Chapter 58

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LadyMeringue

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Epistle 9: Valuing Loyalty Above All


A/N: Hey there everyone! :D :D Here is the third bonus epistle! :D :D This will be the new Epistle 9 as per the chronological order. :) :) Also, here's wishing you all a very happy and prosperous New Year!

Not keeping y'all for long,

Happy Reading! :D :D


6th July, 1996:

Honestly, I don't know what to do with that boy!

Is he mad?! It's not even been fifteen days out from the hospital and he's been working around the place like a prancing pixie! The doctors have advised him to be on strict bed rest for a week, but that boy just doesn't want to listen! Kailash Kaka has been looking harassed ever since Ranveer began his rant about wanting to go back to school again, and the investigation is still on the go. Kaka silently confessed to me that he didn't have a mind to send Ranveer to school anymore because he feels that whichever school Ranveer joins will have history repeat itself.

"It's the stain of belonging to the servants' class..." had whispered Kaka to me, and I couldn't help but feel my heart break.

I didn't tell Kaka anything but this really upset me a lot. Obviously Ranveer has the right to study and educate himself just like all of us do! So what if he's poor of if Kaka can't afford getting him educated at a good school? That doesn't mean that Ranveer is going to remain illiterate for life now, does it? Not when he's so talented in not just academics, but even crafts and athletics as well! Ofcourse he's going to get admission in a better school than the pretentious snob fest school that we were studying in - a school worthy of him than he of it.

I spoke to Harshad Uncle about this and he agrees to. He's been on the hunt for a respectable school for both of us where the kids attending come more from a normal background than this so-called high society and he told me just yesterday that he's shortlisted three. He's going to personally go and have a talk with the administration and faculty staff to see whether everything meets to our requirements and healthy development before enrolling us into it. I haven't told Kailash Kaka about it because Uncle said that he'd talk to him himself, but I was about to tell Ranveer when he made me forget everything else with what he was doing.

He was washing the cars! In the rains!

Do people even have any sense to make him do such strenuous work when he's just out from the hospital?! STRICT BED REST! That's the the doctors told us all that he requires if he wants to make a speedy recovery. His injuries weren't deep but he had to take a lot of care about his stomach because the rupture was halfway through healing still. But who is to talk to that idiot and explain him about it? People in this house have no sense, but doesn't he have any sense about his own health and well-being? Doesn't he realize that he's Kaka's only child and how mortally worried he's been about him? But no! Just because he works for us, that means that these fools will make him do anything and he'll do it willingly also because he supposedly works for the family!

He works for the family, not bloody owned by them!

He always tells me that his mother's parting words to him at the station had been to value loyalty above everything else. I agree to her sentiments behind it, but valuing loyalty doesn't mean to value it to the point where you don't value your life anymore! First with Baa and her whips, then for me at the school and now this! What does he plan to do next - kill himself for Harshad Uncle? Had Uncle been home here, he'd have given everyone a good piece of his mind. But for now, I think I've done the needful, although I don't see whether it's going to have any effect upon him.

When I walked out in the rains to stop him from doing what he was, he actually had the temerity to search for an umbrella for me just so that I wouldn't get wet! Like is he kidding me?! Kaka had told me that Ranveer catches cold really quickly in the rains and its why he doesn't like rains either. It irritates him. And it's something that Ranveer told me as well last month when we had the first shower of monsoon for this year. I'd tried to pull him along so that we could play in the rains, but he'd remained resolutely firm. No means no. And as unnerving as it was, I didn't argue with him because I didn't want him to fall sick.

And look at him now! When it comes to proving his loyalty, the rains don't seem to bother him at all! And you know, that's not even the worst part! When I actually scolded him for what he was doing, he had it in him to defend himself! Half of what he said made no sense to me and yet he was just rooted upon that one, singular point-

"Ishaani, it's my work! Who else will do it if I don't?"

I honestly had no defense left after he repeated this line for the sixth time. Shivering and sneezing with a worn out shirt, the only thing that remained strong was his will to complete his work. But what I don't understand is - was he blind too? Couldn't he see that the rains were washing out the cars just fine? But nooo... because Baa told him to wash the cars, he went out to wash the cars! That woman is mental, but doesn't mean that Ranveer has to be mental too! She's just out to even the odds with him for making her say sorry to him. But he? Who did he sell his brains to?

And you know what's the worst thing? He's got a fever now! Just what I was worried about! He's as it is not keeping too well immunity wise, and look at what the rains have done to him now! He's not only got a cold, but the whole package! What if he gets pneumonia or TB? Does he even know how dangerous those things are?! God, I'm so angry at him right now that I could just whack him under his ear to snap some sense into that thick, self-sacrificing skull of his! When will he improve, really? I just made him promise to not do stupid things but he's just set upon the path of collision like an idiot!

Wait till Uncle and Kaka come back home. I'll make sure to complain to both of them about it! If he gets some pastings from them, then only his brains will come right back on track. Stupid fellow! And he doesn't even have a jacket or a raincoat for the rains! It's why he got wet so badly! I think I'll have to talk to Uncle and tell him to get Ranveer a jacket atleast for the monsoons. If that boy won't get the brains to take care of his health, someone needs to step up here and do the needful. And goodness knows that his father has enough upon his plate already without needing any extra trouble from Ranveer's side.

Huh, that's quite a lot that I've vented now, haven't I?

On a lighter and much calmer note, I'm happy that Ranveer has been recovering well and is going back to normal. At times he does look a little disoriented but the doctors warned about that happening, so I'm not worried. His wounds have been healing too and atleast he looks human now! The way he was bruised up... God, that night still gives me nightmares! A nightmare that I cannot really explain, but it does. Sometimes, I have to pinch myself hard when I wake up to convince myself that Ranveer and myself are both alive and alright; that it was all just a nightmare. A very ghastly nightmare, yes, but a nightmare.

I don't know why I dream about it though. It's something I've been seeing since a week now, and I must admit to you that it's a deeply unsettling experience every time I see it. It makes my toes curl in fright and shakes my mental balance when I feel the blood splatter upon my face! And it's just ghastly and crude and I don't even know what to say about it! The first day, I pushed it off as a very bad dream set off by the whole incident but now that it's been a week, I'm beginning to feel a little frightened. Ranveer tells me that I've become rather short and authoritative and bossy with him these day, but you tell me.

How can you not expect me to be so when I see him dying in my dreams every single day?!

And then when he'd so careless about his health and goes about doing all the household chores with renewed vigour after the stand Uncle took for him, how do you expect me to not be angry at him for his carelessness?! He doesn't know what we've been through in all these days because of his condition. What I've been through. It's easy for him to say that let's out this behind us and walk towards the future with an optimistic approach, but does he even know how the experience has been for me?

I nearly watched him die upon my lap that night as he bled through his mouth, his face ghostly white and his palms ice-cold. The same way he appears in my dream as he breathes his last upon my lap, his fingers trailing upon my face and falling beside him in a limp thud, just like it did when he fell out. We're both much, much older in our dreams, and yet it's all the same. There were people chasing me at school; there are people chasing me in my dreams. Ranveer took my pain and suffering upon me at school; he took all my pain and suffering in my dreams. He took the hit for me when he was ragged every single time; he took the hit for me when that bullet ripped through his chest.

Everything was the same except for Ranveer's fate - he survived reality, not the dreams.

And perhaps it's why I'm that worried about him all of a sudden. He's a big and mature boy, and he's always taking care of everyone's needs and happiness. But it's about time that he starts taking care of himself. What he did for me... no one does that even for their blood. Does he even realize the magnitude of his actions? He could have died for real! He could have not even come out of this the same ever again! But maybe it's just his good, clean heart and our prayers that's made him respond to the medications better. He's been opening up to us steadily with every passing day and he's atleast going back to being his old jovial self, which is a good thing.

The weakness is still there a little, but he'll get alright soon. I hope he does. The dreams are terrifying, and when I saw him all drenched in the rains like that... I don't know, something just snapped within me. I didn't even mean to explode at him like that, and I'm certain that Ranveer was crestfallen for sure by the time I left him behind to complete washing the cars, sulking and fuming both. I know that I shouldn't have responded so badly. He's only just got me as a friend and he'd barely just begun coping with everything. The other kids of the house are definitely much, much kinder to him now after what he did for me, but still.

I'm his only friend.

Sigh, I think I'll just go and tell him sorry. I'm tempted to tell him about the dream but I won't. The doctors have asked us not to stress him at all, and my dreams definitely come under the same header with a big red flag. If my dream can freak me out so much, then I can only imagine what Ranveer's reaction would be upon them. But how do I get the stubborn boy to understand? He's still going to remain rooted upon his argument of being a servant to this house who'd now have to work manifold to repay off his Mota Babuji's debt of graciousness and love upon him.

I wish he weren't so stupid, really. But I can't do anything about it. Harshad Uncle is yet to come after a couple of hours, so I'll try talking to Maa first. Maybe I'll get Vishaka Kaki to make me a glass of turmeric milk for him with some kesar to take away the taste. That should help improve his cold and fever, if not anything else. And I'm wondering whether it'd be right to give him a paracetamol since he's still on medication, but let's see. I think I'll ask Maa only about it. She'll know what to do best.

I just hope that Ranveer doesn't put up an argument for this as well.

-x-

God, that boy is unbelievable!

He's not made one single fuss in the hospital all of these days for the blood tests and the IV drip stings and the medicines, but for one stupid glass of turmeric milk, he decides to bring the whole roof down! I've never fought with anyone in all my life like the way I've fought with Ranveer just now. We've nearly gone hand-to-hand with pulling at each other's hair and pulling off another verbal match with both of us being stubborn brats. It's a real wonder that I didn't slap him yet, even though I was this close to doing it when Kaka entered the room.

And before Ranveer could say anything in his defense, I told Kaka everything! Ranveer looked rather angry at me for going tattle-tales on him and complaining to Kaka about all of his antics, but the situation demanded me to do the same. I think its why he put up an extra fuss for having the milk, but when Kaka gave him a nice glare, he got to drinking it like a cat even though he still wanted to drink the milk staring daggers at me. Kaka gave me a chocolate also for taking such care of him, and that seemed to push Ranveer on edge even more. But it was for his best only, really.

Say what he may, when he'd going to recover completely and get all the rest that his body requires, he's going to appreciate it. Even more so now that he knows that he'll be able to join school again, like Kaka and I happened to inform him at the same time. I don't know what Uncle did to convince Kaka about the same for even though reluctant, Kaka had still agreed. Perhaps even he was bound to the shackles of loyalty just like Ranveer was. He had to do what his master asked of him, whether he liked it or not. And even though I don't quite approve of it, I'm happy that Kaka decided to allow Ranveer to go to school again.

Ranveer deserves nothing but the best, and this is his right! And I'll make sure that he does have a proper school experience like the way all kids are supposed to have rather than worry about things like loyalty and looking out for me by killing himself. I'm not going to tell him anything about the dream because it's none of his concern, but I'm going to keep an even closer eye upon him from now on. He's my best friend and I'm going to make sure that what happened with him doesn't happen again. Nobody gets lucky twice, and I hope he realizes it too.

Had he been okay in health, I wouldn't have minded smuggling him some butterscotch ice-cream, but let it be. He dug his own grave by wetting himself in the rains so stupidly, so he's going to have to miss out on the rewards as well. He should be happy that I didn't tell Uncle about it, even though I did tell him about the jacket. Uncle promised me that he'd get him one tomorrow itself and would check up on him as well before heading for work. I love the way Uncle leaves no stone unturned in making sure that Ranveer is treated just like a child of this household.

Ranveer was telling me just the other day how the two of us are always going to be outcasts in this house because we do not belong to the Parekh clan. And I think for the first time in five months, the harsh reality behind his words didn't make a difference to me at all. Because Ranveer and I share the kind of bond we do precisely because of this and the fact that Harshad Uncle accepted both of us as his own in spite of all the odds. And maybe that why I respect him so much and Ranveer sees him as his God in some way, calling him Mota Babuji and giving him that respect of a mentor. In this world full of sham and glam, its rare to find a gem worth its value.

And I'm glad to have found two.


Constructive criticism will be more than welcome and sorry for any typos. :D :D

LadyMeringue2017-01-19 02:27:25

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