"HER… that girl in our house" Arjun answered a bit too loudly.
"Who is he talking about BrijMohan" Bhadura asked. BrijMohan sighed; all eyes were on him now. It seemed like she was the only one that was suitable enough for all this. The sister wanted a traditional, wealthy and sanskari girl, then his daughter was all that but how will he suggest this to the towns people who knew nothing of her.
"Radhika" BrijMohan answered.
*********** Part 3 *************
"Who is this Radhika? We don't have any girl in this town with that name" Vijay stated.
"You all know I had to go to Chandigar the past week. Megha, my wife's sister died last week and I had gone there to give my condolence. Radhika is Megha's daughter, now that both Megha and her husband are dead, Radhika had no one to live with so I brought her home with me yesterday. She is of marriage age, bohut sanskari hai aur agar hum ladke walon se kahe ki woh meri beti hai tho phir woh uske kandaan and wealth ki baath nehi puchenge." BrijMohan explained, he knew it was a very lame lie but then again it seemed believable because the town's people believed and obeyed anything he said.
"It is possible to solve this problem by presenting Radhika as my daughter in front of them. This will leave no questions from them. And it will not be a lie to them really; I have brought Radhika with me as my daughter." BrijMohan added, he waited as the Panchayat members discussed it amongst themselves, few protesting about lying such a big lie but Bhadura supported BrijMohan. It was finally decided that Mahendra will call the Mother and Sister and inform them to come to serpanchji's haveli in the morning to see the girl. BrijMohan also declared that Abhista will stay at Mahendra's house till this wedding is over and then a month later Arjun and Abhista will get married along with Nirendra and Deepika with all the rituals and ceremonies. Now the only thing that was left was to inform his daughter about this but he knew his daughter will never object to anything she has always obeyed him. The only thing that worried him was how Radhika will react in front of the ladies, the strangers, she has never interacted, never seen anyone except her parents and her brothers. He will have to explain her in detail how she is to act in front of the guests and how to interact with them……
"Sh-shaadi Baba….. does that m-mmean I will have to g-go with p-pati?" Radhika asked, her voice filled with dread at the prospect of leaving haveli. It was the only place she knew, and the only place she has seen. For years now she had heard her father and brothers threatening her of getting her married and sending her to a new haveli where the people would be not as kind as her father and brothers. She was filled with dread as her father talked about the new family she was to live with, to obey them and to care for them and their house the same way she has done for her own family since her birth.
"Yes, you will have to leave this haveli and go with your Pati, that haveli will be bigger than this, there will be many people, people who will become you family after this marriage. The mother and sister are coming tomorrow, Nirendra has gotten you a new dress, wear that and be sure to hide that mark from your face. Now go clean the whole house, I want to see everything clean" BrijMohan explained, feeling no remorse at seeing the bruise on her cheek.
"GO" BrijMohan screamed and pushed her out of his door seeing how she was standing still, tears falling from her eyes.
"AHHH" Radhika screamed as she fell on the floor and her eyes grew wide as she heard the cracking of her bones. Just like this morning she had fallen on her left arm, she knew she had broken her arm if not from the agonizing pain then from the sound of her bones being crushed under the heavy vase that had fallen on her just as she hit the floor.
"Come here" BrijMohan called to his daughter in a stern voice.
Radhika stood up with difficulty, biting her lip in an effort to not scream from the pain, she knew better then to run when her father called for her in that voice. She took the four steps towards her father, her body shaking at the prospect of what was going to come.
Nishikant reached his hand out and stroked his daughter's face "Krishna" he whispered, his voice was quite. "day by day you are turning more like her"
Radhika didn't need to ask who, just like his yelling's Radhika was used to this guilt filled regrets of her father. She was used to this side of her father, every time he would look at her with the deep longing and tell her how she looked just like mother. Radhika gulped, as she saw her father close his eyes and inhale deeply, She stood still, holding her breath with her head down, she knew what was going through her father's head, she couldn't stop the shivers that were passing through her body, she knew what was coming next, it was the same way every time he talked of her.
BrijMohan opened his eyes and stared at his daughter's form, his eyes held nothing but hatred for the girl. She was just like her, the same eyes, the same innocent face that always made him feel guilty. He smacked her, his mind filled with feelings of hatred and guilt.
Radhika kept her mouth and eyes tightly shut as she felt her head being smacked into the wall beside her. Her whole body screaming in the agonizing pain but she held her lips firmly closed, she knew better then to scream out in pain. She held her hand to the stinging cheek as she meekly looked up at her father , her eyes pleading him to let her go. But he wasn't done yet.
BrijMohan
stepped towards her, holding her by her hair "Damn YOU and damn her for
bringing you into this world, for stopping me from ending your LIFE" he
screamed at her, it would have been so much better if his wife had not pleaded
his father and him to let the girl live, to not kill her before others found
out that a Singhania had given birth to a daughter. He cursed that day when his
father had given the oath to let the baby girl live but hidden away from the
outside world.
"Damn YOU! Why do you have to look like her" BrijMohan screamed again, he hated to look at the girl, everything reminded him of his wife, the woman who stopped loving him after the girl was born, the woman who died protecting the girl.
"You look so much like her, but you are not HER" he roared at her, making Radhika flinch back. "She hated you, you know that. She hated you for killing the baby. That's why she left you" he taunted her as he shook her by her hair. Radhika shook her head in denial, no matter how many times she heard those words, no matter how truthful those words were but she could never believe them…. She would never believe those words.
"She died because of you, you not only killed the baby but you killed her too" BrijMohan screamed. "She hated you for that, she hated you because you were a bad girl. She left you because you were not a good girl, not a good daughter, I was not a good husband… I was not good enough…. not to her" BrijMohan murmured, finally letting go of Radhika's hair, letting her fall on the floor, her back leaning support from the wall. She watched as her father stepped back in his room closing the door behind him......
It was with great difficulty and pain that Radhika managed to clean the living room and the rest of the house. She had first gone to her room, applied one of the ointments she had made which helped in cleaning the bruises and easing the pain. Although there really was no need for cleaning the house as it was already cleaned by her in the morning but since Baba had insisted that guests were very important Radhika decided to change the drapes of the windows and the entrance door, the cushions cover and the carpets. It took her double the time then it usually required because of her broken left arm, but the haveli was looking colorful unlike the dark look that it always gave. Radhika sighed with content; the covers and drapes looked just perfect, she had worked so hard on them for the past month, applying colorful and creative embroidering and sewing piece by piece all with her own hands......
****************
"Stop with the praying already! It's not going to help in finding a girl for Dev" Mrinalini screamed at her grandmother. She was fed up with all the happenings lately, ever since that Vishaka Sehal entered her brother's life. Mrinalini knew it from the first glance at Vishaka that she was nothing but trouble, she knew all that innocence and helplessness was nothing but an act to gain sympathy and support of her brother. It was that realization that had made Mrinalini intent on getting Vishaka out of her brother's life but all her schemes to get Vishaka out ended up in getting Vishaka more close to her brother. It was during one of these schemes she had set for Vishaka when her grandmother had also seen the true face of Vishaka, it was then that her grandmother had explained the need to have Dev married to a girl of their choice before Vishaka trapped him in marriage with her……
The task of making her brother agree for getting married to the girl of her choice was not easy but his clear declaration that Vishaka was just a close friend and nothing more gave hope to both Mrinalini and her grandmother. Thus began the process of making her brother agree for marriage, nothing seemed to work. Both Vishaka and her grandmother tried from giving threats of leaving home, to faking a hunger strike but none of them worked until Mrinalini decided to make a compromise and told her brother that she was willing to withdraw her divorce case if he promised to marry a girl of her choice in two months. Mrinalini still had a hard time in accepting the fact that she made the promise to live her whole life as Vivek's wife but it was worth it if it meant Vishaka would be out of her brother's life.
"Now what should we do Mrinalini? All this is happening because of that Vishaka, now I am sure she does black magic. See what she has done, first we were having troubling finding a suitable girl for your brother, then came the problem of getting the kundali matched and now when everything was going perfectly, the bride we chose ran away. Pata nahin ab mere Dev ka kya hoga" Kamini cried folding her hands and praying once again to god for her son's future.
"Now don't go on with your superstitious believes. This is all because of you, if you hadn't insisted on getting Dev married to a girl from your home town then Dev would have been married to my friend's daughter Sneha by now" Mrinalini clarified her mother.
"What will happen now? should we call home and let them know about this ?" Kamini asked her granddaughter.
"No, abhi nahin Ma. Let's wait and see till tomorrow, If they can find a girl who comes from a wealthy family and sanskari then we will continue on with the marriage. It doesn't matter if some rituals are not done we can always do those after the marriage" Mrinalini answered her grandmother.
"But
what will we tell everyone at home about the change in bride?" Kamini asked.
"Dadima, aap bhi na. We will dec…….." the ringing of her cell phone interrupted
Mrinalini from completing her sentence.
She answered the phone, her face brightened up with a smile as she
listened to the caller, asking questions, inquiring about the family and their
status. After having all her answers she ended the call promising to be at the
Haveli early in the morning.
"Kaun tha Mrinalini? Mahendra ? have they found Abhishta?" Kamini asked in desperation seeing the happiness in her granddaughter's face.
"Yes it was Mahendra uncle, they did found Abhishta but the girl has gotten married to the serpanch's son's. Uncle said that the serpanch is very sorry for this ordeal his son has caused and he wants to rectify this injustice done to us by giving his daughter to us. Uncle said that he will come and take us to the serpanch's haveli tomorrow morning to see his daughter." Mrinalini explained her grandmother with excitement. She didn't know why but this news seemed to excite her, it gave her a sense that they will find what they have been looking for the past two months. Hearing the girl's name had filled her with hope and relief, somehow she knew this girl will solve all the problems that have surrounded her and her whole family. Somehow Mrinalini knew that this girl is the one she had been looking for her brother. She smiled when her grandmother voiced out the same feelings, and then laughed at the situation here they were sighing in relief and smiling when they had not yet seen the girl. Mrinalini gave a silent pray to god to make all the assumptions she is having of this Radhika true, she prayed to god to give some indication if this Radhika was the one for her brother………………..
***Angel***
Thank you all for all the lovely comments, I hope you all will like this part, I know you all are eagerly awaiting for Dev and Radhika to meet but you will have to wait for that maybe two more parts but I am still kinda working/editing their first meeting, don't really know how to write romantic scenes so erm... yah you all will just have to be patiente with me on that 😆😆 😕. Do let me know how you found this part, am always waiting to read everyones wonderful and encouraging comments.
****Part 4****
Radhika
sat in her room working on the accounts file Nirendra Bhaiyaji has given her to check over the figures. He had been very upset, yelled at her saying
he had to go out to the city with Shubna and Abhista to shop for HER clothes
when he had so many importing things to do at his office. Radhika had listened
to his yells and had taken the kicks silently with her head bent down. She
started reading through the file as soon as Nirendra Bhaiyaji left slamming the
door loudly which had her covering her ears in fright. She began calculating
the figures and counting the numbers provided in the file, frowning as she came
upon the wrong figures. As she checked further in the file, calculating the
figures again this time using a calculator but again she came with the
incorrect figures. She sighed was this why Nirendra Bhaiyaji given her the file
to read over because he realized the accounts were not correct? She shook her head not understanding why the
person whoever it was that was in-charge of the accounts file did such a thing.
She shuddered instantly as she thought of what Nirendra Bhaiyaji would do to
that person, she quickly prayed to god to help the person from Nirendra
Bhaiyaji's wrath. She went back to
finish her work with the file, going through the pages, marking the figures
that were incorrect, writing down the right figures to the given numbers and at
last adding in the amount which has been gambled by the accountant. She was so immersed in working on the file
that she completely forgot about the two guests that were sitting in the living
room talking with her father regarding her marriage, getting the Kundli's
matched.
She yawned after closing the file, the cleaning and washing had taken a lot of
time, it had been nearly two in the morning when she had gone to sleep but was
up by five thirty out of habit. She had contemplated going back to sleep for
one more hour but the fear of her father finding out had her out of bed. She
had started with cleaning her room which was the smallest, the coldest and the
messiest room with no windows. It was a small basement, the
irregular pentagon shape of the basement made it look even smaller. There was
very little furniture, an old almost broken full sized bed, a small table which
had belonged to Arjun Bhaiyaji once but he was kind enough to give it to her
instead of throwing it out in the garbage, a sewing machine and a bag filled
with her embroidery kit and two big cartoon boxes filled with books she had
been given from her three brothers. The books that had made her living more
pleasant, because if there was one thing in her life that Radhika was grateful
for then it was this gift of education her father and her three brothers gave
her. Giving her their class books, teaching her all those lessons which they
were being taught in school but even that had stopped eight years ago. Now they
just gave her the books, now they didn't bother in teaching her or explaining
the lessons like they used to. But she did not mind that, as long as they kept
giving her the books to learn she was content with it, she was old enough to
teach herself the writings of the books, she did not need any explanations from
her brothers.
There really was not much cleaning to do in her room except for stacking all
the books that were laying on floor in a box and sweeping the floor clean and
placing the multicolor carpet she had stitched from the left over pieces she
had saved of the curtains, cushion cases and the sheets. It was around eight in
the morning when she finished with all the work, stitched the new dress her
brother had gotten her, it had been too big for her so she decided to run it
through the sewing machine making it a size for her, and then seeing that she
had time to spare decided on embroidering a border on the neckline and sleeves.
The dress was simple, a sky blue color full sleeved shalwal kameez, but the dupatta
was colorful, the flowers on the dupatta filled with green, pink, red and white
colors. After finishing with the stitches she stepped into her little bathroom
for her daily ten minute shower with cold water she was allowed to take.
By ten she had everything in order for the guests, the breakfast was ready, the haveli was cleaned, she was ready wearing her new dress and the mark on her face was barely visible thanks to the ointment she had applied. The doorbell rang exactly two minutes after ten, her father ordering her to return to her room....
***********
The growing voice of the footsteps alerted Radhika of someone's approach. She quickly stood up, straightened her dress, made sure her dupatta was draped rightly on her head. Her long hair were tied tightly in a bun like always concealing her beautiful silky hair.
"Chalo, they want to see you now and remember what I instructed you if you behave otherwise then you know what will happen" BrijMohan warned his daughter as he tightly held onto her right arm and walked her towards the guests. The family was no doubt very traditional, which is why they had insisted for a traditional and sanskari bride for their son. From what BrijMohan gathered, it was the daughter that was the head of the house, it was very evident from the way she held herself and from the interactions he had with both grandmother and daughter. He was just glad that he was able to explain everything about Radhika to them, lying to them about Radhika's fear of sunlight, crowd and loud noises. They were uncertain about it, questioning too many things about Radhika and her life but he knew one look at Radhika they will not question anything further and readily get their son married to his daughter.
"Yeh hai meri beti Radhika" BrijMohan introduced his daughter to Mrinalini and Kamini, tightening his hold on Radhika's arm and whispering to lift her head up and greet the guests. He gave her a warning glare seeing her distress and struggle against his hold, wanting to, trying to flee back to her room. He knew it would be hard for Radhika, after years of leaving in seclusion away from the outside world and the strangers to suddenly be in the presence of the strangers and to actually expect her to interact with them when she hadn't ever interacted with her own father and brothers.
Mrinalini and Kamini stared at Radhika in astonishment. The shock of seeing Radhika had their eyes wide open and their jaw dropped. They watched in silence as Radhika appeared in front of them, greeting them by folding her hands and then bent down to touch their feet as instructed by her father. Mrinalini watched as the girl stood before them, her hands trembling and her eyes looking at her father. One look at the girl, and Mrinalini knew she had to make the girl her brother's, she had to make her the Bahu of the Raghvansh family............
The word beautiful seemed very lame when describing Radhika, she was way beyond beautiful'. Her skin the palest and the softest Mrinalini has ever seen, her oval shaped face radiated a sense of true innocence. Mrinalini stared at the girl, analyzing the girl, her body was slim, very slim but with the perfect curves and her eyes'. Mrinalini gasped staring into the girls eyes'. her eyes were the honey brown color, almost like hazel'.. just like her'. NO! she stopped her thoughts.
But apart from the beauty there was something completely different about the girl that Mrinalini couldn't quite place it. It was something very virtuous, very innocent; there was a sense of goodness, a saint like aura that came from her. It was like a glow surrounded around the girl, the aura that came from her had Mrinalini feeling a bond with the girl. The girl was perfect..... too perfect and too beautiful to be human...........
"Hume Ladki pasand hai Mr. Singhania" Mrinalini stated loudly, Kamini gasped "Mrinalini'. Yeh kya'. don't you think she is too'." Kamini tried to explain her granddaughter.
"Ma, abhi nahin we will talk about this later. I like her and I know you like her too. She is perfect for Bhai" Mrinalini whispered to her grandmother.
"That's the problem Mrinalini'. She is too perfect for Dev" Kamini sighed in defeat as she stared longingly at Radhika.
"Ma, stop with all this. She is what god is giving us. Just accept it as a blessing from god" Mrinalini whispered. Kamini nodded her head in agreement, even though she knew that the girl deserved someone that was perfect like her but Kamini could not hide the desire to have the girl for her grandson.
"Acha, ab hum chalte hai, Shaam ko haldi ki rasam ke liye ayenge. The sangeet and mehendi will be done day after tomorrow and the marriage will be the next day exactly at 12 noon according to the mahurat" Mrinalini explained as she stood up.
"Arre lekin itni jaldi ja rahe hain, have breakfast first. Radhika ne banaya hai" BrijMohan requested as he walked up to them.
"Nehi Mr. Singhania. Radhika ke haath ka bana hua khana toh ab hum tabhi khaiyege jab woh hamare ghar ki bahu banke ayengi" Mrinalini informed him as she reached her hand out and patted Radhika's cheek. She and her grandmother bid goodbye and headed out towards their car, both silently thanking god for the turn of events.
That night the haldi rassam was performed, there was no one at the haveli, which surprised Mrinalini and her mother. Mr. Singhania had explained saying Radhika did not like to be around many people, she seldom went out of house and because of being around her brothers and father she knew nothing about the rituals and the womanly duties and ways of life. He asked for forgiveness and requested Mrinalini to explain and teach everything to Radhika about marriage and her new responsibilities anyway she felt right. Mrinalini did not fail to notice the emphasis put on "anyway".........
The whole ride back to Mumbai was a four hour drive but both grandmother and granddaughter were too immersed in their planning and discussing about the marriage to notice the long drive. They discussed on how to take things after marriage, wondering how Dev would react after seeing the girl, will he be shocked like them, taken by her beauty and forget everything about Vishaka? Although two months ago Dev himself has declared that he felt nothing for Vishaka except friendship but ever since Mrinalini had announced Dev's engagement to Abhista, Vishaka had started her own schemes to make Dev fall in love with her and from what Mrinalini noticed it was working. Her brother was falling in love with Vishaka that is if he isn't already in love with her. Mrinalini sighed dejectedly at the thought, if her brother was already in love with Vishaka then it would be very difficult to make Radhika accepted by her brother. She knew no matter what, her brother would not go back on his words now, she knew that he will marry whichever girl Mrinalini presented at the mandap but will he accept her as his wife? Will he love and care for her as his wife? The questions and doubts filled Mrinalini that night evading her sleep.
She smiled as she remembered the shocked faces of everyone when she informed them that Dev will be getting married to the serpanch's daughter Radhika not Abhishta. She lied stating that after meeting Radhika, she found the girl to be very beautiful and sanskari, in clear terms she voiced that Radhika was more fitting to be the Bahu of their family then Abhishta. Vivek as always objected about it, along with Rahul her youngest brother and his wife Muskaan both supporting Vivek but Dev had simply stated that it made no difference he will marry whoever Mrinalini chose for him. Tomorrow afternoon she was going back to Madhi again along with the beautician and the wedding attire accessories for the bride, she would stay there till marriage, discuss and learn more about Radhika through her father and two brothers, explain everything to Radhika about her new family and its members, perform the many rituals of marriage and dress her for the wedding'.. three days'. in three days Radhika will enter the mansion as the Bahu'. as Dev Raghvansh's wife.......
*******
"Chalo
Radhika, ab Bidaai ka waqt hai" Mrinalini said as she entered the room. The
whole marriage had gone smoothly, there were not many people present at the
wedding, just close relatives and few family friends. The marriage had taken
place at the Haveli upon serpanch's insistence instead of at the temple as it
was planned. Mrinalini was just glad that the wedding happened without any
mishap, her brother as promised followed all the rituals, took the pheras, tied
the mangalsutra and filled the maang with sindoor but he never did once glance
at Radhika. Mrinalini sighed, Radhika had too much to do, she wondered if the
girl was capable of following what Mrinalini planned for her..............
****Angel****
Once again thanks everyone for your lovely comments. And I am sorry no Dev again in this one..... you will have to wait a little longer for that... the next part will have Dev and it will be posted depending on the number of comments I get! let me know your thoughts on this part!
