Notes from the Past: 5
January 2006, Chatarpur Temple, New Delhi
January is one of the coldest months in Delhi and yet, here was Arnav having to wipe sweat from his forehead every few minutes. He also felt that he was rapidly running out of Oxygen because the Chatarpur Temple, one of the best known temples in the city was packed with people, evidently because it was some special kind of Saturday as they learnt later from the priest. He was not at all the religious sort. In fact, nobody in his family was. Which was surprising because they ran a business and usually all Hindu businesses thrived on bhoomi poojas, breaking of coconuts and constant divine intervention. But his father Anand Raizada was a rationalist and believed that the key to a successful business was actually doing work and not in the alignment of stars or the appeasement of gods. Though mom and dad did not agree on many subjects, on this matter they did. Mom, the ever practical sort and workaholic, felt that the time and money spent on these rituals could be better spent elsewhere. Of course, they still attended random poojas and satsangs they were invited to, but that was more of a social exercise. But about two weeks ago, his perfectly healthy father, chairman of AR Enterprises, that had reported a profit of a hundred and twenty crores in the last quarter, had collapsed in his office and suffered a stroke keeping him in the ICU for twelve days. Clearly, it was time to re-think one's relationship with god. It was Seema Bua who had made the suggestion to his mother that the family visit the temple to give thanks for the fact that her brother had made an almost full-recovery. Though Bua was not mom's favourite person, but this one time, mom made an exception and agreed with her. Of course, with dad being out of action, much of the work burden fell on mom and so she excused herself from the temple visit and instead suggested that Bua take along Anjali and him with her. Bua had agreed and that is how Arnav found himself in the Chatrapur Temple for the first time in his life, with Anjali and Aakash for company.
With no disrespect to goddess Katyayani, the people who deserved credit for dad's recovery were two other women. One of whom was Dr Kusum Yadav, the surgical resident at Safdarjung Hospital who performed an emergency surgery on dad. The other was Khushi Kumari Gupta, who on finding his dad collapsed had immediately phoned for an ambulance and had whisked him to the nearest hospital, before even the family reached.
Khushi, the thought of her made him let out a deep sigh. She was his former schoolmate, current college-mate, fellow sportsperson and a short-term employee in his father's business. Any person who fitted more than one of those criteria would ideally have been his friend. But not Khushi. Sometimes when he would chat with Anjali Di about school and college happenings, she would in jest refer to Khushi as his Jaani Dushman, referencing a hit 70s Hindi film. Of course, Khushi was not his enemy. That was Di being silly as usual. But they were not friends for sure. Khushi was the most maddening person he had ever met. He was grateful that she had saved his father's life. But this gratitude was not going to lead to any friendship.
Seema Bua finally spotted Vijay Shastri, who worked as an administrative officer at AR Enterprises. Shastri's cousin was the temple priest and he was here to ensure that they could bypass the masses and get their darshan of the goddess through a special side-gate meant for VIPs. Thankfully Shivam Mallik, his Bua's husband was not around, for he would not have approved of this blatant rule-flouting. Though he belonged to the fraternity of bureaucrats, notorious for their corruption, he was honest to a fault. This sometimes led to him being overzealous when it came to settling disputes on unfair trade practices by mid-sized companies, including AR Enterprises. This was something that had led to several showdowns and resultant awkwardness between Shivam Mallik and mom. While mom did not care for Bua much, it was with her husband that she had the most discomfort with. This is why Shivam Uncle seldom visited the Raizada House and always excused himself from family get-togethers. This of course meant that Aakash did not get to spend as much time with his father, a problem that his own father over corrected by showering a lot of attention on him.
Shivam Uncle's disarming honesty got him into trouble with his superiors all the time and he used to be sent off to obscure towns on postings. When in 1999, Shivam Uncle was transferred to Dhanbad, as an administrative officer at the coal mines, his father suggested that Aakash and Seema Bua stay with them. Aakash, who was about five months older than Arnav, had just turned thirteen then and was in Class VII. The coal mines posting was always a difficult one for the officer in charge because of the mafia and the constant conflict between the workers and management. Seema Bua however did not want to leave her husband alone in a place where his safety could potentially be compromised. And so Aakash was left at Raizada House and Bua and Shivam Uncle moved to Dhanbad. After this, even when Shivam Uncle was posted in big cities which had friendlier work environments, Aakash continued to stay with them.
Dad worshipped his sister and so it was no surprise that he had a great deal of affection for his nephew. A twelve-year-old Arnav remembered how at a dinner hosted by the Chawlas who had just moved into the neighbourhood, he had introduced his three children to Mrs Anita Chawla. Aakash too preferred to call his dad Chote Papa instead of Maama. Of course, his mother, Poonam Raizada was always Maami. Though Bua drove mom a little mad and Shivam Uncle was always her nemesis of sorts, mom developed an indifferent liking for Aakash. Perhaps because he had an active interest in science and ripping things apart and building things from scratch, his mother found him unthreatening. Which is why when she went on a work- trip to Japan, she bought for Aakash a Build a Manitoba Robot Game for him. It took six months for Aakash to put together a robot that much to HP's chagrin broke several of their dinner-set side plates. But Anjali Di and he had been surprised at their mom's uncharacteristic generosity towards Aakash. Normally she would not even bring back a chocolate from the Duty Free stores for them and this time she actually bought something for her nephew. Of course, this earned his mother an unerring devotion from both Aakash and dad, who was happy that his wife was bonding with his sister's progeny. His father, though a lawyer by training, was at heart a science nerd and enjoyed all the weird experiments that Aakash did at home. Arnav was a good student, always doing well academically, but his passion even as a child was only in sports and the great outdoors. Something that nobody in his family had any interest in.
Anjali Di always said that Arnav was very immature about the Aakash situation. And in moments like now, he had to admit that she was right. It is not as if he wanted to grudge his cousin for something that was not even his fault, but he was young and resentful as a teen. His parents anyway were too focussed on work to pay attention to the children and having one more person competing for their affection was something that was upsetting. Perhaps he was misreading the situation, but Arnav felt was that the attention was not getting distributed among the three children, but instead, all of it was being doled out to only of them - Aakash. He realised that he felt resentment for his cousin, anger even. But he knew that it was not fair to show this anger on him. So he just chose to keep a distance from him. Anjali Di who probably was better adjusted because she had already experienced sharing the parent's affections when he was born, developed a more easygoing relationship with Aakash. As the years progressed, the gap only widened between the cousins and eventually both got comfortable enough with it to not even bother reaching out to the other. But right now, in that moment when Seema Bua suggested that they also pay a visit to the Shanidham temple, which was close by, the cousins looked at each other, part alarmed and part rolling their eyes and enjoyed a brief moment of kinship.
**
It was the first of February and Arnav realised that he was way behind on his reading lists. A couple of months and he would have his first year examinations and he was woefully behind. His dad was now undergoing stringent physiotherapy, and had been given strict orders to take it easy. This meant that he was not involved in the day-to-day working of AR Enterprises. Mom pretty much ran the show now, with a little help from Bua. AR Enterprises was in the middle of a tie-up with a German investor Walter Werner, and this month was critical. The deal almost fell through when Anand Raizada who had been the face of the project since the beginning was no longer involved. But mom had worked hard in convincing Werner to continue having faith in AR Enterprises. Anyway, as Arnav pulled up the car in the office of AR Enterprises, he wondered why mom wanted him to come here today. He had missed college for weeks now and it looked like another day of German interpreters and suits. He took the elevator to the eight floor, the executive floor, which was out of bounds for other employees. He went straight to dad's cabin, because mom had moved from her smaller cabin into his. When he entered, mom was in the middle of, what it seemed like, an unpleasant conversation with one of the employees from their admin department whose name Arnav did not know.
"Why was there no security on the eight floor? How did that girl get in here?"
That girl. Khushi.
While it was true that Khushi had in fact had saved his father through her quick thinking, but in Poonam Raizada's view Khushi was guilty of a transgression of having come to the eight floor which was out of bounds for her.
"Ma'm, woh second floor guard ka birthday tha, toh sab paas mein chai peene gaye the."
"Duty ke time, har koi apni jagah mein hi rahe. No more mistakes. Nobody should come to this floor without permission. Am I clear?"
"Yes, mam. Woh ladki toh employee hi hain."
"Hain, nahin. Thee. I want you to take this responsibility personality to see there is no such recurring episode. I don't have time for admin matters, you must understand."
Suitably chastised, the admin guy left. So Khushi no longer worked with AR Enterprises? Hmm, his mom was formidable.
"Mom, what do you want from me today? You know I have college. I have classes and a regional triathlon event in Chandigarh next month."
"Ideally you should be sitting here and taking over for Pa, so the least you can do is to help without complaining."
"This is not what I want to do, mom. We have discussed this so many times."
"Yes. And now is not the time to bring it up. I am busy with Werner, we have some Focus Groups this afternoon and I want you to attend them."
"What? No!"
"I was working on that Galleria Project, we don't know if AR wants to invest so much money. So dad had commissioned Taylor Research before his stroke to do a quick study for us. It is a project close to my heart, I would have been there normally. Now, I want you to go. Just two groups, with young boys and girls. Make observations, take notes. It will be good learning for you."
Arnav knew it was impossible to convince his mom once she had made up her mind. The Galleria Project was some sort of gaming, mini amusement park for young people that AR Constructions were considering building. Dad had been dead against it, but mom had pushed through for it. Evidently they decided to let some bunch of bored teenagers who had been coerced into attending a focus group by a research agency to now settle this domestic dispute. If only they could do that for all controversial family disputes.
"The Galleria is a stupid idea. I am a young person, I would never go to some kind of weirdass amusement place to hangout."
"You are just like your dad."
As always this was the clincher for his mom on any discussion with the children. Not that there was anything wrong with his dad, but no child wanted to just be like their parent. Certainly not Arnav. Defeated he picked up the address and contact details of the researcher in charge that mom had scribbled on a notepad and groaned inwardly when he saw the address was one of those seedy, smelly hotels at Chanakyapuri.
When he reached the venue, he saw that people had already gathered. The flustered researcher. Tulika Kumar from Taylor Research who was probably very new to the job almost did a a curtsy to Arnav when he arrived. Only when she realised that he was someone younger than her did she manage to form a coherent sentence together. Good thing mom is not here, Arnav thought, else this girl would have quit her job by tonight.
"Mr Raizada.. Sir.. Arnav, you can sit in the other room and you will be able to watch the group through the one-way-mirror. Our moderator is expected any time."
Arnav picked up the chunky laptop that mom had given him and was about to walk into the viewing room when he heard Tulika say, "Yaar Khushi, group bas shuru hi hone wallah hai. Thad gold hi aa jaati."
Great. She was here too.
**
Khushi. Was it even possible for him to escape her? No. Did he truly want to escape her? Yes. No. Maybe.
He watched via the one-way mirror as she chatted up with the teenagers about the proposed Galleria. Of course, he could only see the back of her head as she tried to get the boys to open up beyond their monosyllabic responses. It was fascinating in some ways, that this girl who would all but run away each time she spotted him and generally be the nervous, jumpy sort was actually good at drawing these bunch of strangers to talk to her. It was like suddenly she had this whole, new personality, a friendly and affable sort. One of the geeky looking boys, was staring at her with worshipful eyes, he noticed with some amusement.
When Baig Sir had first said that they were going to have a new enrolment at New-Ons, a girl who was a very talented runner, he hadn't thought much about it. Of course, Lavanya turned a little obsessive about it and kept wondering about this new girl through most of their summer break. Baig Sir would make all of them come to the school grounds even during the break for training sessions.
"Do you think this new girl is going to be actually good?" Lavanya often wondered out loud during their training sessions.
Arnav sensed that Lavanya was kind of anxious that someone would take her spot. He was not very good friends with Lavanya, but he had sensed that sports were very important to her and she took it seriously, obsessive almost. He had expected some rivalry between the pair, but was surprised that she befriended Khushi right away. When Khushi came into New-Ons, she looked terrified. She had the deer-in-headlights look about her. On a few occasions when they would meet at the gym during their joint training sessions, she would not even engage in any eye-contact with him. Normally, Arnav was the one used to ignoring people, so this role-reversal was weird for him. His friends also did not seem to care for Khushi. Payal, who did not like people in general, believed that Khushi had a superiority complex about her inferiority complex'. Divyesh thought that Khushi used her bechari-card to get attention from teachers and classmates alike. Others expressed thoughts pretty much along these lines. The only person among his friends who liked Khushi was, Aman. But that was only after the fall-out of the November 2002 Aman Episode in which he had made an attempt to take his life.
Among all his friends, Aman was the closest and he knew that he was having a difficult time at home. But he had not expected it would come to this. He had blamed himself in some ways, for he had not alerted Aman's parents on what was going with him. The signs were there. Perhaps it was his own guilt that led him to suggest that Khushi was somehow to blame for this. His relationship with Khushi which was always fragile, soured even more after this. Yes, he was to blame, but some of it was Khushi's fault too. He could still recall that one time when Khushi refused to come into his house because they would be alone. He understood that she was conservative and her discomfort, but he was just sixteen then and remembered being gravely hurt by her lack of trust. And it wasn't as if she was this way with every male. She was very friendly with Karthik, constantly giggling at his awful jokes. She spent a lot of time with Aakash, discussing maths problems and weird shared interests they had. Even with Aman, who gave her a tough time, Khushi was comfortable enough to not behave like a Victorian-Era woman. All her lack of trust, was only targeted at him.
And here she was chattering away with teenagers, who were now all talking to her eating out of hands. Of course, mom's Galleria idea was being trashed by them. Good thing mom was not here to watch the groups. For one, she would have freaked out seeing Khushi. And then to add insult to her injury this dissing by the focus group participants would have upset her.
But Khushi was really the most hardworking girl he had known. She studied, she trained hard, she held multiple jobs. Evidently her mother had ensured that she was no longer employed with AR Enterprises and she had found something else. He felt a begrudging respect for her. Tulika interrupted his thoughts asking if he had any more questions for the group. Arnav shook his head and she went to the room and asked Khushi to wind up the group. Arnav watched as Khushi thanked the boys and they began walking out. She then picked up the concept cards and her notepad, putting them into the bag. She had lost weight, he noticed. Perhaps, she was spreading herself too thin or maybe his family was somehow responsible for her stress. He watched as Khushi adjusted her blue dupatta, to ensure that they fell at equal length on both sides. She picked up her bag and looked at herself in the mirror, tucking an errant strand of hair that had escaped her braid. She stood there for a few seconds, just looking. That was probably the first time that Khushi had directly looked into his eyes. He realised that Khushi had hazel coloured eyes. And they were beautiful. Sad, but beautiful.
**
The Werner Deal finally went through and dad had now made a complete recovery sans some trouble with his right hand movement. The doctors had recommended he take on some kind of sport to help him. His sports-averse father had groaned at this, of course. Life was back to relative normalcy. He was back in college, Another couple of weeks and there would be study holidays before his university exams. Di was back to her newest business idea, which was to photograph random things and hope that people would pay money for it. Mom who was now way too busy looking after the business, and therefore did not have time to criticise Di's career choices. The only change was that now Dad was home all the time and mom was out of home much more than before. So when he returned home from college that day he was not surprised to see dad in conversation with Aakash. Arnav nodded at Aakash and asked his father how he was feeling. His dad shrugged his shoulders and Arnav was about to go to his room when his father called out to him.
"Arnav, come here for a second, will you?"
Arnav wondered what was up. His dad looked at him somewhat conspirationally.
"What is it, dad?"
"That girl in the office, I want to meet her."
Arnav knew who the girl in the office was, but what he did not understand was why his dad wanted to meet her. And why would he ask him about her, when Aakash was clearly the goto person for said girl. The girl in the office was very unlikely to meet his father if the invitation went out from him. But of course, he did not say any of this to his father.
"Why do you want to meet her?"
"It is common courtesy, isn't it? The doctor told me that even if there had been a five-minute delay in the treatment given to me, I might have been paralysed. Invite that girl and her parents for dinner."
Maybe the surgery had indeed made some dent in his brain, he thought, that is the only explanation of why his dad was feeling altogether too social. In fact, if mom were to get a wind of it she would probably have a stroke too. Mom did not feel the same way about the girl in the office. He would not be surprised, if she actually blamed her for dad's condition.
"How could she just go to the executive floor like that? And why did she bring Pa to Safdarjung Hospital of all places," his mother had said critically as they waited outside the operation theatre of the hospital of the masses while dad underwent surgery. Arnav was ashamed that he did not tell his mom anything then and it was Anjali Di who shut her up saying, "The girl may have just saved his life, mom, this was the closest hospital. Don't be so bitchy." His mom, normally not emotional had burst into tears at that moment and Seema Bua took her away to console her. No, mom would not approve of entertaining the Guptas. He could see how this was going to soon turn into another of mom and dad's battles and he was not sure he wanted to take sides. Mom was still seething with anger on his presentation to the AR Board that they drop the Galleria idea which was rejected by the focus groups.
"Dad?" was her one-word question after the board dispersed. She did not even wait for his eye-roll and groan. No, he was not going to get involved this time.
**
"Di, if you start clicking pictures of random shops at Chandni Chowk, I am going to leave you here. You won't have a ride back home."
"Oh C'mon, Chotey! I am not going to come to the beautiful Chandni Chowk and not click a photo or five hundred. I am just minding my business and shooting people. You go meet your friend, I will meet you here," Di said, pointing to a shop they were next to and reading the sign that said - Ghantewala Confectioners, Since 1790. She got off and disappeared into the ocean of humanity that was Chandni Chowk. Arnav wondered what was the point of coming with Di if she was not going to accompany him to Khushi's house. His dad had brought up calling Khushi to their home again. Even Dad had realised that it would be difficult to convince mom about this and so the dinner invitation was now changed to a tea invitation and this would not require Poonam Raizada's presence. Arnav tried to wriggle out of it and suggested that Aakash go with the invitation to Khushi, but dad would not hear any of it.
"She helped your father, you must go personally and invite her family."
Perhaps he had been taken in by the brief moment of fatherly territorialness and so he agreed. And so here he was, his car parked away at the first available spot and him searching for Gupta Maithai. He found it finally, the signage was so dilapidated, and the shop so small that he almost missed it. He did not expect to meet Khushi at the shop itself, but he was told that the house was right behind the shop. But there she was, giggling and pushing a man away, whom he presumed was her father. She was standing on top of a stool, to reach the jalebis that were being made.
The man told her, "Champion! Main kar loonga. Tu jaakar padh."
"Nahin, Baba! Main karti hoon, aap rest karo thodi der," she said to him.
This Khushi was different from the scared one in New-Ons, or the indifferent one in Alchemy. She was almost carefree and friendly, based on the banter she was sharing with the next door Kachori shop owner. A woman walked in just then and threw a stern look the way of both Khushi and her father, because they suddenly exchanged knowing looks and quietened down. When the woman, whom he presumed was Khushi's mom went back inside the father and daughter pair giggled. Arnav felt like an intruder in that moment, like he was privy to some deeply personal family moment. He walked closer to Khushi, but he didn't want to surprise her, lest she fell into the hot oil due to the shock. So he waited patiently until she would notice him. It took about four minutes for Khushi to complete all the jalebis and when she stepped down from the stool after turning off the stove, she spotted him.
"Arnav!"
"Hi, Khushi. I am sorry to come unannounced."
"Is anything wrong.. is everything okay?"
She was now back to her totally frazzled nervous, bambi eyed look. It was clearly not her, but him who inspired this.
"Is.. your baba.. father okay?"
She licked her lips nervously as she said this. Wait a second, did she blame herself for his father's stroke. Is that why she had almost bolted out of the library in college when he had finally spotted her last week.
"Wow, Khushi. Relax. Why are you so nervous? It is like you did something to make my dad have a stroke. You did, didn't you?"
"No, no. I promise. I did nothing. I did nothing. It was not my fault. I shouldn't have gone to the eight floor. I don't know what I was thinking. I wasn't thinking.."
Khushi rambled on, by now almost in tears. Great, what he done now. He had made her being responsible for his dad's condition as a joke and now it had gone horribly wrong. It was his fault, this was no matter to joke about. And certainly not to Khushi, who was not even his friend to joke around like this with. He really was an idiot. He should have forced Di to come along with him. This kind of situation was right up her alley.
He noticed that Kachori neighbour and a couple of his customers were looking at them curiously by now. Khushi was still sobbing, not violently, but by making herself smaller, her palms on her face. Arnav pulled Khushi with his one arm and nestled her head under his chin. He patted her head, making what he thought were comforting shushing noises. He was almost prepared for Khushi to tackle him and punch him on his face or something, but she did not fight him. Her body relaxed and she seemed to stop crying, even while blowing her nose on his sweater. By now Khushi's parents had come out and were looking at him, thankfully only curiously and not menacingly. He guided Khushi inside, away from the curious onlookers into their shop. He still had his arm around her and only when he noticed that Khushi's parents look that they had threw at him had changed from mild curiosity to an urgent question, "who the f**k are you and why do you have your arms around our daughter" he let go off her. An embarrassed and rather moody looking Khushi, picked up a towel, wiped her face and determinedly looked at the floor.
"Sir, main Arnav Singh Raizada hoon. Khushi ka dost, college mein aur New-Ons.. New Horizons mein bhi saath pade."
"Acha tum ho, Raizada," Khushi's father said.
Arnav was not sure what this statement meant. Was it a matter of fact observation. Had Khushi told her parents about him in uncomplimentary terms. Of course, she had.
"Ji," he replied.
"Tumhaare Baba kaise hai. Tabeeyat theekh hai unki," Khushi's mom asked.
"Ji. Poori tarah theekh ho gaye hain. Actually, main isliye aaya hoon. Mere father Khushi aur aap se milna chahte hai. Agar agle Thursday aap humaare ghar chai peene aye toh unko acha lagega."
Without even looking at Khushi he knew that she was startled and was now looking at him. Khushi's parents exchanged a glance and Arnav sensed that they were having some kind of a telepathic conversation.
"Hum se milline chahte hain. Koyi problem ho gaya hai kya," Khushi's father asked. Like daughter, like father, Arnav thought.
"Nahin, Khushi ko thank you bolne ke liye. Agar woh time par ambulance na bulati aur hospital nahi pahunchati toh shayad unki tabeeyat poori tarah theek nahi hoti," Arnav said, now looking at Khushi as he said this. He wanted Khushi to understand that he was not some kind of monster hell-bent on making her life tough.
"Hum toh nahin aayenge, Champ.. Khushi aa jayegi. Humaara good wishes apne Baba ko de dena," Khushi's father said.
"Lekin Baba.. main kyun.." Khushi began, but her father put his hand out, stopping her from continuing. Arnav was amused. Khushi was not going to be able to wriggle out of this as her father had made up his mind already. He already liked Khushi's father, there was something straightforward and charming about him. In fact, his dad and Mr Gupta would actually get along fine. He was startled by this thought, of how he imagined his father and Mr Gupta in a social setting. Khushi's mother placed a cup of chai, Khushi's jalebis and pyaaz kachoris from next-door. After this, Khushi's father went back to attend some customers and her mother disappeared into the door behind, probably where there kitchen was. Khushi stood on the corner, staring at him. He could see that she was trying to think of some subject for them to discuss. He decided that awkward conversation was not worth it and the gave the kachoris and jalebis his entire attention. Both of it were excellent.
"The jalebis you made were the best I have had," he told her on his way out. In response he got the toothiest smile from her.
Later that night he had a surprise nocturnal visit from his cousin, Aakash. Arnav was studying till late, evidently as was Aakash.
"You needed something."
"No. I heard you met Khushi today."
So, the hotline between Chandni Chowk and Greater Kailash was going strong. He found this amusing and also a little disconcerting that Khushi discussed him with Aakash.
"Khushi told you, eh?"
"No, no. Anjali Di was telling me that you guys would be going as Chote Papa wanted to meet her."
Ah, of course, his sister, he should have guessed.
"Yeah, she has accepted the invitation. Her dad didn't give her a choice actually."
"Ah, okay."
Anjali Di was spending the night at a friend's and Aakash had little choice but to turn to him for information. Did his cousin have a romantic interest in Khushi, he wondered. Did Khushi like Aakash too. Payal had said that she had spotted the two of them a couple of times hanging with each other. Not that he cared if there was anything going on between them.
**
A few days after he had gone to Chandni Chowk, he ran into Khushi at the Alchemy College corridor. He had just finished his class and Khushi was waiting for him.
"Arnav, I needed to talk to you about something.. about the triathlon," she added as his Economics classmates looked at Khushi curiously.
He nodded and they walked towards one of the many benches that the college had, usually used only by the pigeons.
"What is it, Khushi?"
He had a hunch that this was nothing about the triathlon. There next event was only in August, so it made no sense that they would be discussing that now.
"The other day.. when you came to my home..I am sorry that I.. became silly and started crying."
Of all the things, that was not what he expected her to say. She was a strange girl, but kind of sweet even, but in s strange way.
"That is okay, Khushi. It was my fault. I shouldn't have joked to you about you being responsible for my dad's condition. I have forgotten about it."
"Oh."
Her oh made him realise that this was not quite what she was looking for. Something else was bothering her. And then it dawned on him, Khushi was not apologising to him for misunderstanding his joke, but she was apologising to him to have shown any vulnerability to him. She who had been mostly stoic in his presence, that evening had perhaps shown him a little weakness when she let her guard down, allowed them to have a moment, a brief moment of kinship. And Khushi wanted to take that back. To draw the battle-lines again. He picked up his books, patted her head and said, "Sab Theekh Hai" and walked away.
In that moment he also decided that he would not be home this Thursday when she would come to visit dad. Khushi and he both functioned better without each other's presence. Yes, he would let dad, Aakash and HP handle Khushi.
It would be in hindsight that he would realise that he made a grave error.
**
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