Originally posted by: Nisha0604
"Seete seete meelon ki ban gayi kahani..."
Describes the story of our life😛https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS-0jES79d8One of the most beautiful songs I have heard in a while
Originally posted by: sonalgupta2004
So here I am declaring myself to do the index
😉
Shadow and the soul
January 23rd came and went Avantika Gupta did not go to court
She didn't talk to her father either, who could have given her sensible advice or atleast some counsel. She bypassed everyone and took her own (un)wise decision of not heeding to her court summons.
The Vaidyas had played dirty, up until now they had sent every notice every written document to Roorkee to the Guptas' house, or atleast made them aware of it
This time the summons was sent just to Avantika
She had mentioned to her mother in passing
Her mother Himani was already exhausted from all the legal minutiae the last couple years of Srishti's passing had failed to mention it to Tiku's brothers, Dhruv and Vibhu and her husband, Tiku's Dad
Vibhu's wife was pregnant again and her nausea was severe causing her to be hospitalized for a day, twice already
Himani Gupta didn't really want to deal with someone else's child at this point
Avantika took Chandan to school for his 1st grade class and headed to work as usual.
Mrs Sood was very happy with her this morning as she was named one of 17 top performers in Commercial Lending at Pacific Trust, an honor she had worked hard towards despite being an unwed parent of sorts to Chandan
Avantika rubbed soap on her hands vigorously staring into the work bathroom mirror.
She was not tall and model thin. She was medium height, her mother insisted she was very tall.
She was 5'6 and curvaceous.
She wore a white and navy ikat kurta and a navy chudidaar, pairing it with some really oxidized silver jewelry
There was a mole on her right jaw, just like a beauty spot, she had tried to mask it with make up when she took the Metro, due to cat calls and cheap comments
"New Zealand mein hain ladka, CA kar chukey hain, wahan kisi bank mein hain ani teeku ki tarah
"Sweden mein vaqeel hain
"Doha mein Engineer hain
Amreeka mein MBA kar rahe hain
"Panipat mein Bansal jee ka iklauta beta hai, yeh hamari iklauti beti hai, chalo sahi hai
"Haldwani mein hai ladka, apni jeejaji ke saath business hai unka
"Moga ke hain who, kayi saalon se wahin hain, is liye Punjabi achhi bol lete hain, ab teeku har baat ka batangar banayengi to shaadi to ho nahi paayegi. Dilli mein unke itne Punjabi dost hain na?
"Ma hamari tarah English fluently bol lein bas Teeku mumbled as her mother oil massaged her scalp
The Roorkee bungalow was big and modern, but was on a busy street, the tall gates and compound killed some of the bus noise
"U are very picky
"AAPKI TARAH bol lein bas English" Teeku giggled
"I studied English M Phil at BHU. Chaliye aapke liye English teacher dhoond laate hain"
Amma kissed her hairy head
"Naheee chashma pehente hongey who aur ekdum dry sookhi bartaav karenge. Lawyers, teachers and scholars are just BLAH Teeku made a face
Himani Gupta laughed until her body shook
"Have you met all of them?
"I have met that Swedish vaqeel Papaji wanted me to meet at Green Park "Matlab DO GHANTE mein jitni baat kari hai unhoney usme EK ne bhi, didn't send my heart soaring
"Amma... sem hai who bana lein raat ke liye aur, chane ki daal? Vibhu's pregnant wife Meeta walked in
"Aap to bus WHO banayen jo aapke WHO khaayen Teeku teased
Meeta smacked her with the empty parachute coconut oil bottle
Chandan was playing with Vibhu and Meeta's firstborn Surbhi...
"Maasi I want that Chandan came in wailing, Surbhi was wearing a sparkly horse pendant in pink and purple
"Dress bhi na? Teeku mocked
"Idhar aa jaayen Himani gathered the little boy and hugged him
"Batao bhi tumhara kya chakkar hai? Mera cousin aa raha hai Bangalore se 30 January ko milkar jaogi na Dilli?'
"arey inko English ko lekar chinta hai
Meeta's expression was one of dejection
"Bhabhi I LOVEEE you but wont marry lawyers Teeku tried to cheer her sis in law
She made a face and went to throw up as her mother watched worried
"Ammaajee hum uthen kya? Teeku begged moving away
"Mil lo beta, padha likha hai, usko English aap sikha dena, you are so talented Amma mocked
"Bilqul nahi Teeku got up twirling around...
"I WANT YOUR LEVEL she giggled "AND I want to take Chandan with me she said smugly
"I do not love you as if you were salt-rose or topaz
Or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
In secret between the shadow and the soul
"WOWWW... What are the odds the guy speaks English like you Ma? Avantika bunched up her well oiled hair into a stiff top knot
"Guess whose poem that is? Himani rolled up stray hair from all over the divan and rolled it up
"Shakespeare Avantika giggled
"Bus hamesha wohi Himani smirked
"To phir?
"Pablo Neruda Himani said standing up... as her DIL walked out of the bathroom her face flushed and sweaty after a good retch
"Hum chalet hain beta aapke saath Lakshmi Vaidya poured some water into the glass as her son ate quietly
"I can do this Ma he reassured her
"Vaqeelon waali baatein nahi karna beta. Bus munne ko lekar aa jao
"Try and be someone I am not so I don't scare her? he scoffed
"Humne aisa nahi kaha she gently rubbed his back
"Kid gloves are off. She had the time and resources to do this the right way. I am done pandering to her ego Harit got up with almost 3/4th of a phulka left on his plate
"Yeh angrezi tumhari na Lakshmi shook her head wearily
In relation...
Her other brother Dhruv, his wife was an accountant that helped manage the Gupta business.
They had a 9 year old boy Vivaan
His wife, Bani was very moody and quiet and didn't interact much with Himani or Avantika or Meeta.
Avantika was pampered no doubt, the 10s of alliances she had rejected because of real and imaginary quirks in the groom did not go unnoticed by Bani who made it a point to complain to Dhruv about
"to theek hai, Ma hain Dad hain who dekh lenge Dhruv tried to flee the room awkwardly
"Abhi Meeta ki jagah hum laaye hotey rishta aur Teeku ne aisa bartaav kiya hota to hum to chale jaate
"Aap laayin nahin na? Dhruv was not happy
"Huh... pata nahi aisi kya best friend hain 2 saal ho gaye unko guzre, na shaadi karti hain na bacha unke ghar waalon ko detin hain. I feel she must be having an affair Bani grew bold
"Its none of your business or mine Bani. We should let it go Dhruv pretended to check messages on his phone
"Mummy keh rahin thi, lawyer ka koi notice aaya aur who hai yaha Roorkee aakar baithi hai
"Kiske lawyer ka? Dhruv's ears cocked up
"Unhee ka hoga aur kiska. She should just wrap up Delhi and come here. Its not like this house doesn't have kids or Roorkee doesn't have schools
"She likes Delhi Dhruv raised his voice
"If I get to do what I want then I will too "Meeta gets pampered because she is pregnant, for Vivaan I did all the work despite throwing up until the 8th month, then your Mom didn't care
"I am willing to have a second one he felt her bare midriff
"NOT NOW... She will think I am competing with her Bani reluctantly moved away from her husband
The moist trail he had left on her shoulder sending chills down her spine under the ceiling fan's whirring
"U decide what u want Bani. Child? Meeta not to be pampered? Teeku to marry, or Teeku to return to Bareilly Dhruv walked off pissed
Bani began working on the file she had opened
In the smallish yard out front teeku and Meeta were giggling looking at some pictures on teeku's phone
"I KNEW IT. There has to be a boyfriend she muttered under her breath, and shook her head
~~
"Lohri mein nahi aayin, suddenly 5 din ke liye aayin aap Himani hugged her tight
"Nani please come to Delhi Chandan held her hand and pulled
"Beta when Nanaji gets time from office? she hugged the solemn 5 year old boy and kissed his plump cheeks
"Chandu, chalooo Avantika pulled on his arm
There was no direct flight to Roorkee so they were at the bus station a mile from home
"Maaa aap jaayen Avanti urged as she got on the bus
"Aap baitho beta
"Text me a poem will you? she grinned
"Only if u agree to meet Meeta bhabhi's cousin
"Ughhh Avantika made a face and shook her head
"No verses for you" Himani smiled
They returned to Delhi late at night on Jan 28, her Dad kept talking until she got to her 2nd floor apartment.
"What we have loved
Others will love
And we will teach them how
~ William Wordsworth
Her mother's quote for the day arrived when she hurried to leave for work Monday
Chandan went to school on Jan 29, and she went to work.
Until Noonish everything was routine
She received a call from the Principal and the school secretary that a posse of lawyers had shown up demanding they let Chandan Vaidya go with them
"I am taking care of all those things. Unse please aap baat nahi karen
She frantically scoured through her work phone caller ID hoping she can get the number of the man who called her on Jan 20
She couldn't find that number, the phone would go back only as far at Jan 21, some system reset had caused the number to be wiped out
She went through her cell phone and tried calling the Bareilly law office of the person that said represented the Vaidyas
Nobody answered her phone
She told Garima she needed to be gone a couple hours and drove as fast as she could to ManavSthali
She was in tears when she reached the Princi's office
"Ms Gupta you have not told us everything the principal was stern
"Sorry sir, can I see Chandan?
"Oh, he has been taken by the parties that were here he said confidently
"I AM THE ONLY PERSON who is incharge of Chandan, my friend Devika is the backup, uske baad to sab Roorkee mein meri family hai she screeched in panic
"They were family also Ms Avantika. His uncle Harit Vaidya and and two lawyers from the Bareilly DM's office
"they also had some law enforcement help from Delhi, hum mana kaise karte, they were blood relation
She fell to the floor in a heap sobbing
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