Hi guys...sorry for the delay...typing in the same chaprer again was tedious...i guess that will be evident as you read...I promise a better chapter next time...real soon.
CHAPTER 13
Sanskaar drove home from the airport as fast as possible. His flight had landed 2 hours after the scheduled time and his whole family was going to the puja being conducted at Gadodia mansion. Laksh had told him that Dadi wanted to conduct the puja so that the wedding took place without any problems. He could always make an excuse that he was exhausted but he wanted to go there. It was his only chance of talking to Swara. He wanted to explain to her about himself and Kavita. Maybe he wasn't bound to give her an explanation but he wanted her to know that his love for Kavita had been true, as was his love for her.
He changed into the traditional Kurta laid out for him and left for Gadodia mansion. He would have to find a way to get a few minutes alone with Swara. He still remembered her face as she saw him with Kavita. He would have talked to her that very day but he had to leave for a meeting instead of Laksh and the past two days had been distressing to him. He could understand how shocked Swara would have been when shesaw Kavita was alive. After all he too had gone through the same experience. He himself couldn't beleive the story at times.
Kavita Roy was his classmate during his college days in Kolkata. They had quickly become friendsand soon fell in love with each other. By their final year they were one of the cutest couples in college. But their relationship was kept a secret from both the families. Kavita's family lived in a village about 2 hours from Kolkata and she lived in a hotel. So it hadn't been difficult for her to keep their relationship under wraps. On Sanskaar's side none but Laksh knew about Kavita.
After his graduation Sanskaar left for Ahmedabad to do his MBA while Kavita continuedher studies at Kolkata. Even the distance hadn't broken them even slightly. It was a few months before his returning to Kolkata that Kavita informed him that her parents were considering a proposal. The guy was an NRI. He would have dashed to Kolkata that very day but Kavita had assured him that they had enough time.
He had returned to Kolkata soon after his graduation and broke the news to his family. His Bade Papa, who he had always considered a person of radical ideas was the first to oppose. He had very strictly told Sanskaar that he while he supported change, he valued their traditions and his family'sreputation in the society. Sujata on the other hand had thrown tantrums as to how a Bengalan had done black magic on her son. Annapurna had been more understanding but she also advised Sanskaar to give up as Kavita would never be happy in the house where no one was ready to accept her. On Kavita's side too the reaction had been similar.
But Sanskaar and Kavita were no less stubborn and they had held their ground. Finally Kavita's family had given in on the condition that Sanskaar would convinced his family. Sanskaar was left with no choice but to declare that he would marry Kavi anyway and if his family didn't give in he would leave home. That had made Annapurna realise that Sanskaar wasn't going to budge. She had talked to her husband about the same. Finally Durga Prasad had made a final decision. Sanskaar could marry Kavita in the presence of the family but he would never accept Kavi as his bahu and the couple were to leave the house soon after the wedding.
Finally the day of the engagement arrived. Despite his uncle's anger and his mom's blabbering as to how her friends would taunt her , he had been happy. His uncle had refused to attend the ceremony and was had left for their farmhouse.
A few hours before the ceremony, he had been in his room trying on his sherwani when she called him. She had sounded agitated as she talked to him.
"Sanskaar listen. We dont have time. We are in danger. They have fooled you. We have to leave. Meet me at the Kali mandir where we always meet and come through the back.Don't tell anyone " she had told him and hung up. He had heard sounds of someone pounding on a door and noises as she talked.
He was about to leave when Laksh saw him. He couldn't lie to Lucky. Laksh suggested that he should hire a taxi as their mothers weren't going to let him leave if they came to know about it. Sanskaar slipped away quietly after instructing Laksh not to start from home till he called them.
Just as he reached the temple, he heard a scream and knew it was her. He ran up through the back stairs leaving the taxi at the front. He saw the temple deserted and was walking towards the shrine when someone pulled him into a small space behind a deity. It had taken him a moment to realise that the beautiful beige lehenga she wore was smeared with blood. She was bleeding from extensive wounds.
"Sanskaar leave me here. You have to get help. You cannot protect me if you get hurt. " she had told him.
He knew she was right. He had run out of the temple as fast as he could. But the temple was on a rarely used path on the way to her house and the taxi driver had run away perhaps hearing the scream. He had run with all his might to find help but to no avail. Realizing that he was on his own, he ran back to the temple. He wasn't going to let the love of his life die because he was afraid to fight alone.
He was shocked when he returned to the temple. There was no sight of her or a struggle. After some futile attempts to find her, he collapsed sonewhere exhausted. When he returned to his senses, he went straight away to her home, only to be informed that she was dead. He was told that some men had broken into the house, tried to kidnap her, but she had run away only to be caught by them. They had left her in front of her house brutally injured and her family had rushed her to the hospital. She had been pronounced dead a little later.
Sanskaar felt his world collapse. Kavi had no enemies except his family as her uncle pointed out to him and he beleived. Durga Prasad Maheshwari was powerful enough to get this done and except for Kavi and him only Laksh had known about their meeting place. He had concluded that his brother and uncle had betrayed him. What else could Kavi have meant? Her family refused to lodge a complaint citing that they didnt want to fight the most influential family in Kolkata.
But he wasnt going to stay quiet. He still remembered his fight with his uncle. Things got out of hand and Durga Prasad challenged him that even if he had murdered Kavi there was nothing Sanskaar could do. All that he was was because of the family name. SaSanskaar had become furious and ended up disowning his family and left for Ahmedabad.He had started working in his roommate Vikram's startup.
The next three years he had immersed himself in his work. He had become successful without the identity as Maheshwari. But he had been living in the dark, lonely and suffering. And then Swara had entered his life. Losing Kavita had altered him permanently. The happy go lucky Sanskaar was gone. But Swara had taught the new Sanskaar to smile and live his life. With her he had learnt to savour every moment. He had realised that he couldn't ensure that he would always have her by his side but he had learnt to hold on to her with all he had. He wanted to protect her from any kind of harm. When he had learnt that his family was trying to get in touch with him he had grown afraid that they would once again snatch his love from him. After all Swara too was only a Marwari in name. She had been brought up as a Bengali girl. Fearful, he had tried to keep her away from himself. He had stayed away citing a project. Little did he know the strange ways of destiny.
The night of his fight with Swara, he was remorseful as soon as she had left. Her sudden decision to get engaged had taken him by surprise. It brought back to him the memories of the fateful night he lost Kavita. With his family getting closer to finding him, he feared that history would repeat itself . As a result he took out his frustration on her. But he felt sorry as he saw her leave . Knowing how angry she was, he had thought of gIving her a little time to cool down.
But there had been a surprise waiting for him as he returnedhome. Laksh was waiting for him and informed him that his mother was extremely ill and wished to see her son once. No matter how angry he was, Sanskaar loved his mother and so he had flown to Kolkata with his mother. He had returned to a festive atmosphere in the house as Adarsh and Pari were getting married. His mother was sick but not as serious as he had been told. He had been furious and was about to leave when Laksh asked him to listen to him once. Laksh had tried to tell him that they had nothing to do with Kavi's death.
"I am not gonna beleive you. " he had told Laksh.
"But you will beleive Kavi won't you? " Laksh had asked him and brought to him the greatest shock of his life.
Kavita stood before him in flesh and blood. For a moment he went numb and then guilt took over. He had fallen in love again . Had he betrayed her? But then he noticed the mangalsutra she wore. She was married. And then she spoke to him clearing all his misunderstandings. He had made a small mistake in understanding what Kavita meant. They had been fooled but not by his family. It was her family who had double crossed them.
That day Kavita had found out through her cousin that her family was planning to attack Sanskaar's car as they travelled through some deserted road. She had confronted them and was told that there was no way they would let their child marry out of community. She had tried to reason with them. Seeing they weren't going to budge, she had locked herself in her room and called him. Beforethey could break the door and enter she had escaped through the window. The goons had followed her to the temple to kill Sanskaar. She had known that the men wouldn't kill her. So when Sanskaar's car arrived and they were heading out in his direction, not knowing that he would come up through the back, she had tried to hold up to buy him time. In the process the men had accidentally hurt her. Leaving her they had gone to find him but she had found him first and saved him. Once he left she had tried to run and fell down the stairs.
Her extensive injuries landed her in a coma for more than a year. Once she regained her consciousness she was told that he was dead. She hadgone into depression. It was as a part of her treatment that she met Dr Daman Mukherjee. He was a psychiatrist and in the course of her treatment they had grown close. Eventually she had agreed to marry him. After her marriage she had moved away from her family to Kolkata. She had been fearful of meeting his family but three months ago when she had seen Laksh at a mall she had been unable to stop herself. And then she had come to know the truth. From then she and Laksh had been looking for him.
He had been happy and reconciled with his family. He had wanted to return to Ahmedabad immediately to share the news with Swara but Pari had pleaded with him to stay. And how could he refuse his best friend? So he had stayed. Little had he known that he was to lose his love again.
Sanskaar smiled thinking of the irony. He pulled up outside Gadodia mansion and went in.
The puja had begun. He saw her between them.She was dressed in a baby pink suite. She loved the colour. His smiled vanished as he saw Rishi standing by her. He joined them at the puja. She turned her face away as she saw him. He noticed her edging closer to Rishi. As the panditji completed the mantras he asked Swara- Rishi and Ragini- Laksh to come forward and tied some thread on their wrists. Sanskaar looked in confused as Laksh had told him that the puja was for the wedding. Laksh had also told him that he wanted to tell him some news but he told Laksh that he was too busy to talk.
After the puja the panditji took something from before the deity and handed it to Dadi. Sanskaar saw that it was a wedding card. On closer scrutiny he saw that there were two cards. One was Ragini Laksh s wedding card and the other, Sanskaar noticed, was the one Swara had picked when they had been chosing cards for RagLak. He was shocked. His shock must have been evident for Laksh just then told him that Swara and Rishi were getting married along with him and Ragini.
Fate was once again planning to hurt him. For the second time he was going to see the one he loved belong to another. Atleast with Kavi it had been Fate but Swara was hurting him on purpose. Punishing him for no reason. He wanted to leave that instant but his whole family was present.
A few minutes later he saw Rishi and Swara leave the room. He heard Dadi tell his Badi Ma that thisR Rishi was leaving for Mumbai to wind up some urgent work and would return only when the wedding functions would start. He saw Swara and Rishi coming down with the luggage. She was still looking away from him. Soon Rishi took leave and Swara went to see him off.
Sanskaar knew that he had to take it out. He followed them a little later. Rishi's car had just left and Swara was walking back towards the house. He went towards her.
"Swara, I heard you were getting married. Congrats. " he said indifferently.
She looked at him annoyed and thanked him.She was about to leave when he grabbed her by the arm to stop her.
"Hope you remain loyal to him and hope he doesn't have to regret meeting you like I do. Hope your marriage does not break because of your tantrums. " he taunted.
She frowned at him and retorted "And hope you learn to respect women. But how will you? You just consider them toys. You can kill them, imagine them or ruin them."
"You should know that. After all you treat people like toys. " he replied.
"You are disgusting. I pity the girl who would come into your life. She must be the most unlucky girl in the world. That is if you find a girl. " she taunted.
"Yes. I will have a little difficulty. I don't trust women anymore. I fear the likes of you. And you definitely know how lucky the woman in my life would be. " he replied.
They both looked at each other for a moment. Sanskaar had grabbed her by the arm and her hands were on his collar. They pulled away.
"Leave Sanskaar. I dont want anyone to see us like this. " she said.
He for once agreed with her. He got into the car and drove away. She looked around and satidried that no one had seen them, she went in.
But she was wrong. Someone had indeed witnesses the whole thing. Ragini emerged out of the bushes just as Swara left, a look of disbelief on her face.
So finally Ragini knows...wonder what she would Do? Any guesses who she will in???
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