Wednesday 9 September 2014
11.00 am
Family Court, Delhi

Ishita sat in a waiting room at the Family Court, holding Ruhi's hand.

Raman had called some time ago - his plane from Mumbai had been slightly delayed, but it had landed and he would be there soon, his company vehicle having picked him and Mihir up.

Raman had left for Mumbai early on Monday morning, and she had not seen him since parting from him at Mihir's apartment. These two days without him had been sheer torture. She had not realised that longing could be felt in this palpable way, as if it were a thing that she could reach out and touch. Her heart, her soul, her body all ached for him.

"Hum yahan kyun hai Ishima?" Ruhi asked her, interrupting her thoughts. (Why are we here Ishima?)

"I told you baby, aap ki Shagun mumma aap se milna chahti hai. Toh is liye hum court aaye hai, ki yahan par aap Shagun mumma se mil sako, baatein kar sako. Phir hum ghar chale jaayenge."
(I told you baby, your Shagun mumma wants to meet you. That's why we came to court today, so you can see her and talk to her. Then we will go home)

"Lekin Ishima, mein usko nahi jaanti. Mujhe us ke saath nahi jaana." (But Ishima I don't know her. I don't want to go with her)

"Aap mili ho usse beta. Papa ki award function mein. Aur hum aap ko kahin jaane nahi denge beta. Aap ko toh sirf unse milna hai aaj. Aur hum yahan par hai na. You don't have to be afraid at all beta." (You have met her, sweetheart. At papa's award function. And who says we will let you go with her baby? You're just going to meet her. We will be here the whole time. You don't have to be afraid at all baby")

"Promise Ishima"

"Ruhi promise"

Ishita took her little daughter into her arms, hoping desperately that what she was saying was the truth. She knew that she could not bear to lose Ruhi to Shagun. While she had never lived with Ruhi and Raman as a family, she had accepted them as hers in her heart. The idea that she could lose either one of them scared her beyond what she had ever thought was possible.

She had mentioned her fears about Ruhi to Raman in the hurried telephone conversations she had had with him these past two days. In between his meetings, her surgeries and her family, they had found brief occasions to convey their love and longing to each other. And she had told him about her anxiety about this visit with the court social workers.

Raman had been soothing, but largely unconcerned. "I've spoken to Neel, Ishita. Shagun has made no effort to get in touch with Ruhi until now. I've had a restraining order that stops me from seeing my Adi, but I've still sent birthday cards and gifts to him through Neel and Shaguns lawyers. Shagun won't take any maintenance for him, but I've been depositing money into a court held account for him for the past five years. But Shagun has had no restriction on visiting Ruhi. And yet she has never made the effort Ishita, never. She has no feelings for Ruhi and I refuse to believe that any sane or rational judge would take Ruhi away from us and give her to Shagun. So don't worry sweetheart. I know I was upset at first when I got served with the summons, because I know what a bastard that Ashok is, but as time has gone on, I've become confident. All three of us will be together, very soon. I promise."

So she had been somewhat reassured, but his absence and the fact that she could only have brief visits with Ruhi, had not been able to prepare her fully for this court visit, was still a matter of deep concern for her.

Ruhi had come to court today with Rinki and Neel, and Ishita had met them there.

Rinki had told her how worried her parents were at Raman not allowing them to be a part of the court process, and Ishita felt yet another pang of guilt at what their secrecy was costing them in terms of their family relationships. Still, she could not worry about that now. She had to focus on today, on getting Ruhi and Raman through what was to come today.

Neel had told her that the social worker would meet with Raman and her first, then with all three of them. Then she and Raman would have to wait outside while the official spoke to Ruhi alone. And finally, Shagun and Ashok would come in for their visit with Ruhi.

Ishita was concerned about how Ruhi would react to Shagun. Her birth mother was a stranger to the little girl. Even at the single time they had met, at the CEO function, she had made no efforts to hold Ruhi, to love her. Still, Raman and she would be close by and she dared Shagun to try and do or say anything to upset her Ruhi. She smiled at Ruhi and dropped a kiss on her hair. Rinki was sitting with them, and she smiled reassuringly at her Bhabhi.

The door to the adjoining family room had just opened and their allocated social worker had just stepped out when Raman came rushing in with Neel.

"Papa" Ruhi cried, jumping out of Ishita's arms and running to Raman.

Raman engulfed Ruhi into his arms. He truly believed what Neel had told him, and what he had told Ishita, but a small fear still lurked in his mind - the idea that he could lose his daughter, just after he had finally been able to accept and acknowledge his love for her was truly frightening.

Ruhi had been starved of love from him for most of her young life - well, she not only had him now, she also had her mother, her Ishima, and he, Raman Bhalla, would be damned if he let that bitch Shagun and that bastard Ashok near his daughter.

Raman lifted Ruhi into his arms and walked over to Ishita and Rinki. Neel had been deep in conversation with the social worker and they also walked over now to join the others.

There was no opportunity for Raman to do any more than to smile and touch Ishita's shoulder reassuringly before the social worker started to speak. Ishita smiled back tremulously at her husband. Seeing him made her aware of just how much she loved him, how much she had missed him. And seeing Ruhi in his arms, clutched so protectively to his chest made her remember his promise to her - they would all be together soon, a family. The thought gave her strength and she focussed on the Social worker, a plump attractive middle aged woman who had introduced herself as Mrs Singh, and was now busy chatting with Ruhi.

Ruhi had been staring suspiciously at Mrs Singh, but had answered her questions about her name, age and school, clutching at her papa the entire time.

"Theek hai Ruhi. Hum baad mein aur baat karenge. Abhi mein aap ki papa aur Ishita aunty ke saath kuch baat karti hoon. Aap yahan wait kariye, theek hai." (Okay Ruhi, we will talk more in a little while. Now I'll just go and talk to your papa and Ishita aunty. You wait here, okay)

"Not Ishita aunty" Ruhi said firmly. "Yeh meri mumma hai, meri Ishima" (Not Ishita aunty. Thus is my mumma. My Ishima)

"Sorry beta" Mrs Singh replied, her eyes taking in the love filled eyes which Ishita had turned to Ruhi, and the way that Ruhi now held out her arms to Ishita, who took her from Raman, cuddling her close. "Mein aap ki papa aur mumma se kuch baat karna chahti hoon. Aap yahan wait karo, apne aunty ke saath, theek hai."
(I need to talk to your papa and mumma. You wait here with your aunty, okay)

"Ruhi baby, it's okay" Ishita said as she motioned Rinki to take Ruhi. "Papa aur mein sirf kuch der ke liye ja rahe hai. Rinki bua will bring you in soon, okay." (Papa and I are just going to be away for a little while. Then Rinki bua will bring you in soon, okay)

"Okay Ishima"

Ishita handed Ruhi over to Rinki and looked at Raman. He smiled reassuringly again and took her hand in his, firmly closing his fingers over hers. "Let's go and do this biwi."

******************************************
The interview was no where as frightening as Ishita had imagined it to be. She had walked in with Raman hand in hand, and he had kept a firm grasp on her hand as they sat in adjoining chairs, Neel slightly to their left. She had been nervous, and hesitant at first, but Mrs Singh was a very pleasant and well spoken woman, who had soon put them at ease.

She had asked them about their relationship, the fact that they had been married for less than two weeks, how she felt about Ruhi, her relationship with the rest of the family.

Both Ishita and Raman had followed Neels advice. They did not lie and they did not attempt to prevaricate. They had met around four months ago, they were neighbours, she had fallen in love with Ruhi first and her papa later, when they had been marooned together in New Zealand. She loved Ruhi with all her heart and Ruhi loved her too. Ruhi had a loving family, she was happy with them.

Mrs Singh could see the obvious love between the couple. Their eyes never strayed for long from each other, their bodies were aligned towards each other, their hands gripping each other's. The family history they recounted was obviously complicated, but Mrs Singh had had long experience of families and relationships - she had the feeling that this young couple would be able to get over their hurdles and make their relationship work.

And now she had to see them with the little girl who was the subject of the custody dispute. Ruhi.

She had already seen enough from their interaction outside to know that the child was deeply loved by her father and step mother, but the questions had to be asked.

So Ruhi had been brought in and had jumped into her mother's lap. Ishita had kissed her gently and Raman had laid a protective hand on his daughters head, and suddenly those questions no longer seemed so important to Mrs Singh.

After some ten minutes of talking to Ruhi about her school, her friends and her favourite foods, Mrs Singh had smiled and stood up.

"I don't need to talk to Ruhi alone, Mr Bhalla, Mrs Bhalla. If you will just wait here, I will go and have a short talk to Mr & Mrs Khanna and then bring them in. Just give me five minutes."

*************************************************
Ashok and Shagun Khanna sat in an adjoining waiting room, their lawyer with them.

Ashok was on the phone, shouting at one of his minions about a contract, and Shagun was touching up the lipstick on her perfect Cupid's bow, her perfectly made up face distorted in an expression of boredom and frustration. She had finally managed to get an appointment with the top stylist at Blunt India, and there was no way she was going to be late for that, court appointment or not.

Shagun knew that Ashok had made her apply for custody in order to get back at Raman over the Mehta contract, but she wished he had been a bit more considerate of her feelings.

She had never wanted another child after Adi. But Raman had insisted and after Ruhi was born, she had gotten deeper into her already developing affair with Ashok, leaving Ruhi in the care of her boorish mother in law and her equally loud and obnoxious sisters in law.

And then she had left when Ruhi was six months old, and had never seen her again. It wasn't that she didn't love or think about her daughter. But Ruhi was happy with her family and she was happy in her life with Ashok. She did not know Ruhi.

And she had been through this phase with Adi already. Thankfully, he had been in boarding school for the past few years and she didn't have to do much during school holidays, with all the servants around.

But if Ruhi came to them now, her life would change. And she didn't want that change.

It would be nice to see Ruhi though. And when she was older, they could go to shopping and spas together. But she was not interested in being a full time mother now. And she resented Ashok for putting her in this situation.

Ashok had been furious the previous week when their lawyer had brought over Raman's new wife's affidavit.

"Damn it Shagun" he had shouted. "You said Raman would never marry again. That he was still besotted with you. What is this then?"

Shagun had been astounded. Raman and marriage?? And a love marriage at that??

"This changes everything" Ashok had screamed. "Well, we will go to see the social worker on Wednesday and then the case conference with the judge on Friday. But if I get the feeling that we will lose this case, if there is a chance this will not go our way then we are not going to go ahead with this, do you hear? I will not let that Raman Bhalla defeat me in court. I will tell the court that we are not interested in custody any more if that's the case. But I want to win Shagun, and you had better put up a good act, you hear?"

"Fine, I'll act" Shagun had shrugged, twisting her various multi carat diamond rings on her fingers. "But I don't care if you withdraw the case or not. You wanted to do this, not me"

The door to the waiting room opened, snapping Shagun out of her recollections. It was that fat social worker who had grilled them earlier. Mrs Singh or something. "God" Shagun thought, looking disdainfully at the woman. "She should know better than to wear a floral print sari on her bulky frame. How gaudy."

"Mr Khanna, Mrs Khanna, the Bhallas and Ruhi are waiting. Please come."

**********************************************************************************************************

Ishita smoothed Ruhi's hair and then nodded as the little girl asked to go to Neel. As Ruhi hopped away, Ishita turned her attention to her husband.

She had seen how much Shagun affected him during the night of the CEO awards. And she knew just how much he disliked Ashok Khanna.

It was because of Ashok Khanna that Raman had lost his son, had been estranged from his daughter, his family. He had moved away to Mumbai to be away from Ashok and Shagun.

Now Raman had her, he had Ruhi, he had love in his life again, but Ishita knew that when he saw Shagun and Ashok, her husband would be reminded of what he still didn't have. His son. And she knew how difficult this meeting would be.

She slowly slipped her hand into his, and he smiled at her, the smile momentarily eclipsing the anxiety in his eyes.

"Hey biwi, I missed you" he whispered, bringing her hand to his mouth and kissing her knuckles.

"I missed you too. And I love you. You know that na" she replied, cupping his face with her free hand.

"I'll be fine Ishita. Don't worry" he smiled again,understanding what she was trying to say. He looked around and then swiftly covered her lips with his, the brief kiss a sweet reminder of his longing for her.

"Awww papa, aap Ishima ko kissy kar rahe ho" (Aww papa you're kissing Ishima)

Ruhi had come up behind them unbeknown to them, and Ishita swiftly jumped up, a blush colouring her face crimson.

Raman stood up too, laughing and lifted Ruhi into his arms, then drew his blushing bride close again, pulling both into his embrace.

"Hum dono Ishima ko kissy dete hain, okay" (We'll both kiss Ishima okay)

He laughed and planted his lips on Ishita's right cheek as Ruhi grabbed at her and planted a wet kiss on her left. They were standing like that, in a tight embrace, laughing, when the door opened and Mrs Singh entered with Ashok and Shagun.

Tujh se naraaz nahi zindagi
Hairaan hoon mein, hairaan hoon mein
Tere masoom sawaalon se pareshan hoon mein
Pareshaan hoon mein

Jeene ke liye socha hi nahi
Dard sambhalane honge
Muskurayen toh muskuraane ki
Karz utaarne honge

Muskuraoon kabhi toh lagta hai
Jaise hoothon pe karz rakha hai

Zindagi tere ghum ne humme
Rishte naye samjhaaye
Mile jo humme dhup mein mile
Chaanv ke thandi sayein

Ho Tujh se naraaz nahi zindagi
Hairaan hoon mein, hairaan hoon mein

Aaj agar bhar aayi hai
Boonden baras jayegi
Kal kya pata inke liye
Aankhen taras jayegi

Jaane kab ghum hua, kahan khoya
Ek asoon chupa ke rakha tha

Tujh se naraaz nahi zindagi
Hairaan hoon mein, hairaan hoon mein
Tere masoom sawaalon se pareshan hoon mein
Pareshaan hoon mein
Ho Pareshaan hoon mein