C H A P T E R 2 M A R J A A N I
Chapter Edited by Dhara (@dsgirl)
"After waking up from the dream that was you, the morning of reality feels so empty." - Empty, Winner.
Subramanian Reddy, did not really like the fact that the woman he has loved for almost twenty one years had found a new lover. Correction: he hated the fact that Ishita had "moved on". In his mind, if he had it, it still was him in his Rajnikant avatar going up to her and demanding her love and she like a Meena Kumari draped in a Kanjivaram saree crying as she accepted him whole heartedly. Wasn't she that? Wasn't that what his mother told him even yesterday, that Ishita still stood by her window pining for him. Giving up Ishita wasn't an easy decision, but putting his love for her against all the hardships his parents faced to bring him up, his respect for his parents took priority. All his parents ever asked for was an heir from from their favorite son. An heir to continue their bloodline. "You can marry her after you give us an heir, son," they had said. They had even promised him that they would accept Ishita whole heartedly. It was the day that he met Ishita six years post their breakup that he realised that if he had to win her back he had to fasten his line of thought. He had seen her crestfallen face followed by her mother's announcement that Ishita had moved on and she now, had a new man in her life. He refuses to believe that. The Ishita who had grown up loving him couldn't move on.
The cell phone was soon snatched from Subbu' hands. As it passed on from one person to another finally reaching Ishita's 21 year old cousin who proceeded to scream. "Chuuuppp!!! [Suuussshhh!!]"
Then the cousin in question stood on a nearby chair. "Akka. Kya baat hai, jiju ka phone itni jaldi.. Bahut besabri hai kisiko. Waise bhi, Photo badi acchi hai." [Sister, what's the deal, yo. It's my brother in law calling. Someone's really impatient. Anyways, this is a really good picture.]
Ishita tried getting hold of her phone only to have it passed a hand from one person to another, finally giving up she looked up to the her cousin, pouted and muttered, "Feel free to talk to that Kud Kud Kumar. I have no interest in talking to him. He'll just start nagging like a bored housewife."
"Did you just say something, sharma mat, we can't hear you."
"Pass the phone, iske pehle ki woh meri class lele."
"Did you hear that? jiju iski class lega, toh class le lene do na, badi romantic hi hogi. Shahrukh jaise jiju mila hai, apna Raj toh bana le. Karle akka, shudh desi romance."
The cousin winked as she received the call and placed it on loudspeaker, "Oye, Madrasan!" Raman's voice echoed through the room. Ishita snatched the phone, switched the call back to handset mode.
"Ji, Raavan Kumar, boliye." She spoke extra sweetly into the handset.
"Suna hai, your daughter had beaten up two boys twice her size."
"Nahi, Ishima. Can your cute si Ru beat such big boys?"
"Ruhanika!" came a stern voice from the other end. Ishita could imagine her baby pout.
"Kyun meri beti ko daant rahe ho Raavan Kumar? [Why are you scolding my daughter, Raavan Kumar?]"
See, Ishima agrees with me. You should be proud of your daughter that she can defend herself."
"So, you agree that you did beat them up, Ruhanika?"
"Haaw, no papa! How could you accuse your darling daughter of such a brave thing. I have you to beat up people for me, like you do for Ishima. My superpapa."
Ishita smiled at the father-daughter conversation going on at the other end of the call, who would have thought that these two didn't even speak to each other less than a year ago. She pictured her daughter opposite Raman, her tiny hands on her hips as she puffed away her fringe whole Raman glared at her. They were so similar.
"Ishita yaar. Ask your daughter what she did, I have to face her principal all over again."
"Again? Raman, define again."
"Papa, you promised."
"So, did you Ruhi."
"But the circumstances were dire."
"Sure, Ruhanika. the circumstances were dire. Makes me wonder who trained in all these abla nari hidden attacks."
"He said he wanted to partner up with me. Boys have cooties papa. BOYS HAVE COOTIES. "
"Yes, boys have cooties!" Raman agreed, as if suddenly remembering the fact.
"Raman!! Kya gundo ko pal rahi hoon mein."
"Boys have cooties, Ishita. Papa's don't have cooties but boys have cooties. Bhagwan bheje dete waqt kya tum jagga jasoosi kar rahi thi?"
"Raman." Ishita sighted clearly exasperated.
"Yeh Raman, Raman kya laga rakha hai. Accha tell me, how was your day with your fellow Madrasans?"
And with that Ishita sat down on the nearest window sill casually chatting with Raman and occasionally their daughter. She smiled and nodded at anyone who came to call her, forgetting them a minute later. So for the hours that came they chatted on about purely mundane things, from her Kanjivaram saree to his Raavan avatar. She asked him about Aditya and he told her about Ruhi. Together they put Ruhi to bed and as usual Ishita fell asleep first followed by a smiling Raman as he sat in his study admiring pictures of his wife and daughter. Raman Bhalla, one of the brightest minds in the nation if not the world refused to admit that he missed his Jhansi ki Rani.
The next morning Ishita was awakened by her internal alarm clock reminding her that she had to wake Ruhi up. So, instinctively she tied her hair into a loose bun and walked out of the room half awake with her eyes shut as she felt her way to the 'kitchen'. When her down self and mildly functional brain both agreed that the place she stood in was the kitchen she stifled a yawn and mumbled, "Neelu, saab ka mocktail laga do, kal ke party ke baad he'll have a hangover. Aur Ruhi ke breakfast ke liye ingredients nikal do. She had demanded pasta last night, my naughty baccha," smiling as she said that, "I'll shower and come back in a moment. And call one of the drivers up. Raman and I are busy and Ruhi needs to be dropped to school. Remind me to remind Raman to tell his accountant to clear mummyji and papaji's accounts. Aur agar gynac se mere liye reports aye toh send them to me instead of Raman, it was so embarassing to ask them back last time. But first baby ka drink tayyar kar dena, you know she has to be fed something as soon as she wake up. Neelu, are you listening to me?" exclaimed a frustrated Ishita only to be met with fits of laughter from the background. "Hadd hai yaar," Ishita explained clearly annoyed now (the influence of her kud kud Kumar). But as she opened her eyes she realised that she stood in a dining room filled with relatives and early rising cousins. Ishita covered her face. Mortified wasn't clearly the expression she could use at the moment, she felt worse. Damn, she was so silly Silly and tired. The amount of work she had as a part of the family was finally taking toll on her.
"Akka, jiju ka phone hai. I think he really misses you. Chalo, let me be the wonderful saali that I am. But the phone will be on loudspeaker ah."
Ishita rolled her half open eyes, she waved her hand and signalled her cousin to hand the phone over only to be met with a mischievous nod indicating a big fat no. So instead o fighting, Ishita slumped her shoulders and with a defeated sigh she signalled her cousin to let her talk, to which her cousin smirked and whispered a "Jeeju, Akka is ready for you" into the phone.
"Ishita yaar, Ruhi ka science project kaha hai and humari beti ki samjha dena ki she is getting no Madrasi breakfast from me today. And that I am not entering a South Indian restaurant for that. Har din tumhari boriyat kam padti hai usse ki ab bahar ka Madrasi khana maangane pe tuli hai."
"Haaye, mere kud kud Kumar. Good morning naam ki bhi cheez hoti hai baba."
"Good morning, Ishitaji. Ab kaam ki baat karein?" Ishita could feel the sarcasm drip from the tone of his voice.
"Raavan Kumar. Chalo."
"Ruhi ka project."
"Ruhi ke room mein, uske PS4 ke niche wale cupboard mein hoga. Uska submission aah toh nahi hai."
"Ji madam, aaj hi hai."
"Raman, maine yeh number emergency mein use karne ko kaha tha. Yeh thodi emergency hai. Mere pass bhi phone hai na."
"Did you even change your phone? and this is an emergency.. Apki beti ne do ladko ko jo peeta hai. Aur ap ke lecture se thodi kam pak jata hoon ki jaake uske principal ke sunu?"
"Ishima ka phone hai?" came a loud squeal from the other end.
"Ruhi, pehle Mihika se apne baal bana lo."
"No, papa. Mornin' Mama. Ruhi ka morning wala kiss kaha hai?"
"Morning Ru baby. Ishima na apko apka kissy selfie mein bhej deti hoon. Okay, baby. Par ap itni morning morning papa ko tang kyu kar rahi ho, baby?"
"Papa ne apse kitni rudely bath ki, papa ko phir boycott karein?" Ruhi giggled.
"Kaise maa beti se pala pada hai yaar. Ruhi, breakfast karlo, school nahi jana? Ishita, phone charge karlo aur kam mat karna varna utha ke vapas le aunga."
And the call disconnected, to which Ishita smiled and shook her head. Her mischievous brats.
Subbu's wife, Nalini, was in like with her husband. She was his class mate who like his carefree attitude in life. His rebellious nature which was accompanied by his care a damn attitude. From the moment everyone started teasing them together or instinctively pairing them up in hopes of getting them together, her decisions were affected by him. Her choices and her dreams and then came Ishita.
Nalini and her friends had once decided to follow Subbu during their summer vacation. It had been a simple dare given by her younger sister who had called her up informing her about the first snow fall in Nainital that season, the place where her parents had relocated to recently, owing the move to their jobs.
"Confess di, every lie is forgiven on the day of the first snow", she had said. So her friends and she had decided that they would hunt Subbu down that day and that she, Nalini, would confess her love to him. What she hadn't expected to see was Subbu at the movies with his elder brother, his brother's girlfriend and another girl who was wearing Subbu's jacket.
That was the first time Nalini had met Ishita- the girl who gave her worst nightmares a sense of reality. And today, seven years of marriage to Subbu fuelled by her one sided love Ishita stood there again - the woman who had the power to tear apart everything Nalini had struggled to build.
comment:
p_commentcount