EPISODE 3
Coughing like crazy trying to evade all the dust before her eyes, Tara tries to see the guy who had fallen over her from the tree. Unkempt unusually long hai, an unshaven beard, eyes wide open, he wore the most peculiar expression like that of a child who had been caught cheating in the exams. Straight out of the mental asylum?
Tara exclaims in a very angry tone "Pagal! Pata nahi kahan se aa gaya! Ab utho!!!!!"
But the words had no effect. He seemed somewhat lost, into Tara's eyes. And we gradually see a faint smile come on his face.
"Koi Tameez hai ki nahi tum mein?" Tara pushes him away and sits up dusting herself. The guy is still staring at her and what we hear is...
"Sabr ka phal hota hai meetha, par ye to besabr hone ka nazraana hai...
Aisi haalat mein battameez na hone ka, kahan hamare paas koi bahana hai!"
He says while simultaneously picking up up one of the fallen apple and dusts it to have a bite.
Tara looks back with a WTH kind of an expression to him
"Oye ullu ke patthe! Kuch hosh bhi hai kya bake jaa raha hai" she stands up while stil giving him another dose of her temper, "Kya soch ke aaye the, abhi bulayein police ko? Do chaar dande padenge to saari akal thikaane aa jayegi"
The guy is still sitting and changes his pose to a more relaxed one reclining his back to the apple tree and says, "Hum kyon uthe? Ye pedh to hamara hai!"
Tara: "Accha??"
Guy with a cool expression :"Haan? Humne apne sabse acche dost ke saath is bachpan mein lagaya tha, ki jab bade ho jayenge to saath milkar iske seb khayenge. Jaana hai to tum jaao?"
Tara: "Tu na chori karte karte apne dimag ke screw kahin bhool aaya hai, tujhe to police he thik karegi!"
She grabs his arm to drag him and then a voice is heard from a distance "Mrityunjay..."
The guy looks in that direction, his eyes widen and he throws the apple which he was about to bite, which lands on Tara's toes. She lets out a shrill groan of pain and lets go of his arm, which he uses to his advantage and runs in the direction from where the voice came shouting "Aaya Radha..."
Tara is somewhat shocked with the injury, and then realizes the names she had heard, "Mrityunjay? Radha? kahi Ye Mrityunjay Shekhawat to nahi?"
She tries to chase him and sees him go up to a young girl who was coming that way, "Tum bahar kaise nikal aaye, pata hai na Dadi ne dekh liya ghar se bahar to kitni pitai hogi? Chalo ghar abhi, isse pehle ki koi dekhe"
She looks around here and there to see if somebody had been watching them, Tara notices this and hides herself, and then she grabs his hand to take him away but he protests, "Thode seb hi to khaane ka mann kiya tha to aa gaya, koi nahi aata milne mujhse, tum bhi sirf do baar aati ho khaana lekar"
She replies, "Kyun nahi samajhte Mrityunjay, tumhe abhi bahar nahi nikaal sakte, tumhari tabiyat thik nahi hai" and then to herself "Tumhare saath wo saare raaz bhi bahar aa jayenge to Shekhawat parivaar ne apne andar kahin chupa rakhe hain"
Then he hits back, "Sab log bahut gande hain, koi mere baat nahi sunta, tum bhi nahi, aur kya mujhe Mrityunjay kehti rehti ho, Jay kaha karo na, Maa kitne pyaar se hume Jay bulati thi mujhe, Radha Maa ki bahut yaad aati hai..."
He keeps speaking like a never ending orator as the girl takes him away and his voice fades out.
"To ye? Ye Mrityunjay hai, Mrityunjay Shekhawat? Aur wo ladki? Radha? Unke Maali ki beti" Tara tries to put two and two together, "Shakal se kitne masoom lagte hain ye saare, par haqeeqat to kuch aur hi hai, aur ye kis raaz ki baat kar rahe the? Kisi tarah inke ghar mein pahuch jaaon to kuch pata chal sakta hai" she decides and leaves the place.
On the pretext of thanking the Shekhawat's for helping Neel, Tara convinces him to pay a visit to them. They go to their house which is more or less like a palace, unlike other houses there. Tara inspects every corner with an ironical and hateful look and soon they reach the living room where a tall middle-aged man with a stern look on his face and Neel says, "Namaste Ranvijay ji". Tara does the same in an unwanted way and they sit down.
As Neel and Ranvijay chat on how things are at Bhopal, Tara keeps looking in the entire place to get a glance of Mrityunjay whom she had seen that morning.
Neel notices this and asks "Kya dhoondh rahi ho Tara?"
Tara covers up, "Kuch nahi bas is shandar haveli ko dekh rahe the ki kitni sundar hai"
Neel and Ranvijay's chat is interrupted by the entry of a little boy with a card in his hand which looked like his report-card, and Ranvijay calls the boy "Ansh, result aa gaya hai na? idhar dikhao"
Ansh comes to him trembling as if it was mid-winter with freezing temperatures and hands the card over to Ranvijay. One glance at it and his expressions change.
He picks up a cane and begins hitting Ansh incessantly accompanied with a lot of scolding. Tara finds the sight awful and advances to stop him, but Neel stops her "Ranvijay ji ka gussa tum shayad janti nahi, bataya tha na humne tumhe inse poora gaon darta hai"
But then someone else stops him, "Ranvijay bas karo, jaan loge iski?" Tara hears a woman's voice which sounded more or less like thunder.
Ranvijay is in no mood to listen, "Nahi Maa, phir se itne kam number, aur Maths mein fail? Do chaar nahi pade to ye aur bigadega"
A lady enters, about 60-70, she looked too sturdy for her age. Her face showed firmness and a huge sense of pride.
She holds Ranvijay's hand and pulls Ansh behind her back saying, "Bas kar muye.. Maths na hua jung ho gayi uske liye itna maroge ise?"
Ranvijay: "Baat Maths ki nahi maa izzat ki hai, poore class mein apni beizzati karwa kar aaya hai, headmaster ne agar bulwaya to kis mooh se jaunga, Shekhawat pariwar ka naam mitti mein..."
Kalavati interrupts instantly "Socha bhi kaise tumne Ranvijay ki is pariwar ki izzat is muye Maths ke numbaron pe tiki hai? Koi kisi Headmaster ke bacche mein himmat nahi ki wo humko bulaye. Milna hogato wo kudh aayega!"
Ranvijay: "Par aayega to sahi? Aapko hi bada shauk tha na ki ghar ka baccha padhe likhe. Mrityunjay ke liye koshish bhi ki thi na? Aur kya hua? Wo bewakoof saare paise us maali ki beti Radha ko de aaya, use bheja sheher, aur dekha na ki???"
Kalavati interrupts again glancing at Tara and Neel who were standing there "Muh band karega? Jab zabaan khulti hai teri to rukne ka naam nahi leti. Ye padhega, zaroor padhega, kaise bhi, hai na Ansh" and looks at the kid lovingly
"Par kya karega, koi to padhata nahi ise? Is gaon mein kaun hai itne padha likha ki ise padhaaye?"
It was an opportunity for Tara now and she grabbed it, "Main???"
Everyone began looking at her and she spoke further, "Haan main padha sakti hoon ise, Maths aur baaki sab bhi"
Neel found it as a way to pay back, "Haan haan, Tara padha degi Ansh ko, agar Daadi ji ko koi aitraaz na ho"
Kalavati looked convinced, she declared, "Kal se aa jana, shaam ke waqt Ansh ke school ke baad"
The trio takes the leave of the Shekhawats and Tara returns home with an expression of satisfaction on her face that she had finally found her access into their residence and the first door to her path of revenge had opened.