Girl With The Guitar Tattoo. [SWASAN FF] update Part 14, page 33 - Page 20

Hi friends (swasanians) thanks for all your love and support. I am really overwhelmed by your comments and your sweet notes. Here is my attempt to start Swara's salvation from her bitter past and make a fresh start in life. I know a lot of you love the plot line until now, let me know what you think of the story when I am trying to make the path clean for SwaSan. Sorry if you find this update boring, I will try to keep things interesting from now on, given that the gray side of my protagonist will slowly start wearing off from now on.

Part 14:
Ragini's Parents Old Apartment:
Rag quietly closed the door behind her after keeping two bottles of water beside SanLak. She made sure they were comfortably asleep and din't feel troubled to find water in the morning. She and Dida made bed on the floor in the living room. As soon as they lied down Rag started firing her questions to Dida.
Rag: Yeh sab kya ho raha hai dida? Kya hua didi ko?
Dida: Rag, tum shaant ho ja pehle. Kuch depression ho gaya hamara shoru ko. Toh tumhara maa baba Amreeka gaya aur usko yeha lekar aa gaya treatment ke liye.
Rag: Maa, Baba US gaye hai. Aur mujhe pata bhi nahi. Yeh kab hua? Aur Di depressed hai ka kya matlab hai?
Dida: Arre baba kitna sawal karta hai rey. Bahut raat ho gaya ab sone do mujhe. Tumhari maa kal subah ayegi toh saara sawaal jawaab Mishty se karlena.
Despite her best attempts Rag hardly got a wink on her eyes, her head was buzzing with a lot of questions and endless possibilities.

Being a morning person is a habit that dies hard and San is a morning person of the first order. Even under the influence of alcohol he got up as early at 6AM. He drank a ton of water and immediately became aware of where he was and what happened last night. He could no longer resist the urge to see Sw, so he dashed out his room and found that Rag & Dida were sleeping the living room. Quiet as a cat he peeped into the room Sw was sleeping and to his utter disappointment the room was empty. Now he started suspecting his senses, did he hear right last night or was he hallucinating. Now that he was up he decided to take a morning walk. He realized he was still wearing his formals from last night but he was least bothered about it. He woke Rag up and asked her to lock the door as he was going for a walk. Rag got up groggily and in a quick impulse she too went to check if Sw was sleeping and dint find Sw in the room. She panicked and came and woke up Dida.

Dida: (in a husky sleepy voice) Arre Shoru swimming ke liye gaya, 7AM tak wapis aa jayega. Tum log mere neend ke peeche pad gaye.
An idea stuck San immediately; he would wait outside and get hold of Sw when she returns. He waved bye to the sleepyheads and went out for a short walk and smoke making sure to be back at the house entrance by 7AM. Meanwhile, he searched on Google for recent news on "Swara Sebastian". To his utter disappointment he could not find any updates or tabloids on her. No wonder, the girl is a wicked hacker he thought to himself.

Half an hour post San left the door bell rang. Rag rushed to answer it thinking it's her sister but it was her mother tired from the night shift at office. Both gave a raised eyebrow to each other.
Mishty: Tu yehan kya kar rahi hai.
Dida: Mishty, teri beti na kal SanLak ke saath daaru pee kar aayi.
Rag gave an innocent puppy look to her mother nodding her head in disagreement. Mishty held Rag by her ear and squeezed it hard.
Rag: Maa, sooorrryyy. Ooouccchhh... Waisey mein aapse bahut gusse mein hu, apne Di ki baat chupayi mujhse.

Mishty released her grip on Rag ear and patted her shoulder instead.
Mishty: Chal aaj bahut dino baad tu aur mein saath mein baith kar coffee piyenge.
They both go into the kitchen while Dida went to take a shower. Mishty starts telling Rag everything that has happened with Sw.
Mishty: Beta mein aur tere baba tujhe yeh baat batane hi waale the. Lekin exams chal rahi thi teri, aur ghar ka kaam se tu pareshan thi. Toh hum tumko aur disturb nahi karna chaa rahe the.
Rag couldn't agree more with her mother. For the past couple of months ever since Pari's bump got bigger all her household chores now got split among the other three ladies. Rag out of courtesy for her MILs would take up more work at home but the next instant she would call Mishty and crib. She has been complaining relentlessly that at one point she wanted to come to her maternal home and study for her final year, food served readily to her bed. She missed all that pampering in her in-laws house. But now on hindsight she hated being such a crybaby.
Mishty: Haan, so 4 months back your baba got a call from Ian. He sounded very alarmed and informed us Sw was hospitalized, fighting for her life. She tried to commit suicide.

Rag cupped her mouth with her hands disbelievingly. Then she got startled by a noise behind her and found Lak looking for water. Both Rag and Mishty wished Lak good morning and Rag filled Lak on what he missed and asked her mother to continue with what she was saying.
Mishty: Hum bahut darr gaye. Sirf tumhare baba jaane wale the kyun ki mera US visa nahi tha, lekin mainey bahut zidd ki. Finally DurgaPrasad-ji ne bahut help kiya mere visa ke liye. Hum gaye Swara ke paas, who hospital mein thi.
Mishty fixes three cups of coffee. They took their coffee and sat down in the living room.
Mishty: Ian ne bataya ki she was having depression and mood disorders since her last trip to India. Shona got into some trouble at her office with a colleague; she was under stress, anger pata nahi she slapped someone. Who ladka court mein isko sue kar diya for physical assault and abuse at workplace. US laws bahut strict hote hai aisey cheezon ko lekar.
Rag: (hardly able to sip her coffee) Hawww...phir
Mishty: Court case ki wajah se her investors asked her to resign from the company. Company ke stocks went bad. So Ian house arrested her to protect her from newspapers and tabloids. Because of all this and keeping her alone at home she developed symptoms of depression and mood disorder.
Rag: Maa but seriously are you saying Di is a Schizophrenic.
Lak was unable to follow the medical jargon but he kept quiet and listened.
Mishty: She tried to commit suicide, not once but multiple attempts. She almost drowned herself in the pool one day it seems. And when Ian called us she had an overdose of sleeping pills. Woh darr gaya ki uski suicidal tendencies bahut jyada ho gayi and he was not able to protect her 24X7.
Rag was not only controlling herself from the deep shock but she was also consoling her mother who was now sobbing like a child.
Rag: Maa how bad is her condition?
Mishty: Beta, uski zindagi bahut complicated hai. I don't know woh kab itna paraya ho gayi hamare liye. Mein tumko kuch bolungi Shona ke bare mein lekin tu dadi ko ya dida ko nahi batayegi. Promise karo mujhe. Lak tum bhi promise karo mujhe.
RagLak promise that they won't say anything but their faces turned pale.
Mishty: We stayed in Sw house and we found out something about Ian. Rag tumko pata tha Sw ki shaadi mazburi mein hui.
Rag: Haan visa problem tha didi ka, unke paas paisey nahi the aur university se di ne drop karliya. Aisa hi kuch hua. Aur baba ne bhi help karne se mana kardiya.
Mishty: Humne Shona ko bahut badi saza di hai beta. Mujhe aur Sh ko apne aap se itni nafrat ho rahi hai. Shona ko bahut galat kadam uthaana pada. Usne sirf mazburi mein shaadi nahi ki, lekin apne zindagi ko barbaad karli. Ian naam ke liye uska pati hai lekin woh ek homosexual hai.
Rag was astonished and was trying to say something but words were not coming out of her mouth. Rag lost the resolve the console her mother now. She was feeling a lot of anger for Sw for hiding this. Suddenly she felt like her dearest sister was a stranger to her.
Mishty: Ab woh aur toot chuki hai kyun ki baba ne gusse mein aa kar Shona ki divorce kara li. Unko ek minute bhi yeh baat bardaash nahi hua ki usko mazburi mein shaadi karni padi aur woh bhi galat insaan ke saath.
As they noticed that dida came out of the shower all the three of them tried to act normal. Mishty and Rag wiped away their tears. Dida walked on them and saw the air of uneasiness.

Dida: Ho gayi maa beti ki gossip. Aur breakfast mein kya khaoge tum log.
Mishty: Arre aaj toh Sunday hai, Rag Lak tum log yehi pe ruk jao. Swara ko bhi company ho jayega.
Dida: Haan aur tu Rag apne sasu maa ko phone karke toh bol de ki raat ko yeha so gaye.
Mishty calls AP and tells her RagLak will spend the Sunday with them. Mishty says she will send a driver to pick up their clothes. AP says okay and hangs up and Mishty is surprised to find that San was also with them.
Mishty: San so raha hai kya. Woh bhi hai tum logon ke saath.
Rag: Haan, bhaiyya walk pe gaye hai.
Mishty instantly regrets welcoming the trio to spend the Sunday with them. Somehow she did not find it a good idea for Sw and San to meet particularly at this time of Sw life. Her thoughts get interrupted by Lak.
Lak: Maa ek baat batayiye. Yeh Sw didi ke husband ke baare mein mere maa aur papa ko pata hai na?
Mishty nods yes. And Rag asks why did Lak enquire such a thing.
Lak: Arre tabhi ek din papa mere se poochte hai Lak yeh 'gay' kya hota hai?
Mishty: Ek aur baat, tum dono Sw ke saath normal behave karo. She is on tranquilizers and anti-depressants most of the time so uska energy level aur happiness level bahut high hota hai. Okay.

San walked for a while and returned to a tiny tea stall in front of Sw house so that he doesn't miss her. He lit his cigarette as he ordered a tea, so he kept an eye on the gate between his sipping and puffing. He heard a familiar voice shout "Dada, ek adrak waali chai". And he turned to look in the direction from where it came. There she was standing with a black tee, khakhi pants and flip-flops. A smile crossed San lips since nothing about her has changed except she looked thinner, weaker and paler. Ohh wait, what's with her hair, she cut it short, like pixie short. To San she looked like a school kid, he just wanted to pick her off the ground and embrace her. But...There is always a But
San: Swara. Tum?? Yeha?
She gave him an angry glance and murmured to herself "I din't know there is so much shit piling up in Kolkata".
Sw: (angrily) dada chai rehne do. Mein jaa rahi hu.
San ran behind her and held her by the arm.
Sw: Leave my hand, let go off me. Look San don't create a scene.
San: Sw, come on enough with the silent treatment yaar. Let's talk this out okay. What happened to you? Why are you here? What's with your hair?
Sw looks at the cigar in San hand like she would drill a hole in his hand. He also sees her seeing it.
San: Sw please 10min, please talk to me.
He was about to throw the cigar away when Sw stops him and says he shouldn't waste a joint like that. He was surprised she knew he was smoking up. She takes a quick whiff and a long breath.
Sw: Okay, you've got 10min and then I leave. Poocho kya poochna hai tume. And yes this stuff is good. Better than all those pills I am popping in the name of tranquilizers.
San: Dehradun ka hai... Anyway what happened to you? Are you in a rehab or something? Do you have cancer? (pointing to her hair)
Sw: This is called fashion (mockingly, pointing to her hair)
SwaSan exchange the cigar as she narrates the events that happened in her life in the past 6 months. She tells him how she lost her company, her husband & his family and everything to a stupid lawsuit. How she became a pauper from a prince. How her father accepted her but can't completely allow her into their house and society circles until she recovered from her mental state. How she lost everything but found the one thing she was yearning for over years, her parents love.
Sw: So yada yada yada, here I am 6months later smoking good stuff from Dehradun borrowed from a moron who dumps girls over an email, and does not have the courtesy to apologize when meeting me.
San: (with a grim face) tumne suicide ki koshish ki, seriously are you mad?
Sw: Ya that's what the doctors say I am mad. Anyway I gotta go your time is up.

She rubs the cigar under her feet, pulls a spray-mint from her gym bag, sprays into her mouth and dashes into the door to find that her mother is already here. Sw was very excited to see RagLak and goes to give them a big hug. Mishty senses they are hesitant and whispers them to be casual with Sw. Mishty sees San walk in behind Sw and senses trouble brewing up already.

Originally posted by: muktai

Read the whole story now...
Loved the whole plot,execution and your writing.
Amazing work!
Res for now to tell you in detail.
:-)