The Price - Part 8

The Price​

A Novelette By Varalotti Rengasamy​

Concluding Part​

“Done, Chandar. I shall consult my auditors and lawyers and have the transfer formalities completed within a month. Then she has to sign the mutual consent divorce papers, Okay?”

“It’s a deal.”

Vidya heard every word that was spoken. She was devastated. She was more furious with Chandar than with her husband.

Who the hell wanted the money? Her father’s riches were any day worth much more than her husband’s.

Did she not throw away that wealth to marry Raghavan? And now why the big bother about assets and money while all she wanted was just her husband?

Why Chandar made a big fuss about the assets? What was in Chandar’s mind? What was he scheming for now? In her confused mind a drastic decision was taking shape.

When the next day dawned Ramkumar intuitively felt that something was going to be seriously wrong. He looked at the place where his bed-coffee used to be kept. Along with the coffee was a folded paper. Ramkumar took the paper with trembling hands.

‘I don’t want to stand between you and your new life. I am indeed grateful for the happiness you gave me before you became an actor.

‘You know you gifted me a diamond ring which you bought out of the OT money. You also said that was your way of dedicating your hard work to me. That was my last moment of real happiness. Not for a second thereafter I was really happy.

‘The clerk Raghavan needed Vidya; the actor Ramkumar needs Neha. There is nothing strange about it.

‘But I am afraid that for the second time in your life you are paying a high price for the thing you need. But it’s your life and you are paying the price and I, the price paid by you. Take care. I am leaving you. Don’t try to look for me.’

Vidya had not even signed the note.

Ramkumar rushed to Chandar with the letter. Chandar could not bear the shock. He did not speak any thing. He stared blankly for a while and then fainted.

Ramkumar was nervously loitering outside the ICU of the corporate hospital. He did not know whether he should wait there for Chandar’s sake or go in search of Vidya.

As he was pacing up and down the corridor his cell phone rang. He was very relieved to see Neha’s number flashing on his mobile. She was the only person in the whole world who could console him now.

“Neha, can you rush to….. “

Ramkumar’s words were cut short by a rude female voice. It was not Neha but her mother.

“I hear that you are going to give all your properties to your wife and marry Neha with empty hands. Have you taken us for suckers? Enough is enough. Forget Neha. She is going to marry a Telugu film producer. Don’t ever try to call her. Okay?”

“But my child, how can I leave my child just like that?”

“You mean the child Neha is carrying? How do you know for sure that you are the father? Have you done a DNA test to confirm that? In these matters one guess is as good as the other. Anyhow we didn’t want to take any risk. Neha had a D&C yesterday and she is clean now.”

Before Ramkumar could respond to the shocking news the line went dead.

A doctor came running out from the ICU.

“He is in a pretty awful shape. Would not last for more than an hour. Wants to talk to you badly. Please go.”

When Ramkumar entered others left the room. Chandar began to talk.

“I have just a few minutes to tell you every thing. I am not a good man, Raghavan. And I know you from your acting-school days and I also know that nasty affair you were forced to have with Reshma.

“When I met you and Vidya in the restaurant it was not a chance meeting. I was trailing you both for some time and just barged in at that time.

“Even before you saw Vidya I set my eyes on her, but lost my first love to you. When Vidya came to me one morning seeking a role for you I wanted to wreak vengeance on her.

“I heartlessly told her that if she consented to sleep with me once then I will see to it that you come up in the cine world. She spat on my face and left the place.

“In a matter of days when you resigned your job and were driven to the extreme of suicide, she came to me again.

 

Saturdays With Varalotti - Part 8

The Price​

A Novelette By Varalotti Rengasamy​

Concluding Part​

“This time she agreed to pay the price I demanded. When she submitted to me with tightly closed eyes I was moved by the great love she had for you. If a woman was ready to sleep with a person she detested all her life, for the sake of her husband then that love has no equal in the whole world.

“But these sobering thoughts came much later. At that critical moment I acted like a beast and quenched my passions on a hapless Vidya. That same afternoon I came to your place and the rest is history.

“But even then I could not get you in easily. To get your first acting role I had to arrange two crores finance for that film. Every one refused to give. I went to Vidya’s father and mortgaged your pride and Vidya’s pride to raise the money. I did not have any other alternative.

“Because of the high price I extracted from Vidya she lost her peace of mind permanently and remained listless even when you reached great heights.

“You idiot, you never understood the depth of her love. You went behind that Kapoor girl who is the worst possible bitch Bollywood has ever produced.

“When all my pleadings to abandon that bitch failed I devised a master plan. I insisted on your giving all your assets to Vidya. But before that I dialled Neha’s cell number and kept my mobile on so that she could hear what was going on between us. I made her overhear whatever you said about the tranfer of properties to Vidya.

“As I expected she did not take more than a few seconds to desert you and run behind some Telugu producer. I wanted you to know her real worth and that was the reason for the drama. But Vidya, unknown to me, was overhearing our conversation.

“As she had no idea of my plan she thought I have compromised her position just for the sake of money. She might have even thought that with you out of the way, I might seduce her again. But I swear on my mother I never thought like that.”

Chandar was too tired to continue further. He closed his eyes never to open them again.



Raghavan was left alone, high and dry with just crores and crores of his properties for his company. When he learnt about the price Vidya had to pay for his career in the movies, his heart went out for her.

And Raghavan’s unpardonable crime – he had given Vidya herself as a price and that too for what- for the physical pleasures provided by a cheap woman like Neha Kapoor.

Raghavan’s conscience which had lost the first round of battle to his passion for Neha now came back with a vengeance. It started lashing out Raghavan for what he had done.

Pushed to the extreme he decided it was time to quit and that was why he used the interview to announce his decision to the world.

The cameraman in the TV studio who himself was Ramkumar’s fan was so stunned by his words that he forgot to switch off the camera.

The camera was capturing Bollywood’s top hero Ramkumar slowly limping away from the spot-lights. It was a tragic poem whose words were woven by the patterns of light falling on a succesful actor who had failed as a human being.

 

It Began on A Heavy Note!

Dear Chitra,
The serial began with its end. In fact I had taken the trouble of describing the climax scene in the first episode. Still I was surprised to see ILites asking for this end or that.
The serial began on a heavy note. I am also of Vidya's opinion - always want subam endings. But Veera Pandya Katta Bomman and Karnan cannot have a subam ending. But the lessons we learn therefrom are subam.
So this serial started and ended in a heavy note.
I am not as smart as most of the ladies in IL. I wanted them to gear up for the controversies that lie ahead.
I am sure our ladies love controversies better than a heavy story like Price. You see Uyir logged 500 plus views whereas this thread is languishing with 200 plus.
Thanks for being with me throughout. You need not feel bad that even you did boni with your luckiest hands the numbers did not go up. I think I need to check on a) my writing and b) choice of the subject.
regards,
sridhar

 

Thanks Vidya!

Vidya,
I am very happy that you liked the serial. You are a full-fledged economist not a wannabe;( if a Ph.D is wannabe, then whom can we call as full-fledged) Anything concerning Price is sure to appeal to Economists. (and more so to accountants)

My first boss condemned us accountants as a race, 'You accountants know the price of everything but the value of nothing.'

Thanks for giving me the liberty to preach, Vidya. But the problem is if an accountant preaches nobody would listen. I would better stick to writing.

Thanks for the words of subtle praise, which I relished.
regards,
Varalotti

 

Thanks Meeena!

Hello Meena,

thanks for being there every week with your enthusiastic FBs. And thanks for summing up th story.

As the beginning is the ending heavy heart was there when the story began and when it ended.

Sorry for getting again into preaching mode. Just allow me this.

It is but natural for us to get furious over characters like Raghavan and Chandar. But if you analyse their minds and look into their hearts, you will feel sad for them. You will sympathise with their attitude. Raghavan just wanted to be a star. And Chandar, he loved Vidya, lost her to Raghavan. Feeling humiliated he wanted to take a revenge on her. And when a chance presented itself he used that.
But he more than made up for his atrocity. By tirelessly striving to bring Raghavan to the top and trying his best to save him from Neha too. But destiny willed otherwise.
While I appreciate your tender gesture in praying for Vidya, I request you to show the same tenderness to Raghavan and Chandar.
regards,
sridhar