RECAP

Charu is mad about Vandna’s desire to drag her to some remote ancestral village and temple. Ankit tries to pacify her and assures her that they would not go. However when he goes to his mother, he can’t deny her one request that she made in all these years. Also, he remembers the past and how much his mother has done for him. So he comes back to Charu and informs her about the decision to go. Charu feels horrified by this sudden change in Ankit’s stance.

CHAPTER 8

“Are you out of your mind?” That’s all Charu could utter after being betrayed by her husband. She looked at Ankit, who was busy packing his suitcase. Her anger slowly simmered inside her, until the point that it started burning her from inside.

“You go from here promising me to take care of things, then you come back and suddenly you are an entirely different person. It’s as if some evil witch casts a spell on you and whoooosh! My husband is gone. Someone else possesses his mind and body.” Ankit looked a bit fiercely at Charu. Even she realized that she should not have used that ‘evil witch’. Trying to handle the damage, she quickly asserted, “ Now don’t you dare to think that I called your mother an evil witch. I’m way too sophisticated to indulge in this crude name-calling. I’ve always respected her, you know that. I don’t like her ways, that’s a different issue.”

Ankit drew a long breath and resumed his packing. Charu again continued showering her venomous darts of taunts and accusations.

“I’ve sacrificed my life for you, and what do I get in return? Huh? All I asked for was this one thing. I told you that I don’t want to go this time. If it waited for so many years, can’t this temple thing wait any further? What’s the purpose of going there and praying for our happiness when I am so unhappy while going? Huh? Tell me, does it make any sense? And besides, she’s a modern woman with a career – the Principal for god’s sake. She should know better.”

She looked at Ankit for a response, but none came her way. Every fire needs fuel; an argument needs active participation of two. How could she continue when he was not giving anything back? So her anger dissipated a little.

“See, I know how it looks like. It’s not that I don’t care for your mother, nothing like that. But think from my point of view. Something that I wanted my entire life – my dream vacation – and more than the place, it was about being with you. How busy you have been all these years and now it was our chance to go and enjoy. You know that. I was living my boring life and all of a sudden there was this hope. It was like giving a delicious cake to an eternally hungry person and then snatching it away vehemently even before he could taste it. I got what I wanted but even before I could enjoy it, all was taken away, and that too so suddenly. Instead of the cake, I have been given stones and asked to eat them.”

Ankit just came closer to her, hugged her and whispered in her ear “I’ll make it up to you, one day I will. Just trust me.” With these words he went back to the packing. There was nothing more she could do, so she did what she didn’t want to – Prepare for a religious vacation!

The next morning, Charu woke up to find the breakfast in bed, served by Ankit and prepared by Vandna.

“Mom has gone to visit Meera Maasi. She got up early and prepared breakfast for us also.” Ankit informed the sleepy ears of Charu

Meera Maasi was Vandna’s younger sister. Seeing Vandna in the morning, Meera was overjoyed and excited.

“Didi, you? What a pleasant surprise! Please come in.” Meera hugged her warmly as she welcomed her into the house.

“I hope I am not disturbing.....”

Meera cut Vandna’s apology, “It’s your house di, You are no stranger. You can come anytime. Now don’t be so formal.”

Vandna’s face brightened with the warm reception. Meera was preparing butter toasts for breakfast. Vandna joined her in the kitchen.

“I’m so happy to see you didi. But why do you look so weak?”

“Weak?” Vandna laughed out loud. “You are behaving like our mother Meera. No matter how much weight I put on, mother always found me ‘weak’.”

Meera joined the laughter.

The duo settled down after making the breakfast and started catching up on each other’s lives, while sipping the hot tea.

“So you are leaving today...That’s great didi”

“Yes it is. I thought I’ll quickly visit you by the time Ankit and Charu get ready.”

“Yeah... I am happy for you.” Meera affectionately pressed Vandna’s hand. “I know how hard it has been for you. First the sudden death of Jeejaji (Vandna’s husband), and then staying away from Ankit like that...” Vandna winced a little, but was quick enough to disguise her pain.

“You don’t need to hide, didi” Meera understood what Vandna was going through. “I know how you have been struggling your entire life. First it was me – you raised me literally. And then struggling to give a better future to kids and when.....”

“Come on Meera, I did nothing special. Leave it” Meera smiled as she heard her sister’s words. Always so modest and down-to-earth – that was her didi!

Meanwhile, Charu and Ankit got ready and were going through the final checklist to see if they had forgotten something. They were rudely disturbed by the irritating doorbell. Ankit rushed to open the door, expecting it to be Vandna. Instead he found himself face to face with Ashima.

“Oh thank you thank you thank you”, she babbled gratefully the moment she saw Ankit. “Thank you for such a great offer. I mean we were like, well what to say, it has been a crazy night – packing things up and all. Anyways, I thought I’ll just quickly go and say bye to you guys”, her grin refused to die away. “Where’s Charu?” she asked loudly as she entered the house.

“Oh there you are...What’s this, planning to go somewhere” she asked surprisingly, looking at the packed suitcases.

Before Charu could think of a reply, Ankit came to her rescue. “Yes we are going to our ancestral temple along with my mother.”

“Ohhhhhhhhh” Ashima said dramatically. “Well, we are going too..... But to the land of paradise....OH MY GOD! I’m so happy. I can’t stop thinking ...It’s heaven...I...I...” Charu thought that she was being too dramatic. She hated her for showing it off to them. How mean!

“She knows how her talks must be hurting me, but still she is...... What luck she has... Getting that trip, at such price... and going there twice....  and now she is here, sprinkling salt on my wounds...” Charu thought bitterly.

“Hey Charu, I just came to say thank you. Anyway, I’m getting late. You know, so many things to do. Well I’ll tell you all about it when I come back.”

Grinding her teeth, Charu tried to talk politely, “ Enjoy your trip.”

Ashima looked back at her, with a sadistic smile and returned the greeting, “Sure I will. I hope that you enjoy yours too.”

 

…to be continued

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