CastAway - The Loner

Family

Prof. Bakshi had been operated and he was now having his post-operative phase. Shravan had cancelled everything during the surgery phase and been next to his mentor. Kavitha had felt a twinge of despair now that Prof. Bakshi was on the way to recovery the students would go back to him and she and Shravan would be back to their routine days. She had seen a change in Shravan and off late he and that girl Suman seem to have developed good bonding. She has started understanding his unsaid words more compared to the others. Thinking of Suman , she realized that she kind of did not like the girl's lifestyle but she liked her . She knew she had a steady boyfriend, and she is kind of lost in the glitzy cover of the city but somewhere her heart is still in place. She was different when she was with her, she was like a lost child. She had an innocent smile playing on her face when she played with the colored threads or when she was in the kitchen with Kavitha excitedly checking out her every move. She smiled at the thoughts of how Suman had grown to be a part of their family in a short time.

Shravan and Bunty had been to Prof. Bakshi for quite some time now and Kavitha was starting to get worried. Mrs. Bakshi had shown lot of change in her attitude towards Shravan but Devika was still the same. Shravan's students had turned up early today but Shravan for a change was late today as he was visiting Prof. Bakshi and checking on his recovery. Suman was careful not to miss classes after Shravan was upset seeing her lost focus. She was somehow not happy with the fact that of all people Shravan was unhappy with her. She had gone out of the way to ensure she completed all pending tasks and even assisted Shravan with some of his experiments. Shravan had finally smiled at her and extended his hand and congratulated her. Suman had been overjoyed that day, she had not only pleased Shravan which was a difficult job but also felt a sense of achievement. She noticed that her Kavitha aunty was unusually anxious today and kept walking up and down along the patio. On asking Kavitha was hesitant but finally decided to spill the beans to her favorite person in the group. She told Suman about Devika's animosity towards Shravan and the reason for the same. She was worried what she would do to Shravan. She would have gone with Shravan on the pretext of checking up on the old man's health, but Shravan did not allow, and she also had some guests coming to visit her hand-loom shop. This customer was super important as Kavitha was expecting a large corporate order from them hence she decided to stay back but now she was in two minds thinking whether she should leave everything and go. Hearing her dilemma Suman decided to help her and she pulled up her scooty to go towards professor's house. She had just gone 100 meters when she noticed Shravan pillion riding with Kanchan. Kanchan revealed that Bunty's bike had broken down and since she was returning from her tuition, she saw them stranded so she had given Shravan a lift while Bunty was at the repair shop.

Kavitha was s relived finally that Shravan was back, and she rushed down the tiled stairs of her terrace to meet him and make sure for herself that indeed Devika had not bullied him. She had stepped on the first two steps when she put her front foot in a wrong angle and fell twisting her knee. All the people including Kanchan rushed to her. After some time, Shravan and the others were able to move Kavitha to a nearby couch but she was in too much pain. Jhumri had got a huge bowl of salted hot water to help Kavitha dip her feet in it. Kavitha looked very tensed as she had an important meeting, and she is about to miss it. Immediately Saheb stepped in as he had a small car and they managed to take Kavitha to the handloom store. Kanchan, Suman and Shravan stayed back at home although Shravan wanted to accompany Kavitha, but she knew Shravan has been very tensed because of Kavitha so he will more of a distraction than support. When Kavitha came back after the discussions she had a happy shock. Suman and Shravan were chatting with each other as Shravan was happily smiling and Suman was mixing besan (a batter used to fry small fritters in oil). Shravan was saying something, and Suman was laughing holding her stomach. At a point Suman lifted a finger from the watery yellow mixture and smeared Shravan's nose and then kept the bowl on the floor and ran into the garden outside as Shravan also dipped a finger in the yellow liquid and ran behind her. As Suman moved out of his reach, Shravan turned opposite and finally caught Suman by her waist and pulled her to his chest and smeared her nose with the sticky batter as Suman struggled to free herself still laughing. Kavitha had tears in her eyes as she looked on. She thought of the irony, they looked a perfect cute couple while they were anything but perfect. She wanted Suman to connect to Shravan's innocent soul and love the person Shravan was while Suman on the other hand loved perfection on the outside or else she would not have chosen the flamboyant Casanova VJ as her boyfriend. Kavitha also realized that she could not hold Suman responsible for not connecting with Shravan because that is the norm and she wished her all happiness in the world for bringing the beautiful smile on her son's face. She quickly fished out her phone from her pocket and clicked the picture of a smiling and happy Shravan and Suman which will be etched in her memory or ever.

Soon Bunty and Saheb stepped next to Kavitha helping her enter the patio and noticing that Shravan rushed to envelop his Mumma in a bear hug and checking out if she was all ok. On confirming everything was fine he helped her reach her bed and rest while he shuffled up the covers. Suman had noticed Kavitha's eyes misting and had smiled thinking of her plans. She was going to turn their life around and make the world sit up and take notice. She was going to ensure Shravan gets all the respect and love. One thing that was increasingly becoming apparent to her was that she had a soft corner for Shravan. She liked his pure innocence, his straight talk without any preamble, his love for his Mumma, nothing seemed to be fake. He did not care what were the rules of society or the world but when it came to the important people in his life, he would probably bring down the heavens if need be. She was sure she will change the world for them and everyone especially VJ would feel so proud of her.