#chap44 #chroniclesoflife #Sagas_by_Irvika #sweetlovestory

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Shruti looked warily at her and said, "Kya mom.. How will I manage? " Jyotiji gently rebuked her and said, "High time you learn dear. You can learn basic draping while still here and then ask Preksha or Alpaji to help you out. Then, there is that ready to wear sari as well. So it shouldn't be a problem." She spent the entire afternoon sorting out and deciding about clothes. Her friend Priyanka came over in the evening and helped her to chose and coordinate. Once done, her mom treated them with delicacies and they had a good time catching up after so long.

The days passed quickly prepping herself and before she knew, it was time to go to Mumbai.

To be continued...

Atharva was waiting at the station to receive Shruti. As soon as the train stopped, both searched for each other in the crowd when she saw him first and waved out to him. She passed him her bag and alighted down. The glee on their face was unmistakable, although it had been just ten days since they met.

They quickly moved out of the station and settled in the car, when Atharva got something from the back seat and offered, “For you.”

She opened the box to see garlic bread and coleslaw sandwich for her. She exclaimed, “How nice of you! Thank you…” and offered him.

He refused, “No… I have a fast.” Shruti grimaced, “Atharva… how many fasts do you observe? Mujhse toh ek bhi nahi hota… anyways... I feel that you fast so many times ki mere bhi paap dhul jaayenge,” she joked and he simply smiled.

They reached home and the moment she stepped in, she became aware of the enormity of the occasion. The living room was being decorated with lights and colourful fabrics in an eye catching design. But what caught her attention was a semi constructed temple.

She looked at Atharva who explained, “Its Siddhivinayak temple in its miniature form…”

Soon, Minish, Atharva and Shruti set about joining the multiple cardboard pieces. It was like a huge jigsaw puzzle. Still, a lot was to be done as it was a mammoth structure. They took a break as it was almost dinner time. Isha had been wandering around, curious about what was going on.

Atharva was yawning by the time they were done with dinner but Minish and Shruti insisted and got him involved or else it would have been impossible to get the temple ready. It was almost 1 a.m. by the time they took a breather and decided to continue on the next day.

Shruti was apprehensive about sleeping alone again, but did she have a choice? She changed into her pyjamas and settled down. She kept chanting Gayatri mantra, as per Atharva’s instructions and gradually went into slumber, although not a very peaceful one. Her subconscious mind was not at peace and she started seeing a nightmare where she visualised herself being chased by someone.

She woke up with a scream and instantly bolted for the door, running blindly all the way to Atharva’s room. By the time she reached, she was panting and was extremely restless. She knocked at the door a couple of times after which Minish came and opened. He was startled to see her in that state and asked her to come in. Atharva had woken up by that time due to the commotion and immediately asked her to sit down.

Both Minish and Atharva were appalled to see her in that condition and listened to her haltingly explain her predicament. Minish thought of giving them some privacy, offered to get water for her and went out. Atharva immediately took her in his embrace and pacified her, hugging her tight and showering her with endearments. It took her some while to settle down.

Atharva’s mind raced to contemplate about some solution, but could think of none. One thing was clear though, that Shruti was in no condition to be alone. But then, he couldn’t ask bhabhi or ma to be with her every time. Ma wouldn’t leave papa alone and Shankar used to travel frequently, so anyways Preksha and Shankar were getting less time with each other.

He was pondering over the matter when he thought of something and then discarded the idea. Minish saw that his brother was restless and questioned, “What shall we do now? Bhabhi won’t be able to sleep alone.”

Atharva shrugged, “I can think of only one way out.. but then it won’t be acceptable.” He stopped for a minute and continued while the other waited with bated breath, “Well… she has to sleep with us.”

Shruti was shocked to hear him say that and denied, “Impossible! How can I do that?” Minish too was taken aback, but couldn’t think of any other solution. Atharva reasoned, “Can you think of anything else?”

Shruti was dumbstruck, knowing very well that what he was suggesting can create a havoc. He said in a matter of fact tone, “Minish and I can sleep on the double bed and you can occupy the single bed.” Shruti looked at him dubiously and then at Minish, who tried to convince her, “Bhabhi it’s okay… there is no other way out. We can manage here if you don’t have a problem.”

Shruti’s mind was going through all the possibilities. Atharva held her hand and calmed her, “I know what you are thinking… but we will tackle it. Sleep now… it’s already quite late.”

He pulled out a blanket from the drawer and tucked her in. She recalled about the night she had slept here with her mother in law and shuddered again at the thought that it won’t go down well with the family. However, she couldn’t dare to sleep alone either. Atharva lay down on the double bed near her and Minish on the other side. After the lights were switched off, Atharva held her hand, assuring her that he was by her side and that she needn’t be scared of anything. Shruti held his hand in a tight grip and at last, she gave up and gradually fell asleep.

Shruti woke up with a headache in the morning, and sat with a jolt on the bed. The incident of last night came rushing back to her mind as it sunk in that she had actually slept in the boys’ room. She had the room to herself as both the brothers were out. What seemed to be an impractical decision at night, sounded like a crime in the morning. In an instant, she cringed with fear… more so as she could hear an argument between Atharva and his mom. She tip toed near the door, not daring to step out, and eavesdropped guiltily.

Mrs Shah said vehemently, “Atharva… do you understand that it is unacceptable? You are not yet married to share the same room.”

Atharva said in an equally agitated tone, “Please ma… understand the situation. She was shaking with fear… has happened before as well… you know that. As it is, that room is secluded from the rest of the house at night. She was in no condition to sleep alone. And anyways, it wasn’t only me in the room, Minish was there as well.”

She refused to listen to anything and said, “Whatever. I don’t think it’s alright.”

Atharva challenged her, “Fine… tell me a solution such that she won’t have to sleep alone and I won’t argue. She was scandalised herself but none of us could think of anything else.” Alpaji was without any clue as to what to do, frowned and left without any further argument.

Shruti was disheartened to hear the bitter conversation and tears rolled down her cheeks. Just then, she heard the door open and quickly wiped off her tears. However, she couldn’t fool Atharva who took one look at her and judged that she must have overheard.

He sighed and consoled her, “Don’t worry… she will come around.”

She tried to control her emotions and quickly went for a bath. She got ready at record speed, and for the first time in her life, wore her clothes without ironing them. She was extremely tensed about confronting her mother in law, but then finally entered the kitchen and greeted ‘Jai Shri Krishna’. Shruti was expecting a backlash, but none came. Although she received a curt reply, her mother in law didn’t say anything harsh that Shruti had been expecting all along. She heaved a sigh of relief and went in the living room. As expected, Atharva had been waiting for her. She communicated silently by shaking her head that his mom hadn’t said anything.

They had a quiet breakfast. All the while, Shruti was feeling edgy, expecting an uproar any time and Atharva was trying his best to avoid any outburst from his mom. He knew that she didn’t like it one bit… but he also knew that there was nothing else that could be done about it and given some time, things will settle down. Shruti wholeheartedly got involved in assembling the structure, as there were a lot of instructions to be followed. She found it strange that Preksha didn’t involve herself too much in all this, but then reasoned that possibly since she was attending to the cooking and Isha, she didn’t get time and carried on her job of assisting Minish and Atharva.

Shankar was expected to come back from Delhi in the evening. Shruti saw a gleam in Alpaji’s eyes at the mention of her elder son’s name. She had observed it before as well but had assumed that she must have been imagining. She had that feeling again and couldn’t shake it off. She could see that Alpaji was more biased towards Shankar. She couldn’t fathom the entire scenario though, as she could proudly say that her parents had never ever discriminated between the three of them. How can a mother treat her own kids differently was beyond her. However she couldn’t shrug off the feeling on that day.

It was late afternoon by the time they were done with the entire elaborate set up. The final result was magnificent and Shruti couldn’t help gushing over it. The trio indulged in some refreshments and sat chatting with the family.

Since morning, 2 cooks had come who were busy making endless number of churma laddoos, which would be distributed as Prasad to the guests who would visit. Although Shruti was used to seeing all this in Nashik at friends’ place and in the neighbourhood, at Shahs place the sheer quantity of laddoos was staggering.

Shruti was helping Preksha to serve when the latter confided, “You are lucky you know. This is the first time that we have appointed a cook. Till last year, it used to be all done by the ladies of the Shah kiln. All chachis and bua used to come and prepare the Prasad. The families of course would dine together on all three days as the ladies would be here. They would still do so of course, but at least the cooking part is taken care of. You can’t imagine the extent of preparations done during these days… it was exhausting. You will perceive when you see the number of guests tomorrow. It will be non stop and we shall be on our toes throughout the day.”

  Shruti shuddered and merely mumbled in response as she took in all this information. She didn’t have an issue with the number of guests, but the way Preksha described about cooking, sent shivers down her spine.

Shankar reached home and again Shruti observed the transformation on her in-laws’ faces. It was obvious that he was revered by them, but the fact that she didn’t see the same adulation for Atharva or even Minish for that matter, didn’t go down well with her. As such, both Atharva and Minish were indifferent about it, or so it seemed.

Mrs Shah instructed in general, “We need to get Bappa home in between 9 and 10 p.m. So need to get done with dinner accordingly.”

They proceeded with the meal as all had to ritually have a shower before welcoming Bappa home. Shruti wanted to accompany Atharva who politely refused saying, “You need to be at home Shru… to welcome Bappa … we shall be back soon.” She nodded, although felt a bit disappointed.

She quickly freshened up and waited for them to come. In sometime, she could hear ‘Ganpati Bappa Morya’ reverberating, filling the whole environment with enthusiasm as the Shahs entered the premises. Over the years, Minish had been the one to hold Bappa, as out of the three brothers, he was the sturdiest.

She was awestruck at the way each member was so involved in the moment… it was spell binding. All joined in chanting Ganpati Bappa Morya and welcomed Him in the house after doing the Tilak and puja.

It was a heavenly idol of Siddhivinayak, adorned beautifully with jewellery, and accompanied by Riddhi-Siddhi on either side. The artisan had done a fantastic job and all marvelled at the divinity of the idol. What added to the splendour were six mushak, holding different musical instruments in their hands. Overall, the atmosphere livened up with His presence. Mrs Shah got bhog and a small silver glass of water for Bappa.

All sat around for sometime, while Shruti listened to the conversation. She was aware that all the members were expected to be ready early in the morning, as the Sthapna puja was to be held at 8 a.m. sharp. Quite a lot of relatives would be present right since morning, as theirs was the only family amongst the Shahs to bring Bappa home. As such, her family and relatives were also going to come for Darshan, as Mr Shah had personally called up all and invited them.

Shruti had discussed about draping the sari with Preksha, who had assured her that she would help her. Shruti was relieved as even though she would be donning the ready to wear one, she might still get stuck up somewhere or need help.

She checked her mobile twice to be sure that she had set the alarm for 6 a.m. as she would be expected to be ready well in advance and help with the preparations. Shruti was unsure about where to sleep as Mrs Shah had obviously disliked the fact that she had shared the room.

She hesitantly asked Atharva, who assured her, “I had a talk with ma… you need not think about it. I have tackled the situation.” She looked at him shrewdly trying to judge, but he, like a seasoned player, didn’t give away anything and walked away before Shruti could pop up another query.

Shruti kept everything ready in the room for the next morning, so that she can save time next day. She was so engrossed that she didn’t realise when Atharva came in.

She was startled to see him and exclaimed, “You scared me! What are you doing here?”

Atharva teased, “Alice in Wonderland hai tu… you were so lost that you didn’t see me standing right here since last 5 mins.”

Shruti grinned diffidently and said, “Hmmm possibly.. I was getting things ready for the morning.”

He asked, “Are you done or will take more time? It’s pretty late.”

She hurriedly checked over once more and went with Atharva to the room. All three quickly settled; before the lights were switched off, she pleaded, “Atharva… I have set the alarm for 6 a.m…. but still I am known for switching off the alarm and going back to sleep. So pllleasse… wake me up in the morning.”

Both the boys chuckled when Atharva quipped, “You seem to be breaking all possible ‘ideal bahu’ norms that were ever formulated.” She retorted back cheekily, “In which age do you live Atharva Shah? Please grow up.” The lights were switched off, all three wished each other good night and slept.

To be continued….

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