Tanhaiyan | neirohi

35. forever

She sat at the table, early afternoon. Her husband and brother-in-law left for the hospital after lunch while her sister had hers delivered to the workplace itself since she had a surgery. Parth was at Shefali's house spending time with his son while Shefali was at work. Nishta was giving her semester exams. Akshara and Abhimanyu were at the hospital.

The broad daylight did not get rid of her muffled cries, as she held the documents.

They say, truth can never remain hidden. And she was waiting, no, she was dreading the day it got uncovered. The son she raised for all these years, when he gets to know that she was not his biological mother. Will her love for all these years be washed away, just like that? When the truth of Anjali Birla, the real mother of Abhimanyu Birla comes out, would she be thrown aside? Just like that?

Anjali Birla was a beautiful woman, inside out. She was fortunate to have heard a lot of praises about her from her sister, and for Mahima Birla to praise someone it meant that the person had to be talented. Anjali was Mahima's apprentice, that is how she met and fell for her mentor's brother-in-law. The late night discussions in the Birla house and all the sneaking-peeking ended up with their marriage. Mahima was the happiest, someone who she had considered as her second sister was going to be a part of the family. Harsh from those days had a different charm. Anjali was not only the sweetest, but also had skilled hands, the hands of a surgeon.

Her death had come as a shock, to all of them. The fact that they were so busy with the setting up of their hospital, the dreams all four of them worked on together, that they did not notice the symptoms of Puerperal Sepsis she had. The wailing cries of the child bundled in white sheets on watching his mother's cremation, still tore the walls of their hearts. A devasted Harsh and Anand stood as Mahima couldn't pick herself up from the floor. It was Manjari who handled the child, she was good with children always.

That death changed the Birlas.

It sucked out whatever humanness the entire clan had, except for their matriarch, Anand and Harsh's mother. The woman was kind, though stern. She watched her sons and daughter-in-law focus relentlessly on building their dreams, trying to forget the ones who were not with them anymore. The three became so bitter, an effort to contrast the sweetest one among them who was no more. The financial troubles they had in achieving their dreams posed a big problem. And that is what forced them ask for help. Anand turned to his father-in-law, who was a reputed doctor himself. Rather than making a whole new establishment, they could takeover and modify the existing one completely, after all this was theirs as well. The old man on his deathbed agreed as well, he just had two daughters, it was all theirs. Every penny of his was theirs.

He had no qualms in giving up his hospital, it was for his daughter after all. But what about his younger child? Who will take care of her? She had no one apart from him and her sister who drifted apart after her marriage. The girls grew up without their mother, who couldn't survive her second delivery. And so, all he asked was a for a guarantee that someone would take care of his Manjari. He was aware of the happenings of few weeks ago and did not wish to impose the decision on them. But the man himself had just few weeks left, which forced him to keep his self-respect aside and go for it. And so, the Birlas sat together, trying to sort out the new issue which cropped up.

A proposal for the man widowed just few weeks ago.

Practically, it was a win-win from both sides. The matriarch was impressed with Manjari long back and the child too seemed to like her. Manjari in turn, would get a family to support her after the death of her father. So why not? From then began the tale of her misery, their misery. Harshvardhan Birla who couldn't mourn the death of his loved one. Anand who could do nothing to stop the event since the decision did not lay in his hands anymore. Mahima, who could never let another trainee take her Anjali's place and turned a blind eye towards every talent she spotted. And trapped amidst all this was one person, who had no one but herself.