MY HIDDEN LOVE

MAHA AARTI

"I have to admit, an unrequited love is so much better than a real one. I mean, it's perfect... As long as something is never even started, you never have to worry about it ending. It has endless potential."
― Sarah Dessen

The whole Oberoi Mansion was in a hustle bustle , it was the day of MahaArti the biggest day for Oberoi's . It was the birthday of Prithviraj Singh Oberoi grandfather of ShivOmRu and late husband of Kalyani . 

Annika had never met him since he was gone by then but she heard a lot about him by dadi . How much of an honest person he was , a respectable individual and a man who loved his wife more than his life . For him the background of his wife never mattered, all mattered was her support and love for him . Unfortunately Shivaay could never inherit this quality of his grandfather , he never believed in the concept of love nor he respected people from middle class background , he had his own superficial standards that Annika could never reach . 

The only time she remembered she could reach his level was during the school time , where she had gotten a second rank and Shivaay as usual was the first place . That was the minimum distance his and her name had 0.2 centimetre it was . 

                                                                             ***

"Today , my Shivaay will be the one who will do the maha aarti as he is the heir of the Oberoi empire ", Pinky with a prideful smile over her face . She was always proud over the achievement of her son . She had seen her son struggling and working hard for the success of the business and was the eldest out of the three , so she had decided her son would to be the one to perform the ritual . 

"Om should be the one performing this pooja , he is my son . The eldest son's son" , Tej in his loud and heavy had made this announcement to his Jannvi and Om. Tej was always bitter about the career choice of Om . In India even a normal middle class family does not let their child pursue art as a career , here it was a business family . But Om still decided to pursue art as it was his passion , he fought for it and got it . It could never bring happiness to Tej , he expected Om to join the family business later after some years of his passion being washed up but little did he know he was too determined in himself . 

It was a battle of ego between the parents who were bound have it satisfied with their children. It was one of the side of the family which Annika had already seen in her childhood . She realised , it does not matter the amount of love they show each other at the end they were a typical rich family where everyone wanted the biggest share . But there was a twist in this family , it was just the elders who fought for it but the brother they never , they loved each other like anything ready to sacrifice themselves for each other . Annika was the most fond of this quality of Shivaay.

It did not matter how much their parents fought , the brothers were always going to be together.

                                                                               ***

The temple looked elegant and beauteous with the golden led lights over the border of the temple . With the gigantic sculpture of lord Ganesh brought into existence with the special talent of art . As the time passed by the temple was getting crowded everyone was excited for the pooja considering the fact how religious people in India are and the Oberoi's being there the icing on the top . 

It was time for the the aarti the expectations of the parents were shooting wanting their child to be there as the pandit called for the heir of the family . The biggest conflict that has been going on for years in the family , while everyone was getting anxious to see the heir of the family there was one person standing relaxed nothing affecting her just waiting for things to pack up , it was Annika .