The Thakur Boy

MEET Mr. Thakur

2008-10-09T19:02:00.000+05:30

Friends let me have the pleasure of introducing to you Mr.Aditya Thakur.Born on the morning on Sunday 21st august, 1988...and this is his life story

On 20Th august 1988 Mrs. Roopa Thakur felt that the time has come...the wait of 9 months is going to be over...She informed her husband...both were happy. Though nervous too. After all after 2 girls and a large wealth to leave behind they had to have a boy....All hopes were pinned to this time
But her husband Narendera comforted her though in his heart he was the most nervous fellow in the house...He immediately called everyone and they rushed from Thakur Pur to new Delhi where the child would be born....every arrangement had been made there the doctors were ready till they reached there...At 4.30 the doctor came out of the surgery room and informed the father that finally this time its a boy...The father quickly asked the time of birth ... since purohit ji had to in formed, the kundli had to be made Aditya Thakur had arrived in this world at 4.20 am sharp not a second more nor less ...

The name Aditya

2008-10-09T17:42:00.000+05:30

In India, we have various traditions or customs to keep a child's name.
Some families abide by the choice of child's grandparents; sometimes the father's sisters pass the final verdict and so on and so forth. Different cultures, different styles of keeping baby names.
In Thakur family, no specific rule prevailed. The name all agree was kept. So as the baby was born, the suggestions started pouring in and that too in large quantities. But nothing was to be finalized before pandit ram shastri, made his kundli and suggests the alphabets with which the name had to start.
The day Aditya came home, he was followed by shastrijie, who explained the family, how good the kundli is, and when asked about the alphabets the name should start with, he poured started studying the kundli, like students gaze at their mathematics board exams. Finally he announced, a, d, l are the best letters, and anyone cane be chosen to have auspicious name for the child. Though the family didn’t follow these things blindly, but it was felt that this way there choice would be narrowed, to find the best name for their child.

Thus began a pandemonium in the huge house of thakurs, where relatives from far and near had congregated to bless the little one. Everyone had an opinion, and everyone put their opinion above others. The boy was the heir of huge fortunes, he should be named appropriately. One elderly lady, buajie, she was fondly called, got stubborn that boy should be named dharmendra, her favorite hero.na, shooted back her daughter-in-law” then he will just keep on fighting with everyone and anyone."Plus", added another lady he doesn’t even dance properly"everyone in the room chuckled. Despite heavy arguments, they were enjoying this to the fullest."Hey, how about jeetendra?” quipped Aditya’s mamajie."He dances great.” more laughter in the room, embarrassed he muttered” I was serious, it is a good name", to which everyone laughed again.

The proud father meanwhile had formulated a wonderful theory; let’s name him Dhananjay he said,

He will bring lot of money to the family. The theory was disposed as soon as it was proposed. So much so, his wife reminded him that it was his sleep time.

So, the day passed, the raja beta, unaware of the ruckus caused by him, enjoying the attention given to him, and everyone was still looking for a name. Even the servants of the family came to Aditya’s mother with suggestions. The best one was by sitaram, the head cook. He thought lambodhar; another word for ganeshjie should be right choice. The little children, also found a new game to play, they had their own personal discussions, which name sounds good, which suits the boy best, they weren’t concerned with the meanings, but

How the name sounded, so they listened to the adult’s conversations well, and analyzed with their minds.Ritujaa confided to her mother that the children party thought Sheila auntie was right, lakshay was a good name.

The next day, the drama began all over again. At the breakfast table, one of the cousins suggested, ankit was a good name, too common echoed everyone. I got it. Shouted the visibly excited chachi, DEVANSH, we name him devansh.before anyone could appreciate her choice, the silent, and calm grandmother gave her a scornful look.” Those vermas, who own the textile factory in Delhi, they kept their son’s name devansh, 6 months back. The poor lady wanted to defend herself, but looking at her mother-in law’s face she changed her mind. The grandfather, all silent and a patient listener meanwhile changed the topic and called out the duties of everyone for the special lunch that was to be hosted for the workers of Thakur farms, their factories and other busineses,though the larger part of their income came from farming, they had considerable shares in other businesses in and around Delhi. The lunch was a special one as Mr. R.P. Thakur, the grandfather of the boy and the head of the family, would seek blessings for his only grandson till date from less fortunate people. A lavish lunch was organized and for the gifts, it was decided to give a pair of blanket each to all the families that would be coming. So the grandfather made it clear especially to faraway cousins that those people should be treated with supreme respect and the service of lunch will be done by the family and not the servants. He thought that this will give their brains a rest also, but instead now there was more noise than he had anticipated.

Being the head of the family, he wasn’t allowed by everyone else in the kitchen and other preparations, so he decided to roam around in the garden, far from the noise and welcome the people, who would be arriving any minute. Presently, he saw an old man coming from the gate. He was carrying two crates made of wood.” Ram ram bauji”.He called out, keeping the boxes down, and folding hands.” Ram ram shivkumar,yeh kya le aaye”[what have you got shivkumar?] “Mangoes, from orchards in the village got some for you people, bahut bahut badhai bauji.”[congratulations master],cant offer you anything, you know, our stove burns because of you, my master.mr.Thakur had seen this all many times before, the gratitude, thankfulness, it touched the heart, only that loyalty was now decreasing in the next generation employees, was a concern. Shivkumar was an old hand at the farms, and an indispensable one, how much stock of whatever was produced in the farms, he had his own small piece of land in a village near Thakurpur, on Mr.Thakurs behest, it was converted into a mango orchard and the mangoes were marketed through thakur’s sources. This was also because; he had seen his potential in early days when he was just another worker in the farms. On enquiry it was known that, shivkumar was a son of a temple priest, and was the one of those rare literate people in his village. Mr.Thakur, immediately declared that Shivkumar should report to him only, with immediate effect, starting a unique relationship between master and servant, they sometimes talked like friends, behaved like shrewd business partners, The Thakur never ignored his servant’s advice, and would even give him some share if produce was very good.

Now many workers, along with their families were coming, having their food in batches, while other waited patiently in the lawns. Everyone was requested with folded hands to bless the child, who was brought in the veranda, and Aditya’s parents handed over blankets to people, who under ordinary circumstances couldn’t even afford proper bedding. But it wasn’t the lure of free food or gifts that had brought them there; it was the love and respect that they shared mutually with the family, who had stood by them through thick and thin.

This fact was pointed out by Shivkumar to Mr.Thakur, who smiled, with deep satisfaction. They were strolling in the garden, as the head of the family needed some plants replaced and he won’t call the gardener to do it, Shivkumar would be alerted, he would handle it himself. Within a day his favorite flowers would be planted, shivkumar knew his choice, and he in turn trusted his opinion.

“You know I was sleeping comfortably and my grandson w as born, I wanted to be the first one to se e him.” Shivkumar knew his master well, with growing stature and age, habit of complaining was also growing.” So what name have you decided for our chotte sarkar?”

“Ah! Nothing, they all have created a circus out here, panditjie gave three letters,a,l,d.I asked gurujie also, he is away in London and has advised me to move on, he never decided the names of the little ones, that’s for the family he preaches.”

“I” He said it, but hesitated and stopped.” The Master observed the reaction and understood that he was holding back something because of what he had said just now.

“Come on, say it, you are family, never forget that.”

“Master, he was born at dawn, right?”

“Yes, but why?”

“Let’s call him Aditya, the sun, who has just risen, and will, with his power of light, will shine bright on this family and for many others who depend on it.”

The idea stuck to the old man, as he had just struck oil in water

Pond. He took his servant’s hand, rushed into the veranda, asked him to stand there, and call everyone. He was back in 5 minutes, with a bag in hand and

Spoke to the gathering in front of him,

From this day, my grandson shall be named Aditya Thakur

Bless him so he shines bright, and spread warmth all over.

There was an instant approval from all quarters as everyone clapped hard, and shouted praise of the almighty to bless the young one.

Saying this Mr. Thakur took out a brick of gold, from the bag he had brought from inside and thrusted it into the hands of Shivkumar.

A day at the Thakur household

2008-10-09T17:39:00.000+05:30

Thakur Niwas, located in the center of the small town of Thakur Pur, was an ancient bungalow, covering around an acre of land, and further 4 acres of grounds, lawns and staff quarters. The house had been passed from several generations and with time many changes had been brought to the old building but the grandeur was intact and the zamindar’s house had a class which reflected his stature, as the biggest landlord of the region. Behind the house were the farms, extended by each generation that had owned it, at a point of time. It was a known fact that the Thakurs were unaware of the amount of wealth they owned, directly or indirectly. Currently Aditya’s grandfather and his two sons lived here with their wives and 4 children.Aditya was the youngest of 3 sisters, Ritujaa and Sachita born to his mother and Pankhuri to his chachi [aunt].

The two storey house had a huge courtyard, in the centre and rooms all around in it. The verandas were huge and ran along the perimeter of the house. The ground floor had the kitchen, dining and a sitting room, along with other rooms, where Aditya’s chacha lived with his family. The Other family had their bedrooms upstairs. Most of the rooms still remained empty or used as stores and offices and were seldom opened when a guest was to arrive. Some were later converted to bathrooms to be attached to the current bedrooms. In Thakur Niwas, any guest of Thakur Pur was welcome. No one was ever turned out. This was also because of fact that they didn’t have any hotels or guesthouses in Thakur Pur. The family was not only of the most respected families of the region but also the most hospitable and helpful one.

A typical day at Thakur Niwas would start at 5 am when Aditya’s Grandfather and grandmother would wake up and go for a brief round in the farms. Upon their return they would find other members up, men getting ready for the day’s works and women in the kitchen for their work, the children for their school. The family worked on strong disciplined routine. Breakfast was only served when the family member had bath and prayed in the temple next to the kitchen. Though there were many servants in the house for help, the womenfolk cooked the meals and strictly supervised the staff over other matters. Breakfast generally meant, fruits, paranthas and milk for the elders, younger ones liked eggs, fruits, bread, paranthas and of course milk. That was compulsory, for health reasons and because there was always surplus milk, the cattle being there own.

After breakfast, the men folk went for their work. It was clearly divided out among the 2 brothers. While the younger one looked after the livestock and animals, there were horses, cattle, poultry etc. and the other investments of the family, the elder one took care of the farms and all the market work, which involved purchase of various agricultural inputs and sale of the surplus produce. The Head of the family, guided his sons and supervised their functioning, having full control over the finances of the family. The women, also had their tasks cuts out well. The eldest daughter in law supervised the washing of utensils and clothes, grinding of spices, storing of vegetables and other miscellaneous household chores. The younger was entrusted the job of making sure that the house was neat and clean. They had enough staff to do the work, but they managed the kitchen together with their mother in law, whiling away their most of the time in the courtyard, sifting grains, cutting vegetables, discussing latest gossip, preparing chutneys or pickles. The children were sent to the local Lal bahadur Shastri School, a school of high repute.

Lunch time was irregular, children preferred eating as soon as they were home, the men as soon as they got free from whatever was currently occupying them and the women only after their husbands and children had eaten their meal.Buttermilk, curd, 2-3 kinds of vegetables, rice, and dal, along with pickles and chutneys were standard features of the lunch made for the family.

After resting for few hours, the family had their tea together, children being served milk, again compulsory, along with samosas and namkeen from halwai down the street. Someone or the other from the town or nearby areas always joined them for tea, in the courtyard, so samosas, namkeen, or jalebi and some other sweets were a daily routine. Little Aditya loved gulabjamuns and they came daily, piping hot for them. Once he was ill, doctor advised not to have any outside food. He cried and complained but no one was ready to listen to him. meanwhile the halwai himself dropped by with a bowl of gulabjamuns as he was surprised why no one had come to pick them up.

With children, playing ad doing their homework, the men rushing to complete their work before dark, and women preparing dinner, evenings were over as soon as they started. The dinner time was quite crucial, as by rule everyone had to be present together at the dining table, including the women. No radio was allowed to be played at that time, and later when television came, it was too kept switched off at the dinner time. No one cared, you were hungry or not in mood to have dinner, or any other excuses. One call from the eldest lady and everyone had to be there, even at festivals like karva chauth, when women ate food after seeing the moon, which came late, the family waited. This sight at the dinner time had a nice effect on the family bonding as this ensured a healthy communication between the members. Even after the dinner they would sit at the table for long, talking discussing various issues. After which they went off to sleep. No one was allowed to wake late nights and Aditya’father who locked up the gates after servants left, had this duty, along with her wife to check that all lights were off, checking whether all members had slept well, and provided whatever anyone needed, especially the little children.

Thus a day ended for the conservative Thakur family, a family Aditya was proud to be part of.

Ritujaa Thakur

2008-10-09T17:29:00.000+05:30

At the age of 9 ... Ritujaa Thakur had all a young child of her age would have wanted perhaps more than her peers had a got. A large rich reputable family, great brains that ensured her position among top 10 students in her class...a strong athletic body made her a sports star in her age group...She was watched with pride,jealousy,envy and she relished it all...
After 2 years of her birth...Sachita was born...She envied her little sister and made no efforts to disguise her hatred. Elders and doctors explained that this was because of the new born the parents love was being divided and this often created complex among children...
But when 2 years later Aditya was born she looked at him with mix feeling of love and hate, she loved him because he was her brother...and she also adored him because she wanted him to be more close to her than Sachita...and envied again because he was being pampered even more than Sachita was. just because he was a boy...this didn’t make any sense to her...Thus began a relationship...of bonding...of love of envy of one of the most sacred relationships of the world...of brother and sister...True they both were born to the same parents...but Aditya was her baby...Her whole free time was devoted to Aditya..To play with him...to check his feeding bottle. To inform the mother whenever he was crying though he seldom cried in her company...
To Aditya she was like God...Whenever she went out...he cried like anything...he couldn’t live without her...they both were like inseparable...and both relished each others company. They fought and played together...and this closeness also brought Sachita and Ritujaa together for adi was a love they both shared,,,Everything seemed to be going perfect...their parents were extremely happy...there family was now not only complete but also perfect...Alas fate had something else in store for them...
It was a hot summer afternoon...The children were playing in the bedroom on the first floor...There mom called them downstairs...Ritujaa who due to a mild fever had skipped her breakfast was the hungriest of all 3...she ran downstairs ... where mama was waiting and suddenly her feet slipped...and she went sliding down the stairs...At the age of 5 Aditya Thakur...the shadow of his sister who was just to be 10 yrs old in 3 months time was the sole witness of her death...The skull damaged...blood flowing all over...Its said that he didn’t stop crying until 48 hours of her death...The last minute cries of his helpless dying sister were forever embedded in his memory...Sure he came out of the trauma...but that scene of his sister crying...dying...and begging for life couldn’t fade away...The last word Ritujaa Thakur ever spoke was...
ADITYA.

Aditya’s First Crush

2008-10-09T17:25:00.001+05:30

The year was 2000 he was in 6Th class then...the summer was at its peak though students had just returned from their summer vacations...It happened precisely then,,,His first crush...Sneha sareen... who used to sit 2 benches behind him was 4 feet 5 inch tall...her long dark brown hair and a fair complexion with a complimentary pair of eyes...large dark brown in color made her look attractive...But it was her waist length mane that tricked the boy...Though she had been studying with him for a long time...he suddenly found himself thinking too much about her...Every time he saw her he used to feel embarrassed and shy...So much so whenever she passed his bench to go to hers...her soft hair brushing through his cheeks...they got red and hot...Man this boy was confused...the girl with whom he earlier could talk and discuss anything he wished...the girl with whom he had played a lot.. had countless lunches in lunch break ... the same girl he was running away from...his voice would choke in front of her,,, or he would himself staring at her secretly...And the worst part was he couldn’t tell anyone about this,,, he himself didn’t knew what was this happening...no he wouldn’t tell this to any of his friends...what would they think...na not even to even to Shitij...he will tell everyone and they will make fun of him...what must he do???He decided that this prob had to be solved by his own mind without any help...No one could be trusted on this issue...being an introvert he was he didn’t tell anyone of his first crush Thus...this is how Aditya thakur's first crush which lasted for about 6 months...went about without him or Sneha or anyone else knowing that this was a crush...a puppy love...But still Aditya for the first time knew what it was to have special feelings for a person of the opposite sex...an experience...that marked a turning point in his life as it indicated that he was growing up and was now on threshold of his teenage years...

Happy Birthday Aditya

2008-10-09T14:08:00.002+05:30

      It was 21st August, 2002 a fine day. For everyone, it some what appeared? The same day as everyday but for Aditya it marked a turning point in his teenage life. He rose with a smile on his face as a beam of light entered the window of his room; it was Aditya's 14th birthday today. He started getting        ready for school having no idea what was in store for him on this very special day of his. On his way to school he visited the temple as he did on his each birthday and as soon as he reached his school he found something which was least expected on this day. None

 Of his friends remembered his birthday and in fact he found everyone

 Giggling here and there. It appeared to be a long day for Aditya, which

 Some how ended, and Aditya was on his way back home with an upset mood.

As soon as he opened the gate of his house, he heard some unusual noise,

 From the back side of his house. When he went there to check what was

 Going on, he was surprised to see the lawn decorated beautifully with

 Different kinds of flowers, all bushes decorated with the design obtained by

 Crossing of streamers, the whole lawn was decorated by probably all

 Shades and sizes of balloons, trees were being decorated with lights, the

 Central fountain was being lit up by colorful lights which was emitting

 A mesmerizing feel of its own, some people were even covering the chairs

 And tables with beautiful silk cloths, there was a structure of spot

 Lights being set up just next to the fountain.

With a confused reaction he entered his house; he was amazed to see that

 The interior of the house was also being decorated, people were running

 Here and there, which indeed was something very unusual, because after

 Ritujaa had died, there were very rare occasions that the family had

 Celebrated together, due to the absence of Ritujaa and everyone being very

 Attached to her both mentally and emotionally. His eyes fell upon a

 Rangoli that was being decorated in the center of the house which read

 'Happy Birthday Aditya'. His past birthdays were just celebrated by

 Singing a 'Happy Birthday song' by all his fellow mates at school and cutting

 A cake at night or the evening with some home prepared food items at

 His place. Soon he caught a glimpse of his mother guiding the cooks and

 The maid what to do, he got an opportunity to get the answers of all

 Unanswered questions arousing in his mind.

He asked his mother,"Mamma, Whats going on here?"

she replied,” We have organized a birthday party for you."

Aditya was not even given the time to react on this, when his mother

 Started telling him who all will be present at the birthday party. He got

 To know that his grand mother, grand father, his maternal uncle and his

 Family, his maternal aunty from Sonipat, Dolly aunty, HIV

 Uncle, Nilesh, Naina, chandrika and some of his other cousins would all be present at the

 Party. He had a mixed reaction after hearing the guest list, though he

 Would be very happy to meet all his relatives after so many days specially

 His grand mom and grand dad, but on the same time he was very sad to

 See the fact that none of his friends had made it into the guests

 List. His mother read his facial expression and said,

"Don’t worry, I had a talk with Nishant yesterday,he is doing the job of

 Inviting everyone in your friend circle."

Suddenly it all started making sense to him, why no one wished him at

 School, why they were behaving as if they have forgotten his birthday, the

 Giggling and gossiping session...yes...it all made sense.

Aditya wished that Ritujaa would have been with him at this very

 Special day of his, and thinking of his sister he suddenly remembered of

 Sachita and asked his mom about her.His mother told him, that she has called

 Some of her friends for the party and they'll be in her room.

As soon as Aditya went in his dressing room to change his uniform, there

 Was another surprise waiting for him? There was a maroon shirt which

 Was kept along with a pair of denim jeans on his dressing table. When

 Aditya went closer; he observed that the shirt had very tiny and beautiful

 Structures like diamond embedded on its collar which was indeed making

 It very beautiful in appearance. There was a tag on the shirt reading

 'Love Grand mother And Grand father’. The very same moment his mother came

 To call him for the lunch and when she looked at Aditya holding this

 Outfit she said,"Sachita had an off today, she got it”. Honestly for

 Aditya this birthday of his was the best birthday even, not only because he

 Got Sachita’s love in the form of this gift but also somewhere he

 Thought Ritujaa has sent her love through Sachita.

It was evening and Aditya was ready in the clothes which Sachita

 Brought for him. Though these clothes were beautiful themselves but the real

 Beauty and charm only came when Aditya wore them. Just then emerged

 Shitij and Nishant and they tied a strip of cloth on Aditya's eyes and he

 Was taken to the lawn.

When Aditya opened his eyes, he could not believe the scenario. The lawn

 He saw in the afternoon, emitted totally a new kind of world. The

 Colorful lights which were lit up in the fountain at the center of the lawn

 Were making the fountain look so beautiful, it appeared as if it is

 Giving different shades to water. Not only this, but because of the reflection

 Of these lights due to the water droplets of the fountain, it appeared

 That the grass is also dancing on its own melody. The balloons, streamers

 That were decorated were now not only emitting there own beauty but

 Also the reflections of these lights and were giving totally a new look

 To the surroundings. The structure of lights that were being set at the

 Afternoon were actually huge moving flood lights which were directed

 Towards the sky, which resulted in the formation of a colorful text in the

 Sky, which read as 'We Love You Aditya'.There were two huge tables on

 Either side of the fountain, one of which contained loads of

 Presents, flower bouquets etc, and the other contained a huge and twisted shaped 6

 Tire raspberry chocolate cake decorated beautifully with variety of

 Fruits and small cubical structures of flavored cream which was not only

 Appearing to be delicious but also appeared so colorful enhancing to the

 Mesmerizing beauty of the lawn.

Tears of happiness rolled down Aditya's cheeks, It wasn’t because of the

 Arrangements or the party or anything, but it was just something else. It

 Was the feeling of being loved which took him over this time? He felt

 Like he was the luckiest person on this earth, getting so much

 Love, care, affection and not just by one, but by so many people present there. He

 Felt as if he is was mentally and emotionally attached to each and every

 Person standing there. It was something which was beyond his

 Expectations, just simply beyond. But there was a small feeling of despair also

 Somewhere deep downs his heart. He felt a little bad because he didn’t see

 This love and affection anywhere before this day...

When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so

 Long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened

 For us...

Without wasting time, the first thing Aditya did was to go to each and

 Every person and thank him personally be it his family members, his

 Fellow mates, his relatives, each and every person who added even the smallest

 Of the details in the party for caring about him so much and

 Organizing such a wonderful birthday party for him.

The birthday party started with a self composed poem by Aditya's

 Friends on Aditya, which was greatly appreciated by each and everyone

 Present. The children spent most of their time dancing, singing and having

 Fun. For dinner, the food arrangements were just fabulous. From the starters to

 The dessert every thing was just superb.Beginning from the starters be

 It Chinese food items like noodles, spring rolls etc or be it the all

 Time favorite meals like French fries, pizza, burgers, etc,

 Each and every detail was taken care off. The drinks starting from

 Coke, sprite and other fizzy drinks ranging to fruit punch, iced

 Tea, different flavors of juices etc formed a pleasant change for everyone after

 Such a hectic day. Even different flavors of soups were available like

 Cream of tomato, chicken clear, vegetable, sweet corn, cream of

 Mushroom, chicken hot and sour etcetera was a wide range of desserts also starting

 From trifle pudding, chocolate soufflé ranging to Chocó chip cookies, blue

 Berry, Chocó dome, mix fruit pastries including the huge tired yummy

 Chocolate raspberry cake which was indeed very difficult to be resisted

 Off from.

Summing up all together, Aditya’s 14th birthday became one of the most

 Memorable events happened throughout in his life journey. He learned that

 Being a teenager is just not having fun all the time with

 Friends, cracking non-vet jokes, getting signals here and there, passing looks to each

 Other, possessing an attitude, at times being a bit bitchy, rude, mean but

 Above all it needed a certain responsibility from his side which he came

 To be aware off on this day. Even he was unaware of this weird feeling

 Inside him but somewhere down...Aditya learned the true meaning of him

 Stepping into his teenage.

Sachita Thakur

2008-10-09T12:12:00.001+05:30

Ritujaa's death had a great impact on her sister sachita's life. First it was shock, such little minds can’t bear the sight of a loved one dead and the puddles of blood around the body. But then the reaction of the family affected her mind and those memories were stuck to her mind for years to come.
She felt sidelined as half the time the family grieved over Ritujaa and half the time there attention was diverted to Aditya, the only son of the household. As the years passed the gap between her and the family widened. She was seen as a rebel, unattached to any tradition of the family. She derived a strange pleasure for going against the wishes of the family. She was always present at all the family functions and parties that happened in the huge house. But that’s it only a short appearance, with an expression always conveying her contempt towards the family. The family on their part never tried to bridge the gap; they always found a fault in her and she in them.
The biggest sufferer in this spat was Aditya,whose one sister he had seen dying and the other was too far away to reach, yet too close.True,as he grew up he didn't remember the time with Ritujaa but he missed her and he missed Sachita too. They never talked about Ritujaa and that disaster that shook their lives.In fact they seldom shared anything she was never good with him, treated him badly, and talked to him rudely. Her frustration always rested upon him. Once he went to her to fix up a problem he was having with his science project, she pretended not to notice him, but when he pleaded she stuck him on face. He threw the science project away, and never again approached her for help. Many a times he cried in isolation, or loose temper because of how she treated him, but always he found himself helpless.

When she was in 12Th class she announced that she wanted to go to Singapore for higher studies. No one showed any signs of surprise or objection. The people at Aditya's father office arranged for visa, passport and admission for the university Sachita had chosen over the Internet.
On the day of her departure she came to his room, the first time probably in years and probably the last time.
"Hey adi you busy??"
"no, not at all, come have a seat, all set for the journey?"
"Ya all packed up. I wanted to say something."
He looked up not sure how to react to sudden softening of her tone.
"Adi, Ritujaa didi is gone, am going, this house is now your responsibility. Understand."
"Yes"
"Good, take care of mummy papa and everyone and yourself too. Study well"
"Sure didi"[smiling]
Tears rolled over on her cheeks and she hugged him tightly. For Aditya this was one moment in his life when he had really felt he had a sister. he hugged her as if will not let her go, tears poured down as if all the anger, the grudges for her will come out of his eyes just now.
"Will you come back.”?
"No"
"But the prodigal son always returns".
"Son does Aditya not daughters"
"Will you forget me?"
"Never"
"Don't worry, you send me postcards and letters, I will surely reply to you."
Smiling, rubbing away the tears off her cheeks she replied "chotta bhaiya has really grown up, sure I will write to you and when you grow up do come and visit me. I will show you around Singapore."
"Didi, can I say something?"
As she nodded he went on "I miss Ritujaa didi and I will miss you"
"I miss her too, had she been alive we both would have better relationship. And I will miss you too
little one."
Unable to control the Fresh tears that rolled out of her eyes she went away.

She had earlier stated very clearly, no one was supposed to accompany her till Singapore. So Aditya went along with his father to see her off at the airport. His mother said she won’t come and everyone knew she won’t be able to control herself. In the past few days she had been unusually calm, calm observed in the sea before the storm arrives. She had uttered very few words and just devoted herself in the shopping and packing jobs of her daughter.
At the airport Adi saw in his father’s face a sorrow he had never seen before. All was silent and Sachita muttered a bye and left.
When they reached home, Mrs.Thakur rushed to her husband and cried loudly "We won't ever be able to marry off our daughter."
For the second time in his life Aditya's father's eyes were wet, and at both times, the reason was his daughter's departure.
For Aditya he had found and lost a sister in a single day.

Chapter - 8 School farewell 1

2008-10-08T18:31:00.000+05:30

Lal Bahadur Shastri Public school was housed in a sprawling 9 acres of land in between Thakur Pur and Delhi. It had 3 huge buildings, a hockey turf, a sports centre made years ago when British ruled the country. The school was founded by some British missionaries and had in very short period of time formed a great reputation, in academics and sports, the students excelling in every field. But during the Second World War, some of the missionaries went back to their country and the new head that was appointed, looted the coffers of the great institution and disappeared, probably left the country.
The Influential families of the area including Aditya's Family and others took upon themselves to clean the financial mess and run the institution. Competent academicians from across the country were invited and according to their advice, changes were made to restore the school's lost glory.
In 1966 when Prime minister of India,lal bahadur shastri died in Tashkent, it was decided the management committee that English school,thakurpur would be now called as lal Bahadur shastri public school as a befitting tribute to the late academician.
It was in this school Aditya studied up to matriculation and then choose commerce subjects for higher education. Thinking about this, he hadn't been able to sleep, his thoughts wondering about the past, that was gone, and the future that was about to come. Today he would get a formal farewell from the school he so loved and cherished and without the mention of which his life would always remain incomplete.
He glanced at the clock, 7.20 am; the function would start at 11.am sharp, the invitation card read. Last week the junior class had presented a huge hand made card for the whole class inviting them for a grand sendoff, but the surprise was that the card mentioned a dress code, ethnic clothes for boys and gals. In the past, civil dresses were never allowed on the campus. Changing times, changing generations and rules too, hats what everyone felt. He was nearly confused what to wear, as he never wore any Indian dress as far as he remembered.And embarrassingly he didn’t even had any knowledge about what all options he had, except dhoti kurta or kurta pajama maybe. When he told this at the dining table, he found his father and not mother for a change to help him out in deciding the best dress. As far as he thought, his father never really had a great dress sense. He mostly wore plain shirts and trousers. He even took him to their family tailor to get a salwar kameez stitched.Aditya was apprehensive at this idea but when he tried it
he was more wowed at his father's choice than that black salwar kameez with a beautiful embroidery work at the buttons. Equally amazed he was when his father explained him that achkan suit was another good choice but the weather will be too warm for it, and instead of pishori jutti he should try black sandals, to have some contemporary look.Aditya, saw his father as he had never seen before. He was talking like some fashion guru on TV. And to think of it, he always ignored his opinions about everything, thinking that he belonged to some other times.
All the classmates assembled outside the school gate 15 minutes before time. He never had realized the importance of Farewell till this day, even as he had seen a few,sachita had written about them in her last letters, his father in his own way made him realized how important this day was. The juniors gave them a warm welcome; the function was quite well planned. There were 3 dances, 2 skits, a speech each by a teacher, a principal and representing the 12Th class students was ankit, the brightest fellow in the batch, who hadn't reached the school yet. Then there was an awards session and jam session in the evening after the lunch. The program started with the country’s national anthem and as the function progressed Aditya was lost in his own thoughts, about his own reputation at school. He scored average in academics, still was popular in school partly because of his elder sister, who was just 2 classes above him and majorly due to his warm and sweet nature, everyone respected and admired him. From peons, sweepers to staff and students, junior and senior all remembered his name and looked upon him in need or emergency as it was a common slogan associated with him, he was a problem-fixer. Even if he couldn't solve a problem just talking to him would make them feel better. This would give him a lot of satisfaction as he was the scion of Thakur family. He had to live up to the name. Other than academics, he was good at hockey and was quite an active library member. Those great days he sighed as he heard someone out his name being called out, no not at the stage, there mars parkas was rumbling some speech. He looked back at saw his class teacher Mrs.Rupali beckoning him; He went up to her already sensing some great trouble had occurred.
"Ankit's father had a minor accident, he would reach late. So now its your job to say a speech, you have 5 minutes.” baffled He asked” why isn’t Tanya going?” knowing very well that the answer would be no, tanya was the head girl, a big snob missed no opportunity to grab attention, often at the cost of others, but in critical times she would back up as if afraid that her fakeness would be exposed."No, she isn’t ready and this is no time for arguments, do something, all hopes are on you"
Aditya was in a fix, as he was enjoying this nostalgic day a huge responsibility fell upon her shoulders. He could already hear principal mrs.Kadambari or kaddu mam as she was very fondly, giving a speech which, everyone knew would be a long one, but for aditya, she was speaking very fast. The HOD of mathematics department and ankit's class teacher Raj makhija came to him to remind him that he represented the batch and blah blah.Instead of speech all Aditya could think of calling names to everyone and anyone who had done this to him. At the last moment you come up with a bundle of expectations and throw it up on my brain, and enjoy the show he thought. Then he took breath, went to have some water, cleared his mind, he didn't want to call up his friends though he needed them. Let them enjoy kaddu mam's lecture. And then the thought crossed his mind that this was the last time they were listening her speech, will they miss it when they go to college???He suddenly felt a range of emotions rising in him, making him confident enough for the speech. He checked his reflection on the steel sheet of water cooler. He was looking good; the dress drew lot of positive compliments.
When his name was called out, the audience was confused. In a batch where there were just 6 sections, news travels fast and everyone knew Ankit was doing this, now suddenly Aditya turns up. The audience's reaction made Aditya nervous, but he was brave enough to face situations.
"Good Morning Principal Mam, Teachers, fellow batch mates and juniors. William Shakespeare the great writer once wrote and I quote , All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.Unquote.It seems like being students of this school was a role which has now ended and now as we see the exit, the nostalgia has seeped in, I would like to say a few words.” he paused a second reflecting upon what crap he had just said, he wanted to chuckle, but the audience was now calm and listening intently, so went on,
"This school has given so much, that if we sit back and think about it everything we are today and will be tomorrow as a matter of fact will be because of this great institution. This has been our second home for the past 14 years, and the most wonderful thing is that we have lived like a family, without even knowing about it. We learned of geography, of English, of love and of hate
Not only the subjects we studied in academics but emotions of love, care, happiness all we learnt here. We have been friends from the time we didn’t even know the meaning o r spellings of that word.” He paused again looked around; there were 2-3 crying faces already.” Principal Mam,
How can we thank you, for so much u have done for us. We always hated you for your strict attitude, we always wished you would be lenient sometimes, knowing very well that if u haven’t had maintained the discipline this school would have been a chaotic jungle. I know it sounds very strange but we will miss you, and those punishments that were fun, sometimes.The room were filled with laughter and the senior class clapped very loudly as a mark of approval to his lines.
"
And all the nasty teachers who punished wrongly.Always.Never gave us the marks that we deserved. Several times they were partial, rude and bad. Those who made us what we are today, taught us how to read and write, made us knowledgeable and intelligent enough, to them, my dear batch mates lets salute them and mrs.kadamabri by giving them a standing ovation to thank them for everything they have done for us. There was a thunderous round of applause as students stood up. From the stage Aditya could see wet eyes of Mrs. Rupali; the speech was not going as disastrous as he had felt instead he could feel his heart itching to cry already.
"The students of 11Th, the next in line, I promise you all, you won’t get as grand farewell as we have had from our juniors. This show you put up for us was wonderful; the dances the meaningful, well enacted play. Thank you for enriching our memories with some beautiful moments.” Another round of applause rang through the auditorium.Aditya felt relived thank god, all he had though the function was that it was crap, how much he wished he could say it. he continued, this time in Hindi
"How can I forget all those who kept our classrooms clean, rang the bell, the grounds well maintained, the very warm and loving people,Banarasidasjie,tikkaramjie radha aunty,munshikaka
bahut bahut shukriya aapka[thank you all]."
Now Aditya’s heart was heavy, he knew he could burst out any moment. he saw near the door, banarsidas, who had been here as long as he remembered, he had got the job of school peon because of his grandfather and so he always looked up to aditya with great respect and love.Now Aditya knew in college no banarasidas would greet him every morning at the gate and help him whenever he would need something. That place would be full of strangers, here it was a family.
Now aditya's heart was heavy,he knew he could burst out any moment.he saw near the door,banarsidas,who had been here as long as he remembered,he had got the job of school peon because of his grandfather and so he always looked up to Aditya with great respect and love. Now Aditya knew in college no banarasidas would greet him every morning at the gate and help him whenever he would need something. That place would be full of strangers, here it was a family.
"Now that we are going, where will we find such cheerful corridors, teachers so full of warmth as these, who will force us to wear that awful tie and the strange belt made of some strange material, standing sleepily in the assembly line, the yummy canteen food, the friends we made here
we going to miss it all.” At this time tears trickled down Aditya’s eyes, He couldn’t say anything more,
"Lastly I remember some lines I read written by poet [he took out a letter from his wallet, sachita had sent it from Singapore, he read the lines she had used to highlight the importance of this special day]
Joana bluementhal
Today I step into a new world,
old memories to you I bid farewell.
Today I come out of my shell,
hidden pain and dismal thoughts farewell.
Today a fresh hope I have felt,
to you unfulfilled dreams farewell.
Today I am born new you can tell,
my past to you I bid farewell.

Thank you everyone once again"

Chapter- 9 School farewell-2

2008-10-07T16:32:00.002+05:30

Several tearful eyes and a vigorous round of applause marked the end of Aditya’s speech. This was followed by some games organized by the 11^Th arts class students. It was quite an en joyful change after that emotional speech. This was to be followed by prize distribution ceremony but it was already 3 o clock, and now the students and teachers all were tired and hungry. A caterer of great repute had been called for providing a lavish lunch for the outgoing class. Around 5 courses were served in the school g rounds, where they always had their lunch, the only difference being today they hadn’t got their lunch boxes. That was followed by desserts; both English and Indian desserts were served. But even after having such a sumptuous lunch the senior class students ate very less and discussed much more. Someone was counting out the long list of funny events that happened on that school ground. Other was telling tales of what all gossip used to happen on lunch time.Aditya recalled all those games they had played there. A friend reminded him of paranthas which were his favorites, Aditya used to bring extra one for him. The conversations would’nt have ended ever but announcement soon came that they were required to take their seats in the auditorium, as the prize distribution ceremony was about to start. Almost every prize to be given was earlier known. Every student would be given a souvenir and a year book which could be used as an autograph book and had info about their school, teachers and classmates. The best class award was to go to either commerce-b or arts section. Arts section won, owing to their huge interest in extra co-curricular activities. Best student from each class was known, by sheer guess and knowledge.Ankit,who had arrived at lunch time, came to take away best student from non-medical-a section,Aanchal from Medical section,Richa from arts,Rohit from non-medical-b,naina from commerce-a, gauri from commerce-c.Only section where speculation was the highest was commerce-b.Here Aditya and Tanya were competing for the top slot. No there wasn’t a war, or clashes but their respective supporters were carrying out a campaign and that was the feed of rumor mills for the last one month now. For Aditya it did’t matter, he did’t need any awards to show how good he was; also he was’t very good at academics. Also he was getting a special recognition for being the hockey team captain. But his friends were adamant. The family backgrounds of both of them also had a role to play here. Tanya being the grand-daughter of local Member of legislative assembly and Aditya being the son of wealthiest family of the area. Both were darlings of the school authority, Tanya’s appointment as head-girl was rumored to be due to her position and status, and many had grudges against her for being too snobbish and showing too much of attitude. This would be the last opportunity to show her down.Tanya, on the other hand a nice following, of girls who were attracted towards her because of position that came, and she had too much knowledge, she always helped although not without showing contempt. For them this was another opportunity to appease her. So a game had started, students sharply divided, even other section and batches students joined inanity even had heard of bets being placed as to who will get that small little trophy of relatively no importance. The tiff between girls and boys was also blown out of proportion, as majority of girls backed their head girl and the guys backed their best friend. The anchor of the program also knowing about this called the name of section-b in the last, Teachers who also had their favorite students and students waited with abated breath, most of them for the sheer curiosity it had created in the past one month. Meanwhile the anchor announced “And the award for the best student from section-b goes too………..any guesses anyone?” the crowd shouted and hooted in an instant as if they were waiting for this moment for years.” Tanya ranaut”.Shouting and hooting again echoed in the hall as principal gave away the award to Tanya. It took about 10 minutes for the gathering to settle and calm down.Aditya’s mind had tensed when the name was being announced, true he didn’t much care for the award, but a Thakur winning a award is always good for the family, and he was better then Tanya in every way except academics’ felt he deserved it. The irony of all this was he couldn’t share his feelings with anyone, as it would bitter the already tense atmosphere.

The Disc was supposed to perform after lunch, but it was now late. The clock read 5.30, nevertheless they all went there, nobody much in mood to shake their legs. Some were tired, some started to go home, even teachers started to go home, and few stayed for photo sessions asked for by their students. Some were deputed to maintain discipline at the dance floor.Aditya didn’t want to dance, like many others his mood was dampened because of the awards announcement, though he didn’t show it, he quietly moved towards the dance floors his friends, excitedly rushing ahead as principal had given the deadline of 6.15 after which the disc jockey will pack up.

Someone called him up from behind.”Hi.”It was Sneha sareen his first crush, and a good friend. They had been in the same class since l.k.g.”Hie.how are you.” he called back. As she cached up to him she said.” Sorry for that award, whatever the other girls say, I feel you deserved it, her father must have called kaddu.”he chuckled” Its OK,its just an award, and many think she got this for her position, they don’t know, if my family stops donating her grandfather the party funds, he uses for campaigning. He would never win any election, not even the pantheist ones. His position is because of the backing he enjoys from my family. So no worries, maybe she gets good marks, and kaddu likes her that’s why.” She felt offended a bit, but continued.” I will be going to Mumbai soon, will be taking admission in a commerce college there, do b.com,and then settle down there, what about you?”.Aditya paused, he had never thought much about his future, but sudden realization crossed his mind that he was about loose a very comfortable company, Sneha was a good friend, will he find a better friend ever? Will she remember him? “No, I haven’t decided yet. Mumbai is a large city, you will love it am sure.” “Na, thakurpur is better; Delhi is very close, so we have best of both the world, rural and city life. It is a plus point living in a small town. There everything will be small and void, but then one has to move on, I have cousins there and it would be easier form me, papa says, and I get to see a new life too, hey lets click some pics of school, you helping me?” He took the camera from her hands,and clicked her pics using school as the background, the sun was setting, and he had to hurry, as he was clicking the photos he noticed she was still very pretty, lucky will be the one who gets her as his wife, he thought.

‘You don’t want to dance?”. He asked

‘No”, came the reply.’ It is a waste of time and energy. look here comes shitij and others, lets have a photo session”.So another hour passed clicking photographs, filling up the year books and autograph books, how many of them are going to remember me, thought Aditya,and how many will be able to recall where they had kept their autograph books.Nevertheless he filled and filled.Sneha again came to his side,’ listen you idiotic driver you have to drop me home, don’t forget it, and you have 10 minutes to say everyone bbyee,hurry-up,I don’t like going home late”.Aditya smiled. She used this authoritative tone whenever she had to get some work done.”At least show some respect to your driver madam.’ And they laughed, like 2 small kids playing in a park.” no one at least in Thakur Pur would dare ever to speak to me like that, many people, even the middle class bow their heads when passing through my home, you know that.Aditya spoke with a humble tone.” Why should I care? I have always talked to you like this, and when I realized about who you actually were, it was too late, now I cant change myself,sorry”.She spoke as a innocent young child, making a sorrowful face, anyone could forgive.Aditya replied” You know I realize now that I had friend here who knew me so well, even before I knew why I really was, in college we wont be able to repeat all those pranks we played, the fun we had just because we wont be ever to able to get so close to anyone.”Sneha’s eyes were wet but she rubbed them and ordered” You have wanted 5 minutes, am going to throw you out from your job,you,useless creature.” Everyone around them laughed this time. There was heart chattering as every bid goodbyes, Hugging there classmates, thanking the juniors, patting their backs, touching feet of their teachers to seek their blessings for a new life they were about to enter in few months.

As he stood at the gates of the institution which had been his second home for past 14 years, he cried, he wanted to let his emotions pass come out. Banarsidas came near him said

“14 years ago, you had come through these gates, crying, and wailing, now, 14 years later again you are again standing here with wet eyes. What really has changed in all those years my by dear boy?”

Chapter - 10 Vacation time

2008-10-07T11:34:00.002+05:30

Sachita’s departure had a gloomy effect on the house of Thakurs.Though nothing was ever talked about sachita yet It was hard for anyone to miss the wrinkles of worry on everyone’s face.Aditya was very bothered about all this, seeing his family through this phase. He wished he could do something. Earlier he had many a times hated his sister, but now the distances, and the letters she sent, at least once in a month, brought him closer to her and he missed her. One day, he was fed up of thinking and thinking about how to cheer them all up, he went to his grandfather for advice. Everyone turned to him for advice on any important matter, and his opinions were widely respected. That evening he went to his grandfather’s room. His grandmother was crying he noticed but didn’t say anything.”Dadajie, she wont come back, and we all can’t go there, isn’t there any solution to this problem. We should do something; you must be having a way to stop all this.” The old man looked up helplessly to his grandson, and spoke in a dejected tone.”No, son, we can’t do anything, but you can. Everyone in the house she sends you some letters and gifts. You must be aware that some of the letters are read by someone before they reach you.Aditya Nodded his head, usually the letters or gifts would come before he came back from school and they were always opened up before they reached him. He never said anything as he knew they needed to know more about their daughter’s well being then him. The old man continued,” she calls us once a month to tell us that she received the money we sent, just a two minutes isd call, but she writes to you. You should get an idea from there.” The grandfather looked up again as if giving a hint or two through his eyes, but Aditya was young,immature,this was the right time to start his grooming for he had to head this family one day.Aditya who still was confused asked” how does that help dadajie?”
“Stop thinking about how to set the mood right here, think of a patch up between your parents and your sister. You are the only son they have, it’s your duty to take them out of any sorrow they have. Your sister will only listen to you, as she only communicates with you. You have to do your duty as her brother, the only one she has. This is your test Aditya, you are 17 years old and now you should show your capability, you have to prove that you really deserve to head this khandaan.”He paused, letting his words sink in to Aditya’s heart and brain. He was his last hope. If anyone could bring sachita back, it was Aditya, and no one else. He already could see a determined resolve in his eyes.
That night, Aditya reflected upon whatever he had learned from his grandfather. He felt miserable and sad, this was his board class and there was already a lot of pressure to perform well and get decent score for admission in a good college. He just wanted to run away somewhere, somewhere far. The idea just clicked his mind. The family never went for a vacation or an outing, they liked to confine themselves in their own world where they were content and comfortable, and so when the next day Aditya announced over the dining table that he was taking his mother and father to Singapore, for a vacation, after his boards, everyone was surprised. His father started to protest but Aditya had already seen the satisfying smile on his grandfather’s face, and knew that his idea was going to succeed.
The real problem now lied ahead was Prashant, a south Indian guy about whom Sachita had often written about in her letters, it was clear from her writings that she was deeply in love with him . Now bridging the gap between his parents and sister was one thing, making everyone agree on that guy would be an impossible task. He could be a great trouble, especially because when Aditya had called sachita in her flat, to inform her he was coming, a man picked up the phone and in a sleepy voice asked who he was.Aditya was shocked and now his problems had worsened, as sachita was also hesitant that they probably they shouldn’t come, she had her classes and all.Aditya was clever enough to check her college’s website and knew that she was having her holidays soon. Before hanging up the phone, he simply stated.” Let me come over there, I will handle the meeting between papa and Prashant.”To which she replied in a hesitant tone,” they won’t understand, and I won’t let them meet him.” He realized a fear in her voice, an evidence of the fact that she still cared somewhere for her family’s sentiments.” they already read your letters, they know a guy exists, trust me, I will handle this, you make preparations for our stay, papa will kill us both if you make extravagant preparations. He has very clearly stated no 5-star hotels”, to which they both laughed, “But why are you doing this, you know the situation can get tense, and I don’t want to hurt my family more than I already did.” She replied `Because someone has to do it, for the family, for you, for them and for Me.” and he hung up the phone. He felt confident after talking to sachita.His grandfather was right, he will prove his capability. He was a Thakur and there would come many people like Prashant and delicate situations such as these when he took over. He was a Thakur and he would handle that guy only after knowing him well.
Sachita was ready, his parents were ready, now was the time for a grand confrontation.

Chapter - 11 Vacation time - 1

2008-10-06T12:52:00.002+05:30

Singapore Airlines flight number ST-303 landed at the changi airport at around 12 noon. For Aditya and his parents, who all were flying for the first time, it was an exhilarating experience. His mother was a bit nervous at the beginning, the huge airports, the big flying machine, all this all seemed alien to the thakurain, who seldom had stepped outside her house. His father it seemed was more worried about meeting her daughter then the flying experience, but the young Aditya it was a fascinating adventure. He was the man in charge, collecting boarding passes, checking with the customs, handling the luggage, he had many duties to perform, and he enjoying this all along. When they came out of the terminal, they were confused as to how they will find the taxi driver, who was supposed to take them to the India star hotel, where they were supposed to stay for around 3 weeks. The idea was to stay for a week, but Aditya had on the last moment, booked the return tickets after 3 weeks. With his grandfather at his side, he could now easily take such big decisions.Now; even he was confused in this large area, where was he supposed to exit from, and fined his hotel in this foreign land.

“Excuse me, you are Mr. Thakur?” a young man around 20 years of age, approached Aditya’s father. For a moment he looked closely at the man, he had a wheatish complexion, jet black thick hair, was wearing simple denims and a well ironed shirt, this guy was a thorough gentleman. His father took Aditya to a side, and asked whether the hotel people were supposed to send someone to pick them up or not, when Aditya replied negative, his suspicions aroused, whether this was a crook, or a conman, after all this was a new country to him, he had to be cautious. He would straightly deal with him.” Listen young man, we don’t know who you are, and no one was supposed to pick us up, so these tricks wont work on us. You seem to be a nice boy, probably Indian, why you spoil name of our country?”

The boy was surprised and was about to explain, when a voice called out behind him.

“Sorry, am late, ram ram mama, ram ram papa, hey Aditya.”Tears swelled down Aditya’s eyes as he hugged her sister, it had been approximate 2 years since she had left, since he had last seen her, his parents surprisingly were calm, perhaps they were saving there tears for a better occasion.

“Look, this boy is still shamelessly standing here, he tried to trick us beta.” Her father informed her.

Hearing this both the boy and the girl laughed out, putting the others in a fix.” This is prashant, my friend, and my classmate, it was his idea that we meet you now instead of lunch time, I met a friend in the parking lot, so he reached here before me.” Embarrassed Aditya’s father apologized to him, and they went away to their hotel. Throughout their journey in prashant’s car till the hotel in little India, everyone was thinking about prashant, even he himself was suddenly conscious of the presence of sachita’s family. The girl’s father was just trying to logic out why she was with this man, who was he, what cast, did he belong, his father’s business etc etc.he was tempted to grill him there and then, but his wife ,who also had similar questions, gave him a reassuring look, The time will come. Aditya was lost in figuring out this stranger he had just met.Suddenly, there real purpose of coming to Singapore, to have a family reunion was forgotten and all that mattered was this prashant. Even the sweet of gesture of the children to pick them up at the airport was ignored.

The India star hotel was a budget hotel, a modest one, but quite comfortable and nice. Prashant and sachita left them there to unpack and rest and they would meet them at lunch. The problem was food. Right from the time the plans were being made to go to Singapore the biggest worry was food, Aditya could still adjust, he liked junk food too, but his parents, especially his father, wouldn’t be able to adjust for long. Aditya felt sorry for his parents, but this price had to be paid for the bigger objective he had to achieve.Aditya was busy unpacking, with his mother when Prashant knocked the door again, he had come to pick them up for lunch. This time sachita was not with him, he informed them that she was waiting for him, this was the right time to interview him, and he could already fear the 3 sets of prowling eyes on him. The elders were still worried about food, the mother concerned more about her husband then herself, asked for umpteenth time, ether they would get some Indian food or not.” Your uncle never eats outside food, beta even when he goes out for short business trips.” She reminded him time and again. Aditya found this opportunity a golden one to know more about her sister’s possible love interest.

Prashant was a south Indian, his father owned huge estates of tea, coffee, spices, rubber in Karnataka. The family followed Hinduism, and being the only child of his parents, he had come here, to experience the world, study botany, where he had met his sister and planned to go back to India, to apply his knowledge into the plantations. Aditya wanted to probe further, but presently they entered a huge housing area, they couldn't see any Indian restaurant nearby as the car slowed down, questions were raised, but prashant simply smiled, he parked the car in a visibly well managed car parking area, and took them up to the 3^rd floor of the apartment building opposite them.” This is the sernangoon district, mostly people in Singapore live in government build houses.” he informed them while they were going up. He rang the bell of the apartment number 306 and sachita again appeared, this time an apron covered her dress and his hands full of dough.

“Come on in, this is the place we live.” The we part raised several eyebrows, and she explained” me and suhana share a bedroom there, she pointed to a room in the far corner of the apartment,prashant and mohit stay in this room, just next to the main door. And that 3^rd one is a guest room cum store room, friends sometimes drop by and stay here, that’s our kitchen. And till he time you are here, you going to eat your food here. We don’t cook great but it’s usually digestible.”Everyone laughed and this time, her mother couldn't stop the tears. She sobbed loudly until 2 people came out of the bedroom Sachita had pointed as hers. She introduced them as suhana and mohit.”Well auntie, your daughter is forcing us to clean the rooms which haven’t been cleaned for ages, I have complaints’ only can resolve them.” quipped mohit, in a bid to cheer her up. She smiled, it was special moment of her life, a daughter she thought didn’t care for her, had got her apartment cleaned, cooked food for them, she intentionally ignored her anger she felt for having guys in her daughter’s apartment.

She went around the apartment, and complained about its shortcomings to her husband, who was busy evaluating the two guys who lived in that apartment. Aditya was enjoying the attention he received from his sister’s friends, he was already friends with mohit and suhana was very easy going, but prashant, he was a bit careful about him. Lunch was announced and the mother ran towards the kitchen instead of dining table, she had never taught her daughter cooking, God knows what she will cook, she said to herself. But it was fine, there was gobhi aloo, Aditya’s father liked, the gesture touched his heart. His daughter had suddenly grown up so big that she was cooking for him, his favorite dishes. For Aditya, suhana had made some pudding, which he relished. She told him that this was her brother’s favorite who lived in Delhi, so she had made it for him.

After the lunch,prashant made tea for everyone, and as they were busy chatting and knowing each other,Aditya’s father cleared his throat,” Listen up everyone.”, when he was sure he caught everyone’s attention, he continued.”Mohit is tired of keeping this house cleaned, and sachita’s mother is complaing about how you people maintain your house, so I and Aditya will stay at the hotel and her mother will stay with you.” He turned to his wife, knowing her answer beforehand. She continued from where he had stopped.”Yes and the children have to be trained for cooking as well.” Everyone laughed at this, mother the children echoed.Mohit was quick to respond. ”Uncle, you have com for a honeymoon, we wont spoil your honeymoon.” The uncle was a bit embarrassed but unmoved.” So you don’t want to have some good food and a nice apartment for next few weeks?” the witty boy from Mumbai was quick again.” Then its settled,” The guest bedroom will be given to you both.Aditya will sleep with us in the boys room. I will talk to the landlord, he is a nice man. Will understand. Before Mr.Thakur could reply, Suhana objected.” Listen Aditya will sleep with us, you boys will spoil him,” Thus they argued and argued until the night came when Aditya finally slept with the boys.

No one from the Thakur family had a chance to comment, but Aditya was happy that his job to reduce the distance between his sister and parents would now become easy, as they now lived together.

The following night, he was moved on seeing, his mother teaching her daughter culinary skills, his father too had begun seeing above the boys whom he was so suspicious about.

Chapter - 12 Vacation time-2

2008-10-05T16:36:00.002+05:30

The next few days passed on well, except for Aditya’s mother’s illness. Change of weather, or water could have been cause of this, the doctor had said. So they all stayed indoors, chatting, playing cards, discussing as many topics as available under the sun. Sachita’s friends were amazed by the tales of Thakur Pur, which his father told them, and they too had many incidents and stories from their home. Aditya had never seen his parents talking so much. The apartment was also now a better place to live in, despite her illness, the mother gave strict instructions, and they were followed obediently. A housewife can manage any house, especially for her family, even if that house is miles away from where she lived. This also had the desired effect as Aditya could see her sister attentively learning the household chores. Other too jumped in for help, they too living far from their parents, siblings, enjoyed the fuss his mother made. Mohit made it a point to get one of his favorite dishes daily, suhana constantly complained about her increasing weight, and was always laughed at. Aditya also observed for the first time, the deep emotional attachment between his parents. Back home, it was family, here they were just themselves, his father so particular about everything she was doing, eating, even took her for a walk when she was dull. He wondered whether it was for the first time he had seen his mother ill. At home there were several people and his father wouldn’t have even bothered much.
Aditya spent his time, observing and knowing more about sachita, prashant and sachita and prashant. Mohit had slipped up that they make a good couple. They were often teased to be in love with each other, he further informed him. An opportunity came and he found sachita standing in the balcony in the middle of the night, he went up to her."The sky looks so wonderful, and this city is so beautiful.” She nodded,"Yes it’s nice, but I may be moving out next year, to states maybe for my post graduation.” He glanced up at the sky again, not knowing how to bring it up."I wish I could have a cup of coffee in my hand and enjoy this pleasant night.” She smiled," Sure, come, let’s have some coffee, you know mom makes awful coffee, I tried to teach her, but no avail.” Both of them chuckled, Aditya in an attempt to lighten up the moment further, responded,"Well, her husband doesn’t like coffee, so that doesn’t matter much.” As she laughed, he noticed that he hadn’t seen her this happy before She handed him his cup, and they went to the balcony again,"You know didi,you people put so less milk in the coffee, in thakurpur,dadajie would have thought you were poor helpless people and gift you a cow.” She smiled again."Ya, thakurpur was a nice place.”
"Then come back.”
“You know I won’t come back.”
Aditya knew it was time to change the subject.
"This guy prashant, you like him, ammm, you know what I mean.” She looked at him, then at the stars in the sky, took a long sip of coffee and responded."Dunno, he is nice, cares for me, always knows what I want, look how he takes care of you people, but love, I don’t know, he never said that, and probably won’t ever say.” Aditya didn’t say anything, he knew she had wanted to speak all this to someone, to lighten up her heart, and he won’t stop he flow."You know he goes back to his home, next year and me most probably to states. There isn’t a future for us, but sometimes I feel, a future with him, will be dream like. With him I feel secure, he is dependable, reliable, and responsible, the opposite to me. Maybe we would have a home, he would make a great father am sure.Hehe, am confused, totally confused.” She stopped; a tear trickling down her eyes.Aditya finished his cup of coffee bid her goodnight, and went to his bed, only to reflect on what he had known just now. He could now see clearly the next course of action he had to take. Prashant.
He found him next day going to the market for some stuff he had to shop for, he politely asked, if he could join him. As they walked down the block, he found that striking a conversation with prashant was difficult than with his sister,"Hey prashant, may I ask you something, I mean menz only talk.”Puzzled, he encouraged him to ask anything he wished."You love my sister?” he blurted out, as if waiting to ask this question for ages. He didn’t respond. They shopped quietly for a while, razors and shaving kit, prashant needed, and some household items, his mother had asked. When they were over, prashant took him over to the baker nearby, and suggested chocolate pastries. when they sat down at bench near the baker, Prashant spoke,"Your sister loves these pastries.” noticing that the other hadn’t responded, he continued."I don’t know Aditya, I think I do, then I think otherwise, am confused, I going to home next year, she to states am sure, we won’t have a future it seems. What do you think? Am I nice guy, suitable one, for her?” Aditya had to lighten him up, he knew prashant could be a person of great use, for what he planned to do further, and he had lot in store to talk about."Well, you aren’t that bad, if you buy me another pastry, I could form a positive opinion about you.” They laughed, went up to a fast food nearby, where prashant bought him an ice-cream. "So much to please your friend’s brother.” he mocked.Aditya went back to their original conversation,"it doesn’t matter what I think , I want to know what you feel about her." Prashant looked out of the window,"She is like my dream girl, a bit over possessive, but that’s fine with me. She cares for me, I need anything, and she knows it before me. She knows exactly what I should where on the particular occasion. I feel so secured with her, what more should I demand of a girl, who is also so pretty and charming. And now she even has learned cooking from your mother,” they laughed together, recalling the kitchen incidents happening these days at the house.Prashant continued."You know Aditya; lucky would be the guy who marries her, she would make a great mother, and a wife.” Aditya couldn’t control his laughter, prashant who was unaware of the similar conversation Aditya had with her sister.At last he managed to speak this much," lets go home, it’s late.”
The next day, it was 5 days since they had come to Singapore. Aditya’s mother was feeling better, and Suhana declared that she was taking her aunt for shopping, so they all went for shopping, except mohit, who had to go to his college for some work, around little India, watching wonderful people, shops, and establishments. Aditya found it hard to miss the gorgeous girls of Singapore and the tourists who had come there. It was quite an embarrassing situation, as with family at his side, staring at pretty gals could be a bad idea, but he couldn’t take off his eyes from the beauty that surrounded him. Within a hour of shopping, his father was bored and said was going home, to rest, prashant went along with him, Aditya stayed back, to feat his eyes, and take care of the expenses for his mother. They window shopped till evening, until they were very hungry and only thing they bought was dresses for both the girls.Suhana protested that she couldn’t take free gifts from them, but his mother was persistent, they even found a expensive wall hanging for their him, but it was expensive so the idea was dropped. They were shocked when they came back, to find only mohit at home, where was prashant and where was Mr. Thakur. Everyone lost their appetite at the same time.Prashant’s cell phone was with sachita, and it would be impossible to find their location, so they waited. Mohit meanwhile, went with Aditya to check around the neighboring areas, but no avail. When clock struck 9 mohit advised Mrs. Thakur that they should inform the police. As he got up to pick his phone, the door bell rang. Four worried faces looked on, as sachita opened the door.
Aditya’s father’s face was beaming with joy, as he came inside; prashant behind him looked more scared, as he had seen sachita open the door. He knew they were late and he was going to face her ire. “I got something Chinese for everyone to eat.” the worried faces were now in shock as Aditya’s father spoke these lines. He never ate Chinese, as far as Aditya knew. What had prashant done to him? He was suddenly very worried. As they sat down to eat his father continued, like a 5 a year old, who has just come out excitedly from an amusement park,” This boy prashant is a very nice kid,Aditya,you know he took me to botanic gardens.”Puzzled,everyone looked at him, demanding answers to many unanswered questions,Sachita stared at prashant as this would be last day of his on earth.Mr.thakur meanwhile continued, to his wife now,” you know roopa, there were so many plants of so many varieties, and flowering plants you always liked, and there were some herbs,baujji would have loved their sight.” The poor women who had spent hours waiting and worrying for her husband didn’t know-how to react to this sudden change in her husband. The previous night he had informed her that he dint like these guys, and today he was spending a day with one of them, in a garden. Her Husband was still chattering, the details of his adventure,” You know, I told prashant that Singapore wasn’t as nice a place I had thought it was, he suggested that he show it to me, in a different way, ince you allw ere shopping, I said ok, lets go, and he showed me the gardens, thank god, he was with me, you know, na, my English isn’t good, he helped me out, in learning new things.” he chuckled."We going tomorrow again, there are similar gardens too, and we can make some notes too, and am going to meet the person who manages this area, Prashant will take me, and you people also come.” This was a surprise to prashant too, who was under the notion that this man probably didn’t like him. Sachita spoke in his defense, " But he may have other occupations tomorrow.” Her father’s eyes looked strait into his, a pleading, warning glance, like the child gives you when her certainly wants that child, otherwise…He spoke."Prashant wont you accompany me to the gardens tomorrow? We will take Aditya too.”Prashant was suddenly terrified."Sh-sh sure uncle, why not, I will be free till afternoon and we go after lunch.” He stammered.
Aditya ate the delicious Chinese noodles, with great comfort and satisfaction. The next step of his plan was now made in his mind. Early morning he slipped out of Prashant’s room, with a paper in his hand, he knew the way to the market well. He made two lengthy phone calls to India…

Chapter 13 - Vacation time – 3

2008-10-04T18:07:00.002+05:30

Two weeks full had passed, since Aditya had come to this tiny country and was in love with it. The parks, the gardens, the shopping markets, the tours all were fabulous. Presently he was at the airport, and could see his grandfather, grandmother, chacha, chachi and pankhuri coming out of the terminal. This was the same flight at which he had come, he was now accompanied by prashant, and rest of the people were at the hotel, making arrangements for their stay. He seeked his elder’s blessings, hugged her sister and introduced them to prashant. Just as they were leaving the airport, Aditya asked his grandfather."Dadajie, Prashant’s parents are coming too, there flight is after 5 hours, why don’t u stay with us and wait and let others go?” No one had the opportunity to say anything and his grandfather with a wicked grin on his face, happily got off, to spend the next 5 hours with prashant.

Mr. and Mrs. Lal came out of another terminal at around 6.The flight was delayed by an hour. Prashant had been surprised the other day, when his father called up to inform him, their sudden decision to visit Singapore. We miss you pal, was wall he had said. He definitely had missed a broad smile passed between, Aditya and his father. He also missed, seeing Aditya’s grandfather putting a hand over Aditya’s shoulder and giving an assuring glance. Agriculturists are people of their land. They make friends easily, especially if they share similar interests. By the time they reached the hotel, Mr.Thakur and Mr. Lal. Though visibly very tired, were like best of the friends, discussing too much about crops and agriculture and the zillion problems faced by farmers, the debts, infrastructure, rains. Aditya wanted to scream and shout, but he just passed on a smile to prashant who was driving, and he in turn smiled, conveying, he was bearing this too.

The next few days were quite eventful, abuzz with too many activities; the families went to the National parks, the shopping centers and shopped till late hours. The thakurs and lals both had a similar choice to buy some carpets; Aditya got an expensive, elegant watch for himself, but on reaching home, strapped it up on his grandfather’s wrist, stating it clear that in Thakur Pur he had some position."Dadajie, you have to maintain a status.” He smiled. The old man only agreed to take it after others too agreed with Aditya. Once, as He loved going out late nights, the young ones, set off late nights, and roam about in Singapore. Since night clubs was a big no, they spent hours at the coffee shops. The next day, the elders too joined them and everyone landed at Mustafa centre, a 24 hour mall.

The third evening, a picnic was planned at Tanjog beach in sentosa island. The evening was calm and beautiful; everyone was sitting close to each other, in groups, enjoying the beautiful amalgamation of sky and the sea. Then Aditya’s grandfather dropped the bomb."Mr.lal, I want to make your son, the son-in law of the Thakur family.” Shocks and surprised were registered on everyone’s faces. And they looked on the old man, as if they had seen a ghost. The only three people, who were expectantly calm, were. Aditya, his grandfather, and Mr.lal, who had known about all this all along.Aditya had taken his number from Prashant’s room, and called up at the time, after inviting his grandfather to Singapore. Playing sport, he answered,"Well if my boy agrees, we won’t have any problems.” He glanced at his wife, to whom he had dropped hints on and off, just as Aditya’s grandmother had some hints what all was going on. This was, as explained to Aditya by the old man, a wise move everyman should take, to include women in every decision of the family, big or small. Both men in their indirect ways had confirmed their wives opinions about the couple, and results were very good. The timing however was totally unexpected. The Eldest person in the group continued,"Say prashant, you have any objection?” Prashant already in shock was now caught in a trap. He couldn’t say no, as he won’t be able to give any reason. He couldn’t say yes, as he wasn’t prepared. All he wanted to say now was some bad names to Aditya, who was enjoying the show, lying on the sand, munching away the sandwiches."Well, you know, I, I mean, we, ok.”He tried desperately to find some words, but he was all blank. The grandfather wasn’t going to spare him easily,"Oh! So you don’t like my granddaughter, no problems beta, I just thought you both will make a good pair.” He said, munching away his sandwiches. Like grandson, like grandfather.Prashant thought. He made a mistake to look at sachita who was staring at him, like all this mess was his fault, and she would kill him at this very pretty beach. Oh, that’s a consolation, he said to himself, to die at the hands of a pretty girl in a pretty island, he suddenly realized he had to speak something,"No, it’s not like that uncle, I would like to sleep with her.” He already regretted his words, the island and the girl and the pretty thing had deviated his thoughts. He wanted to control the damage but now so many people, were staring at him, his parents, at least this shouldn’t have happened in front of them, he looked at sachita sad look in her eyes, frustrated him, he looked to Aditya, who gave an encouraging smile, telling him, this was the moment. At that moment, the grandfather laughed, Aditya joined in, and everyone managed a light laugh." I am sorry, I goofed up.” Prashant muttered, his confidence rising slowly "I like sachita,”and then looking towards Aditya,"I like her family, whatever you elders think right, I will abide by the decision”. As soon as he had said it, Prashant’s heart was suddenly very light, as if some huge burden had just lifted. Now the ball was in sachita’s court, everyone looked at her with pleading eyes, telling her that this boy was a gem, and the family stood besides him. The south Indian and north Indian, divide that she had expected would happen, didn’t work, here."Ok, I agree” She managed a smile; a smile Aditya could see from far was concealing deep happiness. Everyone hooted, shouted, clapped, and congratulated each other. From his pocket, the eldest Thakur took out some pieces of jaggery, wrapped in a paper, along with some money and offered to the would be groom’s father, his wife, did the same with Mrs. lal.When Prashant refused to accept money from Aditya’s father, Mr. Lal explained to him that this was the first ceremony of their wedding, now both he families have entered into a mutual agreement, to marry of their children. Also now, we can’t look for any other match for you both.”

There is another thing, I was thinking, we going back on Wednesday, Tuesday is an auspicious day, why don’t we marry of the children, on Tuesday. He looked at prashant once again, this time he wanted to run, as fast as he could, marriage at 19?and only few days later, was the old man mad, but he himself had consented to abide by their decision. This old man was a clever one, no wonder he owns so much wealth, and he told himself. Before he could say anything, Sachita spoke up,"Can’t we do it later dadajie, am not yet ready, but I promise I will marry prashant, if you like him. Also he is just 19 and me too.” Such a soft tone could have melted anyone’s heart, but the old man was getting old, and this was a golden opportunity, maybe the last thing of happiness, in his life, to witness her grand daughter married. He never had any daughter of his own, and pankhuri wouldn’t marry till she completed her doctorate. His younger son tried to reason out,"There is a temple in little India, we can get you married with proper rituals and customs.” The lal’s were now quite and silent, they had no hurry to marry off there son.

Aditya knew that this was a delicate situation; the grandparents could be difficult at times. He spoke for the first time in the conversation,"I saw a great jeweler shop in the market yesterday, if the day is so auspicious, lets have a small ring ceremony, and a party ,it also is our last day here.” The tension in the air, loosed off, and pankhuri spoke,"I will choose the ring, please.” And suhana inturpted,"No it would be my choice, and prashant wont be coming with us.” The elders looked at each other, and everyone was supportive of this plan, sachita and prashant wanted to protest, but Aditya once again, managed to silence them, by giving a signal that things were in control, and this was the best thing to do.

The party was in a small, exclusive restaurant, where ethnically dressed, the girl and the boy exchanged beautiful rings and the cameraman Aditya, who had directed this whole show, till here couldn’t have been so satisfied with himself. He had found a permanently sealed the gaps between the family and sachita, now Prashant will also enable better relations, he knew. It was already decided to hold a wedding ceremony after they graduated, in Thakur Pur, and a huge reception near Mangalore, where the lal’s lived. Everyone was happy, as they bid goodbyes to each other, As Aditya met her sister the last time at the airport before flying out of Singapore, he realized, how again he had found a sister, and lost her again, to another man, this time. With Prashant, the relationship would never be the same again. But he had formed some new relations, another sister suhana, who made him promise, he would write to her, and a good friend mohit, not to forget the new brother-in-law.

After an exhilarating and exciteful journey the young boy of 17 who had flied from Delhi to Singapore, returned to Indira Gandhi international airport as a young adult of 17.

Chapter - 14 Thakur Pur energy limited

2008-10-03T00:38:00.000+05:30

Life at college, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College of commerce, New Delhi, was a dull and boring one for Aditya.He didn’t enjoy the fresher’s, the parties and most importantly being cool and friendly with anyone and everyone. He stayed at the hostel in the campus itself, but was disgusted with the way others were destroying their lives. He was offered a variety of drugs, cigarettes, beer, scotch, even sex. He turned down all these offers and was often called as a snob.One day a senior asked him the reason,"Hey man we also puff a few, not much harm in it,at least try it,” He said, handing him the cigarette in his hand. The reply came in a soft, low pitched tone,"For the family.” And he went away.

Studies, he wasn’t interested in, in ragging, whatever the seniors asked him to do, he did, and that was the second best thing that happened to him, in the first year of college. They asked him to do funny things, and he would do it with full masti, making seniors his friends, they on their part, were never callous or harsh to him. Ragging was fun. He came to know his seniors very well. Girls were all running after cool guys, he never understood, why anyone should be so obsessive to be cool, or happening. Too much show-off even in girls really irritated him sometimes. The girl, setting next to him in the class once commented,"Look at rohit, he has a 1000 square yard bungalow in Karol bagh, isn’t that cool?” .“Sorry, I am from thakupur, know only about acres and hectares.” He replied innocently, his pretty smile concealing his frustration. The college was no better. The stumbling infrastructure, pathetic attitude of a brilliant staff, the hockey turf, where everything was done accept play hockey, one wouldn’t recognize the hockey ground, if he doesn’t read the rusty board outside. It seemed to Aditya that the college was built to insult the great martyr instead of glorifying his name.

After struggling for 3 months in college, one day he bunked the college and went to C.P to buy something for his family, as traveling in the bus is a long and hectic affair, he bought a newspaper. There was article which told a detailed story of a failed waste-treatment plant in Delhi. Here the waste was burnt, to provide fuel for producing electricity. The whole idea fascinated Aditya so much that he read the article 3 times, which explained in detail why the plant had failed, and what was its prime objective.

Thus, sitting in a rickety bus, the whole plan and concept of Thakur Pur energy limited was prepared by a first year student of B.com. Aditya when arrived in Thakaurpur was confident of his plan. He would burn all the waste that was dumped in the government land near thakurpur, and produce electricity from it. Funds could be easily generated from various sources, plans could be made, but first step was to convince his father and his grandfather. If they agreed, in 12 months flat he could start the plant. His grandfather was not much supportive, thought that this was too far stretched dream, but he found an ally in his father. A father, to whom he hadn’t given anything. He never became an engineer or a doctor, not even an agriculturist for that matter. Never got great score in academics and made his parents proud. He had supposed that his father would not support his not so bright son. But he not only patiently listened to him, also made several suggestions. Some points he had entirely overlooked, his father asked him to work on that.

Aditya knew his family’s support would be his biggest asset; the tag Thakur had great market value. So when he went to meet the local member of parliament of the area, he was welcomed with quite an honor and respect. But the leader was a proud and egoistic man, Aditya’s father had asked him to research fully about him, before meeting him, and Aditya now realized was a wise move. Standing in front of an old man, so powerful, and arrogant, being well prepared boosted his morale.

Ram Prasad Pandey wouldn’t have met this young man, had he not been a Thakur.He still expected that the father should have come, these rich men he thought. The formal greetings exchanged, Aditya started the conversation, "The land of the government, which is used as landfill to dump all the waste, we want it for our new project, free of cost. We will produce electricity and supply it at nominal rates to Thakur Pur…”The M.P listened to each detail of the plan for the next 15 minutes, finally when Aditya stopped, he thought about his share, no, there wasn’t any scope of any extra income coming his way, and the project looked like a castle in the air built by an overenthusiastic young kid."Not possible” was all he said, standing up signaling that the meeting was over, time wasted he thought, "And next time bring your father along, he should also enjoy your jokes.”Aditya’s face turned red."My father is not going to head the Thakur family next, I am. You also have a son who jokes that he will fill your chair one day. And then I will bring my father along so that we may all laugh, as without thakurs, no one can win a vote in thakurpur.”He spoke in his usual soft, sharp tone. The M.P was taken aback suddenly.Aditya smiled. His father’s advice had come handy; it was a common knowledge that the M.P’s son was overambitious about his political plans. The elder man spoke,"Give me time, I will do something.”Ok you got 10 days, a team is preparing the technical plans and another is working on costing, in a month I will be ready to take the possession of the land. Thank you.” He touched his feet, and left. Once inside his car, he felt bad of being so hard on a public servant. He knew he should consult over this; he went to his father immediately and narrated the whole incident. His father’s only words were,"I know you must be feeling bad about misusing the name of thakurs,but lets wait till that power plant comes, then we all will see how much right you were and how much wrong, and sometimes, you have to act harsh to get speedy results.”

The meeting with the M.P gave him lot of confidence. The research team of students of J.P. Narayanan institute of technology, a leading engineering college cum deemed university owned by the central government, had ensured him that the plans would be ready soon, and even informed him before hand, that the calorific value of the fuel will be low, so the efficiency of the plant would be affected.Aditya also asked them to prepare solutions for controlling any pollution arising out of the plant. From his own college, he knew some students, belonging to lower middle class families; one of them was Prakash sahay. He was son of a clerk, and was doing a chartered accountancy course; along with his graduation studies.Aditya knew him as a very sharp and intelligent person, with lot of problems at home. Since vacations were going on, he poached Prakash from his part time job, which he also did, to fund his studies, and entrusted him to prepare a full costing report, with help of a team of undergraduate students. His problems were taken care by Aditya. The local M.L.A. Tanya’s grandfather was easy to convince. Now was the problem of funding and government permissions, two very sensitive areas. Again he went to his very little educated father, to seek advice, which came promptly and clearly,”Funds,cant be all borne by the family, you have a 60 crore budget,marked,you already did great by employing students, till now, saving money, but you will soon need full time employees, and other operational costs. Permissions are very tough to get, of course Thakur card will help, but make sure, no unethical thing goes on in the house of Thakur.No corruption, No bribes would be paid. If they have any objection, clear it. You have tilled now put up a brave effort, think of new avenues, and ways to raise money. Avoid loans, Thakur don’t take debts.” Aditya listened to each carefully and thought about them the whole night.

Prakash had recommended that a public limited company be registered, which will help in long run to raise money. So On 12^th December on occasion of birthday of Shri R.P Thakur, Aditya’s grandfather, Thakur Pur Energy limited was formally launched by Honorable member of parliament Shri Ram Prasad pandey, who in his speech left no efforts on lauding his own efforts to get the land allotted, not only where the garbage was dumped but also 5 acres around on it. Also he had done many other works for his people, which he explained in details. The chief operating officer of the new company, Aditya Thakur came next to address the huge crowd assembled. He recalled making a speech in his school less then a year ago. This time he was absolutely ready.”Jai shri ram.” He said joining his hands."Thakurs have for long served this land and its people, with best of their capabilities and we did as much s we could for everyone in and around thakurpur,”There was a huge round of applause, and as it paused. He continued.” What better occasion it would have been to start this plant, then on the birthday of my grandfather and chairman of this company Shri R.P Thakur.Happy birthday Dadajie.”He looked at the old man, who had protested his plan, but now was beaming with joy, over this new achievement.”We have always given to thakurpur, now I ask for something. If thakupur permits,” A man stood up, a poor laborer whose daughter was wedded by the thakurs."We poor people, what can we do for our masters, whatever we have is not without your blessings. So just order us chotte sarkar,don’t insult us by asking,”Aditya moved by the spirit of the poor man, strengthened his voice,"Lot of people, including the team which made the designs have some objections to the plant, which I would like to discuss today, with you all. The garbage whatever is collected, is dumped on the government land, near the river. It stinks badly there, river gets polluted there, and already we have had many problems with mosquitoes and insects. So what we propose to do is to burn the garbage, which will boil up the water in a huge broiler, which will produce steam, which in turn will produce electricity.” He showed the less educated people, charts and plans on a huge screen ignoring the technical details and highlighting the main points of the plant.” Now we have a problem here. first the garbage isn’t as good fuel as wood or coal, but I am thinking of long term, if this plant is successful, we will have no problems, regarding waste disposal, and we will have abundant electricity to make up for the long power cuts we face, especially in nearby villages.” The people, were listening attentively, they knew that this project could change their lives, they were more confident of this project then Aditya, because they knew Thakurs know well. They won’t ever harm them, till date they had been kind and nice people.Aditya’s doing in Singapore, had also spread through servants and other sources. They looked at him with renewed respect, and a able heir to the family.meanwhile, Aditya was saying,"The quality of garbage is very important to us, because if we burn, metals, pollution and other problems will happen, He didn’t want to go into deep details,"Also paper should be avoided. Paper can be recycled.polythene and plastics are harmful if burn in large quantities, but since made from petroleum we can use it in smaller quantities. SO we will have 3 kinds of dustbins all around thakurpur.Yellow green and red. Red, for metals, green for vegetables and fruits waste and yellow for recyclable products like paper. You just have to put the garbage accordingly, I know it’s difficult, but I know Thakur Pur can do it.”Aditya at this point, remembered a meeting with a senior bureaucrat who had laughed at this idea, and said” Those are uneducated people; they won’t be able to do this dustbin thing.”Aditya in a loud tone had responded,"Those are people of Thakur Pur, they will understand.” Yes Aditya now felt, he was right, people were standing up clearing doubts, especially women folk. The technical experts answered each question precisely and in layman’s terms.Aditya continued," For this purpose, out of his MP local area development fund that has been lying unused for past 3 years, Our very humble M.P has given nod to spend 3 crores on cleaning of Thakurpur,placing dustbins at accessible points, and hiring new carts for the sweepers, He will himself along with his very able son, monitor the whole project, I wish to thank him for what he proposes to do is in great interest to thakurpur.”No one noticed except Aditya the white face of the leader, when he had said that. Right from there first meeting, he had been a tough nut to crack, and Aditya had decided to teach him a lesson, so he made this announcement without his knowledge, and now if he doesn’t do as mentioned, the public will turn against him, and with a proper system in place at, no extra cost, this will solve his financial troubles as well as fuel problems. Presently a man shouted amongst the crowds,"Pandeyjie ki jai”And the crowd echoed the same behind him,Aditya smiled, that man worked in Thakur farms, and whatever his father said,100 Rs to a poor man always helped, now Pandey was trapped.3 crores would have to be spent. Plus a couple of lakh rupees was to spent by the M.L.A to distribute free smaller dustbins of all 3 colors to each home,Aditya made a final appeal before ending his speech,” We needed around 100 crores to make this plan work, we reduced it to 60 crores,I need capital and your support, moral is more important then financial,still there is a box here put anything you can, since the fuel will be free to us, the cost of electricity will be very low, and depending on the initial costs, we may even have 1rs per unit electricity, we are already talking to the government for tax breaks. Thank you. This company is called Thakur Pur energy limited, and not thakurs energy limited; it’s not only ours, its yours too. It belongs to Thakur Pur.” He took his chair on the stage, amidst a very loud applause. A trader, who lived near the plant site, stood up, demanding to be heard. He had recently lost a son due to malaria.Aditya’s father called him up to the stage,” I don’t have money, I am already in debt to the thakurs,whose car took my son to the hospital, where fate him took him away, No I cant afford any money, and moral support, who always in need looks up to Thakur Niwas for moral support, can never offer you, but if chotte sarkar,gives me permission, this plant’s building needs lot of labor,I will do the labor 3 hours a day totally free, plus one full day when I get a holiday.” Saying this he touched Aditya’s feet.Aditya was baffled as this,couldn't find any words, he looked at his father then his chacha and grandfather, but couldn’t find any answer, just then another man,the one who had first interrupted him, stood up,” We all will do at least 3 hours of free labor,every day, for free. Please thakurjee, you only said that this plant is also ours, we want to do something.”Aditya’s grandfather knew his grandson may have showed great astuteness in creating this project, such situations, needed wisdom, which he still had to learn. He got up."I am thankful for the response you have given to this project, my grandson and this project both need you blessings.3 hours a day is fixed then, those who want to volunteer can give their names tomorrow.But."he paused showing dominance in his tone,” no one will forgo their holiday for this project, you can only work 3 hours a day, thank you.” He joined his hands and sat down, Aditya gave a sigh of relief, and his grandfather had saved him, where he had gone blank. Perhaps that’s what the family is. A support system, one goes down, other picks up, and life moves on and on.

Exactly a year later, a similar function was organized on a much larger scale, to mark the inauguration of the first electricity generating plant of Thakur Pur Energy limited. The 12 months, saw thousands of people turning up for voluntary work. The carpenter refused to accept the payment, the plumber,electrician,masons following suit, Ladies in large number turned up too, they were going to be huge beneficiaries of this project, many people who weren’t fit to work, like the senior citizens were recruited by Aditya’s grandparents, who arranged langars,and tea for the people working on site. His grandmother had pointed out,” We have enough grains and pulses, if need be, we will produce more, but I wont accept free labor from these people, they need to be given something.” So they all sat together ate food, and mostly everyone in Thakur Pur at a time of day would be there,children,eating and serving langars,the older ones, supervising work, and cooking food, The young ones, toiling hard.Aditya was moved by the sheer sight. The site looked like a mela ground, but still the work was going on very efficiently. When he came back from Delhi after his exams, he was surprised how much work had finish din past months, A young boy of 15 commented,"Bhaiya,you will see we will finish it before time, then I will have computer for me, papa has promised.” Till this time Aditya knew he was doing something large, extraordinary, but now he realized, how he was about to touch the lives of thousands of people, the thought gave him shivers. He was suddenly afraid. A few days later, man came to meet them; he was a non resident Indian, from the adjoining town."If you promise to include waste from my town and apply the same cleanliness model to my town, I will pick 30% of shares of your company.”Aditya could have jumped with joy, funds were needed fast, for the work was moving fast on the project, transmission facilities had to be created, which were going to prove costly. He composed himself and replied."You have to ask my grandfather about it." The man was puzzled at this, he had enquired well and this lad had done everything,"You are not involved in the project?” He smiled and replied," yes I am, but he is the head of the company, he has authorized me for the position I have got, I am sorry but you should to meet him.” Later when the deal was being finalized, the man, having dinner at their house, casually remarked,"perhaps Mr.Thakur you should now hand over the chairman ship to your grandson, he does good work.” To which everyone laughed. And the new shareholder looked on as if he should have known something, which he didn’t know yet.

The sheer efforts of people, a generous investor, and a good leader Aditya,all made a dream project into a reality and the first thing that was lit with the new electric plant was the computer to the little 15 year old boy, gifted by Aditya.

The college years came and were over, and Aditya had no time for enjoying his youth many felt. But Aditya had his own way of enjoying and including thousands of people in his joys.

Chapter - 15 The wedding bells ring

2008-10-02T12:53:00.000+05:30

At the farewell, Aditya reflected the past three years of his college life. He had stayed more at home then at his room, a wonderful thing to happen to his sexually deprived roommate. The electricity plant had commissioned well, loans came easily, for tax free status, they were still struggling, but negotiations were on. Sachita’s wedding had been grand and pompous. Everyone admired the way Pankhuri and Aditya had managed the event. Suhana and Mohit too had come; much to the delight of Aditya.Life looked good ahead. Farming will provide steady income, the electricity plant a passion, to achieve.Aditya was pleased to get rid of his college, and move to Thakur Pur.

After his exams were over, he decided to stay for a week at the hostel, because talks with the ministry to provide tax benefits were at advance stages. His father came too, surprisingly, because he usually relied on his brother over these matters. All of a sudden, he called up Aditya to get ready and meet him at his hotel room. Another strange thing, Aditya thought, his father never stayed in hotel while in Delhi, a relative lived, and they were always welcome there. Another surprise came his way, when he studied the name of the hotel again, Surya international. That was a new 5-star hotel that had come up in south Delhi area. Something was terribly wrong.

Surya International was majestic and a grand hotel, like 5-star rated hotels are.Aditya went up to his father’s room. The man realized that his son was tensed, asked him whether he would like scotch or something desi, both laughed. Men in Thakur family never drank liquor. "So college over, back to work with your father, right?”The father asked."Yes, I will finish this meeting and join you; I don’t want to do post graduation.” There was a pleading look in his eyes. He suspected that was what his father would coax him to do. The father looked out of the window, seeing the wonderful panoramic view of Delhi, not sure, how to say what he wanted to say, "Aditya I ask you a question, you answer me truthfully.ok?”Startled Aditya in his mind, thought f several questions that could come, but was not still prepared for what was to come,"ask”he spoke meekly."Any girl in you life?” The young man blushed and grinned,"No, papa no one, you don’t trust your son, and who filled this gossip in your ears, just tell me the name.” He spoke defensively."Sit down son,” He handed him a cup of tea, took another for himself, and sat down."I trust my son, and no one told me anything, I just asked because you people, are modern, look sachita also found a guy herself. We never objected, if you have someone tell me.”Aditya was taken aback as the fact sinked in that his father had called him for this particular discussion, but why, he was suddenly confused, why."No papa, no one, I liked a girl in my college, but that was it, nothing happened, and now I am out of that place.” His father grinned,"These things happen frequently in youth.” Aditya smiled back. He realized at the moment that his father had passed the stage at he was, that’s what he hadn’t commented on it neither asked unnecessary questions. Instead he took another line."Look Aditya your grandmother is ill, old age.doctor says keep her as happy as you can, these maybe her final days. I saw a girl, in thakurpur, if anyone I want to be my daughter-in-law it would be that girl.”Aditya was shocked to hear this. He knew something about his grandmother’s health, but wasn’t aware that the situation was so bad and this girl, marriage, what the hell was happening. His father continued."If you have a girl in mind, tell me, if you want to look for a girl yourself, tell me, but if you don’t want to, then marry the girl of my choice.” He paused, letting his words sink in Aditya’s mind, he didn’t want to pressurize his boy,” Next week you are coming to thakurpur,think about it carefully, I came here, and called you here because this had to be a private talk between us. If you say yes, we marry you; I think your grandmother would be pleased. You are her only grandson.”

Aditya stayed awake, the whole night thinking about what his father had said. Marriage never figured out in any of his future plans. He had been so stupid that he had not asked about that girl he had chosen. Not that it mattered, he thought. Finally in the morning he did what he should have done at night. He called up sachita and explained the situation to her. Prashant listened too, and commented that this served Aditya right for fixing him up in Singapore. They all chuckled. Finally Sachita spoke,"Look Adi, Papa has had a lot of experience, he has met many people, in his life, he is a better judge of people then me or you, if he has seen someone for you, and the girl must be good. Thats why he took so much pain to come to Delhi and explain it to you.”Aditya couldn’t disagree with this fact, he listened to what more she had to say,"Knowing you I know, you wont be able to find a girl for yourself, I think you should say yes, you should have a family, for the family,”, "For the family”. He repeated, said thanks to his sister, and kept the phone. The mind was made up. He called up his father, to inform him about his decision. Even while talking to him, he could just see the delighted face of his father, who assured him that his choice cant be wrong, suddenly Aditya was very curious to know more about the girl, but his father refused to say anything, without consulting the girl’s side and his own family.Aditya didn’t probe further, as this would mean he doesn’t trust his father’s choice. When he kept the phone, something struck him odd. Something which his father had said, which he wasn’t sure he understood.

The meetings kept him busy for the full week, but that thought kept nagging him. When he went to Thakur Pur he straight away went to his father, "papa who is this girl, at least shows me her picture, and where did you find such suitable girl that you are so excited.” His father proudly stated, "You know boy, am very happy, last month I had gone to sareenjie,the karyana trader, I met his daughter and way she met me, touched my heart son, touched my heart.”Aditya’s face turned pale, there was only one sareen, the karyana trader, and he had only one daughter, the son being married. The girl was Sneha Sareen.now he realized what his father had said, the other day,"I think you know that girl, son.”He stared at his father, as the man was chattering,"I called her home, just on the pretext of showing around our plant. I made her wait for an hour, before we left, so she met everyone in the family. They all agreed, and now you agreed. Sareens don’t match to our status, son, I would have liked a royal princess for you, but this girl is nice.thank you son.” Aditya knew all this; his father wouldn’t have mentioned the status point to anyone else except him. Now he had agreed to marry the girl of his choice, he will marry, but Sneha sareen,someone he knew for 14 years, but marriage, that was awkward.Even more shocking revelation came when his father said,"Sneha has agreed, and so has her family, so I have invited them to lunch tomorrow, many details of marriage can be discussed.” He smiled and left, so absorbed in his happiness not even realizing his son’s colorless face.

Aditya in his life never had felt so awkward to meet a girl, then today. Sneha, a girl with whom he had spent around 14 years in school, was now to be part of his future as well. How was he supposed to meet her? What would he say to her? Had she really agreed to marriage or was being forced? Hundreds of such questions clouded Aditya’s mind, as the guests came to his house for lunch. The way everyone, from elders to servants were looking at him, that teasing look, embarrassed him further. He went to the veranda outside, but fate, he found himself directly face to face with Sneha and her parents. They all had their lunch without a word being spoken by the boy or the girl, but they were often noticed staring at each other. The elders had their non-stop chatter patter, enjoying at my misery, Aditya thought. He was waiting to be sent away alone with Sheathe way they do in films. He already had missed the scene where the girl comes in a saree with a tray of tea in hand, asking “shaker kitni lenge.”Here the girl in question was wearing a pretty dark pink salwar kameez.Her hair which were waste length till 3 years ago, were now just reduced to shoulder length, The large jhumkes she wore looked so pretty, poor Aditya,couldn’t eat anything that day. Opportunity came much later, when finally His grandfather sent them away, because he had to discuss some important matters regarding marriage expenditure. They went in the lawns, Aditya trying to figure out what he should say, what he should not. He had never before felt so uncomfortable talking to her."So how was Mumbai?” he began,"it was ok, I like thakurpur.”She replied, looking at the ground."You got your hair cut,” He was about to say that he liked her long brown hair, but stopped."You know life is tough in Mumbai, couldn’t keep care of them, and got them cut.” She looked up, into her eyes; there was sadness in those eyes. Mumbai was certainly not ok."You really want to marry me? Did they force you.” he asked, stressing on the word really."Ofcourse,how can I marry my driver, that’s so low class.” she replied as they both laughed, remembering the last time they had met 3 years ago, he pressed further,"Tell na,truthfully.”She replied with a wicked grin on her face,"You are the most eligible bachelor in town, and so much money; I have some evil plans after we get married.” They laughed, like they had laughed as children, then as teenagers and now…Aditya felt she was still a child, not her age to get married he thought,"Cummon tell me, I am curious, why did you say yes,” This time, she sat down on the ground, beckoning him to sit down too.” Put yourself in my shoes Aditya . I didn’t had a good time in Mumbai, there was a failed relationship too, I tell you because you have been a good friend, the life there was very fast, very harsh, I wanted to come back, but I never came. This time I came, met your father, then one day he invited me here, showed me the great work you did, I was so proud of you,”Aditya realized that she was talking like she was talking to herself. He knew for a fact that she didn’t knew what she was saying, but he felt some jealousy on hearing that she had a relationship, and then on second thoughts he relied on the word failed. she was saying,"One day, papa and mama called me, they asked me to marry you, they never forced me, but there eyes were begging, you are the kind of guy, every father would want to marry off there girl too.”Aditya smiled, encouraging her to continue."I was depressed, insecure and lonely in Mumbai; I never came back because I knew if I come, I won’t ever go back. I knew that in this house, with you I will be secure and never lonely.” He held her hands and said,"Ofcourse,”She didn’t seem to mind his gesture," I said yes for myself and for my family.”Aditya looked at the grass, "Family of course”.Thinking of his own reasons for marrying a childhood friend."But Aditya I want to share something.”

He was surprised, but encouraged her to speak without fear, she spoke coyly,"I want to do post graduation Aditya, want to study more. my parents had promised me that they wont disrupt my education for marriage, but this proposal for marriage came unexpected, you are my friend, tell me what may I do, sometimes I see them feeling guilty. What should I do?” He was confused at this too, he himself not studied much, and his wife more educated then him, also he couldn’t afford to delay the marriage for 2-3 years for his grandmother might not be there at that time.” Don’t worry, lets go, they would be waiting to tease us and pull our legs.” she laughed and said,"Aditya you never told me your reason to marry me” he looked into her eyes,

"For the family.”

They went inside the house, where the elders were waiting in the courtyard. They smiled naughtily at them, and the grandfather of the boy spoke,"15^th November is the date, finalized by shastri ji, and we will erect the pandals in our lands only, lot of people will come. You people have any objections speak now."Aditya took a deep breath, and said,"I want Sneha to continue her education after marriage."Sneha looked at him, somewhat puzzled. Her parents were also tongue tied, the grandfather replied,"Ofcourse, if she can manage home and education, it’s up to her.” Sneha smiled a sense of gratitude her smile conveyed. Her father, touched by this, said;"Now only dowry matter needs to be sorted out, any particular wishes thakurjie?” Aditya saw his father was about to speak, then kept quite, letting his grandfather speak, who in turn beckoned his elder son to reply."Sareenjie, we are not saints who would say we never accept dowry from the girl’s parents. Dowry is a father’s gift to her daughter, when she leaves his home. Whatever you wish to give, give it to your daughter, not us, so the dowry is to be decided by you people. We will provide everything your daughter needs, including education as my son just said, but if you want to give her something extra, give out of love anything you wish.”

The couple as per program exchanged rings on 14^th November of the following a year. The next day they tied the nuptial knots, after a week of various customs and rituals, including the one where, poor girls were married off by the family, the day he was married.

Aditya still couldn’t come in term with the fact that he had married, Sneha .Sneha who was his first crush, her very good friend, but marriage was an altogether different ballgame. He was very excited, and nervous about his new role in the family, that of a husband.

Chapter - 16 The Honeymoon ends

2008-10-01T23:29:00.000+05:30

After marriage comes honeymoon. For Aditya it seemed that everyone around him had been bribed by various travel agents, as they were giving countless suggestions, where they should go, and the married ones were giving various tips, to the groom, how as waiting badly to see his bride in the room. He wanted to silence everyone, so he called up Sneha, and asked her opinion, where she would like to go. They had discussed it several times, in the past few months of their courtship, but couldn't find a suitable place, except Europe, but the budget was tight, and Europe was very expensive, many other locations were chosen, and cancelled for various reasons. Finally it was decided, Dubai was a highly recommended place, fitted well in the budget, and satisfied everything.

They were supposed to leave the next day, of their marriage after completing all rituals and customs. Aditya had a meeting with a government department, in about a fortnight, so the plan was scheduled accordingly. Aditya was nervous about the night the whole day, and when the moment came, He wanted to run away, but when he saw his wife, sitting coyly on the sofa, her pretty face terrified, he felt that she must be feeling worse then him. He tried to cheer her up,” Common goes and gets that glass of milk fast, like they do in the movies, and draw that ghungoot, so that I can lift it, now I am your husband you do as I say.” She looked at him, managed a smile, picked up a cushion and threw it hard on him,” Get lost.” she muttered.Then she laughed, and he laughed too, he went up to her, help her hand,”Whats wrong, you married the most stud in whole thakurpur, why afraid?” She slapped him at the back, and now laughed loudly, her natural laugh, and the hair touched his face, the hair which made him fall for her every time he looked at her. She was terrified, tired, nervous, happy, afraid all of it at the same time. Same was the case with Aditya, but he had the advantage of being in his own room, and house at the moment. For Sneha this was all new. Aditya got up, switched on the music on his system, chose sneha’s favorite song and went to freshen up himself. He came out and she went in to change into a more light dress, the whole weight of her wedding dress was increasing her tensions. AS she came out,Aditya took her by waist and they danced, and after about 20 minutes of dancing they sat down, she commented,” You are an awful dancer,” He retorted back,” I can dance better then you,” they argued like they had argued over petty things at school, the first night together and they were already arguing, the realization stuck them and they laughed,Sneha hugged him, and he felt aroused, but asked,” So I want a dozen kids to keep you busy always, otherwise my thoughts will always wonder whether you are having an affair.” She threw a pillow this time,” You are more likely to eye some other girls, and mind you am a very possessive wife, you even look into another girl’s eyes am going to kill you both and run away with my boyfriend.” This time the pillow hit back at her. The music and dance had loosened them up, she placed his face in her hands and asked,” Lets get naughty, naughty.”Aditya blushed, he never had expected Sneha to make the first move, she looked at his face, and spoke defensively,” I lived three years in Mumbai, learnt some great things, you see youth are so obsessed talking about sex these days.” He smiled, my room mate was a sex maniac, and every time I went to hostel from home, a different girl would greet me.” He did’t mention that now he regretted not listening to his sex talks properly. She kissed him, another first in this first night of their marriage. They made love, slowly and then with passing time more passionately.Sneha had heard a lot, she had more knowledge then Aditya,and when they sat up and he asked,” When can we have a child, I think dadajie is going to love our son or daughter, whosever it.” She looked at him,” What will you like, a girl or a boy?” HE replied in his simple manner,” Whatever God wishes for us, who are we to make a choice.” It was Aditya’s simplicity and calm manner that always drew him to her,Sneha touched his shoulder,”Now,is the right time, I know,”Aditya was confused, he looked in her eyes, the meaning of her words slowly sinking in, he looked into her eyes, they were demanding trust and faith, and he will give them. So they made love this time, it went on very long.

The Flight to Dubai was interesting, there were no barriers between the newly wed couple, and they were thrilled to discover new land, and to discover each other all over again. One benefit of remaining a virgin till marriage, Aditya thought was that the pleasure is immense, you were holding this so long and when you unleash it the force is unimaginable. He wondered whether his former roommate will ever enjoy his first special night as much as he himself did.

Days passed by, and they enjoyed every moment of their splendid honeymoon, both indoor and outdoor. On the 5^Th day They were both standing in the 6^Th floor balcony attached their room, admiring the view, the sun rise, looking so warm and lovely in the Arabic settings, just as their lovemaking last night had been,” Here is your tea, am going to the toilet, would be back in a jiffy.” She kissed him, and left, he picked up the newspaper, from the table, and leaned by the railing, sipping his tea and going through, what was happening in India, and the rest of the world. As he was turning a page, his hand struck his other hand, splashing the tea all over him, the boiling liquid,touching his skin, made him groan, and all of a sudden he jumped, with pain, but sadly, he lost his balance, and the gravity pulled him down, all 6 floors, traveled within seconds.

Aditya was immediately rushed to the nearest hospital, where he was kept under observations for next 24 hours.Sneha, all alone in the foreign land didn’t even know what to do, she was already sick and in deep shock, so doctors informed their family, and admitted her for treatment too. Fate had been crueler to the wife than the husband, one doctor remarked. When Aditya gained consciousness,he felt his head very heavy,too many pipes and machines near him,his vision was blurred,he couldn’t speak, but could hear and feel things near him. He muttered, his beloved’s name, the nurse attending him heard him, and called the doctor. The doctor was a young pass out from the medical school and his superior was on leave today. He could feel the pain of the young man being himself married recently. The best thing was to tell the truth straight away, but what about the second part, he thought. He will give the worst news first.”Sir”, he remarked,” You had fallen off the balcony, and fell on a chair, you legs were badly damaged so we had to………we had to….cut your right leg.” The doctor felt a sigh of relief and a pang of pain at the same time. The patient had to be immediately informed about his current situation, the police were waiting to make inquiries, and the patient had to be briefed.” You are also suffering head injuries, and the police are waiting outside, do you want to meet them?” The doctor felt sadder, as he had to do this many a times in his career. The confused man nodded, and a policeman came in the hospital room, showed his verification cards, as if the patient could check them.Aditya couldn't’t understand properly what the man w as saying, but he thought they might think Sneha had pushed him, So he snatched the notepad from the policeman’s hand and wrote, Sneha, toilet, Tea, hot, fell.It was’t difficult for the policeman to understand these words, he had already formed this possibility, other then murder or a suicide attempt. The doctor had believed this theory and now the patient had confirmed the theory. Open and Shut case. He went away, wishing the patient a speedy recovery.

Aditya slept again and when he awake he saw Sneha at his side, the oxygen mask was removed, but the machines of different types were working, showing various numbers Aditya couldn't understand.Sneha on the verge of tears, she was already crying non-stop but had decided to put up a brave face in front of him. But as she saw him, fresh tears rolled out once again and she spoke,” You will be fine, doctor says some infections have got into your body, you will be fine.” He knew at that moment that his life was numbered, It was just a feeling, he didn't share this with Sneha, and spoke, you remember last night in the restraint,” He was finding difficult to speak but Sneha understood he was referring to discussion they had with another Indian couple who had come down for their honeymoon. The guy had asked his wife,” If I die before you, promise me you will marry again.” The gal had smiled back and asked for the same promise from him. They both asked Aditya and Sneha and both of responded immediately that they wont ever marry again, sparking off a romantic night that went on till the dawn.Sneha came back to present and replied, as if reading his thoughts,” I wont marry again, and you will get all right.” She sobbed, she was so alone, she had never harmed anyone, how could fate do this to them.” Why Sneha, you are so young and family will take care for your second marriage.” Even and epee pain, all he could think of was his wife’s happiness.”No, I wont she shouted at him.” He held waved his hand over her beautiful hair, he wanted to make love with her, and he realized that even he walked out of the hospital alive, his leg had been cut down till his knees, love making would never be the same again.” Why not Sneha? What wrong in it?” She took his hand in hers and made him touch her stomach.” For the family.” Her replied.Aditya was shocked at hearing this sudden revelation.”I want to go back.now.”Was all he said.Sneha known Aditya.He had made up his mind? A helicopter was chartered, and Aditya with severe internal injuries was shifted to Delhi and from Delhi, he way supposed to move to Thakurpur, the next day.” But his temperature rose and shifting was not possible. He called for his father, and as the man came to him, he cried,”Papa, I never did anything for you, please forgive me, I never did anything for the family, I never excelled in anything.Didn't even increased the land holdings as every generation of Thakur have done, and he sobbed,” His father, couldn't control his tears and spoke,” Son, you never did any of those things you just mentioned. I always wanted my son to be an engineer, but no you never even studied you B.com properly, but what you did for your family, I am so proud of you my son, you helped your father in marrying his daughter, when people congratulate me for your success, at the power plant, my joys don’t see any boundaries, you did a lot for me Aditya,lot for the family, just get well son, I need my son….”But Aditya couldn't hear the rest of it. The pulse rate moved very fast and then dropped to zero. The nurse came to confirm it. Sneha who was waiting outside, ran inside, Shouted, cried,”Aditya, come back, come back Aditya, for the family…”

But this time he did not listen.