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Nirmala Ahuja came around breakfast the next morning. Shravan saw her in his peripheral vision as he sat studying his day's syllabus. He went back to his edits, seething.
Nirmala rushed toward him when she finally noticed him.
Nirmala: Shravan! I am so glad to see you here. You are back at last!! Suman has been waiting so long for you.
Shravan scoffed: Right. That's why you never informed me when the marriage with your good-for-nothing son fell apart. I expected nothing better from you. Not like you didn't know how much that news would have meant to me, right? You took pleasure by keeping it from me.
Nirmala faltered: Aisa nehi hai...
He got up and walked away. Nirmala followed.
Nirmala: Shravan, I TOLD Adi she did not love him and to let her go as soon as the investor's truth came out. I thought she went back to Delhi. I did not find out until much later. Otherwise, why would I let her be alone in this city like that? I thought she went home!
Shravan shouted: She was HOMELESS. HOMELESS!!! That's how well you fulfilled the promise of being her mother. Typical (he said, in distaste).
Nirmala was trembling now: I...I offered he-help (tears spilled out of her eyes). I offered as soon as I found out, but you know Suman is proud...
Some of the early rising teachers at the lunch room were starting to take notice of their conversation.
Shravan walked into the kitchen.
Sumo looked around and saw him and Nirmala Ahuja.
Sumo: Aunty, aap!? What a wonderful surprise! Come have breakfast.
Shravan stopped Sumo as she advanced toward Nirmala.
Shravan: Why do you still talk to her?
Sumo's temper rose: And WHY are YOU questioning me on who can come to my school or talk to me?
Shravan's inside shriveled. He looked down in embarrassment.
Nirmala: Suman please, don't argue because of me. He's speaking out of concern for you.
Sumo: He's just a teacher here, he should know not to cross the line. Come Aunty, the kids are going to be in the dining hall soon.
Shravan swallowed his dread hard. She had to put him down in front of the woman he hated most. Sumo was just heartless. Heartless.
Nirmala pleaded with Sumo when they were out of earshot.
Nirmala: Uska dil mat tor aise. Jane kitne umidee liye aya hai, bechara. Kyun torture kar rahi hai usse? Bohot pyaar karta hai woh tujhe. Believe me.
Sumo: Still a mom at the end of the day, aren't you? All I did was put him off you.
Nirmala: Tu scold karti hai toh muu itna sa ho jaata hai Bechara ka. Dil toot jaata hai, dekha nehi tunhe? Farak nehi parta tujhe?
Sumo added sugar to her tea absent-mindedly: Don't worry about your baby boy, woh chala jayega. Bohot jaldi.
Nirmala: Matlab?
Sumo stopped short: Kuch nehi.
Nirmala: Aur kitne din alag rahegi, Suman? Ab maaf karde usse. Aagaya na woh?
Shravan stomped in and sat across them, glaring.
Two hard-headed women. How did these two get slotted in his fate, he wondered? It was his luck that he was to belong to these two.
Shravan stayed silent in an effort to make them uncomfortable. Sumo and Nirmala quietly busied themselves with breakfast, avoiding his eyes.
Nirmala cracked first: Breakfast kar liya tune, Shravan?
Sumo snapped, frustrated: Really!?
Sumo rolled her eyes and kept ignoring him.
Shravan stared back at Nirmala levelly, not answering.
Sumo ordered: Answer the question when she asks you something.
Shravan sheepishly: Haan, aapko kabse farak pardne laga?
Sumo, warning: Shravan...
He looked away annoyed, his fringe lashes pulling at both women's heartstrings in different ways. Nirmala reached out and set his hair in place fondly.
Nirmala: Beta, hameshe farak parta tha mujhe. Bas dikha nehi payi.
Shravan jerked away.
Nirmala startled.
Sumo took his hand and put it in his mom's: Shravan, please.
Nirmala smiled. He never resisted Suman, even if she made him do what he did not want to do.
Nirmala took his hand and kissed it. She felt him jerk in alarm, but did not pull away this time, even though her tears drenched him. She rested her cheek on her grown son's hand.
How time had passed. There was a time he would lay his baby face on her hands like this.
Nirmala: Mera beta, mera chotta sa baccha (she kissed his palm).
Sumo tried to lighten the situation: Lo! Itna bhi chotta nehi hai aapka Shravan, Aunty. Just look at him.
This was affecting him, if his softening face was anything to go by. He looked positively mystified.
Nirmala laughed through her tears: Mama ke liye uski baccha hamesha chotta hi rehta hai.
Nirmala left later that day, kissing Shravan one last time - this time she dared to kiss his cheek. She promised to visit and see them again soon. Shravan begrudgingly nodded, even though he already found himself looking forward to her next visit secretly. He may not have talked to her much, but he liked spending the day with her under Sumo's pressure. He could really get used to this...
Sumo: You did good.
He smiled and turned toward her near the exit. But she was already going back in.
Sumo came into the garden for teatime. They were alone in the garden. Shravan made her a cup of coffee.
Shravan: I was waiting for you.
Sumo cluelessly: What for?
Shravan smiled: Aise hi.
Sumo: Okay...
She was walking way when he pulled her back gently.
Shravan: Sit with me for a little while.
Sumo: Do you see me giving special treatment to any other teacher here?
He jolted at the cutting words after she had spent the entire day demanding the hardest thing of him - showing affection toward his mother.
Sumo saw the hurt in his eyes, but he quickly hid it with a smile.
Shravan: That's fine, I am not just any teacher though, princess. Come, have a seat, please. Baat karna hai mujhe.
Sumo was upset with herself for constantly putting him down like this. She could see how hard he took it, despite his bravado.
She sat down.
He was quiet for a little while, still holding her hands in his.
Shravan: Sumo, I have been looking for a moment alone with you for a while. In all seriousness Sumo (he sighed and then took a deep breath), you are all I ever wanted. All I ever want. I know I have made a lot of mistakes. I know I broke your trust, but believe me, I never loved you any less - at any moment in my life. Yes, I know I was close to getting engaged with two people but that was only under pressure. I never thought of them as I...I love you. I know you love me too, even though you deny it so fervently. Please admit it to yourself though, just once. Please give us a chance.
He looked at her expectantly as the silence grew.
Sumo: Shravan, please don't make this harder for me than it already is...
The bell rang...
Sumo rushed to answer. Shravan heard his dad, angry, rushed, and belligerent.
Ramnath: I got on the first flight I could find. WHERE IS MY SON!? Where is Sharvan!? How dare you!? How DARE you lure him in again!?
Shravan intervened this time: Don't talk to her like that, Papa.
Cricket
