Yuhn Hota Toh Kya Hota- Rikara FF

Chapter 19

"Madam, this is Mumbai, even God is on a tight schedule here." said a voice behind Gauri.

Gauri looked at the man who probably heard her talking about the jhaanki leaving. The man seemed quite young, maybe in his mid-twenties.

"Are you new here? You look lost." he asked.

After the experience of the past few days, Gauri grew suspicious easily. 

"And why should I tell you? Who are you?" Gauri asked, furrowing her brows. 

"I am Dandi. You look like you are from outside?" he asked again.

"So what if I am? I'm not scared of anyone." Gauri replied, still suspicious. 

Dandi laughed. "I am sure you are not scared of anyone. But the city might be scared of you. You look like a decent girl. If you need any help, please do ask." 

Gauri wasn't too sure of this stranger. On the other hand, she was lost as to where to go. So she asked for directions to Majmudar's address. Dandi obliged readily, and explained how to reach there. 

"Thank you for your help" Gauri replied, genuinely grateful this time. 

"No problem. If you need any more help in this city, then you can find me at the Shiv Mandir. Its not far from the temple market you are looking, for a job. See you around", and saying so Dandi departed. 

Gauri followed the directions and after taking a long bus ride through Mumbai traffic, she finally reached the Maatarani temple, where Majmudaar ji had his idol clothing business. 

"Ah yes! Tiwary had told me about you. You see, I can always do with extra hands on the business, but currently I cannot give you a permanent position in the business. Right now, we got a heavy order for idol clothes from a temple in Nasik, so I could use extra help. You can start working now, with the rest of them. But I'm sorry, this is a temporary arrangement. I will pay you on a daily basis as long as you work on this order. Other than that, currently there is nothing I can do for you." explained Majmudaar ji, when Gauri explained him the situation.

Gauri was disappointed that there was no permanent job available. But considering this was Mumbai, and she saw for herself how busy people were here, she realized this was her best bet. She stepped inside the workshop, placed her small case with the work bags of the workers lying in the corner. Majmudaar directed her to a group working on clothes for Radha Krishna idols as Holi was approaching. Gauri tied her dupatta around her waist, joined her hands and looked up to seek Shankarji's blessings silently, and then got down to work with the ladies on the task in hand. 

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*Flashback starts*

"Soumya, don't cry. So what if we don't have a father to take us to the circus. You have me, your elder brother. Come, I'll take you the circus." said Soumya's elder brother.

"And get me ice-cream too, Bhaiyaa?" said Soumya wiping her tears. 

"Ice-cream and cotton candy." replied her brother, with a smile. Soumya smiled and held her brother's hand as they went out to the circus. 

*Flashback ends*

"I wish you were here now Bhaiyaa, your sister misses you a lot." Soumya cried silently.

It had been over a quarter of an hour. Soumya had shut herself up in the girl's washroom after what had happened in the college corridor. 

Soumya didn't remember her father at all, he had passed away when Soumya was an infant. She had seen old photos of him, but she didn't have any recollections of him at all. As far she could remember, her brother was her father. Their mother was hospital nurse. After the untimely demise of her father, her mother had to provide for both of them. Her maternity leave had barely finished when she started working overtime to provide for them. Her elder brother was almost a decade older to her. As their mother was busy working to earn a living for the three of them, her elder brother took upon the responsibility of home. He would take care of a baby Soumya. Her brother was a mere child of eleven but he learnt how to cook, to make some porridge for his baby sister. Soon, he took on all responsibilities for Soumya, from getting her dressed for playschool, to making her tiffin, to helping her in completing her homework. In his affection for his sister, he often overfed Soumya, but Soumya loved to eat and would quickly slurp down whatever he placed in front of her. Girls in Soumya's school joked about the round girl with pigtails. Sometimes Soumya would cry and complain to her brother, but he taught her to value her self-worth, and not be bogged down by stereotypes. Her brother was her source of confidence, positivity and motivation to carry on. 

But one day, some rich snobs were drinking and driving after midnight, and didn't care to see where they went. They violated the signal, and Soumya's brother who was returning home after a tiring day of work, was mowed down by their car. He was pronounced dead on arrival. Those rich kids were below the age of eighteen, so they got sent to juvenile prison for three years. Soumya's life changed that day. It was like something extinguished. She forgot how to smile. Her mother who had been working hard all these years to see her kids grow up, who thought she could maybe finally retire because her elder son was earning well now, lost everything that night. Husband dead, son dead, she only had Soumya. Mother and daughter became each other's support. Soumya was a good student. So her mother encouraged her to move to Mumbai, to get transferred to a better college and maybe moving to a new city, new surroundings would help her recover as well. Thats when Soumya moved to Mumbai, to Rudy's college, to Kalyani Dadi's house. Soumya's mother was still in Pune; she could not get her job transferred until the year was over. 

Although Soumya already had a healthy appetite, she started eating more to get over her depression. Her brother used to make delicious paranthas, and she would try to make paranthas like him, and eat them with a relish, because it reminded her of her brother. 

Soumya never let anybody's opinion on her weight affect her. But today it did. To hear Rudy say that she was not good enough to be loved, because she was fat, was terrible. She knew that she should probably judge him for being so shallow. Instead, here she was shedding endless tears because somebody had hurt her, broken down the confidence she had build for herself over the years. She missed her brother terribly. But Soumya realized that her brother would be disappointed to see that Soumya was shedding tears over a guy who did not deserve it, that she neglected all that he had taught her about self-worth. Soumya cleaned her face and looked in the mirror. No, she wouldn't cry anymore. After all, why should she let somebody else's notion of perfection deteriorate her sense of self-worth. 

Soumya stepped out of the washroom confidently, with her head held high. Only to see Rudy approaching from the other side. 

Rudy caught up with her. "Listen Soumya...." he began apologetically.

"I'm not interested. Unlike you, I have better things to do in my life." cut in Soumya, without looking at him. 

"Better things to do?" Rudy asked 

Soumya had never been petty in her life. But today she wanted to be. She thought of those rich brats who snuffed out her brother's life. She thought of Rudy, living off his family wealth and humiliating her in front of the entire college. 

"You see, unlike you, some of us don't have tonnes of money earned by our parents to survive on. Some of us have to work hard at our studies. Some of us have to become nerds to get scholarships, because we don't have a treasury to fund our education. Some of us cannot afford to be dumb and jobless." replied Soumya, almost condescendingly. 

"Dumb and jobless? Living off my family wealth? So thats what you think of me?" said Rudy sounding both angry and hurt.

"I admit I was mistaken about you. You are nothing but a spoilt brat wasting away the hard earned money of his family, on his foolish dumbbells and protein shakes. You are not my takkar ka ishqbaaz." and saying so Soumya left from there. 

Rudy was dumbfounded. For the first time, he felt that someone showed him the mirror, showed him his true worth. 

P.S. For those of you who have not watched IB. In the first 50 or so episodes, Soumya was shown to be remembering her brother who had died recently. She meets Rudy for the first time in the hospital where Shivaay is admitted after being poisoned. She consoles him as she had lost her brother, and gives Rudy a thread her brother used to wear, so that it will help Rudy's brother, Shivaay win against death. 

So I have built upon that angle. Hope Rumya readers like it!