What If? - IPKKND | slow updates

Five

5 August 2005
Shantivan

Aakash Singh Raizada had always been a quiet child, something he took on his father. His always chirping mother had been disappointed when she had realised that like her husband, her son did not pay heed to what she said or what she seemed to believe. Aakash had never been the one to confront anyway.

He had never complained when suddenly his cousins had began living with him, diving the attention between the two as they faced a brutal tragedy. He had been quiet, patient and receptive. Even though he had been struggling too much socially at school.

Even when Arnav, his older brother by one and a half years would silently bully into having the toy he had, Aakash would relent.

He did not see the use in picking fights even in school, when a lot of kids would tease him, double battery and chashmish among the few colourful words they spewed. Even though he used to score more than his brother, Aakash didn't complain when his awards weren't as revered as the basketball trophies his elder brother received.

Working equally hard and toiling day and night, he had secured a full scholarship to study at Harvard; he didn't complain when Arnav was bestowed upon the honour of being the golden boy.

He hadn't bothered his family when he had had a disturbing time in a new country as they festered about taking care of Arnav.

There had been many women who had admired him, most of him mistook him as the misfit Raizada brother, a way to get to the other handsomer prodigy.

In his life, he had been admonished, side tracked as the goody two shoes and often he simply succumbed to this stereotype. He would rather breathe in peace than raise his voice. In any case, his voice was never heard.

His reasons for were never agreed to and his decisions always ridiculed.

He had never been drawn to anyone else in his life expect for Payal. The woman who had loved and respected Aakash. And not Aakash Singh Raizada.

Payal had always seen him as his own person. A person who had stuttered and blushed in front of her and had not relied on the flirty flowery lines that his elder cousin had mastered.

She saw him struggle to fit into his own house, as his ideology seldom matched with the others in his family. Neither he was a traditionalist as his Dadi or his Di, nor was he an atheist like his Bhai, neither was he a classist like his Maa nor was he free from all prejudices like NK Bhai.

The only person he had managed to emulate and associate with so far had been his Papa, the man who rarely spoke, but had his own grievances. Manohar was someone who loved to keep in his own confines, not raising a voice against atrocities neither being party to it.

It wasn't the fear of Manorama that had led her husband and her son to be silent. It was rather the need to be in the shadows that kept them out of altercations. They sought ease, were part of lighter events but they never discussed important decisions.

A lot of it had also to do with the formidable halo that Arnav had formed around himself, his word being penultimate. With someone always taking in account of their welfare, Aakash and Manohar had been habituated for just letting things unfold for them.

However, ever since Arnav had tried to unsuccessfully disclose the truth about Shyam, the atmosphere in the house had changed.

Here was a brother who worshipped his sister and would go to any lengths to shelter her; he had managed to rip apart the only thing that seemed to be holding Anjali together. Even if he would run around with endless supply of tape and glue, Arnav could not fix Anjali.