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Paarijat- A tale Of Desideratum
Third Shot
Amar mon maane na( My heart listens not to reason)
My heart listens not to reason
By day or night
In what remembrance
A thrill overwhelming
Races through my body
In what contemplations
Do my eyes overflow
With tears unabated
Those words so sweet
That gentle touch
And my body sings like a flute
I get lost in that melody
My heart distraught distracted
I know not why
What words waft in the winds?
Whose face I see in skies?
What pleasing tunes I hear
In murmurous woods rustling leaves
Cascading tinkles babbling brooks
The heady scents of fragrant flowers
Embrace me like a bosom friend
These thoughts
This affliction so sweet
This joyous eagerness of mine,
At whose feet can I proffer
-Rabindranath Tagore
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There was a moment of shocked silence as everybody looked at the duo who'd just descended the stairs in a rather dramatic fashion, but even more sensational was the announcement that Maan had just made.
Then chaos reigned.
Both the mother's screamed in joy and hugged each other, while the father's sputtered in confused indignation. Ved looked as if he had a moment of life altering enlightenment and Shefali jumped up and down like a small child in delight. Varun and his parent's looked on in bewildered silence. Only Maan's Dada and Dadi looked at each other and smiled sagely.
Dadi stepped forward and looked at everybody smugly.
"What is with all your stunned and confused faces? I knew this since the day Geet immersed the idols in our house under water for Maan's exams that she was the one for Maan. Me and Maan's Dadaji have discussed this many times."
"Maa she was hardly twelve at the time." Maan's mom protested.
"Pfft. What has age gotten to do with it anyways? You can meet the one meant for you at the age of five or fifty. These two met young... Thank God for that. They had enough time to make mistakes at a young age and still have time left over to build a life together. Am I right Maan?" She grinned at her older grandson.
Maan looked down at Geet whose face was literally buried in his chest, then looked up at his Dadi with his heart in his eyes and nodded.
"But Maan why did you not tell us last night that you were talking about Geet?" His father questioned.
"Because I was waiting for the Paarijat to bloom, dad." He intoned softly.
"Huh? What do you mean Maan? Just look outside the window. The whole damn ground is white with the flowers. What does the blooming of the flowers have to do with marrying Geet anyways?"
His father sounded damned irritated and confused at Maan's roundabout answer.
"Oh shut up Ajit. You don't have a romantic bone in that 6 feet tall body of yours. I pity that bahu of mine." Dadi berated her son.
"Only you understand my woman's heart in this household full of men, Maaji." Maan's mom wailed.
Maan groaned in frustration at the family drama taking place and looked longingly at the front door.
"So Ajit, I am assuming all this grilling of your son means that you are not interested in Geet as your bahu?" Dadi interjected loudly to be heard over her daughter-in-law's voice.
Ajit Singh Khurana's eyebrows disappeared into his salt and pepper hair as he raised them with incredulity.
"Who says? Amma how could you even think that. Which idiot would want to send a jewel like Geet to some other fool's house, who might or might not appreciate the wonder that our Geet is. I was so mad at Mohinder when he mentioned that he was going to put up a matrimonial ad for Geet on the internet. How dare he go searching for boys on the internet of all the places, when my two handsome boys were right here? But I am damned proud of my son. He has settled the chaos in my mind completely. He laughed heartily and then added,
And to think that I was damn jealous of the fool that was going to be her father-in-law. Looks like I am that idiot after all. He chuckled at his own quip.
Mohinder Handa looked ready to say something, but Ajit stopped him.
"Oh shut up Mohinder. You don't have to say anything anymore. I have stopped being jealous of you too, for having amazing daughters, especially if I get to keep one of them forever. He grinned and rubbed his hands in glee.
"Smita, Rano Bhabi." He called out to his wife and Geet's mother." Let's get started with the preparations. After all there are going to be two weddings in the house. Let's find an auspicious day and get these four married off on the same day.
"No!!! Absolutely not dad. No double weddings for my bride. Sorry Shef... Sorry Varun, sorry Mr. and Mrs. Khanna." Maan said addressing Varun and his parents.
"I have been quiet for far too long and not said the things that I needed to say. So let me be very clear on this. I do not want to share this special day with anybody else other than my Geet. I don't want any of the attention that is due to her to be divided. Be it her parents attention, or her sister's. I have waited too long for this moment and I am sorry if you feel I am being rude to any of you, but I want only Maan and Geet to be in that mandap. Also, I think Geet would want to be a part of the marriage festivities of her sister. Am I right Geet?" He looked down at her and smiled gently.
Before her chaotic mind could formulate a reply, Shefali piped in.
"I agree completely. I want to deck Di with my own hands along with mumma. I want to hide the groom's shoes and I want to sob my heart out at my sister's bidai."
Having had her say, she moved towards them rapidly, arms extended to hug them.
Geet looked at Shefali and stiffened unconsciously in Maans arms. He was definite she was going to jump out of his arms, however he was startled when he felt the soft palm that had been wrapped around his neck loosely, move slightly upwards. Her palm curled into the hair at the nape of his neck and gripped it possessively. The other arm that had been dangling on her side gripped his shoulder tightly. She was completely unaware of her telling actions, however it sent tremors down the spine of the man in whose arms she rested.
Then suddenly she became aware of her actions and began withdrawing her hands hastily.
"Don't let go Geet, no matter what. Right now I can't bear anybody else's touch, either on you or me. So stay right where you are, or else I will not be responsible for my actions." His low voice rumbled against the ear that was pressed to his chest and she shivered.
"So, has the Paarijat finally bloomed?" Shef asked as she approached them.
. "Not yet Shef, not yet. He denied softly.
"Well, let her down. I want to hug and congratulate my Di, Maan jee-ja -ji." Shefali drawled, pulling on the last word.
"Get lost brat. I am not putting her down, neither are you allowed to touch her right now. All these years you had her to yourself, didn't you? It's my turn now, and I am not letting go." His arms tightened reflexively around Geet, as he smirked down at Shefali.
Geet felt as if she was in a twilight zone. His actions, his words none of it made sense to her right now. She looked at him carefully to assess his reaction to Shefali, but could see nothing but mischief in his eyes as he interacted with her.
"Alright then, since you are not going to let me get close to my Di, I get to exact revenge on you Jeejaji."
Maan looked at her warily for a moment, mentally calculating the risk she posed and then shrugged his shoulders in indifference at her.
"Di did you know for the whole of last year, he called me every evening and spoke about everything in the world, but never asked one word about you? But that's not the fun part. The best part about the phone calls was that he did not keep the phone down till I had shared your day with him. What you had been upto, who you'd met, where you had been? Mind you not a single question about you ever crossed his lips, but he kept me on that phone talking nonsense, until I told him about you."
"Eventually I was so irritated with this game, he would not even acknowledge he was playing, I decided to give him back a taste of his own medicine. One day, I did not say anything about you at all and disconnected the phone. Do you know how many times he called me and on how many phones? He called me on our home phone after I switched off my phone. When I went ahead and disconnected that one, he called on dad's phone and asked for me. After some time it was mumma's phone." Shefali groaned as she remembered the torture she had endured from Maan that day.
"He threatened me that day Di. Swore he was not going to help Varun convince his parents about the suitability of our match. And all this, after he was the one who introduced me to Varun.
Sorry for not sharing all this with you Di, I wanted to, so very desperately, but this man here, threatened me with all kinds of evil things if I so much as uttered the word Varun in your presence. Said I owed it to him. I felt so guilty about what happened five years ago, I agreed to it.
"But Di he must have told you all of this last night right? After he literally kicked me out of my room that is? First he asked where you were and when I told him that we were sharing my room, he climbed up the stairs with a palmfull of Parijaat's from their backyard and literally slammed the door of my own room shut right on my nose. Asked me to find my own accommodation for the night."
Maan winced as he heard the words spilling from Shef's lips. He was apprehensive of looking at Geet's face and seeing her reaction after the revelations that had tumbled from Shef's overenthusiastic mouth.
"You always did talk too much for your own good Shef. Just shut up and go put effort in pleasing your future in-laws. That will be a lot more helpful for your future then interfering in my relationship with your sister." He then leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead.
"Thanks brat, for putting up with me for all this time. Go on now I will take care of her."
There was a roaring in Geet's ears as the enormity of Shefali's words lashed across her ears and her soul like burning coals. It was too much for her to grasp in the circumstances. She turned chalk white and started trembling violently in Maan's arms. She looked up at him for a moment, then closed her eyes tightly.
"Don't do this Geet."
"No... no...no. This...this. No...Dear God please no."
She jerked violently out of his arms and landed on feet that refused to support her. She fell to her knees and a keening moan choked out of her throat.
"Geet!!!! ...What is it?... What has happened to her?... Geet are you alright?... Di.!!"
She heard the different voices of her and Maan's family calling out to her as she scrambled up and raced out the front door. She could not face anybody right now, especially not the man whose world she seemed to have destroyed with her own hands.
Maan raced behind the woman whose eyes had looked at him just for one moment, but with so much anguish that it had seared him to the recesses of his heart.
And it was all his fault.
"Never again Geet, never ever again." He swore to himself.
Just then he heard voices calling out to him, but he ignored them all just as Geet had done. However the pain in one of the voices reached his ears and he hesitated behind the door just for a moment.
"Please Maan." It was Rano chachi's voice.
He turned around to see that all the family members had approached the door and were intent on rushing through the door to get to Geet.
He stood with his back against the door. He was not going to let anybody else witness her painful state. If there was one thing Geet hated, it was being vulnerable in front of anybody, even her own family.
"Chachaji, Chachiji do you trust me? Please let me deal with this." Maan addressed Geet's parents, then looked behind them at the Khanna's. "You please go ahead and complete whatever formalities you have to with Varun and his parents. I think they have seen enough family drama for today and leave Geet to me. I promise to take care of her and make her the happiest woman from this day on.
Rano stepped forward and grabbed his palms in hers.
"I will entrust her to you then beta. Please deal with her gently. That child of mine has been through so much from the day she was born. Abandoned at birth, how unlucky those parent's are who never got to know the amazing wonder that their daughter is and how lucky we are to have been blessed with all the love in that's child's heart. But since the day she found out, five years ago that she was adopted, there has been an uncrossable barrier between her and us. She has withdrawn completely from everybody and subtle though the withdrawal is, my mother's heart feels it every day and at every moment and I don't know how to reach across to her. She never says no to anything we ask of her, no matter how against her heart it is. I know she did not want us to put a matrimonial ad on the internet, but she agreed when we insisted. I thought we were doing what was best for her, but if she had been adamant then we wouldn't have pushed her. I want her to throw tantrums and claim her rightful place as the daughter of this house, but she hasn't done that in five long years. Get me my daughter back Maan. I know there has always been a special bond between you two and it has been my most cherished dream to see you two together. However these last few years there hasn't been much interaction between you and I thought I had to lock away my dream forever. But just now, when me and Smita came upstairs and saw Geet's behavior, the way she had locked herself in the bathroom, the way she refused to comply to your demands, my heart rejoiced. I knew I was not wrong and that my daughter's life partner can be none other than you Maan bete. So go...go and show her that she belongs...to you and to all of us.
Mohinder came and wrapped his arm around his sobbing wife and nodded at Maan.
"You have my blessings son."
Maan felt the ground shift beneath his feet as he heard the words Rano Chachi had just uttered.
Geet was adopted? Why had nobody mentioned it to him? But no... from the way they all were looking at him, they assumed he had known it.
He did not feel like asking anybody the how's and the why's. Geet was the answer to all his questions.
He kept a tight rein on the feelings that were churning up an ocean inside him. He was impatient to get to her, but held himself together long enough to bend over and give a tight hug to the Handas.
"I promise." With those two words he walked out to claim the woman who was the centrifugal force of his life and around whom his whole world was centered.
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To be continued...
Part 4
Bade Achhe Lagte Hain
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