Part 10
It was nearly half an hour since they sat in the coffee
shop. Aham was getting frustrated. He had tried to start a normal conversation
with gopi and had failed desperately. She was answering him in mono syllables.
Why does this girl always frustrate him? He had seen her talk freely with
others, but always reserved "I don't care about you" look for him. Gopi was
engrossed in her own world. She was shocked by kinjal and elesh's action. She
was worried what kokila might say when she found out about this. More than
anything, she was disturbed by the presence of aham near her. She had to try
hard to control herself these days. When aham was a kadoos boss there was no
problem, but once he had softened and started showing his charm, it was
difficult for her to escape.
While gopi sat staring at the coffee cup, aham lost his
patience.
Aham: gopi, can I ask
you a question?
Gopi: ji
Aham: why are you so worried?
Gopi: sir, I worried
thinking about maaji's reaction, if she comes to know about kinjal's plan.
Maaji had trusted me and she learns that kinjal is meeting elesh then she will
be angry. I don't like to make maaji upset.
Aham laughed: don't
worry. I m there. I will handle it. I knew about her plan. Let her enjoy when
she can.
Gopi was surprised to see him smile. She couldn't help
thinking how handsome he looked with smiling eyes. She only wished that he
would do it so often.
Aham: I wanted to ask
you about your mami. Why is she so happy to see you suffer? And rashi. Why is
she helping you in secret?
Gopi sighed: sir, it
is a long story. I don't want to bore you.
Aham: I think we have
time. It seems that kinjal and elesh may take their own time. And I can be
patient when I want to be. So you can tell me. Frankly it had been bugging me
to think that your mami was so happy when I scolded you. I still cant forget
the panic in rashi's voice when you came late.
Gopi: sir, my mother
is mama's sister. My parents died in a fire accident. I don't remember anything
before the age of seven. Mami did not like me. She saw me as a burden. For her
rashi is more important than anything in the whole world. For her I m one of
those useless articles at home which has to be thrown out. She was very harsh
to me in the beginning. She even refused to send me to school. Even rashi was
like that. But slowly she understood me. We became friends and later sister.
Now my whole support system is rashi. She uses hook or crook to save me from
mami. We have to hide certain things from her o relse she will create an
uncomfortable atmosphere at home.
By this time aham was angry.
For the first time he was able to see the girl sitting before him
properly. He couldn't digest the fact that there are this kind of selfish
people in the world. So he asked her: gopi
so why do you still stay there. You have a job, you earn well, if you want I
can give you a pay hike, you deserve it too. You can stay out of that house.
Gopi gave a bitter laugh. She did not fail to observe that
he actually praised her: sir, how can I
come away? After all she is my mami. She may be bad, but atleat she gave me a
roof to stay when I was young. How can I leave rashi to fend for herself? And
mama, it will break his heart if I go away. Money can be earned anytime but
love and relationship cannot be earned as you please. It takes time and
patience.
Aham felt as if someone had slapped him. The word of anita
was ringing in his ears are you mad? Do you know the importance of money? Do
you know how much my cosmetics cost? How much I spend for my parlor? I m not
ready to beg with you. Listen MR. Aham modi money is important to me. I loved
you for your money. If you are stupid enough to think I will marry a beggar
forget it. And get out of my house.
After that day he
lost his humanness, happiness and most importantly the greatest love of his
life his mother. The words of gopi brought back all those memories. Still he
continues
Aham: what about
your future?
Gopi: my future?
What about that?
Aham: will you
keep on living like this? You have your life to live. Don't you want to be
happy, to be free?
Gopi: oh about
that. I have no expectation on my future. I live with the present. Whatever
kanaji wishes, he will perform it. So my future is in his hands. I don't worry
about it. And I get my happiness at the school where I volunteer to teach
physically challenged children. When I go there I forget my worries. At least I
m blessed with good health and perfect body. Whatever I have experience is
nothing when compared to the suffering of those children.
Aham was silent
contemplating the words of gopi, when she started
Gopi: sir, can I
ask something in return? Aham nodded his head.
Gopi: don't
mistake me, but I have been thinking about it for a long time. Why are you
angry with maaji?
Aham was taken
aback by her question. No one had dared to question him on this subject. He was
not angry with her yet he was not ready to answer her. Gopi was terrified
within her heart. She knew she had taken an unpleasant subject for discussion,
still her curiosity won. Sir if you don't want to answer than no problem. I
m sorry for disturbing you
Finally aham sighed
and said; no gopi I m not angry with you. Till now no one had asked me this
question. May be you are the right person to know about it. From the beginning
I was brought up as the heir to MM corporate. Even though jigar has an equal
partnership, it was always me. Since I was the eldest, I had to be efficient. So
I have lots of experience in making decisions. So when I made a wrong decision
it hurt badly. Maybe I wanted to blame someone for that. Maybe I was not ready
to take the responsibility of that. So I dumped my anger, frustration and
helplessness on my mother. Now it has become too late to turn back or to ask
her forgiveness.
Gopi: but sir,
till I know maaji, she lives and breathes for you. I have seen her life
revolves around you. Whatever she might have done it is for your benefit. She might
have done it so your future might not suffer.
Aham: I don't care
about it. I know only this that she always tried to control me and my life. Each
and every step of my life was defined according to her wish. When I made my
choice she spoilt it with her righteous talk. I cannot forgive her for trying
to make me dependent on her.
Gopi: sir, but don't
you realize how lucky you are? You have a mother who loves you, supports you
and manages your life. Even I once had parents who love me, who pampered me,
who was there when I cried and laughed but when I lost them, I lost everything.
There was no one to wipe my tears when I cried, even though rashi used to
smuggle medicenes there was no one take care of me. All I had was emptiness,
fear and sorrow. Life is so small, we must learn to forgive and forget. Holding
a grudge that too with your parents…………………….
Aham shouted: bas
gopi bas.
Gopi realized that
in herself pity she had crossed her limit. As if to save her from aham's wrath,
kinjal and elesh arrived there. Aham immediately arranged his expression to
look normal. Still they could feel the tension vibrating there. Soon it was
planned that elesh would drop gopi at her home, while aham would take kinjal
back. Gopi could not help notice the flash of anger in aham's eyes when elesh
suggested that he will take gopi home. At that moment all gopi wanted was to
escape his glare.
All the way home aham was disturbed by gopi's
words. He was affected by her pain. It twisted his heart to know that she had
suffered this much. Even then she had a positive outlook at life. But he aham
modi who considered himself the successful businessman, who was a smooth dealer
and a perfect planner had learnt to see only the negativity in life. Kinjal was
surprised to see the glower in aham's face. She was afraid to face his anger so
she kept her mouth shut. She realized it had something to do with gopi. She made
a mental note to call her and get the necessary details.
On reaching home,
aham went straight to kokila's room. For the first time in three years he
realized that he was punishing his mother for his foolish mistake. Kokila was
busy making list for kinjal's sangeet. She was deep in discussion with parag,
when she saw aham at her door. Both the parents were surprised and shocked. Aham
came straight to his mother placed his head on her lap and burst into tears
saying mom please forgive me.
At that moment kokila realized that her son has returned back to her.
so mother and son have reconciled
what will aham do for gopi?
will kokila know about gopi's hand in bring her son back to her?
hope you all like it.
comment:
p_commentcount