Subdued - A Shiva Pandya Story

ironing out a crease

"No Gaumbi..No! I don't think I have done anything wrong. What I have done is always for the betterment of the family. I have held the family together. Trust me a party for Shiva showing how much we love him will solve everything "

Gaumbi took a deep breath and simmered in anger. Dev looked in horror. Thank God he was sober because...Gaumbi. Was. Pissed .Off. He realised Dhara bhabi hadn't seen this side of him. Nobody had barring him and Shiva and Krish. When a man shoved Krish to the floor in a drunken state when they were mere teenagers , Krish suffered a head injury. Gaumbi had the same simmering in anger sort of look. His eye narrowed like a wolf and he slowly approached his target and before you knew it. He had thrashed them and beaten them black and blue. His three brothers couldnt pull him off. He was like a bloodhound and though Gaumbi was jolly and calm most of the time, the brothers knew otherwise. Almost like The Hulk. They never told Dhara as Gaumbi threatened them with his eerie silence on the matter. He didnt say anything but they knew he meant business if any of them blabbed. He was like a saucepan of water, warming up with the bubbles in tact whilst Dhara spoke of her mehnat over the years and how if anyone could resolve it , it was her when she saw the storm erupt

"SHUT UP DHARA. JUST SHUT IT. THATS ENOUGH."

Suman eyes nearly jumped out of her sockets, Rishtia and Dev were scrambling and trying to hide behind each other, Krish broke his cup after dropping it and hurried to pick up the pieces as though his life depended on it and Raavi stood to attention like a cadet in the army. She held her breath as Gaumbi continued

" LETS GET ONE THING STRAIGHT. I DIDNT NOT TELL YOU TO MAKE THOSE SACRIFICES AND NEITHER HAVE YOU BEEN ALONE ON THESE SACRIFICES. I WAS THERE . THOUGH YOU HAVE DONE A LOT FOR MY BROTHERS, STOP BEHAVING AS THOUGH ITS YOUR GOD GIVEN RIGHT TO DO WHATEVER."

Dhara looked back at Gaumbi like a wounded puppy. Gaumbi punched the buttons into this phone and decided to call Hardik. He can take his self righteous sister and do whatever. Forget friendship. He is going to be what he failed to be all these years. The man of the house
"Like hell are you going to undermine me again. If I knew you would turn out like this, I would have bore a football team if needed as long as it meant my brothers not being forced to be puppets. Sometimes I fell all you do is emotionally blackmail everyone. You and me Dhara, are done"
Dhara ran and begged Gaumbi for forgiveness . She promised not to undermine him and she sobbed her heart out. She failed as a mother to Shiva. She had read the letter and cried her eyes out. She made him feel abandoned and he gave her the place of a goddess and he felt she had pushed that devotion aside. She was a woman and naturally she always saw Raavi viewpoint which she now realised was wrong. She should have seen both.
She made him feel he always was in the wrong. She loved him and he knew this but Shiva couldnt help but feel overlooked. As a mother, why didnt she work on him on improving all his flaws. He was a hot head . Why did she excuse it or use it as a point to dismiss him.She once let Rishita humiliate him about his lack of education. But what did she actually do. Did she demand an apology from Dev or Rishita. She was fixated on a child that she ignored their mistakes so the Pandyas have an heir. She favoured Dev for being educated but failed to see Shiva sacrifice his own. Gaumbi understood her sentiments . They disregarded his sacrifice and now they feared they would fail Chiku someday.
"Dhara, it's okay. I get it. Believe me if you failed to see Shiva then so did I. We are both to blame"
" I'm so sorry Gaumbi" Dhara sobbed " I just want the old Shiva back. I want my son back. I tried to fix it. I tried to fix him" Dhara clung on to Gaumbi and sobbed when she heard
" Gaumbi , Dhara bhabi, is everything okay"
Shiva spoke with concern laced into his voice, with Prakash and Divya with a stoic face. They looked back at him in shock. Shiva was back and Raavi calmed her heart that was thumping against her chest. They needed to talk.