22. AANCHAL

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Katha’s point of view

As soon as I reached Maa-sa’s chamber, I looked around but couldn’t spot Maa-sa. I moved further and heard her voice,

“Katha, if that’s you, come here, to the dressing area.”

I made my way to the dressing area and noticed numerous plates were kept, all with jewelry on them. Maa-sa signaled me to sit, and I sat beside her on the couch. 

Looking at me, she smiled and said, “Let’s choose the jewelry for you, okay?”

I smiled and nodded. She stood up from the couch and, one by one, started trying on all the jewelry by keeping it around my neck. I smiled, noticing her excitement.

After trying around twenty different kinds of gold jewelry designs, Maa-sa finally liked one. She smiled wider and signaled the attendees to take the other sets away.

Maa-sa gave me the entire set. It had a huge necklace, earrings, heavy bangles, a headpiece, a huge round nose ring, a bun pin, and a waist chain.

Everything matched perfectly with my lehenga. “Leave, everybody.”, said Maa-sa, and all the attendees left, leaving me and Maa-sa alone.

I looked at Maa-sa, and she said,

“You know Katha, when I look at you in these moments, when I see you smiling, teasing Jai, talking with me, listening to me, I feel like my younger self has come back to me. I used to be just like you when I was young. I was a happy girl back then. I was very talkative, and I am still. On nights after our marriage, when Jai’s father came into the chamber, I used to talk a lot about my day and anything I could find. He used to listen to me while working, and it used to make me happy seeing that someone was there to listen to me. It broke me a lot when he had to go to war with Agnipur. 

Two days after he went, I found out that I was pregnant. I couldn’t tell him that any kind of family letter was forbidden during wars. I waited for him throughout my pregnancy, but he came two months after Jai’s birth.

When he came to meet me in our chamber, I hugged him tightly, which he returned, and when he saw that there was a cradle in the room, he didn’t understand and went near it. The moment he saw Jai, I told him that it was our son, and he got so happy at that moment that he picked up Jai and cried.”

I smiled listening to this story. Those were indeed the lovely moments of Maa-sa’s life. She looked at me again and continued,

“Everything was great, we loved each other a lot, we had Ratan, and we were more than happy to have another son. But, since I wanted a daughter, I talked to Jai’s father when Ratan turned two years old. He was happy to have another baby, in hopes of having a daughter, you know, he used to say that if there are no daughters in a home, it can never be a home. I did get pregnant again, but miscarried in my seventh month, We found out that it was a daughter.

Although keeping the sorrow aside, we did try again after a few months, but like god wasn’t in my favour, I miscarried again, and it was again a daughter. That day broke him, and after that day, our lives changed. Maharaj started hating me and stopped returning to our chamber. Over time, he began to sleep with other women and became consumed by heavy drinking until his death; he blamed me for my miscarriage and never forgave me.”

Maa-sa was crying by the time she completed telling me about her past. I moved a little closer and hugged her. She cried more after keeping her head on my shoulder, I said,

“It’s okay, Maa-sa, it’s all in the past now. I know you’re hurt, but see your sons love you a lot. They still prefer to sleep with their heads in your lap. They love it when you caress their heads. You know, Hukum told me a bit about your past, and I know that he respects you a lot; he intends to keep the promise he made to you. He loves you, Devarjisa loves you, and I love you. You gave me the mother’s love that I yearned for all these years. Stop crying, Maa-sa, see I am your daughter too, do you want me to cry as well, seeing you cry like this?”

Maa-sa backed away a bit and said instantly while sniffing, “No, why would I want you to cry?”,

“Exactly, if you don’t want me to cry seeing you in this state, then stop crying, Maa-sa.”

I wiped her tears away, and she smiled, looking at me. She said while caressing my cheek,

“I must have done some great deeds to have you as my daughter-in-law, and I might have done some bad deeds too because you weren’t born from my womb.”

Tears welled up in my eyes listening to her. I smiled and thanked her.

After a few more minutes of comfortable talks, Maa-sa went to the bedroom area, and I changed into simple night clothes.

When I went to the bedroom, Maa-sa said, “Come on, let’s sleep now, we’ve to wake up early tomorrow.”

I nodded and lay down on the other side of the bed. After a few minutes, Maa-sa slept, but the sleep was nowhere to be found for me. I twisted and turned but couldn’t sleep.

After almost an hour, I sat back straight and went onto the balcony.

Our chamber was visible, and I noticed that I wasn’t the only one having a sleepless night; it was Hukum as well. He was sitting on the swing on our balcony and stood up immediately when he saw me.

A smile crept onto both our lips, and we stood there for some time. I came out of my thoughts when I heard Maa-sa’s voice calling me. I ran inside the chamber and looked at Maa-sa. She asked, “What happened?”

I went forward and said, “Nothing, Maa-sa, I was not able to… sleep.”

“I know you’re missing Jai, tomorrow you will see him. So, just come here and sleep.”, Maa-sa said in a teasing voice, and I gave her a tight-lipped smile.

I sat on the bed, and kept my head on her lap when she signalled me to. She started caressing my head, and I smiled at the feeling. After a while, I started to feel sleepy and didn’t know when the sleep took over me.

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