Marriage Under Repairs

"Maa, what was the need for you to spew so much venom there? And that too for Swara?"  Shekhar spoke fiercely with blood shot eyes, throwing daggers at his mother.

"Shut up Shekhar... don't teach me. Why did you need to bring me back home forcibly? And that Swara...you are feeling a lot of affection for that illegitimate child of yours. Till yesterday you were my Ragini's beloved father, today suddenly you have developed love for your second daughter." Parvati raised her voice but her son interrupted.

"Ma, you must be forgetting that where you are standing right now, this house belongs to my that illegitimate daughter only." Shekhar quieted his mother with his cold yet definitive tone. He continued, "What if Sanskar would have asked us to leave this house hearing the trash from you about his wife. Where would we have gone?"

"Don't brag about his wealth in front of me." Parvati hated to accept reality.

"Don't forget, we should be thankful to Maheshwari's that after all the nuisance your lovely grand-daughter had created, they are still letting her stay in their house. It is because of Laksh's grace that despite being betrayed by Ragini, he is continuing his marriage with her. If there was someone else in his place, your granddaughter would have returned to her parents' home long ago." Sharmishtha was silently hearing her husband's and her mother-in law 's argument for the last one hour.

Ring on the doorbell halted the heated discussion. Sharmishtha went to open the door. Instantly her forehead squeezed looking at the visitors.

"Ragini?"

Shekhar and Parvati could hardly hear mumblings from Sharmishtha.

Ragini was standing at the doorstep and Laksh was behind her with a lower head.

"Laddoo, what are you doing here?" Parvati surpassed Sharmishtha. "Come, come inside. You are still weak. You should not stand for a long time."

Ragini stepped in with a blank face.

"Ragini, I am leaving." Laksh kept a small bag on the doorstep before turning his back. "I will ask Ramesh to get your necessities either today or tomorrow."

"When will you come back, Laksh?" Ragini mumbled faintly. She could feel a tear streamed over her cheek.

"I don't know." He replied quickly without meeting his eyes with his wife. He turned, taking long steps he moved towards elevators. Ragini halted at her place looking at her husband who was waiting for the elevators.

Few moments passed, the elevator door opened and Laksh entered inside without turning back to see his wife.

"Laddoo, say something?" Parvati asked with a thudded heart.

"Ragini, what happened?" Shekhar asked, the fear of inevitable had already settled in his mind.

"Ma, did not allow me to step inside the house." Ragini took a long pause before voicing out the events that happened an hour ago.

Shekhar dragged his mother forcefully from Maheshwari house after apologising towards the lady of the house. He had folded his hands but Annapurna left without showing any sympathy towards him.

Unaware of the situation Laksh discharged Ragini and drove to their home. Couple was welcomed by the ferocious glare of Annapurna.

"Laksh, please I beg of you, I don't want Ragini to stay in this house." Annapurna concluded after unfolding the past events to her son and daughter in law.

"Ma, but what was my fault? Dadi Ma, sometimes she talks nonsense. Everyone knows it." Ragini tried to save her case whereas Laksh was a silent listener.

"I am talking to my son. Laksh, Swara is pregnant. We all know because of twins her pregnancy is a bit complicated. Today, after the episode, she went totally numb. Sanskar had to call the doctor. The doctor strictly warned us to avoid any mental stress to Swara, otherwise it can be harmful for her as well as for babies." Annapurna spoke not even passing a single glance to Ragini.

"Ma but why will I cause any trouble for Swara? Afterall she is my sister." Ragini spoke but her heart was running with marathon speed.

"I will never let you give it a chance. But it is also true, as long as you are here, unfortunately your grandmother's and father's interference will always be there in this house. And your grandmother has always been the cause of Swara's pain. So by sending you away from this house, I am actually distancing your anarchic family from my household for the betterment of Swara." Annapurna's reality check gave a loud and clear shutup call to Ragini.

"Laksh, after a long time, a ray of happiness has appeared in this house...I urge you to please... please send her to her father's house. I have no objection to you respecting your marriage vows with her. It's your and her personal matter but this household and family's happiness is my responsibility. And this time I will not leave a stone to secure the happiness of my family members." Annapurna concluded with clarity. She left by passing a cold glare to her son and daughter in law.

"Laksh, please can you talk to Ma." Ragini tried her last resort, tears started streaming over her cheeks.

"I am sorry Ragini. You and I have always been the reasons for creating a mess for Bhai and Swara's married life. This time Swara is pregnant. If this time either of them faces even the slightest trouble because of us, I will not be able to live. Let    's do what Ma is saying." Laksh spoke his heart out. Even today he was drowned in the guilt of his past irrational actions.

"Are you leaving me Laksh? Should I say that the thread of the marriage bond we shared is broken now?" Ragini spoke of her worst nightmares.

"I respect this marriage bond Ragini. So, I will never break the thread of this relationship but I cannot deny the trust and love we used to share has long gone from it." Both shared a painful eyelock. "Please... Please don't create any scene." Laksh folded his hand in front of his wife.

Unaware of them there was one pair of eyes witnessing the entire drama standing at the upper hallway. It was none other than Sujata. She shook her head leading towards Swara's room to look after her.

"How could he do this with you?" Parvati clenched her fist.

"All this is the result of your actions, Ma." Sharmishtha finally spoke with a passing sardonic smile.

"And what about your daughter... Where is she now? This is all she wanted right? She always wanted to kick my Laddoo out of that house and see today her wish has been granted. Like a mother, like a daughter. The mother broke my son's house and the daughter broke my Laddo's." Parvati went on cursing Swara and Sharmishtha.

Here in Maheshwari House, it was a night. Sanskar was standing at the balcony of his room looking outside.

'Please take me far far away from here Sanskar.' Swara's pale voice was ringing in his ears.

There was a beep on his mobile. It was a message from his father. 'Son, can you please come to our room?'

Sanskar gave a brief look at Swara, she was sleeping under medication after the doctor's visit. He left his room to meet his father but Swara's voice was still unsettling his mental peace.

"Dad, what happened?" He saw his father and mother.

"I want to talk to both of you."

He gave a quick glance at his mother but looking at her reaction he understood his mother was also clueless about the sudden ask from his father.

"Yes."

Ram took a long pause to gather his words. "It was always my wish to stay as a joint family under one roof. But it is also true that a day comes in everyone's life when they have to leave their nest and make a new home. This is the way of the world."

His words acted as icy cold water thrown on Sanskar and Sujata. They both turned into statues instantly.

"But Ram... we had always been a joint family and now you... what are you saying? And that too suddenly today" Sujata gathered the strength to ask.

"Actually not suddenly. This thing has been going on in my heart since the time of Uttara's marriage. We stayed in the US for 2-3 months. And it was for the first time,  I saw you making decisions for your home, for our children, for their happiness without any obligation, without justifying your actions to anyone. After 32 years of marriage, I saw you being free from any burdens or compulsions."

"I don't want Swara and Sanskar to go through with what we did. I want them to live their life to the fullest. I know, it is a very late realisation for me.... But they say better late than never."

"I don't say we never had any peace or joyful moments being in a joint family, we had memorable moments of being together. But at one point of time we have to understand old relationships gradually start to weaken so that new relationships become stronger. I don't mean to say old relationships turn out to be worthless... No. Never, in fact they are precious. But relationships are exactly like fisted sand. If you hold your fist hard enough, the sand will slip. If you open your fist, the remaining residue will at least remain." Ram's wise words made both of them think.

"Dad, do you want to say ... we ... we should find a new home for our family?" Sanskar finally spoke after a long thought.

"I just want all of us to think about this possibility. We as a family should come to any conclusion." Ram suggested thoughtfully. "Have a word with Swara when she is recovered."

"And Bhaisa and Jiji?" Sujata asked.

"When we as a family decide, I will talk to Bhaisa." Ram confirmed.

It's been one week since Ragini has been shifted to Gadodida house. She was sitting in her room engulfed in her thoughts when her grandmother entered her room making sure no one was at home. In this one week, she had tried all her options to reachout to Laksh and convince him to reconcile with his mother for opening Maheshwari House gates for her.

"Laddoo, you should not have left that house so easily after all it's your husband's house. And no one can ask you to leave." Parvati started her ignition once again.

"Then Dadi, do you think I should have waited till Ma kicked me out of the house?" Ragini glowered, throwing daggers at her grandmother.

"Why are you talking to me like this? What did I do?" Parvati turned defensive.

"What was the need to create that drama?" Ragini grinded her teeth.

"You told me to do all that." Parvati was still clueless.

"Dadi, I did not ask you to create a family drama. I had told you that you should take advantage of the situation and emotionally blackmail everyone. Indirectly blame them for my situation, earn their pity. Entrap Swara in your sentimental words and earn her sympathy." Ragini was agitated over her grand-mother's who turned her evil plan upside down.

Ragini's plan was clear, she wanted to exploit her own family members on emotional ground to make them on her side once again. Attempt of suicide was the first step of her plan, her thought process was after her attempt atleast her family members would start considering her presence in their household.

Second step of her plan was to gain her lost position in her sister's trust book. Ragini was absolutely sure after her drastic action her emotional fool sister would surely change her stand. Her confidence has reached its peak remembering about their past.

And the last step of her plan was simple and clean to manipulate Swara to entrust her with her precious possession...one of her twins.

"Swara, dont even take her name. You were lying on the bed fighting with death but that girl did not even come to see you once in hospital. And you were thinking she would come in your words. Stay in your dreams." Parvati spoke, twitching her nose.

"But now Dadi? In a crave of gaining my own family's trust once again, I lost my own household." Ragini was disheartened over her current situation.

"I know a way to get back to your house." Parvati smirked wickedly.

Here in Maheshwari House, Sanskar came back from office very late at night, he saw Swara sitting on bed reading some novel. After last week's events doctors had advised maximum bedrest for her with some walking and yoga exercises.

"Hey my love." He kissed her forehead.

Even though she was in her fourth month, her belly was visible compared to other pregnant ladies and the reason was obvious she was carrying twins.

"Love you Sweetheart." He sat beside her. "My lovely dumplings." He caressed her tummy.

"We are not talking to Dadda." Swara twitched her nose concentrating on the book.

"And what is Dadda's fault?"

"Why did Dadda come so late? Mumma and Dumplings were waiting for Dadda from hours."

"Dadda had so much work in the office."

"But Mumma is still mad at Dadda."

"But, Dadda knows how to convince Mumma." He took out one dairy milk chocolate bar and started wiggling in front of her eyes.

"Mumma loves Dadda the most." She grabbed it like a little girl, she gave a quick peck on his lips before starting concentration on her chocolate.

He smiled at her childishness. "Go and have your dinner. Mom must be waiting for you." She spoke but her eyes were fixed on the chocolate bar.

After freshening up, Sanskar came downstairs to see his mother waiting for him with his dinner plate.

"Did you ask Swara?" After a routine chat Sujata asked her son who was busy eating his dinner.

"Yes... we had a brief chat about Dad's thoughts. But she didn't say anything. It's been almost a week she didn't even broach a topic." Sanskar shook his head.

He spoke after two minutes of thought, "And Mom, I don't want to put forward the topic again for discussion. I don't want to stress her out. Mom, we all know how much Swara is bonded with her mother. There was a time when she had turned this world upside down to bring happiness in her mother's life. Shifting to the US for good will obviously have repercussions on her. Let her take own time to decide."

Sujata stared at her son. For sure she was proud of her own upbringing.

"You are right. I just want all my six precious to have a happy, blessed life." She closed her eyes praying to lord almighty.

"Six?"

"You, Swara, Uttu, Niren, and our two dumplings." She answered casually.

He smiled heartily looking at his drama queen mother.

It was afternoon when Swara woke up from her afternoon nap, these days she was feeling sleepy all the time which she considered as one of side effects of her pregnancy. And today's morning visit to her gynaecologist then ultrasound appointment took a real toll on her.

She received a call on her phone from Sharmishtha. This has become her routine to get a call from her mother in the afternoon once in two days. Both mother and daughter used to talk about their routines. But mostly it was from the other side, whereas Swara used to give replies in monosyllables.

"Shona, it's been one month since Ragini is here." Sharmishtha tried to broach a very sensitive topic.

Over this one month, Ragini had put her maximum efforts to reach out to Laksh but his reluctant replies had shaken up her own conviction.

Even Shekhar and Parvati had tried their best to reach out to Durga Prasad and Annapurna to reconsider their decision. But their efforts went in vain.

"Shona, I know Ragini was wrong earlier. But whatever happened this time, it was not her fault. She didn't even know that Ma would come there and create such a big drama." Being unaware of her step daughter's planning and plotting, Sharmishtha tried to defend her under the guidance of her husband and mother in law.

"Sanskar had strictly warned Shekhar to not contact you for this, but Shona, think about Ragini, after all she is your sister. People have started talking about her. You know what happens to a girl who is abandoned by her husband in this world. At one time, you and I too have been victims of the atrocities of this world."

"If you talk to everyone in your house, no one will say no to you. Everyone will listen to you. For the sake of your sister's house, talk to your family members once and try to convince them to forgive Ragini."

"I only know that I have two daughters and a son. It is my wish that as a mother, my two daughters should be able to stay happily married at their husband's home. Is there anything wrong with this?" Sharmishtha went on convincing session hoping to get some positive replies from her own blood.

"And out of those two daughters, one daughter had an appointment in the hospital today with her doctor. You did not ask me even once about my appointment, about my ultrasound, about my overall health in the last 20 minutes? In fact, if I remember clearly for the last few days you have not asked me anything about myself and my babies." Swara spoke very casually but her every word felt like a dagger for Sharmishtha.

"Shona, I was about to ask you ..." She tried to cover up.

"It's ok Ma, I understand you are surrounded with a lot of worries. Anyways, it's time for my garden walk, I will go with Mom." Saying Swara cut the call.

It was a night when she was taking a stroll with Sanskar after dinner as per doctor's advice in their house garden.

"When are we leaving for the US, Sanskar? She asked out of nowhere.

"Swara?"

"You were talking about Dad's thoughts on us shifting to the US for good." She asked.

"Swara, have you thought about it? I mean, shifting to the US for good will create a distance..." Sanskar was interrupted.

"But I will have my family with me, Sanskar. Sometimes distance is required. And about Ma, Baba and Aayush, they are my responsibility. I will never overlook them but there is a thin line of responsibility and bonding which I have understood over a period of time." Swara smiled looking at him. Her shine of eyes gave assurance to Sanskar to take the plunge of shifting to US for good.

Once decided, eveyrthing started moving with jet speed. Ram talked to Durgaprasad. Thankfully his elder brother understood his point of view. Annapurna was distressed but with Durgaprasad's rational wisdom and thoughts helped her to accept the reality.

It was a day when a flight was booked for four of them to move to the US. Swara was looking at her room, tears welled up in her eyelids. She had beautiful memories created between these four walls.

"Ramesh Dada, please take out that picture." She instructed the servant to take her and Sanskar's picture hanging behind their bed. "Please pack that one carefully."

"No Ramesh Dada, keep that picture there only please." Swara turned to hear Parineeta's voice. "You can go Ramesh, if Swara needs anything I will call you."

Hearing Parineeta, Ramesh left.

"This is your and Sanskar's room. And this will always belong to both of you only. Whenever you both will come you will find it the same way." Parineeta spoke, controlling her tears.

She turned to leave.

"Thanks... Thanks Bhabhi." Swara spoke after a long minute.

It was after a long 2 and half years Parineeta had heard the word 'Bhabhi' from Swara. Just one word invoked all pent up emotions. Tears started streaming continuously on their cheeks. Both shared a painful yet satisfactory eye lock before nodding to each other. Without a word, messages were passed to each other.

"Come I will help you." Parineeta gave her hand to Swara to support her.

Both came downstairs, where everyone was taking blessings from elders.

"Swara, you have to take care of yourself. And everyday you have to give me a video call." Annapurna started her instruction session.

"And Sujata, decide on a baby shower date and inform me. Me and Adarsh's Papa will come and will stay to enjoy our time with a little bundle of joys." Sujata nodded with a smile yet teary eyes.

After a long emotional rollercoaster farewell, Swara, Sanskar, Sujata and Ram started a new journey towards their future.

And the journey begins!!!

****
Hoping to post epilogue as soon as possible.

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