Chapter 37
The first thing Thara did after Shravan went to her house to invite her and her father, was to bang the door shut on his face....With much pleading and cajoling from her father she opened it only to be shocked by the news of Shravan's marriage... She couldn't digest the fact, that Shravan loves and wants to get married to the woman of his dreams...
With blazing eyes and shouting at the top of her voice she , started abusing him with a choice of words best left unsaid... Once she vented out her anger she started crying inconsolably, followed by another bout of anger, in which she snatched the invitation and tore it to pieces .... She became so hysterical, that even her father stood mute and watched everything in a bewildered shock... He didn't knew that his daughter had carried a silent torch for shravan all these years and now it w as too late to change anything...
Totally dejected and disappointed, Thara cut a sorry figure and seemed to be mentally unhinged...
Shravan quickly sized up the situation, gave Thara a sedative and waited for it to act effectively... Capt. Bansal was a sad man and didn't expect this from his daughter... Shravan understood his emotions very well and slowly hugging him, helped him to sit down on the sofa...
"Sir , I had always told your very cleary and inexplicit terms that I don't love her and never will be... But she had always refused to listen and leave me in peace....Please uncle ji, I would suggest you treat her psychologically and make her come out of this self imposed dream world...Better still, shift your base temporarily, till my wedding is over to prevent any unpleasant scenes... Maybe treating her outside Mussorrie for a few months may also do wonders to her mental balance... Much I would want you to attend my wedding, its best if you bless me now and keep Thara away from me as much as possible "...he said in a calm and collected voice , instilling some confidence into the broken Father...
With his heart lighter and feeling more at peace Shravan hurried towards the Doon school...A small voice that slowl y increased its intensity, woke him up from the reverie, hitting him like a bang...Sham who had been silent all these weeks came up bouncing back..." Toh Shravan ji, aap Saachi ji se pyar karthen hein aur shaadi bhi karna chahthen hein...Aur is baren mein, mujhse permission bhi nahi liya "...
"What a thankless fellow, you are...Wanted my help to get through to Saachi and now that she expressed her love and willingness to marry you you have forgotten about me completely and dropped me like a hot potato... From now onwards am going to make your life difficult, popping up at the wrong time and place... You havent seen this new avatar of Sham, yet"... said his Anthar Aathma jokingly scolding him and feeling very happy that things were all moving at the right pace and in the right direction...
Shravan, with an expression of guilty embarrassment, assuaged Sham and met Saachi, at the school... She had just finished a round of distributing the cards to all her fellow faculty members and smiling a shy but happy and radiant smile, she approached him...
Every time Shravan saw her he was dazzled by this smile, one that evoked a deep feeling of an unknown emotion... "Kaam hogaya, ab hum chalen? Bataon, kahang jana hai... Is Maharani ki aagnya jho bhi jo ,is naukar hamesha use puri karega. Your wish is my command "...he said lovingly...
These days he picked her and dropped her at the school... An act that was more protective and eliminated the possibility of the stalker, springing up any surprises on her...
"Shravan, how will we cram so much in this short time? I still have so many loose ends to tie up before our wedding...There is some more card distribution to happen, last minute shopping for dress, settling of my finances to help my family for all these expenses...Oh God, how I wish the wedding is much more simpler than this "...
"Honey if you really think so, then we can always go for a registered marriage...So easy and cheap and most importantly very fast to make you mine...Are you game for it? " he asked mischievously, with a deeper meaning...
"Chal hat, badmash kaika; always kidding...Can't you wait for few more days? Always a man in a hurry"... She said equally flippant, and hitting him on his head with remaining invitation cards...With this light banter, they headed home...
HE was in his room; a room where he hardly allowed anyone except himself to enter... The room had only one small window at a height...The walls were plastered with photographs of Saachi... Saachi at various stages of life and in various poses and occasions' Some photos were blown up, some were collaged to form life size posters...
On one side of the room was a narrow cot, next to it was his computer table and a chair....On the other side was a a collection of photos in po*nographic poses, the faces morphed with his and Saachis...
In the middle of the room was a life size mannequin, its face plasterd with Saachi's photo and dressed in a old salwar of hers...The hair extension was of real in nature, collected over the years when she had went for her hair cuts... All in all, the whole room looked like a mausoleum and a sick man's perversion...
Holding the wedding card in his hands, he felt the anger and disappointment seeping into his whole self alternately.... When he came back from Delhi and heard about this development he didn't believe it at first... Such a thing happening at such a short notice was unheard of, atleast for him ...But when Saachi personally gave him this card, he realized he had let things slip through his fingers..
Now he ignited the card with his cigarette lighter and watched it slowly burn and turn to ashes...He even went to the extent of buying a dartboard and pasted shravan's picture on it and constantly pierced it with the darts, getting a personal satisfaction...
"Now too much water has flowed under the bridge; whatever little I can do, I will and must try to salvage the situation" he decided with renewed hope...He called up the Sharma household, covering the mouthpiece of the phone, with his kerchief...
Changing his voice he said "Hello, Namaste ji , kya mein Inder Sharma ji se baat karsaktha hun? '.. he enquired... politely..."Ji bhol raha hun ,aap khon?"..." please listen Sharma, your daughter is getting married to an womanizer, if you carry on with this wedding you will be spoiling her life for ever... Break it off before its too late... Am your wellwisher"...he spoke quickly and cut the line before any more conversation could happen....
Then he called up the Jaiswals house... As luck would have it, it was Rajat who answered the phone..." I have an important message for Pratap Ji"...he said altering his voice once again..."The woman your son is to wed is already married...if you want I will give you proofs...Stop the wedding or you will regret it later"... he warned Rajat...
Rajat, got angry and started shouting, then realised the caller had cut the line...He immediately guessed it was the stalker and knew this was going to happen from such a desperate man... Without a word to anyone he left the house to meet the city police commissioner to request for appropriate action to be taken...
On the other hand Inder was deeply confused and troubled by this call...One part of him trusted Saachi and her decision to marry Shravan; the other part a typical fatherly reaction, wanted to know more information before proceeding on this wedding... Undecided and a bit apprehensive , he went in search of his father-in-law, for further advise...
Unaware of this happening Saachi and Shravan, were eagerly waiting for the Haldhi and Mehendhi ceremony, slated to take place on the same day, on Nov 28th... Just like any other engaged couple , both were counting days, to unite in the holy bond of matrimony...
Edited by maris08 - 13 years ago