Part 10
It had been a full 7 days since Ragini had left her Baba's house, and not a single member of her family had called to check up on her. She had called a couple of days ago to speak with Dadi Maa and they had a strained conversation that mostly included her asking after everyone's health and single word replies from Dadi.
Didn't they care about her? What if she was being terribly mistreated here? Would they not even call and enquire as a cursory gesture?
What would happen at the end of these 6 months when she went back to them? Was she simply bound to be ignored and hated by her family till the end of time? Would they snub her and ignore her until she was old and grey?
How could she earn their forgiveness? She didn't even know what exactly she had done.
She had tried desperately to remember the things she had forgotten, the things she had done, but nothing came out of it. All it led to was a blinding headache and the sensation of blacking out. So she stopped trying to remember.
Instead she focused on her surroundings. She was on the roof, swinging herself gently on a patio swing and looking over the surrounding serenity.
Who knew that a veritable utopia like this could exist in Kolkata? The Baadi was a busy community that, due to the large number of homes, saw a constant throng of people. The building itself was housed in a busy neighborhood that was always bustling due to numerous small businesses. But this house was part of an exclusive neighborhood of large mansions, each with sizable property and manicured lawns. No one who didn't know better would believe that a dynamic metropolis laid a few streets beyond the silence of this place.
A full day of bearing awkward silences, glares, snubs, and other unwelcome gestures from the family usually wore her out and she often retreated here in the evenings to get a break from the overwhelming negativity in the house.
Nothing she did ever seemed to work in her favour. If she avoided the women all day long and stayed in her room, then Choti Maa accused her of being a kaam chor and being in luxury while her mother-in-law worked. And if she tried to help out with household chores then Choti Maa would accuse her of trying to impress them to get back into their good graces. If she ever joined the ladies for some tea in the afternoons then all lively conversation would just stop dead. Swara tried to include her forcefully in things but that would end her getting her a scolding from Choti Maa. There was no winning in this situation, it seemed.
A coffee mug entered her line of sight and she looked up to see Swara offering her a mug while sipping on her own coffee. She accepted the mug with a smile and Swara joined her on the patio swing.
"I could hear you thinking all the way from the door." Swara joked, making her giggle. "What's bothering you?"
"I was just thinking about Choti Maa. Is she always so...?" Ragini trailed off, trying to find the appropriate word without being rude.
"Brash?" Swara supplied helpfully. "Yes. But that's just how she is. She has a very soft side that she doesn't like to show" A fond smile came to her sister's face. She obviously adored her mother-in-law, despite her abrasive words. "But I will be honest and say she took some time to get used to. She really disliked me at first."
Probably not any more than her dislike for me now. Ragini's inner voice snarked.
Swara placed a gentle hand on her arm, frowning in concern. "I know she can say terrible things but don't take it to heart. She really cares about the people she loves but goes a little too far sometimes."
Outwardly Ragini nodded but inwardly she pondered over what Swara wasn't saying, and why exactly Choti Maa's loved ones needed protecting from her.
Both sisters sat in a companionable silence and swing as they sipped their coffee. Swara seemed to judge her need for this silence and did not attempt to engage her in conversation.
As the light started fading they collected their mugs and started to make their way towards the kitchen to help Parineeta Bhabhi.
Ragini glanced over at Swara and saw what looked like a tiny feather on her shoulder. Probably the stuffing from her pillow, she mused absently as she reached forward to flick it off. "Swara, your shoul..."
She trailed off because suddenly she wasn't there. Instead she was in a different place, and different time. It was Swara chasing her and pleading with her to listen. Swara held her forearm which she shook off angrily and pushed the shorter girl. Swara fell to the ground in shock while she strode away angrily.
"Ragini?" Swara asked in unease, shaking her out of her thoughts...memories? She eyed the younger girl's hand suspended in midair with no little worry. "Kya hua? Tum theek ho?"
"Sw-Swara." Ragini urgently held her sister's hand with both of hers. "Did I ever pu-push you Swara?"
Ragini felt her freeze and a look of alarm cross her face. "Did you just remember something Ragini?" She asked quietly.
"Please tell me Swara." She begged.
Swara placed her hands on Ragini's shoulders in a firm hold, as though grounding her. "Tell me exactly what you remember." She demanded gently.
She shut her eyes and tried to bring the scene back. It had just been a split second flash that she saw. She wasn't sure if it was even real. "We were by the Howrah Bridge. I think we were fighting. I tried to leave so you held my arm to try and stop me. And I-I-I shoved you and you fell." She re-opened her eyes and finally took stock of where they were. They had made it to the top of the stairs and had caught the attention of the whole family, including the Men who had just returned from work. They all stood in the living room watching the scene. She turned back to Swara who seemed at a loss for words. "Kya hua tha Swara, please batao mujhe." She begged her sister quietly.
Swara tried to shake off her haze as she followed Ragini's gaze and noticed their audience. This particular incident was not something the family knew about as it had happened privately between the sisters. Still reeling from the fact that Ragini had remembered something she led Ragini to her room and shut the door behind her.
She felt some apprehension when she looked back at her sister. This girl had once caused her so much grief and so much pain. But the clearly distressed girl in front of her was not the same person. That girl had been poisoned by Dadi's animosity and by Sanskar's desire for revenge. She had been led astray by a false sense of entitlement over Lakshya's affections, fed by people's hate and ambition. This girl was just caught in a very unfortunate situation, constantly facing judgement for things out of her scope of knowledge.
"I had just found out that your Baba and my Maa had once been in love, and I was a result of that affair. I wanted to try and see if we could re-unite them but you were led to believe that my Maa was the reason that your Maa had slipped down the stairs." Swara chose her words carefully, not wanting to blame the younger girl or sound accusing in any way, but not wanting to keep the truth from her either. "So we argued and one thing led to another." She trailed off.
"Led to believe?" Ragini repeated. "By whom? I could never believe that Maa would ever try and hurt my Mumma."
Maybe not now, Swara mused. But back when Maa wasn't a mother, only a much hated neighbor, it might have been much easier to believe.
Swara left Ragini's question unanswered as silence hung in the air. How to tell a girl raised by her grandmother than it was that very same grandmother who did nothing but fill her mind with lies, doubt, and negativity?
Ragini seemed to muse over the idea for a moment. "Dadi Maa." She stated plainly. Swara tried not to react but something must have given it away because Ragini seemed to nod to herself in confirmation. "Of course it's her. She would hate a Bengali bahu. She would have done everything in her power to stop us from bringing Maa and Baba together."
"Oh, but how could I ever fall for it?" Ragini moaned in distress and sat heavily on the bed. "What kind of person does that?" Her wide eyes swam with tears as she looked up at her in misery. "I pushed you and saw you fall, and I just walked away." She sniffled and hid her face in her hands breaking Swara's heart a little. "Oh God, how terrible I am. I'm so sorry Swara. I don't know if I ever apologized before but I am so sorry Swara."
Swara gently pulled her hands away from her face and wiped the few tears that had trailed down her cheeks. "Shhh." She soothed. "This is something we put behind us a long time ago."
Ragini hugged her around her middle and hid her face in her stomach like a child, making Swara smile. "You are so wonderful. What did I do to deserve you?"
The door banged open startling both sisters. Lakshya and Sanskaar stood at the door and themselves seemed surprised to find the two sisters hugging.
Swara felt a twinge of annoyance at her ex-boyfriend. From the looks of it, he had tried to rush up to rescue' her from Ragini, and Sanskaar had chased him in attempt to stop him, but had been that bit too slow.
Ragini had abruptly released her at the sight of Lakshya and looked away to compose herself.
Swara placed her hands on her hips angrily and glared at the younger man. "What is the meaning of this Lakshya? You can't just barge into my room whenever you want."
Lakshya's shock at being scolded quickly turned to anger. "I was worried about you Swara. Who knows what She was doing to you in here?" He yelled indignantly.
Ragini visibly flinched at his cutting words. She stood, looking far calmer than before. "I should go." She stated quietly and made her way to the door.
"Wait Ragini." To Swara's surprise, it was Sanskaar that halted her sister. He side-stepped a fuming Lakshya, throwing him a significant look as he passed by, went over to his nightstand and poured the younger girl a glass of water. He took it over to her and her and handed her the class. "Drink this. It will help."
And with that one action Sanskaar made it painfully clear to Lakshya that Ragini was welcome here, and he wasn't.
Ragini's composure almost crumbled again at the face of this kindness. She had done this horrible thing, and more by the sounds of it, and Swara and Sanskaar still had nothing but kindness for her. She obeyed and took the glass from him, taking a sip of the cool, soothing water.
Her eyes darted between the Man in Blue, who looked like he was ready to explode, Swara, who was glaring him down, and Sanskaar, who just stood passively, but strategically close to Swara.
Finally it was Lakshya that broke the silence. "I would have thought Bhai that you at least would discourage all this. You claim love, and care, and concern for Swara, but you still let this leech into her life."
Lakshya's dismissal and disdain at Sanskaar's obvious feelings for Swara made Ragini's stomach twist uncomfortably.
Sanskaar looked unaffected by the biting words. "If you can't see what's going on here Lucky, then you must be blind."
Lakshya scoffed. "Blind? Me? No Bhai, I am finally seeing clearly. Did you forget how easy it was for Her to pull the wool over my eyes? Why are the two of you letting it happen to you? Wake up. She's still the same Ragini. She will find some way to ruin your life and still look innocent doing so."
Ragini wondered what she had done to him that he was so untrusting of her. These were the words of a man scorned. What had she done that he refused to give her a chance and see any good in her?
She must have made a noise or drawn attention to herself in some way because the three people's attention snapped to her.
"Please don't fight because of me." She requested, attempting to keep her voice from shaking.
She put down the glass of water and made her way to her room. She could feel a headache coming on.
***
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