Prithvi... [Vol 2]

Chapter 48

Sarojini looked at her closely. “Nandini, you’re being honest with me, aren’t you?”

“Believe me….the only two men in my life are grandfather and Prakash,” she grinned with a small spark of her old mischievousness.

The genuineness in the words and the straightforward tone were compelling enough, but it was the stark truth in her daughter’s eyes that finally convinced her. And now it didn’t make sense to raise her concerns about her daughter’s relationship with Prithvi either. The tension that had been plaguing her for days drained out of her frame and she found it easier to breathe.

 “Then why have you been so depressed?” she asked faintly.

Nandini wordlessly rose to her feet and sat on the bed. She inched back until her back was against her wall, and then wrapped her arms around her knees.

“I had a terrible nightmare a few days ago,” she said in a small voice. “I saw that something – something was taking me away from all of you. By the time I realised that it was a monster, it was almost too late. I wanted to come back to you, but I wasn’t able to…..and when I finally managed to get back home, I saw that a part of me had already been destroyed.”

“You’re not being honest with me! I know you haven’t been so affected by nightmares since you were a little girl!” Sarojini said exasperatedly.

As tears welled up in her eyes, Nandini looked at her mother directly. “It was not the nightmare that disturbed me. I was upset because it made me realise that I still miss papa too much,” she whispered truthfully. “All the memories, all his – promises…..all that pain I’d thought I’d dealt with… all of it suddenly came back with so much force…and not just that….so many other things too.”

Unable to speak momentarily because of the tears clogging her throat, Sarojini held out her arms silently and her daughter gratefully went into her tight hug.

“Nandini, his memories should make you smile, not cry,” she said huskily. “He is watching over all of us and it would hurt him to see tears in your eyes. You’re my brave and strong girl, aren’t you?”

“I – I’m not brave or strong, ma. I’m a weak coward…. he would have been ashamed of me if he was still with us,” she wept helplessly.

Crying softly, Sarojini rocked her daughter in the loving embrace. “Don’t – don’t ever let such thoughts enter your mind again. Your father….I know the dreams he had for you and the hopes he had for the person you would become…you’ve fulfilled all of them. …. You have no idea how proud I am of you. …and he is as proud of you as I am.”

Nandini couldn’t bring herself to reply and neither of them spoke again. Sarojini held her for a long time in soothing silence, and when the tears finally stopped, Nandini slipped into sleep on her mother’s lap, finding some semblance of peace after what seemed like eons of pain.

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Sankatmochan blankly looked at the idol that Nandini was handing over to him. He barely heard the words she mumbled as explanation. Even when she had left, he stood motionless, staring at the marble Krishna, his thoughts flying back years into a past that had left too many scars to count….to the last time he had seen Prithvi touch a piece of marble…

He was walking along the marble corridor, holding a tin of biscuits in the crook of one hand. He didn’t intend to stop before reaching the security of his own little room where he could finish all the contents of the tin in peace, but found himself stopping on seeing a thin thread of light under one of the doors on the right.

Prithvi was awake then. Well, he simple loathed sharing food, or any of his possessions, with anyone, but Prithvi was an exception. Sharing anything with his young friend somehow made him feel happier and more content. All part of the mysteries of life….