Prithvi... [Vol 2]

Chapter 45

Sankatmochan staggered drunkenly along the lonely road in the middle of the night. When he lurched too much, he banged against a tree by the roadside, and giving up the effort to reach home, he sank down under its canopy. 

In any case, he didn't want to go home….didn't want to face his friend, knowing that he was responsible for destroying that precious warm light in his young eyes. 

Earlier in the evening, he had fruitlessly struggled to talk to a coldly unresponsive Prithvi about it, continuously swearing that he had been fully drunk and stupid when he'd made the phone call, and that he had completely exaggerated the seriousness of the events.

But just when he was going full throttle, Prithvi had turned away and quietly said, "You're most truthful and least imaginative when you're drunk. And if it was not true, she could have denied it, but I only heard justifications, and her impressive plans for both of us," he said bitterly. "She could have said just once that I had misunderstood everything. The matter would have ended there. Why didn't she say it, Mochi?"

He could have handled that last question…but the subdued torment that he heard in it was too much to bear. He'd tried to clear his throat and begin again, but without turning around, Prithvi had raised a hand very slightly and then walked away. The long-standing, forceful gesture had been enough to strike him dumb.

What would he do now…. How would he face Nandini….

But he knew he would have to talk to her soon. He would help her in whichever way needed to win back Prithvi. He had been instrumental in creating this mess, and he would help clear it up, no matter what it took.

*****************

Nandini sat alone in the temple, looking silently at the idol of the god. She had come to shut the doors for the evening, as her grandfather had felt unwell and returned home and Sankatmochan hadn't shown up all day. But the peace in the shrine was so soothing that she had found herself sitting down in a corner.

How had everything shattered like this…..

That terrible evening after Prithvi had stormed out in anger from her house, Sankatmochan had guiltily told her everything that he'd told Prithvi on the phone.  In a way, it had been a relief to know that he at least knew the reason for her misgivings. It was true that she'd succumbed to the pressure temporarily. But most of her nervousness about their relationship had almost evaporated when she had seen him at the door of the house. And his furious solution of severing all ties had been enough to wipe out her already wavering resolution.

Mochi's hopeful words had put in some courage into her, but those positive feelings had evaporated long ago. She was feeling increasingly sure that she would never be able to repair her relationship with Prithvi. Since yesterday, she had tried everything humanly possible to convince him to listen to her just once. But he wasn't willing to budge an inch from his adamant stance. Years seemed to have passed since he had looked at her with anything but aversion. She had rushed to the terrace in the morning to wait for him when he'd come for the Suryanamaskar, but he was already leaving when she had reached and had been utterly indifferent to her pleas to stop.

Having learnt from Sankatmochan that he had left for college, she had missed her classes to search for him but had failed to see him in the sprawling campus. And every single time she'd approached him outside the house, he either shut her out, walked away or looked through her with terrifying casualness.

It was frightening enough to worsen the doubts that had never fully left her heart. She had opened her soul to him from the start. Given him as much freedom over her body as conscience permitted.  In return, he had reluctantly given her a miniscule spot in his world, and now he was taking that away in anger.