~ Chapter Three: A Glimpse of the Past ~
"Riddhima, what is this? Again! You are on the front page of the paper. I asked you to attend a party, not do some crazy thing? Shashank roared as he threw The Mumbai Times in front of his daughter. "What did poor Armaan do to you that you threw punch over him? I know it's not what they say in the article; the media tends to exaggerate facts."
Riddhima looked at the paper, and saw Armaan drenched in punch with Riddhima Gupta welcomes guest with a Splash written over it. Well she had expected it to arrive on the Monday's paper and it had. She smiled at her accomplishment. He deserved it. She would treasure this paper forever. She read further into the article: Armaan had always been a ladies-man. With his status and good looks, he is every girls dream man, every girl but Riddhima Gupta. Both of them were last seen together at the Pandora Ball in a heated argument, which resulted with Armaan getting drenched with punch. One may asked why did this happen? According to an anonymous source, it was said that Armaan had tried to flirt inappropriately with Riddhima, and the latter was offended at his outrageous comments'. Riddhima chuckled at the article. Her father was right, the media sure knew how to twist a story. Well, at least, she wasn't the bad guy.
"Papa, he deserved it. He insulted me, and I got angry so I kind of threw the first thing I had, luckily for him it was simply was glass of punch and not a big hammer."
"Stop smiling, this isn't funny. Armaan is probably furious at you right now? You had no right to do that to him. Is that how people welcome guest in India? It hasn't even been a week since he's back, and you managed to put him at the public's disposal. A lady does not wander around throwing beverages on people. I thought I raised you better than that!"
"Well, you thought wrong Papa! The thing is you didn't raise me at all." With that, she took the paper, and stomped to her room.
Shashank sighed. A small tear formed in the corner of his eye, but he quickly wiped it away. How was he ever going to make Riddhima understand? He was sorry that he was never there for his kids. He regretted every birthday he missed, every graduation, every concert, everything. But what was he supposed to do? He never wanted his kids to grow up like him. He had a hard life, struggling every moment. If he neglected his kids before, it was so that they could do whatever they wanted, achieved whatever they wanted to do.
He grew up the hard way. His father was a teacher, and his mother had passed away giving birth to him. One day, his father got thrown out of his job because he refused to take a bribe from a rich parent. He had always been a man of principles. After he refused, the wealthy man bribed the principle to fire him by accusing him of taking a bribe, and made it difficult for him to get a job. Once a respected man, he had lost everything. Soon, they were both on the streets. They had nothing left. Being a teacher, he tried to educate his son, but there was only so much he could of done. Soon, they moved from Delhi and came to Mumbai. His father still couldn't get a job as a teacher, but he did little jobs here and there so that his son could attend school. Shashank grew older and was determined to ruin the man that had taken away everything from his father. As the day passed by, he worked harder and harder. He had met Padma during college and got married quite fast. A couple of months after his wedding, his father bid them adieu. A few years later, Padma gave birth to a son, and he had decided to call him after his dad: Rahul. Five years after, Riddhima was born; Padma was thrilled. She had two adorable children, a loving husband, a house, what more can she want? Shashank too was really thrilled; he had a happy and loving family. He worked harder and harder to achieve his goal, but never forgot about his duties. He was a caring and a loving father and husband.
But one day, his world came crashing down. He had just received a call saying that his wife had had an accident. By the time he had reached the hospital, she had breathed her last breath. He didn't even have the chance to say goodbye. He asked about the detail about the accident and found out that the driver was drunk and had bribed the cops with a large sum, and gotten away with it. He was furious. He saw his picture and recognized him instantly; it was the boy whose father had taken away everything from them, and now he did it again. He despised them. On that day, he had vowed that he wouldn't rest in peace until his quest was fulfilled. He became a workaholic, he was at the office day and night; he sacrificed his whole life, so that he and his children would never be exposed to such injustice again.
After years of work, he had achieved the top. He ruined the family who took away everything from him. Finally, he was at peace. Though that day, when he came home, he realised the cost of his success. His children barely spoke to him, his son was somewhat indifferent towards him, but his baby girl hated him for never being there. He finally achieved his goal, but that night, he cried like no other nights. From that day, he tried slowly to get closer to his children, but all his attempts failed. He knew that he had lost them forever, but never gave up.
A few years earlier, Rahul had managed to dig up the truth when he was going through some files. He found some articles, and with the help of some old memories, he connected all the dots. He was always a bright child. From that day, Rahul realised the pain his father went through, and sympathized with him. All these day, they thought what happened to their mom was just an accident, and that the driver was punished. They were young then; he realised that they had failed as children to understand their father. Slowly, the bond between father and son grew stronger. However, Shashank made Rahul promise that they wouldn't reveal anything to his princess. He wanted to get her trust without anything. Rahul still had his mother and father for some time, he was much older, but Riddhima she probably does not have any memory of her mom, and he, her father, never gave her any memory worth remembering. His princess deserved so much more. Shashank never forgave himself for forgetting her, for neglecting her, for not holding her when she cried, for not reading her a bedtime story, or even just kissing her goodnight.
The day she had come to him, and told her she wanted to become a teacher, he was so proud of her, yet he was frightened. He didn't want his past to become his daughter's future. Yes, he was wealthy, and it was very unlikely, but still, deep down, the fright never went away. He didn't want to see his baby girl heartbroken. When he had disapproved of her career choice without giving her any plausible explanation, she completely stopped talking to him. The only way he would get a response out of her was if he tried to be an overprotective and controlling father; she would actually speak to him, or rather had no choice but to speak to him to defend herself. To her eyes, he was nothing but a wealthy monster who was obsessed with money, fame and glory.
Despite all his wealth, he remained, like his father, a man of principle. He never took and bribe, nor did he bribe anyone. He remained an honest man and was determined to stay that way. He was a good person.
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"Hello, Summit! Yeah, I know, I saw the paper. Don't I look dashing drenched in punch? Listen, I called you because, I wanted to know whether you knew where Riddhima works or not? You do? That's awesome man. So where is it? What do you mean you don't want to tell me?" Armaan was now annoyed at his friend.
"I want to make sure your intentions are honorable." Summit joked
"I plan to go there, and apologize for my conduct last Friday."
"Nope, Armaan, that is not honorable at all" he teased his friend.
"Is Nikki anywhere around you? Only she can make anyone say such things." Armaan was curious; he thought he just heard a giggle in the background.
"Armaan! How boring of you! You're just going to go there and say sorry. Now where is all the fun?" A shrill voice laughed on the other side of the phone.
"Thank you Nikki for screaming in my early morning, now what does your highness suggest me to do?"
"I think you should bring her a bouquet of flowers, and ask her out. I mean after the way you both were staring at each other, it's the obvious next step."
"I wasn't staring at anyone, I' Wait! Did you just say the way you BOTH were staring at EACH OTHER?"
"No, why would I say that?" Darn it, she thought, Riddhima was going to kill her if she found out that she blurted this little detail out.
"Nikki, don't lie, you said BOTH. So, when was she staring at me?"
"First, admit that you found her super pretty, beautiful, attractive and hot" She took advantage of the situation.
"Yes, I confess. I thought Riddhima was super pretty, beautiful, attractive and hot. Happy? Now answer me?"
"When you were coming down the stairs, and she works at Royal High, she teaches English to the 10th grade."
"Nikki, I owe you one." He hung up, and zoomed out of the house. Guilt had been killing him for the past two days. He felt so bad about what he said to her. It was so unlike him. He had been analyzing the whole scenario and the only plausible explanation he came up with for his behaviour was that he was angry when he thought that she was a pretentious and proud person. He supposed that he was so attracted to her, that it crushed his hopes to think otherwise of her, and he threw his frustration at her.
He arrived at the institution. It was a normal High School, with a nice view around. He walked in, and used his charms to know the whereabouts about Riddhima. The receptionist pointed toward the left, and told him that her classroom is on the third floor, the first door on his left. He thanked her, and headed towards the stairways. As he arrived on the third floor, he recognized her voice; she had left the door open It sounded even better than the last time. He quietly peeked in and saw her back; she was writing something on the blackboard. Her hair was left open, and she wore a white three-quarter skirt with a pink top.
"Siddhant and Tamanna, stop talking and write down your notes." He heard her say, and saw that the two students were surprised that they had been caught when their teacher wasn't even looking. "Sorry Miss Gupta"
Without any further delay, he took a deep breath, and entered the classroom.
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"Good Morning Miss Gupta" All the students stoop up as their teacher entered the classroom.
"Good Morning" Riddhima smiled as she gestured them to sit down. She took a chalk and spelled the words Romanticism on the board. "So kids, today, we will attack something new, so who here can give me tell me what defined Romanticism. Yes Naina"
"Romanticism or the Romantic Era was a complex artistic, literary and intellectual movement that took place in the second half of the 18th century in Europe"
"Very good, now I assume you have all finished reading Pride and Prejudice. I gave you two extra weeks to finish it."
"Yes" Their voice in unison echoed across the silent classroom.
"Yuvi, now tell me, how do you think Austen's work fits in the Romantic Era?"
"I think that Jane Austen's uses her novel to empower woman, in some way. I mean before, woman had no legal status, or rights, and their opinion weren't really valued. But, in her novel, Austen presents the female protagonist as strong and intelligent, yet bewitching in a completely feminine way. She gives an independent mind to Elizabeth as a critic of the patriarchy of that time. She tries to create the ideal image of a woman. "
"Excellent. Does anyone else have another opinion? Yes Sapna."
"I agree with Yuvi that the novel embodies female power to some extent, but I think it can also be connected to all the young people of that time who were in some way revolting intellectually. I mean that they were become more and more aware of everything through books, and all. Their awareness leads them to break free from society's norms. So I think that Austen tries to show this through all the daughters. Jane being the one that would represent the old tradition, her being the one who is shy, sweet and not too clever, Elizabeth would be the one with the independent mind, Mary would be the intellectual one, and Kitty and Lydia are the ones that are flirty and frivolous. Jane was considered to be the prettiest, so in some way, this illustrates how she is the typical woman of that time. The other sisters break away from the norms of society."
"Good observation Sapna." Riddhima was proud of her students. They all had strong minds, and were able to analyze details from any book.
"Ok class, I want you guys to take out your notes, and copy the question I'll write one the board. You guys can pair up and answer them. If you are not finished, I want them done by next class." She went back to the board, and started writing down the questions After a few minutes, she heard some whispering.
"Siddhant and Tamanna, stop talking and write down your notes." She warned them without even turning her head.
"Sorry Miss Gupta"
Kids will always be kids. She remembered when she was their age, and how surprised she'd be when her teacher caught her talking without even turning her head. At 16, she probably though there were hidden cameras in the room, but now she understood what her teacher had meant by teacher's sixth sense. She was once again disturbed by some footsteps.
"Whoever's roaming around in class, please return to your seat right now."
"Yes, Miss
Riddhima Gupta" a deep and manly voice answered her.
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Hi guys that was part 3, hope you guys enjoyed it, it's moving sort of slowly in the beginning, because I'm introducing the characters, and the story. Keep reading and Commenting!! xoxo- Alisha K
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