Chapter 25
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[MEMBERSONLY]
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Part 5: Day 9
Section 3
"I want you to shift in to a house you have taken for rent." Arnav said, his voice low, but his determination to have his way loud and clear.
Shyam Manohar Jha saw all his dreams of owning a new house in Delhi being blown to smithereens. Shell-shocked, he stared at Arnav. Anjali parted her lips to chide Chotey, but one look at the mottled face of her husband stopped her.
Before Shyam could ask what and why and how, Nani stepped in.
"A rented house? Chotey, why should Anjali Bitiyaa and Damadji live in to a rented house when you have given her 4 houses in Delhi?" she asked, a look of enquiry on her face.
Mami nodded. "Haan, Arnav Bitwaa, bhy rented haujj phor sister of Arnav Singh Raijjada?"
Arnav smiled gently. "Because she is now the wife of Shyam Manohar Jha, a lawyer with a busy practice, who works day and night to meet the needs of his clients."
Nani & Mami frowned at him, as though asking for more explanations.
"I gave Di 4 houses at the time of her marriage. All the houses have been given on lease, as Jijaji just reminded us." Arnav explained.
Nani & Mami nodded.
"It is not ethical to ask the tenants to leave before the term stipulated by the lease agreement is over. So it is better that Jijaji & Di find a house for rent."
"A house for rent!" Shyam finally found his long-lost voice. "You want me to stay in a rented house?" Fury emanated in waves from his irritated and disappointed self.
Arnav frowned lightly. "You have been staying in rented houses all your life, haven't you... Jijaji?" he asked. "As far as I know, you have never owned any house, not in Lucknow, not in Delhi. You have always been a tenant, a PG at times..." Arnav smiled.
Shyam swallowed and threw a look at Khushi's impassive face.
"Nani, Mami, Jijaji has a very good job. And he works very hard." Arnav explained. Nani & Mami smiled and nodded. "I am sure he makes a very good sum every month. So getting a good house for rent should not be a problem."
The ladies nodded.
Anjali looked at Shyam's face. His nose was twitching like mad.
"You... you want your Di to stay in a rented house? Your Di?" Shyam tried again. "Especially when she is pregnant?"
Arnav smiled.
"She will still be in Delhi. And I am sure you will select a house befitting her. After all, your choti si rajkumari will be born in it."
Shyam swallowed, unable to believe that the tables had turned so fast, that everything he had counted on was failing him.
"Nani, Mami..." Arnav confessed. "I am, in a way, responsible for this sorry state of affairs."
Nani & Mami looked at him, paying close attention to his words.
Shyam took heart from Arnav's words. He cocked his ears to find out if there was any benefit he could draw from Arnav's feeling of guilt.
"How, Arnav Bitwaa?" Mami asked.
"Normally, a wife stays with her husband after marriage. I encouraged Di to stay with us even after marriage. That was wrong of me."
Nani & Mami nodded. "Chotey!" Anjali tried to protest, but Arnav paid no heed to it.
"My excessive love for Di, my need for her forced her into an unnatural situation of being pulled between being a sister/ mother to me and a good wife to Jijaji. I am responsible for the cracks that appeared in their marriage."
Anjali tried to protest again, but Nani & Mami did not let her get a word in between.
"Tum theek kahat ho, Chotey! But the blame should be laid at our feet too. We wanted her to stay with us. That was a wrong decision to take." Nani said.
"We should have let the birds phly off together after shaadi." Mami said. "Your decision is right, Arnav Bitwaa. Let them go and live their own life now." Mami wiped a tear from her painted eyes. "Damadji, you go and get a good house for rent. A house like Shantivan."
Shyam swallowed. He could feel the rug being pulled from under his feet.
"It is interesting that you should say so, Mami." Arnav told his aunt. He turned to Shyam. "Don't think that we are not willing to help you, Jijaji."
Shyam drew a breath of relief.
"I have arranged for a realtor to show you 5 fully-furnished houses in Delhi in..." Arnav looked at the clock. "...an hour."
Shyam gasped. Anjali stared at Arnav as if he had grown one more head.
"When we have decided on a new course, why waste time?" Arnav smiled. "I want you to move out today." Arnav turned to smile at his Di. "Di, you will be able to stay with Jijaji from today. No more calling him on the sly and starving for him. And Jijaji will not have to hide behind my pots and doors like a thief to see you."
Anjali smiled wanly at Arnav, and looked at her husband's flabbergasted face.
"Chotey..." she began.
Arnav smiled at her. "You wanted me to bring Jijaji back. I did." Arnav said.
Anjali nodded.
"You want to live a happy life with your husband. Di, I am making arrangements for that." Arnav reassured her.
Anjali nodded. Chotey would make everything alright. And Shyamji had to become a responsible husband and father, and shine like a hero in the eyes of their choti rajkumari.
Arnav fired the next salvo.
"Nani, Mami, there is no end to my stupidity. I not only made Di stay here, in our house, after marriage, but also continued meeting her expenses. I should not have done it."
Nani nodded. "Damadji must have felt insulted, but being a gentleman, must not have said so." She turned a penitent face to Shyam. "Hamein maaf kar deejiye, Damadji."
Shyam swallowed. What the hell was happening here?
"Di has been living here with her husband, drawing rent from the houses I gave her. I have also been depositing a huge sum every month in Jijaji & Di's joint account."
"Oh!" Mami said.
"I have been paying the petrol and service bills of the car I gave Jijaji after his marriage to Di. I have also been paying the rent of his office in the city, the office that I rented for him and refurbished to suit his status as an upcoming lawyer." Arnav confessed.
"You should not have done all this, Chotey! How insulted Damadji must have felt!" Nani exclaimed.
Anjali swallowed. She had never seen, in Shyamji, an iota of self-respect or chagrin at having Chotey pay his bills.
Shyam began sweating profusely.
"Other than the obscenely large amount I have been paying monthly into Di & Jijaji's account, I have also being paying Di's credit card bills. And their living expenses." Arnav looked down, apparently disturbed at his lack of judgement.
"Chotey, you shouldn't have!" Nani remonstrated with him.
"I know, Nani. I know it now." He turned to Anjali. "I am sorry, Di. Sorry for not letting you stay with your husband in a house of your own, sorry for not letting your husband be the head of your house, sorry for stopping Jijaji from taking responsibility of his family..."
"Chotey..." Anjali exclaimed, confused. She had never complained about Chotey paying for her clothes and poojas and living expenses and purchases and travel and...
"All the problems you had to face, all the tears you had to shed were because you were not living in your own house with your husband." Arnav convinced her. "So, Di, I am letting you free."
Anjali gulped.
"You will always be my Di. But first and foremost, you will be your Shyam Manohar Jha's wife." Arnav reassured her.
Nani and Mami smiled approvingly at the brother and sister.
Nani looked at Shyam. "You must be very happy now, Damadji?"
Shyam was lost for words to express his 'happiness'. He glared at the two old hags and the Machiavellian Arnav Singh Raizada.
So in one fell swoop, Arnav had managed to get rid of his Di (who had been hanging around his neck all his life) and his Jijaji (who was interested in Khushiji), Shyam thought. He needed time to think, to plan and plot revenge. It was better to acquiesce now.
Anjali hugged his arm, and said, an uncertain smile on her lips, "Aren't you happy, Shyamji?"
He turned his head to look at the cross he had been bearing for the past 3 years on an irregular basis. Now she would be hanging around his neck bleating Shyamji, Shyamji 24x7! What a fate! But there was nothing more to be done right now. Except...
Shyam said, his breathing heightened, "I will go with the realtor you have kindly arranged for us, Saale Sahab. Let Rani Sahiba remain here. In her condition, it is not right that she traipses around Delhi..." He would escape. He could leave the house and make some excuse not to return, not to select a house today. Later, in solitude, he could use his crooked brain in peace and come up with some brilliant plans to stop Arnav, even if it meant killing him.
Arnav smiled. "When I said that the realtor will show you 5 houses, I meant he will be coming here with photos. That way, Di can help you choose a house. I won't let you get up from that chair, Jijaji."
Shyam stared at Arnav, looking as desperate as a rat being cornered by a cat.
Anjali smiled. Chotey was so kind! So thoughtful of his Di's happiness. She looked at Nani & Mami. "You will come to visit us in our new house, won't you Nani, Mami?"
"Of course, Anjali Bitiyaa! Yeh bhi koi poochne ki baat he? We bill be there!"
Nani nodded. "We will help you set up house."
"We will have to do a lot of shopping!" Anjali squealed in excitement. "Curtains, upholstery, good furniture if I don't like what is in the house...!"
Nani & Mami smiled indulgently at her.
Shyam jumped up. "I have another appointment, Saale sahab." He gasped. "I need to..."
"Shyamji! Another appointment? Today? Then how will we select a house?" Anjali frowned her displeasure.
Arnav smiled. "You don't need to do anything, Jijaji. You have 3 brothers-in-law to meet every need of yours."
Anjali smiled at Shyamji, excited at the prospect of going to her own home.
NK & Akash entered the room. Their eyes were cold and their faces set in hard lines.
"Why don't you sit down, Jijaji?" Akash pushed Shyam back into his chair. Then NK & he dragged chairs to sit on the left of Shyam, thereby blocking his exit.
NK pulled out 5 brochures from his pocket and handed them to Anjali.
"Di, the realtor brought these. He is waiting for you to decide on one of them." Anjali took them from him, almost jumping up & down in her excitement.
Nani & Mami got up and moved to seats close to Anjali to peek into the papers.
Shyam looked at the Raizadas, feeling hunted, like a prey that had been running frantically for miles to save its life from the lion intent to kill it. NK & Akash on his left. Nani & Mami on Anjali's right. His exit was effectively blocked. Shyam could feel his head spinning. He looked at Arnav, the devil who had trapped him. Arnav looked back at him, his eyes amused.
Nani and Mami had no more need to act now. Their faces revealed all the contempt they felt for the upstart, the swindler.
Shyam could feel the sweat pouring down his face, neck, & back. Anjali was sitting on his right, poring over the details of the houses, exclaiming over the size of the rooms, the location, the sunlight that would enter the dining hall, the gardens... Shyam pulled at his collar feeling choked.
Cool down... calm down... he told himself. All was not lost. There was a hefty sum in their joint account. He could rent the house Anjali wanted and move in to it. He could get Anjali to ask Arnav for money for the new things she wanted to buy for the house. And pay her credit card bills. Soon, it would be the beginning of the next month. On the first, with clockwork precision, Arnav would deposit money in to the joint account. He would get the rent of 4 houses...
His crooked brain worked overtime. Moving out was not a bad idea. He could turn it to his advantage. It would give him more freedom. To travel, to manipulate Anjali, to escape Anjali... He could always send her to RM to stay when he was away...
Anjali picked one house.
"Chotey, I like this house." Anjali extended her arm with the brochure towards Arnav.
Arnav smiled. "Show it to Jijaji, Di. It is his preference that matters. After all, he will be paying the rent."
Shyam bit back his ire and spared a glance at the brochure. It was a huge house. The rent would be equally large.
Anjali prattled on about the additions she wanted, the alterations she wanted to make... Shyam clutched the arms of his chair.
"You like it, don't you, Shyamji?" Anjali asked.
Shyam nodded.
"Perfect." Arnav said.
HP came in to the room, lugging 3 big cases.
"Arnav Bhaiyya, I have packed Anjali Di's sarees and cosmetics as you asked me to." he said.
"Good, HP. You haven't left anything behind, have you?" Arnav asked.
"Nahin, Bhaiyya. Di's sarees and other clothes, Damadji's clothes, Di's glass bangles, her shoes, the big box of clips and slides, her purse..." HP counted.
Shyam stared at the sight. "Saale sahab, you let a servant pack Rani Sahiba's jewels and the important documents in her locker?" he jumped up and shouted furiously.
Anjali stared at her husband. What was wrong with Shyamji?
HP looked at Arnav Bhaiyya, all lost and scared. Would he be accused of stealing now?
Nani spoke before Arnav could, her voice cold as ice. "Hari Prakass is not a servant. He is a member of our family. All his brothers have been serving us for years, and we have no doubts regarding HIS or THEIR honesty." She made it clear whose honesty she doubted.
"Aur naahin to kaa?" Mami added her mite.
"HP, you can go. Thank you." Arnav smiled at him. HP reeled in shock at the unexpected smile and gratitude form Arnav Bhaiyya, and rushed to the kitchen before Arnav Bhaiyya changed his mind.
Arnav turned to Shyam. "Your concern does you credit, Jijaji, but it is misplaced." Arnav smiled. "There is nothing of any value in Di's room to be stolen."
Shyam glared at Arnav, who was sitting, his legs crossed.
"What? The diamonds... the deeds to the 4 houses... the bank records... the credit cards..." Shyam huffed and puffed.
Arnav smiled sympathetically at him. "Di gave me her diamonds for safekeeping."
Anjali nodded, smiling at Shyamji. How careful he was about her possessions!
"What?" Shyam squealed.
"She transferred the whole amount in her joint account to mine. Transferred the ownership of her 4 houses to me. Her credit cards are in her purse. She can use them, but I will not be paying those bills. Finally, after 3 years of marriage, you can have that privilege, Jijaji!" Arnav said softly, his face pleasant as he smiled encouragingly at his Di.
Shyam, shocked speechless, turned his head to look at his wife.
Anjali smiled at him. "Chotey is right, Shyamji. You don't have to worry about the diamonds or the cards."
Chotey had explained to her that it was a temporary measure, to be reversed once Shyamji began looking after his small family. Chotey had mentioned a period of three months, after which he would transfer everything back to her name. Now Shyamji would take care of her as her Chotey had been doing for the past many years.
Shyam tried to swallow. But his mouth was dry and his throat muscles protested.
"You can keep the car. But I won't be paying for petrol or repairs." Arnav said.
Anjali looked at Shyamji. Why was he so silent, standing in the midst of her family while all the others were seated?
"I won't be making Di a monthly allowance. And I won't be paying the rent of your office anymore. You can take care of all that." Arnav smiled.
Khushi swallowed and looked at Payal. They knew Shyam's real face. It was very ugly.
Their fears were justified. They were treated to a spectacular display of the real Shyam Manohar Jha.
"Yeh kaisi khurafathi he!" Shyam bellowed.
Anjali jumped. Shyamji had never raised his voice or shouted in the 3 years she had known him. Mami placed her hand on Anjali's arm to comfort her for the upcoming session of truth. NK & Akash stood up.
"Three years of putting up with your lame sister, and this is what I get?" Shyam shouted. "Arrey, even labourers working for a daily wage get a better deal!"
Anjali stared at this man, this stranger standing in front of her, shouting. Putting up with her? Lame? But..but Shyamji had told her that he loved her, that her bad leg did not matter to him...
"How dare you insult me like this, you... you cheat?" Shyam shouted at Arnav. "You took Khushiji away from me..."
Anjali stared at her sainted husband, seeing him for the cheap, unfaithful, money-hungry swindler he was...
"You knew that I loved her, that I was ready to leave Rani Sahiba for her... And you ran away with her and got married to her?" Shyam listed his grievances, beyond caring who was listening and what damage it could do to his career as Anjali Singh Raizada's husband.
Anjali trembled in her chair. Mami held on firmly to her.
"And now you are taking the money from me? How dare you? How dare you even dream that I will let you do it?" Shyam shouted.
Arnav said softly, still seated, "I earned the money. I worked for it."
"I earned it too!" Shyam shouted. "Do you think it was easy to run into your sister at the temple, to make her believe I loved her, live with her and her bad leg, put up with her tears and her whining...?"
Anjali stood up, shaking like a leaf. Mami and Nani supported her. Payal moved closer to her.
"And now this brat! I have to carry her burden too! How dare you cheat me of the money I deserve?" Shyam shouted as he tried to catch Arnav by the collar of his shirt and drag him up from his chair.
NK & Akash caught hold of Shyam's arms before he could touch Arnav. Arnav stood up slowly, facing Shyam.
"Shyamji..." came the soft cry from behind him. Shyam turned around.
Anjali stood there, tears in her big eyes. "So Khushiji was right... Payalji... NK Bhai... they all spoke the truth that day... I... I alone was blind..."
Slight light entered the dark hole of his brain. Shyam tried to backtrack. "Rani Sahiba..."
"Don't Rani sahiba me ever again, you cheat... you scoundrel... itna bada dhoka... itna bada jhoot..." Anjali whispered.
Shyam tried to take hold of her by her shoulders.
She moved back, and raising her hand, let one fly. Shyam was left clutching his left cheek. His Rani Sahiba packed a mean punch.
"Get out. Get lost. I never want to see you again." Arnav Singh Raizada's sister ordered. Her brothers rushed to see that her wishes were fulfilled.
Anjali clung to Chotey, weeping.
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