Gangs of Somnath: The Beginning
Author's Note: I was fooling around with a couple of other users on Twitter, mainly Anu, Rexie, and Ruhi, and we all discussed how an action/adventure story line with Pandya Store would be like. Featuring the beloved Pandya and Seth families as the central characters. Enjoy this re-telling, but a big warning for you, Dhara and her family will be the main antagonists in this story while Janardhan Seth will be the beloved hero that's running the ropes! This will not be a traditional story with dialogues and the stuff, but more of a big, big summary.
Based on reaction, I might continue the story as the episodes progress đ
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The Story Begins in Gandhinagar c. 1990s
Young Janardhan Seth was enrolled into Gandhinagar's police academy. He was the top student, with excellent grades and a charismatic personality. While there he meets and falls in love with Prasuti (Prafulla's sister and Raavi's mother) who is a classmate of his. But, whenever he thought of expressing his love, he would become shy and flustered. Regardless, he develops a soft corner for Prasuti and plans to tell his family about her so they could get married.
Unfortunately, when he returns to Somnath, he learns of his arranged marriage with Kalyani. Apparently, his sister was attempting to enter into politics, and in order to make her political bid, he had to marry Kalyani, otherwise Kalyani's father was not willing to support Kamini. After coming back to the academy, he plans to tell Prasuti of his love, without fail, but he becomes shocked when his best friend, Daksh, proposes to Prasuti. Realizing he would've lost regardless, Janardhan swallows his pride and marries a woman he neither loves nor cares for.
As his sister builds up her political career, Janardhan works as an undercover agent, doing whatever he can to dig up the dirty details of his sister's political opponents. And in-between missions, he manages to visit Prasuti and Daksh, to make sure they are alright. Despite losing out on love, Janardhan is happy to see that Daksh is taking care of Prasuti well.
Flash forward a few years into the future, Prasuti announces that she is pregnant. Janardhan realizes it is time to move on, and decides he will try to start a new with his own relationship. His wife becomes pregnant herself, and Janardhan believes all is well. After Prasuti gives birth to Raavi, Janardhan goes to visit his friends, and unfortunately the group goes through a near death experience. Janardhan saves baby Raavi, but he is regretful he is unable to save his best friends. As he attends his friends' funeral, he promises to look after their daughter, in the best way he can.
Prafulla, Prasuti's sister, assumes guardianship of Raavi, and Janardhan is thrilled to know that Prafulla lives in the same town as him. He returns to Somnath, secretly watching Raavi from afar, making sure all her needs were taken care of.
Kalyani gives birth to a daughter a few months later. Janardhan never tells her about Raavi, and feels guilty about buying 'R' themed presents and hiding it from her. Now that he has a daughter, he suggests that they name their daughter Rishita, as he is able to buy presents without the need of hiding it from his wife. Kalyani agrees to this.
A few years pass (Keerthi was born too), and during that time, Janardhan tells his undercover police squad (i.e., those "goons") that they need to call Raavi, "Somnath ki sabse sundar ladki." His squad is confused because they thought he would've hyped up Rishita, but like always, they learned that it was useless to question Janardhan. Slowly, the rumor of Raavi being the most beautiful infiltrates the people of Somnath, and eventually, Raavi herself is thrilled about her beauty. She shouts to everyone passing by, from her balcony, about how they should be "blessed" to see her gracing them with her beauty everyday, and Janardhan could only look at her happiness with amusement.
He was convinced he was living the most perfect iteration of his life, and he didn't think anything could go wrong. Unfortunately, while he watched all his daughters grow, there was another problem brewing in Somnath, threatening his peace and livelihood.
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Somnath c. 2000s
Darshan Pandya is a man of honor. Despite opening his store, Pandya Store, for only a few years, he's made a name for himself. He's never stole a single dime. He's never cheated another. And for those reasons, the people of Somnath supported him and his family. His four sons, especially Shiva, looked up to Darshan.
As his store became more popular, his wife suggests he open other branches across the state. Darshan agrees as this would be helpful for all sons in the future. He begins to build his business relationships, and in the process, he realizes that something strange is simmering in Somnath. Businesses that used to flourish are somewhat struggling right now. Not the one to let a problem be left unsolved, Darshan slowly speaks to people, trying to figure out what's been happening in Somnath. He collects evidence and creates a folder filled with information of corrupt deals. He plans to submit the file to the police but becomes busy with other things.
One day, as Janardhan is observing Raavi from afar, he bumps into Darshan, causing Darshan and Janardhan to drop all the things in their hand. A few of the papers get mixed, Darshan collecting a few of Kalyani's doodles, and Janardhan collecting evidence to some of the most critical black market transactions the gang in Somnath were a part of. Janardhan thinks nothing of it, going back to observing little Raavi, and he is surprised to see how similar she is to Prasuti.
One night, when Darshan goes to the police to submit evidence, he finds a woman, Alpana, stranded on the street. He gives her a lift, and they fall into a conversation where Darshan innocently reveals all the strange things he had been observing in Somnath. He tells her about the evidence he collected, and how he is planning on giving up the evidence to the police. Alpana becomes shocked, but before she could do anything, Darshan and her arrive at her destination, where there are a ton of people surrounding them. Unfortunately, Darshan gets a call from Suman, asking him to come home soon as Krish, their youngest, was spiking a fever. Darshan leaves without submitting the evidence, and Alpana glares at him as he drives away. She was the woman running the entire black market in Somnath, and now that Darshan threatened her empire, she was planning on getting back at him.
Alpana slowly observes the Pandya family, and during the process, she pulls strings to destroy their business. Luckily, due to his intelligence, Darshan was able to escape the first few attempts she made, but Jagat was not as successful. Seeing Jagat's troubles, Prafulla became restless. She began asking him to ask Darshan for money. The woman continues to trouble the Pandya family just after Darshan takes out a loan for Jagat and Prafulla. Darshan realizes he is unable to cope with all the recent troubles, but he wonders whether it is related to the illegal businesses that have been happening in Somnath. He decides to go back to the police, but being cautious, he also copies everything into a small microchip, and just when he wonders where to hide the chip, his child Shiva comes to the store. Getting an idea, Darshan calls Shiva over, and they buy a Rudraksh necklace where Darshan hides the chip in. Young Shiva is proud to get a gift from his father, and he promises to treasure the necklace always.
As he drives back home with Shiva, he doesn't realize how one of Alpana's goons bumped into him, causing him to become injected with a poison. He goes home and learns of Jagat and Prafulla's actions of cheating him on his money, and before he could address them, he suddenly gets a heart attack. Realizing that something may have happened on the way, he tried to tell Suman to be more vigilant, but just as the words were escaping from his mouth, he passed away, his sons Gautam and Shiva watching the horrible sight. Disturbed by his father's death, Shiva promises to avenge his father, even deciding he would bring ruin to Jagat and Prafulla, mistakenly thinking they were the cause of his father's death.
Alpana is thrilled. She plans to go to Darshan's house to grab that file once and for all, but she realizes that she is needed back abroad. She leaves her two children, Hardik and Dhara, back in Somnath, earning herself the title of Bhagodi from the people, and just before she leaves, she tells her children about the missing file, and both her children promise to get it back.
Next Part: Hardik attempts to get the file back, Dhara's wedding to Gautam, the missing file is found, and Janardhan realizes that he has a new enemy in town.
Cricket
Chakravarti Samrat Prithviraj Chauhan
