Part-6:
Laksh was in a confused state. Omi's words were reverberating in his mind. He couldn't even think of a possibility of what omi had said. "No way, ragini is the one who is telling the truth. My eyes can't lie. I saw the video in which swara herself accepted everything."
Some minutes before:'
L: "okay omi, I better be going. Bye."
O: "but lucky, I still can't believe that swara betrayed u! I mean she had sent u the video, but I don't know why I still feel that it is artificial."
L: "omi, that's because you don't know the real swara. She is not the one u know."
O: "really lucky. So do u think that u know her really well?"
L: "what are you trying to say omi? Are you meaning that swara is dudh ka dulha and ragini is the one who did all that?"
O: "arey yaar, calm down. When did I ever tell that? I am just saying that, there might be something than what meets the eye. There is a famous proverb yaar, "sometimes what u see can be deceptive, sometimes what u hear can be deceptive, but the thing which can assure u of truth is only the thorough investigation of the whole matter." This is what I am trying to say. So may be or may not be swara is innocent amidst all this."
L: "stop confusing me omi. Swara herself clarified and accepted that whatever she said in the video was true. And ..." laksh was overwhelmed with emotions when he recalled those events when swara had come to his house after the misplaced marriage.
O: "What I wanted to say was, as far as I know, swara is someone who doesn't say what she thinks directly. So I thought there might be some other reason and nothing else because everything feels so unreal. And she has been repeating this too many times."
L: "no omi. She is just acting. She betrayed me in the name of love and now is all set to destroy me life. That's it. I hate her and nothing else."
O: "If u really want to move on, clarify on what u want to believe and act upon. You just can't be wasting your life on hating her right? There are always two sides to a problem yaar. Try to find if seriously there is something more than what meets the eye. You seem so unreal to me lucky. The now you, is not someone who I know or knew. It's your life you have to decide. Okay lucky lets end this topic here."
Laksh's mind was totally in turmoil. Omi's words were starting to have effect on him. He doubted his own belief now. May be or may not be..."
***
As per their plan, they were waiting for ragini to make the first move. They were expecting her to do something so that some kind of proof will evolve. But she was silent. So they came to a conclusion that may be there is no proof at all.
S: "looks like, our plan has failed. As far as I noticed she is just being worried and nothing else. If there was something really she would be doing something by now na."
Sanskaar was in a deep thought. He couldn't believe that they were meeting another dead end. At that time he received a call. It was omi.
Sa: "yes omi, tell me."
...
Sa: "okay I ll meet you there."
Sa: "swara, I have to go out to meet omi. So am leaving now. I will be back asap."
Swara nodded her head.
Ragini was unable to relax. After hearing the conversation between swara and sanskaar, she was slightly scared. If they would collect any evidence then nothing could help her, not even her good girl image. She clearly knew that there was this one particular evidence which could turn against her. It was the SD card which swara had used when she made sanskaar speak the truth. She had not even told sanskaar about this. She was dying to talk to her dadi. Other than her only her dadi knew about it. She had to make sure that it was safe. As there was no one at home, she could get caught by sanskaar or swara. She had to talk to her dadi maa before laksh came home. At that moment she saw sanskaar going out. She thought that it was her moment. When she came down to check upon what swara was doing, she saw her going into the storeroom. She quietly went behind her and locked the store room from outside. If swara eavesdropped on her then everything would go wrong. She couldn't afford any more mistakes. To be on the safer side, if swara would bang on the door, she turned on music in the hall. She then went to her room to talk to her dadi. But it was her dad who picked the phone up.
Swara went into the store room to take oil packet. She decided to cook for dinner as ragini was not leaving her room. After taking the packet when she turned, she treaded upon a sack which made her fall making the oil packet fall down and burst open. "ahh, cha" now she had to clean it as soon as possible so that the oil doesn't spoil anything else. When she tried opening the door, she couldn't. She then figured that someone had locked from outside. She banged on the door, but no use. She called out to ragini but she couldn't hear any other sound of approaching. She didn't even have her phone with her. So that meant she will have to wait until sanskaar returned home. She got an idea. She opened the window to give voice to watchman. But he was also not in sight. So she decided to wait. Before she could do anything the oil had begun to spread.
The watchman who was in duty as proxy had the habit of smoking. Rajesh bhaiyaa had strictly told him not to smoke during duty hours as maheshwaris wouldn't like that. But he couldn't resist himself. So he went to the nearby shop to get it, so that atleast he could have it once everyone slept. he returned soon so that no one would notice his absence. Having the packet made it impossible for him to resist the urge. He finally decided to have a smoke. So he went a little inside near the lawn so that no one would notice him. he had only taken two puffs when he heard the car honk. He in a hurry didn't know what to do now. He saw a nearby window open and then he chucked the cigarette butt in a hurry through the window without even thinking twice. It was laksh who had returned home.
It all happened so fast. The cigarette butt which the watchman had thrown through, was the store room's window. It fell on the oil which had started to spread. The nearby curtain caught on fire. Since swara was standing near the door, she didn't notice that. Only after a moment she sensed smoke. By that time two big curtains and the shelf curtain had got on fire. She was shocked. She didn't know how it all happened. She didn't know what to do. She started banging on the door for help.
Laksh received a call when he was about to enter the house. It was his secretary. He spoke with him for 2 mins. When he entered the house he could hear the loud devotional music. He thought why it was on full sound and called out for ragini but she nowhere in sight. The moment he stopped the music he could hear the banging of the door. He could understand where it was coming from. He then sensed smoke was coming from the storeroom which was behind the stairs. He then realized that the noise was coming from there. Then he recognized swara's voice crying for help. The moment he heard her helpless voice, his whole body shook realizing the fact that she was stuck in fire.
"SWARA..." he screamed. He only knew that he had to rescue her at all costs. He ran towards the store room.
Bgm: darmiyaan.
Lafzon se jot ha pare
Khaalipan ko jo bare
Kuch tto tha tere mere darmiyaan...
He noticed that the door was locked from outside. But even after that he couldn't open it. The door was stuck due to fire. He burst it open by dashing against it.
By the noise of his screaming ragini came out of room only to find laksh running towards the burning store room.
The curtains near by the door were on fire shielding the fire. Laksh didn't mind anything and just went past it searching for swara.
Rishte ko kya mod doon
Naata yeh abb tod doon
Ya phir yun hi chod doon, darmiyaan...
Due to the fire, the plastic dabbas had melted and the masala items too aggravated the fire making swara faint due to the strong incense. She was lying near the rice sacks which hadn't yet started to catch fire.
He rushed to her to make sure that she was okay. He shook her and checked her pulse. Seeing her lying down speechless like that brought tears to his eyes. He took her in his arms, held her close to his chest and rushed to the exit. He wanted to make sure that she was safe.
Benaam rishta woh...
Benaam rishta woh, bechain karta jo
Ho naa..sake jo bayaan, darmiyaan...
The watchman informed that he had already called the fire service and ambulance. Laksh signaled ragini to bring some water. He couldn't be at peace until he would see swara okay. He splashed water over swara's face and slapped her cheeks to make her awake. Swara then coughed and opened her eyes lightly. Laksh was relieved to see her open her eyes and hugged her in relief.
When sanskaar reached home, he could see that something was happening in the house and the watchman was not at the gate. He rushed as he was feeling something terrible. The moment he reached his eyes searched for swara. He saw ragini stand near the steps. He saw the watchman standing beside her.
He sensed that swara might be the one who was in danger and rushed only to find laksh hugging swara. He rushed to swara, who was lying down.
Sa: "what happened?? Is she okay?."
Laksh told him what had happened.
The fire service reached first, and then the ambulance came. On hearing the ambulance, laksh once again carried swara, but this time sanskaar stopped him and told that he could carry her. Laksh then had to hand over swara to sanskaar, at that time he noticed the ring on swara's hand, their engagement ring.
He felt a pang of pain. He held on to her hand for some seconds. But as sanskaar moved forward, he had to let go of her hand. "She still wearing this" was the only thing which made sense at that time. He was just staring at the doorway even after sanskaar had gone with swara to the hospital.
Darmiyaan darmiyaan
Kuch tto tha tere mere darmiyaan
Haaye
Darmiyaan darmiyaan
Darmiyaan darmiyaan
Kuch tto tha tere mere darmiyaan...
to be continued...
Anupamaa
