A Right Turn

7.

When the Maheshwaris reached home, Durga Prasad did not spare anytime in lashing out on Lakshya. Shekhar's disapproval and that girl, Kavya's smug face were playing in his mind. He never felt more insulted in his life. All his life, he had had to gain respect in society. Seeing his father so furious, Lakshya decided to be proactive in asking for forgiveness but Durga Prasad was so enraged that even listening to his voice, he turned around to slap him but stopped in the nick of time.

"Dekho aapne bade bhai ko, uski wajah se humara sar humesa garv se uncha hota hai. Aur tumhari wajah se aaj sari biradri ke samne humari pagdi uthal gayi. Lakshya se kab Lucky ban gaye, hume toh pata hin chala." Durga Prasad shouted at Lakshya.

"Papa-" Lakshya started but he was cut off.

"Bas, aur kuch nahi sunna tumse. Sab dhyan se sunle, Lakshya ki shaadi Ragini se hogi. Usse hin iss ghar main bahu aur Lakshya ki patni ka darja milega."Durga Prasad announced.

"Aagar issne esa nahi kiya toh isske saath bhi wahi hoga jo Sanskar ke saath hua tha." Durga Prasad declared. Everyone was stunned at this declaration while Sujata maintained a stoic face. This was such a harsh punishment.

Then he turned towards Ram and Sujata and continued, "Ram, Sujata aaj tum logon ko pata chalega ki Durga Prasad Maheswari humesha insaaf karta hai. Jo galti karega usse saja bhi milegi, chahe woh tumhara beta ho ya mera." After he finished, he left for his room. Everyone was looking at Lakshya guilty.

In Bose house...

Kavya happily came to Shobha and hugged her and informed her of what happened at the Gadodia house. Sobha was angry at them that she told her if she knew what had happened twenty-five years ago she would not have helped those Gadodias.

"Maa!" Sharmistha opposed.

"Kyun nahi? Swara ko bhi toh issi umar main bataya tha aur ussne mujhe bataya ki Kavya curious ho rahi hai." Shobha insisted.

"Par maa Swara ki baat aur thi. Uss samay mazburi main batana pada tha." Shomi reasoned.

"Kyun Maa, aagar di ko aap bata sakte ho toh mujhe kyun nahi?" Kavya questioned. Finally, Sharmistha relented and Shobha started the story.

She told that both very close. Even the terrace didn't have a partition wall. Sobha and Parvati were best friends. Both of them didn't bait each other. Sharmistha and Sekhar were childhood friends. Both the families were so close that no one noticed when Sharmistha and Sekhar's friendship transformed into love. Then one day they got to know that Sharmistha was carrying his child. Sobha was really scared as she knew that Parvati never approve of that relationship and this would potentially sour the relationship of the two families. But Sekhar promised her that he would convince his parents so they trusted him. But when Sobha went to talk to Parvati about their children's marriage, she insulted her publicly in front of the whole badi. Shekhar also denied having any relationship with Sharmistha and that was the start of the sour relationship between the two families. She married Sharmistha off to another guy.

Then, Sharmistha continued the story. She had gotten married to another man but not form a peaceful relationship. In the first year, Swara was also born. He knew about there being another man before marriage who was actually Swara's biological father. He made him bitter towards her but he treated Swara as his own daughter. This made her want to repair her relationship with him but nothing seemed to work. Then after four years of marriage, she met Shekhar again. He was in some delusion which she still doesn't understand. It was days before his marriage was announced. She was depressed about her deteriorating marriage and thought there was nothing left in it to salvage. Shekhar offered her comfort that she had been craving in her marriage. That was definitely a lapse in judgment. He had assured her that he will stand up for her this time, but a few days later she got to know that he had married someone else. Then few days after that she found out that she was pregnant with Kavya.