There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be
He saw her for the first time in the bus stop. The same bus stop that changed his life. She was laughing away with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. Her dark kohl rimmed eyes brimmed with naughtiness egging on her friend to some dare. There were no violins in the background, no dancers dancing around, no lightning/thunder in the sky. There was no evidence of such a spectacular thing occurring to him to the outside world but his heart stopped. It simply skipped a beat seeing such a beautiful creature in front of him. Her white kurta and blue jeans still flash in front of his eyes.
It was some time before he named his feelings as love. For it was love, he did not introspect himself - why else would he have had such a need of looking at her, just gazing at her, her mere presence was a balm to his troubled soul. He used to reach the bus stop just to look at her every single day. Never did he have courage to talk to her or even ask her name. He was never the popular and the outgoing guy. He was a loner and carried the brooder tag. She was chirpy, happy and always seemed to be surrounded by friends.
He despaired of himself - his inability to talk and impress the girl. He gave up on her realising it was not healthy to stalk a girl. But destiny had other plans, there she was chatting with her usual friends in his residence. It took him a moment to realise she was not here because of him rather his sister was one of her friends. Still he was filled with happiness not only the girl he loved at his place she was also wearing the same white dress with white jhumkas. If this was not destiny's green signal he did not know what was.
He nonchalantly tried to extract her name from her sister. With some begging and cajoling his sister, he finally found the girl in the white kurta as Pallavi. He felt inordinately closer to her with just the knowledge of her name. To his embarrassment his idiot of a sister revealed his enquiries to his mother. And just like that his alliance was sent and then came rishta meeting. He thought what was the point of this meeting in front of evenly when he already knew he loved her and had been in love for some time. But he was not the one who would refuse a chance to meet his beloved pallavi even if it was in front of scores of meddling aunties.
There she was beautiful as the moon and smiling at him. He couldn't help but dream of his future where they would not surrounded by all these busy bodies and be able to talk to their hearts content. His sister who was smart that way managed to get Pallavi's phone number. Then started their whole courtship, he who was usually reticent found himself talking at length. He then understood how lucky he was to have found a girl who had the natural gift of putting anybody at ease, made them open up and make them feel special. Those two months before the wedding were best months of his life. They shared their hopes, dreams and sorrows. He fell more in love with her if possible when he got to know how sensitive and charitable she was. She was not the sort of girl to wallow in self pity. Instead of being being overwhelmed by loss of a dear friend - this girl who had lost her parents early in life chose to help her friends parents His only grouse was that he was not able to meet her and they had to connect over phone. But he consoled himself it was over and there he was ready for his wedding.
As Mandar saw his bride completely decked up. He lost his breath for it was not his beloved Pallavi but her friend in the bridal dress smiling at him. His mind reeled and he went in search of his mother to understand what was happening and found her too busy with the festivities. His baba with whom he never got along was pleased with him and for the first time in his life praised him for choosing such a sorted girl as life partner. He was too shocked to say a word of his true feelings to his father. And he knew there was no way to backout, his father would not move his ground and his fate has been sealed.
He saw the bride ( he could not think of her as pallavi) approach him with a sombre look. She gave him a gift and explained her friend had bought this gift to give to her jiju before passing away. The bride requested if he would honor her friend's memory by wearing the watch. The minute he wore the watch he realised his folly. The cruel joke his destiny had played on him. He remembered his conversations with Pallavi and her mentioning her friend as devyani. He remembered how pallavi and devyani were like two peas of a pod and always together.
He remembered the exact moment the mixup had happened - the day she visited his sister. His sister had misunderstood his interest in one girl as another and called his love as pallavi and thus begun the whole mixup. His mother had gotten "Pallavi's" address and started his whole alliance process. He hated the name pallavi now. With the realisations it occurred to him that the girl he fell in love, devyani was no more. His life stopped meaning anything to him anymore.
As he lay in a pool of blood after a car hit him, he pondered over the mess his life had become. He tried to remember how the accident had occurred. He could not exactly blame car, he is so drunk out of his mind that he does not know if he was walking on the road or footpath. He did not remember going through the wedding rituals. All he knew is that he cannot bear to enter his room where pallavi is waiting. He could not bear to see Pallavi's face. As the car that hit him sped away, he ran the what-ifs in his mind. The What - if Pallavi's name had not entered his life, he could have married devyani and lived happily. This is the one that going to hurt him most. As Mandar increasingly slipped into oblivion his hate for the name pallavi consumed him as it was responsible for all the ills in his life.
P. S: Sorry not proof-read. Please ignore if any mistakes.
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