Handcuffed Bliss - Watty Awards... 2012

Prologue - to a new begining.........

"Live a little." Her cousins would tell her, "Come party with us." She would simply smile and shake her head and turn back to her work. "I will party the day my mom goes back to my dad. I have loads of work to do till then." She would always reply with pride.

Caro had never taken an off, never partied, never even had a picnic for 5 years. She had to be literally dragged to college by her mother and enrolled for classes on gunpoint by an even more stubborn Rudra who refused to let her daughter spoil her life in the restaurants. It had been a huge battle that lasted days before Caro bent into submission. Ishan had helped her take the final step.

She had dressed in shirts and jeans to go to college and a hair plaited tight. Sport shoes and a huge bag had completed her look. Rudra had cried seeing her daughter like that but no amount of cajoling, forcing, begging had changed the attire. She refused to. Ethan had panicked seeing his daughter like this, hiding behind clothes, it had been a bell that somewhere Caro had not healed mentally as we all had hoped she would have.

The long process of healing her emotions had begun with Celia and Rudra and later Shiva, Ethan and Ishan joining in. She wouldn't cry in the beginning, would clam up and refuse to talk. But slowly and steadily she opened to Rudra first and then Celia and then Ishan. She could never face Shiva and Ethan so they had to give up one fine day.

But Ishan helped the young flower blossom. Slowly the shirts gave way to long full sleeved tee shirts and then jeans to long skirts. Make up and jewels and Indian dresses were worn during festivals and Caro was soon behaving like a lady; a very pretty lady. The shopping and innocent little dates with Ishan was when he had begun falling in love with her but the innocent girl hadn’t realized the extent of Ishan’s love for a very long time.

Trauma had simply closed off her heart and soul. She refused to see love as a love between men and women. Weirdly enough she believed that love existed between her parents, Ishan's parents, my relation, all of us, she agreed was love, true love but love didn't exist for Caro. That was her belief.

But Caro herself had a lot of love to give. We all loved her, Ishan wished to marry her and we had all agreed. We promised to help him, and help him we did. Slowly, a day at a time we helped Caro love her-self and soon understand that love existed for her in the form of Ishan. IT had taken us years to get there.

By this time, Shakti, Rudraa's second daughter had been born. Rudra was 7 now and Caro had almost finished College. Relations between Ethan and us were amazing. Rudraa stayed with us along with her children for the last 2 months of her pregnancy and you can very well guess who the happiest person with such arrangements was. Caro herself had had no time to bother with Ishan then, she was busy preparing for the arrival of her little new sister and pampering everyone to think or bother about a love sick puppy who would roam around her all day. A doctor had fallen to his knees we would joke but she simply didn’t realize all of this.

 

Ishan, at the end of his wits, pulled a tired sleepy Caro out of her bed just as she was about to sleep, tired after a long day of handling Rudra and Shakti and he dragged her into the family temple. "I love you Caro and I wish to marry you. Will you marry me?" He had almost yelled into her ears. Well we all heard it and it was a spectacle, everyone was waiting around, awaiting an answer.

Ethan had heard too. He hadn't taken it well. Pulling Ishan away Caro he had trashed the poor boy into a pulp before anyone could react. It was a scene right out of the movies. Ethan breaking Ishan’s bones while he refused to retaliate and Caro begging him to stop, trying to shield Ishan with her body. "I love him Daddy." She had begged about a hundred times before it penetrated Ethan's thick skull and he let go of Ishan.

Things really moved pretty fast then, He proposed, she accepted and the engagement took place as soon as his bones healed. They wanted to spend some time together before they could marry as both had priorities, Caro had her family and Ishan had wished to study a little more medicine.

3 years later Ishan and Caroline now officially known as Gauri, another name for Rudraa, Caro had wanted it, married in the temple in a traditional Indian wedding. Ethan and Rudraa had given away their daughter and Sheila and Shiva had stood as proud parents-in law as they welcomed Caroline, Gauri Ishan Rathore into our home.

Today, on their 3rd wedding anniversary, amid Caro's insults for Ishan, we welcomed Rudraksha into the family. But most importantly, we welcomed Caro's victory over her past, her acceptance that love was for her as well as love into her life. We welcomed Love and life together. Caro, Rudra, Ishan, Ethan even Shiela had grown a lot in the past decade.

I had grown too, a little old, a little fat, but my husband of over 50 years still believes that I am the hottest woman to ever grace this planet. I wish my children are blessed with such a love. I bless them all as I, Indira Shiva Rathore have been blessed with so much love in my life, and so should this Rathore clan and all its branches be immersed in love for generations to come.