Adult intervention
"Chalo Meeta jo rishta laayi woh pehle dekh lein?" Himani urged her husband as he handed her her tea cup
"Aap baat karenge?" she whispered
He made a face
She dialed the number
"Teeku how are you beta?"
"Umm.. I was hoping to get some work done, pehle Bareilly, phir Roorkee, Garima is not happy"
"To chhod do beta job, laut aao"
Himani's selfish motive was if Teeku returned, she would push her for meeting a guy
"Oh no, she is really supportive Ma, she even suggest I use Pacific Trust's free employee legal resources"
"Beta ab is baat ko yahin chhod do"
"I havent slept a wink in peace since he has been lost from school ma. I took something for sleep last night and threw up this morning"
"You THREW UP? U said you ate something"
"I lied because aap naraaz ho jaateen" Avantika moaned
"this is not good, I will come out tonight and spend a couple days with you. Bhabhi is back from the hospital too"
Meeta was admitted again for extreme nausea
"Nahi aap rehne dein" she said grudgingly
"No I wont listen to you"
"Can we go to Bareilly?" she whispered
"Dad maar daalenge aapko" she hissed angrily
"Maaa... ek baar bus please?"
"Bilqul nahi" she said sternly
"Hum kaise rahenge Ma uske bina? I have to live like this the rest of my life?" she sobbed
"Woh AAP sochen" Himani was unforgiving
"Mom please we can go ONE time" she whispered
"Hamari himmat nahi Dad se baat karne ki, Vibhu ne is baare mein baat karne se bilqul mana kiya hua hai, Dhruv ko convince kar sakte hain, par woh taxes se chakkar mein idhar udhar bhatak rahe hain"
"Ma... please just tell them u are here, I will meet you in Bareilly"
"Dad ne itni chhoot dee hai tumhe uska fayda uthaane ki baat hai" Himani was bitter
"Just one time I want to see him and squeeze his cheeks"
"u live and work in Delhi, you do what you want, dress however, we have placed no restriction. This is really bad" Himani was not convinced
She heard her daughter whimper.
"Yaha aao weekend mein Naintital se maasi aa rahin hain, cousins bhi aayenge, Basant Navaratri mein hamey waha bulaya hai, Haridwar bhi ho aayenge" Himani silkily avoided talking about the alliance
"Nahi hamara mood nahi hai, main baal dhokar so jaaoongi"
"Nahi sar dard hoga" Himani shouted
"Bhabhi se baat karwayengi?" she asked
"Kaunse?"
Meeta aur kaun, Bani to baat bhi nahi karengi"
"Bhabhi kaho betaaa"
"Sorry" she mumbled
Meeta came on the phone
"Chalo aa jao weekend mein, kisi se milwaate hain aapko"
Himani was making a cringing sound
"KIS SE? Chandu se?"
"Naheee... us se bhi cute hai woh" she giggled
"Aapne gender identify kiya apni baby ka, haawww kitni galat baat hai"
"Nahi... shaitaan..."
"Hamey kisi se nahi milna"
"Ma ne keh diya?"
"Nahi ma ne kaha Maasi aa rahi hain nainital se"
"Oh shit" she giggled
"Hamara mann nahi hai bhabhi"
"Suno raje... man halka karo, yaha aao, dono parlor chalenge"
"Nahi" she began to cry
Chandu would go with her for her pedicure appointments and soak his feet and get his massage and giggle when they used a pumice stone
"Ufffooh" Meeta bhabhi handed the phone to Hmani
"Hum aa rahe hain subah" Himani said sadly and hung up
Sita Ram Vaidya called Shyam Sundar Gupta that night out of the blue
The men had never met before or talked or interacted
Gupta had used his legal might periodically to help his daughter out, finally resulting in the child being taken away.
There was embarrassment and shame all around.
Guptas regretted not intervening and doing the right thing sooner
Vaidyas regretted the tactics used by their son in bringing the grandson home
"Jee Gupta bol raha hoon
"Umm.. main Sita Ram Vaidya he paused
"Judge Vaidya? Gupta signaled Himani who panicked, going pale
"Chandan kaisa hai?
"Usee ki baat karne ke liye call kare hum Vaidya said politely
"theek hain na?
"Haan... theek keh leejiye, ek dum udaas, baat baat par rotey hain, baat baat par gussa
"Arey
"Kya aisa bartaaw karte the Dilli mein?
"Umm.. nahi to, bilqul nahi, kabhi nahi.. yaha to Vivaan aur Surbhi ke saath lage rehte hamesha Gupta was stunned
"Umm.. yaha to aur hi baat hai saab
"Aap ne hamari beti Teeku... matlab Avantika ko call kiya? Bahut udaas hai Gupta choked up
"Kal raat ko karey rahe hum uthaya nahi
"Aapne KIYA call?" Gupta's face lit up
Himani smiled between tears
"Haan woh yaha utsuk thi milne ko" Vaidya was somber
"Ek baar milwa deejiye" Gupta begged
"Umm... theek" Vaidya agreed as if that was not his plan to begin with
"Aap kya soch rahe hain"
"Do hafte ho gaye, ek baar milne se kya ho paayega" Vaidya mumbled
"Kya matlab"
"Iska koi aur hal dhoondte hain Mr Gupta"
"Legal action na kahen aap, main bahut sharminda hoon Teeku ki taraf se" Gupta shut his eyes as his wife did a face palm on that admission of guilt
"Milwaane se Chandan ka man aur dukhi hoga"
"Jee woh to hai" Gupta agreed confused
"theek se na kha rahe hain na so rahe hain, raat raat bhar hamari missus unko lekar baithi rehti hain, ek bahu hamari doctor hai, duty karti hain, ek social worker, NGO mein hain, dono ke paas apne bachon ke liye time nahi"
"Aapke bete ko aise turant, ekdum usko jhapatkar chheen na nahi chahiye tha"
"Jawan khoon hai, do saal ki tapasya hai meri wife ki" Vaidya became defensive
Gupta bristled
"Milwana sahi nahi hoga" Gupta said
"Jee?"
"Hamari beti ka dil pehle toot chuka hai, aap us par namak chhidakne waali baat kar rahe hain" Gupta spoke up
"Aap to naraaz ho gaye" Vaidya was unhappy
"Manayiye potey ki khushi, hamari beti sookhkar aadhi ho chaleen hain... deejiye shabashi bete ko" Gupta teared up
"Mr Gupta"
"Hum rakhte hain