Bandhan Dilon Ka
(Title courtesy Bascillusbadius)
Part 1
Kalyani was arranging the things in the study room when her eyes fell upon a magazine, her husband's picture staring at her out of the cover page, She picked it up and traced his features with her fingers.
The one and only man who would ever hold a place in her heart, Malhar Rane, aged 27 years, the CEO of Rane Automobiles. He was a very honest and hardworking person and constantly worked towards the expansion of the family business.
She remembered holding a crush over him during college days where he had been her senior and was now married to him for three years. She had been 20 years old at the time of their wedding and had not pursued any career afterwards.
She had been over the moon when her marriage was fixed with Malhar and believed she was lucky to marry the man she was crazy about. She had neither thought about nor wanted anything else beyond that.
Malhar had never been a man of many words from the beginning. They never indulged in any activities like newly weds nor did they go out anywhere as a couple except for family gatherings.
Despite her longing for all that, she had just accepted that he was not like other men and never demanded anything from him. Though he did nothing special to make his wife feel loved, he did make her feel like a woman in bed. He just knew where to touch her and make her purr beneath him.
Kalyani's naive heart did not understand that Malhar had not been ready to get tied down by marriage. He was only interested in his work and the growth of his company. Only due to family pressure, he had gotten married at the age of 24, to Kalyani, a girl chosen by his grandfather and to him she was just like any other person in the house.
In her marital home, Kalyani was overwhelmed with all the luxuries she was not used to earlier. She didn't have many responsibilities as there was household help for all the work.
Kalyani had finished arranging the study and was sitting in her bedroom, watching a web series on her iPad when she heard the voice of her husband, talking over the phone as he entered their room. She rushed to take the laptop out of his hands, placing it on the side table.
She then went out of the room to get his tea and saw Vimmy, their house help coming with a tray in her hands.
"Vimmy, mujhe de do, mai le jaongi.'' She took the tray.
Back in the room, she handed her husband his tea and smiled at him. He gave her a dry smile in return and took the cup of tea. He continued talking over the phone for a few more minutes before winding up the call.
Sipping his tea, he was going through some papers and Kalyani hid her disappointment wishing they would talk, share each other's thoughts, how their day had gone or just anything in the world, but that never happened.
His voice broke her chain of thoughts, "Kalyani, Kal shaam hume ek party me jaana hai. Apne liye ek acha sa evening gown khareed lo." he said, giving her his credit card.
She took it from him silently, nodding her head. The card gleamed in her hands mocking at her as tears threatened to spill out of her eyes. He hadn't even looked at her face and his indifference was becoming unbearable each passing day. She silently wiped away the beads of moisture from her eyes and cleared away the tea tray.
Monotonously, she instructed Vimmy what to prepare for dinner and then went into the garden. It was the only place which offered her some peace and she began digging the mud to plant some new types of flowers that she had acquired from a nursery.
"Bahu… kahan ho tum?" her mother-in-law's voice could be heard and she went in.
Asavari Rane looked at Kalyani's mud streaked face and dirty hands, "Deva ! Jao pehle haath muh dhokar aao. Itne saal ho gaye, lekin tum ab tak apni purani zindagi bhula nahi paayi. Pata nahi Mamanji ne tumhe kyun chuna mere bete ke liye. Kisi bhi disha se tum mere bete ki patni ya hamare ghar ki bahu banne ke layak nahi ho."
Kalyani was used to these type of words but still it hurt. She dared not let her tears spill out as that would anger Asavari even more and quickly went to wash herself.
Asavari did not like Kalyani as she did not come from a wealthy background. She was an orphan with only an uncle and aunt as relatives. Asavari felt Kalyani was not the right match for her successful son. Only at her father-in-law Sayaji Rane's insistence, she had agreed to the marriage. She didn't miss any opportunity to put down the poor girl.
"Raat ka khana ban gaya?" Asavari asked when Kalyani was back.
"Ji saasu ma, Vimmy bana rahi hai."
"Toh tumhe wahin khade hokar uski dekh rekh karna chahiye tha, waise bhi aur koi kaam toh hai nahi tumhe. Din bar TV dekhna aur ye mitti se khelna, bas yahi karti ho tum. Kya bhagya lekar janmi ho, itne bade ghar me bahu ban gayi."
At the dinner table, Kalyani served food on everyone's plate before sitting down beside her husband. Malhar was discussing some official matters with his father, Madhav Rane.
"Swara kahan hai?" Asavari searched for her daughter who was missing at the table.
"Use thoda kaam hai, isliye maine uska khana kamre me bijwa diya." Kalyani answered.
Swara Rane, her husband's sister was the only soul in the house who made Kalyani feel comfortable. Kalyani cherished their morning walks when they would talk about anything under the sun. Swara was just a year older than Kalyani, studying corporate law and constantly badgered Kalyani to pursue a career.
After supervising the cleaning chores, Kalyani had changed into her nightdress and got into bed. As soon as she lay flat, Malhar's arm snaked to her waist pinching slightly, indicating that he wanted her. She edged closer to him as his hands rubbed her breasts from the top of her nightdress.
Nowadays Malhar did not even bother to undress them properly. He had just lifted up her nightdress, removed her panties and released his hardness from its confines finding his way into her. Kalyani was soon lost in the throes of pleasure she was receiving. His need sated, Malhar rolled off her body and was soon asleep. Kalyani closed her eyes too but sleep eluded her.
Kalyani had begun feeling that even the physical spark had started dying down but to his credit, he never strayed out of marriage to fulfil his physical needs.
From the beginning of their relationship, Kalyani had always been eager to please Malhar and take care of all his little needs. She still did so but of late, she had started feeling that Malhar neither reciprocated her feelings, nor did he care about her. It was always in bed that she felt his touch which was only to satisfy their physical needs and held no other emotions, no cuddles or kisses.
Kalyani tossed and turned for a long time during the night and ultimately got up from the bed walking up to her cupboard. She brought out her diary, which she recently begun writing and went to the terrace attached to their room.
Sitting down in a corner where she could get some light, she poured out her questions into its empty page,
Kya mere aur Malharji ke rishte me pyaar hai? Kya jagah hai meri unki dil me ya unki zindagi me? Kya mai unke liye utni important hun jitna woh mere liye hai?
In teen salon me maine maan liya ki meri zindagi aisi hi hai lekin jab Social media pe mere dost pictures post karte hain, woh dekhkar mujhe bura lagta hai ki mai apne pati ke saath aisa kuch kar nahi paati.
Malharji khud toh puri duniya ghoomkar aate hai business badhane, lekin ek baar bhi mujhe apne saath le nahi jaathe. Kyun? Kya unhe bhi lagta hai ki mai unke layak nahi hun?
Yeh sawal toh ab mai bhi apne aap se puchna chahti hun. Malharji aur Swara dono kitne confident hai, lekin mai, Mai kya hun? Maine toh college ke baad kuch kiya hi nahi. Shayad Malharji ko sharam aati hogi mujhe apne saath le jaane me.
Nahi Kalyani ! Aisa mat soch ! Woh bhi tumse pyaar karte honge bas unhe dikhana nahi aata. Unke paas wakt bhi toh nahi hai, Kitna kaam karte hai.
Swara ne jaisa kaha, mujhe bhi kuch karna chahiye. Apna ek career banana chahiye, phir shayad mujhme bhi thoda confidence aayega. Mai toh modelling karna chahti thi, lekin shaadi ke baad, ghar baite baite maine apna figure bhi maintain nahi kiya. Kitni moti ho gayi hun.
Teek hai, modelling na sahi, kuch aur toh kar sakti hun. Aise pura Wakt akelepan me guzaarne se toh koi entry level ka kaam dundh sakti hun. Mujhe kuch karna hoga, Malharji se baat karni hi hogi. Woh apne wakt se dus minute toh mujhe de hi sakte hai na?
As she wrote the last line, a tear had dropped onto the page creating a blotch. She put her pen away and slept at last hoping that she would be able to talk to her husband soon.
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
