He was in his car with her and going to drop her at her office….yes, to drop her and she carried a carton containing some glass material which read, ‘ I’m fragile, please don’t drop me, I’ll break.’ This was ordinary warning on carton having delicate material but it became synonymous with her life.
Her mind navigated through the streets of her life with Rishabh who gave her every happiness that she desired.
A family where discipline was the way of life, fixed time to get up or to go to sleep, what time to be back home and where to go with friends or who to be friends with….Shravni was born in a civilian family comparable to an army. But this discipline was inherent in the family, it was not imposed , it was on ‘auto mode’ being followed by her without questioning why to follow it. Shravni liked her mom and dad for being so clear about everything in life, this simplicity led her to appreciate this discipline. Her family lived close to an army area in Bangalore but no one from her family ever joined army. The discipline and life at home did get infected with the army way of life. So much was her upbringing affected that she always dreamt of her prince charming belonging to army. Someone with army uniform defending his country at border bringing roses for her was her all time dream. While in school she had friends belonging to army and when she joined her plus two in college , she immediately became friend with Sukanya who had an army background. As Sukanya lived nearby her house, they started visiting each other place and hanging out together.
It was November and it was her birthday and Sukanya came to Shravni’s place with a guy. His name was Rishabh, he was Sukanya’s elder cousin. RIshabh was very handsome , athletic built, tall guy. It was a small party like gathering with only family members present. Sukanya introduced her to Rishabh , he was an army cadet. He was training at NDA, Khadakvasla . ‘Wow……….that’s great,’Shravni said to herself, and the whole evening flew by in chatting and having fun. At the end of the party, Sukanya and Rishabh were ready to leave and Shravni looked him in the eyes, she hadn’t noticed this before, but Rishabh had the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen, the deep dark eyes with a twinkle. Shravni who herself had very beautiful eyes thought these eyes beat her eyes outrightly and smiled. That was infatuation or fatal attraction no one knew but all three were hanging out together for the next few days.
Shravni was at Sukanya’s home and they both were doing their assignment on ‘Corporate Branding’. Suddenly there was a telephone call and Sukanya had to leave immediately for giving some stuff to her mother who had gone to canteen. Shravni was alone in the study room when Rishabh entered , she looked at him and said ‘hi’, Rishabh was a mischievous guy and he was highly attracted towards this tall, dusky, slim girl , they both started their conversation and it was a hilarious one, he was sharing jokes and made it so funny. He noticed Shravni’s smile , her shiny teeth were perfect for colgate ad , he thought. He fixed his eyes on her and Shravni blushed, they both liked each other company and had silently appreciated each other’s action. Suddenly Sukanya entered and interrupted everything.
Rishabh told both of them that he was leaving tomorrow and noticed the expression on Shravni’s face, the girl who was so cheerful a moment earlier, looked bit gloomy. Next morning she came to Sukanya’s place before they left for college, she came for Rishabh to bid him goodbye. Before he left he hugged his sister and shook hands with Shravni, he could sense the warmth in her hand shake and realised her eyes were moist. He looked at her , seemed to assure her, he will never leave her. This is how began a love story where even silence spoke and this was a birth of a relationship which was meant to see a bright day no matter come what may. They kept in touch with each other through mobile, exchanging hundreds of messages daily and calls extended to hours. But both were responsible with their future, they wanted to shape it in a way, that no one could question when they wanted to marry each other. After finishing his training at National Defence Academy for couple of years , he was to go for further training at Indian Military Academy , Dehradun . They had patience to wait as they had too much trust in each other . Most of the time her cell phone was flashing a name ‘Teddy Bear’ , this is how she had stored Rishabh’s number in her mobile. They both used to meet each other very rarely during those days, it was a long distance relationship which had tied both hearts together. Many guys chased Shravni and tried to woo her but for her, fidelity to Rishabh was supreme.
Rishabh had completed his training and became an army officer, on his passing out ceremony he looked awesome and all his friends had a party where they drank and celebrated. That night, in highly drunk state Rishabh called Shravni, it was 1:00 pm at night, Shravni was asleep…the vibrating mobile woke her up, she picked it up and heard the intoxicated voice at other end, and she experienced the ecstasy after hearing what was coming ahead, ‘Only you can be my wife …..’ Rishabh said in a tone which was emotional and honest, the phone was disconnected and immediately she received a message ‘ Will you marry me?’, she felt as if she was living to hear this, she couldn’t believe Rishabh had just proposed her.
‘Yes…yes Rishabh I will marry you, in fact I am living to marry you’, she wrote back, her eyes swelled with tears and she thanked him for giving her this joy. He told her he will be reaching home on Saturday to meet her. Sukanya knew of this relationship and she was too happy that her friend will become part of her family. She arranged their meeting in her room and left them alone, Rishabh was dressed in his army uniform , he had bouquet of roses for her. She was wearing a Punjabi Churidaar and a red kurti with a white flowing dupatta, she was looking beautiful, her long hair let loose and a small glittering crystal ‘ bindi ‘ on her forehead , the perfume she was wearing was enticing. She looked at Rishabh, who gave the roses to her , he had lost so much weight and he was looking so handsome, she couldn’t believe her eyes, she didn’t utter a word and just kept looking at him, she got up from her chair and Rishabh came close to her and held her hand , this was the first time he held her hand not for a hand shake but he just held it ,kissed it and kept holding, ‘ I love you and I know you are made for me only, see our heights, you are shorter than me but perfect, you can stand up with me and look really beautiful. In extremely emotional loving moments also, he couldn’t stop his mischief. You know we make an extremely beautiful couple, she was blushing and smiling at the same time. Since the time I have been in relationship with you, I have stopped looking at other girls, very unlike me, but I can’t help it, I am so handsome that girls still fight for me, but my heart doesn’t waver even for fun sake. I feel tied to you, to your devotion to this relationship, you have changed me a lot and you have changed a lot for me,’ he said with a wink.
‘I want to give some gift to you but I am really duffer, do not know what to give, can you help me.’ She was apprehensive at first but replied , ‘Rishabh, the best gift that you can give me is Mangalsutra , this is my dream and this is what I want’, how boring…….but this is exactly what she said. She belonged to an old era and she wanted the romance to end into marriage, the earliest the better. Shravni’s family had no problem as both were settled , he in army and she had just joined a big company as Marketing Executive. And Rishabh had only Sukanya’s parents as his family, he had lost both his parents in his childhood.
She was about to become Shravni Malhotra, wife of Rishabh Malhotra.
Both of the families were thinking of having this marriage on grand scale but Shravni had other plans, she told Rishabh of her dream, she wanted to get married in temple without any grandeur and then go to orphanage and donate for these less privileged children. The cause and thought was noble and the families agreed and they all were proud of the girl. They got married within a month and in the first week of their marriage, Rishabh in his usual style came up with a strange idea, he asked Shravni to get ready on Sunday for a photo shoot, she was surprised.
‘ What photo shoot?’,
‘ Do you know, you have a photogenic face, I realised this long ago, come on, be a sport’
‘What long ago, do you know me since hundred years, don’t make fun of me, I can’t pose in front of camera , I am a camera shy person.
‘Oh really, then see these snaps, he took out an album and showed her.
‘Oh my God, when did you take these pictures’,
Whatever moments Rishabh had spent at Sukanya’s place, he had been secretly taking her pictures with his mobile and she looked beautiful in each frame.
‘So you think, a guy can fall in love with a girl without looking at her everyday, I shot these pictures, so that I could talk to you and see you whenever my heart wanted, otherwise my interest in you would have died, out of sight out of mind,’ he chuckled.
‘Oh…so that is it, you can forget me if you don’t see me, how cruel…………..’ and she ran after him to hit him with the pot in her hand.
She caught him and hugged him and said, ‘ You are my oxygen, I cannot live without you.’
Rishabh could not stop his mischief and to take this further he said, ‘ well I am an army personnel, so if something happens to me, never wait for two years to pass, marry within those two years to some cool dude, but I know you will never get someone as handsome as me, I know you very well, you are emotional and sensitive fool and I will always be worried for you sweetheart.’
‘ Rishabh, please never say anything like that ever again, not even in humour, I can never live without you, you are really my oxygen. What you said, I cannot even think about it in my wildest of dreams, you remember when you used to ask me to test me, to marry someone else, I always used to give one reply, I can live without you but I cannot live with someone else. Once married, always married to you, come what may. I have loved you not once, but I have loved you each second since I met you and this love will not even die when I die, it will remain captivated in my soul.’ She cried. ‘ I am ready to go anywhere you say but don’t torture me ever like this.’ He hugged her tightly for few minutes and then tickled on her belly to make her smile.
Rishabh took her to his friend’s studio where she had an experience of lifetime, she looked gorgeous in every picture that was shot, partly due to her beautiful looks and partly because of professional photography. In later half Rishabh joined her and both had a wonderful session together. She loved him all the more when huge poster size photographs arrived at home for their bedroom. The moments were seized and love was captured in these frames to bear a testimony of their affection and emotions for each other.
Rishabh resumed his duty and it then became normal routine for them to meet in evenings .Two years had passed and time had literally flew by, during these two years lot had changed except one thing, their love for each other. At the end of two years, Rishabh was posted at Srinagar and she knew now meetings will become scarce due to his posting.
She woke up early morning for her daily worship and cooked morning tea, Rishabh had come home for few days and was still asleep, she went to her bedroom and kept the tray on the side table and sat beside him, kissed Rishabh’s forehead and his half sleepy eyes opened, he looked at her and smiled. He sat on his bed and kissed her forehead, her hair were still wet, you are looking more beautiful these days, what’s the secret , she kept the tray on his lap. There were two cups of tea and a teddy bear with a tiny cup of milk by his side, the cup had these words ‘ I am on my way’, she was trying to tell him something and he understood , he was overjoyed and he hugged her tightly.
He had to go back on his duty but he was going with a joy which knew no bounds. He was to become a father soon. He had missed the joy of spending time with his father but he started dreaming of giving all the love to his child. Rishabh arranged a driver and a domestic help for assisting Shravni so that she didn’t get burdened with work after returning home from her job. He volunteered to drop Shravni to her office before he left for his duty.
He was in his car with her, going to drop her at her office….yes, to drop her and she carried a carton containing some glass material and it read on the carton, ‘ I’m fragile, please don’t drop me, I’ll break.’ He dropped her and bid her goodbye.
It was seventh month and Shravni could feel the fatigue at work now and needed some rest. She was at home that morning when the phone rang, she was having this unsettling feeling since last night………and she was blown away!!!
It was a shock for her which she could not bear and she fell unconscious and while falling hit herself against the corner of metallic study table badly, it had hit her stomach. Radha heard the sound of something falling and she rushed to her room, saw the horrible sight, she called Sukanya’s parents whom she knew and they along with Shravni’s parents rushed to the spot, she was taken to the hospital immediately. It was a black day in her life, she was in ICU and oblivious to the fact that she had lost her child, her offspring didn’t make it to this world.
When she opened her eyes, she felt heavily dozed with medications, she didn’t realise the loss, she kept mumbling Rishabh’s name. Everybody knew of Rishabh’s news but they had deliberately not disclosed to her because of her condition, but someone had directly called her. She started screaming and got hysterical , he has to come, he dropped me , he has to come, to pick me. The grief was too much to handle but the sad news had not yet finished for her, she realised she has lost something else too, she looked at everyone with empty look in her eyes searching her child and her love.
Six years had passed since then…… and everything changed in her life. He was oxygen and she was still living without that oxygen, her daughter Janhavi, was four and half years of age now and she showered all her love on this tiny magic. Every morning she made a cup of tea for her husband and kept by his bed side and left for work after kissing her Mangalsutra . So much changed, she said she wouldn’t be able to live with some one else !!!………………….her daughter too young to understand anything.
Today was her husband’s birthday and she had invited Sukanya for this occasion, no one else. Sukanya was married to a businessman and was very happy, she had one daughter named Kriti who was four years old now. Shravni loved Kriti and would often ask Sukanya to leave her with her on weekends, to play with Janhavi.
They celebrated his birthday and looked at the cake with candles on it , he was smiling with his arms around her , ‘ I never knew you are this much strong and you could do this to your life,’ Sukanya said feeling proud of her friend. ‘ You have turned out to be great mother and Janhavi will be proud of you one day.’
Shravni looked at him and smiled with tears in her eyes, his love changed me forever, I had to do this and then she kissed his forehead and touched his eyes with her fingers, but his eyes did not blink at the touch of her fingers, how could they, Rishabh was still playing mischief on his poster size picture with arms around her, she kissed him on the lips and said ‘Happy Birthday Rishabh’. ‘ Like every year, she uttered the same lines to him touching the various gallantry awards he had received , ‘I am sorry we lost our child, but like people need to vent their anger on someone, I needed someone to pour out my love after you had gone, I just adopted Janhavi and she is our child now, I hope you will love her too. Had I known we had this in destiny, I would have given much more love to you than I did, but now this love I am giving to Janhavi.’
Sukanya smiled at both of them , hugged her and left. Next morning, Shravni made tea for him , talked to him , teased him, put her sindoor, touched her mangalsutra and kissed him on his forehead, he was smiling as always in his life size pictures………she was thankful to that naughty photo shoot and the posters. She left for her Job with Janhavi dropping her at her school. So much changed in these six years, she transformed from an emotional girl to a loving mother……..love changed it all for her and she was living without her oxygen…….who knows in this vacuum she could still breathe that oxygen. She could live without him but could not live with anybody else!!!
— Story by ©Rekha
Wow.. that was really very very emotional, touching story. Loved it thoroughly. 🙂
Visitor Rating: 5 Stars
Visitor Rating: 5 Stars