Prejudice

2. Facing The Reality

Pranav raised his head and looked at the beautiful decor.
His home, Charu Villa, was lined up with long flower garlands, from top to bottom. The fairy lights were arranged, that would glow up the huge villa at night.
The villa was ready to welcome his bride, decked up and dolled up, just like a bride itself.

He was pulled out of his thoughts as the car slowly approached the gates. He was instantly on alert mode.
The car stopped near him and he opened the back door, to let his father step out.
Gautam Agarwal, a man in his early fifties, had an evident aura around him. Authority and power radiated from him. His single gaze was enough to put everything around him to silence.

Pranav bent down to touch his feet and felt powerful fingers, threaded through his hair. He stood up with a small smile and Gautam walked inside the villa, without another glance to his son. Pranav sighed in relief.

Licking his lips, he braced himself for other relatives that followed in eight different cars.
He was there to extend a warm welcome. He touched the feet of every elder and hugged every one of his age. A few kids received a small hug and a chocolate from him.

Geeta Bua and Shyama Bua were the only close relatives. They were ecstatic at the news of Pranav's wedding.

After the relatives were offered welcome refreshments and assigned their rooms, Pranav walked to his own chamber.

His room or chamber took up half of entire fifth floor.
The chamber was divided in a spacious living room, and two bedrooms. The master bedroom had an attached closet. There was a small kitchenette, furnished with a refrigerator and an oven. The balcony was large enough to have a large seating arrangement that could be used as a bed for two. The entire balcony was covered with creepers of Jasmine. The creepers had, with time, climbed and covered the entire frame of the balcony. Pranav had made sure to give a path to the creeper, and now the healthy creeper was covered with white flowers, that appeared no less than stars on the dark background.
The jasmine always made sure to give away the soothing smell to calm down the human. His balcony had an arrangement to cover itself, with hard glass, on all sides. When entirely closed, the balcony would appear like a bedroom with glass walls and glass roof. He would sleep in that arrangement on rainy nights, looking at the heavy downpour, that would fall in his direction, but could not drench him.

The other half of the chamber, was a study room.
It was fairly furnished with a large oak desk and a couple of leather chairs. There was a seating arrangement for four and a coffee table.
The entire study room was void of any paintings or any wall art, except for a large photo frame.
The large frame was mounted on the wall, and Pranav had a habit of looking at it, while he leaned on the desk. He would look at the picture of the woman, smiling down at him, and would converse with her in his mind, for hours together.
The woman in the frame had seen him in every emotion or heard his every problem. She had maintained her smile at his every achievement and her smile had provided him courage in his every trouble.

It was a large room, that had a staircase, leading to Pranav's private bird collection. It was an open area, where he would nurse and pet the birds. These birds were mainly found along the streets in injured condition. He would bring them home, treat them and keep them safe and alive.
No one, other than his brother and a close friend, Siddharth, was allowed there.
His father knew about his passion towards birds, but neither did he appreciated it nor objected it. According to his father, it was a harmless hobby, but waste of time. But he never uttered a word, knowing, that, Pranav can't see anyone suffering, after his mother passed away.

Pranav was thirteen, when his mother, Charu, left him with his eight year old sibling. She tried her best to fight against cancer, but finally gave up. Pranav was in his early teens, when, it was a hard blow for him.
He kept her alive, in a picture.