Chapter 4: Strange Tides
“I knew it.” said Shekhar.
Karishma looked towards Shekhar with shock as he said that. “What do you mean you knew it? You knew she was my daughter Shekhar? Shekhar….. Answer me”. Karishma screamed by holding Shekhar by his shoulders.
“No, I didn't know she was your daughter.” Karishma felt confused as Shekhar said that.
“But you just said you knew. And If you knew, why would you not tell me? What were you trying to do Shekhar?” Karishma blabbered out of confusion.
“Can you please relax and hear me out Karishma?” Shekhar tried interrupting Karishma but she couldn't relax.
“Relax!?? Shekhar! Are you seriously expecting me to relax? You are saying you knew she was my daughter. And you made sure we met this way! Without even telling me. Shekhar!! What is really wrong with you?” Anyone could tell that Karishma was freaking out. Shekhar stepped away, got her a glass of water. As she drank the water, Shekhar tried explaining again.
“I meant that I had a hunch. I wasn't sure. I had no idea who your daughter was, Karishma. All I knew about her was that her name was Mishti. And I met this young girl. She reminded me so much of you and Mishri. I know that topic makes you uncomfortable. When have we ever spoken about her, Karishma? It was an unsaid deal between us. So I never brought her up…” Shekhar paused for a second to look towards Karishma and continued.
“And there was no such plan. They invited us for dinner and I obliged like I would for anyone. I will not lie. My hunch did get stronger when I saw Mishti’s reaction after she met you. But you seemed fine. So I thought I was probably wrong. But suddenly even you started acting as weird. And I was confused. When I said I knew it, I was just talking about my hunch.” Shekhar cleared Karishma’s confusion.
Karishma covered her mouth with her hands and closed her eyes. She couldn't understand the game her destiny was playing with her. She had left everything behind. She had decided to never look back to her past. And hence, she never kept any tabs on Mishti. She never visited Udaipur in the fear of coming across Mishti. But look at the irony. She still ended up meeting Mishti. Rajkot out of anywhere. Mishti’s words echoed in her ears. “I am my parents' only mistake…...Thank you for giving me closure.”
Karishma closed her ears with her hands and squeezed her eyes shut. She was trying her level best to forget Mishti’s words. But little did it help. As she closed her eyes, Mishti’s image of eyes filled with tears appeared in front of her. She felt like Mishti was shooting daggers at Karishma through her tears. A great sob escaped her and she covered her face with shaking hands. Shekhar got scared seeing Karishma’s condition and went to hold her. He hugged her and started rubbing her back just so that she would calm down.
“Those eyes Shekhar! I am not able to forget those eyes. Her words are piercing my heart Shekhar! Ahhhhh! My daughter!! Mishti is my daughter.” cried Karishma.
“WHAT?” Screamed Mishri in shock. Shekhar and Karishma looked towards the door where Mishri was standing in shock. Mishri walked into the room all confused. She wasn't able to understand anything. All she knew was she heard her mom say that Mishti was her daughter. “What?” “How?” “Why?” “When?” Mishri had all sorts of questions but she wasn't able to form words. It wasn't making sense to her. She looked towards Shekhar and Karishma. Mishri always knew about Karishma’s failed relationship but she had no idea that Karishma had a daughter from that. That she had a sister. Her elder sister. Mishri kept repeating it multiple times in order to wrap this piece of information around her but she was failing.
She looked towards Karishma and Shekhar again. They both realized that now there was no point in hiding anything from her. Shekhar held Mishri’s hand and guided her towards the bed. He made her sit comfortably. He sat next to her and started telling her about Karishma’s past. About Mishti and how she decided to leave her daughter back and started a new life.
Mishri was feeling all sorts of emotions. Happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, shock etc. One could just name it. She was very happy to know that she had an older sister. But she was sad to find out this late. She wished she had known earlier. She was angry at Shekhar and Karishma for hiding this secret from her. She felt sad for Mishti. She felt angry for Mishti. She felt sad having missed all those years with her. She tried imagining how different it would have been had Karishma not left Mishti behind.
“Did you like, not love her? Or not want her?” asked Mishri. Karishma looked towards Mishri with shock. She shook her head in disagreement.
“No, I have read articles where parents give up on their kids if they think they don't want them. Some of them abort them even before they are born. So was that the case with you?” asked Mishri curiously.
“No baby! Not at all!!” Karishma sighed with horror.
“Then why did you leave her, mom? She was your child. Why would you do that to your child? What kind of a mother does that to their child?” screamed Mishri with confusion.
“Watch it Mishri. You are talking to your mother.” Shekhar warned Mishri politely.
“She was 14 dad. Literally my age..… Mom!! Would you do the same to me?” cried Mishri.
“Mishri!! Common.” Shekhar sighed.
“Mishri! I know you don't understand. And you won't even get it.” cried Karishma.
“Try me mom. Try me”. Karishma stood at her spot quietly.
“That's what I thought.” Mishri walked out of the room with anger. Shekhar tried calling her out but Karishma stopped him. She sat on the bed, crying. “Mishti hated me. And now Mishri hates me too. My kids hate me Shekhar.” Karishma cried while hugging him. Shekhar again tried to calm her down. He asked her to be patient with Mishri. He explained to her that Mishri was like any other teenager who would judge things as black or white. That she was at an age where she wouldnt understand that there was always a grey area. He promised her that he would talk to Mishri. Shekhar also tried talking to Karishma about Mishti but she was hesitant.
“Karishma! One day we will have to talk about this. How long are you planning to avoid talking about her?” Shekhar tried pushing. Karishma got up and walked away. Shekhar sat on the bed helplessly.
Rajvansh House
Next day, Abir woke up and found the other side of the bed empty. He got up immediately and tried to look around for Mishti. He recalled her condition from the previous night and became extremely worried. He searched around for her on their porch, in the living room, in the kitchen but she was nowhere to be found. He ran into Meenakshi, who had just wrapped up her musical routine. He was about to walk away but Meenakshi stopped him. Abir jerked his hands off from her hold. Meenakshi warned him about his manners and taunted whether he was learning that from someone. Abir could sense who Meenakshi was directing the taunt. He knew Mishti wanted him to not confront Meenakshi about this. But he had to do something. He wouldn't want Meenakshi to continue to torment Mishti in her ways.
“I know Ma, who you are referring to. And I also know what you were intending to do last night. Even Mishti knows. I really just wanted to come to you last night and confront you. But do you know who stopped me? The girl who you have been busy tormenting ever since you have met her. I still don't know what your problem is with her. Maybe you cannot control her like you cannot control me. And you hate that. You won't and will never take it out on me because I am your blood. And because that girl is not anywhere related to you other than being your son’s wife and life, you chose to do whatever you want to with her and then blame her instead for your actions.” Meenakshi was about to interrupt Abir when Abir raised his hands to stop her.
“Let me be very clear with you Ma. You already know I got a place for me and her when Mr Kapadia was here. I haven't sold that place yet. I have it. Now and then, I always keep offering Mishti if she wants to move out. And she says no. Even after knowing your hate towards her. She says no because she doesn't wish to separate me or us from this family. I am only staying in this house right now, because of her. Don't push me to the level that one day I get fed up and I stop listening to her. If you, or anyone for that matter does anything against her or if she sheds even a single tear I will hold you responsible. Even if I am the person making her cry, I will hold you responsible and I will make sure that I leave this house.”
“Abir” Meenakshi was horrified.
“Why ma? Why are you so scared? You don't like being punished or blamed for someone else’s mistake? Breaking news ma! That's exactly what you and many others do with Mishti. Time to see a mirror ma.” Abir warned and walked away. Meenakshi stood still on the spot. She was shocked with Abir’s warning. She out of everyone knew to not take Abir’s warning lightly. She rubbed off the perspiration off her head nervously.
Abir walked towards the main door of the house and saw the gate open. He noticed Mishti entering the premises. She was in her jogging suite. She went for a run. She still looked tired. Her eyes still looked pale. His heart broke seeing her making efforts to be normal around everyone. He wished he could just read what was going on in her head. Maybe he could have found a permanent solution. He just wanted her to talk to him. He just wanted to take her in his embrace and kiss her and take her pain away. He was about to walk towards her when he noticed her walk towards Jugnu.
Jugnu was feeding one of the stray dogs. That was Jugnu’s, Abir’s and Mishti’s routine everyday after she came back from the jog. They had also named the dog “Sheila”. Sheila was missing for a few days and had finally showed up at the Rajvansh doorstep today. As Mishti walked towards her, Sheila got excited seeing Mishti and ran towards her. She started licking Mishti. Mishti informed Jugnu that she would feed her. Mishti tried to feed Sheila but Sheila continued to lick and hug Mishti.
“You didn't come for days! And you came today. Now that you are here, all you are doing is hugging me. I know you can feel that I am not fine. I am not ok. But don't worry. I will be totally ok. The storm has to go away after it comes right? Don't worry! I will be fine.” Mishti said while caressing Sheila.
“Seriously Mishti! You and bhai are very similar and weird”. Mishti heard a voice coming from behind. She turned and found Kunal standing holding his protein shake.
“How you both even manage to talk to silliest things is beyond me.” Kunal joked around waving his head in disbelief.
“You should try someday. I am telling you it's the best thing. Want to try?” Mishti offered Kunal to feed Sheila but Kunal said no. Both Mishti and Kunal shared a laugh. Kunal went and sat next to Mishti. He wasn't sure if he should approach her after what happened last night. He wasn't looking to rip the bandage off since he knew how it felt. So he wished to just remind her of the help she provided him when he was looking for answers.
“Mishti! I know you are in pain. I know it's really hard for you to even think straight right now. I was at your place once. Our situations are so similar. To be honest, the effort that you are putting to be normal is just amazing! If I were at your place, I wouldn't have been able to do that. You are seriously very strong. But having said that, that doesn't mean you don't need anyone. I just want to remind you that you not only have bhai. You also have me. You told me once that we can't select our birth parents. All we get to do is accept and move on with it. Take your time, but accept it.” Kunal finished and was waiting for Mishti to respond. Mishti smiled at him and was touched by his gesture. She took a moment and fed and caressed Sheila side by side.
“Kunal! Thank you!” Kunal smiled at Mishti’s acknowledgement and signaled her to not worry about it. “No seriously thank you. Kunal! I know our situations have been similar in many ways. But they are different too.” Kunal looked towards Mishti with confusion as Mishti continued. “I always knew about my birth parents. You suddenly found out. So the acceptance part had happened long ago for me. Fortunately or unfortunately I had to accept it at a very young age. And in regards to accepting her back in my life!!” Mishti took a pause as she choked. “I dont think it's possible. The main difference is whatever Parul masi did was for you. She was close to you always. She always wished for that one day where she could become a part of your life. She loves you. You are very lucky that way. In my case, my mother left me to start her new life. She never looked back. She never wished to be a part of my life.” Mishti looked away as her eyes filled with tears again. “Your situation was mostly black and white. Mine is slightly on the grey. I am definitely fighting within me. But not for acceptance.That's why our situations aren't similar. And that's why what I suggested you might not work for me.” Mishti smiled with tears in her eyes. Kunal felt bad for Mishti but understood where she was coming from. “Don't worry Kunal! I will be fine. I know what I am doing”. Kunal nodded and reminded her again that she could come to him for any help like she could depend on Abir. Mishti nodded and Kunal went away.
Abir noticed the exchange from a distance. He was very proud of his baby brother. After realizing his mistake, Kunal has shown so much growth in handling every situation. He felt his phone vibrate and he took it out of his pocket. He saw multiple missed calls from that number. He felt weird seeing so many calls. He answered it.
“Mishti! I have a surprise waiting for you”. Abir whispered after ending his call.
Edited by BB_CallmeC - 3 years ago
comment:
p_commentcount