MY SOULMATE (Three Shot)

Chapter 2

Sumo began her story while Dabbu looked at her intently.

"Everything was perfect. Life seemed to be a beautiful journey now. I had already started dreaming about my future with Shravan. But not everything goes as planned right because fate has its own agenda of trapping you in its web of misfortune.

Shravan's chachi Kamini aunty never liked our family because Shravan's father and chacha were big businessman while we had a middle class background. She didn't know why her so called classy and rich family mingled with low-lifes' like us and despised us from the bottom of her heart.

But it didn't matter to me as I knew Shravan was there to support me in every walk of my life. But I was too young and naive to understand what game my destiny was going to play with me next...

It was the freezing December of 1960. My elder sister Preeti had returned home that day after completing her studies at the college. The whole family was sitting together and catching up on old memories. During the chat, I could notice some changes in her. But she brushed me off ignoring my queries. But the JAGGA JASOOS in me had awakened and I was hell bent on finding the truth behind her changed demeanor. I followed her everywhere without her knowledge and 1 day I struck gold. She was meeting someone secretly under the big old banyan tree in the fields behind the school's playground. I stealthily hid behind a large bush nearby and spied on them. It was a guy, but I wasn't getting a clear image of him as his back was only visible to me. They talked for a long time holding hands and at last hugged each other and went away in their respective ways. I was literally gobsmacked when I saw the guy's face! It was none other than Pushkar bhai, Shravan's elder brother and Kamini aunty's ladla son. I raced back home before anyone could spot me. I was very excited to know about the whole thing from Preeti di and waited impatiently for her return.

When Preeti di came I confronted her about the incident. She rolled her eyes in disbelief and fear and denied everything telling me that it must have been my dream.

Pff!!! She still considered me a child.

But after some emotional blackmailing she gave in but asked me to promise her that I would never raise this matter in front of anyone. I promised her."

Dabbu interrupted in between "Sumo, is there any person whom you haven't blackmailed? I would love to meet that lucky person and ask him some tips about how to escape from Sumo the Great's deadliest traps" Dabbu said sarcastically.

Sumo, hitting him playfully on his arm retorted "Accha ji and what about your puppy face traps?!"

Dabbu felt shy and said"Ok ok!now don't praise me so much and continue your story GF."

Sumo started again "Haan, where was I? Yes, Preeti di and Pushkar bhai went to the same college. Being family friends they shared a formal relationship. But in the 3 years which they spent in the college, away from their families they became best friends and had become the support system for each other. Gradually love blossomed between them and they knew that they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. But Kamini aunty had already fixed Pushkar bhai's marriage with the daughter of a rich socialite friend of hers. He tried his level best to dissuade her by telling that he loved some one else but she turned a blind eye to the whole matter. For her class mattered 1st and all the other things followed later.

He shared his problems with Preeti di and me. Di was ready to sacrifice her love but Pushkar bhai was adamant that he cannot live without her. Seeing the lovers' plight I decided to help them and we worked out a plan to execute on the D-day.

Somewhere I felt guilty of hiding such a big thing from Shravan because before being my lover he was my bestie and we did everything together but I thought that if more people were involved in the plan then it might flop. So I carried on without giving this worry of mine a second thought.

It was the day of Pushkar bhai's marriage. At first Preeti di wasn't much sure about the whole arrangement but later gave into my demands. Pushkar bhai locked his room under the pretense of getting ready. He then jumped out of his window and eloped from there. He felt terribly guilty of hurting his mother but he had no option as Kamini aunty didn't understand his point even after his millions of efforts. He reached the temple where Preeti di and I were waiting. There they got married in front of the Lord's idol and the priest declared them husband and wife. But our happiness was short lived as just then Kamini aunty armed with both of our families reached the temple. All were shell-shocked. Pushkar bhai had left a letter in his room explaining the reason behind his elopement which Kamini aunty had got when his room was banged open when he didn't open the door for a long time even after repeated requests. Kamini aunty's blood boiled in fury when she saw Preeti di. She accused her of being a gold digger and characterless. Being the motor mouth that I was, I couldn't bear the false allegations against my sister and yelled at her to stop her hatred speech saying it was all my idea of uniting the love birds. My mother came forward and gave me a tight slap reprimanding me for speaking rudely to elders and breaking the trust between both the families.

Kamini aunty clapped and asked us to stop our drama. She humiliated my whole family and their upbringing. She even went on to say that as Preeti di snatched her son in the same way I was also going to trap a rich guy and make him apart from his family.

I couldn't believe my ears! Did she come to know about Shravan and me?

No way!!!

I looked at Shravan with a blank expression. He nodded his head. This didn't go unnoticed by Kamini aunty.

Being the shrewd lady that she was, she understood what was brewing between the two and taking the opportunity she created a ruckus and brainwashed her whole family about our family's hidden motives. She badly humiliated my family and charged them of many false allegations like they had given training to both of their daughters to trap rich guys and now I was doing the same with Shravan. Everyone got into her words and both the families severed all their ties with each other that they had shared for such a long time, in the heat of the moment.

Shravan was deeply hurt that how could I lie to him about the plan. He got manipulated by his aunt's rants and misunderstood me that I loved him only for his money. He like his aunt tagged me as a selfish girl who only cares about her own benefits. I could see the hurt in his eyes. I tried to explain him but he went away without looking at me for once.

Looking at the sordid course of events, Nanu got a heart attack. We rushed him to the hospital but his condition had turned critical. My whole life was shattering in front of my eyes and I couldn't do anything. After some hours we got another shock!

My Nanu had passed away...

My whole world came crashing under my feet, everything was snatched away from me on that ominous day. I was very close to my Nanu but I lost him too just as I lost my best friend.

My mother blamed herself for not being able to give her children good values. Grief stricken she sold our ancestral home and we left the city forever.

Everything was getting back to normal. Pushkar bhai got a job in the overseas and he along with Preeti di settled there.

But my quota of bearing sorrows were not over yet. In 1980, my Papa met with a fatal car accident. I was again broken but this time I had to be strong and take care of my feeble mother.

But her health worsened and I had to place her in a nursing home but she didn't live long. After 5 years she too passed away and I just carried on with my life like a lifeless soul. Now you can see I myself have become so old and living in this nursing home." saying this Sumo finished her tale with a heavy sigh.

Dabbu who had been listening her heart wrenching story with bated breath was very sad. He didn't like it when his GF was sad, he liked his smiling GF more. Although he was only 8, he was quite ahead of his years and decided to handle the situation like a responsible adult "Sumo, didn't he ever try to contact you in all these years?" he asked.

Sumo shook her head in negative and said "Before leaving the city, I had dropped a letter at his home explaining everything. He might still think my love was fake but my friendship. It was the purest bond that we had shared. I could never even dream of hurting him. I waited for him at our secret hideout, where we used to meet, for a very long time. But he didn't turn up! Maybe he was still angry with me." Sumo replied with a disheartening voice.

Dabbu consoled her placing his little hands over her rugged ones and promised to unite her with Shravan one day. Sumo smiled slightly, as she knew it was next to impossible.