Episode 20
I felt a connection with Suhani from a past life. Circumstances tried to pull me away from her, but I was drawn closer to her all the time.
Once, I called her to my room and made a request.
"Will you call me ' elder brother? "
"Why?" she had anxiously asked.
"I feel more attached."
"I have no problem with that,"
she said, giving her consent. And she started calling me ' elder brother. '.
For some reason, it didn't derive pleasure the way she started using this form of address.
She called me 'big brother ' very formally and casually without feeling of own. The address was from the tongue rather than heart, which did not touch me. Again It was restricted to "Good morning, big brother," "good after noon, big brother and "Good night, big brother.
I suggested that she tie a rakhi on my wrist. She refused outright.
"My mother forbids it. She says we shouldn't try to change the relationships what God has decided for us."
When she had once talked about tying a rakhi on Anish's wrist, Lalita pawar had offered explanation :
"A woman can tie a rakhi on anyone's rist even on her husband."
Hasmukh was also a partner to my mother-in-law's understanding about human relationship.
He too had refused to change the relationship concept.
Her own past was responsible for her making such a contradictory statement.
She had taken her neighbor as a brother and then had an illicit affair with him.She was afraid that we would also follow the same path.
I don't know why, but from the beginning, I had a strained relationship with my mother-in-law.
Something had happened that made me consider my mother-in-law as belonging to the category of a loose woman. Lies were deeply ingrained in her very being. This was a prime example of that.
Once, Aarti's friend came to visit her at home. I knew her. I had even gone to her house. Because of that acquaintance, I had invited her to my house.
We were talking in the kitchen. Geeta bahen was also present there.
When my mother-in-law found out that I had invited Aarti's friend, she came to my house in a furious state of mind and took both of them away.
The matter didn't end there. That night, when Aarti came to learn something, my mother-in-law started speaking ill of me. I overheard it. I remained silent. But then she called me a "lecher."
Hearing that, I lost my temper. I started shouting loudly. It was eleven o'clock at night. There was a commotion in the building.
She had called me a lecher. Aarti also supported her statement. But she was not ready to accept the truth. She took false oaths of her younger daughter, which reminded me of a prostitute who plies her trade.
Hearing the word "whore," all her arrogance vanished.
After that, we stopped talking to each other.
Three or four months passed like this.
During that time, Aarti and I were meeting outside, going for walks, and visiting hotels and seeing movies in the theaters.
We had seen at least twenty movies before we got married.
Suhani knew about us but did not disclose that because she too was sailing in the boat.
Even though, my would be mother in law had uspected about our affairs.
VThe college had organized a screening of the film 'Saraswati Chandra'. Aarti had brought a ticket for me too, and I went to see the film with her.
On the way, she had expressed her suspicion.
"My mother has found out. She will definitely send Aniket to spy on us."
"Don't worry, he's a good friend of mine, and he himself likes Suhani. In such a situation, he won't do anything like that."
And nothing of that sort had happened.
We, along with two friends, had alighted in a taxi at the corner our street.
My mother-in-law and Pushpa bahen were keeping eyes on us.
Aarti explained that they were coming in a taxi. They had given me a ride, and I came with them, and that was the end of the matter.
My parents had accepted Aarti as their daughter-in-law. But she wasn't 18 yet, so we had to wait for her maturity..
Then something funny happened.
Aarti ' s two sisters had observed a fast. They had to stay awake all night for it, so Aarti's mother, forgetting everything else, called me.
Our wedding was to take place the next day, but we didn't let them get a hint of it. Even my sister Bhavika didn't know about it.
At the wedding, Aarti's friend was present with another friend. My two friends were also there. Besides them, all our relatives, family members, and acquaintances were present.
And the wedding ceremony was completed successfully.
After the wedding, instead of a honeymoon, we planned a pilgrimage to Shrinathji, Mathura, and Dwarka, in which Bhavika also participated.
We went on the pilgrimage for eight days.
We thanked God that our wedding had been successfully completed.
Even after the wedding, my studies continued.
I also joined a part-time job.
My father had spent his entire life providing for his family. I as a brother had tried to take best care of my sister.
Geeta bahen my step mother had never let us feel the absence of our mother. But Bhavika was under the influence of our granny never accepted her as a mother for a long time. Geeta bahen was upset for Bhavika 's attitude. Despite this she had taken her as her own daughter, but Bhavika couldn't overcome her negative mindset.
Even then , on Bhavika's birthday, Geeta bahen had made her favorite Puran Poli and fed it to her.
This attitude of her changed Bhavika at a large extent but unfortunately she did not have share love and affection her mother till last days.
Two days later of her birth day, Geeta bahen proceeded to her heavenly abode, leaving all of us crying behind.
00000000000 (To be continued)
