AJNA FF: SECOND CHANCES (PART 2 - PG 4, 21/08/15) - Page 3

CHAPTER TWO

FIRST IMPRESSIONS ARE NOT ALWAYS THE LAST

It's been three days since Sanjana returned to live with us.

Three days of awkwardness.

Three days of silence, not from her but from myself. Every opportunity she gets she tries to get my attention or she starts to say something but I leave the room abruptly.

I feel horrible for treating her this way but I can't help it. When the smile slips from her face my heart begins to ache. When tears threaten her eyes my arms ache to catch her in an embrace and never let her go.

What is this feeling that flutters through my heart?

Why can't I see her sad? Why do her tears affect me so?

I remember the first time I met her, I hated her on sight. She was so arrogant and demanding, always badgering Ajju, never giving him a moment of respite. She constantly grated on my nerves and I on hers.

I never did understand the fascination my best friend Ajju had on her.

As I look back now I wonder where that Sanjana disappeared too.

The woman that lives here now is not the same Sanjana from college. This one is much more mature and sensible, well sometimes she is sensible, he laughs to himself thinking of all the childish arguments they had prior to the divorce issues.

Sometimes I wish things were different, he sighed wistfully looking out the backdrop of the Taj Mahal from his terrace.

She's tried to fit in these few day. I've seen her attempting to help my sisters and Vinti bhabie in the kitchen. They don't push her away but they are indifferent to her.

I remember the first time she came running into our room that first month crying, she had said that in such a huge house, with so many people she still felt so lonely and my heart strings tugged in compassion. In that moment I felt anger towards my family, for the first time they were being unjust. I had told her that she was not alone, I was with her and that I am her friend.

I snickered at that thought. Some friend I am, leaving her alone all the time with no one to talk too. The Sanjana I knew spoke a mile a minute, this Sanjana hasn't said more than a handful of words, I wouldn't let her.

That first morning that she was here, I couldn't help but admire her. She was glorious. I never knew that Sanjana could sing like that, well I never made the effort to know her better.

I remember the look on mamaji's face when he heard her singing in the mandhir, I could hear him muttering a few times "Lata Mangeshkar" and I wanted to laugh and scream out "that's my Sanjana".

Wait, MY Sanjana?

How can she be my Sanjana, when she clearly belongs to Ajju!!!

He rubbed his hands across his face as these thoughts tumbled through his mind, confusing him even more.

"This is going to be a long six months" he muttered to himself...

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Nani paced through the hall lost in thoughts. As the oldest member in the family she was supposed to guide her family to the right direction. But somewhere along the way she lost her own direction and she began to question herself, "is my direction always the right course?"

The past few months have been harrowing, what with Bhushan's love marriage drama, Shreya's tantrums and then Ajay and Sanjana's contract marriage.

Obviously at first we were not aware that it was a contract marriage but love marriage. I was so upset with Ajay, how could he take such a decision on his own, did he not think of his family and their traditions. I always thought that my Ajay could never do something that would hurt the family but he did, albeit unintentionally.

He did it to help his friend Ajju, and to save Sanjana from her father's tyrannical behaviour. I want to be proud of him for this but I am still upset because now instead of love marriage it's contract marriage. I don't know which situation is worse???

She held her rosary closer to her, chanting, hoping that this would calm her mind and point her to the right direction, after all it was her family's happiness at stake.

She remembered vividly the first few times that she had met Sanjana. She had not been very impressed with her behaviour and manners. She thought back to that shameless dance at bhushan's sangeet and her body shivered in revulsion.

After a while, other memories began to take over, Sanjana saving Ajay and taking care of him when he was injured. That did not look like someone who was involved in a contract marriage but someone who was a true wife.

Then there was the incident when Sanjana tried to instigate the family against Shreya,that was unacceptable, after all she had no proof.

Which one was the true face of Sanjana?

The one that protected Ajay or the one that tried to cause a rift in the family?

Nani took a huge breath and plopped herself on the couch.

With all these thoughts flying through her mind she had an image of Sanjana in the mandhir. She looked so pious and radiant as she did the mornings prayer.

She said out loud...

"Sometimes first impressions are not always the last...Sometimes people deserve to have a second chance..." She said with a soft but firm voice, oblivious to the fact that she was no longer alone in the room and that another had heard her declaration.

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Shreya had been trudging to her room from the kitchen bemoaning the fact that she had to do the monotonous clean up after dinner.

"What do these people think of her?" she muttered under her breath. "They think that I am a maid...Don't they realise that in my home I never lifted a finger...I was born to rule not slave away doing household chores..." she ranted. She lamented the sad state of her hands that was pruned from all that dishwashing.

"For modern thinking people, haven't they heard of a dishwasher?" she said disdainfully.

Walking pass the hall, she came to a stop as she saw Dadi. She couldn't help but overhear the last part of Dadi's monologue about second chances and she became horrified.

"This old woman, cannot be seriously considering giving that meddlesome Sanjana a second chance?" she thought frantically.

"No!!!! That cannot happen...I will not allow it to happen..." She thought furiously, her brain beginning to work overtime.

"I will not let my hard work go in vain... Sanjana will have to leave and so will the rest of the outsiders..." She said almost maniacally.

"I will ensure that MY FAMILY'S first impression of that upstart will be their last!!!!! There will be no second chance..."

Tell me what you think😃

Navi