Morality and Desires

Karthik goes and stands next to Purva but she doesn't look at him.

"I am sorry Purva. Mein tumhe batana chahta tha lekin mujhe laga.." He says.

She interjects and replies, "Plate yaha rakh do. Hum le lenge."

He tries to explain, "Purva please! I said I am sorry. Aur tumne suna na. We got divorced. It's all over. Ab hum apni life shuru kar sakte hai."

Without looking at him, she continues to wash the dishes. He tries to hold her hand, but she snatches it away and with a stern resolve says, "Karthik please. Hume iss baare mein abhi koi baat nahi karni. Abhi hume bohot kaam hai."

Karthik senses her determination and leaves the kitchen. He goes outside and tells everyone that he is leaving. Srikanth asks if all is well and he makes an excuse of work and leaves after hugging Anushka. When he steps outside, Neeta and Gayatri see him as he waves bye to them and gets in his car .

Neeta gets worries and says, "Gayatriji, mujhe pata hai ke Karthik ne iss rishte ki shuruaat galat waqt pe ki. Lekin mujhe yakeen hai ke woh Purva se sach mein pyaar karta hai. Ab tak mein chup thi kyun ki mujhe nahi pata tha ke uske aur Nupur ke beech kya hoga lekin ab jab unka talaaq ho chuka hai, hume Purva aur Karthik ki shaadi ke baare mein sochna chahiye."

Gayatri nods and says, "Hum samjhte hai. Aur galti sirf Karthik ki hi nahi Purva ki bhi hai. Neetaji, hume iss rishte se koi problem nahi hai agar Purva aur Karthik sacche dil se iss rishte ko apnane ke liye taiyaar hai. Lekin hume lagta hai ki hume unn dono ko thoda waqt dena chahiye. Abhi abhi itane saare haalaat se guzre hai hum sab aur abhi abhi toh sambhale hai. Unn dono ko shaanti se, thande dimaag se sab sochna chahiye aur fir koi faisla lena chahiye."

"Mujhe bhi yeh hi lagta hai Gayatriji." Neeta says understandingly. "Mein Karthik se baat karungi."

"Hum bhi Purva se baat karenge." Gayatri replies and they smile at each other.

Purva sees him driving off and feels bad but she is in no mood to talk to anyone as the realization sinks in that she has become the other woman who broke up another girl's marriage. She feels disgusted by herself and extremely ashamed knowing that if her Papa was alive, he would've never approved of this. Anushka comes in and tries to talk to her but Purva is at the verge of breaking into tears as she quietly finishes cleaning the dishes and goes to her room.

Siddhant sees her leaving and wants to go after her but Anushka comes and stops him.

He gets a little angry and says, "Anushka Purva roh rahi thi. Hume uss se baat karni hai."

"I know Siddhant. Lekin iss waqt usse akela chhod do. Abhi woh kissi se baat nahi karegi, kuch nahi sunegi. Anushka replies and adds, "Raat ko baat karna uss se. Jab uska mann aur tumhaara gussa shaant ho jaaye tab. Please!?"

Siddhant doesn't like it but he understands that he needs to calm down before trying to pacify Purva and nods in agreement.

Srikanth feels uncomfortable as he gets up and says, "Siddhant, I am sorry. Karthik ki taraf se mein tumse maafi maangta hu. I know ke usne shaadi-shuda hote hue bhi Purva se.." He sighs and continues, "But trust me, woh Purva se sacche dil se pyaar karta hai. He is not playing with her emotions aur hum sab bhi Purva ko bohot pasand karte hai. Hum sab milke sab kuch theek kar denge. I promise."

Siddhant appreciates Srikanth's support and says, "Thank you Srikanth. Sach kahe toh hume aapse ya iss rishte se koi problem nahi hai. Lekin log toh Purva ko hi galat samjhenge na."

"I don't believe this!" Riddhi intervenes, "Siddhant, tum logo ki baat kar rahe ho? Tum, jisne puri duniya ke saamne apne pyaar ka aelaan kiya tha? Tumne tab logo ki chinta ki thi?"

"Humne nahi ki thi kyun ki hum kisi ki shaadi nahi todd rahe the!"Siddhant replies adamantly.

"Nahi, tum toh bas sagaai todd rahe the. And that makes your actions okay!?" Riddhi remarks.

Siddhant is taken aback with her blunt response and says, "Nahi Bhabhi.."

But Riddhi doesn't let him finish and continues, "Aur ek baat, Nupur aur Karthik ki shaadi tutne mein Purva ka koi haath nahi hai. Karthik aur Nupur ke beech problems toh usse bohot pehle se chal rahi thi. Toh please, Purva ko inn sab ke beech matt lao."

Siddhant and Anushka feel unexpected relief seeing Riddhi's defense of Purva. Riddhi senses it and walks upto Siddhant and holds his hand. She looks him in the eye and says, "Mein tumse promise karti hu ke humaare ghar mein Purva kabhi bhi apne aap ko akela feel nahi karegi aur naahi kissi bhi problem ko akele face karegi. Tum uski chinta bilkul bhi matt karna."

And trying to defuse the tension, she leans in a little towards Siddhant and Anushka and whispers looking at Siddhant, "Tum bas apni janeu sambhaalo." And winks.

Siddhant feels embarrassed and Anushka shy for minute before breaking into soft laughter as Anushka hugs Riddhi. Siddhant joins them, too, and Riddhi assures him that everything will be alright.

In her room, Purva finally breaks down looking herself in the mirror. She feels extremely ashamed of herself. She looks at her Papa's picture and says, "Sorry Papa, hume pata hai k aap ko bohot bura laga hai. Humne aapko sharminda kiya hai, aapka sar jhukaaya hai."

"Jab tumhe pata hai ke hume bura lagega, toh khatam kyun nahi kiya yeh sab Karthik ke saath?" Comes a voice that shakes her to the core.

Afraid of looking him in the eye, she reluctantly turns to see calm and thoughtful face of her Papa. She looks up in his eyes that are calm as usual and sees love in it. She can't hold herself together any longer as she falls on the floor, folds her hands, and starts crying. Prabhakar sits down in front of her and takes her into his arms.

"I am sorry Papa." She says sobbing. "Please hume maaf kar dijiye? Yeh humne kya kar diya? Nupur aur Karthik ka ghar humne todd diya." She says and cries.

Prabhakar lifts his daughter's face and wipes the tears off. He says, "Shhh.. bas ab chup ho jaao. Aur humaare sawaal ka jawaab do. Jab tumhe pata tha ke hume bura lagega toh tumne kyun joda Karthik se rishta?"

She quiet downs at once and looks down ashamed as she says, "Kyun ki usne kaha ke woh humse pyaar karta hai."

"Aur tumhe uspe bharosa hai?" He asks in return.

She slowly nods.

"Toh tum guilty kyun feel kar rahi ho?" He asks.

She is surprised and looks at her father with confusion. He smiles at her and says, "Nupur se rishta todne ka faisla Karthik ka tha. Tumhe uske faisle ka bojh apne kandhe pe uthaane ki koi zaroorat nahi hai."

She looks at him and he continues, "Aur agar tumhe lagta hai k un dono ka rishta tumhaari wajah se toota hai, toh jao jaake uss se maafi maango aur uss se kaho ke Nupur ke saath sulaha kar le. Aur agar tum sach mein uss se pyaar karti ho, toh uska saath do."

He makes her get up and sits on the bed with her. He caresses her head and says, "Lekin sabse pehle tum apne aap ko sambhaalo. Apne khud ke dil ko samjho. Apni priorities ko samjho. Bhai aur Ma se baat karo aur fir shaanti se soch samajh ke faisla lo. Kyunki beta, rishte itani aasaani se tode ya jode nahi jaate. Hmm!?"

She closes her eyes and tries to savor this precious moment with her father. When she opens her eyes, she finds herself alone in the room. Suddenly overcome by exhaustion, she lies down but can't help herself from feeling ashamed and responsible for Karthik's failed marriage. Tears start rolling down her cheeks again as she falls asleep crying.

[16/10/2018]

On his way back home, Karthik's mind starts drifting to everything that had happened in his life. He thought back on the time when he had first met Purva at his father's party. He recalls seeing her modeling pictures and smiles thinking about how beautiful she is. He relives their moments at the office, at his marriage, that slap for beating Siddhant, their first hug, their confession, and her silent support during the toughest time of his life. He realizes what drew him to her was not her beauty or any materialist trait; it was her simplicity, innocence, honesty, and most of all her beautiful heart that always saw only good in people. He decides to not lose her as he realizes that he truly and deeply loves her and is incomplete without her. However, he also realizes that the timing of their love-story was certainly not a good one and that even though he knows his feelings for her, she needs to understand her feelings towards him as well to make sure their relationship wasn't brought out in the heat-of-the-moment. He decides to give her some time and space to make sense of everything that had happened in the past month.

After Neeta, Srikanth, and Riddhi leave, Gayatri decides to check on Purva. She goes to her room and opens the door. She sees her daughter asleep and sits next to her. She gently caresses her hair and kisses her forehead. She decides to let her sleep and relax and goes to her room. As she comes out, Siddhant comes upstairs followed by Anushka. He walks towards his mom and asks if everything is fine with Purva. She tells him that Purva is asleep and that they all should take some rest. Siddhant reluctantly goes to his room.

In the room, Siddhant's attention is immediately drawn to an old picture. In the picture there a beautiful girl with two ponytails learning to ride a bike. Siddhant sees it and smiles reminiscing the day he taught Purva how to ride a bike without support wheels. 

It was their summer vacation and both Siddhant and Anushka had been trying to convince Purva to get on the bike.

"Purva, agar tu iss bike pe chadh gai na, toh hum tujhe ek badi waali Dairymilk dilaaenge." Siddhant said.

"Ha, aur mein tumhe bahar ghumaane leke jaaungi!" Anushka added.

"NAHI!" A seven-year old Purva had made it clear that she would not ride the bike without her "mummy-papa wheels so that she wouldn't fall down.

Siddhant squatted down beside her and made her look him in the eye and said, "mummy-papa wheels nahi hai toh kya hua, Bhai toh hai na! Tujhe lagta hai ke hum tujhe girne denge? Dekh tere aage Anushka hogi aur peeche se hum teri bike ko pakad ke rakhenge."

"Lekin aap ne chhod diya toh?" Purva said.

"Hum nahi chhodenge jab tak tu nahi kehti." Siddhant promised.

"Sachhi?" Purva confirmed.

"Mucchi!" Siddhant said poking her tiny nose. "Chal ab baith ja cycle pe."

Anushka helped her get on the bike and Siddhant put on a small helmet on her head. As promised, Anushka started walking in the front with her and Siddhant held onto the bike from behind as Purva started pedaling.

Purva nervously said, "Bhai chhodna matt."

"Bilkul nahi." Siddhant assured her.

They walked like this with her for a couple of rounds as Purva started getting confidence. Suddenly she said, "Bhai chhod do! Hum khud chalaaenge."

"Sachhi?" Siddhant squatted down in front of her and asked.

"Mucchi!" She poked his nose like he had done and smiles.

This time, Siddhant and Anushka walked a few steps behind her as she started pedaling and riding the bike herself.

"Bhai dekho hum khud chala rahe hai! Anushka dekho!" She had shouted with happiness and both Siddhant and Anushka had cheered for her.

Surrounded by these wonderful memories, Siddhant feels two arms wrap around him from behind as Anushka also relives those beautiful moments. He looks back at her with a smile and she kisses him on the cheek.

They sit down on the bed as Siddhant says, "Kitani khush hui thi na woh uss din! Achaanak usse confidence aaya aur usne khud se chalana shuru kar diya."

"Hmm.. Kyun ki usse pata tha ke uske Bhai usse kabhi girne nahi denge." Anushka fondly replies.

But Siddhant quickly adds, "Sirf Bhai nahi.. uski Anushka bhi!"

"Aur hum aaj Bhi usse girne nahi denge Siddhant. Lekin usse, ek baar fir, khud se bike chalaani padegi." Anushka says and then adds, "Humaari life bhi toh ek cycle ride hi hai na. Hum life jeena shuru karte hai "mummy-papa wheels ke saath, aur fir dheere dheere apno ke support se khud chalna seekh lete hai."

Siddhant looks at the picture again and says, "Hum jaante hai Anushka. Lekin woh abhi bacchi.."

"Nahi hai. Purva, bacchi nahi hai Siddhant. Woh badi ho gai hai. Khud ko sambhaal sakti hai. Acche-bure ki pehchaan hai usse."Anusha remarks.

She says, "Siddhant ab waqt aa gaya hai ki tum uss se ek dost banke baat karo, uski baat ko samjho. Jaise hum dono ne milke usse bike chalana sikhaya tha, waise hi uske dost banke hume usse zindagi ka saamna karna bhi seekhana hai."

"Ya fir, tum uske dil ki baate sunn na aur samajhna aur hum usse apna darr deekha ke galtiya karne se rokenge." Siddhant teases.

"Siddhant, we are not playing good cop-bad cop with her." She replies and pokes him.

He promises to talk to Purva as her friend as they decide to rest a little.

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