Thanks for all the lovely comments guys, I really appreciate each and every one. I would really appreciate some constructive crit too. Hope you like the next part. The story was becoming longer than I expected so I guess it'll have to be an SS.
Of course, Pragya's exit from the Mehra mansion wasn't as
dramatic as that scene might have predicted. In fact it didn't even seem as
though she had gone forever. Her modest belongings still stood in the tiny
corner of Abhi's closet she had managed to make her own. The only thing
different from before was the perpetual uneasiness Abhi felt. He knew, that he
should be feeling vindicated, triumphant. After all, he had finally, finally
succeeded in throwing Pragya out from his life and house. No, a voice in his
head said slyly, you didn't throw her out, a disgusted Bulbul and Purab had
dragged her out themselves. But anyway, the important thing was that she was
gone, right? But despite Ailya's constant proclamations of false relief that
"the behenji was gone" and Tanu's ever-present triumphant grin, Abhi couldn't
bring himself to feel anything but numb. Of course I can't!' He justified to
himself, how can I when daadi is still sleeping?' It had been exhausting also,
to fend off Tanu's amorous advances in the hours and days since Pragya had
left. Apparently the best way of alleviating his worry about daadi's illness
was through fulfilling Tanu's romantic needs. Fortunately, he didn't have to
avoid Tanu for very long since just a few days after Pragya first left, daadi
came to and immediately started asking for Pragya.
Meanwhile Pragya gazed listlessly as the whirring fan
created a feeble breeze in her old bedroom. She had spent most of her time in
the past few days on this very bed, alternating between a numb stillness and
loud, wracking sobs that alarmed even Suresh next door. Her family had hovered
around her for a few hours, before Rockstar daadi had firmly pulled them away.
She had seen no one in the past 48 hours, only aware of their presence by the
food and endless cups of chai they supplied at her bedroom door. Bulbul had
taken to sleeping in daadi's room to offer her the privacy Pragya so
desperately craved. As much as she appreciated the support of her family, she
needed the time alone to cry until she had no tears left and think through her
farce of a marriage.
Until the ugly aftermath of the MMS, Pragya had never
honestly considered a separation, no matter how bad things were between them.
But now, the nagging thought that this marriage had no future wouldn't leave
her. For although she was deeply in love with Abhi, at her core Pragya was
still a practical, traditional girl who believed that trust was paramount to a
marriage. Once, before the roller coaster of the past year, she had told Bulbul
that, "love is not looking into each other's eyes, it is looking in the same
direction". Unfortunately, although she and Abhi had done plenty of the former,
they would never do the latter. When they looked into each other's eyes, she
saw the good in him and he saw the bad in her. How would that ever work?
Aside from his determination to see the worst in her, she
had also been shocked by how cruelly he had given her only twenty four hours to
prove herself; how callously he had threatened to throw her out of the house.
And the sad thing was, no matter how he treated her, it would be a great
punishment for her to leave because she loved him so much and so stupidly. Pragya
shook her head in frustration. A husband who loved and trusted her - was that
too much to ask for?
"Di? Di?" Pragya was disturbed from her morose thoughts by a
frantic knocking on her bedroom door. "Are you okay? You haven't touched the
tea that I brought two hours ago. Please open the door Di!"
"I...can't Bulbul, I'm not ready." She couldn't face anyone
right now. She couldn't go out and show her sister her face - the face that no
man had ever wanted, the face that every man had rejected in favour of the girl
on the other side of the door.
"Then...will you at least talk to me through the door?" Pragya
moved towards the door and leaned against it. Although she couldn't bear to
show her swollen eyes, she was craving some love and comfort. She remembered
how she had taken comfort from Abhi's presence on the other side of the police
station wall the night she had fallen in love with him and sighed.
"Di?" Bulbul's soft voice travelled through the cracks.
Pragya tensed - if she said what she was about to say, there
would be no going back. She knew Bulbul of all people would be vehemently in
support of Pragya leaving. Bulbul was the perfect person to voice this thought
to, if she wanted the courage to actually follow through with it. "Bulbul...I...don't
see where my marriage is going."
"Mmhm," for once, Bulbul was blessedly reticent.
"I am starting to think no love or marriage is worth my
self-respect." There. It was out. Already, Pragya felt a little lighter.
"Di, you already know how I feel about this. I am glad you
finally recognised it too." That was enough. Although it was only through a
thick wooden door, her sister's support was enough to give Pragya the courage
to pursue the line of thought that she had hardly dared think about previously,
and consider her next course of action.
The next day, when she finally felt human enough to take a
bath and venture out of her room, she was greeted by the sight of a worried
Rockstar daadi on the phone.
"Okay, I'll see what I can do," daadi hung up the phone.
"Pragya beta, you're out? Kaisi hai tu beta?"
"Teekh hoon, daadi." And that was true enough. She had read
somewhere that any emotion can maintain its original intensity for only three
days before humans' daily needs take over. And actually, her pressing need for
a hot bath had forced her out of the room and made her feel, if not okay, then
at least not catatonic in grief.
"Pragya!!! Kaisi hai tu meri bacchii?!" Pragya started as
her mother barrelled down upon her and took her in her soft arms. "Dekh! Kya
halat bana rakha hai us ... insaan ne tere saath!" Pragya absently patted her
mother's bent head and sunk into the embrace.
"Kiska phone tha daadi?"
"Uhhh..." Rockstar daadi hesitated. Was it worth it to inform
her granddaughter of news from her sasuraal when she had just found the
strength to leave her bed? But then, Pragya would never forgive herself if she
couldn't be there for daadi. "Woh...beta...Aakash ka phone tha. Abhi ki daadi ko
hosh aaya hai and she's asking for you desperately."
"How dare they expect Pragya to go back to that hellhole!
Call when it's convenient, kick out when it's convenient. You're not going
anywhere meri bacchii!"
As much as she appreciated her mother's outrage on her behalf,
it was rather exhausting to deal with so Pragya was thankful when rockstar
daadi intervened before she could.
"Sarla, samajhne ki koshish karo. Daadi ka is me koi dosh
nahi. And I know my granddaughter very well, she will never be able to move on
until she gets the blessing of daadi."
It did take some convincing but finally Sarla ma agreed and
Pragya prepared herself to enter the Mehra household scarcely a couple of days
after she had left, but feeling like a completely different person.
comment:
p_commentcount