A ringing silence followed. Khanak continued to look at Shaan, her eyes hardening, as though she dared him to deny what he had just said. But Shaan, for the first time since Khanak had had that car accident, was calm again. He knew he could not take his words back, nor move back himself. He had to move forward; move ahead, take hold of his wife's hand and take her home, where they belonged together. Almost instinctively he moved forward, measuring every step he took till he reached Khanak. He sat on the stool next to her bedside, not removing his eyes from her; neither did she.
"Bai? Kah doh bai-------kah doh kay yay ek----ek mazak hain-----" she breathed, forcing her head to overcome the other strong emotion reigning her. What was that emotion? She asked herself. Why could she not place it? "Baiii-----" she whined desperately, now positively scared at her mother's silence but even more so at her the rush of feelings inside her. Shaan's heart felt a pinch seeing her in misery.
"Yay such hain Khanak---------" Shaan said seriously, while the others looked on. " Pati hoon main tumhara", he did not hold her, did not touch her, just announced it, straight in her shocked face. "Humari shaadi------------"
---Konsi shaadi? " breathed Khanak again " Mairee tumsay shaadi kaisay ho sakti hain ---------" her voice became stronger, it had much more emotion. Shaan looked at her and felt his heart lift inspite of himself. Khanak was talking to him! She was right there, sitting there, talking to him. It did not matter that she hated him;it did not even matter that she had addressed him as 'tum'!All that mattered was that she was right there, inches away, conscious and awake, looking into his eyes and speaking to him. He closed his eyes and thanked God; he felt the world smile at him again. And almost instinctively, as though he had known it all along but had not registered it, he knew that he could make her fall in love with him again. Her eyes were telling him that, something about them spoke, told him that they would love him again.
"Beta!" Khanak's mother spoke up calmly. "Tumhari Shaantanu say shaadi ho chuki hain------kaisay hui-----kyun hui-------yay zaroori nahi hain------------zaroori yay hain kay tum is ki patni ho---------aur iss kay saath----------" but she stopped at a look of warning from Dr. Mitul and Shaan. She was about to say " tum iss kay saath khush ho" but the meaningful look from the 2 men in front of her made her stop. She wondered why they didn't want her to go ahead and tell her that her daughter was happy with Shaan.
"Main tumko sub kuch samjha doon ga Khanak-----" Shaan said evenly and Khanak jerked her head back towards his direction, "Tum ko buhat kuch yaad hain------laikin tum buhat kuch bhool gaee hon------waqt anay par-------"
"Nahi bhoolee hoon-------" Khanak interrupted him sharply. She felt the need to tell him that she had forgotten nothing inspite of the shock that she had just received, which for some reason did not feel like a shock to her. Again and again, her brain told her to yell, scream, go berserk at the information that she had just got; that the man who murdered her husband was now her husband! But her heart or soul or whatever the hell was the other emotion, was telling her to stay calm. WHY was this other emotion SO strong?! Maybe the doctors were right! She really HAD hit her head really hard. But she didn't remember anything. Anything at all. "Main nahi bhoolee hoon" she repeated and continued to speak--------kay tumhari la parwahi ki wajah say-------mainay apnay pati ko haadsay main kho diya tha!"
Her words slashed through Shaan's heart like a knife. He had been expecting this, thought he was prepared for it, but it wasn't to be. Gulping, as though drinking in all his pain, swallowing it, he looked at her straight in the eyes again. She looked away but only for a split second. He was not allowing her to lose contact with his eyes! How was he doing it? She asked herself desperately, almost on the verge of crying.
"Toh tum maanti ho------" he breathed, "tum maanti ho------kay woh ek haadsa tha?-------" he said his voice suddenly stronger. "Haan?"
Khanak looked at him with mingled disbelief and intrigue. He was doing it again! He was, knowingly or unknowingly, making the 'other' emotion stronger. Her brain sought to fight, but found itself weak in front of it. Very weak. She forced herself to look away and closed her eyes tightly. When she opened her mouth to speak again, she realized no words came out of it. But she wasn't going to give up so easily, she thought. Try as he may, she was not going to allow this man that she hated rule her mind, body and soul.
"Nahi----wohh----tumhari laparwahi thee!" she breathed. "Tum nay ek jaan lee thee----tum nay------"
"Laikin uss din jub main tum say mandir may mila tha---------" Shaan interrupted her but spoke softly. Khanak stopped talking immediately. "-------toh tum nay toh--------iss baat ko maana tha---------kay wohhh ek haadsa tha---------tum nay mera saath diya thaa--------" his voice was now barely a whisper but Khanak had heard him. And what he had said had unnerved her. She recalled that day a year and a half ago, though it seemed like just the previous day to her, that day in the mandir that she had seen Shaan harassed and miserable, had poured his heart out to her, had accepted his mistake, had took her advice and taken the steps to rectify it, had become a bigger person. "Khanak----" Shaan whispered again and she jumped, coming out of her reverie of that fateful day.
"Shaan that's enough---" Shaan heard Dr. Mitul's voice. Khanak averted Shaan's eyes even as he looked deep into them, attempting to speak yet again. He looked at Dr. Mitul, finally breaking his eye contact with Khanak, took a deep breath and got up. He looked at Khanak again who pointedly looked away. He smiled a little. Her 'Nakhra' phases are still the same, he thought elatedly. All of a sudden he was beginning to feel quite light headed.
"Tum kal discharge ho jao gee-----" he said to Khanak. "Uss kay baad tum ghar chalo gee----" he announced.
"Main tumharay ghar NAHI chaloo gee!" she said loudly and angrily.
"We'll see" Shaan said calmly.
"Kya?!!" Khanak said annoyed.
"Errr----mera mutlub-------Hum dekh laingay!" he translated and slowly left the room, leaving Khanak staring after him, completely nettled.
Dr. Mitul followed Shaan outside the room and caught up with him. "Shaan! Wait up!"
"Yea" Shaan said, turning around swiftly.
"You okay there buddy?" Mitul asked, looking at his calm and composed friend and getting concerned.
"Yeaa----I'm fine-----I'm just----" he said placing his hand on his chin and rubbing it, apparently in deep thought. "It's going to be difficult------"
"Hmmm---You'll need to work hard to get bhabhi's memory back, I agree." Mitul said knowledgeably.
"No---not that! That seems like a piece of cake now! I was talking about something else" Shaan replied.
"What?!! What could be more difficult than this?!" Mitul asked, completely confused.
"Teaching her English all over again!" Shaan announced matter-of-factly, and continued walking, leaving a chuckling Dr.Mitul behind him.
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25th October 2011, 12:30, Mitul's office
"So hang on! I don't get it" Natasha said confused. The doctors and the Khandelwal family were all there in Mitul's office in the hospital. "If you guys have already told Khanak that she was married to Shaan, why can't you tell her that she was happy with Shaan, that they were going to have a baby?!" As soon as she said it she realized what she had said. She glanced at Shaan, who looked at her for a split second, then turned his attention back to Mitul. Natasha felt extremely guilty. Shaan felt fresh stabs of pain at the word "were" uttered by Natasha. But he quickly waived that out of his mind and heart. His attention was on other vital things at the moment. He could not afford to get carried away with his grief, he thought.
Mitul sighed. "Because Tasha it doesn't work that way. Whereas we could tell Bhabhi that she was married to Shaan we cannot tell her that she was going to have a baby with him because of the intricacies involved in her case. Essentially, when a person loses a part, or should I say a portion of his or her memory, it is wise to create circumstances that allow the person to regain their memory in chronological order; that is, regain it step by step, from the point at which it was lost. Usually, and as we have seen the proof in bhabhi's case too, a person suffering from partial amnesia himself regains his memory in sequential order without any disturbances, but the condition is if and ONLY if, attempts are not made to forcefully make the person recall events that go out of order from the point of time the person has lost his memory. If that happens, then there arise gaps in the process of regaining memory, which is not advisable, since not only does it hinder the flow of events or instances regained in chronological order, but also has HUGE chances of resulting in trauma for the affected person. And consequently result in the person's nervous system to completely break down." Mitul finished and looked at Shaan, who seemed to be drinking in every word that he spoke.
"So you're saying that if you tell Khanak she was pregnant, she may face further trauma and that may affect her brain ?" Natasha asked.
"It may----" agreed Mitul. " We just saw bhabhi exhibit dislike, close to hatred for Shaan---" he glanced at Shaan sheepishly and continued. " If in such circumstances we tell her that she was having a baby with Shaan, not only will she go through the trauma of losing a part of her but it will also affect her brain extremely harshly if she is not able to recall-----ermmm----- the events that led her to have a baby with him----since we know that she will believe such a preposition is nowhere near to possible if she hates him" he concluded, now avoiding Shaan's eyes.
But Shaan was getting bothered by something else. "But Mitul-----" he paused, then continued, making up his mind to speak. "Surely Khanak will notice-----I mean medically-----she would know something is wrong with her body--" He felt this was as close to straightforward as he could be, with his parents in the room. Fortunately, Mitul understood what Shaan was talking about and looked a bit embarrassed.
"I've handled that Shaan" Dr. Geeta came forward and spoke up, looking straight at him. "I have explained to Khanak that it is the result of the accident and that I will be giving her appropriate medical treatment for what's happening in her body."
"Right!" Shaan said distracted, and looked back at Mitul.
"Uncle-----Aunty-----is everything clear?" Mitul asked Madhvi and Sunil. Both of them nodded numbly. He looked at Shaan.
"Listen buddy-----I can see a hundred percent positive signals in bhabhi's condition. She recalled a single event just 48 hours after she gained consciousness! She will recall all the other ones too trust me! "he said to a nodding Shaan. "ALL you need to be careful of is that she does not find out about ANY facts or events in her life which are out of chronological order. Tell all your relatives. Everyone who will be in touch with her. She CANNOT find out anything that goes out of sequence. Make sure you remove ALL the signs in the house that would make her suspicious. All of them!"
"Okay---" Shaan said determinedly. He didn't say it but he knew what he had to do. He had to start all over again. Right from square one. He had to MAKE Khanak fall in love with him again, this time much more systematically than the last. He smiled as the thought entered his head. What the heck am I talking about?! I didn't even REALISE when I fell in love with her the last time, he laughed in his head.
Mitul looked at Natasha who looked back at him. "Tasha. You know what to do." Natasha nodded half determined, half unsure.
Shaan looked confused. "What are you talking about?" he asked Mitul.
"Shaan, Natasha should move into your house."
"WHAT?! No Mitul it's not needed-------I ----"Shaan began but Mitul interrupted him.
"Listen to me Shaan. I am confident that within a few days Bhabhi will remember that she married you. And that is where Tasha will come in. It is essential that bhabhi has Tasha around to recall what happened in her life when you married her. You know that right?"
"What if she doesn't remember?" Shaan asked wildly. "What if she wants to leave me?! What if she wants to go back to Dhulwadi?!" he panicked.
Mitul rolled his eyes. "As if you'll let her!" he said matter-of-factly and went over to pour himself into his file again as Shaan looked on.
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26th October 2011, 09:15, Khanak's discharge room.
Khanak winced in pain and reached for her abdomen instinctively as she walked back to her bed in the hospital room, with the support of her mother. A tear flowed down her eye and she shut both her eyes bitterly, thinking that if she would it would lessen the pain. Somehow and she could not place how she knew, she felt that something was missing in her, like a part of her had decided to move out, leaving an empty feeling in her. She supposed it was the loss of Suraj. Suraj, who was so dear to her, who she could still see vividly when she shut her eyes but who she could not feel. Bizzare, she said to herself. Had living a year and a half without him made her oblivious to the fact that he was always around her? Maybe it had. A year and a half was a long time, she reflected, then closed her eyes as more tears flowed. Why was she crying? She wondered. At the loss of Suraj or the loss of something else? Even though her brain told her it was the former, her heart told her it was the latter. She felt she'd go mad trying to understand herself.
Her mother kept looking at her and sniffed, finding it difficult to control her emotions. Khanak looked at her tiredly.
"Bai---main theek hoon---" she said unconvincingly. "Bai----kya main----kya main-----" she wanted to ask her; she HAD to ask her; ask her whether she was happy with Shaantanu. She was still unable to work out what her feelings had been when he had been talking to her. Was it really hate? Or was it indifference? Or was it pure annoyance? Or was it something else? "Bai----kya main----"
"Khanak! " Dr. Geeta entered the room. Khanak quickly wiped her tears. "Tumhara discharge hogaya hain!" she smiled. "Ub tum ghar ja sakti hon! Tumhara parivaar tumhara baahir intezaar kar raha hain." She held Khanak's hand and took her outside.
"Laikin? Khanak protested, but kept quiet at the look that her mother gave her.
Madhvi, Sunil, Akshay, Khushboo (who had returned from America the previous night) and Dadi were all standing there, looking at her happily. Khanak scanned the crowd in front of her, her eyes searching. And as her eyes looked from left to right at the unfamiliar faces, she noticed that 'he' wasn't there. It made her feel weird, as though she was losing out on something. And then all of a sudden her mind gasped in horror at the realization that her eyes were looking for him. They had been looking for him the instant she had stepped out of the room. Looking for Shaantanu.
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Indian Mythology
Chakravarti Samrat Prithviraj Chauhan
Shiv Shakti
