LITOST

~ REGRET ~

She had been taught to stand up for what was right; to fight against what was wrong. But it would be better if she had learnt that there are times, when there is nothing which is absolutely wrong, there are only different levels of right. That the definition of right and wrong is subjective and relative, that it could vary as per circumstances and perceptions. And that sometimes, doing a right thing, because the need for correction is more, would be doing a greater wrong.

She was proud of who she was, one who could always choose to do the right thing, even by her loved ones. And yet, each time she made that choice, she was questioned for her love. She never thought it fair though she always sided with the one who needed her more and not the one she loved more.

Cause love comes slow and it goes so fast....

Her mother, she was her world and her universe, her teacher and guide, friend and mentor. She had loved and been loved so much by her mother that she never missed not having a father, not by a great deal. But once she learnt who her father actually was, she had transferred all her longing for that absent figure in her life to him. It had been her mission to reunite her parents and give their love the haven it deserved and had been thrilled when her mother agreed and her father concurred. She had not known that it was to be a repetitive and an ongoing process.

Each time there was a difference of opinion between them, a variance in viewpoints regarding which daughter was right, or an aberration in Ragini's life, her parents separated. And each time, she took her mother's side. But she saw her mother weaken with each battle, till her mother seemed to give up, leaving it to her daughter to fight for her, which she always did.

But now she was sure no longer, she did love her mother and was still willing to side with her, but somewhere, amidst all those battles she fought, she realised that she could be doing it more out of a sense of duty, rather from a feeling of love.

Cause love comes slow and it goes so fast...

Her father, whom she had missed and wanted so desperately through all her growing up years, turned out to her neighbour; her best friend, Ragini's father. They wanted to set their parents' lives right and had been deliriously happy when they had their complete family. She had basked in the much sought after love of a father while Ragini adored her Maa.

It had not lasted long. 

When Ragini betrayed her, her father disowned them. She gave up Laksh for her sister and her father gave up on her, believing the falsehoods of her sister. She had a brief respite when Ragini's truth was revealed and her father accepted that he was wrong. It had not lasted long, this time either, for when Laksh betrayed Ragini, she was made to choose him over the love of her life; she did and walked out of the wedding mandap, with her father, holding his hand and in all her bridal finery. When he had demanded her to swear by him that she would never accept her husband, she did, as always, without a murmur. 

And when the circumstances demanded that she side by her husband and his family, she had been disowned, yet again. She had to beg him, on her knees, in a public place, to be once again accepted as his daughter. She did not mind, he was her father, after all.

It did not end there, when he had to choose between his mother's dictate and what was right, he did not hesitate and her mother paid the price. She had, with her usual zeal set out on her mission to reunite both families; hers and Sanskaar's, against Sanskaar's explicit objections. She knew how that ended, both the families reunited and she once again walking out on her husband, with her father beside her.

She had her father with her again, but was not sure how long that love would last.

Cause love comes slow and it goes so fast....