(Sunday)
"Why did you try to run, mad girl? Didn't you think there would be security outside?" she asked as she tended to her bruises.
"Dying feels better than being caged here..." Madhu absentmindedly answered, her physical pain much less than her mental anguish.
"I know what you mean" Roma sighed "I wish I could tell you that's not true, but it is. Still, you can't die. Why should you die? The man who sold you deserves to die. You deserve to live."
"This is life?"
"I don't know, but this is definitely real life." Roma sat next to her and took Madhu in her arms. "Be strong, child. Think about your brother. Think about a future. One day, you'd get out of here. These men...they can try to buy our body, not our soul. As long as your soul is free, you are free."
"Didn't you ever try to run, Roma di?"
"I did. Many times. Do you know how I got here? My father was sick and dying in the hospital. I had three younger siblings at home, and the doctor asked for 3 lakhs for an operation. I begged and pleaded the doctor for some time. He instead gave me a number and said here's a way to earn money. Tony gave me 4 lakhs. The first night, he sent me to a 52 year old man with a daughter my age. I was helpless. I took the 4 lakhs and went to the hospital. Tony's men followed me. My father died anyway and three days later, they brought me here. It's been eight years and I haven't managed to pay Tony's debt. He lets me live at home and go wherever I want to, but I know, the moment I refuse to answer his call, all hell would break lose. My brother could die. He has my pictures. If those go out, my sister will never get married. Anyway, now I've resigned to my fate. The peace I want, it will either come the day I find enough money to satisfy Tony, or the day I grow too old to be useful to him. But in the early days, he used to keep me in a house just like this and send me to multiple clients a night. I tried running thrice, but was caught each time. The third time, I actually made it quite far even though Tony's men were following me. I ran into the police station thinking I could beg for help. You know who I saw there? The senior inspector was the same man who had raped me on that first night. I came back myself and never tried again."
"Why do these men have so much power on us?" Madhu asked as she wiped Roma's tears.
"I don't know Madhu. I suppose men have always have power over us - our hearts are soft and trusting. When they use this power for good, we give them back love, respect and the warmth of true companionship many many times over. When they give us a little bit of love and respect, we give them a family, a foundation and an identity. But when they abuse us and beat us, our vulnerable spirits get beaten up too. When they mask their love as deceit, they can destroy our hearts, our souls and our very identity."
"It's not fair..."
"No. It's absolutely not. But it's the truth. God gave women more pain, but I think he has also given us more capacity to deal with it. Our resilience is our consolation prize. But don't give up hope. One day you will escape. One day you will be free again. God can't be unkind forever." Roma consoled Madhu, who lay down with her head in her lap.
"I wish I didn't have a heart Roma di.."
Why did you give me a heart, Madhu found herself repeating to the idol in front of her. She had been sitting in the temple room for the last two hours as she tried to muster enough strength to face her future. But the pain in her heart just wouldn't stop and she was unable to find either a delusional bubble or a numbing shield she could hide behind. All she thought of was the prospect of subjecting herself to Tony's clients. The fear and dread with which she had entered Rishabh's room that first night was drowning her. Everything was happening all over again. The memory of that night's pain was suddenly alive again even though all these days she had thought she had forgotten that nightmare. Worst of all, that night reminded him of Rishabh's touch - not touch from that night, but the good touch, the comforting touch, the loving...
Over and over - but without warning - those unexpected happy moments with Rishabh would come back to her. In those moments, she had felt alive, safe and special like never before in life. Her traitorous heart wanted to hold on to that feeling, making it impossible for her mind to be convinced to move on and accept the reality of what lay ahead. She was failing so hard at forgetting.
Why did you give me a heart God, she moaned again and closed her eyes, focusing every ounce of willpower remaining in her to forget Rishabh and shut out the memory of the whiff of hope he had brought, because she knew she wouldn't be able to survive until she did that.
Woh jo tha dard ka qaraar kahaan
Ab mujhe koi intezaar kahaan
**************************************************
It was past 2 am when RK finally parked the car outside his house, but he had no courage to get out of the car and go inside.
He had spent all day going to every possible place he had known Sikander to ever be and meeting each of his friends and whatever passed as company in his right, but he wasn't anywhere to be found. Still, he had refused to give up until two hours ago when his lawyer had called. He finally had proof that Sikander had left for Thailand shortly after they had filed the adultery case against Dipali. In fact, Dipali had apparently thrown Radha and Sikander out of their house in Colaba where they had been living thus far. Radha apparently had moved to a small flat that had always been in her name and Sikander had left the country.
"It's pointless, Mr Kundra." Agarwal explained. "Even if we found him, he would never show up in court. I think he figured out the day we put the adultery case that if we win, he can be jailed. Sleeping with another man's wife is a crime in India, he'd get five years if we won. I don't think he's ever coming back."
"You know what's ironic, Mr Agarwal. Under the same law, the said wife - the cheating lying wife - is not jailed. Adultery is not a crime if you're a woman."
"It is an outdated law, Mr Kundra. It assumes women..."
"...are innocent or forced. It is definitely true for many women, but not all of them you know. Not all of them."
"Well...you should go home now, Mr Kundra. It's past midnight. Adultery is still enough for a divorce, and I promise you I'll try my best to get you freedom from Ms Dipali Sinha. Her case is baseless, it can be dismissed..."
"...as long as Madhu is no longer there."
"Mr Kundra, we have been over this."
"I know...I know." RK stood up to leave when the lawyer called from behind.
"Rishabh. I have known you and your father for many years. I have handled every corporate and personal legal issue for both of you. I know this is hard for you. But don't make it harder on her by making the separation hard. Just do it swiftly."
"Our hearing is Wednesday, right? She'd be gone before then."
"But..."
"She is much stronger than me, Mr Agarwal. But me...I need the time to get used to the idea of being a monster to an innocent soul. I'll see you Wednesday"
RK had walked out, but he hadn't completed his thought. He hadn't told his lawyer that he need the time to get used to the thought of living not just without her, but with the knowledge of what he was doing to her.
Eventually, he walked out of the car and towards his room. The house was dark and silent. Patil was asleep in the living room as per RK's instructions. He didn't want Madhu to be alone.
RK opened the door of Madhu's room, but didn't dare walk in. Any other night, he would have slipped in next to her. Hell, he needed the comfort of her embrace tonight more than ever.
But he didn't deserve it any more and so he stood at the door watching her breath rise and fall with his tears, cursing his fate for leaving him with nothing but an impossible choice.
(Flashback: Bangalore, Friday)
"How did it get so bad?" he asked his lawyer as they exited the board room after a three-hour long board meeting, but the question was as much to himself as it was to him. The moment he had heard Shenoy's name from Dipali, he had rushed to Bangalore. Shenoy was a minority stockholder in many of their businesses, essentially the ones that Rishabh's father Mohan Kundra had started. Even though Shenoy made most of his money in the movie and fashion modeling industries, many years ago, he had helped out Mohan Kundra in a crucial deal in his flagship factory, and ever since then they had been trusted aides. It was this flagship garment factory where RK was sitting in right now, and the one his competitor wanted to so badly buy off and shut down by buying off the shares that RK had transferred to Dipali. RK still held management and board control rights on the company from the shares he had retained, but Dipali had the power of attorney for a majority and she could force a sale of the company unless RK found a way to stop her.
But with Shenoy's involvement, the game was for more than just one factory now. This entire area was a little township on the outskirts of Bangalore and had six companies, all part of the Kundra group. It was here that Mohan Kundra had started and made most of his fortune. While the garment factory was still the largest, over 35000 people worked in the six companies here - all of whom had Shenoy as a significant minority stakeholder. Most of those people lived there in the homes Mohan Kundra had built for them and their children studied in the free schools that were built for employees on the factory complex itself. The employees were loyal and the company was exceptionally well-run and a market leader. Over the years, RK had expanded the Kundra conglomerate presence to other industries and cities, both in the country and abroad. Many of those businesses were young and RK spent most of his own time in Mumbai or abroad on them, but this Bangalore complex was still the heart of the conglomerate. This was Mohan Kundra's dream, his legacy.
It was this dream that RK had been fighting to save ever since he landed in Bangalore the previous night. He didn't know Shenoy himself very well - he was always a passive investor, but RK had gone to him a few weeks back to block Sikky's project, and in return had offered him a lucrative partnership in two of his newest international prospects. He thought if his father could trust him, so could he. At the time, it had worked, and Shenoy's power in the movie industry had proven exceptionally useful in blocking Dipali and Sikander. But clearly Dipali had learnt of this arrangement somehow and lured Shenoy to her side.
Since last night, he had rounded up all minority shareholders and independent directors and he had got the Board to approve immediate dismissal of Shenoy from voting and control pending investigation on charges of conspiring against the company. But RK knew it was a bandaid. Shenoy couldn't do anything immediately, but he still owned the shares he owned. If RK lost the case to Dipali and Dipali was able to sell the company, Shenoy could combine the shares he still owned and help her sell 5 of the 6 companies, effectively shutting down the whole complex.
"It is confirmed. Dipali has been sleeping with Shenoy. We got some pictures. We can't use them in the adultery case because they are recent and after the divorce filing, but we can use them to speak to her character." Mr Agarwal filled in him with the details of his investigation since the previous evening.
"Isn't Shenoy like 50 years old? Does Dipali have no...anyway, what else?" RK asked, disgusted.
"Malhotra industries has filed an official hostile bid for takeover of the garment with SEBI. We would probably get the notice Monday morning. They can't do anything without Dipali's shares, but if she and Shenoy..."
"We can't let her win the case, Mr Agarwal. You have to stop her. You know how many people work here. More than one lakh people live in this township, and a majority of them depend on Kundra industries for their livelihood. Even if many of them will find new jobs, the human cost of what Malhotra would do is too high. These children that you see in the park...many of them won't be able to go to school anymore. Some of these girls would be with their mothers sewing in a factory and some would be even worse off. Malhotra wants monopoly in the market, that's why he is willing to pay such an inflated price for the whole factory. He will sell off the assets and in seven days this place will be a ghost-town. We can't let Dipali destroy so many lives. I can't believe I was stupid enough to trust her and..."
"I understand Mr Kundra. Trust me, we can win. It is a fight, but we can beat her. However, I need to make sure her adultery case on you gets dismissed before it gets to court. My team tells me she doesn't have much evidence, but one of the affidavits in court say that you spent all your money on prostitutes."
"That's so wrong. How can she blatantly lie?"
"Mr Kundra...I know this is going to sound bad but the affidavit also says you brought those girls home. Now we don't think there is any concrete evidence in the past, otherwise they would have filed it in legal discovery. But the girl in your house..."
"I told you Madhu has got nothing..."
"I think she has. Rishabh, you are like my son. I have worked with your father for 15 years and with you for almost 8 years now. You can trust me. I can help you but I need to know the truth...the whole truth."
Bigg Boss 19
