CHAPTER 19
Suhasini found herself standing at the door of Mr. Ramakrishnan's house. What was she doing here? Was it right to fly down to Chennai just to ask him why he was avoiding her? Did it appear too childish of her ? She hesitantly rang the doorbell. A middle aged lady opened the door.
"Hello. Is Mr. Ramakrishnan at home ?"
Suhasini asked. She was feeling really awkward doing this.
A female voice from inside asked something in tamil. The woman at the door replied to her in Tamil. Suhasini was feeling increasingly uncomfortable. What had she got herself into?
"No. He has gone out of station for some important work. Please come inside. May I know your name. Amma is asking"
The lady asked.
"Oh..I thought ...anyways, I am Suhasini Sinha, an aquaintance from Delhi. I am sorry but I cannot come inside. I have some urgent..."
Suhasini stopped midway to see an old lady come from inside into the hallway where they were standing. The younger woman saw her and said to Suhasini,
"This is his mother"
Suhasini greeted her with folded hands. The old lady did not look too pleased at her gesture or may be her appearance in general. She said something to her companion.
"What did she say ?"
Suhasini knew she was talking about her.
The lady fumbled a bit and then said,
"Ah...actually she is asking why you have cut your hair so short. She wants to know if you suffer from some hairfall problem or something. You know in this family take special care to keep long hair"
Suhasini raised her eyebrows in disbelief. She did not know how to react to this weird query.
The two ladies meanwhile had a conversation after which the older one looked at Suhasini angrily and started shouting in Tamil. Suhasini could not understand a word of it but she knew she was definitely not saying something that would be very pleasing to hear. The younger lady was trying to calm her down. After sometime Mr. Ramakrishnan's mother left the room, still mumbling something to herself.
"May I know what just happened?"
Suhasini could not help asking
"It would be better for you not to know"
The lady said
"I know she was not happy to see me. Please tell me what she said, I insist."
Suhasini requested
"When she came to know you are from Delhi she got suspiscious. She said Vijay had been making very frequent visits to Delhi for the past few months which has taken a toll on his health. She feels you are the reason for this. I mean something is going on between you two."
The woman explained
"Oh...I see. And what was she telling me? I felt as if she was threatening me. For a moment she reminded me of my mother in law."
Suhasini shuddered. Manohar's mother was perhaps the only person in the world who was capable of making her feel miserable. Today she met the second one.
"Well.. please don't mind. She was telling you to stay away from him. She thinks you are breaking our...this family"
She said hesitantly
"Me?..why would I...wait a minute, are you..?
Suhasini asked
"I am Revathy...I think you have heard about me from Vijay"
The woman tried to smile but her eyes were sad.
Suhasini felt as if she had been struck by lightening. She quickly took her leave and walked out.
Meanwhile in Delhi,
It was past 12 in the night. Swadheenta was waiting impatiently for her father's call. She tried calling him but the number was unreachable. Mr. Ramakrishnan had asked her not to come to station to pick him up as his train was running late. He had assured her that he would call after checking in at a hotel. But it was getting too late and she was worried. Just then she got a call from Adarsh.
"Hello , Swadheenta. I wanted to inform you that your Appa is at my place. So you need not worry"
"What the hell is he doing at your house at this time of the night? Is he alright? Give him the phone, I want to talk to him."
Swadheenta was extremely annoyed at this irresponsible behaviour of her father.
Adarsh looked at the unconscious figure lying on the sofa and then said hesitantly,
"I told you not to worry. He is sleeping right now. You can talk to him tomorrow morning. Bye now..go and get some sleep"
"But Adarsh..."
The phone was disconnected before she could finish. Swadheenta decided to go to the Sinha house next morning itself and take her Appa to task.
Adarsh turned to his brother after putting down the phone,
"You could have atleast seen the person's face before planting the blow. The poor guy just recovered from a heart attack and now this."
He chided Abhay
"What can I do? It is all Simmi's fault. She saw under Mom's balcony and took him for a thief. Now it was necessary to attack him from behind to overpower him"
Abhay said guiltily
"Tell me Adarsh Bhaiya what else would I think if I find someone lurking in the darkness at this time of the night. I don't understand why Mr. Ramakrishnan needed to go for such adventures at this age."
Simmi tried to justify her action.
"Sshh... I hope he is fine. If something happens to him both Mom and Swadheenta are going to kill us."
Adarsh said anxiously.
"Should we call a doctor?"
Simmi asked.
"Look, he is slowly coming back to his senses"
Abhay said seeing Mr. Ramakrishnan open his eyes.
"I am sorry Suhasini"
Mr. Ramakrishnan mumbled
"Seems like he came here to apologise to Mom. Poor thing"
Simmi said sympathetically
"Are you alright Sir?"
Adarsh went near him and asked.
"Yes, where am I?"
Mr. Ramakrishnan did not recognise Adarsh at first.
"You are inside Sinha house. I am Adarsh Sinha, and this is my brother Abhay. Actually he mistook you for a thief. I am really sorry for what happened. Is your head hurting?"
Adarsh enquired
"Oh.. now I remember, Suhasini has shown me your pictures."
Mr. Ramakrishnan said. Then he touched his head and said,
"My head is feeling a bit heavy. Otherwise I am fine. By the way , where is ..."
"Mom has gone out of station for a hearing. She will be back tomorrow morning. You better take some rest. We will have a doctor see you in the morning."
Adarsh assured him
"But my daughter will be worrying about me."
Mr. Ramakrishnan said
"Don't worry, we have informed her"
Adarsh said
"You know her number?"
Mr. Ramakrishnan asked suspisciously.
"Yes...actually she is Mom's assistant , so ..."
Adarsh tried to cover up
"Oh..I understand"
Mr. Ramakrishnan said unsuspectingly
The next morning Swadheenta rushed to see her Dad. She was surprised to see a doctor checking him.
"What happened Appa? Did you again have an attack?"
She asked anxiously
"No no..it's a slight head injury. He is going to be fine. Just for precaution I would suggest an MRI"
The doctor told her
"But how did it happen? And Appa, what were you doing here ?"
Swadheenta asked
Just then Adarsh came and said ,
"I will explain everything, come with me. Don't disturb the patient"
They came out in the lawn. Adarsh described everything that happened last night. Hearing that Swadheenta rolled her eyes in disbelief.
"I can't believe Appa could do this. He came all the way from Chennai just to say sorry? Adarsh, I am telling you this affair is getting very serious. I don't know what the future has in store for us."
Swadheenta lowered her head in despair. Adarsh held her hand gently and removed a strand of hair falling on her face with his other hand. He was about to say something when the honking of a car made him turn. He left her hand with a jerk and stood in attention. It was Mom's car.
Fan Fictions
Anupamaa
