Chapter 9: Circle of Life
"Khushi, are you sure you don't mind staying in the hospital? Preeto will feel better if you are there. But my mother can come too, if you have any trouble at all."
Khushi reassured Ginny for the fifth time that she would be fine with Preeto at the hospital. Preeto's C-Section was scheduled for tomorrow, but they had brought her to the hospital a day earlier because she had complained of some discomfort. It turned out to be just exhaustion, but since she had a long commute back to her home, the hospital admitted her a day ahead. Ginny had some last minute work-related stuff to finish before the arrival of his child and that would mean that Preeto would either have to stay with her mother or mother-in-law. Both the women had undergone surgeries recently and so when a frantic Preeto had called Khushi on Renu bhabhi's phone while on her way to the hospital, Khushi had volunteered to be in the hospital with her.
There had been too much that had happened in the last few days and honestly she needed some distraction. And a thirty-nine-week pregnant woman might just be it. She could also see how Ginny had rather understandably a nervous energy about him, as he hovered around Preeto trying to adjust her bed and fluff her pillows for her. Preeto seemed to be in a particularly sullen mood, clearly the pregnancy had exhausted her beyond all measure and Ginny was all but dangerously tiptoeing on her last nerve. Khushi almost had to physically push Ginny away to make him leave the hospital. He handed over a phone to Khushi.
"Yeh mera extra phone hain. Since you don't have yours, you can use this to call me if there is any emergency. Maine mera number input kiya hua hai."
She accepted the phone with her left hand for her right palm was still bandaged and walked towards Preeto's deluxe hospital room, which at twelve thousand rupees a day was overpriced for the tiny television that hung way too high. The nurse informed her that this was done because oftentimes patients stole television sets if they were placed within easy reach.
"Has Ginny left? Or is he still hovering around?"
"We thought you were sleeping. He just left. Don't be so hard on him. He is stressed."
"Why is he stressed? Typical man. I am the one who is pregnant and have to walk around like a bloated balloon. He is just going to enjoy the baby, while I take care of it."
"Hmm."
"Don't hmm me Khushi. As my friend, you are duty-bound to take my side."
"Okay. Now sleep. I will be here if you need anything."
"God Khushi! I can't sleep. I am too stressed. Too excited. If I wanted to sleep I would have made my mom or my saasumaa stay. You need to entertain me."
"Acha. How can I? Mujh se jo ho payega, karoongi main. Anyway, since you are awake, you better have some juice."
Khushi picked one of the glasses on the side table and poured a glass of mosambi juice to Preeto. She handed the glass to a reluctant Preeto, complete with pursed lips, someone seemed to be in a mood to throw a fit for everything. But ever since Khushi had met Aarav, she knew how to handle hostile and prone to tantrum children, or adults masquerading as children. Tough love was the key. And eventually she did win as a rather sullen Preeto gulped down the juice.
"You have an evil streak, Khushi. Acha bata, yeh haath mein kya hua?"
"An accident."
"As in? What happened? When did this happen? Why didn't you tell me? Are you okay?"
She could see her friend get agitated, as she almost got ready to get off the bed and investigate Khushi's hand. That was Preeto, behind her usually flippant comments, there was always concern for her friends. And she was forever grateful for that.
"Burnt my hand while making jalebis."
"Really? You are so careful normally. Jeeju ke khayalon mein thi kya?"
"Preeto!"
"What? Acha phone ka kya hua? Ginny aur maine kitna try kiya tha pata hai? Did you lose it? Please say, yes."
Preeto had a penchant for losing phones and Khushi had on a number of occasions chastised her friend for not being careful enough. So, it was no surprise that she was rooting for a role reversal where it was Khushi who had been the one who had been less than careful. And things had turned out exactly like that.
"You remember Aman Sabharwal?"
"Kaun Suicide Boy? Did he also accidentally show up at Tewari and Sons?"
"Well, first of all don't call him Suicide Boy. And yes, he showed up at the shop on New Year's Day."
"What? I mean, what?"
"I was also surprised. Shocked actually. Ussi samay phone jalebi talne walle tel mein gir gaya. And the oil splashed, so I covered my face with my hand, phir haath hi jal gaya."
"Are you making this up? Of course, you are not. Your life is so exciting. Phir kya hua?"
"We had to throw away all the oil and start again. Faisal Bhaii was mad at me. He was right though, I don't know how can anyone be that clumsy."
"Khushi, I am hundred weeks pregnant. You had better not mess with me and tell me every little detail. What does Suicide.. sorry Aman want? Have you been in touch with him for all these years? Tell me."
What could Khushi tell Preeto? After all, it was just another meeting with yet another former classmate of hers. There was awkwardness, understandably so. But there was also a certain unresolvedness about the encounter. She had since running into Arnav, been prepared for running into Aman too one of these days. After all, he was the only one among the people from her past life that she had not met in the last few months. But Arnav never once brought up the subject of Aman in the meetings that they had. Which was probably because her encounters with Arnav barely treaded on civility. But if Aman was anything like the person that she had known him, she expected him to show up, at least as a joke. So she was not entirely surprised when he did show up at Tewari & Sons, leading to an encounter that was awkward, embarrassing and caused damage to self and property.
"Khushi, you crazy woman, be careful. What are you doing?"
He had pulled her off the little stool that she had to stand over to reach the frying pan to make the jalebis. Faisal Bhaii was horrified that Khushi might have burnt her face. And had been rather relieved when she had informed him that her face was unscathed, it was her hands that had borne the brunt of the splashing oil. She had been a little annoyed with Faisal Bhaii's inherent shallowness and sexism at that moment, in that he believed a woman's face was her most important quality. But once she comprehended the sting of the burn, she had forgotten everything else. Including the fact that the boy whose suicide attempt she was possibly responsible for, with whom she wanted to have nothing to do with, scooped her into his arms, deposited her on the back seat of his car and drove her to a hospital in Connaught Place where his aunt worked. Faisal Bhaii, Kachori Walle Raghu Yadav and assorted shop-owners of the neighbourhood gave Aman the permission to whisk Khushi away. She didn't need saving from any of the New-Ons bunch she thought sullenly as she sat on the backseat of a plush car, but the truth was that she was in so much pain at that point, she gave in. They didn't speak all the way to the hospital. Once they got to the hospital, Khushi saw the size of it and immediately recoiled. Her accident seemed too minor for a hospital that looked like a five-star hotel. As was her nature, she immediately made a mental calculation about how much this would set her back by. Aman seemed to know his way around and they were led into a room which had a doctor named Priya Khanna, who was Aman's Bua. Dr Bua was efficient and got to work immediately. She also asked her a few probing questions on how it happened. Essentially she was trying to understand if she Khushi was a victim of bahu-atyachaar.
"Nahin, Madam.. Bua.. Doctor Priya.. aisa kuch bhi nahi hai. Main toh single hi hoon. Mithai banate waqt jal gaya."
"Arrey wah Khushi, you are single. Good thing we have that cleared up right away," Aman had said winking at her, while Khushi was sure her face had turned a shade of tomato. Thankfully, Dr Bua pushed Aman out of the room and did Khushi's dressing and wrote her a prescription.
"Doctor, should I pay the fees here?"
"No. It is fine."
"But.."
"Kabhi Chandni Chowk aaon toh mithai khila dena."
As Aman and Khushi walked back to the car, several of the hospital staff said hello to Aman and he chatted with them for a while.
"Wow! Everyone here knows you? Do you come here often?"
"I was admitted here for three weeks after my suicide attempt, so yeah and lot of the people know me and are understandably curious about me."
"Oh.. I didn't.. I.. am.. sorry. I mean, I didn't mean to pry."
"There is no need for you to be sorry. In fact, I came to meet you for a specific purpose. I didn't want you to injure yourself and fry your phone. So I am the one who should say sorry."
"Oh. Why did you want to see me? Kuch problem hai kya?"
"Seriously, Khushi, relax, you are getting a bit too worked up today. I wanted to sit down and have a proper conversation with you, but we might as well sit here and talk."
He had led Khushi to the hospital cafeteria, which served those machine coffees in paper cups. She had wondered then, what could Aman want to talk to her about after all these years. Her mind was on an overdrive by then, thinking of the worst possible scenarios. So when he finally spoke, it was unexpected.
"I am sorry, Khushi. I know that things got difficult for you at New-Ons because I did something enormously stupid. I should have said sorry then itself, I even tried emailing you, but you are so difficult to get through to even in person, I knew email would be pointless."
She had not expected an apology from him. She didn't want these apologies from all these men. She had no use for them. She did not even blame them. Or did she? But she had been unable to understand why Aman would want to apologise to her.
"You don't need to say sorry to me. It was only natural for everyone to assume I was somehow responsible for your..we spent so much time together that year. And I was the last person you spoke to before.. so, just forget it, okay?"
"No, it was my fault that you got blamed, Khushi. I mean, it was I who told Arnav.. suggested that you were responsible. I was too much of a coward to tell the truth and it was easy to blame you."
She had not known how to react at this stage. Honestly it was a cruel thing to do to a fourteen-year-old who was anyway such a misfit. It was too much of a burden for her to carry at that stage. And yet, in that moment, she found that did not begrudge him. They were both misfits, in different ways. She was fortunate to have a loving family and her love for sports that kept her going, she could only imagine how crushing everything must have been for a teenager, to have taken the drastic step he had.
"It is all in the past, Aman. You are alive and I am okay too. So, no harm done. Just.. don't do anything.. stupid again."
"That is what my mom told me, when I told her I was going back to India."
"Listen to her."
"Okay, Dhannovantri Devi Mata."
Somehow when Aman said Mata, it didn't seem like a slight. He insisted on driving her back home and Khushi was too exhausted by then to protest. He was back to his cheerful self after the brief seriousness. He was ribbing her about her Dhannoness.
"Will you sit in the front, or would you rather sit in the back," Aman asked her as they got to his car.
"You are not my chauffeur, I will sit in the front. What a bizarre thing to ask."
"Oh okay. You are so chuyimuyi. Arnav told me that once you refused to come inside his house because his parents were not home and you did not trust him one bit."
"I am not chuyimuyi," she had said. Somehow his suggestion that she was one of those coy girls, with excessive feminine wiles was annoying and insulting to her. She had always wanted to be the opposite. Maybe she was a conservative girl, but that was it. But on the commute back, Khushi was consumed by nostalgia and wondered if it was that incident that was somehow the start of her rather uncomfortable relationship with Arnav. Sometimes, when you looked at the same incident from another person's point of view, everything changes. Perhaps she too should have behaved differently with Arnav.
"So? Did he buy you a new phone at least?" Preeto asked her finally.
Trust Preeto to narrow in to the most important issue at hand. Unfortunately, her phone died almost immediately and she had not got around to buying a new phone yet because January saw a lot of new orders at Tewari & Sons that they were low on funds until the payments came in after completing the order. She would have to wait till the end of the month when she got her salary from Joseph's.
"Nahin. February mein khareed loongi."
"Itne saare ameer ladke tumhaare aage peeche ghoomte rehte hain, lekin ek ka bhi koyi fayda nahin."
"Shall I get you some more juice?"
It was going to be a long twenty-four hours with this patient, she thought. Dear soon-to-be-born child, you have no clue what a formidable mother you are going to have.
**
"Arnav, why are you missing the meeting with Marc again? The show is less than two weeks away. This is not like you at all, my dear control freak cousin. What is going on?"
NK was looking at him with a serious expression of scrutiny. While it was true that his cousin was prone to oftentimes unnecessary theatrics, he could see why him getting out of a meeting with their fashion show coordinator would draw suspicion from NK. After all, NK was right, he was very involved in the business and was hands-on, a quality that NK had chosen to label as control freak. He trusted NK, but he also made sure that any significant meetings would have his presence too. But today he was attempting to solve another trouble, that had no connection with Raizada Designs.
"You should be good on your own. Just don't let Marc convince you that the greatest hits of Honey Singh will be appropriate ramp music. Everything else I trust you with. I have a meeting with Roy, so as you can imagine that is important."
"Ooh, the fascinatingly mysterious Mr Roy! Is it true that he manages all the illegal stash of Raizada wealth by circulating them across multiple Swiss Bank accounts?"
"What? How do you even come up with stuff like that?"
"Almost all the conspiracy theories of the Raizada family originate from only one person, Jun Jeeju."
"Of course, but who else. He needs to take a break from these conspiracy theories. Mr Roy is a legal expert and we don't have money stashed away in Swiss Bank Accounts. Really."
"Fine. You enjoy your meeting. I will let you know if we finalise on Honey Singh or Mika. Later."
Once his cousin left, Arnav decided to finish the costing that he was working on. He had been at it since morning and honestly it was just not his day as he had made very little headway until now. It would be right to say that he he had been distracted, in fact he had been distracted for a while now. NK's words seemed kind of prophetic now, when he had said that the person you spend new year's eve with would be the one you would spend much of the new year with. Not that he had met or spoken to Khushi since their midnight chai encounter from more than a week ago. But he had spent a lot of time thinking about her, ever since his dad brought her up during their private talk.
Among all the possible subjects that he expected his dad to talk to him about, this was the farthest one from his mind. But when his dad said that Shivam Uncle had learnt that Khushi's little shop might be in trouble, thanks to his to-be father-in-law he almost began laughing. Of all the tiny shops in all of Delhi, in all of the sprawling Chandni Chowk, it had to be her.
"Why doesn't Shivam Uncle say anything to Aakash. He is Khushi's closest friend," he had told his Dad.
But his dad was vague about it. From what he could gather, Shivam Uncle wanted to keep Aakash away from any possible Khushi mess. Did this come out of his need to protect Aakash or Khushi, or both, he could not tell. Also, since it was Payal's father, this had somehow become his responsibility to fix. Arnav did not like to interfere in the affairs of other people's lives. But this time he knew that he was not going to walk away. He would not.
Ajay, the Office Boy rang in to tell him that Mr Roy had arrived and Arnav picked up his laptop and walked into the conference room. He could see why Jeeju and NK were fascinated by Mr Roy and saw him as a sketchy character of sorts. His whole manner was like that. His movements and speech was always studied and he did walk around with an air of mystery about him. Arnav had gotten in touch with Roy soon after he spoke to his dad, to see what legal recourse was available to Khushi at this point. The good thing about Roy was that he was both discreet and very thorough. Within two days he had responded with a thorough assessment of Khushi's troubles, complete with maps and charts. It seemed that Khushi had a ton of trouble with Tewari & Sons. For one, there was some litigation trouble from one gentleman named Avtaar Tewari, who claimed to the be the heir of Tewari & Sons. He had only surfaced after AnandRams came into the equation and there was possibility of a small fortune that could be gained. Else, Tewari & Sons had been seeing red for a while now and business was not particularly good. There were seven other shops that had refused to sell to AnandRams, and fascinatingly Tewari & Sons was located in the absolute middle of this. So even if all the others sold, but Khushi did not, AnandRams would not be able to go ahead with the project. Khushi owned a few square-foot, almost insignificant, but could still call the shots if she held on. However, as Roy had pointed out, Khushi's resistance while admirable also made her very vulnerable. If every other shop sold-out, there would be immense pressure and possibly coercion on Khushi. Things could get very ugly for her. As a first step, they needed to get Avtaar Tewari out of the equation. And Roy had found some work around it.
"Arnav, getting this Avtaar out of the equation should be easy. All we need is bring Mahesh Tewari's wife to court and depose before a magistrate. And issue a certificate that says Khushi is her legal heir. There seems to be an absconding brother too, I understand. We have to make sure he doesn't resurface either. So an affidavit from the family that all attempts have been made to recover him should be drafted. That is all required. If you get the go ahead from the family, I can get one of the law clerks to get a date. It will barely be half a day of work."
"Oh. Is there anyway to go about this without bringing the mother in? I don't think they want to reopen the scandal.. I think."
"Yes, that is what I learn too. But honestly, Arnav, they just need to deal with it and be done with this. Isn't that girl your friend, just speak with her."
Were they friends? He reckoned not. In fact, he was convinced that he could not get directly involved. He did not want Samir Singh or his mother to get into the equation. And his involvement could open those floodgates. The help had to be anonymously offered, using someone's help. And he knew the right person for this job.
"Arnav, I am talking to the other shop owners too. I will meet you again in the next couple of days. I would suggest that you advice her to let go off this shop and secure her peace of mind. She will be absolutely powerless once AnandRams do some serious flexing of their muscle. The law can be helpful, but lets face it, the law too favours the rich."
"That is a tad too cynical Roy Matthew. But I will see what I can do."
Of course, he had no intention of speaking with Khushi. Certainly no intention of advising her. That was absolutely not what their equation was like. He could imagine her clamming up if he were to even broach the subject. She was not the type to accept charity, certainly not from people like him. There must be a reason why Aakash had so far not offered to fix Khushi's life after all. If Aakash, her closest friend could not help her, how could he? In fact he had sent her a text about Baig Sir the other day, after he went to look him up after the surgery. It had been nine days now and she had not even responded to that. He did not grudge her for that. But he could take a hint. Even if he felt a gnawing hurt somewhere deep down.
**
"Don't you think it has been too long already. Do you think there has been some problem?" a rather excited and nervous Ginny asked her, pausing just very briefly from pacing up and down the hospital ward.
Khushi shook her head in the negative. It had not been too long. Preeto had been wheeled out no more than fifteen minutes ago. In fact, they must still be doing the prep for the c-section. But Ginny was hyperventilating. Ginny and Preeto's mothers seemed to be praying, while their husbands looked at their wives with a mix of disapproval and indulgence. Ginny's younger brother Noddy, that she was not sure what was short for what, was playing with his phone and looked positively disinterested in the proceedings.
"Do you think there has been some complication? She has been so exhausted lately. I read on the Internet, it is not normal. I should have brought her to see the doctor last week itself"
Ginny was such a glass half-full person and his prophecies of doom, even got Khushi down for a while, so she anxiously watched the door to the doctor's area open and be given the news. And just after Ginny had chewed all his finger-nails, the smiling doctor emerged and announced that it was a girl, weighing three kilos and that both mother and daughter were in good health.
The family rushed to meet the mother and the new arrival, not wishing to intrude on their private moment of happiness, Khushi lingered outside. Almost two hours later, she went to meet a rather exhausted Preeto and her baby. Ginny was holding the little one, staring at the life that had been created wondrously. In that moment, seeing them together, all so happy, Khushi felt a pang.. of something akin to jealousy. A tiny resentment about how normal and idyllic their life seemed. But once a reluctant ginny handed over the baby to her, that feeling passed. She looked at that immensely tiny creature, eyes closed, breathing rather rapidly and with a tag around her wrist that said Preeto with a smile.
"Do you have a name for her?"
"Ginny thinks we should name her Lehar. Remember when we were in college we had discussed how when you have a daughter you should name her Lehar, then we could call her Khushi ki Lehar."
"Dilli bahut door hai. Lehar is perfect for her. Jaa, tujhe permission de diya use karne ke liye."
"Thanks, Khushi. I am glad you were here. Hope Ginny and the mothers didn't drive you crazy."
"No, they didn't. Chal ab aaram kar, main nikalti hoon. Tomorrow I have to go to court and deal with Avtaar Tewari."
"Good luck. And Khushi, Dilli utna bhi door nahi hain."
She put little Lehar on her crib, kissed Preeto on her forehead and left. The last two days had been good distraction, but now it was time to go back to her life and her problems.
**
Arnav was waiting outside his sister's apartment in Vasant Kunj. Why did Anjali Di ask him to come to her house urgently and not be around. He called her, but her phone seemed to be switched off. This was all very strange. He wondered if he should call Jeeju and check. But he didn't want to alarm him. Plus, Di had called to talk to him about something in the middle of a workday. It must be something important. He was about to try her number again, when he saw Di pull up her car and get off it.
"Di I am here," he called out to her, she looked up and smiled at him, gesturing him to wait.
He was somewhat relieved seeing this. Clearly there was nothing that was cause for any alarm as he had imagined. Probably Di had invited him because Jeeju must have had yet another fantastic conspiracy theory involving the Raizadas. It took Di a considerable amount of time to climb up the stairs to her apartment. She had a lot of bags and Arnav helped her with them, while she looked for the keys.
"Why do you have so many bags?"
"I had given my students a buttload of assignments over the winter break, so I have brought them all home to correct them. It is a long weekend for me."
"Seriously, I thought you would be more of a chill and fun prof and not the kind who will ruin breaks with assignments."
"Tough love. They will thank me for it."
"We will see about that when you get your ratings from your students. So what was the big rush to call me, I was kind of worried."
After dumping the bags on the living room diwaan, he straight away walked into Di's kitchen, which was as always well-stocked. That was one of the many things that he loved about his sister. There was always plenty of food and heart, and possibly nothing else at all. In fact, his Dad always said that Di was very much a progeny of his paternal grandfather, Kartikeya Raizada, a generous man. Apparently random people on the street would walk into his home at Aligarh and Dada and Dadi would serve them hot, lovingly prepared, home-cooked meals. He on the other hand was apparently more like his maternal grandfather, who was a bit of an eccentric and unfriendly genius. Oh well.
"Di, what is this? Can I have it?" Arnav asked, pulling out a pink Tupperware which seemed to have some kind of curry.
"Oh that is Aloor Dum. There are some rotis in the foil. I will freshen up and come. Heat some for me too."
"You mean aloo dum."
"No. Aloor dum, the Bengali version. Jun will be pissed off if he hears that you appropriated this from his people."
"Oh whatever. Come soon."
As the siblings sat down and broke bread together, Arnav had to concede that this was in fact some excellent aloor dum. But he was not going to tell Di that and give her the satisfaction of scoring parochial points.
"So, what is the very important thing that you needed to discuss?"
"What do you think of babies? Children that is?"
"I have never thought about them. They are a necessity, I suppose. For civilisation. I wouldn't want to be around children when I am in a restaurant or inside an aircraft though."
"Chotey! What kind of answer is that?"
"Can't say that your question was anything special either. What are you getting at Di?"
"Okay, lets try this again. What do you think about the idea of nieces and nephews?"
"Oh! Di, that is.. is it what you want.. that is great news. Of course, nieces and nephews would be great. Mom and Dad are going to be thrilled."
He abandoned his Aloor Dum, to give his Di a hug and was surprised when his normally demonstrative Di pushed him away.
"I am not pregnant, Chotey."
"Oh. Well, if you are planning to start a family, that is great too."
"No. Jun and I.. got some tests done and the chances of me conceiving a baby are limited. We have been discussing and have decided to adopt. Jun's parents are thrilled, but I can only imagine mom and dad will just be the opposite.. but.."
"Di, that is wonderful. And dad will love your child, no matter what. Mom will learn too."
"Arnav, I think you are the only person in the entire world who sees some kind of hidden empathy in mom. I think it is sweet, but you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Repeatedly."
"Hmm. You might well be right, Di. But this is your life, you don't need validation from me, or mom, or anyone. Adopting is such a personal decision. I don't think any of us even has the right to say anything. You have my complete support."
"Thank you, lil brother. You know, I was telling Jun the other day, when you were a teen, I used to hate you. I never thought you would grow up to be someone I would be sharing leftover aloor dum that I made."
"Di, stop these straight-faced lies. Even I know that you have an excellent cook who is responsible for this."
"You really need to stop hanging-out with Payal. She has turned you into a wet-blanket."
"So have you picked an adoption agency? And boy or girl preference?" he asked ignoring his sister's obvious trolling.
"Missionaries of Charity. And of course, a girl. This country needs more amazing young women."
"Aren't there enough already?"
"True that. How is Baig Sir? Why has he not yet been discharged?"
**
Khushi looked at all the papers in front of her. These were the original shop deeds of all the stores that like her had refused to sell to AnandRams. The reasons for each were different. Raghu Yadav who owned the next-door kachori shop, was a fifth-generation entrepreneur. Almost a year ago, his son Sagar was born, who would one day takeover from him, he hoped. There was enormous pride and attachment associated with his shop. There were two others who had a similar relationship with their stores. All the others had refused to sell because the Chandni Chowk shipowners had a complex caste-based politics among them. Though they were all part of the same union, within it were the Hindu versus Muslims divide. And among the Hindus, the shops owned by Brahmins and those by the Baniyas. Anand Ram Singh and his brother Vinay Ram Singh, had found favour among the Brahmin merchants. Most of the Baniya merchants sided with another large merchant from their caste. Khushi herself, though a Brahmin by birth, did not feel any affinity with her group of people. Her shop employed a Muslim and was located in a street that was the bastion of Baniyas. She had learnt to befriend all, in much the same way that her Baba had. This made her life easy during the better times, but in tougher times like now, she was isolated. The other merchants who chose not to affiliate with AnandRams were in the same predicament as her. Except that in her case, the litigation was causing an additional burden to her. She did not know how to make it go away.
"Khushi, college se aate hi hisaab kitaab mein baith gayi ho. Khaana bhi nahin khaaya. Apna kuch toh khayal rakho," Renu Babhi chastsitsed her as she walked into the shop.
"Aap bhi toh kaam se aate hi ghar ke kaam pe lag gaye ho."
"Main office mein kaam karti hoon, tumhaari tarah bhaagam bhaag thodi karti hoon. Aur ghar mein koyi kaam nahi hai. Yeh lo chai pee lo."
Khushi accepted the chai from Bhabhi and smiled as she remembered Arnav and how he struggled to drink Renu Bhabhi's chai. She remembered that she had promised to call him if she got news about Baig Sir. She had gone to meet him two days ago, he was still in the ICU. His condition was stable, but he was still having some breathlessness if he walked or moved around. The doctors were doing some more tests, Noor Ma'm was worried. But she had lost his number and that of everyone else with the phone frying fiasco. In fact, other than Preeto, whose phone number she miraculously remembered, she had not spoken to anyone else in the last few days. Not even Aakash.
"Bua, woh phone walla aaya hai," Aarav came in and announced.
"Phone walla?" Renu Bhabhi and she had said together. And that is when she noticed that Aman Sabharwal was back. This time, she was careful and picked up the papers and put them inside her desk and carefully got up. No more shock and being clumsy, she instructed herself.
"Main chai banakar laati hoon," Renu Bhabhi said leaving the place. Renu Bhabhi was taking this whole chai-making thing way too seriously now.
"Aman. Did you need something?"
"Yes, Dhanno. Came to take petrol money?"
"What?"
"I gave you a ride from the hospital the other day, yes? So, wait a second, let me find my fuel bill."
After this Aman made a big show of trying to find this bill and Khushi stood there watching him with barely concealed impatience. It was like being back in New-Ons and him pulling some idiotic practical joke on her that made her conceal her tears until she could run to reg rest-room and sob. But she had also learnt that for every practical joker, the more you react to, the more they felt encouraged, so she did her best to stay calm for now. Fortunately, even he got bored of his prank and after a while. he pulled out something from a bag and gave it to her.
"What is this?" she said, though from the box it was clear that it was a phone. So he felt responsible for general clumsiness and wanted to correct it. She couldn't decide if she should feel offended by this or find it considerate.
"When I bought it at the shop, it was a phone. I don't know if it has turned into something else now."
"But why did you buy me a phone?"
"Because apparently that is the secret of Tewari & Sons excellent jalebis, saffron in the syrup and one phone in the oil. I thought it might be useful."
"Why do you think I haven't bought a phone yet?"
"I tried calling you a couple of times and couldn't get through. So I assumed that you had either killed yourself or not bought a phone."
She found it disconcerting how glib he was on the subject of taking life. There was nothing funny about it.
"Sorry, Khushi. Too soon? Listen I know you are Hindi film khuddar and all, but please le lena. Sasta and tikau phone I have bought you. So need for any histrionics please."
It did not seem right to her to accept the phone from him. Of course, Aakash and Preeto had bought her things, expensive things that she would normally not buy for herself. But they were her friends, it did not feel like it was charity.. or pity. And yet, there was something both volatile and vulnerable about Aman that she was unable to wrap her head around.
"Yaar, Khushi, I know you would have preferred if I bought you a scoop of Manhattan Mania. But Nirulas yahan pass main hain hi nahi. Toh issi se kaaam challa lo, please."
Khushi thought back about their last meeting at a Nirulas and was surprised that he remembered her favourite flavour of ice-cream. She decided not to read too much into his intentions and accepted his kindness. She was an independent woman, but it was sometimes nice to be at the receiving end of someone'e kindness.
"Thanks, Aman," she said and smiled at him.
"Dhanno actually smiles? Who would have thought," he had said grinning.
That is when she saw Arnav Singh Raizada walk into Tewari & Sons.
**
She watched the two man chat, rather awkwardly. Very awkwardly. Aman looked more guilty than Arnav. Khushi could not understand how these former best friends had turned into distant, polite individuals with each other. It became clear that Aman who had been in the country for weeks now, had not attempted to get in touch with anyone other than her. This was very, very surprising. It was clear that he felt alienated from the New-Ons bunch since his suicide attempt. If she were to wager a guess, it was that he did not feel worthy enough. Khushi kind of understood that. She was in Aman's place some years ago after her Alchemy fiasco. She did not want to do anything from that world of hers. If Preeto and she remained friends, it was only because Preeto worked hard on their relationship. Perhaps Arnav did not put that much effort with Aman.
And on Arnav, she was not sure why, but he seemed to be annoyed with her too somehow. Like she had done something wrong. He was looking at her with that combination of hurt and disapproval that was confusing for her. This is why she did not want to get sucked into the world of the New-On-Ites again. She could do nothing right in this world. She was always the girl, who would be judged if she were friendly and be judged if she were not. And yet, the only thing more annoying than Arnav's obvious disapproval was the fact that she Khushi wished that he did not disapprove of her.
**
Payal looked at her fiance, he seemed a little lost. They were catching up for a quick coffee. Arnav and she both had back-to-back meetings in Saaket, so they decided to catch up. She pulled out her iPad and showed him images of their wedding invite. Her dad had picked the design and it was very showy and rather ugly. But she didn't protest because she trusted Arnav to freak-out and turn it down. She would rather that Arnav play the bad-cop than her doing it.
"It is fine. As long as you like it."
Either he was really distracted or he honestly didn't care for this wedding of theirs. Though, probably a combination of both of this was true of them. She was increasingly frustrated with the direction that her relationship with Arnav was going. Even Baig Sir and Arnav had a more loving relationship than her and Arnav. And yet, she was convinced that marrying Arnav was the right decision for her. And for him too, that she hoped he will eventually come to realise.
"You seem very distracted. Is everything okay."
"I met Aman two days ago. At Khushi's shop of all places."
Payal was unsure which of these statements was more shocking. That her fiance was meting Khushi or that every New-On-Ite seemed so drawn to her. Payal did not envy people. That was not her thing. But increasingly it was becoming difficult to not be and she hated that feeling.
**
Arnav was driving back when his phone rang. He didn't recognise the number, so he didn't pull the car to the side. He had still not been able to shake off his meeting with Aman and Khushi from a couple of days ago. It hurt to think that his best friend of many years, was going around meeting everyone but him. He had been a good friend to Aman and even tried his bit to stay in touch by calling him, leaving him messages on his voicemail, even trying to look him up when he went to London on his business trips. But Aman had been steadfast in his avoidance of him, barring the occasional impersonal and uninteresting forward emails.
And then there was her. Laughing with him, accepting his gifts, being amiable and friendly. There was shared, unpleasant history between Aman and Khushi too, but none of it seemed to come in the way of their interaction. While he could get nothing more than aloof politeness out of her. And that hurt.
When his phone rang yet again, from the same unidentified number, he pulled the car to the side and picked up the phone.
"Nanav, this is Lavanya. Bad news. Baig Sir passed away fifteen minutes ago. I think the hospital botched up the surgery and there was multiple organ failure. I am actually in Bangalore today, I am returning only day after. Will try and see if I can get back tomorrow. Just thought you should know."
What a terrible turn of events, he thought. He felt the familiar feeling of guilt about the number of lost opportunities of meeting, of keeping his connection with him. But he had been so busy building his life, he had missed on that. Just like he had missed on keeping Aman in his life. Maybe Anjali Di was right, he was cold, like his mother. Like Payal. Though he had only been in sporadic touch with Baig Sir or the New-Ons bunch in the last few years, somehow this seemed like the end of an era. Like the last, tenuous connection that he had with that world had somehow snapped.
He called Divyesh, who had heard the news from Lavanya. He tried calling Khushi, but she wouldn't pick up the phone. He began driving to Baig Sir's home, where the body would be bought. He texted Khushi while driving, Khushi, call me when you see this.
His phone beeped almost immediately, I am sorry, but who is this?
**
NEXT
Edited by YellowBoots - 9 years ago
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