Credit: Congerdesign / Pixabay.com

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"There are two parts to any failure; there is the event itself, with all its attendant

disappointment, confusion and shame; and then there is our reaction to it.

It is the second part that we control."

~Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull ~

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Swara and Ragini stood rooted at the doors, trying to make sense of what they were seeing, the central courtyard was filled with people, most familiar to them and yet unbelievable. They saw their grandparents and parents, the other inhabitants of the Baadi, Sanskaar and Laksh with a group whom they presumed to be their family and Mrs. Das, along with that kindly gentleman whom they now knew to be David D'Souza. Unsure of what to make out of the presence of all those people, both of them simply stood at the threshold.

Unable to contain herself any further, Dadi thrust the aarti plate at Sharmishta, and ran forward to clasp both of them into a tight hug, one that left them a little too stunned to breathe. She then proceeded to drag them to into the courtyard where Sharmishta did the aarti with trembling hands before gathering them into her arms. In a matter of minutes, both mother and daughters were crying openly, as though the tears would some way provide relief and lessen the pent up grief and despair which had shadowed their lives for so long. Their tears continued unabated when both their ever silent Dada and their taciturn father also hugged them with moist eyes before allowing the other members present to greet and bless the girls whom the world had presumed dead.

When the Maheshwari family members were introduced to Swara and Ragini, there was an awkward moment when they waited to see how the sisters would react; they need not have worried, the moment Durga Prasad folded his hands and started to say something, both Swara, with a gentle firmness and Ragini in a slightly fierce voice, protested. Though both started talking at once, the gist of it was clear that they would accept no apologies from the Maheshwari family, considering it to be unnecessary as they were in no way responsible for the way the events had unfolded. On hearing the sisters, the apprehensiveness which had surrounded them dissipated and Sujata, with her propensity for pageantry, squeezed them into a strong embrace. A slightly amused Swara glanced over Sujata's shoulder, at Sanskaar, who was leaning against one of the pillars; he simply shrugged his shoulders and gave them a beaming smile; she returned with a shy one and mouthed a silent thank you. She and Ragini now understood that he, along with Mrs. Das, had played a significant role in the reception that they had received.

Soon afterwards Swara and Ragini had their family to themselves; Durga Prasad and his family had taken leave almost immediately, stating that the other matters which needed to be discussed could be done at leisure as the most important thing would be that the reunited family spends time together. Agreeing with him, all the people who had gathered disbursed and Mrs. Das also left with David saying that she would return the next day. It was towards the evening when both the sisters were sitting near their mother that Ragini ventured to finally ask the question that had been troubling them and asked, "Maa, how did you find out about us?"

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Sharmishta opened the door to Annapurna Maheshwari and on recognizing her and seeing the presence of their entire family became slightly flustered. She just could not help recalling a similar day, more than five years ago, when the police had followed Annapurna's arrival with the news of her daughters' demise. She wondered what omens Annapurna's arrival would now portend, but shrugged it off in the next instant, there nothing more brutal a blow than the one fate had dealt her. She immediately put on a smile and invited them in, and set about seeing to their welcome.

Once the initial greetings had been exchanged, an uncomfortable silence settled over them; for the Gadodias wondered what the matter could be that the entire Maheshwari clan had descended on their home. As if in reply to their unspoken query, Durga Prasad recounted the entire tale behind the girls' reasons for leaving home. Sharmishta and her family heard the story with increasing incredulity and a rising anger; he ended the story with folded hands, "there can be no forgiveness for my son's role in the whole story; I have not come to ask for that today. I just wanted you to know what had happened with your daughters and if possible, make amends."

"Amends?" shrieked Sharmishta, "You wish to make amends? And how do to propose to do that, my daughters have been gone for almost six years, will you get them back? Can you return the time we lost, the smiles we have given up? You think we are living, we are just alive waiting for our time to run over. Everybody says they are dead and think I am mad for not accepting the fact. I pray every moment that my daughters will turn up somewhere alive and safe and each passing day has slowly killed that hope. Do you know it is to go to sleep knowing that yet another day has passed and that the very hope that is supposed to keep you alive is actually killing you? You know nothing and you are here, wanting to make amends. For what do you think you can make amends, my lovely daughters....."

Sharmishta stopped, as though cut off, when Sanskaar stepped forward and held her hands. She stared at him wondering what he was to do when he said softly, "But they are alive, Maa. Swara and Ragini are alive and safe."

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"And then what happened?" asked Swara as she stuffed yet another rasogulla into her mouth. 'Oh, God, how she missed her mom's rasogullas!'

"She fainted," answered her Dadi, with a fond smile, "My brave, strong Mishti, the only one who clung to the tenuous unbelievable hope that her daughters were still alive, safe somewhere, fainted on hearing the confirmation of her belief. When she came to, the first thing she wanted was to see you girls, at least talk to you. But your Sanskaar," Dadi wagged a finger at Swara, who turned scarlet, "would have none of it. He asked her to wait, it is only a matter of a day, he said and that she had waited for so long, she could surely wait for a day."

"It was the longest day of my life," continued Sharmishta, "made only easier by your Dragon." Noting their startled expressions, she smiled, "Yes, Mrs. Das was in it too, she had come with the Maheshwaris to judge what sort of a welcome you girls would get. She confessed that she half hoped that it would not be a very warm one so that she could take you back. Sanskaar wanted to have a proper welcome for you and he was supported, surprisingly by both your Dadi and Mrs. Das, who had quickly become friends and immediately set about to prepare all this stuff, she also filled us in with what had happened in your lives till date and about Sanskaar." Sharmishta broke off her tale and smiled at Swara, who was furiously blushing, "Mrs. Das knows all about him, how could you think he was allowed to meet you so often without her approval? When she observed that he was visiting a little too frequently and that you seemed to be liking him a little more than a friend, she had decided that she had to judge him suitable for you. I am sure he passed her assessment."

Swara reddened, though it was with anger at Sanskaar, for he had never mentioned about his encounters with the Dragon, but then decided that it could wait. She simply laid her head on her mother's lap who then continued, "We are grateful to Sanskaar for convincing the two of you to return and forever indebted to Mrs. Das, if she had not been there and did what she did you would have been lost to us, I am sure left to yourselves, you might have never reached out to us.

Swara and Ragini looked at each other, remorse mirrored on each other's faces and Swara spoke up, "We are sorry, we should not have done what we did, running away was bad enough, but not returning home was a crime, Maa. And each passing day made it so difficult that after some time we just convinced that it was not possible to do so...."as Swara choked up Ragini whispered, "we missed you, Maa, missed you a lot but we were scared and sure that there was no way you could forgive us, we knew we were wrong but still could not take the step to return."

Sharmishta laid her hands on her daughters' heads, smiled wanly and said, "It is fine, it really is, all of us had some role or the other to play in what happened, we should just move ahead rather on dwell on 'what if' – of all the roads to walk in life the 'what if' road is the worst. Nothing can be gained from that and all could be lost. I have found my daughters again and once again my family is complete"

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The Maheshwari family had been very impressed by how Swara and Ragini had not shown any rancor towards them and had actually gone a step further in convincing them that no blame should be attached to the family over the lapses of one member. Moreover, the love and affection which Swara and Sanskaar shared, though not voiced by either of them, was very much visible and Mrs. Das had already enlightened them to the same and all had actually rejoiced at the proposal that they should be married at the earliest. Durga Prasad assured that he would leave no stone unturned to convince the Gadodias if they refused their proposal on account of what Laksh had done so many years ago.

Laksh's declaration of his love for Ragini did not meet with a similar approval, not on account of his choice, everybody agreed that though she was very different from Swara in nature and manner, she was equally endearing. They were concerned how the Gadodias would react especially when Laksh himself had confessed that Ragini had decided that he would no longer figure in her life. It was then the Laksh stepped up, he volunteered to meet the Gadodias, after his mother had spoken with them, and would personally apologise for everything and also present a possible solution to the uneasiness his continued presence would mean to Swara after her marriage to  Sanskaar.

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Hence a few days after their homecoming, when Ragini saw Sanskaar with her family members, she knew that his presence meant that they were going to tell her something that would cause her displeasure and that he was required to make her agree to whatever they had planned. They were already aware that she could rarely disregard him and that was not because she adored him, but more so because he had a way of putting things in such a fashion that she usually ended up agreeing with him irrespective of how resolutely she had objected to in the first place. Further, Ragini knew that Sanskaar would never try to persuade her unless he was convinced of the rightness of the issue in hand, so the entire discussion would be, more often than not, a debate of differing viewpoints rather that a dispute over right and wrong.

But Ragini was also not one to give in without a fight, so she simply crossed her arms over and waited for them to speak. After exchanging glances amongst themselves as to who would bell the proverbial cat, Shekar spoke, "Laksh came to our house yesterday and he apologized for his actions stating that he was not asking for forgiveness because he did not believe he deserved it. He also told us about the how the two of you met; fell in love and how you decided to leave him once you came to know about Swara. He was willing to live out his life with your contempt. He had only one request, that Swara and Sanskaar should not pay the price for his mistakes, he went on to say that he would be shifting to Mumbai on a permanent basis; not only because he was too ashamed of himself to face either your sister or his family but also that it would avoid the invariable unease Swara might face in his constant presence.

As Ragini continued to listen in silence, though her face registered many a varied expression, Shekar rushed on, "And though initially we were very angry with him, we soon saw that he was genuinely remorseful of what he had done and also realized that he was quite sincere in his intentions to make amends. We all feel that maybe......, maybe he could be given another chance."

Before Ragini could get word edge-ways, Sharmishta took up, "We are not asking you to make up your mind immediately, just take some more time and think it out thoroughly before you finally close the doors of your life and heart on him."

Observing that Ragini was not yet convinced, Swara joined in, "I no longer have any grievance against him, so please do not hold any grudges on my account. What happened with me was more on account of my actions rather than his and to be fair, had we had not done what we did, life would have taken a different turn and you would not have met your best-est-est friend..."

"Who also happens to be the love of your life," finished Ragini. "Fine, I will not simply shut him out of my life but I want one thing in return." She noted the look of apprehension and worry in their faces and continued with a small smile, "I have to go back to Mumbai to serve my notice period and wrap up some other stuff and so I would like to go with back with Mrs. Das and if Swara does not want to come with us, I could help her close her business too. I am sure all of you know that Mrs Das now wants to come back to Kolkata. It should not take more than a couple of months and that would also give me time I need. I know Swara does not care for him and he never cared for her but I just need some time, it is not that I am not sure of myself or of his feelings for me but then I have to get over the fact that he dumped my sister. However, before we leave I would be happy if we could have these two engaged," nodding towards Swara and Sanskaar.

Before anyone could say anything, she walked over to Sanskaar and said, "You have waited a long time for Swara to make up her mind, to accept, acknowledge and admit her love for you. I do not want you guys to wait any longer for me to make up my mind; it would just be unfair to all of us. So it would be nice if you got engaged now and then the wedding could be held once we are back from Mumbai."

So it was a week later that the Maheshwari family once again visited the Baadi, this time with an air of festive expectation tinged with a hint of hope, carrying the traditional shagun. Annapurna had spoken to Parvati ji after their family had made their decision, a little tense as to how they would be received, but Parvati soon put her fears at rest. The Gadodias were well aware as to how the matters were between Swara and Sanskaar and were delighted to hear from them. The possibility of Ragini and Laksh amicably reaching a similar conclusion had added hope to the entire proceedings. It was indeed, as Sharmishta laughingly pointed out later, that the Maheshwaris' arrival did portend something as presaging as the earlier two occasions though the consequences had varied each time.

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A/N

And we are nearing the end, just one more chapter to wind up this tale. I would love to hear your thoughts, for all feedback, good or bad is welcome.

love,

Nyna