Tewari & Sons, 23, Chandni Chowk (THREAD II) - Page 64

Originally posted by: sman

tumhare mooh mein ghee shakkar..am desperate for an update too

Chapter 10: Take A Sad Song & Make It Better

He waved his hands around, trying to feel his phone, but the damn thing was out of reach and maybe it was his half asleep state, but the phone seemed to be getting progressively louder. He almost knocked over his reading lamp on the side table by his bed before he got his hands on his phone. He sat up on his bed, staring at the phone screen somewhat bleary eyed. The display on the phone was swimming in front of his eyes, but even in that state, he could see that the call was from an unknown number and that it was 2:45 am.

What the, he mumbled, wondering who could possibly calling him at this hour. If it was a wrong number he would be livid.

"Hello."

"Arnav Sir?"

"Yes? Who is this?"

"Arnav Sir. Buri khabar hain."

"I am sorry, but who is this?"

"Sorry sir, I am Raghu Singhal, Samir Sir.. Payal Madam ke father ki secretary."

"Oh. Is there a problem Mr Singhal? Kya hua?"

"Sir aur Payal Madam ka accident ho gaya hai. Serious hai. Agar aap All India Institute pahunch jao toh.. issi waqt. Sir ke phone se aapka number mila."

The next thirty minutes went in a blur, as a flustered Arnav got dressed, picked up his keys and drove out of the house hastily. He chose not to wake up his parents until he knew for sure what was going on. He tried Payal's number a couple of times on his way, but her phone was coming as switched off. He had spoken to Payal earlier in the morning, she was in Meerut for a political rally and was going to be driving back this afternoon. She had sounded rather cheerful then. The campaign trail was almost coming to an end and the newest opinion polls put the INP ahead of all the other parties. Though she would not admit it to him, it was increasingly clear that Payal loved playing the political scion far more than she cared for being a designer, reading critical opinion pieces about her oppositions and topping dubious polls were her new source of joy. Like most politicians Payal and her dad preferred travelling by road as much as possible. His to-be father-in-law was known to be a car enthusiast and imported them from across the world, a hobby that had faced him scathing editorials by Jun Jeeju even as the government and an opposition was on an austerity drive given the poor state of the economy.

The roads were surprisingly busy for the hour, Arnav realised even as he upped his speed and trying to keep worst-case scenarios out of his mind. He had sent texts to Anjali Di and NK about the accident. When he got to AIIMS, he noticed the place was abuzz. The news channels had arrived before anyone else could. He found that he was stopped by the hospital security and only after he called Raghu Singhal, was he allowed in, this time respectfully.

"Damaadji hain," Raghu Singhal told sundry people they met on the way, most of whom were the party workers of INP. In normal circumstances, he would have been amused or annoyed by this blanket label he was given, but now now.

Raghu Singhal he realised, was unable to form one coherent sentence. Why would anyone hire him to form astute opinions about opposition was baffling.  He did not seem to have a filter. He described in detail about how the car severed, the angle of it, how quickly did the airbags deploy, who was sitting where, etc. Only after Arnav asked him a pointed question, was he informed that Payal Ma'm had sustained injuries, but they were minor ones. Samir Singh himself had more extensive injuries and the driver was in a critical condition. A relieved Arnav walked into the emergency VVIP ward where Payal was sitting on the bed. Her right palm had been bandaged and there were bruises on her forehead, chin and neck. She looked composed and even annoyed as one of the INP member, whom he recognised but did not know the name of hovered around her.

"Payal, what even happened? So glad you are okay," he had said as he walked towards her. And the until now composed Payal burst into tears. He pulled her towards him into a hug and placed his palm on her head, waiting for her to calm down.  Only after his shirt was almost soaked with her tears, did she pull away from him, sniffling as she did so. She was still holding on to his hand and he sat down next to her on the bed, though he was pretty certain some doctor on the rounds would not approve of this. They sat there for a while, not speaking. The INP member was on the phone now and a few other party workers left them alone for a while. He gently freed his hand and walked to the end of the room to  get her some water. When he returned, she took his hand again, and there were worry lines on hear forehead.

"Here, have some water. Everything is okay. How is uncle now?"

"He is in the ICU. He is going to be confined to his bed for a month at least. My mom is so mad at him."

She sounded more cheerful now, making observations about her mismatched parents was clearly an amusing subject. Well that was one more thing that he had in common with her, mothers who were never pleased with their fathers.

"Will you be okay for a bit. Let me go and look up uncle."

She reluctantly let go off his hand. He forced her to lie down on the bed, tucked her in properly and kissed her on her forehead and left. 

Though Samir Singh and he had the most awkward relationship ever, but there was no escaping this meeting. Unlike Jeeju and Di, he did not believe his to-be father-in-law to be an evil sort, but yet there was something about him that made him uncomfortable. Knowing about him and Khushi's shop had only fuelled the discomfort that he had against the man. Samir Singh's was a fortress and by the time he managed to go past the gatekeepers with his Daamadji card and return to Payal's ward, he found that Di, Jeeju and NK were by Payal's side, evidently taking her trip about something.

"Shush you guys, let her be, this is a hospital. She has been in a major accident, let her rest."

"It is okay, Arnav. I can't sleep now anyway. How is Dad? Is he losing it over the fact that he will be confined to the bed for the next few weeks?"

"He is fine. There are a lot of people, including journalists. So I didn't want to stay for long."

"So what happened to the driver? Is anyone taking care of him," Jeeju wanted to know. As always his liberal, communist heart coming to the fore. Payal mock groaned at it, but did say that the driver was getting the best medical attention possible, but was on life support at the moment. Di pulled out a flask and poured something into a steel glass and gave it to Payal.

"Di, please tell me this is some alcohol," NK said, "I need to be given some prize for waking up in the middle of the night."

"It is actually morning," Payal pointed out.

"Rubbish. Jun said that we should take some Horlicks and go. So I made some for Payal. I can give you also some, NK Bhai."

He rolled his eyes at this. One of the many weird habits that his sister had picked up after marriage was a love for Horlicks and on more than one occasion she had tricked him into drinking it by offering it in lieu of chai and coffee. Watching his fiance make a face at his sister and she being all mother hen was strangely comforting. Perhaps they would be like one of those regular, happy families. Perhaps.

"So Payal, did your life flash past in front of you at the moment of the accident? Did you see all your regrets and all the could have beens?" NK wanted to know.

Payal merely shrugged, but she also looked thoughtful at this. After this, random chit chat happened for a while, until a nurse came in and reprimanded them for tiring the patient. Di, Jeeju and NK left the room after a second warning from the nurse. Since nobody was allowed to stay in the ward, Arnav too decided to leave and come back in a couple of hours. He assumed that Payal would be allowed to go home in a day or two, given how minor her injuries were. After making sure she was comfortable and recovering her phone from Raghu Singhal, that he handed to her, he decided to leave.

"Arnav, I was thinking of something.." she said just as he had reached the door.

"What is it, Payal?"

"Do you think we should put off our wedding by a few months? If Dad is out of action for a few weeks, then we can't marry in a month, can we?"

"Okay. We don't need to decide anything now. Lets wait and see what happens?"

"No, tell me you are okay with it?"

It seemed strange to him that she wanted to take such an important decision at a time like this. Looking at her determined face, he couldn't help but think that she was actually rather adamant about it.

"What do you mean, Payal? Postpone the wedding by a few months or indefinitely put it on hold?"

"What? No. I mean, postpone until after elections settle down. I know your mom will be be mad. But.."

"This is not about my mom. It is what we decide. Fine, we will postpone the wedding by a month or two."

"A summer wedding then?"

"I suppose. If one can be so brave as to commit to spending the rest of our life with one person, I think one can survive a wedding in Delhi heat."

"The mothers are going to be mad."

"Or thrilled. One can never be sure with them."

"Thanks, Arnav."

"For?"

"I don't know.."

"Have they drugged you?"

"I hope so. Because I don't think that I have sounded this stupid in a long while."

"Hmm. Take care, Payal. I will see you in a bit."

As he walked back to his car, he realised that something had changed with Payal. He wasn't sure what though. He also realised that postponing the wedding evoked a feeling in him. The only way to articulate that would be.. relief.

**

Khushi had reached the Tis Hazari, as she waited to spot her lawyer Mallikarjun Samarth. This was one of the busiest courts of Delhi and on a daily basis thousands of litigants and their lawyers made their way to the many courts around here. She sat on one of the benches outside the Family Disputes Court. Of course, the people she was fighting the case against were not her family and yet that is how the law saw their dispute. She hoped that her lawyer would each before her Tewari brethren did. She had met them only once in the past, and they had been rather hostile to her, understandably so. To them, she was this person who was getting financial gain out of something that they believed that they had a right on. What they did not know that she had no intention of handing over Tewari & Sons to Anandrams for a profit. She was going to turn it around and survive the onslaught. But first, she needed the law to side with her.

She fished into her jhola, looking for her phone, her new phone, courtesy Aman Sabharwal. He was right, it was not one of those expensive phones, it was a cheap one with basic functionality. But yet, it was different from the previous ones that she had. She had still not figured her way around it or learnt to add phone numbers into it. However, once Aman and Arnav left, she had put down the two most important numbers that she remembered; her parents in Lucknow and her lawyer. Mallikarjun Samarth was not a particularly efficient lawyer. But he was cheap, lived in Chandni Chowk and even Baba who had cut himself off from getting involved in the Tewari & Sons litigation, had approved of him. So Khushi had hired him. She had spoken to a couple of people at the courts when she had come down for paperwork a couple of times and inevitably she always heard stories about cases that Mallikarjun had lost. And yet, Khushi remained optimistic that this dispute would turn things around for both her and Mallikarjun. It had to.

The bench she was sitting, was filed up now, with other tired litigants looking towards the doors, full of hope. A man next to her was reading a newspaper and as was norm, Khushi peeped into it. The city page had a photograph of two people she recognised - Payal and Arnav. She leaned in to get a closer look, wondering what it was about, when a familiar voice called out her name from across the corridor.

"Khushi."

She looked up, as did several other people who were waiting. Feeling self-conscious, she walked towards her lawyer, who seemed surprisingly cheerful. 

"Good morn.. afternoon, Vakeel Saheb? Court abhi lunch ke like bandh toh nahi ho jayega?"

It was just a little after noon and lunch was a few hours away, but Khushi did not trust government offices and their indiscriminate abuse of lunch-time.

"No need to worry. Avtaar Tewari ne apni claim hi wapas le liya. Bas aap ka kaam ho gaya."

Wait. How could something like this have happened? It didn't seem right to her? Was there a catch? Or had her streak of ill-luck finally come to an end? She wanted to feel happy. Relieved. And yet something gnawed at her. Something told her that there might be a catch.

"Achanak kaise ho gaya? Kya hua? So now we don't have to do anything?"

"Humein isse kya? Akal aa gayi hogi. I was speaking to a lawyer friend this morning and he was saying that as a safety measure, you should ask Garimaji to write an affidavit that you are her only legal heir and secure your position as the soul heir of Tewari & Sons. Uske baad, aapki marzi.. dukaan chalao, becho, tudwao, kuch bhi karo."

"Amma toh Lucknow mein hain lekin."

"Bas ek din ka kaam hai, Dilli bulwa lo."

This piece of information was even more exciting than Avtaar Tewari's about turn. Finally she had a legitimate reason for her parents to return to Delhi. They were not going to refuse the law, no matter how much it bothered them to confront the issue. Perhaps things were going to get better after all and her earlier weariness was unwarranted. She wondered if she should speak to Mallikarjun about the other possible legal heir, her brother Shyam and his wife and son. She had begun to have some idea where he might be, but she could not responsibly say anything now. She would speak with Baba first, before she spoke to a lawyer. She thanked her lawyer and checked her watch again. It was time for her to go to college, she would be there in time for the training sessions. She had walked out of the court when her phone rang. She saw that it was from Renu Bhabhi, who was probably calling to check about what had happened at court. Khushi told an excited Renu Bhabhi about the breakthrough that they had finally got. Renu Bhabhi too agreed that this was great news and rather extravagantly announced that now all their troubles had ended. They hadn't, Khushi knew that, but for now, this was a good start.

"Acha Khushi, aaj ke newspaper mein tumhaare schoolmates ke baarein mein padha?"

"Kya likhe hai?"

"Payal, woh Samir Singh ke beti ka koyi accident ho gaya tha kal shaam."

"Oh."

"Lekin sab theekh hi hai."

She hung up and walked towards a magazine stall at the court and bought herself a copy of the day's Hindustan Times. The city page had a report about an accident involving Samir Singh and Payal Singh. The driver Ajay Singh had succumbed to his injuries. Samir Singh had broken a few bones, but was alright. Payal Singh, who had sustained minor injuries had her fiance by her side, who had whisked her away from the media when she was discharged. She looked at the photograph that accompanied the report, of her former classmates. His arms were wrapped around her and the normally in control of her herself Payal looked like she genuinely needed his help. Arnav had an expression on his face that was something between a a fierce scowl and possessiveness. She had seen that in his past, for his mother, for Aman. The more she looked at the photograph, the more it seemed like intruding on a private moment. Thankfully the phone rang again and interrupted her errant line of thoughts. She picked it up to see yet another number she didn't recognise.

"Khushi."

"Who is this?"

"Yaar, why haven't you saved my number? Gala baat hai."

"Divyesh? What is it?"

"Where are you? Still in court? Should I call later?"

"No, I am done. Heading to college. What is it?"

"We are having a tribute meeting for Baig Sir at New Horizons this Sunday at 4:00 PM. Will you be able to come? You have to come."

"Of course, I will be there."

"No, No. You have to come, Khushi. How can you not?"

"I said yes, Divyesh."

"Oh. I didn't realise it would be that easy."

"Funny."

"See you then, Khushi. Bye."

Once he hung up, she saved his number into the phone and it suddenly stuck her. How did Divyesh know that she was in a court at all? Not many people knew anything about this and certainly not Divyesh, with whom she only remained in touch fleetingly. Who could have told Divyesh? Her initial instincts were probably right. There was something off about how Avtaar Tewari had magically decided to let go off the shop. She was lost in her thoughts and left the newspaper behind at the magazine stall from where she had bought it.

**

"I think I might be having the swine flu?" NK said out loud, as everyone looked at him. The Kalpavriksha fashion show was a few hours away and there was a mad frenzy surrounding the venue in anticipation of the big event. As Arnav had come to realise, anything that could possibly go wrong during the launch and fashion show for a new design line, was going wrong. First, their star designer, Payal had been in an accident. Though she was well enough to be sent off home, she was still not completely fit enough to take on multiple tasks and take care of all the last minute stuff that she normally would have. Then there was the choreographer who had suddenly decided that the venue that they had picked was not large enough and there was a problem with the shape of the venue. Their showstopper had suffered food poisoning and they had to get in reinforcements. And here was his cousin, who suddenly had self-diagnosed that he was suffering from the swine flu. Of course, NK was prone to theatrics, so there was usually no reason to take him seriously. But he had been under the weather for the last few days, so probably it was a good idea to get it checked.

"Why don't you go home and rest for a couple of hours and come back. I think now things are under control."

"What? No way. I know you, control freak and just want me out of the way. But I am not leaving."

"Suit yourself."

He picked his phone to check. There were a couple of text messages. Anjali Di said that she would be a little late coming or not come at all for the show because she had a meeting with the adoption agency right before. There was Payal who had texted him saying that she was on her way and that she had met Aakash earlier in the day and had invited him for the show. It did seem a trifle surprising that Payal had taken a sudden fondness for Aakash. It was one thing that she was polite to him, it was altogether something else that she managed to reserve some warmth for him. Maybe NK was right, the accident had changed Payal, for she did seem more amiable now. Now that they had pushed their wedding date, their interactions were pleasanter, friendlier even. His mother had messaged too, saying she wouldn't come for the show because there was some work-related stuff that had come up. He did not expect his parents to show up anyway. They were invited only because NK was keen for them to play happy-families. We are not that kind of family, he had pointed to his cousin, but to no avail. When a week ago, he had suggested the same to his mother, he was surprised when she readily agreed. But now thankfully some last minute thing kept her out of it. If Payal had invited Aakash, there was a chance that Khushi might accompany him. And having his mother and Khushi in the same place, would not do. Though after everything, what were the chances that Khushi would agree to show up. She had made it amply clear that the Raizadas were people that she would rather not think about or bother remembering. The fact was that she had chosen to not even save his phone number. People saved numbers of anyone and everyone. Why he even had saved the numbers of four different modem companies that he never intended to call.  But that was the thing, saving a phone number meant that at least you were not altogether averse to calling someone. This was all the hint that he needed. He understood why Khushi would do that, but he had to admit that it did hurt him even though he didn't want to care.

"Does NK have swine flu? If he does, he needs to be quarantined. I can't handle another round of hospitalisation, please," Payal walked in, looking different in her block-printed handloom sari. Any sign of injuries could not be spotted, either hidden by make-up or were completely healed. Normally Payal would have worn a dress, oftentimes designed by herself, but he did not expect her to be so Indian in her choice of clothing. He had to assume this was somehow connected to the fact that there would be media presence and as one of the growing leaders in her mostly conservative party, she was getting image conscious. Of course, she looked attractive no matter what, but he also found it a little duplicitous.

"NK is fine. When I last saw him, he was flirting with one of the models. You are looking very different."

"Good different or bad different?"

"Just different. How is uncle now?"

"Driving Mom, Me and Raghu insane with his tantrums. Physiotherapy is happening, but feel recovery might take a couple of months. Anyway, this magazine called Politico which is doing a feature on my family, wanted to attend the show and sort of do a behind-the-scenes thing on the day of a life of a politician. I have invited them, hope that is okay."

"That is fine. Just ask them not to publish any photographs of our designs until next month. We have given first rights to Flair Magazine."

"Sure. You seem a little mad at me? Are you?"

"Of course not. Just stressed about this and a little distracted."

"Okay. Let me ask the interns to save a place for Aakash, in case he shows up. I doubt though."

"Where did you meet him any way?"

"Oh he had come to meet me and Dad, to look us up, so I thought, why not invite him. Anyway, he won't show up, so you don't need to worry about that."

Was it his imagination, but Payal sounded slightly disappointed at this. He would speak to her after the fashion show. Something was definitely afoot.

He also noticed that he had a message from Divyesh that said, "I think Khushi is on to us." He ignored that for now too. Everything would have to wait until this fashion show. This was one of the important moments of his career and somehow most of the people who mattered to him had not showed up.

**

Mihir Gupta is bad news. Poonam Raizada said it out loud in her large, empty office after the private investigator had left. As she had suspected, he was in fact siphoning off funds from AR Constructions into smaller fake companies. He had been transferring small sums, to keep away from the suspicion radar. Also he was transferring amounts into different accounts each time, so no one person seemed like the biggest beneficiary. Mihir Gupta was a fraud, that much was clear. And pretty brazen, considering how easily and openly he was indulging in these activities. But what Poonam was convinced about was that he could not be doing this alone and there had to be someone else involved. He was merely a plant into their group and was working with or for someone else. And until she figured that out, she was going to let him continue, of course, by slowly clipping his powers so that he would be hard pressed to indulge in corporate fraud and espionage. She had, already put the private investigator on the task and he had been asked to shadow Mihir Gupta for the next two weeks. Surely that would lead them somewhere. There had to be some misstep.

She sighed. At times like this, she honestly wished that her husband and children took a more active interest in the business. No matter how much she desired to control everything, it was frustrating to not get any help from them. She was particularly frustrated with Anand, who took an interest in everything else other than a business that he had himself built from scratch. Sometimes she felt very alone, both at work as well as her home. Perhaps it was her fault that her children did not feel any connect with her anymore. Or ever. Anjali had decided to adopt a child, something that she had learnt from Anand. Arnav had decided to postpone his wedding with Payal, yet another thing that she learnt from her husband. She did not understand why her children felt a greater connect with their father inspite of the fact that he had always been an absent one through their childhood. For years, she had taken the more unpopular decisions in the house, Anand on the other hand came across as a nicer person merely because  he did pretty much nothing. This good cop-bad cop parenting style was not by design, but something that happened more as an accident. But after contemplating about this for months, the family was meeting tomorrow morning, along with Aakash and Seema to discuss the future of AR Enterprises. She hoped her children would not disappoint her yet again. She picked the invite of Arnav's new fashion line that he was launching right about now. She would have gone for it had the private investigator not called her saying that he had made some headway on Mihir Gupta. She had probably disappointed her son yet again.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Shastri, who knocked and entered, as always looking somewhat apologetic. 

"What is it, Shastri?"

"Mam, Roy Matthew had sent his bills today.."

"So, clear them. Why should I concern myself with it, Shastri?"

"No, Mam, you are of course right. It is just that there was a bill for Arnav Sir too that he has by mistake sent it here instead of sending them to Raizada Designs. I opened them by mistake. Should I just courier it to Raizada Designs with a note?"

"Shastri, you have worked with us for so many years and you still don't seem to understand what matters are important enough and which you should not waste my time on. Just ask one of the drivers to hand it over to Arnav."

"Sorry, Mam. I didn't want Arnav sir to wonder why the letter had been opened. Because it was marked confidential."

"Hmm. Just give it to me. I will hand it over to Arnav when I go home."

Shastri returned with a brown envelope that he handed over to her and she collected and put it into her bag. Once Shastri left, she did wonder why Roy had a bill for Arnav. Of course, Roy was probably the legal advisor for Raizada Designs. She had very little idea about her son's business.

Later when she got home, she learnt that Anand was away golfing as usual. She picked up a book and asked HP to bring her chai in the terrace. Winter was almost coming to an end in Delhi and she should enjoy being in the outdoors before it got too warm. HP arrived in a bit and lingered after placing the tea on the table.

"Kya hai, Hari Prakash? Kuch bolna tha?"

"Didi, aap se ek baat karni thi."

"Haan. Bolo."

"Woh Payal Didi ne aapke Mataji ka lehenga wapas bhej diya hai."

"Haan, theekh toh hai. Shaadi mein jai mala ke waqt pehan na tha unko. Ab shaadi agle mahine toh nahin hain, toh neeche walle guestroom ke almirah mein rakhwa dena."

"Lekin Didi. Wapas kyun bhijwaya. Arnav Bhaiya unhi se shaadi karenge, hain na?"

After HP left, she pondered over his question. She had spoken to her son after he had decided to put the wedding on hold. The reason he gave about waiting until Samir Singh made a full recovery made sense. After all, inspite of how much Arnav and Payal thought that this was just their decision and the two of them marrying, it was in fact the two families coming together - an important political family and an industrialist. Samir Singh being there, as the face of the wedding was essential. However, it had been hard to believe that Arnav who did not care of any of these things had come up with the idea. So, It was probably an unilateral decision by Payal. She just did not trust her to-be daughter-in-law somehow. Maybe Anand was right when he said that her discomfort with Payal came from the fact that she was too much like her. But her only concern was for her son and how this had impacted him. He seemed to have turned into a rather reclusive sort ever since the news. Either he was unhappy because of the wedding or there was something altogether different that was bothering him. HP came to fetch her empty cup and she remembered the letter from Roy that needed to be delivered to her son. She asked HP to fetch her bag and take out the letter and leave it in Arnav's room. Something intuitively made her stop HP and check the letter from Roy. There was a bill and a short note that said:

Dear A,

The Tewari situation is under control. D met K's lawyer and sorted things out with Avatar. Will keep you updated on the progress.

RM

Roy was a cryptic sort always, very discreet, which is why he was a useful person to have around.  So the note did not surprise her. But at the same time she also felt terrible of going through the mail of her grown-up son without his knowledge. It was wrong and possibly explained why her son had so much of distrust towards her. And yet, she couldn't help but wonder what the Tewari situation was and who were D, K and Avatar.

**

"Did you see the newspaper report about AR Enterprises," Preeto asked her, as Khushi sat next to her with Leher on her lap.

Preeto looked exhausted, as would be expected of any new mother. Leher, looked beautiful almost angelic as she slept on Khushi's lap, but apparently was a handful and kept Preeto and Ginny up all night. She just did not sleep, which they thought made their child abnormal. When they took the child to their paediatrician, he shushed the new parents and sent them away asking them to take turns sleeping. So Khushi came to meet her friend, to cheer her up and possibly babysit Leher for the couple of hours she would be at her home.

"She looks so adorable. I think you are just lying and making her seem like a devil," Khushi said looking at the beautiful child, resisting temptation to wake her up.

"Wait till you have children of your own. Dekhte hain phir kitni hawa nikal jaati hain tumhaari," Preeto offered the classic mom argument.

"Dekhenge. What did the newspaper say about AR Enterprises?"

"You don't read the newspaper, or what? Wait, let me get out for you.Tumhaare boys ke photo aye hain."

Preeto returned with a crumpled newspaper and opened the business page and pushed the newspaper in front of her face. There was a photograph of Aakash and Arnav Raizada, along with Poonam Raizada. The headline under the photograph said, Poonam Raizada takes over as Chief Mentor of AR Enterprises to make way for the Next Gen. The report said that Aakash and Arnav who had so far not been involved in the business, but had stake in the company would now take on a more active role in the working of the company and had been recruited into the Board of Directors formally. 

"Matlab ab Jeejaji bada aadmi ban gaya hain."

"Jeejaji is already doing very well in the science world. So bada aadmi ban na kuch nayi baat nahi hai."

"Aye haye. So you agree he is my jeejaji?"

"Preeto, I have said this to you every time we have spoken in the last six, seven years, Aakash and me have nothing going on between us. He actually likes someone else. But I don't know who, pooch mat."

"You are always so secretive. Waise, this Arnav looks nice aajkal. College mein toh bahut ajeeb lag ta tha nahi? With his crazy long hair."

"Tab bhi acha hi lagta tha. Ab zyada acha lagta hain."

"Hmm. Khushi, did you ever like Arnav? I mean, before things got awful between you two. Did you have a phase where you maybe had a crush on him. Liked him?"

"Isn't it stupid to like people who never liked you?"

"Yes. And most human beings do that bewakoofi. You wouldn't be the first. Or the last."

Thankfully for Khushi, Leher woke up just then and began bawling. A harried Preeto picked her up and attempted to shush her. One diaper change, some feeding and a lot of patting later, she quietened down. Khushi decided to leave as she had to go for Baig Sir's memorial service.

"Will you come again next weekend?"

"I will try to. And I will bring you jalebis then. Sorry I forgot today."

"Ginny se bol doon, tujhe ghar tak drop kar de?"

"Pagal ho kya? Waise bhi ghar nahin, New-Ons jaa rahi hoon. Metro se chali jaoongi. Don't worry."

But Ginny and his parents insisted and she finally agreed that he drop her off at the station. Khushi was nervous once she got into the metro. Though it was likely that only the ones who were part of the New-Ons sports team would show up for the event, most of whom were people with whom she had an indifferent equation towards and who were all very civil with her. But, she knew that Arnav would be there and  she was not indifferent to him and they were barely civil with each other. The prospect of meeting him, made her feel both excited and worried. Maybe there was truth in what Preeto said that she in fact did have a crush on Arnav back in school. Maybe she liked him, even if what happened later had coloured that time for her. But how weird that she had seen Arnav's photograph in the newspaper three times in the last one month. First with Payal at the hospital, then at some fashion show again with Payal and again today. Maybe the Page Three of the newspapers will post photographs from his wedding too. Aakash had said that the wedding was next month. That reminded her, she hadn't spoken to Aakash since her phone fiasco, but this morning she had saved his number from her address book and had meant to call him. She decided to call him.

"Khushi, I was just about to call you. Where have you been? What happened with the court case?"

She brought him up-to-speed with everything. The sudden volte face by Avatar Tewari, the respite on the case and the return of Aman Sabharwal and the phone frying.

"Wow! Lot has happened in your life then. But I am happy for you. About the shop and also about patching up with Aman. It is good that you have reconnected with the school bunch. People were not that bad. And if it were not for New-Ons, we would never have met."

"Wow, Aakash, ek hafte mein aisa kya ho gaya ki tumhe sab par itna pyaar aa raha hai. I thought you wanted me to stay away from the New-Ons people."

"Yes, I did. Because I thought it would be good for you. But you can handle them and everyone has grown up now. So.."

"Hmm. By the way congratulations on your new role at AR. Does this mean you will not go back to California now?"

"Of course not. I will be here till June, then return. Basically Maami did not leave me and Arnav with much choice."

"Hmm. My station is next, I will talk to you later."

"I wanted to discuss something about your Bhabhi with you. But I will ask when we meet."

"Okay. See you."

Aakash had chosen not to come for Baig Sir's memorial service. Of course, he did not have a personal relationship with sir and most of his interaction was only because he was close with both Lavanya and Khushi. Yet, it did seem weird that he did not come because he was one of the first people to turn up when Sir was hospitalised. Sometimes she wondered if she was a bad friend to Aakash. He always asked her about things that bothered her and tried to help her out with her problems, but somehow she had never been as helpful to him. When she met him, she would ask him what was bothering him lately. She knew how important his research was back in the US, for him to give up that because of Poonam Raizada that couldn't have been a nice place to be. From what Aakash had said it seemed like Arnav was pulled into the business too, though his interest lay elsewhere. Poonam Raizada always had her way, even when it was her own children, somehow this made her own interaction with Mrs Raizada seem less awful. As she got into the auto to New-Ons she also wondered what Aakash wanted from Renu Bhabhi. She could not think of one thing that he would like to discuss about her.

When she finally reached New-Ons and walked through the familiar red gate, she felt that familiar pang of nervousness and excitement. The school was empty because it was a Sunday and there were no rich students to judge her and slot her into their pigeon holes. Nobody to call her behenji. Nobody to look at her pulled up socks and too long a school skirt. And yet, she couldn't help but check her reflection on a little pond that was at the entrance of the school. She adjusted the dupatta of her navy blue salwar kameez and pushed back a strand of her hair behind her ears. As she walked to the playground, there were a few chairs and a small stage with a mic. She saw Lavanya was testing the equipment and waved at her. She saw Divyesh was chatting with some of the other students and nodded at her. She needed to speak with Divyesh too, about what he knew about the court case, but this was not the time or place for it.

There were students from various batches, so she did not recognise most people. The side wall had photographs and a table of all the cups and medallions that the school had won under Baig Sir's coaching. She looked at all the photographs, and that is when the gravity of it all truly stuck her, on how personal this loss was to her. Baig Sir was her father figure, her mentor, one who was the first to plant the idea in her head that perhaps she too was special and could achieve something. If not for him, the doors to New Horizons would never have opened for her. And no matter what all heartache it brought for her, the truth was that it was also simultaneously the most rewarding experience too. It felt like a moment of epiphany and she was surprised that she hadn't considered it until now. 

There were several photographs of Baig Sir with his sweaty and gawky looking students. She spotted one with Lavanya, Divyesh and Baig Sir at their old gym. Since she had passed out from school, New-Ons had a state-of-the-art gym, with the best of equipment and expensive protein shakes. She walked along seeing the photographs, some new and shiny, some a little worn out and tattered. As she walked along she saw one, and it caught her attention, and she paused. It was of Baig Sir with her and Arnav. This was after they won the North India Zonals at Chandigarh. Khushi had been thrilled on two counts. For one, it was the first big win for her and two the trophy was huge, about two and a half feet. She and Arnav were sitting on the floor holding one handle each of the cup, while Baig Sir was behind them, his arms around either. And that is when she noticed something else about the photograph. Arnav and she were not looking into the camera, but at each other. He seemed to be telling her something, possibly funny because he was smiling and she was scowling at him. She could not recall what Arnav was saying to her or why she was unhappy with it, but for the first time she saw the New-Ons experience from the point of view of her more privileged classmates. Aakash was right, they were not bad people, were they? Some of the way they behaved was her fault too. She probably was too caught up in her own complexes and did not put much effort to reach out to this group either. She also noticed Arnav's floppy hair and had to agree with Preeto that his current, neat corporate look was much nicer.

"Hi, Khushi, my name is Arnav. Only Lavanya calls me Nanav. Welcome to New-Ons," a voice behind her said.

She turned behind, saw his extended hand and she took it. The handshake was firm and warm as she remembered. He had the same cocky grin of the floppy haired boy in the photograph, but this time she did not scowl at him and smiled instead. She was fourteen again.

**

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