Chapter Thirty Three
"Naina, won't you ever talk to me about what's wrong?" her mother asked her as they sat together at the kitchen table. "We hardly ever see you these days, you almost never come home on leave. And when you do… it's almost as if there's no life left in you, as if you're not the girl you used to be."
Naina knows that she's not the girl she used to be, she knows that she can never be that girl again. She cannot smile or laugh or joke as she once did, she can not even bring herself to pretend for their sakes.
It has been more than a year… a year in which she has remained alive while he… while he has been…
"Naina, I worry sometimes, what's going to happen to you, about who will look after you once your father and I are gone." Her mother had told her and Naina had looked up sharply, disturbed by her words.
"Don't worry, Ma." She had replied quietly. "You'll be around for a long time to look after me."
And Naina had not known how to tell her mother that what she was really worried about, was who would be the one to look after them when she was gone…
She had always assumed... that she would be the first to go.
**
Asha woke up early due to habit, for a moment disorientated as to where she was until slowly she began to recognize her old room. It was strange how after two years at the academy and now the time at Tawang, this no longer felt like home.
Then again thinking about the current situation, Asha suspected that her house not feeling
like home but have more to do with her family's attitudes than anything else. She had managed to avoid any discussion last night because she had arrived quite late and pretending to be exhausted. Since her parents had picked her up directly from where the transport had dropped them she hadn't even been able to bid farewell to the others properly.
Amiya had given her a reassuring hug goodbye but Dhiraj had hung back, understanding how tense the situation was and not wanting to add any more fuel to the fire under the present circumstances.
Asha sighed and wondered whether if she got ready right now she could escape from the house before anybody else woke up.
However by the time that she had showered and dressed, her mother was already waiting downstairs, almost as if she had guessed what Asha's plans were.
"Where are you going so early?" she asked her daughter with a frown.
"There's so much work to do at Amiya's house… I thought I should head over there early to help out." Asha replied, knowing that there was no way that explanation was going to be accepted.
"Asha, we've barely seen you these last few months, why don't we sit down and have a proper talk together?" her mother asked her, patting the sofa beside where she sat.
And Asha knew… that she was in trouble.
Slightly reluctantly she went and sat beside her mother, who sighed at the expression on her daughter's face.
"Really Asha… I'm not going to eat you alive, I don't know why you think I'm your enemy when all I've ever wanted is what's best for you."
"But Ma, the problem is that you and I have very different ideas about what's best for me." Asha replied quietly, she honestly didn't want to fight when she was only going to be home for a few days.
"And I worry about your concept of what's best for you, Asha… we've heard rumours you know, of what's been going on with you in Tawang."
"Oh I can guess perfectly well from whom," Asha replied angrily, "And I can guess exactly what it is that he's told you."
"Asha I'm going to ask you straight out and I expect an honest answer, who is this Captain Kapoor and what's your relationship with him?" her mother asked her.
And Asha, knowing that the topic could not be avoided anymore smiled sadly, because she suspected that today would be a turning point in her relationship with her mother, the point from which there could be no return.
"He's an officer posted at Tawang… one of the best officers there. He's highly respected by all of our superior officers, looked up to by his juniors. Captain Kapoor is one of the best soldiers I've ever met, and one of the best people as well."
"He was also the one that you were suspended for rescuing, right?" A nod, "And the one that punched Rajesh?" Another nod, "Asha I'm asking you again, what exactly is your relationship with him."
"I love him."
There was a deathly silence while her mother stared at her, almost as if to believe that her daughter was admitting it. "And you can say it so confidently, without any trace of shame." Mrs Dutta said disbelievingly.
"I have nothing to be ashamed of Ma… I have no idea what Rajesh has told you, but my relationship with Dhiraj has not crossed any boundaries that it shouldn't have. We haven't broken any army regulations." Asha replied back, becoming more and more confident with every word.
"I'm least concerned about the regulations," her mother retorted, "You've broken your family's trust. We had indulged you all this time, allowed you to follow your dreams because we had believed that you would eventually see sense and settle down properly. Tell me who this man is exactly, who is his family? What can he provide for you?"
"His name is Dhiraj Kapoor… he graduated as the best cadet in his batch from the Pune Academy. His best friend is Samir Hassan, who is about to get engaged to Amiya. He would die for his country and for his friends as well. He doesn't know who his family is… he was abandoned at an orphanage when he was young. As for what he can provide for me, I doubt it's much. He doesn't have a business, he doesn't own a house, I doubt he even owns a car and it makes no difference to me whatsoever." Asha finished off, knowing that she was sounding more and more stubborn with every word.
"But what does such a man have to offer you?" her mother had asked her, sounding slightly desperate to prove her point.
"Happiness." Asha replied simply and picking up her shoulder bag, walked straight out of the house.
**
Dhiraj had been on edge since the night before and Samir sighed, wishing that his friend would stop brooding and eat his breakfast.
"The amount of nervousness that you're showing, anybody would think that it was your engagement instead." Samir commented, startling Dhiraj out of his thoughts.
"I'm worried about what's happening with Asha," Dhiraj replied, startled out of his thoughts and finally looking down at the plate in front of him. "I don't know what Rajesh would've told her family and if they decide that they're against our relationship…"
"Then it won't make any difference to Asha at all," Samir finished off confidently. "Don't worry Dhiraj, everything will work out alright in the end."
"I'm just glad you don't seem to be more nervous." Dhiraj told him, "You're all ready to get engaged?"
"I definitely am," Samir agreed, "In fact it would be great if we could do it right now but we still have to wait for the guests to arrive."
"So you'll be meeting Amiya's parents today then?"
"We'll be going over as soon as my parents wake up," Samir told him, "You're welcome to come along as well, Asha will be there too and there'll be a lot of preparations to help with."
"Don't worry about a thing, we're here for that." Raj reassured him, "Where's Hussein this morning? And Vijay and Akash?"
"Hussein has taken Riti to pick up Naina and her mother from the airport, to their hotel and then come to Amiya's house with them, Dr Shalini and her husband for lunch. Vijay and Akash will be with their families for most of the day… they promised to come and help out in the afternoon. All of the guests will be here by late afternoon."
Samir knew exactly which guests he was most concerned about arriving. While Neelu was due to arrive this morning along with Naina, Dr Shalini and Colonel Sahni, Colonel Sharma and Colonel Huda and Hussein's parents were only arriving the next morning, unable to leave their work any earlier.
Samir was slightly nervous about what would happen when they all saw Asha and Dhiraj together for the first time. He had a slight idea about how they must be feeling but no conception of what the reality was. Yudi had been on edge ever since he had found out they would finally be meeting, barely able to control his excitement or nervousness at seeing his old friends again.
Shalini had already met Asha, but she longed to see Dhiraj as well, to see her old friend brought back to life. Neelu was calmer, knowing that she needed to hold herself together for both of their sakes but an excitement had been building in her at the thought of seeing them again. And Huda… Huda's feelings were perhaps the most mixed of the lot. He both longed to see them and dreaded it, no matter how much Aalekh reassured him, he still felt somewhat to blame, he feared that he may affect their happiness in some way.
"And when is HJ arriving?" Dhiraj asked Samir, having heard about the young man from Asha, Amiya and Hussein.
"Oh he's here already," Samir replied, "He arrived from Bangladesh two days ago and has been staying here ever since, he's officially on leave for the next two weeks, he'll go home to visit his mother after the engagement along with his father. He'll meet up with Hussein at the airport, I think he's planning to surprise Riti."
"Well now that I've got a full idea of the arrivals, I think it's time we got you ready to meet your future-in-laws." Dhiraj told Samir, grinning at the nervous look on his friend's face. "Stop worrying, it's going to be absolutely fine!"
They were scheduled to go to Amiya's house along with Samir's parents. It was the first time that either side was meeting their future in-laws so Samir was understandable nervous.
Dhiraj could understand, if the day ever came for him then he would probably be having ten times the nerves.
**
Hussein and Riti waited at the airport to welcome Naina and Neelu, Hussein eagerly looking towards the gate that they were to arrive from. Hussein waves happily the moment he sees them and greets Neelu first, touching her feet respectfully before she gives him a warm hug and ruffles his hair.
"I'm glad you and Naina have finally made things more official. I can now start referring to you as my future son-in-law." She jokes, she's always been fond of Hussein.
Hussein looked down on hearing this, slightly embarrassed and Riti laughed when she saw it, still with one arm around Naina's shoulders from when she had hugged her.
Swapping places with Hussein, she pushed him in Naina's direction before she also touched Neelu's feet and hugged her.
Hussein and Naina shared a short but meaningful hug, too embarrassed to do anything more in front of her mother. He gave her a smile as if to say there would be plenty of time for them to catch up later.
"So are we ready to go?" Riti asked, "Are we going to the hall to check things out first or straight to Amiya's house?"
"First we'll take Naina and Aunty Neelu's things to the hotel, then we'll go to the hall to check thing out and finally we'll pick up Aunty Shalini and Uncle Yudi before we go to Amiya's for lunch, but first we're just waiting for…"
"Me," a slightly mischievous voice replied and Hussein found himself enveloped in a bear hug from behind.
"HJ you're squashing me!" he complained laughingly, hugging his friend back equally as hard.
"I can't help it, who told you to go off and get shot while I wasn't there?" HJ complained, "Don't even think about doing it again!"
Releasing Hussein he greeted Neelu, who was beginning to wonder how many people would touch her feet before the end of the day. She hugged him and he moved on to Naina, folding his hands respectfully to greet her and standing at a distance. "Namaste Bhabhie-ji." He told her, an old joke from their academy days.
"Shut up you big nautanki," she told him before reaching up to give him a hug.
Finally he turned to Riti, a smile playing around the corners of his lips. "So did you miss me?" he asked, folding his arms across his chest almost as a challenge.
"Not at all," Riti replied, even thought it was obvious she was trying not to smile.
"Then there's no chance of me getting a hug?" he asked hopefully, opening up his arms in quite a filmi style.
Finally unable to resist she gave him a grin even while shaking her head in disbelief at his actions. She hugged him briefly before stepping back, missing the wistful look on his face.
"Life has been far too quiet without you," she told him, "I even missed your flirting sometimes."
"You missed it??" he asked sounding ecstatic.
"Only sometimes," she told him sternly, giving him a slight push but HJ didn't stop grinning anyway.
"If you two are quite done then we've got lots of work to do this morning," Hussein told them both and laughing they all set off, Hussein finally brave enough to put one arm around Naina's shoulders in front of her mother.
Encouraged, HJ tried to do the same but Riti shrugged him off, giving him a look that said 'Don't even try'.
He sighed, his own love story wasn't going anywhere fast.
**
There was much nervousness on either side as Amiya and Samir met each others parents for the first time. Amiya was so nervous that she stumbled and almost dropped the tea tray when she came to serve them, giving Asha a desperate look as if to ask for help. However Samir's parents did their best to calm her nerves and after some initial awkwardness everybody was soon chatting away like old friends.
Asha and Dhiraj attempted to smooth over any silences, trying to ensure that the two families got on well together and telling stories about their respective best friends. The two sets of parents were now sitting together discussing plans for the future wedding while Amiya and Samir relaxed somewhat, relieved that everything had turned out well. They had been a bit concerned considering that all of this was happening the day before the engagement.
"Are you both feeling better now?" Asha asked in an undertone, "It wasn't so bad was it?"
"Thank god…" Amiya whispered back, "I'd hate to have had to elope if Samir's parents had figured out what a strange girl I was and called the engagement off."
Samir was just about to reply to this when the doorbell rung and both he and Amiya looked at each other, a sudden clenching in their guts. It was the moment they had been waiting for all day long, the only thing that could've made them more nervous than meeting each others parents.
"Amiya, open the door and let the guests in," her mother told her, "They must be tired after their long journey."
Doing her best to remain calm, Amiya stood up and headed towards the door, opening to see some familiar faces and some new ones. By the look on Colonel Sahni's face it seems as if he's about to pass out and he grips his wife's hand tightly for a minute before taking a deep breath and nodding, as if to say he's ready.
"They're inside," Amiya tells them all, "Try not to…" she shakes her head, after everything they've been through, how can she ask them to control their emotions, what right does she have? "It'll all be fine." She finishes off.
She leads them into living room and Asha and Dhiraj look up at the same time. A strange, almost confused smile spreads over Dhiraj's face as he looks at them, his gaze dwelling the longest on Yudi and Shalini.
And Asha smiles, a happiness that she doesn't fully understand radiating from within her. "Welcome," she tells them, "We've been waiting for you."
Yudi opens his mouth as if to speak but nothing comes out because he's worried if he says anything he'll start crying instead.
Because today after an eternity, his own wait has finally ended.
His friends have returned to him.
**
Real Estate
98