PART 69
Final Subpart 3
A few minutes later, Archana stood outside the same building where she had been standing a few hours ago.
'BANDRA FAMILY COURT'
And yet the building looked so different now. Now it seemed like a prison.
She walked slowly towards the 'prison'. On her way, she passed through the spot where exactly 13 days ago, Manav had pulled her by the arm and asked her to reconsider her decision, but she had coldheartedly told him to free him for this 'cursed' marriage. This was the same place where a heartbroken Manav had asked her if she had no ounce of feelings for him, and she had answered in the affirmative, saying that she couldn't care less for him or wait for her name to be separated from his- that he disgusted her. This was the same place where she had seen Manav crumbling and walking back, defeated.
And the next thing she had heard was that Manav had signed divorce papers.
She closed her ears with her hands and her eyes to stop the scene from being played in her mind's eye- but her brain insisted on showing the same picture again- Manav's disappointed face as he came face to face with her after signing the divorce papers at Siddhant's office. That face had given her many sleepless nights, but today for the first time, she understood the intensity behind the disappointment and how much she had hurt him by constantly avoiding him and not standing on his expectations for the last 4 months.
She walked to a corner of the court, tears streaming down her face. Somewhere, she was reminded of a line that Manav had said long back, when they lived together:
"Its an insult to the relationship when husband-wife start HIDING things from each other."
Today the biggest insult had been caused to this relationship. Something more insulting and devastating than the divorce trial even. A husband, in his weakest moment, at the moment he most needed his wife, had not bothered to tell his wife anything.
But was it really his fault? Could she blame him for wanting to detach himself so desperately from her? Could she blame him for thinking that she was indifferent to him and could give him nothing except sympathy? Hadn't she told him quite clearly not to expect anything from her? Hadn't she put him down repeatedly by not supporting him openly, not only in the last 13 days, but ever since their separation- by cautiously staying away, keeping distance from him for fear of family, diplomatically hiding her support and affection for him- and later claiming to him that she had never cared for him, that all her actions had been mere formality in a bid to stay safe? Hadn't her family treated him like sh** inspite of all the good things he had tried to do for them? Hadn't she herself insulted him in front of the whole neighbourhood- irrespective of the fact that he was her husband and elder to her? Inspite of all her introspection and his goodness- had she taken a firm stand for him, a resolution that now it was this way or that? Had his earlier misfortunes affected her enough to make her return to him?
Then why in the world would he keep expectations from her? Why would he think she was someone who thought fondly of him and was a true well wisher?
She sat down in a corner, drawing her knees close to her and cried her heart out. Today for the first time she understood how shallow their relationship had become. There was once a time when even their separation had not been able to prevent them from getting close to each other. And today, there was not even a figment of that communication left. There was a time, when even though they were separate, they had been there for each other in their difficult times. Even though there were misunderstandings between them and they maintained a distance, yet they shared their problems with each other. And today, she hadn't been with Manav at the time when he needed her. Nor had he shared such an important thing with her.
There were problems earlier also, and there was separation earlier too. Then what had changed?
The answer lay inside the room against whose wall she was resting.
DIVORCE
She was reminded of Dr. Ritika's words. "A benign tumour is something, which doesn't spread and doesn't harm the body much. It can be excised out and usually the problem ends there. A cancer however, SPREADS. It makes its way slowly and eats up the whole body, from its surface to its foundation."
Exactly.
Problems had always been there, maybe just like they were in any marriage. Manav and she had tried to work out their problems, their misunderstandings, in their own manner. But the decision to divorce had been like a crack on glass. From there things had just gone downhill.
What was there in those signatures that had corroded their relationship- she wondered? But she got the answer herself- there was nothing in those signatures. Everything lay in the intent behind the signatures. The decision to divorce signified that the couple had no place for each other in their lives, that they simply didn't care. Unlike earlier, when they had stuck together in their relationship inspite of problems, thus showing that somewhere they both wanted things to get better, divorce signified that they wanted to throw each other out like someone throws out a rotten tooth. After this there was nothing to expect except detachment.
Just like a marriage was holy bcos of the intent to protect, nourish and love selflessly and not bcos of its rituals, a divorce was sanctified not bcos of signatures but bcos the signatures signified intent- an intent to get separated. Perhaps that is why Manav had not considered at all that she was still a wife of two days. For him, the relationship had broken the day she had said she had no place for him in her life and wanted him to get out of her life by divorcing her. For him the marriage had ended that day and he had started detaching himself slowly. He had completed the last formality by signing divorce papers. How long they took to get legalized no longer made any difference to him.
"I should have never signed those damned papers," wept Archana. "Oh Lord, what did I do!"
She wept by herself for sometime more, hoping that her tears would stop, but somehow they didn't. Eventually however she straightened up when she saw someone approaching in quick fast steps.
"Archana where were you?" asked Manav, breathless. He tried to relax himself and then spoke again- "I and Siddhant went crazy looking for you. You didn't even have a cell phone!"
"Uh.. I.. actually.." she tried to speak.
"Forget all this now, our case is due in ten minutes. Come!" he turned and started walking, only to realize that Archana was standing rooted to the same spot. "Come quickly!"
He took her hand in his and started walking, pulling her along with him. Like a lifeless doll, Archana followed him to the courtroom, feeling extremely and uncomfortable. She could not understand whether it was bcos of the weather, nervousness or the fact that she hadn't eaten properly since morning- but she realized that she was sweating profusely and felt weak. She looked at Manav, and didn't know why it reminded her of the Saptapadi ritual during their marriage, when they had walked seven steps hand in hand.
They entered the court room which was buzzing with noise. Siddhant seemed relieved to see them and instructed them to stand in the centre. Manav led Archana there. And then left her hand.
It was then that the monsters started coming back to her. She felt as if the walls of the court were laughing at her. She could hear sound of people calling them a divorced couple. She could hear people asking her to go along the divorce which she had wanted so badly, and jeering at her saying why she was hesitating at the last moment now. She closed her ears with her hands and shut her eyes again.
"Archana," someone shook her.
She opened her eyes. It was Manav.
"What happened?" he asked with concern.
She didn't know what had happened. She didn't know what was happening. All she saw at that moment was the man who had always loved her without demanding anything from her, who had given into what SHE wanted everytime, even divorce, cos he felt she had genuinely wanted it. He had ignored his own wishes or needs EVERY TIME for her, and was proceeding with the divorce at the time he most needed someone near him and was extremely lonely. She wished she could tell him that this was not what she had wanted, nor had she known at the time of signing divorce papers that their relationship would suffer so badly, or that she would never be able to detach from him- that the divorce papers had not signified her true intent, actually she had herself not been able to understand her feelings in those days.
But she couldn't say anything. The next moment, the judge was banging his gravel.
"Case no. 34- Archana Manav Deshmukh vs Manav Deshmukh"
The judge went through the papers that had been submitted beforehand. Siddhant got up from his seat and explained to the judge that both the parties had settled their differences and now wanted to get divorced by mutual consent, and that he was speaking on behalf of both of them.
Manav looked around court. His previous lawyer, the one whom he had fired and challenged that he would stop his divorce at any cost, was sitting smugly in his lawyer's robes, giggling. Manav felt slighted and turned again to look in the front. The judge started speaking.
"Mr. Manav Deshmukh, do you want to divorce your wife Mrs. Archana Deshmukh?"
Archana shuddered and looked at Manav with bated breath. Oh no, he couldn't say yes, she thought. In his heart, he knew he needed her, even if he didn't admit it. After all, he loved her, didn't he? She could see him hesitating for a minute, knowing that this was the final moment.
Silence in the court.
"Yes, your honour."
Archana couldn't believe her ears. She was shocked at Manav's impeccable control on his emotions and needs and his resolve to stay firm on his decision.
"And what about you Mrs. Archana Deshmukh? Are you in agreement with your husband?"
She couldn't speak at all. All of a sudden, it was as if she had lost the ability to decide or speak. She just looked about helplessly, the voices in her brain growing louder now.
Next to her, Manav whispered- "Speak!"
She couldn't. She just bowed her head low and stood still.
"MRS DESHMUKH, ARE YOU READY FOR THIS DIVORCE?"
No answer.
Lawyer Siddhant was now getting frustrated. He signaled Manav asking what was wrong. Manav asked him to wait and turned towards Archana- shocked to see her standing numb.
"Archana, why aren't you saying anything?" he prodded her.
She looked at him slowly, and he was astonished to find little tears in her eyes.
"Archana, were you crying outside?" he said, horrified.
She didn't say anything. She bit her lip, looked at the judge in front, and said- "Manav please take me away from here?"
"Archana are you okay? Where is Aai?" he looked around court. Aai was nowhere to be seen. Manav started getting nervous. Bad thoughts started racing through his mind. Had Aai got an attack, or an accident or something of that sort, he wondered.
"Archana.."
Tears were streaming down her face again. She looked very scared.
Manav was touched. "Come," he said. He took her hand and apologized to the judge and the court and started leading her out. "What the hell is going on?" said the judge.
Archana rested her head on Manav's shoulders as he led her out. Manav was astonished, but decided not to ask any questions until he led her out. He put his arm around her, as the courtroom buzzed behind them, and walked out.
"Now tell me what happened," he said, but Archana couldn't say anything and instead collapsed into his arms, crying her heart out to him.
He was shocked, not knowing what had happened suddenly to this girl. He was now sure something had happened to Aai, only that could explain her outburst. "Archana, listen to me," he said, trying to console her, caressing her head against his chest, as his shirt turned wet with her tears. He held her for a few minutes, until he slowly felt her weight sagging, and turned to find that she was unconscious in his arms. The day had evidently taken a toll on the poor girl.
"Oh my God, what happened to her!" he freaked out. "Water, water, someone get me water!"
There the lawyer Siddhant came out, bursting with rage. "What the hell was this nonsense inside?" he yelled. "Did you brainwash her or what?"
Manav was in no mood to answer. "Listen, Archana is not well, I'll talk later."
"Like the hell you will," he said, pulling Archana's arm roughly. "Vinod's told me what sort of guy you are, I'll take Archana home," he said.
"Let go of my wife's arm!" said Manav sternly, suddenly uncomfortable.
"Else what will you do?" said Siddhant meanly.
POW!
The next moment Siddhant was holding his handkerchief to his nose. "I'll sue you for this Manav Deshmukh!" he shouted, to which Manav, who had his wife in his arms, and was already stopping a taxi, carelessly said- "Yeah, sorry."
************XXX***********************
Okay so this was the third and final subpart of the D-day special update.
Some important points:
1.) All the medical details are accurate to the best of my knowledge. However in case of errors, please forgive me, main abhi doctor nahi bani hu. I tried my best.
2.) For all those who hated this twist and want to stop reading ahead, I'm sorry for disappointing you and thankyou for reading till here.
3.) For the rest of the readers, my reasons about why I chose this twist rather than uniting the love birds straightaway will come in the next part. As of now, there is one good thing that came out of this twist- Now Archana will SHUDDER at the thought of ever signing divorce papers again.
Enjoy your weekend!
Anupamaa
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
