Episode 3 – And then we met…
“In..out….in…out…” Ragini breathed in and out deeply as she tried to calm down herself. After a three hour journey, she was right now standing outside the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Airport, waiting for the cab that she had booked to take her to the hotel and then to GM Constructions, joint company of the Gadodia’s and Maheshwari’s. Her father’s company.
Last night after the whatsaap drama, Ragini had called Radhika and had a long chat with her. At times like this it was only her Chashni who could make the situation seem easier than it is.
She was going to stick to her plan. Go to hotel, freshen up, have brunch and then go to GM Constructions. There she will talk to Mr. Shekhar Gadodia about her mother’s last wish, convince him to accompany her to immerse Maithali’s ashes together and then she will leave and come back to Mumbai, keeping no contacts with him or anyone else related to him. It won’t take much time. Just a day or two, maybe to convince him it will take a few more days but not more than that right! Kolkata can’t tie itself to her.
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It was noon time and Shanti Sadan was echoing with laughter. The eldest son and the true heir of the Maheshwari’s, Sanskar was playing carrom with Parineeti, the main competition was as to who will get the queen as both of them had equal number of pieces, only the queen was left.
“This time the queen will be mine!” Sanskar said with utter determination. His tone childish. For the whole family, Maheshwari’s and the Gadodia’s as well, it was a matter of happiness that their son was back home after 5 years of separation but the state he was in made their hearts bleed. Doctors said that it might be due to some accident and trauma that Sanskar has lost his mental stability and now despite of being a man of 29 years, he acted like a 10 year old.
“You said the same thing during previous two rounds as well but both the time it was me who got the queen and you lost Sanskar bhai.” Parineeti boasted.
Sanskar hastily shook his head, “No no no no! Sanskar will get the queen. The queen will only be Sanskar’s!”
“We will see.” Parineeti teased, angering Sanskar.
Sanskar eyed the queen with unexplainable amount of determination in his eyes and put more than enough pressure on the striker which when hit the queen piece made it bounce. The queen rolled down on the floor and towards the main door of their house. Sanskar stood up and ran to catch the rolling piece.
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Ragini stood at the entrance of Shanti Sadan. She had been informed that Shekhar Gadodia was at his home, and will not be coming to the office for the following few days as he wanted to spend some quality time with his family.
But Ragini didn’t want to wait, so she decided that she will go and meet him at his own place, she wanted all this to end as soon as possible. So, dressed in a simple pink and white colored salwaar suit, she was standing at the main door of Shanti Sadan. She was about to step inside but lost her balance as someone came barrelling towards her and then collided with her. And both of them fell on the floor.
Ragini had her eyes closed tightly out of fear. A hand was cushioning her head and she was aware of a manly body lying over hers. She opened her eyes and tried to push the man off her.
“My queen..” Sanskar whispered as they both stood up.
“What?!” Ragini was appalled.
Sanskar bent down, making Ragini shriek because of the sudden gesture. He picked up the queen piece and showed it to Ragini, “My queen!” and went away laughing leaving a perplexed and highly embarrassed Ragini standing at the door.
“What the?” Ragini muttered.
“Excuse me..?” Ragini turned to her left and saw a woman dressed in an elegant saree coming towards her. Parineeti.
“Hi, I am Ragini, actually I want to meet Mr. Shekhar Gadodia. This is his place right? Can you please call him, it’s urgent.” told Ragini.
“Ji actually Uncle Ji is not here at this moment.” Parineeti informed.
“When will he be back?”
“Ragini Ji, he’s gone for a mini vacation with his wife and children, he will be back by tomorrow evening.” informed Parineeti.
“Wow! My mother died loving this man and he’s enjoying a so called mini vacation with his wife! Damn!” Ragini murmured to herself. “And children…” that thought pinched her heart. She didn’t deserve to spend a fatherless life, she too deserved all the happiness that Shekhar Gadodia’s other children were getting.
“Did you say something?” Parinreti asked.
Ragini rolled the end of her dupatta, fidgeting with it. She was nervous, “No. Nothing. I will come back tomorrow. Thank you.” said Ragini, trying to cover up her nervousness.
“Shekhar Gadodia! I won’t leave without fulfilling Mamma’s wish, don’t care how many days it will take.”Ragini thought as she walked out of Shanti Sadan but as she was lost in her thoughts, she didn’t paid attention to the old woman coming from the opposite side and collided with her.
Parvati Deendayal Gadodia was walking back inside her home after her routine visit at the temple to pray for the peace of the souls of her dead husband Deendayal Gadodia, and their family friends, Amarnath and Krishna Maheshwari. She was separating the prasad from the pooja flowers when she collided with someone.
The pooja thal went away flying in the air and its contents fell on the concrete floor. The kumkum got splattered on Ragini and some of it fell of Dadi (Parvati Gadodia) as well. The red colored powder covered Ragini’s head, her face also had some red colour of her face here and there.
Dadi glared at Ragini, conveying her annoyance and anger. Her penetrating gaze made Ragini squirm in displeasure, murmuring a quick sorry Ragini ran away, not wanting to face an angry old woman.
Dadi watched Ragini run away and commented, “Why am I having this feeling that this girl will bring a storm in our lives. Hey Kanha!”
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Part 2 will be uploaded soon. Hope you liked this episode, this part, the kick start of the story.
Thank you!