Chapter 10
The view of the vast grass bathed in dew drops pleased
nakusha's eyes. In the early morning nature seemed so fresh and alive. The wind
was gentle, quietly moving the leaves along with it. As she threw the grains to
feed the pigeons, their light twittering sound made the morning all the more
peaceful. There was calmness and serenity in her whole being. After a very long
time she felt relaxed and content with the way things were moving around her.
And this welcomed and much needed change came after they
returned from that outing in the evening. It had been more than two weeks but
all the happenings were still so fresh in her mind. She couldn't forget the joy
on annay's face when he played with the other children and of course the slight
hesitation in dutta's eyes in accepting that he had given in to her wish.
Undoubtedly he would never accept that he changed his mind because of her but
even this subtle variation in his attitude was more than satisfying for her. He
didn't fully comply with her suggestion, instead came up with a solution that
would suit both him and annay. She smiled inwardly. He knew exactly how to get
what he wanted.
She glanced down at annay, who was filling the clay pot with
water for the pigeons. He was the only one who never snubbed her, on the
contrary accepted her in his life with genuine warmth and happiness. She was
lost and lonely when she came in this house. However now she was slowly finding
her feet. From a nobody she was turning into a somebody. The pigeons ceased to
see her as a threat or a stranger. They didn't flap their wings to fly away
instead came up to her when she fed them. Annay was right, with time they would
change. And these innocent birds were not the only ones changing, even she was.
Now when the servants addressed her as vaheni' it didn't feel odd and not just
that now they even approached her for matters related to household chores. The
new position and status rattled her a lot less. The house was beginning to
transform into her home. And she
liked it.
Lowering her gaze, she thought of dutta and unknowingly her
lips stretched slightly. His presence no longer intimidated her. True, he was
still reserved, unapproachable and well guarded, she could still not look into
his eyes and speak her mind as he continued to run hot and called with her,
sometimes he would be fine while other time he would be...stiff. Perhaps it was
just part of his personality but there were occasions when she saw him smiling
with annay. She shrugged her shoulders, maybe not much had changed between them
but still she believed that somewhere the awkwardness in their relationship was
evaporating. Although there were issues between them that remain unresolved for
instance, in these two weeks she failed to convince him to allow annay to go to
school or even play out, his opinions and decisions regarding annay were like
hard and firm rocks that refused to move but still there was some solace that
she could draw from this situation. Which was that now he didn't cut her off
the moment she opened her mouth to speak. Instead he listened to her...silently,
thought over her words and then obviously did what he believed was right.
Thankfully now her point of view at least succeeded in leaving some impact on him.
Besides all this, he didn't get mad when she waited for him
for dinners, although they continued to share most of their meals in absolute
silence but even in that silence there was peace that soothed her heart, the
absence of sound wasn't disconcerting. And most importantly, the nights weren't
stressful for both of them. No more nightmares for him and no more ugly
memories haunting her. Perhaps with the passage of time they both were learning
to deal with their pasts and somehow starting to accept what life had offered
them.
" maami hum rangoli kab banayenge?" peering up, annay asked
with his hands resting on his waist. Sometimes he truly reminded her of dutta.
" itni jaldi kya hai ? banalenge...pehle tum aaj ki apni
padaai khatam karo." It was the last day of the year and she had thought of
welcoming the new year by decorating the home and doing a small puja the next
morning. Annay ran inside to finish the work assigned to him by his teacher but
not before frowning and pouting at nakusha. She simply smiled back at him.
A new year, a new
start and somewhere in her heart she hoped and prayed that the coming year
would mark the end of pain and sadness in their lives and bring in lots of joy
and happiness in their small little world.
Nakusha after feeding the birds turned around to pick the
washed clothes that were hanging on the rope for drying. She touched her pink
colored sari, it was dry, she pulled it down from the rope and as it slid a
gasp escaped her lips and her eyes turned wide.
" taayi ! tu ?" nakusha was astonished to find roopa stand
before her. What was she doing here? Whereas roopa wasn't least surprised to
see the shocked expression on nakusha's face. After all nakusha wasn't
expecting her to show up and why would nakusha expect or even care to think
about her when she was busy enjoying the luxuries that life had suddenly
bestowed upon her. Someone who until few weeks back didn't have enough food to
fill her stomach, was today throwing away grains to feed these birds for
apparently no reason.
" kaisi hai?" roopa hid her displeasure and forced herself
to add sweetness in her tone.
" main theekh hai." Nakusha replied hurriedly and
frantically turned her neck to check if they were being watched or not. What if
someone caught her with roopa when she was strictly ordered by him to leave PV
forever.
The corners of roopa's eyes crinkled in displeasure, nakusha
didn't even have the courtesy of asking in return how was she doing? Huh!
" tu toh humein bhool hi gayi." The accusing and taunting
statement made nakusha look right into roopa's eyes. She hadn't forgotten her
step sister. In fact she hadn't forgotten anything. Each and every day and
night of the twenty years spent with her couldn't be erased from her mind so
easily and quickly. Nakusha had never argued or voiced her thoughts before
roopa, when she was a child, she was scared of her and by the time she grew old
enough to give it right back to her sister, she had gotten pretty used to the
physical and verbal abuse inflicted on her. It hurt but it didn't pain so much.
And today when she was in a position to shut roopa's mouth still she preferred
to keep her own mouth locked. Perhaps anything said or done wouldn't change the
equation between them.
" taayi, tu yahan kya kar rahi hai?" nakusha avoided beating
around the bush.
Fine, if nakusha wanted her to come straight to the point
then she would. Letting out an audible sigh roopa replied," kuch paise chaiye
the." Nakusha wrinkled her face in confusion, she was here for money? But dutta
had already paid her enough.
Roopa tilted her head slightly and shamelessly cleared the
doubt running in nakusha's mind.
" pehle ke paise khatam ho gaye."
" khatam ho gaye? Itni jaldi ? par kaise?" she couldn't
believe that within less than a month roopa had spent all the money. Roopa
dropped her head momentarily , her little sister was firing questions at her
and she was not liking it. She raised
her head and feigned innocence.
" tu toh janti hai ki inki dawaa daru par kitna paisa kharch
ho jaata hai."
Nakusha pressed her lips and faintly nodded her head, she
knew where the money had vanished. Her jobless brother in law was earlier only
into gambling but off late he had not been keeping well as he started drinking
as well. She shuddered at the thought.
" taayi, mere pass paise nahin hai." Nakusha replied calmly
and honestly. There was a time when she handed over all that she earned after
cultivating and selling the crop to her sister without uttering a word but now
she wasn't working, hence had no money. In fact she didn't even have any
savings otherwise she would have probably thought of helping her out.
Roopa shot her a bewildered look, was she kidding her? She
was now dutta shriram patil's wife, the caretaker and practically the sole
owner of pv and she was saying that she had no money? Did she really wish her
to believe that? Roopa eyed her suspiciously and smirked while crossing her
arms before her chest.
" saaf saaf bol de tu kuch dena nahin chahti..jhooth kyun
kehti hai?" she wanted to be sweet and nice to her but unfortunately it wasn't
working. Nakusha immediately shook her head and answered," nahin tayi..aisi koi
baat nahin hai." For years she had been defending herself, it had become her
habit and today when she was no longer answerable to her still she found
herself doing just the same. Roopa's lips spread in a sly smile as she stared
at the gold chain dangling around nakusha's neck and asked," tu sach keh rahi
hai?"
Nakusha followed her gaze and at once clutched the gold
chain, it wasn't an ordinary piece of ornament, it was her mangalsutra, it was
given to her by her husband, she couldn't think of giving it away. And if roopa
thought that she would help her out with her husband's hard earned money then
she was... wrong. Very wrong. Dutta had already helped her enough and now she
wouldn't splurge his money on her. Nakusha opened her mouth to make it clear
when she was called out from behind.
" vaheni."
She hurriedly shoved roopa behind the hanging clothes and
said," taayi , tu ja yahaan se." then turned around and found laxmi coming out
of the house. She hoped roopa would escape before being spotted by anybody. Laxmi
narrowed her eyes, nakusha seemed flustered but why? However nakusha attempted
hard to calm down her nerves.
" apko bhau uppar bula rahe hain." Informed laxmi.
Nakusha nodded her
head, didn't say anything and remained rooted to her spot. Laxmi shot her a strange look, What was wrong
with this woman, why was she still standing here instead of leaving? Anyway,
she didn't have time to deal with all this early in the morning, she had other
chores to do. With that she turned on her heel.
" kahan jaa rahe ho?" nakusha panicked on seeing laxmi move
toward the hanging clothes.
" sookhe kapde utaarne." Laxmi replied and thought wasn't it
pretty obvious? What a silly question had she asked? Nakusha indeed looked like
a fool as she added further," par kapde abhi geele hain."
Laxmi tried to maintain her composure and pulled the sari
slung over nakusha's shoulder, it was absolutely dry.
" bhau ko intezar karna
pasand nahin hai." She reminded nakusha for her own well being. Nakusha
gulped and left away slowly. Now everything was in bappa's hands. If she'd get
caught then be it. Still while climbing up the stairs she couldn't help but
wonder, what if he came to know that she was meeting roopa behind his back
after he had explicitly ordered her to leave pv? He had fixed her alliance with
suresh and after suresh died he had stepped in his shoes and married her
primarily because he wanted to free her from the claws of roopa. And now if he
saw or someone told him that she was still in touch with roopa then it would
surely blow up his mind. What was she supposed to do now, tell him or remain
silent in the hope that roopa wouldn't return again?
Dutta slammed the cupboard shut after taking out what he
required. With the corner of his eye he saw nakusha standing at the door. He
turned around and studied her. She fidgeted with the end of her sari while her
eyes remained downcast, staring at the floor into oblivion. She was surely
standing before him but her mind was elsewhere.
" kya hua?" his husky voice made her snap up her head.
" nahin..kuch nahin." She stammered with her words. Shewas
fine, perfectly fine. His dark eyes held her gaze, trying to read her eyes. She
averted her gaze and asked softly," aapne bulaya tha?". He nodded his head and
walked up to her.
" yeh rakh." She glanced at his hand and found him giving
her money. Her jaw dropped, had he seen her with roopa? She looked at him
confusedly. What was happening?
" main chahta hoon aaj se tu ghar ka kharch sambhale."
She thought she heard him wrong, he wanted her to handle
household finance but why? This sudden responsibility ruffled her even more.
She had never dealt with money, it was always roopa who dealt with all this,
she simply worked and handed over the money to her and moreover taking care of
a huge house like PN wasn't child's play. There were so many things that needed
attention, how would she do this? She curled her toes, moistened her dry lips
and refused straight away. " nahin sahab, main nahin kar sakti yeh sab." He
watched her intently. He was certain that she was capable of taking charge. She
was honest, hardworking and sincere. He had observed and appreciated these
traits in her even when they were not married. And all this didn't change after
she came into this house. He often saw her running around to do the household
chores herself and sometimes even getting the servants work properly. And
seriously, he wasn't asking her to manage the finance of the country, it was
just this house! Also it was high time that laxmi be relived of this duty and
instead a family member took upon the responsibility.
Hey, wait a minute,
did he just thought her of family?
Whatever he brushed
the thought aside and freed one of her hands that were clutching the end of her
sari. Her eyes shot up as he placed the bundle of notes on her palm. Without
tearing his gaze away he spoke slowly," main janta hoon ki tu yeh kar sakti hai." Emphasizing on each and every
word that came out of his mouth. She silently looked into his eyes. There was
trust, faith and confidence in them for herself. Trust in her ability, faith
that she wouldn't let him down and confidence that she could do it with ease.
She slowly blinked her eyes. Here she was thinking that not much had changed
between them. He didn't leave her hand and ushered her behind him. Pulling his
cupboard door with the other hand he showed her the safe and placed its key oh
her open palm that held the money.
" aur chaiye honge , toh is mein se nikal liyo..samjhi?
She shook her head in negation. He furrowed his brows in
confusion, what was it that she didn't understand?
" sahab, main chaabi nahin sambhalegi." Now this was too
much, he was giving her the key as well? This was a big responsibility and she
didn't wish to take it.
Oh god, she was behaving like a stubborn child who needed to
be explained and convinced for everything. He doubted he had the patience to
put up with such kind of a behavior.
" agar mein ghar par na hoon aur paison ki zaroorat padi ,
toh kya karegi?"
" apka intezaar." She shrugged her shoulders and promptly
replied. He glared hard at her, it wasn't tough but she was making it for no
reason.
" nakusha, mujhe is baare mein behas nahin karni hai..tu
neeche chal, mujhe aur bhi kaam hai." He hadn't raised his voice but definitely
the tone had changed. She could see he was losing his cool hence decided to
give up this argument. She used the key to open the safe, kept the money back
and locked the safe.
He clenched his teeth and asked," tu yeh kya kar rahi hai?"
he couldn't believe she was being so difficult with him. After closing the
cupboard she turned and answered calmly," meri almari mein taala nahin hai, jab
lag jayega toh main yeh paise nikal legi." She then tied the key at the end of
her sari. So she was being careful, this further confirmed his belief that he
had taken the right decision. Good. He nodded his head and strolled out. While
coming down the stairs he saw laxmi passing by and called her out. Nakusha who
was following him closely froze. Had laxmi seen roopa? The fear began to creep
in. She gauged laxmi's expression to read her mind. Laxmi appeared unruffled
and collected, as though nothing had happened. Nakusha, mentally thanked bappa.
Dutta looked over his shoulder and informed nakusha that tomorrow being the new
year, they would be distributing boxes of sweets among the people of PV, thus
he wanted her to go to the market and order enough boxes of sweet and look into
the necessary arrangements plus prepare salary envelopes of the employees of PN.
Laxmi's eyes at once darted over nakusha, so now she would be paying her
salary? The thought didn't appease her. Dutta found laxmi looking or should he
say staring at nakusha.
"mausi, aap bhi iske saath bazaar chale jaana." Laxmi nodded
and lowered her head. He turned around and peered up at nakusha," koi pareshani
ho toh mausi se pooch liyo..theekh hai?" He now hoped , after knowing that
laxmi was there to help her out, she'd feel much relaxed. Nakusha gave a faint
smile and shook her head in agreement.
The moment dutta left for work, nakusha was all geared up to
take on the new responsibility entrusted upon her. As a result she was all over
the house instructing servants and cleaning every nook and corner along with
them. Mentally preparing a list of items that would be needed for the morning
puja. It was a simple task that didn't require elaborate arrangements so
keeping it perfect was all the more important. For the first time he had trusted
on her and she didn't wish to goof up and let him down. Keeping her hands on
her waist she slowly took a full turn inspecting the entire hall area. This
part of the house was done with. She glanced at the huge wall clock. It was way
past noon and she had to visit the market to order sweet boxes.
" mausi , main paise lekar aayi, phir bazaar ho kar aate
hain." Nakusha left to her room to get the money. Laxmi straightened herself
from the crouched position and pressed her aching back.
" safai toh aisa kara rahi hai jaise kal diwali ho." She grimaced
and threw aside the duster then properly adjusted her wrinkled sari. Moving a
hand through her hair she fixed the jasmine garland. She was all ready.
While stepping out of the house nakusha noticed the basil
plant at the entrance. It had dried up because of the cold. Tomorrow they would
be requiring basil leaves for the puja hence this plant needed to be replaced
moreover it wasn't auspicious to have a dried or dead basil plant at the
entrance of a house.
" bhaiya , dekho mere ko ek naya tulsi ka paudha
chaiye..jaldi." she told the guard standing at the gate before leaving for the
market.
It took them more than two hours to select and order for the
sweets along with making arrangements for a small tent in the courtyard.
Nakusha exhaled in relief, the boxes would be delivered by evening and the tent
house would also send his men within few a hours to make the tent. She was
thinking whether she had forgotten anything or not when she a felt a small pair
of arms wrapped around her waist. Annay glanced up at her and complained," aap
subha se kya kar rahe ho?" looking down she smiled at him and ruffled his hair.
He was right, the whole day she had been running around the house and not being
able to give him any time.
" aapne kaha tha ki hum rangoli banayenge..kab banayenge?"
he furrowed his brows and pouted at her. She slapped her forehead, making
rangoli with him had completely slipped out of her mind. She opened her mouth
to speak when a servant came up to her and said," vaheni , yeh tulsi ka
paudha." She took the shrub from the servant and asked annay," tumne kabhi
paudha lagaya hai?" he shook his head, no, he had never sowed any seeds or
planted anything.
" chalo main dikhati hai." She held his tiny little hand and
took him out to sow the plant. Annay stood on his toes and closely watched
nakusha as she first pulled out the dead plant from its root then dug some mud
and placed the new shrub in it. while tapping on the mud she told annay to get
some water for the plant. Annay ran and came back with a long water pipe.
Nakusha grinned at him, there was no need to pull the long pipe till there,
even a glass of water would have been sufficient. But she didn't mention it to
him instead took a step back and asked him to water the plant. She was still
brushing off the mud from her hands when annay tip toed again to reach the
plant. He carefully watered it then heard nakusha from behind," bas bas ho
gaya." He twisted his lips in mischief and suddenly turned around aiming the pipe
on nakusha.
" nahin..annay..." she shrieked while holding her hands out to
block the water but it didn't help, within a minute she was fully drenched. She
wanted to glare at him but when she saw him laughing out loud she couldn't even
pretend that she was upset. He looked too cute to be scolded.
" badmaash." Was all that she could mutter before rushing to
her room to change.
Her light lemon colored sari soaked and stuck to every curve
of her body. She pulled the cupboard panel to retrieve another sari when all of
a sudden the bedroom door barged open. She was so startled that she literally
jumped out of her skin on seeing dutta come in. Her mouth dropped open stunned and
her face lost all the color. What was he doing here? Why did he have to come
back early and unannounced?
Like her even he was caught off guard. He was briskly
striding in when he saw her and stopped. Hardly a few steps away from her he at
once looked down in embarrassment and found her slowly curling and uncurling
her toes. Unwillingly his gaze began to move up from her toes. The light
colored sari was now quite transparent and sticking to her body like second
skin. He clenched his jaws and muttered a curse under his breath. Unknowingly he stepped closer to her. His eyes
moved further up and he saw a drop of water travelling down her neck to her
collar bone and then getting lost when it went further south. His direct and
unwavering gaze continued to travel up and this time a drop let fell from her
cheek only to land on her soft and delicate pink lips. She took a sharp intake
of breath and quivered, oblivious to the reason behind her tremor, was it cold
or his ...close proximity? As now just centimeters away, he was towering over
her. She felt as though the walls were closing in around her. He had literally
trapped her against the cupboard. She couldn't breathe and found herself nervously
peering up at him. He had the most amazing eyes. She had no idea why she just
thought that.
Moments later he was leaning over her. She didn't know what
was coming but whatever it was, it drew her eyes shut...
Thanks for reading.
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