Evening brings with it the return of the working members of the family. Malini arrives home and sees Imlie sitting with Harish at the dinning table, a sheath of papers, pens, an open laptop and her torn and mended scholarship cetificate spread on the table. Frowning, she keeps her bags on the sofa and picks up the certificate, eyes turning to her questioningly as she asks
"What happened to your certificate?"
"That is exactly what I have been asking but she is not telling me at all!" Harish complains from where he is seated beside her.
"Imlie" Malini uses her professor's voice and just like every other time, with every other student, it does the trick.
"NakliNanitoreit" she says it fast and it is barely decipherable.
"Be clear Imlie" Malini commands and Imlie sighs
"Nakli Nani tore it" she says, her voice clearer but still small. The anger that arises in her is so potent she has to close her eyes and take a deep breath to hold herself calm. That vile vile woman. The day she sees her, Malini is going to make sure she teaches her a lesson.
"Malini Didi?" Imlie's hesitant whisper draws her out of her dark thoughts. She shakes her head and places the certificate back on the table.
"What does she mean?" Harish asks with a disturbed frown but Malini knows Imlie does not want to have this conversation right now. So she subtly shakes her head to dissuade him from questioning it. He takes the hint and and lets it go.
"I'll freshen up and join you guys Bade Papa. Till then you can gauge what she knows." Malini says and Harish nods.
"So Imlie, I have pulled up the curriculum of all three boards till 12th grade for all subjects. Let us see what topics have been covered for you"
"What do you mean by three boards Badke Kaka?"
"They are just three different streams of education in the sense that they have differing curriculum, teaching methadologies etc, predominant in our country. I am not sure if your teachers followed a specific board, if I had your textbooks maybe I could take a guess. But that is okay. What we will do is go through the curriculum and make a list of topics which you don't know so we can cover that because any degree will require competitive exam scores to be of certain range and we have to make sure yours is as stellar as possible because your school is not recognized distinctively under a board or even as a singularly acceptable basis or foundation." Harish says.
"What do you mean by competitive exams?" she asks then, curious and worried.
"Competitive exams are tests designed to rank students relative to others. Depending on which degree you want to do, we have to see which competitve exam is relevant to it and prepare accordingly for it. Now I know you have a lot of questions from what I have explained itself but don't worry. We will get you counseling which is put you in touch with people who can answer all your queries as well as help guide you with respect to your career."
"That sounds good Badke Kaka. Let's check through this then so we can make a list of what I have to cover" Imlie says, sounding excited. She has always been a student who loved absorbing every bit of information that she was given. The prospect of gaining more knowledge excites her. It does not even come to her mind once that she will have to go through all of which is completely new for her because all she can think is she is getting closer to her dream. Imlie has always known the path towards her dream is not at all easy so that she has to work hard does not frighten her. Yet despite it, she also knows she will be nervous when she has to actually do it and that she will do it anyway!
When Malini gets back to the table, they are deep in segregating through the topics. She joins them with hot cups of coffee made by Sundar and the trio work till dinner time, still nowhere close to finishing but happy with the Progress made. When Aditya arrives home, they are just standing up to get ready for dinner. It is the first time she is seeing him since his apology and her subsequent decision and for a moment, she stills, taking him in, wondering what her reaction should be, wondering if the truce is actually that - a truce. He answers all of it by subtly nodding his head in acknowledgement and it's like she lets out a breath. She gives him a small smile and heads to her room to keep the things back.
Malini asks him to freshen up and come when she spots him and he acquiesces. The next few minutes are spent in setting the table up for dinner after which everybody have their dinner.
The day ends then as everybody retire to their rooms for the night.
_
When Aparna comes to their room, Pankaj is already asleep. She sighs, burying the familiar wave of heartbreak that still emerges within her despite being used to it, before heading towards the desk in their room. Pulling out her diary from the second drawer which is hers, she begins writing in it. Words pour out as she desribes everything that has changed since she met Imlie and all the changes they have helped make for her. It is a long while before she gets up, hands aching but soul calm with everything she has penned for this particular entry.
Aparna was no writer but in the aftermath of the loss that splintered her world, her diary had been the only place her words flowed and formed. This was what helped her stay afloat, to survive what she had. It is where she poured her questions, her confused hurt, her guilt, her anger and her grief. It is where she penned the eulogy of her loss and where lie the graphemes of her mourning! The entry today though is so starkly opposite and filled with a lightness, it almost makes her weep.
Closing the diary, she puts it back in the drawer and settles on her side of the bed.
"Goodnight Pankaj ji!" she whispers, like every night and she is met with silence, just like every night!
PS: unedited
Love,
Pratyusha
YOU ARE READING
Lakeerein - Ties That Bind Us
Fanfiction------ Can Be Read As General Fiction ------ One night. One event. Lives of two people altered completely. When Aditya Kumar Tripathi, Chief Executive Reporter at Bhaskar times stepped into Pagdandiya and met Imlie, he did not know how his life woul...
