Manan FF - Kaisi yeh Yaariyan season 3 Thread 1 - till chapter 63 - Page 3

Chapter 12

April, 30 2016

A week had slipped past. It was Saturday evening, the day Nandini finally got engaged in a private ceremony at the Moorthy residence. The only people present were Neel and Nandini's families. Neel's parents had flown down from Bangalore and Amms too had travelled all the way from Mangalore.

Because Nandini had put across the clause that no one except their families and her best friend Navya would be invited for the engagement, Neel had arranged another reception at the evening only for his friends, colleagues and clients. Nandini didn't have a single invitee there. Not that Neel hadn't asked her, but Nandini knew all too well her friends would boycott even if invited. Leave alone friends, if she had the option she herself would have boycotted her own engagement. For some reason, she was missing Kabir today. She was damn sure that if Kabir was alive, he and Navya would have planned something to screw up this jerk Neel. Nevertheless, even the thought comforted her. She was dressed up for the show.

Meanwhile at her home, Amms and Mr. Moorthy, chacha as she fondly addressed him were relieved that the ceremony was over without any interruptions.

Mr. Moorthy: Thank God Amma,  it all went well.

Amms: Yes, beta you are right. You know how particular Neel's parents are, not the easiest ones to please you see.But everything went well and even though the wedding will be 6 months later, we should start preparing.

They went to discuss many things. How much money would be required for the wedding, whom all to invite, so forth and so on. Amms was particularly happy because she has known the Dixit family since ages. She was the one who had introduced Neel to Nandini when  he got a posting in Mumbai, in the same public sector bank where Mr. Moorthy was working as an accountant. That was some two years ago. Since then Neel had made such progress to join a multinational bank and getting a posting in Switzerland. Amms liked the fact that Neel came from a middle class family and yet he was ambitious enough to carve out his own way in the world. Neel was a self made man unlike Manik  who was a completely spoilt brat of a rich father. She was glad that with this engagement, the Manik chapter was going to be closed once and for all.  Yeah she had to pretend at times, especially on Nandu's 18th birthday because if she had shown her real feelings, nandini would have been hurt but the truth was she always detested Manik.

Chachi was sitting quietly in a corner, listening to the ongoing discussions but somewhere lost in her own thoughts.

Suddenly she asked Amms "Do you think Neel is the right guy for our Nandu.?"

Amms was surprised. Her tone gave away her inner irritation " What do you mean?"

Chachi: "Did you notice how silent Nandu was all through the ceremony? It was her day and yet she had no joy, no glow on her face. It was as if she was discharging some kind of a duty. Infact why just today, I have never seen any love for Neel in her eyes. I don't know why she chose him, why she agreed to get engaged to him."

Amms was fuming "I will tell you why, because she is not as dumb as you. She doesn't float in an imaginary world like you punjabi's do. She is sorted and intelligent. She is practical and she knows Neel will be her best provider. What is love? That happens in movies like that Shahrukh khan of yours, delivering cheesy lines. For us middle class respectable people there is no existence of that kind of love."

Chachi was so hurt she instantly got up and ran upstairs to Nandini's room. Her eyes had welled up and her voice was chocking. The room was dark and she was alone. Nandini was out with Neel for the reception at a suburban restaurant.

She didn't have a child of her own. But she treated both Nandu and Rishab as her own kids. Infact Nandini was both a daughter and a friend to her. There was so much that they understood about each other even without exchanging a word. She had known from day one that Manik was special, even when Nandini was herself not aware. She had seen it in their eyes. She had known how on most nights , after dinner Manik would wait outside & Nandini would sneak out to meet him. Yes she had known all the while but she trusted Manik enough to know that he would never do anything to hurt her. Yes, they were middle class people with orthodox upbringing yet she had convinced her husband to let Nandini  travel with  Manik to denmark for his treatment. She had witnessed just how much Nandini meant to Manik, she had seen the bruises on her when that pandit kidnapped and assaulted nandini, but the pain and the tears were in Manik's eyes. Ironically, it was Amms and Mr. Moorthy who were related to Nandini by blood, not herself but family is not always only blood, sometimes it's a heart to heart connection.

If life ever brought her face to face with Manik again, she would slap him and ask him why he broke both a lover's and a mother's trust.