The Presence of Nargis and Rashid Khan and their little son Ahmed gave the much needed emotional anchor for Damini and Reshma in their new home. Slowly, Reshma began to get accustomed to the new school and friends in Varanasi. Even though Reshma hadn't embraced Sanjay's presence in their lives, she wasn't hostile towards him either.
It was the summer of 1992 and Sanjay came down with a severe sunstroke due to the long hours he spent driving between Varanasi and Allahabad. One such night, after a hot and long day of travel, he reached home in Varanasi and just collapsed. It took almost two weeks of constant care and nursing from Damini for him to recover completely. The more love and care Damini showered on him, the more guilt he felt towards her, for his inability to reciprocate her love, or give her the marital status she deserved. He tried to remember when was the last time he felt so nurtured and loved
Raghav came and hugged Sanjay whole heartedly for sharing such happy news, that too on a great day like Diwali. As he hugged his best friend, Sanjay turned towards his Bhabhi and silently shook his head, in reply to the incredulous, unuttered question on her face. Vasudha looked relieved, albeit confused. Sanjay took theladdoofrom the plate his Bhabhi gave him before and stuffed his friend Raghav's mouth with it, celebrating, in his mind the imminent arrival of his child with Damini. Once all the congratulatory moments passed, Sanjay took a smallerladdooout to Aishwarya too and gave it in her palm. Making sure that no
Rewind to 10 hours earlier. Rana and Shankar were having breakfast at Rana's house. "Shankar Bhai, it is a simple job but a very important one. This is a direct order from our Madam Aishwarya ji, so we can't mess it up, ok? We have tosafelyand this is the key word,safelyabduct a pregnant lady from a home. Anyone comes in the way, just hit them to pulp if you want to, but nothing should happen to the pregnant lady. She should be safely transported to a guest house on the outskirts of the city. So, are you up to the job?” Rana observed Shankar carefully and continued, “ I know you have objections about these kinds of jobs, but once y
There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled. There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled. You feel it, don't you? ~~Rumi Aishwarya tried to contact Rana as to what was going on, but couldn't talk to him, as he had already started from his place in search of the Damini and family. By ten o’clock, Raghav was genuinely worried as to why Sanjay hadn't returned home. Vasudha too pretended to be. When they called the factory, there was no answer, as it must have been shut down. Aishwarya gave up all pretense of niceties and insisted that she be allowed to go home. Raghav and Vasudha too agreed, and together they went to Sanjay and Aishwarya's home but Sanjay wasn't there either. Just then Aishwarya got a call from Rana, who aft
"Thank you for helping Sanjay in this critical time, when I couldn't. Sometimes I feel envious of you. He had become closer to you than me. So, he is at your mother's place in Bombay now. Does your mother know? She is my mother in law, but even Sanjay is scared of her." Raghav finally chuckled. Vasudha hit her husband playfully. "Of course, she knows. She is in Varanasi now helping Leela with the baby and would come here to our place too after few months. That's why I thought it would be best for Sanjay ji and Damini to go there. I have written a note to the neighbors who always keep the spare key to our apartment. And I spoke to them over the phone too. By the way Raghav, I saw Damini. She is so serene... such a lovely girl. She is the best thing that could have happened to Sanjay Ji." Vasudha said happily.
Raghav debated a little whether this sudden decision to agree to divorce was just another ploy of Aishwarya, but finally concluded from everything he observed of Aishwarya, that it was not. Aishwarya definitely looked like a depraved soul.Once he decided, Raghav wasted no time in letting Sanjay know of Aishwarya's final change of heart. Sanjay's joy knew no bounds. Finally, he would be a free man to marry the love of his life, Damini. He rushed home to share the happy news with her and the rest of the family. There was a mini celebration in their home that night when Nargis Khan made an elaborate dinner with a lot of special sweets which were favorite of the would be mother Damini. They had a serious debate on what to name the baby, Shakthi, Chandni, Naina if it were a girl and Akhil, Rahul or Sameer
Sanjay frantically hurried off to Darjeeling once he received a phone call from Damini's father which contained a long lecture about safekeeping of young daughters. Once Sanjay reached there, he could assess the situation clearly. Damini's father was not at all happy with the sudden appearance of Reshma and he made sure his displeasure was known to her. Sanjay picked up a tearful Reshma and took her to a nice hotel in Darjeeling, where the father daughter finally had a heart to heart talk. "No one wants me in their life... neither myBade Abbu(grandfather) nor these people." She cried. "Why do you say that Reshma? I want you to be a part of my life. I love you as much as I love Chandni. We can all be happy together.
“ I agree, I have come to you out of desperation because I have nowhere else to go, but I also want to redeem myself. No more dealings with thugs, and there won't be any other man in my life. I have learnt my lesson. I don't know anything about being a mother, but I will give it my best shot, if you let me. I can't promise I will do a fantastic job but I will never neglect my responsibility. My mother was a very ambitious woman and she took care of me, groomed me but she died before she could see me blossom into a true woman. I know how important it is to have a mother in your life, all I can say is I will never let Chandni down. You will see a new Aishwarya that your daughter will like and feel secure around. And remember also this Sanjay. All my father's wealth will go wasted if we don't declare Chandni as our daughter officially. I don't want a penny of it, I promise, but you will be depriving her of that wealth if you let your hatred towards me di
1997 With the arrival of Mobile phone technology in India, Sanjay and Raghav were able to keep in touch with each other no matter where they were, but used it only in emergencies, as the cost of making calls was very high. The political scenario also changed in Allahabad and the old Mayor became the local Member of Parliament. Aishwarya's wings spread slowly as she came into the favour of all the top political parties. With the secret money drained from SV Enterprises, she began to give donations to political parties and win their favours in return. Rana's gang too grew in stature with more small and local thugs joining him, as they couldn't oppose him on their own. The fluctuating financial conditions meant that there was hardly much money for the firm to fall back on and it became more common for Sanjay to withdraw mo