Subdued- A Shiva Pandya Story

Reflection of an alternate time

Second month into Mumbai...

Shiva sat in the library and diligently took down his notes. He understood most aspects of what was being said but he couldnt understand the last section....on top of that he was hungry.  Where was Dhara Di when you needed her. It was times like this he missed his family. After all, he was a family man. He spoke to them often.

Gaumbi updated him on the store. Kaka was struggling to do the hours and had quit as manual labour fell on him and his health was not keeping up. When he asked about his  brothers, Gaumbi said he did not feel comfortable with them doing that sort of work, especially as they had spent most of their lives studying

Shiva was heartbroken. So he felt comfortable with him doing manual labour due to a lack of education. He felt so uncomfortable, he, rather a man, who was nearly old enough to be our dad , do manual labour instead. He felt a short changed. He wondered if he had been educated , would Gaumbi been more considerate towards him. Shiva agreed it was his decisions to sacrifice his education but there were other tasks he could have done to aid the store if Gaumbi vigorously insisted. But he didnt..he did initially try to stop him and make him go back but financial restraints made Gaumbi back out of the fight quicker than he would have.

Dhara bhabi, well, she spoke to him and often complained how nobody listened to him barring Shiva. She asked less about him and spoke more about herself. She cribbed how things had changed and how, despite sacrificing her right to bear children herself, she felt that everyone had forgotten her now that they have grown up. But now that she had own Chiku, she consoled herself saying he would solve everything and be the child the way she wanted.
He often tried to soothe her and felt bad for her. She was like his second mom but he couldnt help but feel the conversations were all about her and Chiku and that how he was, her "bacha" was not her concern anymore.

Dev and Rishita were too wrapped up in their own lives to speak to Shiva
They spoke once or twice and that is it. He was wary of Rishita.  She was a smart cookie..could run circles around everyone in Pandya Niwas if she was a just a tad cool headed and less of an entitled princess. Dev was dev...enough said. He was unable to multi task. To keep relations all round...was not his cup of tea. That is why they spoke less now than before. Responsibilities grew and Dev was playing catch up. Plus DR Cosmetics was too much for him, leading to arguments between the happy couple. Krish informed him, the squabbling led to Dev being kicked out the room a few times onto his spot in the aangan.
Krish was so invested in his love life. Shiva used to just switch off. Shweta wanted to reconcile but Krish told her to go away into the sunset with her friends and boyfriend.  All who had abandoned when push came to shove. Good riddance. But Shweta, he wondered, could she redeem herself. Who knows

His thoughts wondered to Raavi. They always did. After all, he loved her with his very being. But their conversations were awkward. He tried to speak to her in his usual banter and so did she. But she had restraints. So did he. Sometimes there were silences and sometimes there were words. He asked about her work and she said it was ok but the enthusiasm had died. She was no longer excited as she used to be. I apologised to her if Maa was harassing her to which she claimed she wasnt. She just never spoke to her. His mum didnt speak to him either. They were in the same boat for that one. He felt like Raavi wanted to say something but he had no idea what. He would try to discreetly prompt her but to no avail. Something was not right. The thought of it pissed him off. What was wrong with her? Why couldnt she be as free as she was? Was Arnav back on the scene?

He was exiting the library and bumped into someone

"Abey Kaun..dhikaye nahin deta"

A man of similar age looked up. Shiva was stumped . Most of the people were young here so where did this guy come from.
The guys goes

"Mera naam Prakash hai. Main principal ka beta hoon"
" Sorry, mujhe nahin pata tha. Jai Somnath"

Shiva extended his hand in apology and the guy shook it. They got into a conversation as the guy wanted to know about Somnath as his grandma was originally from there. Before you know it, They exchanged number and now he and Prakash were now friends.
I suppose this worked in Shivas favour for the events that were to arise over the next few days.....

P.s. sorry if there is no Raavi at the moment...it mostly shiva for now