FF|Arhi|Th#2 How IPK should've been[Ch14/Sc3 pg122 - Page 10

[Somewhere undisclosed]

Shyam is carefully working on a piece of paper. Observing the header, it resembles a stamp paper. He slips it into his old type writer and laboriously starts typing. Sitting beside the typewriter on one side are a number of similar looking stamp papers. All of them refer to prime properties in Lucknow as well as Delhi. They to have been kept to let the ink of the fresh typing dry. On a small table next to him bound together carefully are the papers of Purani Haveli that were given to him by Dadi. Above him on the ceiling are thin rope wires stretching across the diagonal of the room. Clipped onto them are exact copies of a single page bearing Arnav Singh Raizada's signatures half way down. Each of those sheets has a different texture as if meant to show different ages of the paper.

Shyam finishes typing and eases out the sheet from the jaws of the typewriter. He slowly reads through its content. Once satisfied, he deposits it along the other sheets next to the typewriter to dry and inserts a fresh new stamp paper into the typewriter. He cracks the bones of his finger and starts the same exercise all over again.

[AR Designs Office, two days later]

Arnav is just finishing up his work for the day and walking out of his cabin when he gets a call on his cellphone. The caller id flashes "Gupta calling". Arnav immediately picks it up.

"Ya Gupta. Did you look into the matter I asked you?" Arnav asks continuing to walk down the stairs as Gupta replies. Arnav suddenly stops in his tracks, startled.

"Are you sure about this?" Gupta seems to confirm. Arnav looks really confused now as if what Gupta has told him doesn't tally with what was going on in his mind.

"Okay thanks. I'll brief you later if I need it to be pursued further." Arnav disconnects the phone and stands still, thinking for a moment as if deciding something. Then he continues walking down the stairs and towards the exit.

His secretary stops him.

"Sir, aapke banker ne aapse meeting request ki hai. He called in a few minutes ago," she says. Arnav looks annoyed.

"I'm leaving for the airport with my family in a short while," he snaps. "Tell him I'll set up a meeting with him as soon as I return," Arnav directs to his secretary who nods and writes it down in her notepad. She wishes him a safe journey but he already walks out of earshot by then.

[King George's Hospital, Lucknow]

Garima and Shashi are inside the ward. The nurse is making Sashi lie on his bed and explaining to Garima that they were due to complete a few more pre-op procedures and tests. Payal is at the reception filling up the paperwork. Khushi is outside in the corridor, deep in conversation with the specialists who are going to operate on her father. The general mood around seems optimistic.

With a final nod, Khushi concludes the consultation with the doctors and walks towards the reception to fetch Payal. She looks around into various wards, keeping her eyes busy. The faint smell of medication hovers in the air and she slightly pinches her nose in disgust. She never liked coming to hospitals. They were a scary place for her. Somehow she had witnessed sufferings everytime she'd visited one; the earliest memory being of her parents' being pronounced dead-on-arrival after their accident, the latest being when Bauji had been operated and had been pronounced paralysed.

She sighs slowly. Hospitals were definitely not her happy place.

Suddenly, she feels her arm being shaken. She looks sideways to find Payal, her brows shot up inquiringly.

"Arre jeeji! Hum to aap hi ke paas aa rahe the. Humne doctors se baat kar li hai. Operation shukarvar ko hoga," the two sisters start walking towards the ward where their father was admitted.

They walk in to see their mother sitting by the bed on which their father was lying. Lots of wires were connected to his body leading to various important looking instruments making random beeping sounds. The nurse's eyes narrowed at seeing so many people milling around her patient. Garima smiled at her.

"Yi humri bitiyan hain," she explains proudly. Nurse nods and goes on about her work. As soon as she leaves Shashiji's bedside. Khushi immediately sits herself carefully on the bed. Her father gives her a crooked smile. She reaches for his trembling hand and squeezes it assuringly.

"Humne doctors se baat kar li hai Bauji. Aapka operation bas kuch hi din mein kiya jayega. Woh kya hai na, koi aur bade doctor aa rahe hain Mumbai se." Shashi blinks and gives a small nod of understanding. The Gupta family sits and talks together for some more time, before the nurse comes back and announces that they should leave now as it was past visiting hours. The three ladies leave with the promise to return the next morning.

[Raizada Mansion]

The house is full of chaos. The Prakash brothers are getting some last minute things gathered together. There are bags of the family members stacked together at the hallway. Mamiji is keeping a count of the luggage and directing an exasperated looking Aakash to write it down in his notebook. Naniji and Dadiji are sitting in the lounge sipping their teas in silence. NK helps Anjali up the stairs to walk to Arnav's room. He then excuses himself to walk back downstairs and start getting the luggage loaded in the cars.

Anjali slowly ambles to Arnav's room. The moment she arrives at the open door, she is startled to see her brother somberly staring out towards the poolside. His bags are neatly kept next to the recliner. A huge rectangular thing wrapped in plain brown paper is sitting on the table next to the recliner. Anjali's gaze goes back to her brother's rigid stance and she slowly walks in to stand next to him. He seems to have sensed her presence.

"Ek aur saal guzar gaya Di," his voice is low, spiked with sadness. Anjali's hand reaches up to hold her brother's arm. She slowly keeps her head on his shoulder. Arnav squeezes her hand on his arm.

"Mujhe unki bahut yaad aati hai Di..." he whispers, his voice slightly breaking. Anjali looks up surprised to hear his sad tone. She had been noticing since the past few days that her brother was again being cold shouldered and ready to burst into anger. It was almost like seeing the Arnav of last year that she dreaded. She had no idea what had brought about this change in his behaviour. So, to see the tough exterior of his brother soften after so many days even if it was due to the memory of their parents' death brought a sense of relief to her heart.

"Ache log hamesha jaldi kyun chale jaate hain, Chotey?" she mumbles. Arnav looks down at her and she sees something glinting in his eyes again. Hatred.

Kyunki, iss duniya mein takleef dene wale bahut log hain." He mutters coldly. Anjali winces at the sudden change of tone of her brother.

Anger starts surging in Arnav's veins again. It isn't fair! He thinks to himself. It wasn't fair the way his parents were snatched cruelly away from him so early in life. It wasn't fair that the love he deserved in the formative years of his childhood was denied to him. It wasn't fair that because of the greed of a manipulative woman, so many lives were destroyed, so many dreams brutally crushed. Arnav slowly clenches his fist. All this time he had stopped thinking about Garima, but today as he was wrapping up the photo frame of his parents, the revelations of his past started ringing in his ears again.

Garima is the reason your mother is no longer alive.

She lured your father for his money.

Your father truly loved your mother.

Arnav disengages himself from his sister. Anjali immediately recognizes the perceptible change that has come over her brother's behaviour. He had gone from sensitive to cold in mere minutes. She could feel waves of hateful anger emanating from him as he stood rigid just a few feet from her. Anjali fearfully approaches him again.

"Chotey, jo kuch bhi hua use badla nahin ja sakta hai. Hum bas uss baat ko apne ateet ka ek kadwa sach samajh ke accept kar sakte hain," she tries to reason with him in a soothing voice. Arnav immediately looks sideways at her, his eyes disbelieving.

"Accept kar ke uss aurat ko chod dein?" he asks shocked. "She should be punished for what she has done Di!" his says vehemently. Anjali winces to hear the aggression in her brother's voice. She didn't want him slinking back to the same hateful state of mind that he had been in for the past 14 years. He had finally overcome the hatred and actually started smiling. If he would fall back into that same old phase, it would be impossible dragging him out of it. She holds his hand and guides him slowly to sit on the bed. Arnav does so grudgingly. Anjali looks at him kindly.

"Ek aurat jinke husband paralysed hon, jinki ek beti apne sasural se nikaal di gai ho, jinki doosri beti ki shaadi poore samaj ke saamne toot gai ho, unko aap aur kya punish karoge Chotey?" Arnav looks at Anjali, startled to hear her words. "Unki khushi unke parivar se hai, aur unka parivar poori tarah bikhar chukka hai. Aap unse aur kya cheen sakte ho?" Arnav listes quietly, apparently at a loss of words. Anjali continues, "Unka sach sabke saamne aaye tha. Unki beijjati sabke saamne hui thi. Unki beti ki shaadi bhi usi tarah tooti thi jis tarah 14 saal pehle hamari tooti thi. Kya itna dard unke liye kaafi nahi hai ki tum unhe aur sazaa dena chahte ho, Chotey?" Arnav looks into his sister's grieving eyes. Every word she spoke was hammering his anger into submission.

Anjali gets up and walks to the table beside the recliner. She picks up the rectangular thing and holds it close to her heart. She turns around to look at Arnav. "Jo kuch bhi hua, use badla nahin ja sakta hai Chotey," she repeats what she had said earlier. "Par apni nafrat ko Mumma aur Papa ki pooja par asar mat daalne dena. Please," she requests earnestly and walks out of his room.

Arnav sits alone, digesting his older sister's words of wisdom. Unki khushi unke parivar se hai, aur unka parivar poori tarah bikhar chukka hai. Aap unse aur kya cheen sakte ho? His anger, his sense of revenge is completely washed away listening to Anjali's reasoning. Arnav holds his head in his hands in slumped resignation.

ENGLISH VERSION

Chapter 10 scene 3

[Somewhere undisclosed]

Shyam is carefully working on a piece of paper. Observing the header, it resembles a stamp paper. He slips it into his old type writer and laboriously starts typing. Sitting beside the typewriter on one side are a number of similar looking stamp papers. All of them refer to prime properties in Lucknow as well as Delhi. They to have been kept to let the ink of the fresh typing dry. On a small table next to him bound together carefully are the papers of Purani Haveli that were given to him by Dadi. Above him on the ceiling are thin rope wires stretching across the diagonal of the room. Clipped onto them are exact copies of a single page bearing Arnav Singh Raizada's signatures half way down. Each of those sheets has a different texture as if meant to show different ages of the paper.

Shyam finishes typing and eases out the sheet from the jaws of the typewriter. He slowly reads through its content. Once satisfied, he deposits it along the other sheets next to the typewriter to dry and inserts a fresh new stamp paper into the typewriter. He cracks the bones of his finger and starts the same exercise all over again.

[AR Designs Office, two days later]

Arnav is just finishing up his work for the day and walking out of his cabin when he gets a call on his cellphone. The caller id flashes "Gupta calling". Arnav immediately picks it up.

"Ya Gupta. Did you look into the matter I asked you?" Arnav asks continuing to walk down the stairs as Gupta replies. Arnav suddenly stops in his tracks, startled.

"Are you sure about this?" Gupta seems to confirm. Arnav looks really confused now as if what Gupta has told him doesn't tally with what was going on in his mind.

"Okay thanks. I'll brief you later if I need it to be pursued further." Arnav disconnects the phone and stands still, thinking for a moment as if deciding something. Then he continues walking down the stairs and towards the exit.

His secretary stops him.

"Sir, your banker has requested to have a meeting with you. He called in a few minutes ago," she says. Arnav looks annoyed.

"I'm leaving for the airport with my family in a short while," he snaps. "Tell him I'll set up a meeting with him as soon as I return," Arnav directs to his secretary who nods and writes it down in her notepad. She wishes him a safe journey but he already walks out of earshot by then.

[King George's Hospital, Lucknow]

Garima and Shashi are inside the ward. The nurse is making Sashi lie on his bed and explaining to Garima that they were due to complete a few more pre-op procedures and tests. Payal is at the reception filling up the paperwork. Khushi is outside in the corridor, deep in conversation with the specialists who are going to operate on her father. The general mood around seems optimistic.

With a final nod, Khushi concludes the consultation with the doctors and walks towards the reception to fetch Payal. She looks around into various wards, keeping her eyes busy. The faint smell of medication hovers in the air and she slightly pinches her nose in disgust. She never liked coming to hospitals. They were a scary place for her. Somehow she had witnessed sufferings everytime she'd visited one; the earliest memory being of her parents' being pronounced dead-on-arrival after their accident, the latest being when Bauji had been operated and had been pronounced paralysed.

She sighs slowly. Hospitals were definitely not her happy place.

Suddenly, she feels her arm being shaken. She looks sideways to find Payal, her brows shot up inquiringly.

"Arre jeeji! I was coming to find you. I've had a word with the doctors. The operation is all set to take place on Friday," the two sisters start walking towards the ward where their father was admitted.

They walk in to see their mother sitting by the bed on which their father was lying. Lots of wires were connected to his body leading to various important looking instruments making random beeping sounds. The nurse's eyes narrowed at seeing so many people milling around her patient. Garima smiled at her.

"These are my daughters," she explains proudly. Nurse nods and goes on about her work. As soon as she leaves Shashiji's bedside. Khushi immediately sits herself carefully on the bed. Her father gives her a crooked smile. She reaches for his trembling hand and squeezes it assuringly.

"I've talked to the doctors Bauji. Your operation will happen soon. Actually they are expecting one more specialist to arrive from Mumbai." Shashi blinks and gives a small nod of understanding. The Gupta family sits and talks together for some more time, before the nurse comes back and announces that they should leave now as it was past visiting hours. The three ladies leave with the promise to return the next morning.

[Raizada Mansion]

The house is full of chaos. The Prakash brothers are getting some last minute things gathered together. There are bags of the family members stacked together at the hallway. Mamiji is keeping a count of the luggage and directing an exasperated looking Aakash to write it down in his notebook. Naniji and Dadiji are sitting in the lounge sipping their teas in silence. NK helps Anjali up the stairs to walk to Arnav's room. He then excuses himself to walk back downstairs and start getting the luggage loaded in the cars.

Anjali slowly ambles to Arnav's room. The moment she arrives at the open door, she is startled to see her brother somberly staring out towards the poolside. His bags are neatly kept next to the recliner. A huge rectangular thing wrapped in plain brown paper is sitting on the table next to the recliner. Anjali's gaze goes back to her brother's rigid stance and she slowly walks in to stand next to him. He seems to have sensed her presence.

"One more year has passed Di," his voice is low, spiked with sadness. Anjali's hand reaches up to hold her brother's arm. She slowly keeps her head on his shoulder. Arnav squeezes her hand on his arm.

"I miss them a lot, Di..." he whispers, his voice slightly breaking. Anjali looks up surprised to hear his sad tone. She had been noticing since the past few days that her brother was again being cold shouldered and ready to burst into anger. It was almost like seeing the Arnav of last year that she dreaded. She had no idea what had brought about this change in his behaviour. So, to see the tough exterior of his brother soften after so many days even if it was due to the memory of their parents' death brought a sense of relief to her heart.

"Why do the goodhearted people always depart so soon, Chotey?" she mumbles. Arnav looks down at her and she sees something glinting in his eyes again. Hatred.

"Because there are a lot of people in this world who give pain." He mutters coldly. Anjali winces at the sudden change of tone of her brother.

Anger starts surging in Arnav's veins again. It isn't fair! He thinks to himself. It wasn't fair the way his parents were snatched cruelly away from him so early in life. It wasn't fair that the love he deserved in the formative years of his childhood was denied to him. It wasn't fair that because of the greed of a manipulative woman, so many lives were destroyed, so many dreams brutally crushed. Arnav slowly clenches his fist. All this time he had stopped thinking about Garima, but today as he was wrapping up the photo frame of his parents, the revelations of his past started ringing in his ears again.

Garima is the reason your mother is no longer alive.

She lured your father for his money.

Your father truly loved your mother.

Arnav disengages himself from his sister. Anjali immediately recognizes the perceptible change that has come over her brother's behaviour. He had gone from sensitive to cold in mere minutes. She could feel waves of hateful anger emanating from him as he stood rigid just a few feet from her. Anjali fearfully approaches him again.

"Chotey, whatever has happened we can't change it. We can only accept it as a bitter truth of our past and move on," she tries to reason with him in a soothing voice. Arnav immediately looks sideways at her, his eyes disbelieving.

"Accept it and leave that woman alone?" he asks shocked. "She should be punished for what she has done Di!" his says vehemently. Anjali winces to hear the aggression in her brother's voice. She didn't want him slinking back to the same hateful state of mind that he had been in for the past 14 years. He had finally overcome the hatred and actually started smiling. If he would fall back into that same old phase, it would be impossible dragging him out of it. She holds his hand and guides him slowly to sit on the bed. Arnav does so grudgingly. Anjali looks at him kindly.

"A woman whose husband is paralysed, one of whose daughters has been thrown out of her in-laws' home, the other daughter had her wedding break in front of the whole society, what else can you punish her with, Chotey?" Arnav looks at Anjali, startled to hear her words. "Her happiness is with her family, and her family has now broken down completely. What else can you take away from her now?" Arnav listes quietly, apparently at a loss of words. Anjali continues, "Her truth came out in front of everyone. She was insulted in front of everyone. Her daughter's marriage broke just like mine had 14 years ago. Is all this suffering not enough for her that you want to punish her more, Chotey?" Arnav looks into his sister's grieving eyes. Every word she spoke was hammering his anger into submission.

Anjali gets up and walks to the table beside the recliner. She picks up the rectangular thing and holds it close to her heart. She turns around to look at Arnav. "Whatever happened can not be changed Chotey," she repeats what she had said earlier. "But ensure that your hatred doesn't affect the pooja for our parents. Please," she requests earnestly and walks out of his room.

Arnav sits alone, digesting his older sister's words of wisdom. Her happiness is with her family, and her family has now broken down completely. What else can you take away from her now? His anger, his sense of revenge is completely washed away listening to Anjali's reasoning. Arnav holds his head in his hands in slumped resignation.

NEXT CHAPTER (click)

Writer's note: yeah I know I know, this was a short chapter... I was going through a writer's block after finishing up Saat phere but I had to write otherwise my brain would have stopped working. Next chapter (all three scenes) will be Arnav's POV primarily. yes we are getting to the good part now.

If you are confused about GUPTA I suggest you read the first part of Chapter 8 scene 1 (https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/post/65200037�)

FEEDBACK people! I insist!! 😛 And I am starting a contest now. I hope you remember references to an old trunk in the Purani Haveli. Guess what is in the trunk 😊

cheers!