As she came down the stairs, she saw her trophy lying worthlessly beside the telephone. It did not matter to her anymore. Whatever she did had to evaporate into nothingness, and there was no place for her dreams. Only struggle could pave the way for her. Her mind created vague scenes of her mother being scolded brutally by the two. She felt like being absorbed by her thoughts, and then she suddenly got confused seeing her trophy standing perfectly on the decoration shelf. When she became a bit aware, there was Tasha standing by the television shelf, and smiling at her.
"You should learn to take care of precious things", she said to her daughter and started polishing the trophy with a cloth. Now it shined perfectly, more than any amount of gold or silver. Tasha was busy in mopping the floor when her eyes fell on an album being shown by her daughter. When she opened it and examined the photographs one by one, she had a deep frown on her face. Arshia was waiting for her reaction.
"Do you see the same? Ghanendra chacha is nowhere in this album!", Arshia said. Tasha took a moment to think and then assured Arshia by what her mind told her,
"Your uncle and your father always used to have petty fights between them. It was mainly because Wasim being the eldest, was given the major portion of their joint family's political business. When your father's diabetes took him down, your uncle's ascendancy in our business left us in a pauper state. We don't have pictures of both of them together because Ghanendra and Wasim never favoured each other much. Neither did their families or their parents".
Arshia now understood that even though under the same roof, this family always had their floors divided. And this deep fissure was never filled. The only solution was to completely break the grounds, and the roofs, between them.
Arshia had the least sleep of her life the previous night, as she planned harder for escaping successfully from this netherworld hidden behind the name of a family. Ghanendra and Pragati had always been greedy for wealth and power. It was no doubt that they had turned selfish since the moment Arshia's father fell ill. Basically, Ghanendra's motive was to kick out Tasha and Arshia but he wasn't doing so. It wasn't that Arshia knew about her grandparents from either side that would help them, neither were the police benevolent enough to support the right cause these days. Money could suppress everyone. Then what was Ghanendra still waiting for? Perhaps, a free helping hand had become too costly for them that Tasha's family was enough to suffice for that need.
"Still angry, meri jaan?",
"Mhmm, no",
"You know I always think for your good", Nuthvik said. Arshia sighed, being tired of always having to fulfill ton of expectations of everyone.
"You know this friend of mine Rahul and his item Gareema, they send each other their private stuff. I was thinking that it has been a while in our relationship too to...", Nuthvik was fishing for the correct word when Arshia came up,
"You mean nudes?". She said the last word in a whisper so that no one could hear what was going on, on a call with her made-up school friend.
"Yeah, you are smart. Have you ever wondered how big mine...",
"Nuthvik, please. We aren't that advanced to do this", she said, even though she thought that they weren't that deep in love to share their bodies with each other. Or if there was any love.
"Then how are we going to work on our relationship? I promise, the first time won't hurt that much", Arshia could imagine Nuthvik drooling while saying that. How quickly he escalated from nudes to actual sex. She wondered if she could ever find a healthy balance in their relationship. Nuthvik was adamant to not work on anything better in his life than just washing and fixing cars every day. Arshia wanted to pursue an MBA degree, and for that she was hoping to get a good college soon for the completion of her undergraduate course. She often urged Nuthvik to atleast pick up on a better job with a sustainable pay. She knew their marriage would be impossible if he remained a car-washer. Their status needed to be matched in order to survive the grave comments of the society after their marriage, if it were to ever happen. Fortunately, Tasha did not hear Nuthvik's wet kisses on Arshia's phone, when he was doing it too loud. He was left dissatisfied when she hung up.
"I'm going to the vegetable market nearby, okay? You stay in your room and be busy. Don't pay much heed to your aunt", Tasha instructed Arshia and left the house. It was going to be dark soon, and mid-day was the hottest to get out of the house. Minutes after the house started sounding empty, Arshia heard Pragati knock on the door. Rather hardly.
"What's there to lock your room?", She asked Arshia, to which the latter replied that she was having some rest.
"All your intentions are known. Even at this age, you are no less. Now get the dough done for dinner tonight. I'm missing out on my daily soap", Pragati stormed away into the hall and flattened the couch, as she sat in front of the television with the remote in her hand. Arshia's legs were aching because of her previous dance performance, but who could understand her pain better than her own mother? She had to take care if the vegetables were cooked enough, and whether she added too much water into the wheat dough. Her kitchen task was completed after a few hours, and the serial had ended too as Pragati was sleeping on the couch with her mouth open, and an advertisement running on the television. The only thing that worried Arshia was that why her mother was not back at home yet.
Tasha was almost done with her shopping at the sabji mandi, when she spotted someone not much far away. As she was paying the shopkeeper, her eyes were constantly tracking that person's moves. She did not want to miss this chance at any cost.
"But the cost is high, madam", the old man who was sitting behind piles of vegetables, said as he kept fanning himself with a newspaper. Tasha realised that she was giving him half of the money, and then she quickly paid him completely. She then passed through the aisle where the person was standing. One look at her mother, and Rafeen's eyes were quick to never turn back at Tasha again.
"Rafeen, you look so beautiful in this pink kurti!", Tasha exclaimed, keeping a hand on her elder daughter's shoulder. Rafeen immediately shrugged her shoulders and pushed away her hand. This type of behaviour was not new to her from Rafeen. Nevertheless, Tasha decided to stick to her daughter till the end of the road to get some minutes with her. She kept talking about here and there, with Rafeen speaking in bits. She did not want to create a scene in front of the whole crowd at the grocery market. As they reached the crossing from where Tasha had to take a rickshaw back to home and Rafeen had to go shop somewhere else, Tasha still did not leave her alone. She kept telling her about how good Arshia had danced, and how amazing her entrance results had come. Her mother's voice started ringing in her head and she gritted her teeth strongly. She was feeling uncomfortable with every passing minute as Tasha matched her steps beside her. Rafeen's patience was over when Tasha held her hand, and she couldn't bear her affection anymore.
Rafeen held Tasha's wrists tightly, almost squeezing the blood out from her veins, in a way as if to tell her how dare she touch Rafeen with those hands. Tasha whimpered in pain as she looked into her daughter's bloodshot eyes. Rafeen threw her hand away and saw a teary-eyed Tasha clutching on to her own wrist. It had the deep mark of Rafeen's clasp, and an even deeper mark of her hatred. Tasha had no words left there on.
"Don't think that I have forgotten what you did to me. At the age of my dreams, you handed me to a world of nightmares. You carry on with building your younger daughter's bright future, and let me live peacefully in my darkness! Because I am very happy in the hell where you have pushed me into, having me married off at the age where she is aspiring for greater goals! You better pamper your sweet Arshia, and forget about me. I hope I don't have to remind you this again", Rafeen screamed at Tasha's face and left her stranded in misery.
"I did that to protect you then, child. If only you knew how treacherous and dreadful this world is. I am forever guilty for clipping your innocent wings. Forever...", she just murmured under her breath with tears staining her cheeks. Her sobs did not stop till she reached home.
By the time when the sky was dark and the sun was merging with the horizon, Arshia had a good news waiting for her mother. She had found a reputed college about which she'd heard from one of her friends attending the rest of the counselling rounds. She contacted them and they agreed for her enrollment. Only the fee formality was left. Tasha decided to confront Ghanendra about Arshia's college fees, and she was particularly careful this time. It was a huge sum for Ghanendra to grant her - a whole of eight thousand and more. Further, there was the expense for her books, new clothes, transportation and new stationery. With higher education came higher expenses, and money was a tug-of-war between these two members of this family. Ghanendra had his brain displaced when he heard the sum,
"What? Eight thousand? Pragati doesn't buy a saree over five thousand, and you think I am going to...", Ghanendra exploded at Tasha. Arshia was observing everything, hiding behind a wall.
"Yes, and the fees per year for her may contradict Shravan's studies", Pragati brought in her drama. On this, Arshia thought their younger son, Shravan, was even ignorant of the spelling of studies. It was all an excuse to let them stay as beggars for as long as possible.
"Please try to understand. The admission fees is more than what is left in Wasim's account!", Tasha pleaded them,
"Don't eye his account! You know a lot of property work is left to be done after his death, and that money will be used for that. What a shameless woman you are!", Ghanendra said.
"I'm sorry, this will be the last time I am asking for this big an amount", Tasha joined her palms in front of them. Ghanendra kept calling her names once again, and Pragati went overprotective about her son's studies. Shravan always spent their money to impress girls, or often just party with his friends. Arshia's future was being pushed into the dark because of their selfish needs. Tasha was left with just tears stuck in her throat, and Arshia immediately deleted the website which had the college site kept opened.
Their fight continued the whole night. Arshia could not sleep listening to her mother begging the two, and them laughing over her helplessness. She cancelled her dream of getting into a college and decided to get married to a man of her mother's choice. Just as Pragati had suggested once, and similar to what had happened with Rafeen. Over the days, Tasha kept mum about the matter and the two considered that they were successful in pulling down Arshia from the stairs that led to her colourful future. It was after a week when Arshia told her mother that no other college had admissions open, and the only college of her choice was close to its deadline.
And the next day, Arshia gets an email from the college with an enrollment form attached in it, to be filled and printed out by her and submitted soon.
Tasha had paid her fees somehow, without taking Ghanendra's help.