Chapter 16

rulama

@rulama

[MEMBERSONLY]

[NOCOPY]

RECALLING ARNAV

Part 8

Section 2B

"One of our neighbours had a photo studio. He arranged for the photo that your Dadi showed you to be taken," Garima told Arnav. "You can see that I am not dressed in fancy clothes in that picture. I had no idea that he was going to propose or that we were going to get engaged."

Anjali looked at Arnav's stony face with wet eyes and leaned against his shoulder. It was Shyam all over again.

"Babuji asked him when we would get to meet his family. Arvind Mallik asked for a grace period of six months to convince his mother that he had found the girl he wanted to marry. Babuji agreed, not entirely happy that my future saasumma was averse to the idea of her son marrying me," Garima looked at Sasi.

"Phir kya hua, Garimaji?" Nani asked, her voice low.

Garima sighed.

"One month after my engagement, I got a letter from Arvind Mallik's mother asking me to meet her in Lucknow. He was not in Purwa and so I thought he had gone to Lucknow and had managed to convince your Dadi. I imagined foolishly that she was summoning me to bless me. Babuji & I went to her house in Lucknow," Garima recounted.

"Your Dadi opened my eyes to what Arvind Mallik really was. A married man with two children! I couldn't believe my ears. All the abuse she showered on me for trying to break up his marriage fell on deaf ears as I sincerely believed that she was talking about the wrong man. It took time, a close study of the family portraits hanging on the walls of her study and your dadi's caustic tongue for me to understand that I was engaged to a married man," Garima spoke softly, her eyes dry, her voice emotionless.

Arnav and Anjali sat still, frozen like statues.

"What could I say? How could I prove that her son had tricked me, cheated me? How could I make her understand that I hadn't known that Arvind Mallik was a married man?" Garima drew a long breath. "Phir kya karna tha? I told Babuji everything your Dadi said. He was shocked at Arvind Mallik's treachery and immorality. He was also grateful that I hadn't married him. I resigned from my job at the factory and we moved to Kanpur to stay with Jiji, Jiju and Khussi. First Babuji passed away and then Jiji & Jiju died in an accident. I and Khussi were left to live on. I did not wish to return to Purwa. Payaliyaa's father, a widower, had been Babuji's friend. He came to Kanpur to meet us and after seeing Khussi and my condition, offered to marry me and adopt Khussi. I told him everything that had happened... the engagement... the belief of your Dadi that I was a loose, abandoned woman out to trap her wealthy, virtuous, married son. He asked me to let the past remain in the past. So we got married and returned to Lucknow to live in Gomti Sadan," Garima explained. "But destiny had more misfortunes in store for us. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that both Payaliyaa and Khussi would marry in to Arvind Mallik's family. I knew you as the Raizadas, not as the Malliks. It was only when I saw Dadi that..." Garima hit her forehead with her hand.

There was perfect silence in the room.

Sasi held his wife's hand tightly. Buaji held Garima's other hand.

In to that silence, Arnav asked a single question in his low, husky voice.

"Did you come to Sheesh Mahal to see our parents' corpses the day after Di's wedding was cancelled?"

Part 8: Section 2A:100419332 Part 9:Section 1:100968616

rulama2014-02-09 02:53:07