Chapter 37

Arnav led the Raizadas and the Guptas in to the ashram.

He told the receptionist, "I am Arnav Singh Raizada. I want to see Mrs. Mallik, my Dadi."

The receptionist's face broke in to a smile. So this was the Arnav Singh Raizada who sent monthly cheques to meet Mrs. Mallik's fees and expenses here. "Please be seated in our visitors' room. I will ask her to meet you there." the girl said.

"Please tell her that her entire family has come over to see her for the last time. We will not be disturbing her after today with our presence. So kindly ask her to give us an audience," Arnav said.

The receptionist nodded smiling, and went away.

"Whom have we come to meet here, Arnavji?" Khushi asked.

Nani and the others looked at Arnav with worried eyes.

"Someone special," he said. "I want you and Payal to wait here while we meet her. Then I will call you in. It is to be a surprise," he smiled at Khushi while his eyes warned Payal. She nodded in understanding.

"Arnav? What are you doing here?" Dadi asked. "Devyani? Anjali bitiya? And you too?" she asked Manorama.

"Ji," Mami said. "Bhere hamre Arnav Bitwaa goes, there goes Manorama Singh Raijjada," she smiled with all her teeth.

Dadi turned to look at the Guptas. "What are they doing here? Aren't they ashamed to show their faces in public after raising a daughter who is little more than a common..."

"Careful," Arnav warned her. "You are talking of my wife." His voice was pure steel.

"You married her? After all the proof I gave you?" Dadi's voice dripped poison. "Like aunt, like neice."

Garima looked at her husband, feeling hunted.

"Yes, Khushi is very much like her aunt. Moral. Upstanding. Straightforward. And most importantly, kind," Arnav said.

Dadi spit fire at him, "What?"

"You called Garima aunty to your house in Lucknow to warn her away, didn't you?" Arnav asked.

"Yes, I did. So?" Dadi asked, furious.

"You called the wrong person," Arnav said. "The real culprit was Sunehri."

"Who?"

"A dancer from a kotta that your son had housed and used for a year, and then abandoned, pregnant and homeless," Arnav said, his eyes cold.

Dadi stood shocked, her mouth open.

"Her daughter is paralysed, bedridden," Arnav said. "She had to fight to survive, make a life for her sick baby and herself. Neither of your sons helped her out," Arnav bit out.

"Why should they? A tawaif is to be used and thrown away," Dadi stated.

All gasped.

"And her child?"

"Fit only to be the mistress of some other man," Dadi proclaimed.

"Sunehri did not want her daughter to lead a similar life. That is why she did not return to the kotta after Arvind Mallik abandoned her," Arnav said.

"What does it matter?" Dadi asked.

"It matters to me. She is my half-sister," Arnav claimed.

Dadi's face filled with repugnance. "Your sister? The daughter of a wh**e?"

"I am not ashamed to claim the daughter of a wh**e for my sister," Arnav bit out. "But I am ashamed to admit that Arvind Mallik is our father."

"Arnav!" Dadi warned him.

"Garima aunty was innocent, a pawn in your son's games," Arnav said.

Dadi snorted.

"You punished her and Khushi for no mistake of theirs. It was your son's mistake. His lechery, his immorality destroyed many lives, including my mother's" Arnav blasted Dadi.

"Your mother was weak," Dadi began.

"Don't.speak.a word.about. my. Mama," Arnav warned. "You don't deserve to take her name."

"How dare you?" Dadi asked.

"I dare because I am Ratna Raizada's son," Arnav said. "How could you cheat your friend and her daughter by marrying off your good-for-nothing son to her?"

Nani nodded. "How could you, Sumi? I trusted you."

"Both sons go, went, gone they. Ek Number ke Kaminey," Mami added.

"My sons were..." Dadi began.

Arnav put up his hand , his palm facing her in a traffic policeman signal.

"I will tell you what your sons were. Immoral. Tricksters. Cheap crooks, both of them. And do you know the best part, Dadi? Your second son, Anurag Mallik is a murderer too."

"What?" Dadi asked.

"Yes," Nani supported Arnav.

Dadi lifted her nose in the air. "He must have struck some low class worker in a fit of rage and killed him. What is so terrible about that?"

Arnav laughed. "He shot someone dead."

"Must be some estate worker," Dadi dismissed the accusation.

"No, his own brother, Arvind Mallik," Arnav laughed.

Dadi stared at him, her eyes wide. "This is a lie."

"No, it isn't. It is the truth. One son a lecher and the other a murderer. Is this the way you brought up your sons, Sumi? " Nani asked as once Dadi had asked Buaji's about Khushi's wantonness in living with Arnav without the benefit of saat phere.

"One son killed by the other," Arnav smiled wryly. "And Anurag Mallik is so sanskari and has so much respect for his mother that he has not tried to see her even once in the past decade and a half."

Dadi glared at him.

"Or paid her bills. He has passed on that honour to me," Arnav said.

Dadi averted her eyes.

"You refused to see me when I visited you. How many times did you turn me away from this doorstep?"

Dadi had no answer.

"And you met Shyam. And came to Delhi at his instigation to destroy me and Khushi... to get that snake back in to our house," Arnav fumed.

Dadi said, "He was Anjali bitiya's husband. And he was a good man but you couldn't see that because you were blinded by that Khushi's lies."

"No, Dadi," Anjali said. "He was a crook who married me for my money. He tried to marry Khushiji too, but she found out that he was my husband."

"Anjali bitiyaa!" Dadi tried to convince her to the contrary. "Arnav has brainwashed you..."

"Shyam confessed to his sins, Dadi, in my presence. He... he caused me to have an accident that made me lose my baby," Anjali sighed.

Dadi stared at her, astounded.

"You have been foolish, Dadi," Arnav said. "Very foolish. I will take the bangles that you wrenched from Khushi's arms on the day of our wedding."

"Arnav," Dadi bit out.

"They were Mama's and they belong to Khushi," Arnav said. "Please get them. Or I will stop paying your bills here."

Anjali, Mami and Nani nodded.

With no other go, Dadi left the room to get the bangles.

Arnav went out to the hall. Khushi and Payal were sitting on the bench there, talking.

"Khushi, Payal," Arnav called.

Both of them joined him.

"Is the surprise ready?" Khushi asked, smiling.

"Yes," Arnav swallowed.

"Is it a good surprise or a bad one?" Khushi frowned at the look on his face.

Arnav gently cupped her cheeks. "You can judge for yourself, Khushi," he said softly before leading both girls in to the visitors' room.

Dadi returned with the bangles only to stop short at the sight of Khushi in the room.

"You!" Dadi screamed. "Manhoos ladki." She threw the bangles at Khushi. They hit her on the chest and the stomach and fell to the ground.

Arnav caught hold of Dadi's arm. "Don't.hurt.my.Khushi," he bit out.

Khushi looked at the mottled face of the old lady and said, "Dadiji."

"I am not your Dadi. I am not the Dadi of an immoral..." Dadi began.

"Enough," Arnav shouted.

He marched up to Khushi and picked the bangles from the ground. He pushed them on to her arms slowly. Khushi looked at the bangles and at Dadi's face.

"Arnavji..." she said, feeling a thousand memories rush through her head. Di trying to kill her child... The saath phere they had not taken in their contract marriage. Arnavji carrying her around a fire he had built on the terrace to give her the saat pheres she had demanded.

Dadi spying on them and throwing Khushi out of the house.

Arnavji declaring that he would marry her...

Shyam returning to RM. Di's accident and miscarriage.

the roka...

the mehendi...

the sangeet...

the haldi...

the suhaag raat that happened...

the shaadi that never happened.

Khushi felt her head spin and leaned weakly against her Arnavji. Arnav pulled her snugly in to his hold and prepared to leave. His family followed him.

As they were about to leave, Arnav turned to look at Dadi, "By the way, there is some news for you. Anurag Mallik has cancer of the liver and about 2-3 years to live. Looks like God finally caught up with him."

Arnav sat by Khushi's bed as she slept, her hand in his, dropping kisses on her forehead and cheeks at frequent intervals.

"Arnav bitwaa, " Buaji placed ginger tea and pakoras by his side. "You have been sitting here for hours, Nandkisore. Have your tea. I will sit here with Titliyaa."

As he sipped his tea, Arnav asked Buaji, "What was Khushi reading as she fell from the steps, Buaji?"

"A newspaper, bitwaa. I have it here," Buaji said and went to dig in the cupboards. Soon she returned with a newspaper. "Pata nahi woh angrejji akhbar kyon padti thi, Nandkisore! She used to go to Ganga Ram's shop four streets away to get it daily."

Arnav turned the pages curiously. International news, national news, celebrities, fashion news, gourmet recipes...

"Tum pado, Nandkisore. I will go down and do tel malish for Sasi babua," Buaji said as she left.

Arnav began to read the paper, going through each and every word from page one onwards. Hours later, he came to the gossip section.

Arnav Singh Raizada, the winner of the best businessman of the year award was seen at a party last night with a pretty young thing hanging on his arm. Who is the mystery girl? Are we hearing the wedding bells ringing for the pair?

A grainy picture was given along with the news. He was standing straight, his eyes on his phone and a pretty, fashionable girl was leaning against him. But the quality of the picture was so bad that even his mother would have found it very difficult to identify him.

The newspaper fell from his hands as he looked at a sleeping Khushi's face in horror. Had she seen this picture? Had the shock caused her to fall from the steps?

He sat there stewing in his own juices for hours, his mind struggling to deal with the enormity of his discovery. He dragged his mind from his thoughts only when he realised that Khushi was stirring.

"Buaji, Garima aunty, Di, Nani, Mami, Khushi is waking up," he called.

He rushed to her bedside and caught hold of her arm.

"Khushi," he called, his voice trembling.

Khushi opened her eyes. She looked at Arnav sitting by her and then at the anxious faces of her family at the door of the room.

"Amma, Buaji..." she whispered.

All rushed to stand around the bed.

"Where is the doctor? " Khushi asked looking around, panicking.

"You are at home, Khushi," Arnav said, his throat choked with tears.

"Home? I am at home?" she asked looking around her familiar room. "Then where is my baby?" she whispered.

Thank you, my darlings for staying the course of this story suggested by Prash_FF with Rash and me. We have reached the end of Part 1.

Part 2 of Recalling Arnav will begin in the first week of April. Till then, loads of love. Take care!

Smita