Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Mandar awoke when the early morning sunlight brightened his own room - it had become Pallavi's room while he was gone, but it was his own room again! The irrepressible sunlight pushed past the curtains as if to share news that was too good to keep to itself. Farhad, thought Mandar with a dreamy smile. The bright new daylight reminded him of how optimistic his new friend was. Farhad had told him to believe - not in the power of prayer to convert him, which his friends in the therapy group averred, but that his family could accept him with his flaws. No, wait, Farhad hadn't said flaws. He had called Mandar a fine example of manhood. It was a tingling thought for Mandar that Farhad saw him as a moral, decent man already.

Maybe Farhad liked him! Mandar's smile widened into a grin, and spread its warmth throughout his body.

Stop! Mandar reminded himself that he should resist homosexual temptations. After more than two years of therapy, shouldn't he have developed some control over sinful thoughts? Farhad said, conversion therapy doesn't work for anybody, but that couldn't be right. Vishnu and the others in the therapy group who were married said that their family routine kept them from acting on shameful impulses. They were coping. But none of them denied that the thoughts still came.

Be faithful to Pallavi - that was what Mandar had told himself when he remembered nothing, when Pallavi was just a name without a body. But now Pallavi was real. She was a kind, refined, likeable woman - no, an attractive woman, he reminded himself - who was helping him to remember their friendship and marriage. But Pallavi was remarried to Raghav, the man who had stopped to help Mandar when he lay unconscious in the street, unable to look after himself. It wouldn't be decent, Mandar thought, to redirect his desires to Pallavi now. Yet Dr. Ramya, Mandar's therapist - his Amma, had encouraged him to ask Pallavi to come back. Pallavi herself had said that she was moving out, that she had told Raghav so. And Raghav, instead of escorting his wife to her māhera like a gentleman, instead of seeking family elders' advice to resolve whatever disagreement they were having, had taken off with another woman, Kirti. Was this a green signal from Pallavi? Would she be willing to return to Mandar and the family that she had loved for two years? Was this Mandar's chance to make Dr. Ramya proud?

Why was Farhad so proud to be homosexual? Mandar's thoughts abruptly turned back to where they began. Didn't Farhad feel any embarrassment, talking about his abnormal desires with someone he just met? How could Farhad say that attraction to men was normal for him, and call it a gift from Allāh Miyā? Therapy had taught Mandar that such people are on the wrong side; recognize that and they won't lead you astray. But Mandar had looked into Farhad's eyes and seen only kind intentions and serene confidence.

Mandar got out of bed and poured himself a drink of water. He needed to exercise, then wash up to be pure for the morning āratī of Gaṇapati Bāppā. Sleeping in his own room had brought back his memory of the old routine of the Deshmukh family.

Meanwhile, Pallavi awoke and got out of bed, realizing that Ammī was no longer lying next to her. It had been past bedtime last night when Farhad brought Pallavi home with him and introduced her to his parents, but they had welcomed her like an old friend, Abbū had moved into Farhad's room, and Ammī had gotten up early as usual and was already in the bathroom.

Pallavi poured herself some water and stepped into the hall as she waited for her turn in the bathroom. So, this was where Farhad lived. A two-bedroom flat with minimal furniture, leaving plenty of floor space in the middle for any gathering of friends. Pallavi imagined herself twirling around on this floor, doing her Kathak practice, which she hesitated to do in Raghav's house full of trinkets and servants. She walked around, placing her steps rhythmically. She felt comfortable in this living room. Here, she was not married to two men and sorting out questions of right and wrong; here, she was just Pallavi Sawant, who looked forward to a new day's adventure.

Farhad had come out of his room as well. One look at Pallavi Bhābhī convinced him that he had made the right decision last night by taking her home with him instead of finding a hotel. First of all, he knew that the whole situation with Mandar and Raghav was stressful for Pallavi, and she shouldn't be left alone in some impersonal hotel. In case Raghav's Amma or Kirti visited her to plead his case, or Mandar's family argued on his behalf, she shouldn't feel pressure to obey their wishes. Ammī and Abbū would look after her kindly and she would soon learn to trust them and ask for their advice.

Farhad had a second reason to bring Pallavi Bhābhī here, and that reason was Raghav Anna. Farhad knew that with Pallavi completely out of his sight in a hotel, Raghav would have no peace of mind. If Farhad could comfort Raghav every day, telling him that Pallavi had asked about him, and she hadn't chosen Mandar, perhaps Raghav would resist his self-destructive impulses to attack Mandar and overwhelm Pallavi with gifts. Only a few months ago, Farhad had watched Raghav deploying elaborate tricks to make Pallavi suffer and despair, only to turn around and impulsively do something to protect and affirm her, and at that time Farhad had recognized that Raghav's regard for Pallavi would transform him into a more sensitive man. Farhad hated the thought of Raghav Anna feeling abandoned and backsliding into his old habits. Yā Allāh, he prayed, please guide me to encourage Raghav Anna to be always gentle and understanding with Pallavi Bhābhī, so that he can win her love and trust.

Of course, there was a third beneficiary of Farhad's decision, and that was Farhad himself. His conscience would not allow him to stay silent if Pallavi Bhābhī chose a sexually incompatible husband like Mandar, and yet he knew that outing Mandar to Pallavi would damage Mandar's self-esteem terribly, so he wanted to avoid having to do that. Thus, Farhad was determined to observe Pallavi day by day to be sure that she did not make a mistake with Mandar.

There was even a fourth motive that Farhad admitted: he was doing this for Mandar too. With Pallavi living here, surely there would be an occasion for Mandar to visit Farhad's home, and meet Ammī and Abbū. Yā Allāh, Farhad prayed, please let Mandar see how supportive my Ammī-Abbū are, and give Mandar the strength to escape Dr. Ramya's harmful therapy and demand acceptance from his own family.

"Farhad!" Ammī emerged from the bathroom. "You haven't told me what your Bhābhī will have for breakfast." Turning to Pallavi, she asked, "Did you sleep all right, Pallavi?"

"Yes, Ammī," Pallavi replied. "Would you let me make breakfast? I'll just go to the bathroom and be right back."

"Don't hurry. I left a bath towel on your bed," Ammī hinted. "Farhad won't eat until he has exercised, and his Abbū is still getting ready." Pallavi left the room, and Ammī started to stretch while Farhad warmed up.

"Ammī, Bhābhī is Marathi and her family had only vegetarian food last night. I don't know if she even eats eggs. How can she eat our usual breakfast? Marathi people's breakfast is upamā, pohā, thālīpīṭha, sābū dāṇā khicaḍī - we don't keep ingredients for any of that. We don't even have yogurt. Maybe we should just order breakfast today?"

"Yā ḳhudā, my child is learning bad habits from the company he keeps! Ordering food from outside like a rich man! When will you learn to be resourceful? After marriage, you and your Miyā will be two hungry boys looking at one unlit stove!"

"Anna pays me very well, Ammī. We can afford to order breakfast just for today."

"Don't mention that man's name, or I might say something in front of his wife. Listen. The Kulkarni family in Flat Number Four must have some pohā or millet and spices that we can borrow. I'll call them. And you go out for a jog and bring yogurt on your way back."

"Yes, Ammī." Farhad worked out with weights while Ammī called Mrs. Kulkarni and then told Farhad what to pick up from her. Farhad left for his jog.

Abbū appeared, dressed for work. Ammī looked at him. "Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Did you find out what that man did to this poor girl, his wife? Or, did you and your son just pull the covers over your heads and go to sleep?"

"I asked Farhad, of course. I knew you would want me to tell you in the morning. Farhad only told me a little. He was very sleepy. Did you know he drove Raghav to Vikarabad and back yesterday - more than four hours of driving. Poor boy. He ate his fill at those Deshmukhs' house, so he came home and went right to bed."

"The topic is what he told you about this girl. Quickly, or do you want her in the room when you tell me?"

"Farhad said, Pallavi found out yesterday that her first husband is alive. He has memory loss. Raghav asked her to stay, but she decided to live apart from both men until she knows her legal status."

"Poor girl. Good that Farhad brought her here. If that man tries to take her back against her will, I'll show him the way out."

Abbū said nothing. He thought that Raghav Rao and his needs took up far too much of Farhad's time. The job of a secretary shouldn't include following his boss to nightclubs and being called to his house at 2:30 a.m. to get the drunk man into bed. With Raghav's wife staying in his home, poor Farhad would have neither refuge nor respite from Raghav's personal problems. Nevertheless, Pallavi had come to them and they would help her, of course.

A couple of hours later, when the Deshmukhs had finished their āratī and were having breakfast together, and while Farhad and Abbū were enjoying the thālīpīṭha that Pallavi had made with Ammī, Raghav awoke because someone was shaking him. For one happy moment, he thought Sārī kā Dukāna was there to help with his hangover. Then he heard Amma's voice, ringing in his ears although she was speaking softly.

"Raghav, I have something to say to you."

"Kṣamiñcu, Amma, I got drunk last night."

"Raghav, when I and Kirti were telling you to stay away from us, then you could behave like this. Any time of day or night was your time. You could get drunk whenever you felt like it and go wherever you wanted, and only later I would have to hear about the fight or the property damage, from outsiders. Now, you have a family, you have a wife. When will you learn that before you get drunk, you should think about us?"

"Amma, I was feeling very lonely ..."

"Were you the only one feeling lonely?"

"Amma!"

"Kirti saw Mandar and she was suffering a lot of guilt. You brought her home. And then what did you do? You got drunk and went out. If Kirti needed someone to comfort her, where was her Anna? Is it only my responsibility to say, everything will be all right, you will find your answer? Well, Raghav, do you think you behaved like a good brother yesterday?"

Raghav gulped. After Amma had forgiven him for the deaths of his Nānna and Tammi, and had opened her heart to comfort him and rejoice in him, he had thought that the years of her treating him like a disappointment were over. Now Amma was once again telling him what a failure he was. Would she disown him again?

"Answer me!"

Raghav looked at Jaya, and then he saw that she wasn't rejecting him, she was guiding him. "No, Amma. My own pain was so much that I didn't remember to look after Celli."

"You felt pain because Pallavi moved out. Well, isn't Pallavi in pain too? She has a difficult choice, right?"

"Yes, Pallavi was crying when I told her, I love you, and she told me that she doesn't love me or trust me. Amma, she doesn't know if she wants to be married to me."

"So what? Your wife doesn't love you, so your drunk speeches won't hurt her? Your wife doesn't trust you, so you won't offer to listen? She doesn't know if she wants to be married, so you stop trying to be a good husband? Raghav, marriage and family are commitments of 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you want time for yourself, ask for it, but when you get drunk and forget about your loved ones, that is unfair. If Pallavi is overwhelmed and you don't feel like facing her problem, you should face it anyway."

"Amma, Pallavi won't let me hold her; she says I frighten her. She is comfortable with Mandar, they talked about Hindustani music, and he makes her laugh. She chose to marry him; of course she'll go back to him as soon as he asks her."

"Did she say that she's leaving you for Mandar?"

"No, but she told me, if I want someone to love me, I should get a dog. That means, she won't be around."

"Raghav, I think this is a sign. Your wife told you to get a dog. If you follow your wife's wish, Satya-Nārāyaṇa will know that your commitment to her is solemn and sincere. We had to cancel the Satya-Nārāyaṇa pūjā after your wedding, but if you demonstrate that you value truth and promises, Satya-Nārāyaṇa will accept your prayers."

"Amma, there is another promise that I failed to keep. When you were in the hospital, I brought a bag of blood for you, but Dr. Sharma told me to take it back; he said that they had enough blood, and you wouldn't accept my help. I got angry and broke the bag. Then you needed an operation and they didn't have enough blood. I went to a mazar and prayed for a blood donor. Someone came and donated blood, and the operation saved your life. I made a promise that I would spend my life rescuing that person. But no one at the hospital was willing to tell me who the blood donor was. So, I never kept my promise. Amma, I think Satya-Nārāyaṇa is displeased with me; that's why I failed to fulfil my promise to reunite Pallavi with her family, and now she's leaving me."

Jaya thought for a moment, and then said, "If you can't look after the blood donor, tell Satya-Nārāyaṇa that you will find someone else, and everything that you do for that someone is meant as gratitude to the blood donor. I am sure that Satya-Nārāyaṇa will accept that you are keeping your promise."

"All right, Amma. I will find a dog because it's Pallavi's wish, and everything that I do to make that dog happy will be meant as gratitude for your blood donor."

Meanwhile, as soon as she finished her breakfast, Pallavi called Subhadra, the lawyer that Raghav had chosen for her. Subhadra, who had been expecting Pallavi to call, assured her that she was free to meet right away. Not many minutes later, Pallavi was in Subhadra's office, discussing her worrisome situation.

"Pallavi jī, I understand that you were married to Mr. Mandar Deshmukh in a Hindu ceremony on 1st December, 2018, and that is also the date on which he disappeared. Ten days later, a corpse was discovered that you accepted as his and cremated immediately, and a death certificate in the name of Mr. Mandar Deshmukh was issued on 28th December, 2018. Subsequently, believing yourself to be a widow, you were remarried to Mr. Raghav Rao in a Hindu ceremony on 5th May, 2021. The day before yesterday, you saw Mr. Deshmukh from a window, and yesterday you met him face-to-face, so that you are convinced that he is living. Is all of this correct?"

"Yes, Subhadra jī."

"Thank you for confirming the facts. Now we'll consider the law. Given these facts, either one of your marriages could be valid, having been solemnized according to Hindu custom. As long as the death certificate for Mr. Mandar Deshmukh is on record, your marriage to him is deemed terminated by death, and your marriage to Mr. Rao is valid. However, as soon as the death certificate is invalidated in recognition of the fact that Mr. Mandar Deshmukh is living, your marriage to him will be valid, and your marriage to Mr. Rao will be deemed invalid under Section 5 of the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955, due to bigamy."

"Bigamy?" Pallavi said the ugly word, shocked that it would be applied to herself, to someone who had never asked for a second marriage.

"Yes, Pallavi jī, that is potentially a criminal matter, but the circumstances may exonerate you, so that bigamy is simply the term used in family law as the basis to annul the second marriage. My advice to you is that you should decide whether you wish to be married to Mr. Deshmukh or to Mr. Rao, and terminate the other marriage accordingly. Of course, termination of both marriages is also an option."

"By termination, Subhadra jī, do you mean annulment or divorce?"

"That is a smart question, Pallavi jī, and I am happy to answer it. Termination of your marriage to Mr. Rao would be an annulment on the grounds that you had a living spouse already. Under Section 14 of the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955, divorce is not possible until one year has passed since the date of the marriage, unless you can prove exceptional hardship to yourself or exceptional depravity of Mr. Rao. Termination of your marriage to Mr. Deshmukh would be a divorce under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955, either by mutual consent or on the grounds of desertion for a continuous period of not less than two years."

"Subhadra jī, there are some unique circumstances of my marriages, which I think might be grounds to seek annulments without admitting bigamy on my part. May I tell you in confidence?"

"Certainly, Pallavi jī. Our entire conversation is confidential."

"My marriage to Mandar was never consummated because he disappeared. Raghav coerced me to marry him, and we have not consummated our marriage. Would non-consummation or coercion be grounds for an annulment?"

"Non-consummation due to desertion is not grounds for annulment. Thus, your marriage to Mr. Deshmukh, which will become valid as soon as his death certificate has been invalidated, can only be terminated by divorce or by death. Annulment can be granted for non-consummation due to physical incapability or refusal. If either of these criteria apply in your marriage to Mr. Rao, the court will require proof, and it will be more of a public spectacle than annulment due to your first spouse being living. As for coercion, that legal term is defined by the Indian Contract Act of 1872, Section 15. You would have to prove that Mr. Rao committed or threatened to commit an act forbidden by the Indian Penal Code, in order to make you marry him. Would you like to tell me what he did that you describe as coercion?"

"He had Mandar's brother Nikhil arrested for smuggling, and wouldn't release him until we were married."

"That is unfortunate, but arrest and detainment are powers of the police, not acts of a private citizen. Unless there is proof that the police did something that they would not normally do, at the direction of Mr. Rao and in order to obtain your consent to marriage, Mr. Rao's intimidation of you does not meet the legal definition of coercion."

"The smuggling was a crime committed at Raghav's direction. Didn't he commit entrapment of Nikhil?"

"To argue in court that Mr. Rao committed smuggling to force you to marry him, we would need proof that he committed the crime of smuggling. As for entrapment, whatever the definition of that term may be, it is not an act forbidden by the Indian Penal Code. I am sorry, I do not see any way to annul your marriage to Mr. Rao on the grounds of coercion. My advice to you is that unless you choose to divorce Mr. Deshmukh, you should seek an annulment from Mr. Rao on the grounds that your first spouse is living. If you do not seek the divorce or the annulment, then as soon as Mr. Deshmukh's death certificate is invalidated, the court itself may proceed to annul your marriage to Mr. Rao due to bigamy."

"How soon could the invalidation of the death certificate happen?"

"Under Section 107 of the Evidence Act, as soon as Mr. Mandar Deshmukh was recognized by you and by his family yesterday, the law should presume that he is living, as the burden of proof is on anyone who alleges that he is dead. However, in practice, individuals have had to wait years or decades to invalidate a death certificate in India due to bureaucracy and corruption. The first step is to sign an affidavit. After that, Mr. Deshmukh would submit the affidavit along with an application to the hospital that identified the dead body. After processing at the hospital, the papers would be forwarded through the city health office, eventually leading to expunction of the record of the death certificate."

"Will you help me to start the process of invalidating the death certificate so that Mandar can live a normal life? Even if I haven't decided which marriage to terminate?"

"Certainly, Pallavi jī. Please ask Mr. Mandar Deshmukh to make an appointment with me to discuss the affidavit. As your lawyer, I should now explain to you the law regarding the crime of bigamy, from which you might be exonerated, but we need to make sure of your circumstances before Mr. Deshmukh is legally recognized as living."

"All right, Subhadra jī. Please go ahead."

"Under Sections 494 and 495 of the Indian Penal Code, you cannot be punished for bigamy if your first marriage was declared void by a court of competent jurisdiction, provided that before your second marriage, you disclosed to Mr. Raghav Rao the real state of facts so far as you knew them. That is to say, Pallavi jī, the existence of a death certificate for Mr. Mandar Deshmukh, even if it is invalidated at a later date, means that you cannot be punished for bigamy, provided that you informed Mr. Raghav Rao that you were a widow, before you married him."

Pallavi turned pale and began to breathe rapidly. "What if I married Raghav in the morning and didn't inform him until the evening?"

"In that case, the punishment for bigamy and deception of your second husband may be up to ten years of imprisonment, or a fine, or both. While anything that you admit to me as your counsel is confidential, Pallavi jī, I must advise you that under Article 20, Clause 3 of the Constitution, you only have the right against self-incrimination if you are a defendant in a trial, but if you are called as a witness, you will not be given that same right. Thus, it is in your interest that no one should ever find out that you did not inform Mr. Raghav Rao of your widowed status before marrying him."