Part 6: Something Black in the Pulses
Dear Daughter-to-be,
Welcome to the family. This is your mother-in-law Ratna Raizada, though I will prefer if you just thought of me as your mother, cliched as that seems. If you are reading this, it means I have passed away into another world. And while I am sad that we will never get to know each other, but if my son chose you as his wife, I feel I already know you and love you. At the time that I write this letter, Aakash is six years old. He has above average intelligence, eats his veggies, drinks his milk and is already taller than all boys his age. I daresay he will grow up to be a handsome man. Call me self-indulgent or narcissistic, but I think he takes after me. You will have a blissful married life, he will take care of you, treat you with respect. And if you have sons, they will probably wear glasses from the age of two or three. But don't worry, even if they are not blessed with 20:20 vision, they will always be fair in their dealings and be prepared to look the truth in the eye.
You must have met my other children too. My daughter Anjali, my first-born and everyone's pet, the true blue Raizada of the house --just like her dad and my father-in-law. She will be the best sister you can ask for. And perhaps be the mother too. She is the nurturer, fiercely protective of her brothers. This one time when Aakash was being bullied by an older boy in school, Anjali smacked him so hard in his nose that the bleeding bully transferred to another school the very next day. She is gentle, she is kind, but make no mistake, she is fierce. Love her and let her love you in return.
Children in the middle, never get that kind of attention that they deserve. They neither get the excessive attention of your first-born, neither are they indulged like your youngest is. But Arnav is special. And dear daughter-to-be, pay attention to what I say. While we don't discuss this, because frankly there is nothing to discuss, but Arnav is not my biological son. He is the son of my late brother and sister-in-law, a couple who were most wonderful. We adopted Arnav when he was two years old. Anjali was four years old then. My brother and sister-in-law passed away tragically, a freak accident and that is how Arnav became my second child. Today, Arnav is truly one of our own, and those who don't know he is adopted say; he has my eyes and his dad's handsome nose. Perhaps it is true, when people live in close proximity and love each other; they begin to resemble each other. Arnav doesn't have any insecurities about the fact that he is "adopted", he feels a complete sense of belonging with us. But sometimes I fear - what if there are insecurities that we don't know about, what if there is hurt buried away inside. He is not that much of a talker, not unless he feels enormous kinship with someone, so it isn't always easy to tell what he is thinking. So my dear daughter, I want you to watch out for him. I hope that as you and Aakash have found love, Arnav too has found all-consuming love with someone by now. In which case, I have another letter for my other daughter. But god forbid that he hasn't, you have to help him. Though he is an excessively smart child, I sometimes fear that he glowers too much. He glowers at me, his dad, his sister, his brother, classmates, everyone. He glowers at everyone except his plants. But we are able to look past that, because behind that glowering is a loving and giving heart. I hope he will find someone who looks past that glowering. And now I come to crux of this letter, the day my sons and daughter have all found their soul-mates, I want all six of you to go the mazaar and unlock my mannat. Complicated much? Being too much of a sentimental sap? Perhaps, yes. But just indulge your mother, will you.
Once again, welcome to the family.
Love,
Amma
PS: Though I have tried to convince all my children to call me Amma, only Arnav does. Your husband insists on calling me Maatey. I hope your children do better than that.
Payal and Akash sat on the bench, going over the contents of the letter over and over again. Anjali Di had given the letter to Payal in the morning saying that their mother wanted Aakash's to-be-wife to have it but it had slipped her mind and she was given it just now. With the wedding madness, Payal had ignored it. An hour before the wedding, there was just Khushi and Payal in the bride's green room. Everyone else had gone to welcome the baraatis. Khushi was particularly distracted and Payal gave up on any conversation attempts with her. Which is when she read the letter and she felt teary, suddenly the enormity of it all hitting her. She needed to speak with Aakash right away and she knew that she had to get rid of Khushi. But how?
"Hey, I wonder if Arnav is also dancing with the baraatis," Payal began and Khushi almost flew away to check. Payal wondered why her sister had such a fascination with her to be brother-in-law. Did she like him, she wondered.
Aakash came in, looking dashing in his super expensive sherwani. Payal showed him the letter. He read it, reread it and reread it. Aakash didn't have to say anything. Payal already knew what he was going to.
"But if we tell the family that we need more time before we get married, they will not listen to us. They will say we are overreacting. My daadi is crazy," Payal had said.
"Perhaps we are overreacting. But I would want Bhai to find someone first. But how do we break this to the family? Anjali Di can go batshit crazy. Not to mention bhai will throw a fit," Aakash said woefully.
"I guess we should just run away," Payal had said nervously, giggling.
And that is what they did. Aakash Raizada and Payal Gupta ran away from their own wedding because of a 15-year-old key and a glowering young man.
"Payal, are you sure? I hope this will not cause a scandal. Are you completely okay about leaving the mandap and going away like this," Aakash had asked when they met at the Sheesh Mahal exit.
"Can we go to a McDonlads and eat a chicken Maharaja burger," Payal had asked.
"What?! Ummm.. sure," Aakash had said confused.
"Then I am good. There is no time to waste, let us go. I could eat a city now," Payal took hold of Aakash's hand and that is how they escaped.
***
"Did you check the restroom?"
"Yes."
"Did you check the gardens?"
"Yes."
"Did you try and call him on his mobile?"
"Gee! I would have never thought of that?"
"Are you being sarcastic?"
"Yes."
"You do know that they say sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, don't you?"
"Who said that?"
"Unsure. It is often attributed to Oscar Wilde."
"Quoting Oscar Wilde, are we? Aren't you cute?!"
"Stop being sarcastic about being sarcastic."
"I am so meta."
"You are weird."
"And you of all people are saying I am weird? Unbelievable!"
"Yes. You are being weirdly calm about the fact that your brother has run away from his own
wedding."
<shrugs>
"Maybe we should not tell our families just yet. There will be massive freak-out."
"And how do you propose that we hide the fact that the groom and bride are missing from a wedding that is scheduled to begin ten minutes back."
"Hmm. We need to get someone else to pretend to be the bride and groom until we find the siblings."
<gapes>
"Why are you looking at me like that? Do you have better ideas than that?"
"Any idea that anyone will have has to be better than that. Did you pick this idea from Hindi TV soap that you watch secretly?"
"You are snob. Besides, don't you write stories yourself, respect the craft of other people."
"Did your mother drop you on your head while you were a child?"
"I don't know. I don't remember my mother at all... she died when I was very young."
"Hmm. Sorry."
"Hmm. So what do we do now?"
"Let us go and tell the families. That is the only thing left to do."
"I guess. God, my Daadi will bring Sheesh Mahal down."
"Wait till you see Anjali Di have a meltdown."
"I am pretty sure my Daadi will whoop Anjali Di's ass in the theatrics department."
"Wanna bet?"
"You are losing too many bets to me, Arnav Raizada. Be careful."
"Ah finally a smile. Good. Now let us go and break this to the family. It isn't going to be pretty," saying this Arnav put his hand out and Khushi placed her slightly clammy hands into his warm one, they linked fingers and walked in to the Sheesh Mahal hall. It seemed like the most natural thing to do.
***
Khushi picked up the copy of The Times of Lucknow. There had been tragedies both natural and man-made, splashed all over the front page. A small inset on the bottom corner said, Business Tycoon and To-Be-Bride go missing just minutes before their wedding, detailed report in Page 7. Khushi promptly turned the page over and read:
In a twist from the usual story about girls or boys running away from their wedding for being forced to marry against their wishes, we have a case where the groom and bride have both run away on the eve of their wedding. And what makes this story even more interesting is that the groom in question is Aakash Raizada, heir and manager of the Rs 500 crores Raizada Group of Comapnies. Readers might remember that over a year ago Aakash Raizada was to marry Anagha Singhania, the daughter of Industrialist Samar Singhania of GST Industries. The wedding, which had to happen on the eve of a joint venture between GST Industries and Raizada Group of Companies was called off in the last minute. However, this did not seem to impact the Joint Venture itself and the families chose to keep business and professional interests separate. Strangely enough, Anagha Singhania is in Lucknow too and is preparing to get married at the time that we write this report.
Payal Gupta, Akash's to-be-bride is an architectural restoration expert. It is believed that she met Aakash Raziada during the Sheesh Mahal restoration project and a whirlwind courtship later agreed to marry him. The Guptas, like Raizadas have roots in the city of Lucknow but are settled in Bombay.
We tried to get a comment from the groom's brother Arnav Raizada, the best-selling author of critically acclaimed books like The Great Indian Family, Something black in the Pulses and We are like this only. He said that this was a personal matter and the family would like some privacy on the issue. He refused to comment on possible foul-play, given that both Aakash Raizada and Payal Gupta were now key shareholders in the rapidly growing Raizada group. We spoke to some of the staff in Sheesh Mahal and found that the place had heavy security over the last few days and barring family, friends and workers nobody had access to any of the areas. However our reporter found that the main chef at the wedding, Shyam Jha, who happens to be a former "good friend" of Payal Gupta also left the wedding venue just an hour before the wedding. We will be watching progress on this story closely.
f**k! It has to be Shyam. Khushi knew it right then. Poor Aakash, dumped again.
***
Arnav crushed the newspaper and threw it away.
f**k! It has to be Anagha. He should have known that something was afoot when Aakash went to meet her. He should have confronted his brother. Poor Payal, having her name dragged over Shyam, who was in fact in love with Khushi.
**
Khushi reached the hospital and asked her dad to go back home. Her dad looked like he had aged by some twenty years in the last few hours. First the pain of getting his daughter married, then have her run away, then have her name dragged into some unsavory scandal and then have his mother have a health scare. It was all too much for Shashi Gupta.
"Baba, please go. I will be here with Daadi. The doctor says she is perfectly fine. She just had palpitations. We could take her back home... I mean to Sheesh Mahal now itself. But let us keep her for one night here."
Her father walked away slowly and Khushi watched him for a bit.
God! She hated hospitals.
O Payal, why did you do this? Why? Why?
Beep.
Khushi picked up her phone; it was a text from Arnav.
How is your grandmother?
She is okay. She swooned after she read the newspaper this morning. This happened, by the time I could go to her room to stop her from reading it.
I guess you take after your Daadi.
No. Take that back. I don't swoon.
I have evidence to the contrary actually. But it is okay. You look pretty when you swoon.
Nice try. But I don't swoon. How is Anjali Di holding up?
Surprisingly calm and Zen-like. Seems very suspicious.
Oooh, do you think she is the one who has kidnapped Aakash and Payal?
Possible. But according to the Times of Lucknow's exemplary investigation, your guy is missing too. Anything I should know.
Which guy?
How many guys do you have anyway?
Which guy?
The chef,.
Hmm. I am going to get in touch with his family just to rule out anything.
Yes. Daal mein kuch tau kala hain.
I know. Something black in the pulses.
Hah. Have you read that book?
Should I be honest?
Yes, please. Always.
I haven't. But I plan to. Once this mess is sorted. Anyway gotta go. Daadi's medication is worn off and she is now throwing a hissy fit at one of the nurses. God! I hate hospitals. My life sucks.
Cheer up! At least you won the bet.
I told ya so.
You know what they say, lucky at cards, unlucky in love.
Khushi was going to reply to it when her phone rang. She looked at it sharply and was disappointed when she saw that the name flashing on it was -- Anagha.
"What is it Anagha. Did you read the newspapers too," Khushi asked.
"Yes. What a shocker. Have the police got involved? And what is this about Shyam. So much drama," Anagha went almost breathlessly.
"Hmm. Yes," Khushi said as she watched through the glass door her Daadi refusing to drink the soup given to her.
"Anyway, Khushi I called you because I need a big favour," Anagha began.
"Do you need me to go and deliver another note to your newest groom? No, thank you," Khushi said.
"Haha. This is easier. Or more difficult. Depends," Anagha said.
"What is it," Khushi said, willing to be shocked by some incredulous demand of her friend.
"I need a replacement for Rakhi Sawant for my Sangeet. I think you will be perfect," Anagha said cryptically.
"Wait. What? Come again?" Khushi said.
"Uff. Rakhi Sawant was hired for my Sangeet and now she has dropped out. I can't find anyone else at short notice. Please come," Anagha said pleadingly.
Her sister had run away. There was a family scandal brewing. Her dad was heartbroken. Her grandmother was in the hospital. And here was Khushi Gupta, filling in for Rakhi Sawant. Mysterious were the ways of the universe.
"I will do it. I need some distraction anyway," Khushi said and hung up.
**
It had now been 36 hours since Aakash and Payal had gone missing. Both the families were sitting around in the lobby. Arnav was on the phone with a private investigator. The family didn't want the police to get involved. Arnav's gut was that there had been no coercion or foul-play involved, but he was worried nonetheless.
He was still on the phone when he saw Khushi climb down the giant staircase of Sheesh Mahal. She was dressed in a pair of jeans and cream tee that said, my face is above. He smiled. As she came closer he couldn't help but notice that she had tied her hair into an elaborate up do, had worn makeup and bling-y jewellery. Very festive and almost like going to a wedding or something. She also had a large backpack that seemed to be stuffed to the brim.
"Khushi, come here and sit with us," NK said dragging her by her slender wrist.
Arnav felt yet another urge to smack NK.
"No, Nandu," she said firmly, "I need to go out now. I will be back in a couple of hours."
"Where are you going?" Daad who was now all recovered asked her.
All eyes were on Khushi now. Everyone was curious.
"I am.. I am going to go and do some... work stuff," she said vaguely.
"You are on leave," her Daadi pointed out.
"Yes. But now that the wedding hasn't happened, I might as well get some work done. I am off to do focus groups."
"What is that," an unrelenting Daadi asked.
"Work things, Daadi," she said, "I will be back in a couple of hours."
And she walked away.
Arnav followed her and caught up with her quickly enough and grabbed her hand.
"Where do you need to go," he said, "I will drop you."
"No.. ot required," she said nervously, "I have a cab. I will text you."
And this time she ran away.
He followed her out and heard her unmistakable voice when she instructed the driver, Bhaiyaji, Singhania House chalna hain. Short cut leejiye, bahut der ho chooki hain.
Something was truly black in the pulses, Arnav thought as he followed Khushi's car.
**
Note: Thanks to everyone who read and commented on the previous part. Got busy with college related chaos!
Edited by TabassumR - 12 years ago
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