MishBir: Someone You Love(d)

38|| Before

“ABIR!!!!”

His head shot up, eyes widening as the familiar voice he had been craving to hear called him and he finally saw her standing at the top of the staircase. Nothing much about her had changed, physically. Her hairs had grown a few inches though, but she was proudly wearing the same spectacles he had gifted her. Sure she looked more firm in her approach, and a tad bit more confident than he had seen her last, but she still looked the same Mishti he had dreamt of every night for the past months.

For one split second, he was almost sure he was dreaming again. But then, Parul Maasi started crying in joy and Nidhi Mami and Ketki shared this little moment of ecstasy, and Nanko who was standing few steps behind Mishti had a sense of calm and relief on his face, and Nanu was smiling - it was a matter of just few seconds but the loud gasps and squeals and delight told him crystal clear that he wasn't dreaming.

And then, in that moment of epiphany, his face broke into a smile before he breathed her name out, "Mishti".

Mishti waited with baited breaths for few seconds, trying to understand his reaction on seeing her - until the hazy disbelief in his eyes turned into happy relief, and at that, without caring about anybody and anything, Mishti rushed down the stairs, her feet having a mind of their own and her heart beating too fast.

But for Abir, watching her run down the stairs was another wake up call because it was in that second, he realized his mother was standing before him, now facing Mishti with a deep seated frown. In his line of vision, the three of them were in a diagonal straight line, with Meenakshi standing between Abir and an approaching Mishti - much like the reality of their lives.

“Do you think she will ever forgive me? Is there a possibility she will learn to love herself again and not think about everything that happened?”, Abir asked, his voice almost a whisper as his grip on his phone tightened, while he waited for Abhay to answer.

“Now that is a responsibility you have to take Mr. Rajvansh. The question isn't if she will forget this one day, of course she will. That's how human mind works. Pushing away our saddest memories into our subconscious is a defence mechanism all of us live with. As we continue to make new memories, the old ones shift, fade away in our conscious mind. The catch here is making new memories and not keep scratching the old wounds. A word is not just a combination of letters, it has a meaning, we understand that meaning. So for your mother to casually throw “home breaker” on Mishti will always remind her of the memories she needs to let go, and then, she wouldn't be really able to. Jasmeet Ji calling her “Muhboli” always reminds her she isn't their own - major reason why she couldn't accept the family as family, and saw it as a debt. Kuhu reminding her of her parents constantly refreshed her abandonment issues. You used all of this as a cocktail mix to push her away - ended up breaking her spirit. So the question isn't if she can move on, the question is would you people let her?”

In the next flash, Abir jerked and took hastened steps forward meeting Mishti midway, such that even now the three were in a straight line, but Abir was standing between Mishti and Meenakshi, his tall frame shielding petite Mishti from Meenakshi's direct vision completely.

Mishti was a little confused, but mostly happy that he met her midway, and driven by her overwhelming emotions, she ended up embracing Abir in the drawing room itself, oblivious of all the pair of eyes on them. Abir's hold tightening on her waist only pushed away the reality some more.

For most part in life, we learn how emotions are to be felt - abstract nouns you see - not seen, not heard, but felt in the deepest corners of your heart. Today, for the people standing as audience for Mishti and Abir, all of that theory felt nonsense.