A woman, exceptionally beautiful, starts experiencing some strange things. Why was she so different from others? Did she have a purpose? Who was she really? What would happen when the characters from the stories she had heard from her childhood woul...
"Mahamaya and her family said that she doesn't want to marry you anymore after she got to know from her Pandit Ji (priest) that the birth charts didn't match," Madhavi lied to her son.
They had reached back to their cottage. Aarav didn't know Mahamaya was so superstitious. He could still remember her face. She looked so beautiful. He had never seen someone look that beautiful and she was glowing so much, like a Goddess.
He felt bad when he got to know that she said no. She didn't have to but he wanted to marry her, to call her his. He closed his eyes, feeling something change inside him. He felt enchanted and completely out of character as he screamed loudly in rage, making both Madhavi and Om jump up in surprise. What had happened so suddenly? What changed?
All Aarav could think about was Mahamaya. He wished he had her photo. He wanted to keep looking at her. It felt like he had caged a beast inside him and now that he knew Mahamaya wouldn't be his, the beast was unleashed. The fire in his eyes scared his parents as they tried to calm him down.
On the other hand, in Mahesh's house, Mahesh had seemed to hear Indrayani talking on the phone and as she ended the call, Mahesh went to her and asked her seriously, "Why would you do that? Why would you destroy our daughter's life like that, especially being a mother? I won't let superstition like horoscope ruin my daughter's life, I am telling you this for the last time, Indra. You almost killed her before she was born so that you could have the satisfaction of seeing river Ganga. You almost made sure she would have no future in the past but I won't let you destroy her future because of superstitions. I won't let her marry that criminal."
Indrayani's face fell as she nodded. She understood why he might be angry. He seemed to like Aarav and Indrayani tried to ruin her own daughter's future to help his mother. Vedic horoscopes could just advice but people could still walk their own path regardless. However, she didn't know what to do if it could endanger other people's lives. She didn't want her daughter to be in guilt if anything of that sort would happen. That was why Mahesh didn't allow her to tell their daughter that if any man other than her destined life partner would marry her, he could die.
Mahesh left from the place as Indrayani sat down, hugging her legs. There was nobody else in the house apart from the three. Her in-laws had gone to attend a wedding in the nearby village. Mahamaya was sleeping in the other room because she would work too much to make sure her mother wouldn't and got too less of sleep. So, Indrayani forced her to sleep.
Her in-laws wanted them to come along too but Mahesh said that they didn't bring along clothes suitable to attend a wedding and moreover, even if the family had sent invitation to all of them, they were still very distant relatives and probably shouldn't expect everyone to attend the wedding.
After he left Indrayani alone, Mahesh was furious as he left the house to go for a stroll. Somewhere in his mind, he knew that what Indrayani had done was right but that didn't stop his fury from overtaking him. It was rare for him to her angry but this anger stemmed from desperation, concern and guilt, desperation to see his daughter married and happy, concern about her future and guilt of feeling helpless in the hands of fate which made sure to dance his beloved little family like puppets.
After strolling for half an hour, his anger calmed down. The fresh air of the village seemed to have a soothing effect on him. Leisurely, he would walk back to the house to see a car in front of the bungalow. However, it was not any unknown car. It was the car which was also parked there when Aarav had come to see Mahamaya.
Why was it there? Why was he there? To tell them that the marriage was not possible anymore? He was overcome with sadness again, until he saw Indrayani come out of the house, frantic and the car drove away. She even ran behind the car until she fell, crying. What had happened? He ran there, terribly worried as to what might have happened.
Indrayani was sobbing by then. He helped her up, supported her trembling form with his arms and asked her softly, knowing he had hurt her before and something bad had happened, "What happened, Indra? Why are you so looking so... dishevelled?"
The Kohl from her eyes was running down her eyes as she cried, her face looking red and her hair all over the place. Her hand was bleeding and it seemed like the glass bangles she worn had penetrated her wrist after she fell down, leading to bleeding. Her saree was also looking dirty because of her fall.
Indrayani tried to talk but no words would get out of her throat. She kept wheezing, coughing, crying and finally hiccupping. Mahesh felt like he was the weakest man in the world to see his wife like that. Could this really be caused by them saying no to Mahamaya? Did she take his words so seriously? He was such a failed husband. However, it still felt like something worse had happened.
He said softly, "It's okay, take deep breaths. Calm down and tell me what happened."
He wiped the sweat and dirt covering her forehead, somehow succeeding to support her, to drag her towards the house and finally, he forced her to sit on the cot in the living room. She was looking very dishevelled as she refused to sit down but he somehow managed to make her sit and he rushed to the kitchen to get her a glass of water.
The glasses in the village would be small. So, if someone wants water, people would give them one small container full of water and an empty glass of water. The container is called as tAmbyA in Marathi and lotA in Hindi.
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Mahesh would bring the tambya to the living room and fill the glass before giving it to her. She would refuse to drink and try to talk but all she could say were silent wheezes.
Mahesh stroked her hair and said, "The sooner you calm down, the sooner you can tell me what happened."
She nodded and drank the water, coughing a little. Mahesh was puzzled as to where Mahamaya was. Was she still sleeping despite all the noises? He said to Indrayani, concerned, "I will check up on Mahamaya. You try to calm down till then."
He didn't even wait for her to respond as he brisk walked to the other room where she was supposed to be sleeping, to find it vacant. He gasped, taking support of the wall as he managed to get out and get in the field of vision of Indrayani, pointing towards the room, his face pale as he wheezed out, "Where?"
Indrayani started crying again, her entire form trembling as she said in a broken voice, "Gone, he tied her and took her..."
***** A/N:
This chapter is dedicated to Deiwrites and samadritanandy. Thank you so much friends. I had almost given up on this story. I found you two on a book club and you two are the best thing that happened. Thank you so much for the love and support you provided to me. Readers, if interested, please check out their books and some comments and upvotes on their books would be appreciated. I'm missing my schedule of uploading on Saturdays because I don't feel motivated enough. Some encouraging words in the comments and a few upvotes would go a long way for me too.
And while I had not published, Vasant Panchami, also known as Saraswati Pooja passed by so happy Vasant Panchami to everyone.
