THE HEART HAS ITS REASONS

Story till now

Nisha is a brilliant, well educated and hard working girl who has been working in a corporate office for about 8 months.  She is very enthusiastic about her work.  In two –three meetings she has started liking a guy much senior to her in position and experience.  She has recently found out that her parents are trying to strike a matrimonial alliance for her. Nisha is in a dilemma as to whether to reveal her liking or go on with the flow of events in her life.

 Would the situation change or will she be required to make a compromise or is it that she is being misled....? Learn more in this interesting narration of the story.

Part 4

Nisha looked at her reflection in the mirror with unseeing eyes. Mingled sounds of indistinct conversations that floated from the drawing room fell on her unhearing ears. In fact a stranger stared at her from behind the mirror. Her solitude was cruelly broken by an invasion from Neeru who pulled at her hand and urged her to come out of her room.

Nisha thought it better to keep silent till the evening was over because mother was very busy and everyone was very excited.  She was not sure what their reaction will be if she revealed her feelings to them.  She silently withdrew herself and felt that she would not be able to participate whole heartedly in the evening’s events.

Neeru gently pushed her from behind overcoming her resistance and took her to the drawing room. She could see that the table had been laid out and tea was being served by her mother who was being helped by Tinkoo.

“This is my elder daughter Nisha”, father introduced her to the guests,“and this is MahendraTewari a great friend of mine and his wife Shalini”. Nisha’s cheeks turned crimson as all eyes fell on her. Her father proudly talked about her academic achievements. Mother felt that she looked very delicate and vulnerable in the pink chiffon saree that enhanced her slim physique as her cheeks reflected back the colour.

Mrs Tewari shifted a little on the sofa and made room for Nisha and offered her to come and sit near her. A hesitant Nisha looked reproachfully towards mother who was sitting beside Mrs. Tewari and moved slowly to sit when mother nodded at her.

She noticed Tinkoo was highly absorbed in an anecdote which Mr. Tewari was narrating and was probing him with his endless questions. Soon she was drawn into a conversation with mother and Mrs Tewari about fast life in metros and the cool laid back lifestyle in the hills. Warmth engulfed her as she felt very much at home in Mrs. Tewari’s company and she realized that Mrs Tewari was so similar to her mother in her way of talking and manner.  She forgot about everything else and started enjoying the evening.  Soon dinner was served and the guests insisted that all of them would dine together. There was no doubt that both maa and baba were very excited by the reunion with their old friends and their enthusiasm drew her and Neeru into every discussion. Nobody realized that 4 hours had passed since the guests had arrived.

Mr. Tewari was the first to air his concern about time. He asked Mrs Tewari to make a call to her son to inquire as to how long it would take him to reach this place. Mrs Tewari called but the phone was not picked up. After half an hour she called again this time she got a message that due to some unavoidable work her son would not be able to join them that night.  It seemed that he was caught up in some urgent work which would take him three to four hours more at the workplace.

Soon Mrs. Tewari declared that they were getting late and they must leave as she needed to pack for their journey to Jaipur next day and Mr. Tewari needed to take some medicines at a prescribed hour. Both of them felt sorry that their son could not make it that night. They however promised to send his pictures to them. Mrs Tewari also assured maa that her son would be coming to see them very soon and they would soon finalise things as soon as Nisha meets ‘Sonu’ her son.

The whole family walked down up to the end of the alley to see them off.Before leaving, Mrs Tewari took out a miniature statue of ‘ganpathy’ from her purse and placed it affectionately in Nisha’s hand pressing her palm with warm hands.

Nisha liked the gesture very much and placed the statue on the study tablein her room. It was made of glass with intricate golden work on it. It was actually very beautiful. It reflected light and shone like a diamond.

The turn of events made Nisha feel relieved that she was spared a very uncomfortable and embarrassing moment. After changing into comfortable attire, she prepared coffee for everybody and the small family again gathered in the drawing room.

Tinkoo declared that he liked uncle Tewari very much. Neeru complained that she was disappointed as she was not able to see and meet the “would be” groom, even maa aired her concern about this fact.  But baba assured all of them that they would be able to see the guy soon.

 Nisha had some reservations and was a little critical, “What kind of a guy would not show up at a time when his parents are trying to strike out a matrimonial alliance for him? I wonder whether he wants marriage or not.”

 Neeru supported her by saying, “yeah, this should be an important occasion for him. I am truly disappointed”.

Father gently told them, “We should all be patient. We do not know what circumstances might have prevented him from joining us. But my gut feeling is that he will be seeing us very soon and there is going to be a positive alliance”.

He made no attempts at restraining his obvious satisfaction with the events that took place that evening.

Mother smiled and silently nodded her agreement and Nisha could not help noticing that hopeful glint in her eyes.