Poles Apart – Chapter 16

Hoshiyarpur:

Mohinder and Rano were seating on the chairs beside his father – Sukhwinder Handa

“It’s such a big relief Darji to see you see you speaking” he took his Dad’s hand and kissed it while Rano sat on the other side.

Mohinder looked at his brother “Veerji, you should have told us before.He has started responding fifteen days back”

“I wanted to Mohi… but when I talked to you last I found you were so held up at work. I also wanted to confirm if everything was going positive”

“Mohi” his father took his attention

“Haan Darji”

“We could not come to her engagement Mohi… it’s all due to my health”

“Darji” Mohinder looked down 

“Darji, you had insisted that we try alliance with eldest son of Khurana, we did that”

“oyee.. then why are you feeling sad. That boy is a gem.” Darji said in low voice

“Darji… woo Darji, Geet broke her engagement with him. He is not a nice man as you think Darji”

“No no” Darji shook his head. “It can’t happen. Are you sure you fixed her marriage with eldest grandson of Rajinder Khuarna” 

“Yes Daarji” “No it can’t be. I have met that boy in childhood, he is a gem Mohi”

“No Darji. Maybe he has changed. He is nothing like what you have said. We did not even do any investigation as you insisted on the relationship but Dev Khurana is nothing like what you had described.”

“Dev? no no no”

“Yes Darji, Dev Khurana is eldest son of Sanjeev Khurana”

“No… it is not Dev… i don’t remember his name… losing my memory on his name but I can say it was not Dev” Mohinder was completely confused. 

“Do you remember anything about him” asked Mohinder on which Darji laughed 

“When I met him, he was just 17. unnnnhh unnhhh” He started coughing. Mohinder handed him the glass of water. 

“You relax Darji.. we will talk later. Rano, place the news on, Darji will relax watching something.”

As the news was switched on “Maan Singh Khurana overtakes Khurana Enterprise”

“Maan Singh Khurana??? Now who is he? Is he that seventy five percent owner”

“He is the one” Mohinder turned listening to Darji’s excited words

“What?” “Maan, yes now clearly remember. Maan is his name. He is the eldest Grandson of Rajendra Khurana.”

“What?” “What…what? Unn hnn” Rano gave him water and made him relax. But Darji continued

“How did you not find out about the eldest one? Was it so tough? It was matter of your daughter Mohi” 

“But Darji, everyone knows Dev is eldest son of Sanjeev Khurana”

“I did not ask you for Sanjeev Khurana’s son. I asked you to talk with Rajindra Khurana’s eldest Grandson. See this is the one. Just look at him”

Mohinder turned to TV and saw Maan descending down the stairs with all elegance, waving or kind of stopping the media surrounding him for questioning and quickly settling in his car. This was being repeated

“He is signing authority of KE” Mohinder exclaimed

“Mohi… are you really running Handa Group? He is the owner then who else will be the signing authority?”

Mohinder placed his hand on his head. 

“But Darji, now Geet has declared she is not going for any Khurana. I think she likes someone”

“No Mohi… talk to Geet. For once make her meet him. My heart says he is the one for our Geet. His grandfather wished that too.”

“Does Maan know Geet?” “They met when she was a kid. I don’t know if he remembers. He was just 17 or 18. At that time itself the young teenager was floored by our bold outgoing Geet, who was just ten or eleven years old. He named her something, we grandads used to laugh.”

“Was it when you went to London and Geet had done the whole drama that she wanted to accompany you. ”

“Yes”

“But how is he the eldest grandson? then who is Dev ” “Forget Dev for now, you somehow make me meet Maan. Call him here.” 

“It’s not that easy, Darji. Calling owner of KE to meet you here in Hoshiyarpur”

“So do the hard work for your daughter. Would you not like a man like that in our Geet’s life”

“Okay, I will put my sources” Mohinder was a bit reluctant knowing Geet was in love with someone. But he agreed for his dad’s wish

******* 

Geet had to leave soon from there as there were lines of people wanting to meet MSK.

All the way through home, Geet was overwhelmed with various feelings. When she reached home, Rocky was busy filling his forms for college applications

“Hey Rockey!!!” Rocky was surprised to hear excited sound of his Di, which was so seldom

“Looks like your meeting went very well”

“It’s not always meeting” she hit side of his forehead and thumped herself on the sofa beside him

“Really?” frowned Rocky “For you, as far as I know it’s always business”

“till there was not someone special” she smiled, winked and left, leaving confused Rocky behind her.

Geet was in her room, checking the files which were all going above her head. She rather picked his card and a smile crept on her face. As promised, he has given open access to all his information to her. Now she can know anything and everything about him.

“I know, it won’t be easy. But Mr. I am Geet Handa. I promise I will win your trust” she kissed his card

She then dialed her Mom’s number “Mom, How is HP and how is Darji”

“Geet, Darji is very much fine now, beta. But dear, we went into so much confusion”

“Confusion?”

Rano was not sure to bring up another Khurana name to Geet. She was already pissed off with Khurana name “How quick can you visit HP”

“In a couple of days Mom. Anyways, need to see my dear Darji and bring him to Delhi”

“Okay, first you visit here and then we will talk”

****** 

Maan reached Mansion in the evening. He first went to his college in a very low profile. His guards were at quite a distance and the principal who knew all about him made sure it was a quiet entry.

After meeting in KE, he went directly to check his college stuff. Now that he is in the limelight, it won’t be possible for him to be a regular guest prof. here. But he was not planning to drop it completely. How it will go he will discuss with the principal but he will continue the current session.

Once in Mansion, he stood in the center of the hall “Mr. Sanjeev Khurana” he roared.

After a while, Sanjeev came with Ragini and Dev following him

“Wow… Maannu, you made good joke of family”

“I am not interested in your twisted talks and nor am I in any mood to justify my acts to you. Now let me come directly, when are you going to throw this son of yours out of the mansion. If not you, I have my many ways. He is not staying in this house even for a single day now. Tomorrow morning, I don’t want his presence in this house. Plan accordingly”

Ragini gave a meaningful look to Sanjeev. While Dev was about to jump, Ragini showed him her eyes

“Maannu.. he is your brother, son” came from Sanjeev

“son??? Brother???” Maan laughed out loud “Really? I am alien to these words now. To remind you, I have never had any brother and no one calls me son as the person who had right to this is no more in this world.”

“You can’t ignore the truth of life” argued Sanjeev

“wow… I really appreciate your level of shamelessness. Who is teaching me the truth of life?? Anyways, I am not interested. Get him out of the house or I will try my ways. Then it can befall on all of you. Don’t tell me I didn’t warn.” and he left, leaving them on their own.

“Is this your goodness” Maan chuckled and shrugged his shoulder

“I hold no goodness to the person who was bored of my mother’s goodness. I don’t want to be a bore, you see”

*******

Maan freshened up and then stood in front of a portrait of his Grandparents and lit the Diyas. It was their room and he had kept it intact with all their stuff there. It was well maintained and cleaned everyday. Room would have fresh flowers daily and Maan never missed to lit scented candles in the room. They had loved these things and he continued with that. The entry to the room would mesmerize anyone with its purity. This was Maan’s way to feel their presence in his life.

“I have at last fulfilled your wish. I have joined KE. I promise to take it to the height you had wished me to take it to.”

Maan was a private person. Coming into public and making a public image was not one of his favorite things. That does not mean he did not know how to address the public, he just did not like it very much. It distracted him from his work. Thus he wanted to soon finalize the director of the company. He had always dreamt of her in this position. She was best at handling people from front and on top she loved to boss. He had seen it in her when he had first met her at the age of seventeen and she was just ten. But it was in her at that small age. He had been inspired by her back then. 

Maan’s grandfather had given him responsibility for the Indian cultural fest in London. His Grandfather was president of the group and he had assigned Maan responsibility of managing kids and programs. It would also earn him some volunteer hours for his high school.

Geet came to the occasion with her Darji. She was very excited to be there. Both grandfathers became good friends there, the vibe of goodness matched. Maan had made all arrangements but he was not able to find an announcer. It was kids led, so he wanted a kid announcer for programs. 

“Dadaji, am not able to find an announcer”

“Then you take that role. You are managing everything and you address it so well.”

“No Dadaji, you know I like to manage things from behind. If I go in front, the background management will suffer.”

“Sukhwinder Ji, he can do both so well. He just doesn’t like going out in public. Sab karega but he doesn’t like people applauding his name.”

“And my granddaughter loves it”

“Phir to sahi jodi hai. He can work from behind and she can handle stage from front”

Darji called Geet “Geet you want to do the announcements puttar.”

“Really, I can? I will do it” Maan was skeptical about giving the chance to a fifth grader. He took her audition and was so impressed by her confidence at that age

“Dadaji, she is great. She can be an inspiration to even older kids. Her confidence is just wow”

His grandfather had given a side hit on his head “Also an inspiration to shy like you.”

“Hey Dadaji, I am not shy.I just don’t like it. But she is inspiring, I agree” Then Geet had done the announcements and Maan at that age had been all floored by her confidence. What had caught him most was her expressive eyes. Those eyes, he knew, he can recognize in any crowd after any number of years. She was a kid at that time, so he didn’t take it that way. But she somewhere made her place in his heart and it grew into something as he grew older. 

Both grandfathers would talk once in a while and Maan would pester his dadaji to ask about Geet. 

“Dadaji, ask how ‘Inspiration’ is doing? ” It was then both grandfathers had thought of giving these two a chance in life. Later Rajinder’s health started deteriorating seeing the condition of his darling Daughter in law and the mess his son was creating. Maan was getting confused and affected by his surrounding and family mess. He was badly attached to his mother and seeing his mother’s condition, he started going more into shell. He immersed himself badly in his study and learning work to avoid the feeling of pain. All fun things were pushed way behind. Sukhwinder and Rajinder also missed their regular communication as Rajinder was now surrounded by the mess created by his own and only son Sanjeev.

Maan then moved to his mother’s room. That room has its own aura of softness, delicacy and elegance. Her all favorite sarees were arranged and well maintained, her jewelry in their own exquisite boxes and all small small things she loved. Her books in the book self. He used to admire the class of books she read. Her dresser was all arranged, as if, in case she comes up here, it was all ready for her. 

“Maa… why did you leave your son alone in this world? Was my love not enough to take away the pain of his cheatings.” he paused and kept looking at her pictures “I have taken a new step in life. Be my strength Maa. Please send me your strength.” and it was then his cell buzzed with security team

“yes”

“Sir, there have been requests from Mohinder Handa. He want you to talk to his father Sukhwinder Handa”

“Send me the number of Sukhwinder Handa.” and he disconnected, looked at his mother’s portrait and smiled. His mother always directed him to her but he was confused, what did inspiration actually want in life. 

They were so poles apart, he shied.