Chapter 5
Baldev was busy getting ready in his room. He was in a hurry as he was already late to go the factory. Suddenly he heard a knock on his door and a voice called out,
"Veerji, mujhe aapse kuch zaroori gal karni hain" ("Brother, I need to talk to you regarding something important.")
"Abhi nahi Gunjan. Mujhe der ro raha hain, baad main." ("Not now Gunjan. I am already late.")
"Nahi mujhe abhi karni hain. Aap yeh sab kyun kar rahe ho? Aap itna gir gaye ho us Surjeet Singh ke sath hath mila liya hain aapne? Aap kyun Ranvi nu pareshan karte rehte ho? Aap ko dikat kya hain use?" She retorted.
("No I need to talk to you now. Why are doing this? You have stooped to such a low level that you have joined hands with Surjeet Singh. Why do you keep bothering Ranvi? What is your problem with him?")
Baldev turned to face her and exclaimed in an angry tone,
"Gunjan! Apne kaam se kaam rakh. Masterni banke mujhe paath paraneki koi zaroorat nahi hain. Waise tu hi to kehti rehti thi na ki main tainu samajhta nahi. Sach main main tujhe samajh nahi pata. Itne dino tak tu us Ranvi nu aur uske parivaar nu pareshan karne ka mauka nahin chodti thi, aur abhi Ranvi se pyar kya ho gaya ab tu apne Veerji ke hi khilaaf bolegi. Tune bhi to bahut pareshan kiya na unhe to ab sati savitri banke mujhe sahi galat ka bhashan mat de?"
("Gunjan. Mind your own business. You don't have to lecture me. You always used to say that I don't understood you. Well the fact is that I really can't understand you. Not very long time ago you would never leave a chance to trouble Ranvi and his family, now that you have fallen in love with him, you have gone against your own brother. Even you had troubled them a lot, so don't lecture me like you are a saint.")
"Veerji, haan main manti hoon maine bahut galat kiya un logo ke saath. Par tab main Ranvi nu galat samajhti thi. Main nahin chahti aap bhi wohi dohrayo."
("Yes Brother, I had been mean to them but at that time I misunderstood Ranvi. I don't want you to repeat the same mistakes".)
"Dekh Gunjan. Mujhe kya karna hain kya nahi yeh mujhe tujhse nahi sikhna parega. Tu jake aapna ghar sambhal and aiyanda se mere mamlo se dur reh."
("See Gunjan. You don't need to tell me what I should do and what I should not do. You manage your own household and don't interfere in my matters")
Baldev stormed out of the room. He was literally pissed with everyone. He had done so much for his sister even if that meant not thinking about his image and donning a bride's costume to save her marriage. The least she could do was not question his actions. But she was here defending her husband who along with his sister had played such a dirty trick on him.
******************************************************************************************************
Baldev was on his way to the factory when suddenly his jeep broke down. He cursed out loudly as he was getting late. He descended the jeep and started examining what was wrong with it. Everything in his life presently were in the same sorry state. The emotional turmoil he had been going through the past few days was too much for him to handle. And to top it all, situations like these made matters worse. Why couldn't the good old times be back, why couldn't he be back to his old jovial self? She had destroyed each and every happiness of his and had pushed him into this dungeon of intense pain. Accidently he touched the radiator and quickly removed his hands and cursed her in his mind.
Veera was going to the market when she saw Baldev fixing his jeep. She decided it was best time for her to talk to him. She approached his jeep and called out,
"Baldev. Mainu tujhse kuch zaroori gal karni hain".
("Baldev. I need to talk to you regarding something important.")
Baldev's face hardened as soon as he heard her voice. First Gunjan and now Veera. As such he was already suffering from the pain of heartbreak and to add insult to injury she had the audacity to come and start her rant of her saint like Veerji and how evil his own ways were. Couldn't she see the pain he was already going through? How would she? After all she had faked her love and concern for him just to help her brother win the elections. She had treated him as a puppet and then thrown it away when her intentions were fulfilled. But he did not care for her anymore. He won't let her feel that she had been successful in shattering the toughest man in the village. He continued fixing his jeep without even looking at her once.
Veera was disturbed with the way Baldev was ignoring her. She again called out his name. Still he did not care to turn. He had finished his fix and was turning to his jeep when Veera grabbed his arm and turned him to face her and blurted out,
"Baldev main tujhe tabse awaaz de rahi hoon. Kaan kharab ho gaye hain ki? Mujhe tujhse baat karni hai."
("Baldev I am calling you since when. Can't you hear? I need to talk to you regarding.")
Baldev jerked his hand and let go of her grasp.
He pointed his fingers towards her and said "Mujhe tujhse koi baat nahi karni hain Veera. Maine pehle bhi kaha hai ki mere raste main maat a." Baldev smirked and continued, "Aapne Papaji ka sapna toot te dekha to sab ke sab dum dabake a gaye mere paas mujhe samjhane. Abhi to khel ki shuruwat bhi nahi huyi hain aur abhi se yeh haal?"
("I don't want to talk to you. I have already told you earlier not to come in my way. As soon as you saw your father's dream shattering, all of you are trying to change my perspective. The game has not yet begun, and you are already in this condition?")
"Baldev". Veera shouted back. " Tujhe lagta hain main tere paas Isliye aya hoon ki tune us Surjeet Singh se haath mila liya? Main Isliye ayi thi kyuinki main pareshan thi tere waaste. Mujhe laga jaise tune mujhe sahara diya tha waise hi main bhi tainu sahara dene ki koshish karungi. Par nahi oye main phir galat thi. Tu to hai hi kamina. Tu vaade vaade batein karta tha na ki tainu meri takleef mitani ati hain, meri haar woh cheez jo mere liye keemti aur zaruri hain who janta hai tu. To tujhe yeh samajh main kyun nahi aya hi Veerji ka Krishi Vidhyalaya ka sapna mere liye kitna zarrori hain. Yeh tha tera pyaar mere waaste?"
("You feel I have come to you because you have joined hands with Surjeet Singh? I came because I was worried for you. I felt I should comfort you the way you had comforted me. But I was wrong. You are a villain. You used make huge claims that you knew how to soothe my pain, you knew what most mattered to me. Then how could you not understand how much my brother's dream of building Krishi Vidhyalaya means to me. So this was the love you claimed for me?")
Veera had unknowingly plucked at the wrong chords of his heart. Her words had rekindled the pain he was desperately trying to forget. He gritted his teeth in anger and grabbed her arm and pulled her closer. His eyes were burning with fury and something in them made Veera afraid of him.
"Haan yehi tha mera pyaar.To samajh le meri nafrat kaisi hogi. Kamina hi sahi par tere tarah dhookebaaz nahi hoon main . Apne faida ke liye kisi ke saath pyar ka natak nahi karta. Tujhe laga tu aur tera Veer mere saath yeh ganda khel kheloge aur mujhe samajh main nahi ayega. Tere waaste maine kya kya nahi kiya par tune uska accha sila diya, mere pyaar ka mazaak banake. Aapne jhootha pyar main fasake rakha taki main apne kaam main dhyan na doon aur tera Veer asani se election jeet jaye."
("Yes this is my love for you. Just imagine if this is my love then how will my hatred be. I may be a villain but I am not a backstabber like you. I don't fake love for my personal gains. You thought you and your brother were going to play this dirty game with me and I wouldn't get a whiff of it? I have done what not for you but you returned it in a remarkable manner by mocking my love. You trapped me in your fake love so that I abandoned my work and in the meantime your brother could win the elections.")
Veera felt his voice was choked with emotion when he spoke the last words. She could see the intense pain in his eyes and felt guilty of faking her love for him.
" Par ab main tujhse itni nafrat karta hoon ki tere dard se, tere takleef se mujhe koi farak nahi parta."
("But now I hate you so much that your pain your suffering can never affect me")
He jerked her away so violently that she had to place her hand on the jeep for support. Tears were about to escape his eyes, he controlled himself and turned his back to her as he did not want her to see the state she had reduced him to.
Veera looked at him with tears in her eyes. She realized that the way he had been behaving with her lately had been because he had come to know of her stupid plan to irritate him. Wait a moment', she thought to herself. He thought that she had faked her love for helping her brother win the elections. How could he think that she could even think of something so mean?
"Baldev, tu aisa soch bhi kaise sakta hain ki main tujhse pyaar ka natak kar rahi thi Veerji ko jitane ke liye. Main to bas..."
("Baldev, how can you think that I faked my love for helping my brother win the elections. I was just...")
"Bas" Baldev interrupted her and lifted his hand and signaled her to stop. His voice choked with emotions as he spoke "Ab bahut bol liya Veera. Mainu aur kuch nahi sunna hain. Aaj ke baad mere se door rehna. Aur Baldev Singh ko kisiki jhoothi humdardi nahi chahiye."
("Enough. I don't want to listen to anything else. Stay away from me from now on. And Baldev Singh doesn't need anyone's fake sympathies')
With this he banged the bonnet down and proceeded to start his jeep. He had not noticed that Veera had placed her hand on the side of the jeep for support and as the bonnet came down her fingers were about to be crushed under it.
"Oucch!!!" Veera exclaimed as the bonnet fell on her fingers. Baldev immediately turned back worried and on realizing his mistake quickly opened the bonnet to free her hand and ran towards her concerned. He grabbed her hand instantly and began examining the wound. Luckily she had removed her hand in the nick of the time, so there was only blood clot on one of her fingers. But the pain was so intense that tears started flowing continuously from her eyes.
Veera looked at Baldev in disbelief and freed her hand from his clutch and exclaimed
"Mujhe bhi kisiki jhoothi humdardi ki zaroorat nahin hain"
("Even I don't need anyone's fake sympathies")
She bit her lips in pain and turned and ran towards her house, crying all the while because of the cumulative pain she felt in her fingers and the one she felt at her heart. She did not why but Baldev's words had shattered her heart into pieces which she knew could never be put together again.
Baldev kept looking at Veera's retreating figure, his lips parted slightly to call her back but his voice died in his throat itself as his mind overpowered his heart. He closed his lips and banged on the bonnet in frustration. Why was it that even after the pain she had inflicted on him, his heart wept whenever she was in pain. Why did her pain strike a chord in his heart and made him restless when she had no such feelings for him. He was puzzled why Veera could affect him so badly when she was supposed to be his enemy. Is this what people call love? Did he really love her so deeply that no matter what she did to him, he could not see her in pain? He had always thought love was a figment of a woman's imagination. Men were above such feelings and it was only their responsibility towards their family which bound them. Was it because he had fallen in love with Veera so deeply that the thought of her betrayal had pained him so much. Why was he so hell bent on marrying her, was it only his obsession of fulfilling his responsibility or his hearts deep desire to make her his own? Was it because of this he kept telling her that she had mocked his love? Yes it must that be love. Unrequited love. He had never been loved by anyone in life other than his mother. And Veera too had made fun of his love. He could not control himself anymore and a lone tear escaped his eyes. He was confused how he would deal with this pain of love. He could never let her know that he loved her so deeply. She would think she had won over him and he couldn't let her win, not in her eyes. He climbed into his jeep and drove away from the village struggling to understand how to deal with the pangs of love.
Precap: Baldev and Veera are stuck together😕😕
Please leave your comments and let know how it is.
