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Asha Bhosle Passes Away
Favourite Songs of Asha Bhosle 💖💙🩷💛💜❤️💖
12.4 and 13.4 episodes
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Deepika Owes Ranveer Love Not PR
Mannat Har Khushi Paane Ki: Episode Discussion Thread - 41
NASHIK MNC Jihad
Fierce Abhira giving reality checks left right and center is what I like to see.
Pata nahi show mein kab dikhega.
Waiting for next
PART 6
Author's note: I am particularly excited for this chapter. There's so much happening, so many confrontations and an unexpected encounter. I hope I have done justice to the emotional rollercoaster ride this part is intended to be, especially the most awaited confrontation in the latter part. I wilk be looking forward for feedbacks in this one, i hope you all won't mind dropping one. It's pretty long, so please bare with me.
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Abhira couldn't be there anymore. After her conversation with Vidya, it felt like her emotions were slipping away from her fists like grains of sand. The walls of the mansion seemed to cave in on her, as if she were trapped in a box. All she wanted was to be free, from the keepers of the cage, from their demands and attempts to mould her a certain way. And what more did she have to lose before she could get that? But no matter what she did, every second she stood there the ache in her chest seemed to worsen, she looked around breathing heavily, and every corner seemed to have held a memory, of another insult, of another accusation, of misplaced hopes and of hatred her young heart couldn't tolerate. So she ran out, wrapping herself in her Mumma's shawl, with no fixed destination in her mind. She reached the temple and even though she wasn't particularly religious, especially after her Mumma's death, she let her feet carry her.As
Rihaan stood near the pillar of the temple he often visited, his eyes fell on a small forlorn figure sitting on the opposite side, her knees drawn close to her chest, while her eyes voidly wandered in a darkness that seemed to shroud her vision of what spared beyond. There was something about her demeanor that screamed for help, while also seeking complete isolation. Her eyes held so much yet conveyed so little. And he wonders what hurricane her heart must have went through to render her so numb. He wouldn't ever forget her eyes...and the depths of pain they held, the pain that seemed to have gripped his heart from the moment he had seen her in that art room, struggling to breathe, as if something was crumbling her from within. She looked like a butterfly under the moonlight. A butterfly with broken wings.
Rihaan walked towards her, ever so softly and realised how she was shivering, despite the shawl she wrapped around herself as if hoping the fabric would protect her from the harsh coldness of her own skin. Despite that she was wretchedly silent, to the point he couldn't even hear her breath.
And suddenly the weather didn't seem pleasant around him, as if the air carried a certain gloom that obstructed the bright rays of the sun from reaching her. But he didn't know if he should go any closer, as if any gentle probing would only scratch the wounds deeply and heartlessly inflicted. He sat on the opposite side of the same pillar, instead of sitting in front of her or beside her.
He gently grabbed a lose end of her shawl and tugged it softly, to make sure he doesn't startle her but she flinched anyways.
Abhira looked around and realised there was someone behind the pillar she was leaning on. She wrapped the shawl tighter around her, "leave me alone...please", her voice was scratchy and more broken than she had expected it to be.
"Suna hai roshani ko yahan taake ane mein lag jaate hai saal bohot,
Yaane ki dusri duniya ka aks,
Yeh sitaron ka raks,Sab beet Chuka hai,
hum bas Aaj dekh rahe hai.
Yaane ki humari jee huyi kahaniyan kahin aur bhi bayaan hogi,
Ek duniya toh woh bhi hogi jo humse peeche chal Rahi hogi,
Kyunki sitaron ke aage Jahan bhi hai,
Yahan tum hi nahi,
Wahan aur bhi hai..."
There was a comforting familiarity in his voice, that Abhira felt she had heard before, a voice that might have reached out to her when she was struggling to find the light in her own darkness.
"Now imagine if the light travels across verses to reach you, there must some magic in the universe out there meant to protect you", Rihaan spoke with a softness in his voice that soothed something in her aching heart but also scared her. The world doesn't treat hope well, they allow it to grow and thrive on false promises only to brutally strangulate it eventually. And if this person is so hopeful, how brutal will his eventual heartbreak be.
"Hope...feels beautiful but don't let it fool you because the shame and the sorrow that comes later... that's unbearable...it will crush you", Abhira whispered.
Rihaan's heart clenched in pain for her, "Humans...are all disasters in their own way, some manage to forge a relationship despite their own catastrophe...but some end in tragedy."
Abhira smiled a little, she wasn't a disaster, she was the aftermath... the wreckage and she didn't know how to explain it, even to the weirdly familiar stranger who was perhaps too kind for her to taint him with her cruel reality.
Rihaan let the silence surround, perhaps he could do something that would maybe help.
"Kuch sunogi? My Nani would play this recording for me when I would wake from a nightmare. This voice has comforted me throughout my life...this voice belongs to a very kind woman who helped my Nani, right here in this temple", Rihaan spoke fondly.
Abhira's eyes widened a little in surprise when the recording played.
"O Kanha ab toh murli ki,Madhur suna do taan..."
"Mumma...", Abhira whispered. And then the sobs that were stuck in her throat came out in gut wrenching waves. For a moment it felt unfair. It felt unfair that someone had shared the warmth and comfort that her Mumma's voice provided but there was no one to share the sorrow of losing that voice with Abhira. No one to miss that voice, crave to hear it, suffocate in the absence of it every second the way she did. And she clutched her chest, as her sobs increased.
Rihaan tightened his hold on her shawl. "This voice... it's your Mumma's?", his own voice heavy with emotions. Destiny was a strange thing and they were only beginning to get ensnared in it's trap.
Abhira couldn't bring herself to answer, neither could Rihaan bring himself to ask her more questions and he knew she would hate to look at anybody right now, so he sat where he was and he let the recording continue to play, while Abhira pulled her knees closer to her chest, hiding her face in her mother's shawl, hoping it would bring her some semblance.
It was after what felt like an hour she went completely still and silent. Rihaan realised she had probably fallen asleep from the exhaustion. He stood up and kneeled beside her, he couldn't leave her here, neither did he know where to take her. He stared at her face and the peace that settled on it, despite the dried tears, and for a second it all felt a bit less heavy. He fetched her phone which carelessly lay beside her and searched for her last contact.
There were multiple calls made to her Mumma, and Rihaan tried calling the number but no one ever responded and he wondered what had happened to the kind woman who helped his nani and what catastrophe had fallen her daughter for her to be this broken. He was pulled out of his trance from the vibration of an incoming call from someone on Abhira's phone.
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"Where are you going Krish?", Armaan asked Krish, who was walking out of the mansion in a hurry.
Krish's face twisted in detest as he saw Armaan. He looked away and continued to walk but Armaan held him back."I am going to get Abhira Bhabhi back...she is not well, and she is out alone..."
"Not well? What happened and why she is out alone...when will she stop being so careless, she just has to cause worry and trouble all the time...", Armaan ranted in frustration.
"Enough..." Krish interrupted sternly "no one is asking you to worry, neither do you have to act like you do. I will take care of her and I will get her back...she is leaving tomorrow anyways. And I am glad she stayed out the entire day, otherwise at least one of you would have found a reason to hurt her again."
"You know that's not the case Krish...I do worry about her but Dadisa", Armaan tried to justify himself but Krish was in no mood to listen.
He stared at Armaan for a second before he spoke, "you really are a coward, aren't you?"
"I would never understand how you still continue to be so blinded by your devotion towards Daadisa, when she has only ever tried to mould you as per her convenience. But I shouldn't be surprised. You have tried to do the same with Abhira Bhabhi, haven't you? Tried to break her and mould her so that you could have your way and when it didn't work you started gaslighting her into believing she was the problem...she is the problem, when the only person who has ever had the courage to raise a voice against the normalised cruelty of this house has been her, the only person who raised a voice for you...has been her? How fitting it is, to evict the one person who holds the strength the shatter the abusive cycle! You will be marrying Ruhi bhabhi soon...you will have someone who finally fits your mould but ou are losing the only person who could have saved you from this family and from yourself, but I am glad you are losing her because otherwise, she would have lost herself," Krish spoke exasperated by his brother's inability to speak up.
"I...I won't be marrying Ruhi, Krish...I won't", Armaan spoke defensively.
Krish chuckled in response, "Oh you would, a little insistence from your mother and Dadisa...and you would, believe me", he gave his brother a final look and left.
___________________
Krish scanned the temple to find Abhira and his eyes fell on her small figure curled up against a pillar in the corner and saw the man sitting beside her, holding one end of her shawl in his hand.
Rihaan stood up as he saw a young man approaching, his eyes restlessly looking at Abhira.
"You must be a Krish?", Rihaan asked him politely.
"I am. Thank you for recieving my call. I was worried sick for her."
"I would understand why", Rihaan whispered to himself. He offered Krish a small smile.
Krish kneeled beside Abhira and he gently put a hand on her head. He has been a brother his entire life but this natural surge of protectiveness is something he hadn't felt before. It was as if he was tied to Abhira in an inexplicable way. He called her name to wake her up.
Abhira woke up with a start and looked around disoriented, to find Krish softy smiling at her. Her eyes were puffy and red from the crying and the fever she had caught due to all the exhaustion.
"Ghar chalien?", Krish asked.
And a lone tear fell down her right eye, "Ghar...Ghar nahi hai mera."
"I know...I know", Krish spoke, gently holding her in an embrace, his own eyes tearing up. "Just a few more hours and you would be away from all this pain, you would be at your home...I promise you...you will be home."I
n that moment Krish knew what was needed to be done, and he would make it happen, as long as it meant he did not have to see Abhira this broken again, he would do anything.
He helped her stand up and wrapped a protective arm around her shoulder. He nodded in Rihaan's direction in gratitude, who just shook his head with a smile.
As Rihaan watched them walk, his heart was plagued with an intrigue to know her story, to know her and maybe just maybe, someday watch her set herself free from this pain...and watch her happy. He saw a shiny object laying where she sat, a silver anklet. He picked it up and slipped it in his pocket. Perhaps they would meet again.
_____________________
Abhira was standing on the terrace, still wrapped in her Mumma's shawl as she stared at the stars.
"Kyunki sitaron ke aage bhi ek jahaan hai"
The stranger's voice reverberated in her head and amidst all the ache that seemed to have permanently settled there, a small contentment settled in her chest, knowing there was another kind soul that her Mumma had indirectly helped, knowing that he was perhaps as kind himself. The initial anger now subdued, she could finally breathe better knowing how her Mumma's memories were spread in different corners of the world, as if she had left peices of her heart for Abhira to find.
She turned around when she heard Armaan's hesitant steps approaching her.
Armaan immediately looked away. "I...I just wanted to give you this. Your special patthar", Armaan held out the turtle that Abhira had gifted him.
"You can keep it. I gave that you as a symbol of luck. I don't believe in the concept anymore and you certainly need it more than I do", Abhira began to walk away but Armaan held her wrist.
"I owe you an apology...I have been terrible to you and I have lied to you. I shouldn't have. I...I have acted selfishly and I have hurt you a lot but I just...I just wanted you to know I am really sorry, for how things ended between us. I always knew we would part ways some day...I just did not know we would end up so distant and estranged. But I wish you all the best Abhira, you have a great future ahead of you...", Armaan spoke sincerely knowing well enough that this politeness was now of no use.
"I am guilty of a lot of things, but the guilt that weighs upon me the most, is what I have done to you due to my own insecurities..."Abhira hated him in that moment...hated him for painting her a victim now when he has been holding her a culprit all these days. She hated him for acting like he understands when he really doesn't and he never would.
"I can't think of you as guilty as you do yourself, but that guilt is only what you feel for your family. What you feel for me...is perhaps a failure at just another responsibility. We are nothing...we never were a married couple and if there's anything I have realised in the past few days is, that contrary to all my beliefs we weren't friends either. I was just a responsibility thrown upon you by a desperate dying mother and I should have remembered that when I began to hope, I should have remembered all those times when you had made it very clear that your family is your priority and I...never was a part of it...a part of the world that circumvents your whole entire existence. What hurts me...is that every word you have ever spoken to me has been a lie, not just about your relationship with Ruhi but every single claim that you have made to have known me at all. After all that I have done for you and your family, it took you one threatening glare from your Dadisa to throw my mother under the bus and forget that she died saving you. It took you one confrontation to reduce me to being a mere responsibility after you took me to your special place and forged my name on that bench. I was a fool...I am a fool...I actually believed you and I let you and your family insult me and my Mumma...and I shamelessly stayed...I shamelessly chose to come back...I should have left long ago. I kept fighting for a relationship that never existed in the first place, I should have seen the signs, it has always been obvious...Ruhi meddling in our matters...and you allowing her and even enabling her to do so. I should have known...I did have an epiphany but my heart wouldn't believe that you...would do something so cruel to your own brother. I was nothing to you...but Rohit...he was your brother, how could you do that to him?" Abhira spoke with a conviction she hadn't felt in the last few days.
"Leading Ruhi on to believe that she has a future with me was never my intention Abhira...I never wanted to hurt Rohit and that was the reason I never spoke up about my relationship with Ruhi...and now I see how foolish that was, to let my brother marry a woman I knew wouldn't love him. I tried to create boundaries...but there was this guilt...of spoiling her life that stopped me and let that guilt direct my actions. I caused more harm than good", his voice barely a whisper, as his tears relentlessly fell down his eyes, apropos to Abhira's stoic demeanor, perhaps she had ran out of tears after all these days of pain and trauma they have piled upon her.
Every cell in his body wanted him to drop on his knees and beg for forgiveness but he continued to speak, "What I have done to you...is unforgivable. I am indeed the monster I have been scared of my whole life. I am the same monster that crawls under my bed every night. I tried to mould you as per my requirements, I...I tried to break you, so that I could fix you and make you what I wanted you to be. And it's not... it's not because you are not good enough Abhira...you are...you are so much brighter than the light this house could withold...you are courageous and you..."
"These words...mean nothing to me Armaan. Not when I have been made to feel worthless for these exact qualities...", she interrupted, her breath catching in her throat, her pent up anguish threatening to spill from her eyes, "Anything you say now...means nothing when your actions have screamed otherwise. You were quiet...when your family questioned my character and my upbringing, you...were quiet when they said terrible things about my Mumma, now...YOU... don't get to play the victim Armaan. You don't get to act like you didn't know what was happening around you, like being a man of high stature and apparent wisdom as yourself...you didn't realise that I was being emotionally abused every single day," she breathed heavily.
"You aren't necessarily a monster Armaan...perhaps a hero who couldn't save anyone", she continued to speak as took a step forward, looking straight into his eyes, and there was this urge, to hurt him the way he had hurt her but she couldn't even if she wanted to, because her heart, despite everything was incapable of gathering such cruelty.
"You are a mess of some good intentions gone wrong. You strike a match on yourself and you believe...you convince yourself that you are doing that to keep everyone warm, and now the whole goddamn world is on fire, so you try to put the fire out...you try so damn hard, the dam breaks, and your reality and your sorrow pour free- you are sorry, so very sorry- and you will drown everybody to prove it, to show that you feel guilty...just like you drowned me. Because at the end...a monster would at least accept his cruelties...you wouldn't...you would continue to convince yourself that everything you did was an act of selflessness born out of your devotion towards your family, when it's just your own weakness...and believe me that's worse...than being a monster" Abhira knew what she had done, she had hit the right chord, forced him to face a reality he has been running away from but she was done with his hypocrisies.
An unknown fear gripped Armaan's heart, a fear he hadn't known for a long time. Because even when Abhira was mad at him or hurt by his actions, her eyes could never hide the kindness her heart held, her eyes...despite the grief and anguish were never shrouded with darkness, her eyes were a soft dark brown...like the first sip of coffee in the morning, they were...a lighter shade in the sun, as if all the shades of laughter, rain and sunshine have blended together to form the colour her eyes. But something had miserably shifted and the loathing he saw in her eyes, for him, crushed him. Because after all these years of being scared to look into eyes, to find what they truly thought of him, after all these years of only finding expectations and underlying blames for him in everybody's eyes...her eyes, held something different, as if all she saw was a man...just a man, a normal annoying man. But that changed today, and what he saw in her eyes would haunt his nights because he had done this to her, killed her innocence, made her feel unworthy, as if she was the sin in their haven.
One thing he knew today...was that Abhira would perhaps never be the same, because he had broken something within her, irreparably and the thought made him stumble a step back because imagine the amount of cruelty you would have to subject someone as bright as her to, to dim her light. Even if this wasn't a bloodshed, he knew he had blood on his hands...for killing the hopeful, warm child that she was from within.
In a flash of seconds today, he had seen the world burn and the world drown, by his own two hands, right there, right in his room.
Ye tha part one Aur ye hai part 2
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