by seeing Bulbul's face, but it hurt her to see that she couldn't save the same Bulbul from the dark shadow of her life - she had to accept it, how much ever she gave her daughter, she can never complete her life singlehandedly. If only things were different, if only...
~Flashback begins~
It was the best day in Pragya Arora's life - it beat the happiness of Abhi confesing his love to her too. It was the day when little Bulbul was placed in her lap at the orphanage. Abhi was more excited than she had imagined. After all the complications in their life, after they had called off their life together, after parting ways and becoming acquaintances, when Abhi showed up along with daadi, at the orphanage the day Pragya was to receive Bulbul, she was most positively surprised. She had only asked for one favour off Abhi, it was to vouch well for her as her ex-husband. But Abhi really had gone out of his way after that, he had speeded the process, he took care of the legal hassle, he had even bought gifts for Bulbul before she was to arrive! It almost made Pragya feel that, like her, even Abhi wanted to make Bulbul the means of his resurrection.
When Bulbul had finally arrived home, daadi and Abhi were almost regular visitors. They would spend so much time at the Arora's. Pragya could see that daadi looked at Bulbul as her own grandchild, but what surprised her was Abhi. He loved Bulbul, to the point that, just to spend time with her, he would cut short his trips for international rock shows! Pragya had reached a comfortable spot in life, he could finally accept Abhi as part of her family but not necessarily her beloved - life was good. Her Bulbul as a child was very close to him. She would go to the park every Sunday with Abhi, and no work in the world could keep Abhi away from Bulbul on Sundays!
But as was the rule in Pragya's life - happiness didn't last for long. However, this time dark times came in the name of modern journalism - paparazzi culture. Very soon rumours started doing rounds, that the baby, rockstar Abhi was often spotted with, was his illegitimate child with his ex-wife Pragya Arora. Soon rumours gave way to headlines which later turned to harassment. Pragya was publicly ridiculed, but her worry was not that - she was tolerating the humiliation only because she knew how close her toddler Bulbul was to Abhi now - she didn't want to part them.
However, when Abhi remained silent before the press and refused to release a statement, soon the news craving media had gone out of control. They randomly took photos of Bulbul the moment she was out of their home, and captioned them inappropriately. When things went out if control, Abhi was asked a few questions on the face, he had decided to set down his foot. To clarify that Bulbul wasn't an illegitimate child, he had called for a press conference and issued a public copy of Bulbul's adoption paper - stating that not only was Bulbul not his child, she wasn't Pragya's either. This piece of news had done a great deal in leaving Pragya and Bulbul away from the press harrow, but it had cut something deep inside Pragya too. At some point she understood why Abhi issued such a statement, but at another level she revolted against the idea that he thought he had the power to decide if Bulbul was her own or not? How dare he said that Bulbul wasn't her own? Who was he? Weren't they suffering only because he had come to be a part of their small world? Weren't they suffering because they let him into their small world? And to call Bulbul not her own?
When Abhi had come to meet them next, Pragya had confronted him. She had told him to stay away from her child, she had told him that he had no right to go clarify to the world what her relation with her daughter was. It was none of his business, and they weren't going to be entertaining such collateral damages in future because of his presence in their lives. As Bulbul grew she didn't need to be harassed for something so dark. She had told Abhi that he had no place in their lives. Abhishek Prem Mehra had hugged Bulbul one last time that day, and walked away with a lone tear in his eyes. This separation hurt him more than losing his Fuggy.
Ever since then, six years had passed, Abhi never came to them, never met Bulbul, never kept in touch. The only common contact between them were Purab, Tara and Daadi. All of whom for the sake of Bulbul had ensured that Abhi and Pragya crossed paths the least. They were acquaintances now. Bulbul didn't remember Abhi.
~Flashback ends~
Staring at Bulbul, Pragya realized today, even though he left so long ago, there was a hollow in Bulbul's heart that he could have filedl. But Pragya thought to herself firmly. No, Abhishek Mehra wasn't a part of their life, he would never be. Bulbul was older now, she wanted her daughter to have a peaceful life. A life of dignity and respect. Not that she had doubted his intentions back then either, but she felt violated somehow when someone spoke on her behalf for a daughter who was so precious to her. Maybe over the years she had forgiven him, but by now Pragya knew, with Abhi, there always came trouble. Abhishek would never be a part of their life again! Never.
"Really? Let's see..." whispered Destiny from somewhere.
Edited by Aafrah-SA - 8 years ago
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