Weird Fact: I had originally planned for Ishita to be a part of Aditya's career day where Adi chose Ishita to be representing him given Raman terrorising everyone and Shagun being out if station and a bore with her fashion talks. But then the show has done something similar. So my efforts of five months go wasted. Sigh.
And please ignore the messy grammar here. I just can't deal with English at the moment. Desi ban rahi hoon.
So I'm skipping the whole family bonding fiasco and getting to the important part and the kiss.
Maybe I'll have a spin off kinda post with the whole family moment stuff but now I just want to get to the kiss.
C H A P T E R 1 8 B M A U L A M E R E L E LE M E R I J A A N
The Iyers' and friends were setting up the patio for the night of fun and frolic that Raman Kumar Bhalla entered the premises. The young father dressed in a tight white crew neck t-shirt, Levi's and sporting his frames was well aware of the attention of the attention he gained but chose to ignore to it. He was fortunate to be one of those men who aged extremely. The thought made him smirk before he turned towards the task at hand.
A cup of filter coffee in one hand and his iPad in the other, Mr. Bhalla reviewed his son's activities for the day while the kid on the other side of the line who previously failed to respect his father at the moment presently cowered in fear.
Mr. Bhalla paced for a while following his son's activities, occasionally a bit of chastising from Toshi Bhalla on how he now practically terrorised the kid with his nightly check ups and Om Prakash Bhalla sitting with Adi as they went through the medication prescribed to him.
And though most father's grew to be harsher on their sons and loving towards their daughters, Raman Bhalla wasn't one of those father's. His affections were on the same level for both his kids. If Raman was Ruhi's Super Papa also was he Adi's Super Hero.
Raman had missed out on Adi for the past seven years and if Ishita could make up for a gap of 11 years so could he.
After all, he did marry that overly smart Madrasan.
He smiled. His Madrasan.
And then did he feel a lump hit his back.
A tiny body hugging him from behind.
Ruhi.
He placed a reassuring hand on her back and brought her forth.
And his nautanki who was a sleepy little zombie a minute ago was awake by the second when she saw Adi bhaiya.
And she gave Raman that accusing glare that even made him feel guilty for no reason at all.
So they sat there for a few minutes as Ruhi held the tablet in her having fists and chatted to her bhaiya on how mean Papa was to call him up specially at night when he just out her to bed.
Raman rolled his eyes at his spawns who started with their dramatics as nuzzled against Ruhi's back.
She smelt of baby powder.
She was growing up too fast for his liking.
Far too fast.
And she giggled.
That light giggle that was music to his ears.
Adi had missed out on those moments with his father.
He had been Young Master for years and never the kid.
His mother too busy being busy and Ashok who wanted a companion rather than a son.
And when his grandfather felt him to be left out he tickled him instead.
And Adi laughed out loud finally experiencing family.
It was Ruhi's 'haaww' at her brother laugh that Raman burst out laughing.
And Adi signing off mumbling that as much as he loved his father he was scary at times.
With Ruhi snapping back that Adi bhaiya was mischievous. It was his own fault.
Which earned her a good night kiss from her elder brother.
After which Ruhi squirmed out of Raman's arms and waddled over to Mihika chitti demanding that she put her to bed.
Added to her claims that Papa was mean. And that he tricked her to sleep only to call Adi.
Calling Adi the remote to her TV and Raman the bad bad battery.
Which even Mihika laughed at.
And when Raman passed by to return his cup back to the counter he mumbled, "This is all her mother. Nautanki."
Which earned him a loud," Haaw papa" from Ruhi and a, "The snark is all you, Jiju," from Mihika.
Ruhi's momentary anger towards her father was forgotten when she had pecked her father goodnight and he placed a light kiss on her forehead.
And before he could say something to tick the little one off Mihika interrupted him with a, "Don't Jiju. Akka will skin the both of us alive. We don't want that, do we"
But before anyone could reply Ruhi let out a soft snore as she clutched onto Mihika's neck like a little chimpanzee.
And Raman ruffled Mihika's hair instead, messing it up and earning a glare from her as they parted ways.
It was Amma who having her dinner alone that was she joined by Raman sat by her.
And when Amma claimed that she was fine Raman just claimed that he had no one else to turn out to now.
Which caused Amma to chuckle.
"Toh Ishu kaha hai," she asked.
"Room mein, she's probably sanitizing herself," Raman laughed.
"Sanitizing, what did you'll get upto now?" inquired a now inquisitive Amma.
"You know your daughter better than I do," chucked her son-in-law.
"What am I going to do with the both of you'll. And Raman, we know you're busy and all that. Ruhi ko Ishita ke balon se khelne sona pasand hai, not yours. Why is your hair so long? Wait for a day or two and you'll resemble a monkey. You're getting a haircut tomorrow. Nahi toh tumhare Amma ko phone karke tumhe Ananya ke hairdresser ke pas leke we'll see that you get that hair off your head." said Amma as she ruffled his hair, messing it all up.
"Or he can start using Ruhi's old hairbands," laughed Mihir only to earn a glare from his bhai's mother-in-law that shut him up.
Raman smirked.
"Sometimes I really wonder if Ishita and you are a married couple who will soon be in their thirties, if not there. Or preschool best friends. It's confusing because you'll clearly resemble the first and behave like the latter," laughed Amma as she walked away leaving Mihir and his bhai to their own devices.
With Mihir commenting saying, "Bhai, sach mein. You need a hair cut."
"And you need to get married," laughed Raman as he put an arm around Mihir.
They were happy.
* * * *
So, Mihir and Mihika had the typical high school romance.
The one Nalini or someone was the one married to Ishita's ex.
She seemed to be too submissive for Raman's liking but then it wasn't like he cared.
Bala and Vandita were shockingly quite scandalous in their teens. So much for being the boring professionals they were now.
Neil and Trisha were a match made by him.
And rest of the Jab We Met stories were directly proportional to his mood - decreasing exponentially per moment.
Where the heck was his Madrasan?
She had one shred of chicken that touched her saree. It wasn't like he bathed her in chicken soup that she was sitting there scrubbing every nook and corner of her body.
Bad thoughts.
And then came Amma and Appa with their romance which Raman had heard for a billion times over the past year and half of his marriage to Ishita but everytime they narrated it, the story just seemed to get better.
It was unconventional, filled with romance and it for some reason filled him with pride.
"What about you, Raman?" asked Vishwa.
"About me?" Raman laughed as he turned away.
"Your story?"
"There wasn't any. I met your sister. We pissed each other off. And one thing lead to another and our families decided to get us hitched. And the next thing I know was that I had to tolerate that Jhansi ki Rani for the rest of my life,"
"Jiju," whined one of Ishita's cousins.
These Iyer's could give his Punjabi extended family back in Punjab and other areas a run for their money given the size of their progeny.
Whatever happened to being modern, educated, soft and gentile, quoting Ishita.
"Did you fight with Ishita again," commented a passerby who Raman swore took what he heard of the so called "Raman Ishita" fight jokes way to seriously.
"Yeah, probably. They should be sent to school," laughed another.
"I mean, obviously. Who can tolerate Ishita?"
"Why if he chewing gum?"
"Punjabi hai. Chicken khaya hai. Tonight. Probably to,"
"I know. Whatever Ishita is, she's hot. I'd.." said another and then looked up to see Raman looking at him; an eyebrow quirked daring him to continue.
The person in question coughed instead and sipped on a nearby glass of water.
No one wanted to face Raman's wrath so the room quietened down.
The previous atmosphere lost instead to be replaced by awkwardness and fear.
And Raman for once didn't want to ruin everyone and it wasn't like it mattered anyway.
He spat his chewing gum into a tissue paper. Grabbed a bottle of chilled water. Leaned back and narrated what he would for the first time.
"December 18, 2008. I met in her in Bandra, Mumbai." he said taking a break to sip some water.
He had their attention then.
"Why were you Mumbai?" asked Vishwa.
"Embarrassment? Shagun and I had had finally decided to divorce. The deed was done. It was my first failure. And it hurt. It was terrifying. I was to join my father's business conglomerate in a few days. The world I built had shattered and in moments I was shifted to this life set for me the minute I was born. It was the impending failure. The pressure. The loss of familiarity. And back then I just couldn't deal with it. With any of it."
"And that's when you met Ishita?"
Raman smiled.
"Ishita is the one who found me and saved me. There was a moment when I wanted to and didn't want to breathe. Then Ishita was besides me. That's why I live. It may sound selfish but because of her I live . And she? She needs to be where I can see her until the end." **
"That gives me goosebumps for some reason, it does." shuddered Chitti as she held her cup of closer, "Where did you meet Ishu," she asked.
"The first time? Beech raste mein 20 pages is lecture sunaya tha Madrasan ne, (That Madrasan, she lectured me in the middle of the road,)" chuckled Raman at the memory.
Vishwa didn't believe him and not did any of Ishita's family. Ishita didn't moral police, they said.
If only they knew her now. If only.
"I don't even think my mother ever lectured me so sarcastically. Forget, even my lecturers never raised their voice at me. And there she was, That plump Madrasan rambling on about the silliest of things. I can't even tell you how much it annoyed me back then. But now if I think of it, it was where it all began,"
"So, did you'll exchange numbers? Agree to meet up again?"
"None of that. We huffed, puffed and walked away. Like those typical romances she reads."
"Oh, come on. Like seriously."
"Pretty much. She was a spit fire back then. Still is, now that she has a junior version of her. When they (Ruhi and Ishita) cross their arms, stare you with that look of theirs and then start off on how your existence is a bane to the universe it's both adorably cute and funny."
"Do you record those?" asked a cousin,
"Of course I do. But that only does seem to kiss them off more for some reason"
And Vishwa laughed on and narrated an incident on how Ishita used to wait for him to come home from school and coaching and then glare at him if he was ever late before she got into her dramatics on how Vishwa didn't love her anymore. Only to be pacified with the simplest of things. To which Raman agreed.
"So when did you'll meet again,"
"Later that night. We met at a party. Turned out it was her twenty second birthday. We ended up celebrating it. Pretty much the craziest day of my life. And then also one of the most memorable ones. So pretty much all that I perceived her to be earlier that day turned out to be wrong. She was this crazy medical student who's marriage was called off recently, was running away from her family and was also a hopeless romantic. So in the end, we were just two people who were running away from our responsibilities. It felt familiar."
"So somewhere in that span you fell for her, wanted to protect her and the cheesefest. So did you ask her to marry you?" filled in Vishwa who as a director pretty much knew how most stories flowed.
"I did. I did plan to," said Raman quite seriously.
"And then?" squealed a cousin quite loving it.
"I chickened out." chuckled Raman.
"Don't you dare tell me you played the sacrificial lamb card with all the 'my life is messy as f**k and she deserves better'," fumed Vishwa.
"Bingo,"
"Damn, Raman. I expected you to be better. Please tell me my baby was the aggressive one and pretty much forced you to the mandap. I'll never let you for ruining such a good tale. But you people are married now, what happened then?"
"Well, we parted ways. I returned to Delhi and she turned out to be my Dad's new neighbour's daughter. And mind you, our mothers pretty much didn't agree on anything. Still don't. And Madrasan was overly cranky for some reason. She treated me like I tortured her favorite pet to death."
The later part gaining laughter from everyone.
"And it turned out that our siblings we're dating each other for years. Like in the whole wide world and numberous other girls my brother couldn't find anyone but another Iyer girl. Another equally annoying Iyer girl. And Ishita and I pretty much didn't know that our siblings we're dating each other other than the fact that they were respectively 'in love' with someone from another community. And when it ended up being Amma and Mama face to face the previous consideration was long forgotten and ended up being a huge tiff over who's family is better and how their kids do not deserve the other family."
"Wow. Now I purely have no hopes for you'll," claimed Vishwa with an equally dramatic sigh. " Please continue,"
"So Ishita calls me out at midnight following the fiasco. And one thing leads another. Mihir and Mihika break up yet again. Ruhi comes into the picture. So my dad rishta's her dad without our knowledge. And we pretty much end up being responsible people and marrying each other. Done."
"I need to find Ishita," said Vishwa. "And hear the latter part of the tale from her. Raman, my friend, you have no talent in narrating love stories. None at all. Where is the masala yaar? Amma's random comments about the events leading to your marriage are more fun than this."
And Raman scoffed. Where was the love in their story?
He had to distract himself in order to not ruin the day for anyone else.
So he chose what he was avoiding for a while.
He picked his consistently ringing cell phone up and excused himself only to have his ex blast into his ear about being a lame excuse for a father and how he cared about his marriage more than his son.
When would anyone be satisfied with him and what he did?
There Ishita felt that he valued Shagun more and refused to broach he topic no matter how much he tried.
And here was Shagun accusing him of not loving his son.
"You clean up your own messes, and if you can't I'll be petitioning for Adi's full custody."
Why couldn't life be any easier for him?
Why wasn't he ever satisfied with what he had?
With Shagun he wanted her, he wanted her love and acceptance?
He wanted to have a family with her.
And he had succeeded but at what cost?
He had led her to a path of self destruction.
He was the reason she was where she was today.
If only he hadn't asked for more.
If only he had agreed to her and given them time.
If only they had agreed to Shagun dropping Aditya.
If only he had not trapped her into giving birth to Ruhi would she have not fallen for Ashok's advances.
He had suffocated her to the extent that she ran to the first source of comfort offered to her.
She had said wealth, power and love.
True.
He could offer her none of that.
Back then, all he wanted to do was stand up on his own feet.
Be an independent businessman.
And all she wanted him to do was join his father. Gain more power. More wealth.
If only he hadn't been selfish.
But then because of his selfishness did he have Ruhi and Adi.
And because of his selfishness was he doing the same to Ishita.
Using her weakness against her.
Trapping her in a marriage she wanted no part in.
And as he held Ruhi in his arms he wondered if this would feel foreign to him months or years later.
"Papa, are you crying? You fought with Ishima again? Why do you do stupid things? Let's go to sleep. Tomorrow morning we'll fix it. Papa and Ru." pacified a half asleep Ru.
How could he lie to her?
How could he assure her that it would be okay when he was was considering her Ishima and her go?
If he wasn't holding on any more.
Would Ruhi hate him as Adi did?
Maybe they would meet again, in a different universe where life wasn't as messy as it was.
Where he didn't hurt her mother as much as he did now?
Where he didn't ignore her for years?
Where he wasn't as bad as a father as he now.
They would meet in another.
But now, things as they were couldn't be fixed.
Maybe if he let Ishita go she would be happy.
He wouldn't have to face a teary eyed Ishita every other morning assuring herself that it was fine.
Maybe if she had Ruhi they would find a man who would love them unconditionally.
A man who wasn't as flawed as he was.
A man who wouldn't hurt them time and again over his messed up chose.
A man who didn't have to juggle two families.
Probably a man who didn't leave them to be insecure.
Who wouldn't hurt them as much as he did.
All he needed was decide to let go.
And that's how Ishita found him that night.
Embracing Ruhi as if his life depended on it.
And when she chose to sleep besides him rather than Ruhi, he chose to ignore her presence. Maybe he was really asleep.
But then, why couldn't she ignore the unease in her heart.
She chose to hug him to sleep.
Only later, deep in her slumber, did her feel him hold her hand.
Only to attempt to pull it away.
Instead she snuggled closer and he didn't have the heart to push her away.
So he spent half of the night staring at her before his demons got to him again.
Then did he choose to move away.
Away from the room where Ishita, Ruhi and their love only reminded him of the flawed man that he was.
It had been seven years.
And nothing had changed.
Now matter how much they pretended to be.
****
"You shouldn't have done that. Passed comments when he was talking. Raman. He has been through a lot. It takes effort from his to force contact with people didn't matter to him earlier. To open up to strangers." said Madhavi that night as she realised what had happened earlier that night.
Ishita had joined them only to be the told that Raman had left earlier.
And upon being asked who Shagun was by a cousin.
She had smiled and said that she was Adi's mother. Raman's ex-wife.
When the very same cousin had asked if they were on bad terms because Raman was ignoring tens of calls and messages from the lady.
Ishita had simply stated that they were dealing with something related to Adi.
And when Devyani smacked a news article to Ishita citing on how 'chupaya chup nahi jaata' at the end of the night.
Only then had Ishita shown the desired reaction of fury.
She had called the publication house and demanded the article to be withdrawn before her disconnected the call.
She had firmly claimed that Aditya Bhalla was an average school going kid and not gossip fodder. And further onto the conversation she had even claimed that Aditya was protected against any articles of any sort unless approved by his parents or legal guardian. And as his legal guardian she had every right to sue their sorry asses until they were forced to shut their so called reputed publication house down.
And Devyani didn't see the girl who grew up under her watchful eye anymore. She didn't see the 'bechari' forced to marry that vile man. She didn't see Ishita. Instead she saw Raman's wife. Not the young girl who chose to be a responsible mother to a kid she hadn't given birth to.
She saw a mother.
She saw Raman's wife.
She saw Ishita Raman Kumar Bhalla who was secure in her relationships.
And then she realised one thing.
That Ishita would never be held back.
She could never be held back.
Because Ishita?
Ishita knew what she wanted and she went for it heads on.
She was Ishita Iyer Bhalla.
The girl who skipped from one cocoon to another.
The lucky one.
"Don't get married kyon ki tumhare sare dost married hai,
Don't get married kyon ki tum aunties ke savalon se pareshan ho,
Don't get married because Valentine's day or lonely lagta hai,
Don't get married kyon ki choti behen line mein hai,
Ya, old age mein company milegi,
Don't get married kyunki maa kab banhogi,
Don't get married because ex boyfriend ki shadi ho rahi hai - yeh toh bilkul mat karna,
Toh phir when is the right time to get married?
When you find the man who deserves your time!"***
And Madhavi teared up at her daughter.
Ishita.
Her Ishita.
They were right, it was the universe that decided and humans? Humans just acted onto it.
**This is taken from Hotel King. I shall embed the video here of the video.
***This from a Titan Raga advertisement starring Katrina Kaif.
Such beautiful and heart touching words.
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