Chapter 86

79. Served Best Cold

The sleek porcelain mug bore the logo of NBI. A golden lion with a firm line under its feet and a palm tree shooting out from its back. It was said to be inspired by the East India Company double mohur.

‘No, thank you.’ She declined the tea and tempting snack box that accompanied it. Refusing along with it the first and perhaps the last opportunity to break her fast in the sacred confines of this building. The waiting room was centrally air-conditioned, and yet a slick of sweat blossomed under her arms.

Her turn had arrived.

Standing up from the couch, she covered the distance in quick and measured steps.

Kirti ran her hand over the stiff pleats of her saree. The shiny metallic door reflected the tangerine cotton fabric draped around her and the muted gold that ran in thin lines along its border. The boat neck plain blouse hugged her breasts reverentially, the sleeves of it ending at her elbows.

Tucking away the stray hair behind her ears, she gave herself a once-over. Anticipation and anxiety traveled up from her chest to her throat, scorching it with continued vigor.

She pulled a deep breath in, followed by an exhale in the hopes of exorcising ill thoughts. Wrapping her palm around the knob - her pulse beat in an uncontrollable rhythm - she twisted it, propelling open a new world for herself.

XxxX

Ammaji was very busy today.

She bathed Radha; picked out her dress - a mauve-colored skirt and a round-neck shirt that had three-petaled spring flowers sprinkled all over it as she hummed an old song about a village girl lamenting the unfaithfulness of her city-dwelling lover.

She will miss me, poor child. But it is all for good. And when the father himself has decided to give away the girl for adoption, what can I do? She thought.

But in a way, good riddance! Who was to arrange the dowry for the girl!? As she would grow up, her requirements would only increase with time.

Radha fingered the loops at the waist of her skirt as her grandmother rubbed her hair dry, combing it into a high pony. Just the way Radha liked. She wondered if it was a special day. The man - Papa - lifted her on the chair, hurrying her feet into a pair of glassy blue shoes as she pulled her hand behind herself to stick fingers in the criss-cross of the back of the plastic chair.

Radha scrunched her nose. She didn't like shoes that wrapped around her feet tightly.

She liked open-toed wear that gave her space to wiggle her toes. Kirti knew. This new man did not. She kept shaking her legs hoping the man would take notice. He did not.

Her little toe hurt. Last time a small bud-like blister had sprouted on her tiniest toe. Kirti had refrained her from touching or popping it and had applied Nivea - Nivea from the white case. She liked Kirti’s Nivea for it had cooled her skin when Kirti had laid a film over her toe. Her Dadi’s Nivea came in a blue box and was thick, always getting stuck between the crooks of her fingers when she was trying to apply it over her cheeks.

'Today, someone is coming to see you. They will take you to their big house and give you lots of toys. You will live with them. Be a good girl, Radha. Answer their questions properly.'

Radha ignored the man, in the same manner, he often overlooked her presence.

She studied the wall clock. Oval wall clock. The one in her room was a square wall clock. She knew all the shapes.

The big hand was crawling to eight and the small hand was at eleven. Kirti usually returned when the small hand was at six or seven. Maybe, she could sneak a run outside and jump in the sand that a truck had unloaded a few blocks away. She would change shoes before that.

Ammaji peeled the curtain away to peek from her window.

The woman, Radha’s new guardian, when she stepped out of the expensive SUV and strode towards their house, Ammaji stepped back in horror, in puzzlement, and in wonder. Then in a perverse decision, she stepped to the door to have a clear view as the clatter of utensils and the crackle of the morning routine in the neighborhood faded in the background.

With a radiant Sambalpuri wound around her undulating figure and small glittering stones - that could blind one’s eyes if stared at length - adorning her ears and nose; with the riches and comforts she had so craved, lapping at her heels, this woman was nothing like the helpless mother who had laid her pride before their feet.

This wasn’t the Urmila Singh she had known.

XxxX

Mr.Ojha flicked through the pages of the documents with wild urgency.

'Please check thoroughly. Unlike the restraining notice you'd thrown at me, this one is very real.'

His gaze lifted and he fixed her with a pointed glare. She watched him back coolly, a perpetual smile etched on her lips.

'Her mother is alive. You'll need her consent as well,' he said finally finding a loophole.

The smile turned into a smirk.

'Did not read it carefully, did you?' She asked.

He returned his attention to the papers. Sure enough, Sudha's signature at the bottom of the page mocked him.

'Now that you're satisfied, can I take the child with me? Ravi? I don't have the whole day.' Her face reflected mild disinterest. She was standing, refusing to disrespect her clothing by bringing it in contact with the dusty couch.

Ravi, at once jumped into action. From the room inside, he brought Radha's suitcase.

‘Just the girl. You must understand Mr. Ravi, that my place has no place for cheap things.'

Cowering at the solecism he made, he immediately set about to placate her, 'Of course...Of course Ms.Lokhande. How ignorant of me!'

Mr.Ojha cringed and seethed in fury seeing his son fawning over that vile woman!

'Radha will not go with her. I will not allow it!' He thundered.

'You think you're going to use the child against us? Do not forget your daughter is now our daughter-in-law! If you try to pull any trick on us or hurt us, remember your daughter will bear repercussions!' Mrs.Ojha warned.

'Drama is in everybody's genes it seems!' Ahilya rolled her eyes.  'And daughter-in-law?’ she sneered. ‘Seems your son did not tell you anything.'

'Ravi,' she said impatiently. 'I did not come for this drama here. It seems you did not communicate your intentions well to your family.’ She turned away, the flamboyant twirl of the end of her sari aiding her in a dramatic finish.

‘Ma’am, Ms.Lokhande, please. I am her father. My decision is what counts. The girl is yours.’

‘Of course, she’s mine. There is no doubt about it. Both you and her mother have given up on the rights to claim her. If you go back on your words now, you’ll be legally accountable.’ She was at the door now.

‘No Ma’am, please,’ Ravi, agitated hearing about legal action, ran after her.

‘Who do you think you are? To threaten my son in my house! Have you forgotten how you were thrown out of here? Do you think now that you are rich, you can make us dance to your tunes? Brazen woman, don’t we know how you made this money!’

‘People do what they have to make money, Ojha. Some sell their daughters, some their conscience,’ her lips curled into a wisp of contempt. ‘Mr. Ravi, that's more than enough of a welcome, I guess.’

‘Baba! Will you just shut up!? You are spoiling this for me!’

‘Ravi! Is that how you talk to your father?’

‘Then tell him to keep out of this Amma! All through the years, he has done a commendable job of neglecting me. Why can’t he be the same now? Radha is MY daughter. I will do what I want to do!’ He announced it loud and clear.

‘I will come back again to get the girl. Today seems not to be the day.’

XxxX

Mayank was visiting the house to assess the damage his revelation had done. In his opinion, he hadn’t done anything grave that should warrant a silent treatment.

He had only wished to teach her a lesson, to open her eyes to bitter worldly truths.

Perhaps, he had stretched the lie for far too long and what could have become a liberating truth to jest and sigh over together, had indented their already fragile friendship. In his defense, she had started it! He had only pulled some of his own tricks, that too with the noblest of intentions.

While he was getting down his bike, the brazen clamor of arguments from the house floated past him to the neighboring houses.

He dashed to his house thinking they were tearing down Kirti but what he heard had him rooted to his spot

.

'It is all because of that dratted woman! The cursed moment when we decided to bring her home! You! You said she's Kubera's treasure! The key to our affluent future! On your bidding, I even called Gautam's family! For what? All she seemed to bring with her was ill-luck! You wanted her as a daughter-in-law! Now, are you happy? Her mother is out to get revenge on us. The stinky old woman is sitting on our heads while your darling daughter-in-law spends nights tendering to other men! And, you! You sit here chanting, Eighteen lakhs...Eighteen lakhs! That bitch will not part with a penny, I tell you! She will use us dry and will glide away! '

'Will you just shut up, woman? I have no patience for your hysterics!'

'What did you mean by 'calling Gautam's family'?' Mayank asked, stepping out from the shadows, finally seeing the light.

'Ask your father!' Mrs.Ojha was too livid to pretend to hide the truth. 'He wanted the dowry and the earning woman to come to our household!'

And he had wanted to open her eyes to the bitter truths of life! To teach her a lesson!

'It was your father's plan to first sabotage the alliance and then pretend to apply balm by proposing your hand in marriage. But you two beat him by announcing to marry.'

Mayank stepped back, his elbow hitting the door jamb. He had known his parents were not perfect people. They were conservative, mean, and selfish at times but they were scheming thugs?

'Do not forget your eager titters and participation!' Mr.Ojha seethed. 'I was not the one who had proposed to bring her home! And you Ravi, what do you think you're doing giving away Radha to her? Send her to a shelter home, if you want but not that woman! I will not have it!'

'I have said this and I am repeating again. Radha has to go with that woman! In return, she has leased me a store in the central mall. She’s also financing my new business.'

'Ravi, listen to your father. That woman is using you against us,' Mrs.Ojha reasoned.

'Why should I listen to you or for that matter anybody here?! Did you people come to meet me in jail? You are supposed to be my family! Even murderers have visitors. I did not have a single person coming to ask after me! You left me to rot there. People move mountains for their children. You people wouldn't even take care of my wife in my absence! Why should I care what you people want?! You say you care about Radha?' Ravi gave out a peal of mocking laughter. 'Fool someone else!'

'What is happening here?!' Mayank bellowed in rage. 'Where is Radha going? Ravi?'

'Kirti's mother has adopted Radha,' Mrs.Ojha took it upon her the opportunity to poison her son against Kirti. 'She was here to take her away. Mayank, you're always taking her side! Now, see how she plotted against us with her mother. Son, you have given her too much freedom! A thwack under her ears, and it should bring both the mother and daughter on the right path.'

Disgust rose like bile in his throat.

'What does Kirti's mother have against us?' He prodded.

'Why? Because your father had not allowed her to meet her kids! But it was what Karuna had wanted! We did not do anything wrong. Mayank, you understand that, don't you?' She jerked his very stiff figure. 'Best would be divorcing her! We don't want anything to do with the mother and daughter.' A strange fear began to grip Mrs.Ojha. That Karma was coming for them. Karuna had received her share of it and now it was them.

'I am not married to her. I never was.'

'What?!' A shocked Mr.Ojha growled. It cannot be. He was just planning to manipulate Kirti against her mother and guilt-trip her into coaxing money.

‘Deva! So were you never married to her? Not even on paper?' Mrs.Ojha asked.

When Mayank nodded in affirmative, she slumped to the ground in despair for she would have liked to exact revenge of her own on the daughter of the wicked woman!

XxxX

Kirti had just left the regional office of NBI behind and was rueing about her interview. She had mixed feelings about it, having trembled and stuttered at personal questions like why so many gap years? Why NBI when you could very well have a career in the IT sector? Then she stumbled at, if you were Governor, what would you do?''

She was waiting for the taxi when her phone buzzed. It was Mayank. She hadn't been taking his or for that matter anyone’s calls because she solely wanted to focus on preparing for her interview.

'Kirti,' he burst like an overripe melon. 'Your mother has adopted Radha! She came today to take her away. Did you have any idea?'

'No! Adopted Radha? Why would she do that?!'

Disconnecting the call, she immediately punched her brother's number to ask for that woman's contact details.

XxxX

The woman lived here?

Twice she had come here and had almost crossed paths with the woman that was her mother.

And even in her agitated state, Kirti’s eyes wandered to his apartment, the pit of her stomach twisting in a deep ache.

That night on his sofa, they had been so close. All she had to do was kiss the distance away.

Would he ever return?

She felt a potent urge to simply walk and brush her fingers across the panel of the door.

'Ah! Kirti, what a surprise... not!' The woman opened the door wide, her voice pulling her out of her rueful state.

'Why would you adopt Radha?' Kirti asked tempestuously, not willing to set her foot inside. The woman had played foul by attacking at her weakest spot. That too when she wasn't looking.

'Woh aaye Ghar mein hamare khuda ki qudrat hai, kabhie hum unko, kabhie apne ghar ko dekhte hai,’ Ahilya was all smiles as she left the door open, sauntering inside.

‘Cut it off!’ She followed the woman inside who went to settle herself on the peach couch that languished in the middle of the room. Her legs were pulled up as if in defiance of the elegance people had come to associate with her. The olive end of her saree fluttered to the floor.  Her long tresses resting over her shoulder glistened in the light sieving through the velvet curtains.

There was a half-read novel upside down on the center table.

The house had a distinct Mysore Sandal soap fragrance to it mixed with the sugary smell of cardamom. She imagined - she knew - there was tea, elaichi tea, brewing somewhere on the stove.

The woman had maneuvered all this - Proustian moments - to spur her dive into her past, her childhood.

Flimsy memories had begun to take the shape of free-spirited clouds floating before her eyes.

Them getting into the bath together - her mother foaming her hair, her inhaling Moti soap that she thought was really a big fat pearl. She had always liked Moti better than Mysore Sandal.

An image flitted before her, she was curling up in her mother’s lap as they read out books together - she was pretending to read and then bored, pulling the end of her mother’s sari to cover herself and then slowly drifting off to the valley of dreams.

She was pulling the comb through her mother’s infinitely long hair, gently and sometimes roughly,  unmindful of her winces.

She was blowing over her cup of Horlicks, pretending it was tea, while her mother sat beside her sipping sweet milk tea.

Kirti staggered, struggling to gain a firm foothold in the present.

‘I asked what do you mean by adopting Radha? Are you doing this to provoke me?’

'Want something to cool your head? Juice? Water? Or tea? You are big enough to drink tea now.' The more composed Ahilya looked, the more Kirti found herself being infuriated.

‘I will not let you have her!'

'And how do you plan to do that?' The woman looked up at her. 'I have the legal rights over her. She's my daughter now.'

'Daughter?! This is a new hobby or something? The latest trend in your circle?' Her eyes foraged her surroundings, seeking for anything that spoke of her repentance; anything that exuded the woman’s devotion and loyalty to her father. Flower pots, paintings, mirrors - too many of them - all inanimate objects.

'Hobby or latest trend whatever it is, it doesn't change the truth. She's my daughter now.'

Kirti returned her disappointed eyes to the woman.

'Do you even understand what it is to be a mother? Were we not enough that you want to play with another child's future?! If you want, go and find someone else! Why Radha?'

'You've heard of the story where the King's heart lay with the parrot? Your heart lies with Radha and I want your heart.'

'No, I haven't heard of it. But I have heard of a story where the crocodile befriends a monkey with the intention of eating its heart.'

'You're a spunky kid. It'd be fun breaking your defenses and endearing myself to you.’

'Your seven lifetimes might fall short!'

'That is because you underestimate my capabilities.'

Kirti snorted. ‘Oh no, Ms.Lokhande. I have a deep respect for your capabilities. The papers are colored with your conquests and heart-winning capabilities.’

‘You've been reading about me?' Ahilya beamed.

'Yes, and you disgust me!' Kirti spewed.

'Better than indifference, I would say. And what is the use of my abilities when I cannot have the one heart I so desire? Give me a chance to win it.’

‘No, let this one ‘love’ of yours remain unfulfilled. Poets have spoken at length about the permanency of love, unrequited. One-sided love that I will never return, yes that is what I want. Let it be a searing ache that makes you feel un-whole. One that you take to your grave. Like my father did. But you know what? You’re incapable of loving someone else.’

‘Kirti, I know I have erred,’ Ahilya rising from the couch reached out for her but Kirti stepped back, ‘let me fill the empty spaces. I know how noisy they can be. The deep gashes that I gave you, still spill. Allow me to hem them for you.  Let me fulfill those dreams I promised I would.’

‘No, It’s too late. Even if you make up things now, I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. Maybe I will even dislike the wholeness you wish to bring for I have become used to the loss and absence. Remember the story you read out to me once. The fishmonger could not sleep in a fragrant flower bed because she missed the stink of her fish. If you wish to give me something, let Radha be with me.'

'I will let you bring up the child,' said Ahilya, 'but in turn come and live with me for six months.'

P.S. - The logo of RBI has a tiger but since it's NBI so I changed it to a lion.

[MEMBERSONLY]

[NOCOPY]