I come with Part 5. I dont want to prolong the suspense. So enjoy!
Part 5
Mami was telling Rashi, "Hai! this girl Kinjal! She is not doing any work at home. She is not cooking, cleaning or helping me in anything. I am trying so hard but cannot make her to do any work. This small Kagdi is proving to be worse than her mother".
Then he heard Rashi saying, "Mummy! come on! that is not important. I have to impress Nani that I am better than Gopi! Help me and give me some ideas."
"Hai Bhagwan! dont take that unlucky girl's name! From the day she was born she has been bad news to me. I thought that she was back permanently and stopped the servant. Then the next day Aham came and took her back. Now the servant girl wants Rs. 200 extra. Moreover, Panna has come for some or other school holidays. Now with Kinjal and Dhawal around, I cant do all the work at home. You better do something and send Gopi back."
Before he could even start reacting to this, he heard Rashi telling, "Dont worry Mummy! Ahamji has brought Gopi back for his Nani's sake. He will send her back once Nani leaves. You know that he does not like her and Kinjal and I have also done our part to keep it that way. So Gopi will be back with you soon and in this Ahamji is in your side. Like you, he also thinks that she is a manhoos and will always favor us in this matter. Now..."
Aham felt like he was slapped in the face. He did not hear anything else. He could not do any thing. He felt incapacitated. He just leaned on the wall behind him and closed his eyes.
Aham always thought that Rashi was lazy and flighty but basically a harmless person. But he never was comfortable with her mother. He thought that she was vulgar after their first encounter. All her subsequent visits to Modi Bhavan and particularly, her behaviour during Kinjal's wedding drama left an impression that she is not only vulgar but a greedy woman who was always a bad news. In fact, one of his biggest complaints with Gopi is that she brought in this relationship for the Modis. He thought that the Mami was way beneath him and never wanted to be associated with somebody like her. He did not even want to be known as her remotest relative let alone her son-in-law.
'But now', he thought 'what do I hear? That I am in this Mami's side? Have I sunk that low? Am I really like this greedy woman? Am I, Aham Modi, a partner to this uncouth Mami's schemes? Even if it is about Gopi? Does everybody else think that I am like this Mami? Does Mom think so? Is this the reason Mom is not in my side? How will I face Mom? How will I face everybody? What should I do now? Oh! I hate Gopi! I hate her for putting me in this situation. She made this to me. Oh God! I need time. I need time to think. Dear God!" He then heard his Mom calling him to come down. He told her he will be down in a min and went to his room. He drank some water, splashed cold water on his face and closed his eyes for a few sec. He then dried his face and went down.
He could not really face his Mom or his family with his new found knowledge. He heard Nani, asking Gopi to bring his tea. He looked up and saw gratitude and concern in Gopi's face. Gratitude? Why? Is she trying to make him feel more guilty? He can never understand this Gopi. He just glared at her and took the tea. To be polite, he talked a few things to Dhawal and he did not even remember what they talked. The little girl, Panna, he remembered, came and started talking to him. She said, "Jiju, thank you for bringing me here with you today. I missed Gopi Didi a lot and I haven't talked to her after I went to the hostel. I am so happy to be with her." He saw that everybody was looking at him and felt a bit uncomfortable with the attention. He replied, 'That's alright!'. He didn't know what else to say and saw that the girl was looking at him. So he asked her, "Do you go to school? Where do you study?". She told the name of her boarding school. He recognized it since Modi Industries had made some donations for their dining room at Kaka's initiative. There was a lull in conversation around him and saw everybody looking at him as if he was a chimera. What? Did they think that he is not capable of being nice to a little girl. Is their opinion so low of him? He just could not take his mind off what he overheard earlier. Every thing and everybody he saw was colored by that conversation.
He just went through dinner on autopilot. It was time for the guests to leave and Gopi was looking sad. He thought, what else is new? It was decided that Kinjal and Dhawal will stay there for the night. The Mami character, kind of fussed about staying alone and managed to mangle an invitation to stay too. She then requested Jigar to drop Panna back in the hostel. Aham felt horrible. "God! and this callous woman thinks that I am in her side" he thought. He looked around and everybody else looked shocked too. His Nani said, "What is this Urmila? You want to send this little girl back alone? No! let her stay here. Koyli! Hetal! Ask Kashi to arrange a room for this girl!". In spite of everything that happened that day, Aham smiled. This Nani is awesome, if she is on somebody else's case. He looked around for Gopi to see her reaction to this news.
She was not in the drawing room and saw Panna going towards kitchen. He discretely followed the girl and saw her sneaking into the kitchen behind Gopi. Panna hugged Gopi from her back. Gopi was shocked and just dropped the dish she was washing and turned around. Her face brightened when she saw the girl and said "Panna! What is this? you scared me! Just a min! I will wash this dish and come. Dont go without telling me." Panna said "No Didi! I am staying back. Your Naniji told that I should stay tonight! She scolded Mami and called Rashi, Kashi! I like this Nani very much." Then Aham heard something he had never heard. Gopi giggled, with Panna and then said "Dont speak like that about elders!" He smiled in spite of himself. Suddenly, a scene where his daughter sharing some school story with Gopi and both of them with identical gleeful giggles flashed in his mind. God! His daughter? Gopi? Where is this coming from? Surely this is because of his Nani and her talk about children. He groaned looked around and saw that Kaki and Jigar were looking at him with wonder. Why are they looking at me like that? Jigar too? Does he also think that I am as callous as his mother-in-law? Why cant I ignore that stupid conversation? Why is it suffocating me? I need some peace. I need to be alone. Let me go to my room. Oh no! Gopi will come there too. I don't want to see her. I don't want any more reminders.
He went to his mother and told her, "Mom! Let this little girl stay with Gopi. I need to finish a lot of work as I started early. I will work and sleep in the guest room." Mom started "Aham! Nani...". "Mom please! Just today. I really have to do some work and Gopi will be happy with this little girl. I am now going for a walk and will be back soon. I will take a few things from my room when I come back." His mother again gave a weird look and told "O.K. but don't repeat this."
The calm and cool night could not settle Aham. He was worried about his family's opinion of him. Till today he was very sure what his family thought about him - he was the eldest son and a responsible no-nonsense guy who never disappointed them. But now? Thinking back, he could see that things have been changing slowly and particularly from the day Gopi made the drama of taking back her vows. Or is he imagining so now because of his confusion. He could not be sure of anything. He then found that he was back at home and went up. Jigar saw and said, "Bhai! I have looked at the applications and have shortlisted a few. Would you like to see them now or tomorrow?" Aham told him, "No Jigar! you go to sleep. You must be tired. We can go through the list tomorrow." Jigar smiled at him and left. Aham was suspicious if Jigar was not as open with him as before. He went up to the room and saw Gopi telling some story to Panna. When he went in, Gopi got up and covered her head. She told him that she had kept his things in the guest room and thanked for allowing Panna to stay with her. He just looked at her and left the room.
In the room, he was not in a mood to work. he got into the bed and switched the lights off. He did not get sleep though. He could not escape his doubt and guilt. Guilt was a new feeling for him as he never felt guilty about anything before today. He was mostly worried about his family? What did they think of him? They love him but do they like him? He thought of every member of the family. When he thought of Kinjal, he was confused more. Did he do right by her or did he let her down too? She too got married against her wishes. So what will she do now? He did not like what he was feeling. He wanted to go back to the confident Aham he was. Can he? Will he get his life back? He slept fitfully that night.
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So what do you all think? Is this shock enough for Aham to change? Does that change include loving Gopi? What will he do next? Aham is very confused now and I am finding it a bit difficult to make sense out of his thoughts. Let us see what reveals next.
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