CHAPTER 3
"OH Sugni! This is Vickram he was the one who found her and called me!' Rita said, snapping both of them out of their shock. Slowly Sugni stood up. The last person she expected to see was Vickram. This was a double shock to her and she did not even get down from the last one of finding her child missing.
When she went to the school to pick up Shanti and did not find her where she normally waited for her, Sugni was frantic no one saw her leave after looking all through the school she was about to make a police report. She called her neighbor, Rita and owner of the building she was staying at and informed her of what happened.
After looking around with no luck, she was on her way to the station when Rita called her and told her Shanti had been found safe and was on her way home. Immensely relieved she rushed home, only to find the person who found her child was not other than Vickram.
"I was just offering him a drink, the least we could do right?" Rita continued.
"Y-Yes of course." Sugni said. "Please come in." She offered.
"Sure." He said.
Retrieving the keys to her apartment, Sugni led the way opening the small one bedroom hall.
"What can I get you?" She asked. "Tea, juice..."
"Juice ..would be fine." He answered.
Have a seat...I'll be right back." She said as she went into the Kitchen.
Vickram looked around the small place. It was furnished with mismatched furniture that had seen better days, the walls were peeling, it looked beaten up but it was clean. There were a few pictures scattered here and there, mostly of Shanti...a few of her...but no one else.
"Would you like to see my story book?' Shanti asked at his side. She was holding a little hard cover book at in her hands.as she smiled. Again, Vickram was struck by how much her eyes looked like Sugni's. Her Mother. Even thinking that felt weird.
"Sure..." He said. Promptly she climbed onto his lap shocking him. She opened the book. "I can read it for you!" she said.
"really?"
"Uh huh...once upon a time..." She began the tale, pointing to the words but making up her own story...it was very obvious to him that she was reciting the story from memory rather than word for word, but she was so dedicated to the task he had to smile.
"Shanti...what are you doing?" Sugni asked as she returned to the living room with the juice. "I am so sorry..." She apologized.
"No it's ok..." Vickram said as Shanti scrambled to the floor.
"I was just reading to him mummy!" She said.
"You can't do that..did'nt I tell you about . We need to have that talk about strangers again." She said sternly.
"Sorry mummy...but he was nice and he helped me home."
"I know that...Shannu, but not everyone like to be crowded ok? Go read in the room alright?"
"Ok..." She said as she turned to Vickram. "Bye Uncle...thank you!"
"It's alright...just be careful now you hear." She nodded as she went inside.
"She's very sweet." Vickram said after a few minutes of awkward silence.
"Yes she is. Thank you for bringing her back." She said as she offered him the glass, which he accepted.
"It's ok...any one would do it." He said
"No she could have been picked up by someone else or gotten into all kinds of trouble. " Just thinking about it made her blood run cold.
"Don't think about what didn't happen. She is fine, she is safe and she is back home! It's all good!" he reassured.
She nodded. She was silent again as Vickram was thinking what to say. He had so many questions going through his mind at the moment. He decided to start with an easy one.
"So you live here? Since when?" He asked.
" I moved here two months ago." She said.
"And her father...I mean where is..." He began as her head shot up at his question.
"It's just me and her..." She said. "How is your wife?'
"I am not married...I got divorced over five years now." He said
"Oh I am sorry." She said
"I am not. We never had a marriage any way." He said. She said nothing to that. Really, what was there to say?
"Sugni. What...happened..."
"Thakur Saab..."She shook her head. ..."Look I am thankful to you for what you did today, I really am. But why I am here and how I got here and where I came from...I don't discuss it with any one," She said
"Don't say that...Sugni I know you didn't believe me then and I don't expect it to change...but I never meant to hurt you. And I know that I am responsible for ruining everything...Sugni I just..."
"No ..Thakur Saab. Listen we both made choices and we both have to live with the outcome. You know something, in the last five years I learned a lot. I do not blame you for my choice that I made. My life is not ruined ...I have my piece of happiness." She said as she looked towards the room.
"I am not angry with you anymore." She stared at him as she smiled slightly.
"Sugni...I..."
"It's getting late. Thank you again ..." She was obviously dismissing him
"Ok..." he said as he stood up. He needed time to process this. "Can I..."
"Good bye Thakur Saab!" She said. Addressing him as though he was a stranger rather than the man she once loved. That hurt.
He nodded somberly as he walked out.
Sugni closed the door after Vickram left as she turned the lock leaning her head against the door. She wrapped her arm around her middle as she closed her eyes and let the tears fall, that she was fighting so hard to hold since she saw him.
After all this time, seeing him again brought it all back. He was always the one person she thought she could turn to, her rock, her security, and today when she felt her world falling apart he brought it back. Yet he was the one that tilted her world once. It was good to see him. Why was it good to see him? She should hate him. However, she could not. Although he probably would now after seeing, what her life had become. .
"Mummy?" Shanti said behind her
Quickly wiping her tears Sugni straighten up, no time to be weak.
"Yes?" She said
"I am hungry."
"Ok...let's get you something to eat!" She turned and smiled.
"Did that uncle leave?"
"Yes"
"He was nice...did you know he has this big car and it was so cool inside...and..." Sugni listen as she chatted about her adventure today and Vickram.
"Will he come visit us?" She asked
"I don't think so honey, I am sure he is a busy person"
"Oh..." She sighed.
"Now, we need to talk about you wandering off by yourself..."
Vickram walked into his mother's house still in a daze about his meeting with Sugni. She was here in the city thousands of miles from Mawhari. He ended up at her doorstep without even meaning too.
What were the odds of that? Could this mean? Against all his fighting it somewhere in the depths of his cold heart, hope began to form. Maybe this time...there was a chance!
"Vickram...are you alright? You got back late. I was beginning to worry." His mother said. She knew Vickram would normally be at home at the stroke of five. It was almost six and he was just returning. "Is something wrong?" she asked.
"No Maa, nothing is wrong was just helping someone who was lost." He said.
"Ohh...did they find their way?"
"Yes." He said.
"Good ...did you get my cake?"
"Yes Maa..." He said handing her the bag. Godavari took it, waiting to hear the lecture on it being bad for her health, but Vickram said nothing. She looked at him, normally he would be here have dinner with them, which she insisted as she did not trust him to eat once was by himself.
He would lounge around for a bit but eventually go next door to his own apartment and emerge in the morning. She wondered why he did not stay with them here, as the place was big enough. But she herd Adi and Amrita talking one day, and she knew Vickram stayed there because that was the closest he could be to her, he turned the place into a Sugni shrine according to her grandson.
It broke her heart watching him waist his life away over that girl. Like everyone else she was against the relationship, and like everyone else she thought it was all a passing fling. All the Thakurs do it, especially living in that environment.
But she was wrong in the past five years she had to watch as her son slowly transformed from a happy loving man into someone who just walks around living life as though it was a sentence he had to endure rather than enjoy.
He had everything he could ask for, want and she knew if he chooses to, he could probably have woman fawning all over him. Yet he chooses to pine a way in guilt because he thought he ruined her life. Godavari wondered if there was an end to this. She once toyed with the idea of insisting he marry again, but no she already ruined his life with one forced marriage, she would not make that mistake again. Nevertheless, watching him alone was heart breaking.
"Come lets have dinner, I am hungry!" she said. As they went into the dining room.
Vickram sat in his room looking at the smiling pictures on the walls of a time when all was right in his life. Vickram closed his eyes...
"Thakur Mallick !! Stop it...stop ..." She laughed as she batted her eyes at the camera...making silly faces."
"wow...what a shot!" he laughed as he looked at the picture.
"Let me see..." she said as she looked at the photo on the small screen of the digital camera...
"Haai Sita miya...get it off...!" She said in mock horror.
"Nope I love it looks beautiful..."
"No it doesn't it I look like a monkey...erase it." She said.
"No way I am keeping this one !" he insisted...
"Thakur Mallick you erase that picture you hear otherwise..I'll I'll...I'll"
""You'll what?" He said looking at her with raised eyebrows.
"I'll stop talking to you!!!"
"Oh really?" He laughed
"Yes...! " She said seriously.
"Never!...you won't ..." he said confidently.
"I will.."
"Sugni...you can't keep yourself quite for five minutes...if you are not talking to something...you start talking to yourself you can' t help it its natural. So I am not worried."
Oh really? Fine...I am leaving and I won't talk you ever again!..." she said as she stomped off, leaving him staring after her.
Vickram laughed as he jumped in his jeep and began driving after her...
"UM did you forget something ?" he asked. Indicating the big pumpkin she had in the back of the jeep that he caught her struggling to get home with.
She reached into the back silently and removed it.
After a few more steps, Vickram sighed exasperated ashe came out the van and took oversized vegetable from her.
"Sit!..." he said indicating the jeep as he put the bag back.
She sat in silence as she looked out.
After humming for a few minutes to himself, he figured she cooled down enough.
"So why did Hukum ask you to go get him a life sized Pumpkin...couldn't he get it himself?" Vickram asked Why does he need one anyway?" Vickram asked confused at the strange request.
Silence... He saw her purse her lips. Oh this must be a good story...
"come on you know you want to tell me...what??What???"
"Tell tell what is it?" Unable to keep it in any longer She turned to him as she began to animatedly tell the story.
"He was returning home last night drunk and he fell into Roopa's mousse yard accidently crushing a pumpkin she had left out in the yard. She came out and ranted that she needed the pumkin to prepare food for a puja she is having tomorrow...and how he needed to get her one. Oh Thakur Mallick you should have seen him! He looked so funny with the yellow stains all over his white pants...Haai Sita Miya...everyone was laughing" She said as she laughed..."Any ways...he was to ashamed to walk out the house today and I knew she needed it...so I came to get one for her...and met you..." she was still laughing.
"AACha...that was funny...Sugni??"
"Hmmm" ...She said looking at him
"I told you!" He laughed as she swatted his arm
"Oh..you are like a breath of fresh air. You always find something to be happy about. Promise me something." He said.
-"What?"
"You'll never lose that spark you have..."
"How can I ...as long as you are here I am happy...how did you say it...oh you're my other half!
"No...better half" he corrected.
No no !!!...You're my other I am the better" She guffawed...
Vickram opened his eyes from that memory. She was so innocent, full of life. Like a plague he took it from her.
However, maybe this was his second chance. To make it up to her, to somehow a-tone for all that he put her through.
The more he thought of it the more he convinced himself that this was his chance. He just had to find a way to convince her.
As he sat thinking more and the shock wore off Vickram Realized there was a lot he had to deal with. For one thing, she had a child, a child that probably belonged to his sworn enemy. She had ties to that man in a way that was undeniable. That was not a nice thought.
No he would not think that way. She had a child. Obviously, she was raising her alone. He wondered how she was managing that. By the looks of the shabby apartment, he could tell she was probably doing it on her own without the help of any one.
She said she was here only a few months, so she was probably still getting a feel of this place. She would need all the help she could get to tackle life in the city.
Vickram spent the night coming up with possibilities and plans on how to reach out to her. Making them, disregarding them. It was a long time since he felt this flustered or unsure of himself. It was a weird feeling
It's been a long time since he felt anything else other than guilt. Now he was beginning to feel like a nervous fool. Part of his brain was telling him to slow down and not rush into anything. He did not know her situation, she could be involved with someone, she could hate him to the core, and he was just setting himself up to get hurt.
His heart however, was telling him he had no time to loose and if she slipped from him this time he would never get her back. This was the only woman he loved, the only one who he was happy with and if there was the slightest chance, he could get her back into his life he should take it.
