A Right Turn

12.

"Tumhe esa lagta hoga."Durga Prasad retorted. His pride didn't allow him to concede any ground to Lakshya. 

"Accha! Toh puchiye aapne bade bete se ki woh life main kya karna chata tha. Ussne aapke dar se commerce leli jabki woh engineer banna chata tha." Lakshya revealed.

"Lakshya! Stop it." Aadarsh shouted. He had never thought that this secret will be revealed. He had told this to Sanskar and Lakshya in confidence.

"Wahi toh kar raha hun bhai. I'm just stopping it. Inki dictatorship pe full stop lagane ki kosish kar raha hun. Han toh main kahan tha? Han aapne aapne bete se jabardashti commerce karai kyun ki ghar bada beta toh warish hota hai. Usse hin toh family business main aana hin hoga. Aakhir aage jaake sab kuch usse hin toh sambhalna hai. Family business ke alawa woh aapni life main aur kuch nahi chaha sakta." Lakshya continued. Aadarsh was trying to stop him but he had made up his mind to say everything that was inside his heart but never had the courage to say.

"Aaj mujhe koi chup nahi kara sakta." Lakshya said and then turned towards Parineeta and continued. "Ye aapki badi bahu, jisse aap apne bete ki patni nahi balki dahej ka ticket bana kar laye the iss ghar main." Parineeta perked up at this. This was news for her. All these years no one had told her anything. She was staring at Aadarsh for answers. She did not know what the questions were but she needed answers. She did not listen to what else Lakshya was saying, her constant attention was on her husband. Did he have any self-respect? She thought.

Unknown to her state, Lakshya continued with his truth bombs. "Aap ko ek achi bahu nahi, unke dad ki sau acre ki zamin chahiye thi." He then went to her and brought her attention towards him and apologized to her. "Sorry bhabi, par jo sach hai so sach hai aur sach ko ignore nahi kiya ja sakta." Annapurna tried to stop him but asked her not to waste her energy in vain as today he would only speak the truth. Then he moved on to the next person.

"Aaj sirf aap ki wajah se ye family photo complete nahi hai." Sujata was close to tears at the mention of her son. She closed her eyes to control herself. Ram did not show his emotion outwardly but he was breaking from inside.

"Yaha ek aur photo bhi thi." Lakshya continued. "Mera bhai, mera best friend Sanskar. Jo aapka bhatija aur mere chacha chachi ka eklawta beta tha. Kya galati thi uski? Ek choti si toh wish thi aap usse tak pura nahi kar paye. Uska woh haal kar diya ki woh hum sab se humesha humesha keliye dur hogaya. Ussne suicide nahi kiya tha, aapne mara tha usse. You drove him to it." Sujata could not take it anymore and rushed to Sanskar's room to find some comfort there. She maintained his room as he had left. In these five years, that room had become her source of comfort.

Meanwhile, in the hall, Annapurna had managed to stop Lakshya finally. Then he declared that he was leaving the house as he could not bring himself to stay there.

"Maa, itne saalon se main ye sab nahi keh paraha tha kyun ki mujhe ye ayash aur aaram chchin jane ka dar tha. Par aaj maine inka asali chera dekh liya hai aur ab main yahan nahi reh sakta. Mera vivek mujhe isski anumati nahi deta. I can't do this anymore, maa." Lakshya informed and proceeded to leave. Annapurna tried to stop him but Durga Prasad ordered her to let him go. He was confident that Lakshya would come crawling back to him in a few when he would need more money to survive. Lakshya then went from there to go badi and tell the truth to Kavya about everything. He would start everything with a clean slate.

After Lakshya's departure, Ram went after his wife. He found her going through Sanskars stuff for the nth time.

"Sujata" Ram called her trying to get her attention. She looked at with tears and disappointment in her eyes and turned her attention back to Sanskar's stuff. Ram sat opposite her also looking at his son's stuff. Since Sanskar went away from their lives, their relationship had developed some frost around it. After some time, Sujata broke the silence.