Ishita shivered in the zero degree temperature as she drew the folds of her warm fleecy jacket more closely around her.
She looked around her in delighted wonder. After the smog and pollution of Delhi, she couldn't believe that she was here in the South Island of New Zealand, breathing in the pristine air, staring up at the cloudless sky of this bitterly cold winters day. Her first trip out of India, and that too to somewhere as beautiful as this.
The long plane flight hadn't done any favours to her creaky joints though, she thought ruefully, stretching her arms as she leant against her rented car, parked on the side of the Great South Road, enroute to Lake Matheson.
"Lets face it Ishita" she told herself mockingly, surprised at the sound of her voice in the silence of the otherwise deserted countryside. "Budhi ho rahi ho. You are getting old my girl."
Dr Ishita Iyer was 30 years old, a dentist by profession, the younger daughter of Madhavi and Vishwa Iyer, sister of Vandita, chitti (aunt) of Shravan and the ex fiance of Subramanian Iyer, or Subbu. At the ripe old age age of 30, she was still single, and she realised that made her a rarity and an object of pity amongst the suburban aunties who seemed to so influence her mothers views on what Ishita should and shouldn't do with her life.
"Get married Ishita. Meet this boy. Meet that boy. Attend that party. Go to your school reunion. Youre not getting any younger. You have to get married Ishita"
Her mothers entreaties, demands and pleas all came back to her as she stood on that lonely Southern Road, on her way to Lake Matheson for her first glimpse of the Southern Alps and Mount Rangitoto.
It had been that way for 2 years, ever since Subbu, her fiance, her brother - in- law Bala's younger brother, had dumped her on the day of their engagement, after learning about her infertility.
She had met Subbu when she was 16, when Vandu akka ( sister) and Bala jeeju had gotten engaged. They had quickly become friends and over time, that friendship had developed into a comfortable and happy love. They knew that they would get married, but first they had wanted to complete their education and start their careers. When Ishita had been in medical college, Subbu had received the opportunity to go to England to do his Masters in Management, and so it had been at the mutual relatively ripe old age of 28 that they had finally began preparations for their engagement and wedding.
And then she had collapsed at their engagement, found out she was infertile due to a childhood ailment, and had been dumped by the man she thought had loved her.
Subbu's actions had killed her love for him completely. She had loved him truly, had loved him for years, had dreamt of a future with him. Yes, her dreams had included children, because she truly loved children and dreamt of being a mother, but she knew that if Subbu had been in her predicament, she would never have left him.
Because unlike Subbu, she had loved the person rather than what that person could do for her, give to her. Yes, Subbu deserved to be a father, but there were so many other options - fertility treatment, surrogacy, adoption. But Subbu had chosen to leave her, had chosen to destroy her dreams and her aspirations.
And Ishita Iyer had vowed that she would, she could, never love again. She would have been content to be alone for the rest of her life, to adopt the child she so wanted, but her amma had other ideas.
Her mother had just one goal in life these days - to redeem her pride and marry off Ishita.
And so Ishita had suffered through her two year quest.
Two years of her mother hiding her fertility issues from prospective suitors and then having Ishita destroy her carefully laid plans by her innate honesty and refusal to mislead anyone. Two years of meeting suitable and unsuitable men by the dozen, of being paraded in kanjeevaram sarees by her eager mother, hoping for someone, anyone, to marry her daughter.
And all of it had left her untouched. She had smiled when told to, had offered countless cups of coffee, tolerated the probing eyes, answered the interrogatory questions and then had watched as they all left after she revealed her truth to them.
Only one had stayed, but even he had been sent packing after that fiasco with her parents arrest on the day they had been supposed to get engaged. Strange - she couldn't even remember what he looked like, but she could remember the reason for his departure so very well. That akdu, arrogant disgusting horrible Punjabi, her neighbour for the past three months. Raman Kumar Bhalla.
"I hate you Raman Bhalla" Ishita screamed out into the silence. "I hate youuu"
She laughed out loudly, delighting in the cathartic effect of screaming her hatred of him. Gosh, that felt so good. Not even Subbu had ever elicited this degree of passion in her, she thought ruefully, only the passion was hate and not love.
Ever since she had met the man three months ago, when he returned to live in Delhi, he had turned her life upside down. Interfering with her cousin Mihika's relationship with his friend Mihir, breaking her engagement, having her parents arrested, screaming abuse at her. He was an infuriating nasty man and she hated him.
"But hey Ishita" she said to herself again. "You are in New Zealand and this is the only day you have for sightseeing, so stop wasting it thinking about that idiot, and do some sightseeing instead."
Ishita got back into the car and drove further towards the lake. She had landed at Christchurch airport last night with a group of dentists from all over Asia, and they had then bused to their resort a couple of hours away from her current location. They were in New Zealand to attend a paediatric dental conference to which Ishita had been sent by her boss Dr Batra, in appreciation for all her hard work. The conference wasn't due to start until the next day and Ishita had decided to rent a car to visit the lake and see the Southern Alps, which she had been reading about ever since the trip had been offered to her.
Little Ruhi had been so excited about this trip, she mused as she drove on, oblivious to the gathering storm clouds overhead.
Ruhi. As always, Ishita's heart skipped a beat whenever she thought about little Ruhi Bhalla, her almost 6 year old neighbour and daughter of the aforesaid demon Raman Bhalla. Only Ruhi was as sweet as her father was kadwa, as loving as he was hateful, as beloved to her as he was detested.
"Take selfies and send them to me Ishita aunty" she had squealed when Ishita had told her she was going to New Zealand. "Im going to miss you, so I want selfies. Please please please. Muthu ko bhi dekhna hai (Muthu wants to see your selfies too) " She had squeezed her puppy Muthu and looked up with her doe eyes at Ishita and Ishita had as always melted.
"Aur kya present chahiye mere Ru baby ko? ( What other present does my Ru baby want?) " she had asked, scooping the little girl into her arms.
"No present, Ishita aunty" the little girl had replied. "just come back quickly."
Ishita drove on down the long winding road, smiling at her thoughts of Ruhi, and then frowning as she thought of Ruhi's father.
********************************************************************************************************
It was three hours later. Ishita had reached the lake after numerous starts and stops to take in the stunning scenery, had taken countless selfies to send to Ruhi, had sat at the banks of the lake to take in her fill of the Sothern Alps and mindful now of the gathering storm clouds, had reluctantly started the drive back to her resort.
The snowfall started suddenly. One moment everything seemed fine, the next darkness engulfed her as the snow storm started in earnest. Ishita was not used to driving in these conditions - she slowed down and turned on the headlights, peering into the gathering gloom.
"This is no good" she murmured. "I have to stop"
She was trying to manoeuvre to the side of the road when without warning, the tyres began to skid and spin. She had not seen the tree, she did not know where it came from - the car spun and slid to a halt against it and Ishita jerked forward in her seat, the seat belt holding her body back even as the airbag opened up and slammed into her. Then there was oblivion.
YOU ARE READING
Desire ✔️
Fanfiction"Not fair" she whispered breathlessly. " You're only supposed to look" "Is that right? " his voice was teasing, but thick with passion. " Well, I don't play fair baby" After meeting unexpectedly and becoming marooned together during a blizzard in th...
