Next day morning was a busy affair at modi bhavan... everyone making arragments for the pooja... all were dressed in light coloured cloths... all modi men in kurta pajama.. and ladies in light colored sarees and bear
minimum jewellery...
here at shah house everyone got ready to leave, jeetubhai had informed everyone abt the pooja the previous day... urmila as usual made a fuss abt it but agreed to attend she didnt want to miss a single chance of not visiting modi house... she was anyway riding high these days due to the lottery money... she was all decked up and ready to leave... she was taunted by kinjal abt her dressing but she didnt listen...
jeetubhai by now had given up on her without uttering any word he left the house with dhaval and others followed...
at modi bhavan everything was laid out and everyone were waiting for shah family and panditji... first the shah family arrived... everyone was shocked to see urmila overly dressed up... no one bothered to comment...
urmila greeted rashi how are you seeet hartt and ignored gopi completely... ahem was watching this from distance...
kokila gave her a stare... soon baa arrived and shah family greeted her... baa saw urmila and said annoyingly "urmila didnt anyone tell you that we are having barsi pooja for gopi's parent's and not someones wedding
anniversary.. why are you so dressed up... it doesnt look proper... you shuld have thought abt gopi's sentiment if not anything else... i suggest you shuld change yr saree, rashi give your mom a sober saree to change
and be back quickly... we will have panditji coming soon... "
urmila couldnt utter a word and left with rashi to change kokila was watching them closely... once in the room rashi got angry "mummy what is this didnt you know you were coming for foi fua's barsi...
why did you dress up like this you are too much... " urmila interrupted " rashi you too... you have chnaged so much... that gawar has cast an evil spell on my daughter.. she is going against me...
rashi shouted "mummy enough now.. do you even realise what we have done to gopi.. dont you remember we had createdd such a big blunder on her birthday.. we only told her that it was her parents death anniversary...
and we made her feel that she was unlucky and what not... i feel ashamed of myself mom.. how did i do all this... how could i play with her emotions in this way... " it was than urmila realised what they have done...
until previous day she this kalakari of hers never struck her... thats the reason when jeetubhai informed them abt this pooja she made a face but didnt bother much... she was way into her lottery money
these days to think of anything else...
rashi continued "now take this saree and change soon and come down and behave normally"... she left the room with shocked urmila...
here in the hall everyone was waiting for panditji to arrive... modi men were standing in a corner and talking abt their new project in a nearby town surajkund... they were talking abt building hospital and
few other buildings with local civic body help... it was an upcoming town with lots of potential... they were going to meet mr. patel on monday and acquire some plots and surrounding area for the construction...
Jeetubhai was standing nearby and heard this... suddenly he got into thinking mood... (what was he thinking !!!)
That moment doorbell rang and panditji arrived... everyone greeted him... and apologised for being little late...
Urmila also came after changing her saree with her face down... she was abt to speak to gopi when ahem arrived and asked gopi to join for pooja...
Everyone sat for the shanti path pooja...
Panditji started the pooja and made ahem and gopi sit in front to conduct the rituals... pooja went on well and this time rashi made sure that her mom wasnt up to anything nasty...
ahem was timely watching gopi and made sure that she was holding herself... their eyes communicated each's feelings so well...
at the end everyone stood up and gopi and ahem took panditji's blessing... he turned to ahem "ahem beta i have done lot of shanti paths in my life... many people do it just as a ritual but today i saw how deeply you
and gopi were involved in it... i feel blessed to conduct this pooja for you... sons do this after their parents but you must be the first one to do it after your in laws... i am very happy and i will pray for you that you will
be successful in every task of yours... "
Everyone was proud of ahem and most was gopi... she could not believe her ahemji had agreeded to do this pooja... she could not control her tears anymore... baa consoled her and so did everyone...
panditji left soon... and urmila spoke "gopi beta (with crocodile tears) i am very sorry i had misunderstood the dates and put you in trouble on your birthday... mane maaf kari de" Gopi replied "its ok mami never mind"
urmil turned to baa "baa thank you so much for keeping this pooja... but if i was told i would have arranged this pooja nicely at our home too... you had to take unecessary pains... "
kokila blasted " urmilaben first try and remember your nanand's and her husband death anniversary well and then think abt the pooja... and biji vaat their daughter gopi and son ahem are there to take care of
all this so you need not worry hence forth.."
chirag also chipped in angrily " kokila theek keh rahi hai urmilaben you should think twice before what you speak.. gopi is like yr own daughter how can behave like this with her... "
hetal just called everyone to have lunch...
modis and shahs had lunch... after lunch dhaval stood up and said he had to leave for work he greeted gopi and kept a caring hand on her head and left... urmila also made a face and left with dhaval...
kinjal said she will help everyone windup and come home later... kinjal went to her room to freshenup she just needed a reason to stay long at mm ...
modis were also abt to leave.. ahem said "kaka give me 10 mins i will quickly change and get my bag we will leave togother"
modi ladies greeted jeetubhai and returned to kitchen to cleanup...
chirag spoke "ahem beta there isnt much to do at office and half the day has gone... jigar and i will handle few things and will be back soon... i think you shuld be with gopi today
do one thing after sometime take her to temple to do darshan... also do some daan to poor there... this will give gopi some peace of mind...
you can work on surajkund project by sitting home today and we will catch up in the evening.. "
jigar assured "bhai papa theek keh rahe hain... you shuld be with bhabhi we handle everything... dont worry and i will call if there is anything needed"
ahem felt happy unknowingly... he didnt mind it at all... !!!
jeetubhai joined them with parag ... jeetubhai folded his hands and spoke "aap sab ne aaj iss pooja to apne ghar rakh ke bahut accha kiya.. i am very thankful to all of you..."
parag said "dont worry jeetubhai it was our duty to take care of gopi she is our daughter too... "
jeetubhai said " aap sab ka khoob dhanyavad... main zara ek baat kehna chahta tha.. "
"ji mamaji kahiye.. " ahem spoke lovingly...
"jamaiji chiragji i just happened to hear your conversation today morning abt yr upcoming project at surajkund... i guess you guys are visting this place on monday...
i wanted to make a request... can you all come down to surajkund on saturday morning and stay there for 2 days with the entire family... its a beautiful town with serene views and plenty places to look
around it has an ancient mandir too... i will make all the arrangements for staying... it will be good change for both families...
you have done so much for us... please let me do something this time.. this town isnt very far we will reach in less than 2 hours so wont be trouble for baa to travel with us..."
parag loved the idea immediately... and so did others...chirag chipped in " jeetubhai i have also heard about this place but never got a chance to visit it... i think it will be a welcomed change.."
so it was decided by the men that we will leave on saturday morning with families... everyone needed some break...
parag voluntered to inform baa kokila and hetal about thier upcoming outing...
jeetubhai greeted everyone and left so did chirag and jigar... ahem left for his room too..
just before entering his room... he saw kinjal... he wanted to speak to her on something... he walked towards her and asked her to follow him in her room...
kinjal was wondering what did bhai want to talk about she followed him surprisingly...
once in her room... kinjal spoke "bhai what is it... you wanted to speak to me..."
ahem removed a letter from his pocket and showed her "kinjal do have any idea abt this letter... " he handed the letter to her and asked her to read...
this was the same letter that kinjal had written to gopi before marriage with ahem's name and telling her about anita and how he loves her and doesnt want to marry gopi...
telling gopi not to come to the madap during wedding... ahem had read this letter before when gopi had showed him... but he was so mad at her during those days that he didnt even
bother to know who had written this letter and why... when he looked at this letter the previoous day... he starting thinking that who must have written this... the writings on that letter seemed familiar to him...
reading it and seeing the writings again and again his doubt was getting confirmed that this letter was writing by kinjal... after returning from office the previoous day
he had been to her room and took out one of her notebook to check the writings... they matched..
here kinjal was shocked to see and read the letter. she knew she was the one who had written it... ahem spoke auhtoritively "would you like to tell me about this letter... i think you owe me an explanation... "
kinjal fumbled " wo...wo bhai i ... i...dont know anything about all this... why are you asking me... i am reading this for first time.. believe me.. "
ahem fumed "stop that kinjal and tell me the truth.. no one knew abt anita except you and mom... mom wouldnt hv written this.. which leaves you and i know your writings pretty well kinjal...
so now tell me truth... why did you write the letter... who asked you to do all this... i am shocked you could do something like this... and that too using my name how dare you..."
kinjal " but bhai i did this for you... i knew how much u loved anita... i knew you would never be happy with gopi... so i wrote to her informing abt anita and told her to stay away from this marriage...
wouldnt it be better if had not turned for marriage... you would have married anita and i would have been happy with umang... what i knew that gopi didnt know how to read...
and now we both are stuck with these gawars... !!!
"kinjalll how dare you... how can you talk like that... you still have feelings for that umang who betrayed you... cant you see it was dhaval who agreed to marry you even after knowing all of your drama...
and did i ask you to send any letter on my behalf... it was my life and i can handle it... i havent given you any right to interfere in any of my matter... "
Kinjal said "oh bhai come on i was just trying to save you from that gopi... and why are you feeling so bad about her... "
Ahem fumed "kinjalll... have you for got your manners... how dare you address gopi like that... dont you forget she is you sister in law... do i need to remind you again...
and abt feeling bad its between me and her .. i repeat again dont interfere in my matters... behave in your limits... and leaveee "
kinjal stormed out the room... ahem still didnt knew abt the jwellery incident else kinjal would have been dead by now...
ahem stood there blank thinking 'wasnt kinjal right when did i start feeling bad abt her'... it was a big eye opener question for ahem...
his eyes went to that letter again... there was something still bugging him... in the letter it was written that he loved anita then who told gopi that i loved her and wanted to marry her... thinking hard he realised that
gopi couldnt read at that point of time.. .so most likely rashi must have read it for gopi and told her another lie... "oh this rashiii..." he fumed again
but he wasnt really angry this time.. he thought himself what would have happened if gopi knew he loved anita and wouldnt turn up for the wedding... a shiver went through his spine...
he thought unkowingly rashi had done a good thing and smiled...
he entered the room found gopi sitting there as usual with some work... he noticed she never sits idle... gopi was surprised to see him.. she got up took her pallu and questioned "ji aap office nahi gaye... "
ahem replied calmly " no gopi there isnt much work today so kaka and jigar offered to handle it... they suggested we visit the temple today... would you like to go..."
gopi's face brightened "ji i will get ready quickly"... ahem smiled back...
soon they were driving towards temple... gopi was quite throughout and ahem could stop gazing at her...
at the temple ahem had let gopi decide what she wanted to do... prayer, pooja, aarti, daan etc... finally they took prasad and started moving... he found a peaceful expression on her face..
in the car while driving back... gopi seemed to lost in thoughts... this time ahem decided to speak.. "gopi stop thinking too much abt your mami and sister.. its pointless... everything will be fine have faith in..." he stopped
he wanted to speak his name but couldnt ... controlling he said "have faith in kanaji..."
he sopke further" gopi you have never mentioned anything about your childhood... i would like to hear some of your stories... tell me.."
gopi couldnt speak... ahem looked at her again... she choked and spoke "ji wo i hardly remember anything... just a few... i lived very happily with my parents... in a small but beautiful house with wonderful surroundings...
mom would sing very well... and dad would make me learn sanskrit shlokas... and after that unfateful day incident... my memories have gone blank "
ahem "its ok gopi dont stress... " they were almost home...
when they entered meethi opened the door and kokila and hetal were sitting on the sofa... kokila was surprised to see them...
kokila questioned "where did you guys go... i thought ahem was at office and gopivahu was in her room.. "
ahem spoke" mom i had taken gopi to the temple to do the darshan... " hetal spoke happily "thats was very thoughtful ahem... i am very happy to know you guys went to temple on this day... "
this stopped kokila from further questioning
ahem turned to gopi "gopi i am going to the room have to work on few things... could you please get me my green tea... " gopi nodded "ji abhi lai"...
gopi left for kitchen and ahem to their room...
leaving kokila confused... she ordered meethi to make tea for everyone... just then parag entered with baa and rashi came from terrace bringing dried clothes with her...
parag sopke" kokila, motabhabhi baa, i forgot to mentioned you something... " kokila questioned "kya ahem ke papa.. "
parag continued "arrey today morning after pooja when jeetubhai was leaving he offered us to visit surajkund over the weekend and stay there a couple of days... its a nearby town you must have heard about it...
its a pretty place with beautiful atmosphere... "
kokila objected "how is it possible.. what abt office ahem motabhai and jigar has office to attend..."
"kokila motabhai ahem and jigar are anyway traveling to this place on monday... they are about to finalise a new project in this town... jeetubhai just happened to hear about this and requested us to come
down couple of days before so both the family can spend some time together... " parag spoke
baa liked the idea" thats a good idea parag... i think we must go..." parag happily said "ji baa and jeetubhai said he will arrange for stay and everything... also there is an ancient temple to visit..
baa you will like that place too.."
baa was excited "kokila we must go... its a good break... i am looking forward to it..."
hetal like a happy bunny jumped "yes baa we will enjoy... kokila dont worry ... jeetubhai is a responsible person... he will arrange everything ... and since entire family is together we will have fun...
we will prepare some dry snacks and stuff to carry... "
kokila agreed but was amused how come jeetubhai all of a sudden thought to visit this place...
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to be continued
Cricket
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
