Purvi came home early in the evening, to the surprise of ishita who was on the phone with a client,
'How about I call you back in a while? Yeah, sure.' Said ishita as she hung up and marched towards purvi.
'abhi toh kavin bhi nahi ghar aaya..' remarked ishita.
'haan, woh uska phone aaya tha, koi Mr Paswan ke saath meeting hai toh der ho jaayegi. Toh maine kaha, thik hai, aaj main time spend karlungi Ridhi ke saath.' replied purvi excitedly.
'you know, pehle i was skeptical, ki tum dono apne schedules ke saath bacha kaise handle karoge, but, I'm glad I was wrong.'
'arre di, sach kahon toh ridhi hui thi na, toh mujhe yakeen ho gaya tha ki bhai mujhse buri maa iss duniya mein koi nahi ho sakti...ek diaper tak nahi lagta tha mujhse. But after a lot of nights crying and screwing up, i actually managed to do fine.' Admitted purvi.
'arre kavin ne toh itni practice ki thi diaper lagane ki on baby dolls before ridhi was born..' recounted ishita.
'arre di woh toh chodo, sarah din jo woh books padhta rehta tha babies pe...'remarked purvi with slight annoyance as ishita chuckled remembering something,
'arre dushyant ek baar uske office mein file dhoond rahe the, file toh mili nahi par unhonde yeh decide kar liya ki dobara uske office mein kabhi nahi jaayenge...' said ishita, still chuckling.
'par kyun? Aisa kya hogaya?' asked a puzzled purvi.
'arre pehle toh uske office mein files bas bhikri rehti thi, par ab unn files ke beech beech mein se woh baby books nikal rahi thi jinke cover mein bachon ki photo dushyant ke liye horror movie se kam thodi tha. I think pehle joh dekhi hongi, unhe dekh kar chila bhi padein honge...ahh!' said ishita as she imitated his scream, as they both laughed.
'arre, ek baar maine unko ek johnson's baby ki ad dekh kar paseena paseena hote hue dekha tha...it was priceless...' added purvi.
'koi maanega ki kahan jo banda sab ko darata hai, usse darane ke liye bas ek chota sa bacha hi kaafi hai...' remarked ishita.
'arre bacha kya? Woh yaad nahi, when you had that pregnancy scare, unki haalat dekhne waali thi...' reminded purvi.
'isiliye toh i was really surprised when he was so good with ridhima..' expressed ishita.
'wahi na, for someone who doesn't want kids and is like so scared of them, he's really good with kids..' said purvi, when suddenly, they were interrupted by a crying riddhima.
'lo, aa gaya bulawaa!' exclaimed purvi as they both went upstairs to look after her, completely unaware of the fact that somebody had heard their conversation and that person was not supposed to...
***
'arre main keh raha hoon na, nahi ho na usse...' said dushyant as he entered the home with kavin.
'dushyant.' Said mrs khanna, to stop him.
'kuch baat karni hai tumse, zara aaoge mere saath.' Stated mrs khanna, as dushyant and kavin looked at each other as if asking, 'do you know what this is about?'
'chalo dushyant.' Commanded mrs khanna as she signalled towards her room.
'aap jaiye, main zara ridhi ko dekh aao...' said kavin, as he rushed to see his daughter, and dushyant walked to his mother's room.
***
Kavin entered the room to a purvi signalling him to shush, as he tip toed inside, glancing at his daughter who was being breast fed by purvi, slowly dozing off to sleep.
'so gayi?' asked kavin through the actions of his hands while lip syncing it.
Purvi nodded in agreement, as kavin took one glance of her sleeping peacefully.
'main zara haath moh dhokar aata hoon..' signalled kavin through his hands as he headed to the bathroom with his night suit, as purvi nodded.
***
'haan mom, kya hua? Aise achanak?' asked dushyant as his mother shut the door off.
'dekho dushyant, mujhe pata hai..' said mrs khanna as she walked towards him, causing him to get puzzled.
'aap kis baarein mein baat kar rahi hain?' asked dushyant.
'Mr. Ahuja ne bata diya tha mujhe ki kya hua uss din...' stated mrs khanna, as dushyant was shocked.
'par...'
'ek baar milne aaye the uss hadse ke baad, baaton baaton mein unhone zikar kar diya aur unka dhyaan bhi nahi gaya ki tumne batane se mana kiya tha...' she explained calmly, as she sat down on her bed, signalling him to sit next to her, which he did.
'toh aapko, sab, pata tha?' asked dushyant, trying to comprehend the situation, as she nodded in agreement.
'sochti thi ki kabhi toh tum aa kar mujhe sach bataoge...'
'mom, main, main bahaut dar gaya tha, ki aap kaise, react...i'm so sorry...main...' fumbled dushyant, when his mother placed her hand on his shoulder, and stopped him.
'main kabhi tumse naraaz nahi thi. galti tumhare pape ki thi. woh bewafa the, aur iss baat ka dukh mujhe hamesha rahega ki unhone aisa kyun kiya, par tumhari iss sab mein koi galti nahi hai, toh apne aapko saza mat do..'
'par mom main uss din...'
'woh din beet gaya hai dushyant...uss din ke baad bhi bahaut din aaye, jab tumne mujhe aur kavin ko sambhala, ghar ki zimmedaari li, kuch ban gaye...aur unn dinon ke aage woh din ki koi value nahi hai...' she explained as she paused to lovingly brush his son's hair with her fingers.
'pata hai, kahin na kahin unse naraazgi door bhi ho jaati hai, ki jo bhi kiya unhone, mujhe tumhare jaisa beta dekar chale gaye.' She smiled at him fondly, as he too smiled at her.
'aur main chahti hoon ki tumhe bhi woh khushi milein. Beta apne bete hue kal ki galti ko apne aane waale kal ki khushi mat cheene de.' Said mrs khanna as dushyant nodded in disagreement.
'maa, main ek baap banne ke layak nahi ho...apne dekha hai na kavin ko ridhima ke saath, baap waise hona chahiye, main nahi hoon.' Stated dushyant with a straight face.
'dekha maine kavin ko uske saath, aur tujhe bhi dekha hai uske saath, isiliye keh rahi hoon, ki chod de apna yeh darr. Terese khushiyan cheen raha hai yeh...'
'par maa..'
'tujhe toh shaadi bhi nahi karni thi na? Tujhe nahi lagta tha ki tu kissi ko khush rakh payega?' she posed questions that left him speechless.
'tujhe yeh bhi lagta tha ki tujhse kahan koi pyaar karega, phir mili na ishita?'
'par maa bacha ek zimmedari hoti hai..'
'tujhe kisne kaha tujhe zimmedari nibhana nahi aata?'
The silence prevailed but they both knew the answer, now that everything he believed about himself was turning out to be wrong, will he change?
आप पढ़ रहे हैं
two stories of marriage
Fanfictioninspired by jane austen's sensibility, a story set in modern day delhi, of two sisters, ishita and purvi, and how marriage ends up bringing a lot of twists and turns in their life....
