Posted:
All parts are also posted together on page 132.
Index
Part 1- page 1
Part 2- page 9
Part 3- page 16
Part 4- page 28
Part 5- page 36
Part 6- Page 42
Part 7- Page 50
Part 8- Page 57
Part 9- Page 62
Part 10- Page 74
Part 11- Page 83
Part 12- Page 96
Part 13- Page 107
Last part- Page 118
Epilogue- Page 127
DESTINY
(Mishra house, Mumbai)
"Bua, who is this girl?" Milind threw a photograph on the bed in his Bua's room.
"Where did you find this picture, beta?" Bua asked in surprise.
"It was with those hundreds of pictures you gave me. This is the only one I liked" Milind had said taking the photograph in his hand again.
"Show me the girl, Bhaiyya" Sukruti had snatched the picture from her brother's hand.
"But this picture shouldn't have been there in the set that I gave you. Beta, choose some other girl. This won't be...." Bua stopped there.
"Is she married already?" Milind wondered.
"Bhaiyya chose one girl out of hundreds and the girl seems to be married. Bua, I think I will never get to dance in my brother's wedding. We better forget about his wedding. Why don't you find a handsome boy for me?" Sukruti had tried to convince her marriage broker Bua to show her some photographs of men yet again.
"Yes Bua, get this girl married so that we have some peace in this house" Milind hadn't let an opportunity to pick up a fight with his sister. Sukruti had thrown a pillow on him in mock anger.
"Sukruti you finish your studies first. We will think of your wedding after that. But I do have to find a girl for your brother before that to fulfil my promise to my brother" Bua had said seeing her brother entering the room.
"Pavitra, what's happening? Did my son pick any girl from your list?" Mishraji joined his family in conversation.
"Bhaiyya, He did pick a girl, but the wrong one. I will get him some new photographs after my trip to Nagpur" Pavitra sighed.
"But what's wrong with this girl? She looks pretty" Sukruti had questioned handing over the photograph to her father Mishraji.
"The girl looks fine. What's wrong with her Pavitra?" Mishraji said registering in his brain the face he saw in the photograph.
"Bhaiyya, this girl, Prachi, is a manglik. Her mother Premlatha is an old acquaintance of mine from Sevagram. No one knows the whereabouts of her husband. Why bring a girl with such background and problems home when any girl would be dying to marry Milind?" Pavitra had explained the girl's background and looked at Milind.
"Bua, I don't care about all this superstitious stuff. Either this girl or no one else" Milind stated decisively and walked out of the room.
"Pavitra, this is the first time Milind has agreed to marry someone. He is almost turning 30 and if we don't go ahead with this girl, it will be another 5 years before he chooses another girl. At least we should meet the girl, her mother and give it a try. Do you have the girl's phone number or address?" Mishraji said thoughtfully.
"It doesn't feel right Bhaiyya. Did Milind have to choose this girl out of the lot? I had girls who are from rich and respectable families, in the set of photographs I gave him. Anyways, as you wish, I will contact Premlatha and I bet even she would feel totally odd when she hears the famous hotelier Milind Mishra wants to see her daughter" Pavitra said opening her folder that would have had the details of Prachi.
"Can I come with you all when you go to see the girl? I have holidays for the next couple of weeks" Sukruti had said excitedly.
(A week later, in Sevagram)
"Jana gana mana adhinaayaka......"
Ayesha and Soumya stood still paying respect to the national anthem. As soon as the 52 seconds were over and the hundreds of children screamed in unison "bharat maata ki jay", the two young girls briskly walked to meet their elder sister Prachi who was instructing the children to walk in line as the assembly dispersed.
"Di, Maa asked you to take the day off and come home right now. The family from Mumbai is arriving to see you in the next one hour" said Ayesha.
"But Ayesha, weren't they supposed to come tomorrow? I have a class now" Prachi had asked as the day at school in which she taught, had just begun.
"No Di, there was some confusion with the dates. Maa had thought it was tomorrow, but they are already in Wardha" Soumya had explained.
"OK, I will take permission from the head teacher. Wait for a minute here" Prachi walked inside the school office while Ayesha and Soumya sat in Prachi's classroom playing with the children.
As Prachi reached home with her sisters, Premlatha gave her a silk saree and asked her to get changed. Draping the saree, watching herself in the mirror, Prachi couldn't help the tears that flowed through her eyes.
It was the 21st time she was getting ready dressing herself up. The whole act of sitting in front of people who come to see her as a "sales object" would pain her deep in her being. It had happened many times that people would agree to marry her initially, but later reject either asking questions about her father or about her manglik status.
Deep in her heart Prachi hated the idea of marriage itself. Being the eldest daughter, she had witnessed how her father used to physically abuse her mother coming home drunk. The memories of the fatal day were still fresh in her head where her father had brought another woman home throwing her mother out of the house along with her three children, one of them still in the womb. Premlatha had moved to Sevagram taking shelter in an ashram where an old man had helped her with everything he could. After the man died, Premlatha had started stitching clothes, a skill she had mastered from young age, and fed her three daughters. She had sweat her blood to give them food, shelter and education. Prachi had taken up a job in a school after her studies and conditions in the house had improved by then. Ayesha was finishing her college while Soumya was yet to finish her schooling.
Prachi hated the memories of her father, but as much as she would like not to remember him, the world would remind her of him often. There were hundred questions people ask her only to satisfy their minds reminding her of her misfortune. Prachi also used to do service in the ashrams of the village and often feel like staying unmarried all her life for the idea of having a husband seemed a torture since she had an example of her father imprinted in her memories.
Though she had confided in her mother the idea of living her life unmarried, her mother had assured her often that all marriages wouldn't be as unfortunate as hers and all men weren't like her husband. Premlatha wanted her daughters to get settled in life both financially and socially and it had to begin with Prachi. How much ever she didn't want it, Prachi, not being able to see tears in her mother's eyes, which spoke nothing but pain all these years, would silently follow her mother's instructions, whenever a marriage proposal came and people came to see her.
Prachi had finished draping her blue silk saree, ready to show herself to the 21st man who was going to come to her house to see her. She let her hair open, put a small bindi in her forehead. Finishing with rimming her eyes with kohl, she had come out of the room as her sisters and her mother had appreciated how beautiful she looked.
P.S.
Manglik- In vedic astrology, they make this natal chart and assign different planets based on the birth time/date. If the planet Mars (mangal in sanskrit) is in certain places (don't know exactly which place) the person is termed manglik. If one is manglik it's believed that the marriage wouldn't go well and may lead to divorce or even to the death of the spouse.
Sevagram is a small village near Wardha district of Maharashtra, India. Gandhiji named this village as Sevagram (meaning village of service) after he built service ashrams for the poor and the helpless.
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