Part XLVII
Arjun had returned home three days after the baby's funeral. The minute he stepped into the house, Rano blasted him for not turning up earlier. He looked confused and asked her why. When he was told about the events since Anwesha's admission to the hospital, he appeared dazed. He then crumbled to the floor, weeping bitterly, saying that he was an unfortunate dad who could not even bid a proper farewell to his son.
Seeing his reaction, it was Rano's turn to look confused. She questioned him about how he seemed unaware of anything since Geet had left several SMSes after being unable to reach him through his cell or the landline of his Delhi office. Arjun then told her how his cell was stolen as soon as he landed in Delhi. He thought of filing an FIR there but considering how cumbersome it would be to follow up on a case filed in another city, he did not file a complaint. Asked as to why nobody at his Delhi office seemed to know where he had gone, he said that he had left for Chandigarh the very next morning after he reached Delhi. His client had called him the previous night asking him to meet him there as he himself could not make it to Delhi. In fact he had returned to Mumbai directly from Chandigarh. Rano did not look too convinced with his explanation. She sceptically asked him why did he not inform either his Mumbai office or his Delhi office about the change of plan. He told her that he was not expecting any emergency and hence he had not informed his office about the change in plan.
Rano questioned him as to how he can presume there would be no emergency when his wife was full-term and was expecting the baby any day. Arjun had no answer to that. She chided him for not only being an irresponsible father-to-be but also an irresponsible CEO of such a large business empire for he cannot remain incommunicado for days on end like this. Arjun just remained silent, his head bowed down. Rano asked him to meet Anwesha and console her. He went to their room very reluctantly. Anwesha did not respond to his presence. She steadfastly ignored him, wallowing in her own pain. He tried to speak to her but she just looked through him coldly.
As the days passed by, Anwesha was physically slowly healing, with the pain from the surgery reducing over time, but emotionally she was still a broken woman. The heartache was as raw as it was on the day she came to know that her son was no more. Maan and Geet never failed to visit her every single day. While Geet visited her before making her daily visits to the nursing home to meet Baba, Maan always went directly from his office to the Handa House every evening before returning to the chawl. They tried their level best to cheer her up but Anwesha could not reconcile herself to the loss. In one of his many visits to the Handa House, Maan happened to meet Arjun outside the house as he was returning home from work. Seeing his brother-in-law, Maan's latent anger against him for his callous neglect of his wife surfaced. He held him by his collar and with his teeth clenched he bit out that if he dares to put his sister through any more pain than she is already in, he will not live to see the next day. He then shook him hard till his teeth rattled. He would have thrashed the living daylights out of him but respect for his mother-in-law, concern for his sister and love for his wife stopped him from losing his equanimity.
*****
Three weeks later, Anwesha and Rano got ready to leave for Kodaikanal. Maan and Geet had come to see them off at the airport. Arjun paid lip service that he too wished to join them but he could not get away from his business. Maan just looked at him up and down dubiously. Arjun got the message loud and clear and pretended to look elsewhere. Maan asked his sister not to trouble their mother-in-law too much. He hoped that she would return back to them soon as the same old cheerful Anwesha whom all of them dearly loved. She gave him a wry smile and hugged him and Geet before going into the airport. She did not even turn in the direction of her husband. Rano assured Maan that she will take care of his sister and he needed to channelize all his energy in his business. She blessed him and followed her daughter-in-law. Maan dropped Geet back at their place before leaving for work.
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