Hi!😊
For everyone who was interested in the introduction, thanks a lot once more.🤗 So here is the first chapter. I hope you enjoy!😃
It was new moon of one summer month. The night air, warm and sweet with the memory of earlier frenzied sun, poured in from every opening in to the Maheshwari Mansion. It was one of those old fashioned buildings, which makes one think of temples and palaces simultaneously. Many wings joined, many high windows etched in hard and cold stone walls, high roof and semi circular balconies, polished wood, rough carvings, soft dark curtains, flawless statues and primary colored wall paintings of devotional genre were some of its virtues.
The mansion itself clearly depicted the nature of its inhabitants. They were rich, immensely so, holding highest positions of their social food chains. They were hard working, extremely driven and ambitious that generation after generation the family achieved new heights of success. Outside the mansion they were polite, honest and warm, bright and manifest as the mansion itself, but inside the mansion in its dimly lit halls, silence prevailed and secrets breathed. Not all their glorious history was written in gold; some were written in blood and masked smartly with dust. Not all their history were heroic, some had sly, avenging and evil base notes to their melodies as well. They have lost as much as they have gained, or perhaps a tad more.
Silence veiled it all, too deep and for too long, until that warm summer night.
Raised voices, arguing bitterly rang through the center hall of the mansion. In the pool of orange light supplied by the chandelier three people stood with their arms folded, brows knitted and lips trembling with anger.
One was the patriarch Mr. Durga Prasad Maheshwari, a man who seldom had to voice his command, as his one look was enough to make the others abide to his words. At the moment he was supporting a pair of flashing eyes and a rigid jaw, his hands fisted, controlling the roaring emotions within. Next to him stood his wife the matriarch of the family, Annapurna Maheshwari. Her elegant head bowed in front of her husband as usual, her features pleasant and impassive yet her eyes, her eyes did not suit the naive aura of her persona, they burned, with an influence unlike her husband and kept flashing between her husband and her son. That son was the third, Lakshya Maheshwari. A young man of graceful features, every inch the prince of the mansion and son of the regal couple who he was facing at the moment and a man of extreme temper and strongest of whims, one of which was in progress at the moment.
Enough!' Durga Prasad roared finally. I have decided, and my decision is final.'
I have always thought the same papa,' said Lakshya respectfully yet in a firm tone. But I have decided before you this once.'
Lakshya!' Annapurna said. Lower your voice.'
Durga Prasad held out a hand, glanced at his wife from the corner of his eye.
A rebel is a rebel even if he is soft spoken Annapurna. The storm is already here.'
I can't marry Ragini. I have already promised another!'
We send you abroad to study,' Durga Prasad claimed. Not to entangle in engagements!'
Papa,' said Lakshya, his head bowed slightly. It was you who taught me that promises are words on stone, kept, fulfilled under any circumstance. Please, I beg you don't make me go back on my word.'
What about our honor?' Annapurna insisted, but Durga Prasad was silent at the moment.
Please Papa,' his tone softened to a honeyed request. Please!'
I want to meet this girl,' he was answered in a curt manner. Lakshya's features visibly relaxed, after all this was the climax of his every tantrum, he flashed a grin.
I'll invite her parents right away!'
No,' Durga Prasad cut in. Not her parents, the girl. I want to see the girl only.'
But Papa, they are settled abroad; she had never set foot on...'
If, if she is to marry you; she'll have to live here. She will, not her parents. It doesn't matter where she was born and brought up; she has to live the rest of her life here. I want to see if this girl would adjust to our ways, or not.'
But...'
Enough.' He turned to leave. The girl comes, or you forget her. The choice is all yours.'
With the final words declared Durga Prasad retired to the shadows, walking back to his room. Annapurna waited for another moment and gave Lakshya a fleeting look of displeasure which he returned with a nervous grin.
This isn't over yet, Lakshya. The decision is postponed, not changed.' That said, she followed her husband, out of the pool of light leaving her son to ponder over their words.
She had her own doubts to clear and her own inquires to be answered. Annapurna Maheshwari knew exactly when and where to use her voice and with what tone and pressure. She knocked on their study's door three times softly. Durga Prasad who had been pacing inside stopped and looked at her as she entered and closed the door behind her.
I see you're not happy with the decision I made,' said Durga Prasad.
Annapurna nodded, slightly, her eyes once more with that strange glint did not quite meet his, but stared somewhere over his shoulder.
All his whims should not be listened to Ji' she said slowly. That girl is Bengali, how can we allow...'
He is not the first son who went astray in love Annapurna,' Durga Prasad noted in a rough voice. We have dealt with this matter before; we'll deal with it again.'
Annapurna gasped a little, her fingers clapped against her lips.
But...but he is our son!'
Mistake is mistake, no matter who commits it.'
She took a deep breath, but let him continue nevertheless.
If he is our son, he'll be stronger, he'll deal with it...learn to move on.'
So,' Annapurna tried to fathom. So, we'll deal this issue the same way?'
Why else would I ask her to come?' His lips curled slightly. A girl, whose mere mention brought such a storm in to my home; can never, be a part of my family Annapurna. Let her come, let her realize it herself what a vortex she has stepped in to. If she's intelligent she'll escape, if not...if not then it is her fate.'
*
Sharmishta Bose had never loved anything as dearly as she loved her daughter. Her sentiments were justified as she was a single mother, her world rotated around one person and that was her dear child. She was an elegant woman with graceful features, but her beauty was slightly unkempt at the moment. There were dark circles under her eyes due to lack of sleep, she could not sleep a wink after the argument she and Swara had the previous night.
It was not a usual thing in their household to have her walking in the corridors, or busy in the kitchen in the mornings. She had never essayed that role of motherhood; instead her days were spent climbing the ladder of success that had raised her in to one of the most influential personalities in her neighborhood. But that day was different. She had as usual woken up early, but instead of leaving she had been busy preparing breakfast with their cook.
With that done, and a trolley of morning tea prepared, she went to see her girl, taking her effects at peace making along with her.
Her room had a polished door, where a sign was pasted over the glossy surface.
IT IS LOCKED FOR A REASON
It said. Shaking her head slightly at the childish notion Sharmishta had pushed open the door. The doors to the balcony and the windows were open, their curtains pulled part and the crystals hanging from the window frame created dazzling little rainbows of sunlight across the walls. Her eyes fell on the large photograph that adorned the opposite wall, it had her and her daughter hugging each other. A small smile crept in to her face as she recalled that long lost day and called out.
Shona!'
There was no response.
Shona? Are you still angry with me?'
No response.
Look Mama's sorry beta!'
Silence.
Shona!' She was scared now.
Her computer was still working; she had glanced at it unintentionally, and gasped in horror. There was a message, which she knew was left for her.
Mama,
I'm a bad girl, I know. But I am you girl as well. Hence I know you will eventually forgive me. But I can't listen to you this once. I have to go, I have made a promise. I know you worry, but be rest assured, I always learn my lesson well. It was you who taught me that we have to bear the weight of our decisions alone. I know why you oppose my journey, you know that I am not healed enough to love. But without facing the fire, without reentering the nightmare I won't heal either. Even mother bird has to let her chicks fly away one day, or else they become too heavy for the nest. I have another reason for going back to India, which I think you know. I have to find the fate of my phoenix as well. We still have one incomplete song. Hope you'll understand.
The open sky is waiting,
Shona.
*
All lights of the Maheshwari Mansion were put out by then, darkness was thick with coldness. All the secrets buried in silence and all the inhabitants in deep slumber. The silence suddenly was broken from an eerie sound, of a bow against a string, notes almost crying in pain. Someone played a violin, to the moonless sky and the crawling shadows to hear. The music sounded muffled, as if leaking from a closed door, but too perfect to be trapped inside. The tone was neither happy no sad, only heartbreakingly empty just like the sky outside. No one, inside the mansion woke up to that sound, but the violin played on, in its poignant manner for good few hours at least.
The player stopped, tired from playing and shivering from coldness of that heavy night hour. There was solid darkness around, as the shadow put down the bow and placed the violin on a shelf rather lovingly.
Nobody heard you,' a voice muttered. Good thing that too, for the one who hears will be very, very unfortunate.'
*
I think I have managed to answer some questions while creating bigger ones.😆
Thanks for reading.😃
As usual your thoughts are welcome.😳😊
Edited by Sakura24 - 9 years ago
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