Hidden Hues Of Henna

Lambi raatein (I)

Part -1

Nikhil Deshmukh looked at his sister and his heart bled for her.

Her pain,her agony,her embarassment was as clear as day on her face.

"Nikhil,take your sister to her room."

He closed his eyes as he remembered his father's screech in front of an entire crowd.He couldn't even begin to imagine what level of embarrassment Pallavi felt when he himself wanted the ground to open up and swallow him whole.His father however,the uncaring man that he is,didn't stop with his demand as he blatantly ignored Pallavi's pleas to let her explain herself and had no qualms to shout for him to take her to her room.

"Nikhil! Take her upstairs!"

The words haunted him and he could only imagine Pallavi's horror.

His didi, Pallavi,who to him was a goddess of sorts who always did the right thing,did not deserve this kind of treatment.He knew that she was a blessing to his family and he had made sure to remind it to everyone in the house time and again.

But the way today his father screamed for her to be locked away like she was some slave,whilst his mother stood back watching it all happen with a worried frown on her face,his entire being felt ashamed because of his parents.

And all for what? Just an accident? In which she had no role?

He couldn't even look into Pallavi's eyes as he had somehow brought her up with as much gentleness as he could muster.But her lifeless form that was sat on the bed right now, looking at the floor with furrowed brows as if seeking answers of her life,broke his heart.

The similarity of situations was such that he couldn't help but go back in memory to the time when after his elder brother's untimely death,his father had immediately fallen into a hospital bed. He remembered the day clearly when a healed Vijay who had fought a threatening heart attack and won,had returned home from the hospital.

flashback

"Nikhil! Your baba need help in climbing the stairs! Come here,help him!" Sharda shouted from the foot of the stairs."Nikhil!"

Nikhil came out of his room and instantly crossed the courtyard to reach his parents. Helping his father to stand up from the wheel chair,he held him up against his own body with a hand around his waist.

"You go first Aai! We will reach slowly." He nodded his head at his mother who approved and began to climb up the stairs to reach the room she shared with her husband.

"Be careful!" Sharda reminded her son.

As Nikhil,set foot on the very first step,his Baba stumbled back with a jerk.Nikhil tried to pull his frail body to his own but instead Vijay's body began to fall back which caused Nikhil to panic.But before anything could go wrong,another hand grabbed onto his father's other shoulder and stedied him instantly.

He and his father simultaneously looked back to meet with Pallavi's face.She gave a small,hesitant smile to them both as she moved forward to support Vijay. Nikhil smiled back at his few days old sister-in-law who he had come to know was nothing but kind.But what happened next completely turned his smile down.

"SHARDA!" Vijay Deshmukh thundered as he threw off Pallavi's hands from his arm.

An alarmed Sharda rushed down to see what went wrong. The door to another room on the ground floor flung open and out spilled Sulochana with her two daughters.Milind was still at the hospital setting the bills and buying the necessary medications.