Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

"Ceppu, Farhad!" Raghav answered his phone as he walked Damayanti.

"Anna, we're just finishing breakfast and then we'll drive back from Vikarabad," Farhad reported. "Suniye, Mandar told me that the hospital that issued his death certificate isn't in a hurry to correct the record."

In fact, Mandar hadn't said this to Farhad. Mandar had wanted to ask Farhad for advice yesterday, during their drive, but as his mind dwelt on thoughts of Nikhil doing Raghav's work and going to jail for it, Mandar had reproached himself for the way his heart responded to Farhad's concern for him, and he had kept quiet about his difficulty. Only now, facing Dr. Ramya, who had finally come home from the emergency room around 6 o'clock that morning, after her patient was shifted to a psychiatric ward for observation, Mandar imagined that Amma would somehow guess how he had behaved with Farhad last night. So, it was to distract Dr. Ramya that Mandar, being careful not to look or smile or blush at Farhad, talked about his frustration with hospital bureaucracy, and upon hearing that the Records Committee would make Mandar wait three months, Farhad innocently pulled out his phone and called Raghav.

"Lean on them, Farhad." Raghav felt disappointed that again Mandar had asked Farhad for a favour, and not Raghav directly. Why wouldn't Mandar allow Raghav to be the hero? How would Mandar like it if he was the one being ignored? Anyway, Raghav couldn't act aloof this time. "I want Mandar legally recognized as living right away, so that Celli can put this hit-and-run behind her."

"Jī, Anna." Farhad ended the call, and immediately called the administrative head at Alanka Institute of Medical Sciences. "This is Farhad Nawaz, calling on behalf of Raghav Rao. Raghav Anna would like your Records Committee to meet today. ... Yes, today. Anyone who doesn't attend the meeting voluntarily, I can send a car to escort. ... Not necessary? Good. Make a note of this: the first item on the agenda is to nullify the death certificate of Mandar Deshmukh. ... Yes, that's the name. His application was submitted yesterday with a notarized affidavit, so I'm sure you'll find all of the paperwork in order. I'll call you back in a couple of hours, and I trust you won't go home today until this has been done."

Mandar, who was washing the dishes and insisting to Dr. Ramya that it was fine if she took a nap right away, without waiting for them to leave, heard nothing of Farhad's conversations, but Nikhil was listening. Nikhil couldn't hold back a grin; he was enjoying Farhad's display of power. Nikhil knew that Raghav Rao was a bad example who owed his power to crime. His friend Abhishek always suggested that Nikhil should ask Pallavi Dī for expensive gifts - "Are yāra, don't tell me Raghav Rao's wife can't afford this!" - but even greeting Raghav politely when he visited Pallavi Dī at the shop made Nikhil feel disloyal to Manasi Dī and Amruta. Yet now Nikhil imagined himself in Raghav's or Farhad's place, able to order anyone in Hyderabad to get out of Mandar Dādā's way.

"You're smiling, Nikhil. No headache this morning?" Farhad inquired.

"No, I'm fine, thanks," Nikhil replied. Hesitating for a moment, he said, "Farhad, how does it feel? I mean, when you always get what you want, with no credit limit and no waiting in line, is it just another day at the office, or does it still give you a rush?"

"Sometimes, it does," Farhad admitted. "If there's someone who deserves to succeed, and I make the obstacles go away, it feels like I'm the superhero who saved the world. But it's not always like that. One time, Raghav Anna wanted to impress someone by taking him to a mandira, so I made arrangements that our cars would pull up right in front, the priests would come outside to greet the guest with an enormous garland, and we would walk right in for a VIP darśana, without anyone else in the way. When Raghav Anna saw all of the visitors lined up outside, he scolded me, saying that it wasn't right to make everyone else wait for one person. Anna told me to arrange water and biscuits for all of them, and chairs for the elderly, and wrap up his guest's darśana in five minutes."

Mandar was listening by now, and his mouth fell open with surprise. Bābā had told him that Raghav kept people waiting outside the mandira for over an hour, but Farhad was retelling it as his own idea, as if Raghav knew nothing about his own sacrilege. Of course Raghav Rao knew that the obstacles thrown out of his path landed in front of innocent bystanders! Why would a cruel Rākṣasa like Raghav care? And why was Farhad defending him?

"By the time I returned with the refreshments, Raghav Anna was lying on the ground and the crowd was stampeding past him," Farhad went on. "Anna was having a panic attack, and if Pallavi jī and your Bābā hadn't looked after him, he could have been trampled. Anna's guest was furious because the incident sent his wife to the hospital; then Anna assaulted and insulted his guest, and it cost Anna's business a fortune. So, that time I felt like a loser for pushing our way to the front of a line."

Nikhil didn't know what to say, and Mandar simply exchanged a look with Dr. Ramya. Irresponsibility and insults - yes, that sounded more like the Raghav Rao that Mandar had gotten to know these past three days.

The men quickly said goodbye to Dr. Ramya and got into the car. When they had reached the highway, and Nikhil was tired of making his video, Farhad said to Mandar, "Now I'll tell you the story that I promised." Both Mandar and Nikhil gave Farhad their attention.

"One night in April," Farhad began, "an old lady was hit by a car and left lying in the street. Raghav Anna and I found her and took her to the hospital. Anna noticed Pallavi jī in the waiting area, with her Āī, Bābā, Kākā, Kākū, and another man - we didn't know then that he was her Siddhesh Dādā. I went over to ask if there was anything I could do. And your Bābā slapped me. 'Tell your Anna never to show us his face again! Stay as far away as possible from me and my family,' he said."

"Bābā isn't violent!" Mandar protested, but he couldn't help wondering how Bābā would have reacted to Farhad being gay if Farhad had been at home when they visited his Ammī-Abbū. Mandar looked at Nikhil, who nodded soberly. "Maybe he wouldn't let you help, but why would he slap you? What had Raghav done?" Mandar asked.

"At first, nothing made sense," Farhad resumed. "Raghav Anna came over and grabbed your Bābā, but your Kākū accused both of them of conspiring together. Then Pallavi jī found Anna in the office of one Dr. Kanika, and accused them of conspiring against her. I couldn't understand what was the conspiracy. The next morning, outside your family's shop, we found a group of women harassing Pallavi jī. They had splashed black paint on her saree and they were about to put a string of chappals around her neck. Anna stepped in as the shop's landlord and told them to leave, and one of the women said, 'So, it was your baby that she aborted!' And Pallavi jī accused Anna of bribing Dr. Kanika to lie to her family that she had an abortion, and sending the women to humiliate her publicly. That's when I understood why your Bābā had slapped me. He thought I was faking concern while Raghav Anna was having fun making his daughter look bad."

"An abortion?" Mandar felt even more confused now. "So, Raghav created a fake medical record to convince Bābā that Pallavi spent nights with him? But you're telling the story as if Raghav knew nothing!"

Nikhil shook his head at Mandar, but let Farhad continue.

"No, Mandar, this time the crisis in your family wasn't Raghav Anna's fault at all. It happened before Anna hated Pallavi jī enough to invent a sex scandal about her or turn her family against her. Those are the most hurtful things that Anna can imagine doing to anyone, and he only crossed that line when he mistakenly believed that Pallavi jī had sent Kirti and Jaya Amma to jail. Anna misunderstood Pallavi jī and tormented her from the moment they met; he got into the habit of blaming her for everything that went wrong; he played deceitful tricks to discredit and destroy her business. Without excusing him for any of that, I have to tell you that Anna believed that Pallavi jī had invented a sex scandal about him, which nearly killed his Amma, and Kirti wouldn't let him see Jaya Amma in the hospital. Even then, Anna didn't think of doing the same to Pallavi jī. He took his revenge cruelly, but he stopped short of lying about someone's sexual behaviour or turning a parent against a child."

"Farhad, you've lost me with this story!" Mandar shook his head. It wasn't just that hearing "sex" in Farhad's voice distracted him! Raghav was responsible for everything that Pallavi had endured, wasn't he? But Raghav hadn't bribed this Dr. Kanika to lie about an abortion? "Start from the beginning, please. How could Raghav misunderstand Pallavi?"

Nikhil nodded in agreement; he wanted to make sense of this too. Nikhil knew everything that Krishna had told Mandar Dādā about Raghav's attacks against Pallavi Dī, but when Kirti Dī's Amma had been in the hospital, and Raghav's sex scandal had been in the news, Nikhil hadn't thought that they were connected, or that Raghav blamed Pallavi Dī.

"Sorry, Mandar," Farhad said. "This is how it began. Kirti was being troubled by men on the street, so Raghav Anna assigned Harish to be her bodyguard. Pallavi jī thought that Harish was stalking Kirti, so she told him to leave, or she would publish a video of him. Anna should have felt grateful that Kirti had a friend willing to protect her. If he had made a good impression on Pallavi jī, she might have persuaded Kirti and Jaya Amma to accept help from him. Sadly, Anna was so blindly devoted to his ego, he tried to intimidate Pallavi jī instead."

Mandar remembered what Sulochana Kākū had told him: Jaya Rao had pretended to be a stranger to her vyasanī son. So, when Krishna had said that Raghav sent a man to watch Kirti, she hadn't meant that he was obsessed with Kirti; he was only trying to protect his sister from harassment, as a good brother should!

"Only because Pallavi jī had the courage to call out Raghav Anna's misbehaviour, Anna thought that she wanted to destroy him," Farhad was saying. "Jaya Amma needed medical care, and Kirti persuaded her to move into Anna's house on one condition: Anna would stay out of trouble for two days. Anna almost did it, but then some reporters mobbed him and Amma, asking about some photographs that showed Anna lying naked with a woman. Jaya Amma collapsed, and had to be hospitalized. Anna knew that he had eaten food prepared by Pallavi jī the night before, and he had passed out, and there was CCTV footage of Pallavi jī at a news agency's office, talking to the woman in the photographs, who had sworn revenge against Anna. So, Anna hastily concluded that Pallavi jī had drugged him, she had invented the sex scandal that denied him Amma's forgiveness, and she had put Amma's life in danger."

Mandar thought back to Dr. Ramya telling him that Raghav had had some obscene photographs published, as if Raghav had done it for attention. In Raghav's words, "I am shameless. I can afford to do what I want, with whom I want, wherever and whenever I want." But Farhad was saying that Raghav had been helpless, and for that he had lost his Amma's forgiveness. And Pallavi had paid the price for their reconciliation. Mandar felt heartsick. Last night, he had felt free of shame for the first time. Was it possible to live like that? What if Mandar was helpless before his nature, and failed Pallavi? Would Āī be able to understand and forgive him? No, Mandar believed in decency; he couldn't mistreat Pallavi and expect her forgiveness. He wasn't Raghav!

Nikhil marvelled that someone could mess up Raghav Rao's life, the way that Raghav had messed up Nikhil's. Nikhil knew that Kirti Dī and her Amma had been ashamed of Raghav's criminal lifestyle. Fine, Raghav had been misunderstood that one time, with the sex scandal, but instead of proving his good character like Pallavi Dī, Raghav had pursued revenge with tactics that his mother and sister abhorred. Didn't Raghav want his Amma's and Kirti Dī's forgiveness?

"Why did this other woman want revenge?" Nikhil asked.

"Raghav Anna had a habit of humiliating women," Farhad explained. "His wealth, his looks, and his attitude made him a ladykiller, with many followers on social media, and he craved their attention, but whenever a woman wanted more than a dance, Anna would know that her interest was superficial, and he would feel disgusted with her, and reject her rudely. This woman thought it would be fun to betray her fiancé, but Anna felt sympathy for him as a fellow man, and told me to call him over. The woman was lying on Anna's bed, waiting for him, when I let her fiancé into the bedroom. Anna ruined her wedding, so she retaliated by taking those photographs and telling the news agency that Anna had deceived and seduced her."

Mandar shuddered. Raghav had exposed a woman out of mere sympathy for another man; what would he do to someone who fell short as a husband to Pallavi? If Raghav found out that Mandar hadn't been faithful to Pallavi last night, that Mandar had wanted to kiss Farhad and hold onto him, forgetting his marriage vows ...

Farhad went on talking. "It wasn't until yesterday morning that Anna found out that when Jaya Amma needed blood, the kalāvā that Anna tied on his wrist while he prayed came from Pallavi jī. Pallavi jī's duā helped Amma to get well, but when the scandal broke, Anna believed that Pallavi jī had almost killed his Amma, and he became obsessed with revenge. His goal was to drive Pallavi jī out of Hyderabad with your family, but he didn't want to subject her to scandal or make her an orphan like himself. Then, unexpectedly, Anna began to look after Pallavi jī. Once, he thought she was missing, and he kept calling me all through the night, using all of his resources to find her. Whether Pallavi jī needed a private taxi, or balm for a bruise, or a deadline extension, or release from police custody, or help to get Amruta home when she had eaten too much bhāṅga for Holī, or a well-lit room to do embroidery, or she had misplaced a saree, Anna stepped up to give it to her. He even gave her what she didn't want from him: prize money from a saree design contest, his protection when she left your house alone at night, advice to squeeze a cheating customer ... The harder Anna tried to insult and defeat Pallavi jī, the more he found himself compulsively helping her."

Mandar and Nikhil were looking at each other and shaking their heads. Farhad and Krishna might imagine that Raghav loved Pallavi, but if her feelings had mattered to Raghav, he would never have hurt her or Bābā or Nikhil. Raghav's obsession by any other name was just as dangerous.

"By the time Pallavi jī accused Anna of bribing Dr. Kanika to lie about an abortion, Anna was used to her fighting spirit. Now he felt hurt that she was disgusted by him. He wanted to be her hero, but he wouldn't admit it. He insisted that he couldn't tolerate his name being linked with his enemy's, and he wasn't doing anything for her. I was delighted that he wanted me to investigate Dr. Kanika, and together we got her to confess who had instructed her to say that Pallavi jī had the abortion."

"Who was it?" Mandar asked.

"Your Sulochana Kākū," Farhad answered.

Mandar looked at Nikhil, who nodded. Obviously, Kākū dislikes Pallavi, Mandar thought, remembering Sulochana's behaviour at the pūjā yesterday, and at lunch the day before. "Why would Kākū slander and harass Pallavi like that?"

"Kākū's plan was to embarrass Pallavi Dī so much that she would leave for Kolhapur with Siddhesh Dādā and Pavani Vahinī," Nikhil explained. "They were visiting us for Manasi Dī's wedding at the time."

"Manasi's wedding?" Mandar's eyes widened with shock. "Manasi got married?"

"No, Dādā," Nikhil said gently. "The wedding was called off because Raghav marched into our house to announce in front of the in-laws-to-be that he knew who had the abortion."

Another shock for Mandar. Poor Manasi! Raghav had ruined her life too! Mandar had thought that the abortion was entirely a lie, but he knew that unplanned pregnancy wasn't abnormal or libidinous. It was even remotely possible after a vasectomy. "Was it Kākū?"

Nikhil shook his head. "No, it was Amruta. I'm sorry, Dādā. I know she's your favourite. Pallavi Dī tried to stop Raghav from saying anything, but he wouldn't let it go."

Mandar's face was burning, and hot tears overflowed from his eyes as he clenched his fists, his fingernails digging in. Amruta is still a child, he thought. If Sulochana Kākū hadn't taken me away, I would have protected her. I failed. And Raghav was in such a hurry to clear his own name, he humiliated a scared teenager for listening to her diabolical mother.

Farhad drove along silently, giving Mandar several minutes to absorb what had happened to his sisters. Then Farhad narrated the epilogue of his story.

"It was also your Sulochana Kākū who took photographs of Kirti changing her saree at the photo shoot for Deshmukh Saree Emporium. She uploaded them to Photogram and used them to get Kirti and Jaya Amma jailed for prostitution. Kirti and Jaya Amma had been nothing but polite to your Kākū, and yet she attacked their respectability because it would hurt Raghav Anna more than anything that she could do to him. And she made Anna think that Pallavi jī had done it. That was how Anna decided to convince your Bābā that Pallavi jī wanted to own his shop and his business, and that Anna was her lover."

"Sulochana Kākū is spiteful, but this much effort - what does she have to gain?" Mandar wondered aloud, while many questions swirled in his brain. Why did Kākū take me from the hospital to Vikarabad? Why did she risk Amruta's reputation, just to drive out Pallavi? Raghav was hurting our family; then why did she instigate him against Pallavi?

"Sulochana Kākū wants to own our house and drive out Āī-Bābā," Nikhil spoke up. "If Bābā hadn't had Pallavi Dī's help, the shop would have gone out of business and he would have had to make a deal with Sulochana Kākū. So, Kākū tried to force Pallavi Dī out of the family. Amruta had a silly fantasy that she could marry Raghav, and Kākū encouraged her, but more than that, Kākū didn't want Pallavi Dī to succeed with Raghav's help. She didn't stop there. After Raghav married Pallavi Dī, when he moved in with us and wanted Āī-Bābā to welcome Pallavi Dī home, Kākū got someone to steal a diamond necklace from Raghav's showroom; she put it in Bābā's bag, and tricked Raghav into handing that bag to Bābā, so that when Bābā was arrested, he thought that Raghav had framed him."

"Bābā was arrested too!" Mandar stared at Nikhil. "Was he put in jail?" The thought of Raghav putting Nikhil in jail had rankled in Mandar's brain since yesterday afternoon. Several minutes ago, Farhad had mentioned that Pallavi was in police custody. Who had framed her? And Bābā, who only wanted to live a quiet, respectable life - Kākū had put him through the indignity of being arrested as a thief!

"Yes, Bābā was in jail, but not overnight," Nikhil reassured Mandar, shivering as he recalled his own night in jail. "Raghav got Bābā released the same day by claiming that he himself had taken the necklace and given it to Bābā."

Mandar remembered, Āī had told him that Raghav had changed; he had started to watch over their family and catch any trouble that came their way. This was what Āī had meant. Raghav wasn't interested in Bābā's scruples about lying to the police; he felt neither respect nor affinity for Bābā; but he was on his side.

"What I'm trying to tell you, Mandar," Farhad interrupted his thoughts, "is that your Sulochana Kākū is utterly dangerous and she has no limits. She didn't stop to think about her own children paying the price for her plots. Watch out for her. Raghav Anna may not deserve your forgiveness, and he may attack you when he finds out that Pallavi jī has chosen you, but he has a conscience. He's aware that Kirti needed your forgiveness, and you gave it, and he could have put Damayanti's life in danger, but you guided him. Raghav Anna's gratitude to you is sincere. His love for Pallavi jī is sincere. His respect for your Āī is sincere."

"Raghav already knows that Pallavi will be my wife. Pallavi told him at the pūjā yesterday morning." Mandar's correction astonished Farhad.

"You mean, when Anna called you outside, he knew? What did he do?"

"He hugged me, and said that Pallavi gave him a chance only in my name. He said, I should get used to him being close to me and watching everything that I do. He said that he wouldn't move on from Pallavi, and he squeezed my hand to threaten me in case I wasn't a good husband."

"He didn't punch you? Or try to scare you off?" Farhad thought aloud. "I've never seen him like this before. Anna is unpredictable, but if he wasn't violent or insulting, it's a good sign. I really hope he doesn't have any trick planned against you."

While Farhad continued to drive along the highway, Pallavi and Krishna arrived to open the shutter of Deshmukh Saree Emporium.

"Dīdī, why are there so many people waiting outside?" Krishna wondered as they approached the shop. "Look - they have microphones and video cameras - they're reporters!"

"Pallavi jī!" a man shouted, as the gathered crowd ran to surround Pallavi and Krishna. "You warned Raghav Rao that you would bring him down and make the world turn away from him. What is he hiding?"

What was this man asking? Pallavi wondered. Before she could try to make sense of it, other questions rang out from the crowd on all sides, relentlessly.

"What was the truth of your marriage that Raghav Rao didn't want his Amma to find out? Anything like his earlier sex scandal?"

"Why did Raghav Rao confess to the hit-and-run that killed your first husband?"

"Did Raghav Rao force you to marry him by buying this shop and threatening to evict you?" When Pallavi didn't reply, a follow-up question came. "Does he call you Sārī kā Dukāna because he thinks women are property?"

"You thought Raghav Rao knew you were a widow. He thought your in-laws were your parents. Didn't he try to get to know you before he married you?"

"Did Raghav Rao put a stain on your reputation as a faithful widow? Is that why your svargavāsī first husband's family disowned you?"

"Stop!" Pallavi cried out, as Krishna put a supportive hand on her shoulder. "Who gave you the right to ask me about my life?"

"We have a responsibility to the public to expose men who prey upon helpless women," one woman replied. "Especially rich and powerful men, because the law won't touch them unless we give their victims a voice."

"Pallavi jī, we were told that you sent this video to the news agency. Isn't that true?" Another woman was shouting now.

"I don't know about any video," Pallavi said, clutching Krishna's hand and looking for a way out of the crowd.

"I will play it for you," the woman shouted. "Friends, be quiet so that Pallavi jī can listen to the video." She held her phone in front of Pallavi and started the video. It was of Pallavi in a white saree, facing Raghav next to the staircase in the house where their wedding reception had just begun. Pallavi listened, and the words brought back the despair and humiliation and fury that she had felt on that horrific day of her remarriage to Raghav.

Raghav: "Yaha kyā mazāka hai, Sārī kā Dukāna?" What stunt is this, Saree Shop? "Tuma yaha safeda sārī pahana kara āyā?" You showed up wearing this white saree? "Yaha party merā Amma aura Kirti ke liye hai." This party is for my Amma and Kirti. "Unako takalīfe mata pahuṃcānā, varanā ..." Don't cause problems for them, or else ... "Jā ke dress change kara ke āo!" Go and make a dress change, then come back! "Ghūra kyā rahā hai?" You're staring? "Bolā nā?" Didn't I tell you? "Jāo, change kara ke āo." Go, change, and come back. "Āpasame fight ke liye time aura space bahuta hai hamāre pāsa." We'll have plenty of time and space to fight each other. "Aba tamāśe mata karanā." Don't make a spectacle now. "Yaha safeda sārī kā matalaba bhī jānatā hai?" A white saree - what it means, do you even know?

Pallavi: "Eka vidhavā ko safeda raṅga kā matalaba samajhā rahe ho?" Does a widow need you to explain the meaning of the colour white?

Raghav: "Vidhavā?" A widow?

Pallavi: "Bola to aise rahe ho jaise kucha nahīṃ jānate." You're talking as if you don't know anything. "Aba eka vidhavā se śādī kī hai, to usake rūpa ko bhī apanānā paḍegā." Now you've married a widow, so you'll have to accept her look too.

Raghav: "Tuma yaha kyā bola rahā hai?" What's this you're saying?

Pallavi: "Saca." The truth. "Maiṃ eka vidhavā hūṃ." I am a widow. "Deshmukh parivāra kī vidhavā bahū." The Deshmukh family's widowed daughter-in-law.

Raghav: "Tuma unakā beṭī hai nā?" You're their daughter, aren't you?

Pallavi: "Vo mujhe apanī beṭī mānate the." They considered me their daughter. "Lekina jaba tuma merī zindagī meṃ āye, tumane mere sāre riśtoṃ ko dabā kara diyā." But when you came into my life, you suppressed all of my relationships. "Mujhe beṭī aura bahū to choḍa, acchā iṃsāna bhī nahīṃ samajhate aba vo." Forget my being their daughter or daughter-in-law; now they don't even imagine me to be a good person. "Tumane mujhe unake nazaroṃ meṃ girāyā." You brought me down in their eyes. "Aba maiṃ tumhe duniyā ke nazaroṃ meṃ girāūṅgī." Now I will bring you down in the eyes of the world. "Tumhārī vajaha se merā parivāra merā ceharā bhī nahīṃ dekhanā cāhatā." You're the reason my family doesn't even want to see my face. "Aba dekha, vo dina dūra nahīṃ jaba maiṃ pūrī duniyā ko tumase mūha moḍane para majabūra kara dūṅgī." Now look, the day isn't far off when I will compel the whole world to turn its face away from you.

Farhad: "Anna, patā nahīṃ kisī ne lights off karavāyī thī." Anna, I don't know why someone turned the lights off. "Maiṃ just on karavā ke āyā hūṃ." I just turned them on and came back.

Raghav: "Farhad, Pallavi vidhavā hai, yaha tuma jānatā hai?" Farhad, Pallavi is a widow, do you know this?

Farhad: "Nahīṃ, Anna." No, Anna.

Raghav: "Yaha Sārī kā Dukāna Amma ko hamārā śādī kā saccāī nā batā de!" This Saree Shop shouldn't tell Amma the truth about our marriage!

The video ended. Pallavi felt a pit in her stomach; she felt light-headed and the faces around her were a blur. The reporters had proof that she hadn't told Raghav about her first marriage until too late. Subhadra had warned her that if anyone found out this fact, she wouldn't be exonerated of the crime of bigamy, for which the sentence could be ten years in prison.

Pallavi leaned on Krishna for support. Krishna was pleading with the reporters, "Please, step back! Give Dīdī room to breathe! Let me take her inside and get her some water."

The reporters fell back. Krishna opened the shutter, helped Pallavi to sit down, and brought her some water.

How could my private conversation with Raghav have reached the news media? Pallavi tried to think. Why did it happen exactly now? Who would have the motive to punish me? Who would even know that Raghav and I had this conversation? Raghav, of course. But he loves me. Just two months ago, I would have welcomed the chance to tell reporters about Raghav Rao's crimes against me. The police wouldn't listen. But now, if I say that Raghav lied about me and forced me to marry him, everyone will believe that I hid my widowhood from him on purpose.

Pallavi stood up, went to the open shutter, and said the only words that she thought might make these reporters go away.

"I am not a widow after all. My first husband is living. I don't live with Raghav Rao anymore and he is not a danger to me. I am an ordinary middle-class woman whose private life is of no interest to the public. This shop is my property. All of you, leave immediately and let me do my work in peace."