Broken Illusions

3.

Abhira was silently walking behind Abhir. Her brother looked furious. They walked to their car. It was already late afternoon. So, she thought to distract his mind from what's happened over here. Abhir opened the car door for Abhira and then sat behind the steering wheel.

"Bhai. Please shant ho jao aap. In logo ko aap ignore karo. Yeh log roj aisi bakwaas karte hai. Mujhe aadat hai sun ne ki."

Probably this was not the best thing to say at this moment as Abhir turned hs furious gaze to her,

"Are you dumb? Have you been listening to all this crap silently from these vile people? You should have slapped them straight. Are aise kaise himmat hai kisi me? If someone speaks wrongly about you, learn to reply to them in their tone only. Sirf pyaar se rishte nahi nibhaye jaate abhira. Agar rishton me respect na ho na, toh aise rishte bikhar jaate hai. Pyaar ka kya faida agar samne wala insaan din raat aapki beizzati karta ho. One can live without love but not without respect. Get that. Aage se inko jawab dena sikh."

Abhira nodded silently seeing her brother so worked up. She just hugged him tightly.

Abhir calmed down. Then said,

"Let's ignore these people for now. I will take you to a very special place after our lunch."

"Okay." Abhira smiled happily.

They both had their lunch and abhir took her on the outskirts of the city. The palce was a cozy spot where no one usually comes as it's on a remote side. A beautiful lake surrounded by lovely flowers.

Abhira was mesmerized too see such a calm spot. There was also a small waterfall.

She turned towards Abhir who already sat near the lake bed. She sat beside him silently when Abhir started to talk absently,

"Yeh place mumma papa ke liye bohot special hai. Mumma jab sad hoti thi tab yaha aaya karti thi. Then unhone papa ko bhi yeh jagah dikhayi thi. Jab meri custody doctor birla ko di gayi thi, papa was heartbroken. And then mumma brought him here to lessen his sadness. This place has lots of memories of our parents."

" Wow. Aapke paas toh papa ke saath bohot saari memories hogi na?" Abhira asked him sadly

" I lived the best years of my life with him. After his death I realised how much he protected me from the atrocities of the world. I never knew pain before because he was my superhero you know."

"Aap mujhe papa ke baare me bataoge? Mumma ne papa ke baarein me bataya bohot. But she always used to be sad while talking about papa. Isiliye i stopped asking her."

Abhir sighed and remembered the happiest phase of his life,

"Hum Kasauli me rehte the. Me, mumma, papa, neelamma, aur muskaan bua. Neelamma was like a grandmother to me and mother to papa and muskaan bua. Bachpan me na hamara family tradition hota tha taaron ke neeche sone ka. And we used to sleep together and have fun discussing all nonsense things. Fir papa gaane bhi gaate the apni buri awaz me. You know papa kya karte the, so papa ke abs nahi the, toh papa pen se abs draw krte the. Khudpe aur mujhe bhi draw karke dete, aur kehte,

"Oh nikkeji, yeh abs wabs kuch nahi hota." And then I said once ki hritik ke toh hai, " so he used to say, " Toh unke yaha mumma jaise paranthe thodi bante hai." He loved mumma ke haath ka khana. And he was the most caring and loving person. He would have protected you so much. Never would he have shouted at you. Would have fulfilled all your wishes. He would have loved you so much. Aur meri tarah tumhe bhi koi cute sa naam rakh dete. I think chiki ji naam rakh dete to match with nikkeji. He would be so proud to see you as a successful lawyer. He would have shouted at your fancy dress competitions from the audience. He would have whistled loudly from the stadium at your games. Aur mumma ki daat se bhi bacha lete har baar. Aur fir mumma unke piche belan leke bhaagti to. Papa mumma ke aage bilkul bhigi billi ban jaate the. Mumma unhe pyaar se cutu bandar bulati thi. Aur papa unhe sherni bulate the aur agar mumma ne sun liya toh immediately he will say," maine toh heerni kaha Akshara. Aap kuch bhi sunti hai." Aur Papa toh bilkul pj king the. You would have 100% been in his team just like I was. And we both would have fought for sleeping beside him. Fir papa would have taken us on either side just like me and roohi used to sleep. Pata hai jab papa roohi chuhi ko pamper krte the toh I used to get so jealous, but then papa loved both of us equally. Never differentiated between us. I know the Roohi you know from so many months is bad. But she was the cutest kid. Most understanding one. The little roohi would have loved you and protected you fiercely. This Roohi is purely Goenkas ki parwarish. You should have met aaru maasi ki rooh. She would have been the best sister. Papa ke death hurt her badly too. In the beginning she never liked me because Dr. Birla used to pay attention to me. And when he found out I was his son, he started ignoring her. And the papa used to spend time with her, love her, and his death affected her too. I mourn my Roohi chuhi very much. She died years ago."