Desire ✔️

Part 53: Ab Chahe Ma Roothe Ya Baba

Sunday 27 September 2014
Aakash Ganga Society
Mayur Vihar

"Lekin Iyer sahib. Teen mahine? Raman kabhi haan nahin karega."
(Three months Mr Iyer? Raman will never agree to that)

"I know Bhalla sahib. Three months is a very long time. But mein kya karoon? Madhu is very upset. Woh is shaadi ko sirf yahi shart par manegi, ki Raman aur Ishita ki full Tamil rituals se shaadi ho, aur hamare pandit kehta hai agle teen mahino tak koi muhurat nahi hai. Aur Madhu kehti hai ki jab tak phere ke saath shaadi nahi hoti, woh is rishte ko nahi manegi. Aur agar aap logon ko, Raman aur Ishita ko, manzoor nahi, toh woh Ishita se rishta tod degi."
(I know three months is a very long time Mr Bhalla. But what can I do? Madhu is very upset. She will accept this marriage on these terms only - that Raman and Ishita have a proper wedding with full Tamil rituals, and our pandit says that there is no auspicious date for the next three months. Madhu is adamant that until a wedding happens with all religious rituals, she will not recognise the marriage. And if you, if Raman or Ishita don't agree to this, she will break all her ties with Ishita)

Mr Iyer shook his head in frustration. He had also been upset by the step that Ishita had taken without their knowledge, by the deceit that their daughter had engaged in, but he was prepared to trust Ishita's judgment. He knew how deeply hurt she had been by the knowledge of her infertility, by her rejection by Subbu and the many other suitors her mother had misled into meeting her, and the fact that she had, by this marriage, gained a daughter in the little girl she truly loved, as well as a husband who truly appeared to love her, had gladdened Mr Iyers heart.

But Mrs Iyer had been adamant. Ishita's wedding had been an obsession with her, fuelled by the rejection by Subbu, the failure to find another match. Abhi had seemed to her to be the answer to all her prayers.

But Ishita had betrayed her dreams, by secretly marrying a man Mrs Iyer detested. A grand wedding, the pretence that this was their idea, was what Mrs Iyer considered to be necessary to save face in front of her family, friends and their community. And until the wedding took place, she was adamant that Ishita would stay with them.

Mr Bhalla  and Mr Iyer were sitting together on one of the benches outside their building. After the revelation on Friday about Raman and Ishita's secret marriage, things had been very difficult in both households. Especially for the two mothers. Raman had not helped matters by declaring that he did not want Ishita to get stressed and did not want any visitors except Ruhi. In any event, both Mrs Bhalla and Mrs Iyer had refused to go to the hospital, although Mr Iyer had heard Madhu crying herself to sleep worrying over Ishita.

Mr Bhalla thought deeply about Mrs Iyers pre-condition as the two men sat in companionable silence.

Mr Bhalla of course was secretly delighted. He had seen firsthand Ishita's protectiveness over Ruhi, and that day in hospital, he had started to hope that Ishita could truly become Ruhi's mother. Mrs Bhalla was still slightly miffed, but Mr Bhalla knew she would come around. Ishita may not be the Punjabi bahu she had been searching for, but she too had seen Ishita's love for Ruhi and had witnessed Raman and Ishita's desperation for each other in the hospital.

No, the real problem was Mrs Iyer. She had been planning Ishita's wedding to Abhi, she had seen Raman drunk and abusive on many occasions, he had had her arrested, she was rightly concerned about her daughter. She had now decided on this tamilian wedding in order to reconcile herself to the marriage, to save face, and he had no objections to it.

But it was the three month delay in the muhurat that had him worried. Would Raman agree to staying apart from Ishita for three more months?

Well, they would have to convince Raman. Ishita would never be happy if her marriage cost her her relationship with her mother. So for Ishita's sake, for her happiness, Raman would have to agree.