[nocopy]
part 10
Arnav entered the crowded hospital lobby and went to the receptionist desk.
"I want to see Dr.Ashok Mehta"
"Do you have an appointment?"
"No"
"It is not possible to see the chief neurologist without an appointment. Shall I fix you an appointment?"
"yes please"
She looked into the computer at her desk
"you can see him on next friday 10 Am slot"
"next friday?"
"yes, his calender is already full till next friday"
"No I need to see him today"
"That is not possible, he accepts patients without appointment only if it is really an emergency"
At that time a doctor in his early thirties crossed him. He stopped in his tracks suddenly, turned to look at Arnav
"Arnav?"
Arnav turned hearing his name being called out. He stared at the other person
"Has Anjali come with you?" He serached for Anjali
Arnav nodded his head in negative. "I need to talk to you!"
"Dr, he wanted an appointment today. Should I squeeze it into today's schedule?"
"Thats Alright...How many patients do I have today?"
"10, three are already waiting"
"Is Dr.Raheja in?"
"Yes Dr."
"Ask him to handle the patients, Let me know if there are any emergencies or if my presence is required." He turned to Arnav "lets go to my cabin, come"
As soon as they reached Dr.Ashok's cabin, he started speaking, Arnav remained a calm listener for most of the conversation. Only asking questions when necessary, nodding at right places, trying to understand, fix pieces which were missing in a jigsaw puzzle.
"I had a feeling that you would come to see me after Anjali's call yesterday. Hope Kushi is alright after yesterday's incident... Anjali was very worried about her"
"she is Alright."
"You are angry with you sister arent you?"
For this Arnav didnt answer, he just looked on
Dr. Ashok let out a deep sigh.
"You ought not be, You of all know her well. if anyone needs to be blamed its Shyam... and no one else ... to some extent probably me..."
"what do you mean.. How do you come into this picture?"
"If only I had the courage to stand against my parents decision on that day, when I was to wed Anjali, that day when you both lost your mom, Anjali would not be in this crap relationship..."
"I was a young doctor then , just out with a mere degree in MBBS, I could not go against my parents wish and marry Anjali after your Mother's suicide, though I wanted to ... I was very much in Love, but I wanted to keep her well,I didnt have a permanent job, I was just starting out at my Father's hospital and Anjali was mourning, I thought it was better to let things go as such for a while, give everything sometime to cooldown, get healed by itself, went to UK to complete my MD, came back to India after 3 years, realised that I was still in love with Anjali, but unfortunately found out that you and Anjali was no longer living with your Uncle"
"we were thrown out!"
"I came to know! I tried to trace her but couldnot... I guessed that you might have gone to stay with your Nani, but I learned that the entire family shifted from Lucknow, I kept searching for her, then shifted to delhi establishing my own clinic when one day, I met her after 7 long years in the temple, Married and Happy... You both changed your Surname, All the magazines were screaming with your picture, but when we last met, you were really young, 14 or 15 years... I couldnt relate to our surname or recognise you, If I had, then I wouldnt have missed Anjali in my life... Something that I still regret in my life!"
Arnav nodded his head, his throat had gone dry. Ashok continued.
"I dont blame Anjali, She had suffered a lot for a young age, Just like your kushi has... I mean, if you can think of yourself in her shoes... She was just a 19 year old when her wedding with me was called off... She had just lost her mother, she had to turn a mother for a mourning son, you, Daughter for a mourning mother, your nani, and yet face the agony of a lost love, me, take in the betrayal of a brutal uncle... and she was mourning for her mother herself...She needed a support outside the family, someone with whom she can forget her responsibilities.. someone who can take care of her...I should have been there... to support her, to give her a shoulder to cry...but I had gone away, And when shyam gave her that support, she accepted it willingly, trusting him readily, ready to give him all the love she felt. She had to be the pillar of emotional support for all of you, you were too young to take up responsibilities, She had managed the show until you were ready to take up responsibilities. "
"I know.. I know how much Di suffered those days, Thats precisely why I put her happiness in front of mine... But hiding something this big, for my and Di's selfishness, Letting the other girl suffer..."
"You only know half the picture..."
"what do you mean?"
"Do you even know what Anjali had to face? I mean she had tried to protect Kushi in all ways possible...She had tried to do the same thing Kushi tried to do to her...there are lot more in the picture"
"You know something that I dont know... tell me"
"I dont know the whole picture yet... There is a mysterious part on why Shyam is obsessed with Kushi or where he first saw her...But Shyam is a very dangerous guy. I was the first one to find out that he was cheating on your sister, I only had a brief glimpse of him, I did not even get introduced.. only a brief glimpse before my second coincidental meeting with Anjali in the temple again.
Somedays later, I had a call from lifeline hosptial about a patient and went there as consultant doctor."
"It was Kushi's dad, but I didnt have any Idea who Kushi was then, I saw him again there, with the family, I thought probably, this was his family, but before I could go and talk to him, I overheard the ladies talking about getting him engaged to one of their girls and he was happy hearing it.
I tried to warn Anjali about this... but she was too blinded by love then and she thought I was telling tales about her husband because I was still intersted in her!
Atleast she got the second part right... I was and am still in love with her, But that doesnt mean that I would tell tales about her husband... She stopped talking to me. She realised slowly after that I was telling the truth.
One day she called me and told that she was in an accident, I drove there, and got to know that the car was sabotaged. Only then she told me that her husband had indeed been acting very odd lately and she is not able to overcome his betrayal because of her love for him... "
"What? Shyam tried to Kill Di?" Arnav was shocked
"Not once... thrice..."
"What? She never told me..."
"thats the main problem with yor sister... as is the problem with your wife, they dont want to worry you with things because they know you worry tomuch already for them! When I found out the leakage of fuel all the way and the breaks had failed, I suspected that someone had purposefully done it, we both thought it was shyam, then I asked her to be careful around him, She spoke to me about the other incident when you all found a scorpion prowling around your house. I asked her to bring me the dead scorpion and she did"
Dr. Ashok brought out a box and took out the sample packet where the dead scorpion was sealed.
"I sent this for sample test and found out about this species...this one is deadly and is not normaly found in our environment. It has been brought from somewhere. No prices for guess, but somehow, it ended up on Shyam's back as per Anjali's report, then Anjali found this bottle on his cupboard and when she told me that there was a haven that day at home, I put two and two together..."
he said showing Arnav the bottle named ether.
"Anjali confirmed it saying that Shyam had gifted her a perfume bottle that very day, I asked her for the perfume bottle and I tested it out in our lab to have high ether content than normal perfumes!
After this I sincerely started advising her that he is dangerous and she had to get out of this marraige, but she denied... she was truly in love, she was caught in those days when he had been a real support or atleast faked to support her be her mental strength...which was very much needed at that time... she could nt let go of him."
"She asked me to give her fake reports of her pregnancy, Which I didnt want to do, he is not worth her... But she forced me, you sister is really adamant if she needs to be...I gave her those.. But I suppose that didnt stop Shyam to redeem himself. She didnt want me to tell anyone about these murder attempts, but I am telling you because I dont want her face any danger any longer. This guy is obsessed with your wife Arnav... and he will not hesitate to eliminate you or Anjali to get Kushi and he will be equally dangerous for Kushi as he is for Anjali, The sooner you throw him out of their lifes the better, I warn you, it will be traumatic for anjali to let him go but that is something you have to convince her...for her own well being and your happy married life with your wife as well!"
A chill ran down Arnav's spine. Ashok offered him some water which he gulped down thankfully.
"If there is something that I am proud of, it is the way you have grown up to take responsibility in Life... I was your age when I couldnt go against my parents... and you, just got married when you decided that Kushi is your life... Anjali keeps telling how much you have been going through in life... She was both happy and very upset when you finally walked in as a married man along with Kushi"
"she told she always wanted Kushi in your life, the girl had to suffer somuch in her young life, No wonder Anjali saw her younger self in Kushi, She only thought that Kushi deserved someone better and who else would fit in that picture other than her darling brother? and again she was amazed about the girl's optimism, her maturity which was quiet enough to handle you and your anger, treat you just like your mother wanted her bahu to do, but was sad because she was worried because the sudden marraige alerted her that something was wrong...she didnt know what...I am surprised that you didnt guess, All that rasams she insisted that you both do, was always aimed at getting you both closer, mending Kushi's relationship with the family, with her parents... She didnt sense it had to do with your trust in Kushi... If she had known that she would have been the first to let you know that Kushi was innocent... trust me!"
Arnav nodded
"thanks!"he told simply and the Doctor smiled.
Arnav saw this man, who by few minutes of fate had not been his Jeejaji, this man who by every sense would have been the mental support, the elder brother whom he had missed when life was treating him cruelly, a Man who would have been a better choice for his sister...
"Anytime!" he replied with a smile "You can walk in anytime, you need to clear your mind of those confusing thoughts...I will always be there for you"
Arnav smiled at him. Dr.Ashok looked at Arnav's face for sometime.
"Trust me Arnav, the most saddest thing on earth is to know that the person whom you love, loves someone else... and still keep loving them... I know it because I am facing it, your sister knows it because she is facing it and shyam knows it and he is facing it too... "
"I know it too.. I mean atleast I thought so..."
Dr. Ashok smiled and continued.
"but the major difference is how you react to it... some get depressed, some hold on to it like thats their lifeline, some get obsessed to the point of turning sadistic, some end up hurting their loved one or themselves...it needs a lot of self control to make use of your dimaag and act accordingly...and in your case, you suffered, not because of Anjali or Kushi... it was becasue you acted impulsively out of Anger! "
Arnav nodded.
"but one good thing out of this is, out of Anger, you decided to get married to her which was a blessing in disguise, whatever has happened is already past, if Kushi is what Anjali tells me is... I am sure she will understand...But you need to give her time to come around... practice patience..."
The phone rang and the Dr. picked it up and heard for brief moments
"Arnav, I think We have to cut this meeting short, One of my patients has a fits attack! I have to leave"
"yes Dr. you proceed"
"If there is one thing that I would advise you, Dont judge people when you are in Anger, You will make mistakes which you will regret later, I made a mistake all those years back, which I am still regretting, You dont do the same thing, hold on to your loved one, and there is no point in getting frustrated because your love chose someone else because you chose to let her go in the first place!"
with that Ashok took his coat and moved out of the room.
to be continued...
Edited by abavi - 11 years ago
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