Another one of my drafts which i don't know is complete or not. I wrote it at a time when we had no idea who Mandaar Deshmukh was.
I decided against posting it on the MF earlier feeling frisky over the opinions that might be bounded around Pallavi's first marriage. This is something i thought her soul must have felt apart from the hatred and pain.
As she sat beside him before that holyfire, a piece of her heart screamed her to go ; run away to a safe place and away from him and the situation. His radiating aura burned her more than the fire that she could feel via his bold crimson shirt. She hadn't given any thought to her own attire. Just woke up like a living corpse, as lifeless as ever and covered herself with a long yellow saree, leaving her hair strands free ; them being the only thing that weren't caged.
She had been to this same scenario before but this one was rather dull. The last time she sat infront of this holy fire for some wedding rituals was 2 years back when the man beside her was promising to give the best of this world along with a new family while the current one was promising the Lord about how he's gonna hate and punish her on every step of their new married life. She looked around remembering how people, specially her family was happy when she was dolled up in a similar yet bridal yellow shaded saree with the desired accessory, how Aai had adorned her and put a kaala teeka to keep every evil away only if it could actually have.
She imagined each member adorning her the exact way she had remembered from 2 years ago. Her thoughts settling down as her gaze moved towards the huge tv where she could watch her binded brother being released as a free man. The depth of pain that someone's love let's you endure ; it was a sister's love for her brother that made her sit by the man who has once burnt her dignity in the same fire that she was asked to walk around.
Raghav bent down beside her as he warned her again ; there it was the reason that had been imprinted in her mind since he brought the storm on her. He was gonna hurt her brother for his own pleasure masking it as some sort of pain but she knew it best that it was a benefit for him while a loss for her. She turned to look at him ; sensing a shine of guilt in his eyes which left as soon as it arrived while hers mirrored the lifelessness inside of her. She looked away not able to bear his presence, closing those orbs trying to forget this moment when she felt a voice call out to her. As if someone was saying her name with softness and care. She opened her eyes to a sight of white walls as the surroundings around her started to fade away. No more holy chants, her hallucinated family members dripping into ashes one by one. The devil beside her too gone as a sense of cool breeze stroked her face. She found herself in a vacant room ; white walls shining around her ; the same calming voice calling out to her. She looked around for the source when it settled right infront of her again. There he sat, Mandaar Deshmukh, her first husband, the man who was supposed to give her happiness but left her only with grief for the past 2 years. He adorned the same kurta he had worn that night when he filled her parting as his with the red substance, the same color that was ripped off of her hours later.
Mandaar , she had whispered.
Shh it's okay Pallavi , he replied with the soft smile. A smile that gave her comfort during their courtship. The smile that made her belief that she will be happy with him.
I am sorry. I promised you seven lives. I promised to stay by our family but i am being forced to give that space to someone else, she replied. No words spoken. Just the eyes that talked.
No you're just doing what you should have done 2 years ago. Moved on. It was never your fault. You deserve the color. Embrace it. , He walked towards her, the holy fire back infront of her eyes as he stood at the other side of it. Holding his hand up, she could glance at the shiny jewel in his hand, her mangalsutra.
Embrace it. You're doing the right thing. She heard him say as he dropped the mangalsutra in the fire and vanished away with it.
"Beta pheron ke liye khade ho jaiye" She heard the Pandit bringing her back to reality. Raghav still waiting for her to stand up and so she did with a new aura inside of her. As if a load had been shifted off from her heart. As she walked around the holy fire with rage and hatred for this devil in her heart, she glanced at a smiling Mandaar as he silently walked out of the door, finally at peace knowing that she had finally moved on. As Pallavi walked him go, she turned back to look at the man walking ahead of her. Will she ever be able to forgive him? If she's coming out of the cage of her past, Is it towards him? A lot unanswered and alot unspoken ; they finished the seven rounds and the rituals marking each other for the next seven lives ; the burden of past finally lifting off as the destiny smiled at the penned pages of their future together.
I am still pissed off at the writers for ruining Mandaar's character. He could have been so written so well with soo many shades but instead they turned him black and soo easy to not choose. It would have been fun to watch him as someone with a positive aura but a dark business past.
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