Part 4 (Not much drama here. Just some build up for future.)
"Nidhi. Is everything all right, darling?" Mrs. Nandini Verma had noticed changes in her daughter's behavior since her return from Lucknow. While she had been happy to see her room being neatly arranged unlike earlier, she was concerned when during their evening tea on the Saturday she was hardly speaking.
"Of course Mom. Everything is all right. Why do you ask?"
"You are hardly talking."
"Oh! Work life is boing Mom. That too as a teacher! Nothing interesting happens that one can talk about."
"Then what are you doing there? Make something interesting happen!"
"Yeah. Of course. Just getting the students to call me by my name instead of this Ma'am thing so difficult."
"That's ambitious dear. Did you call any of your professors by name here?"
"No. But they never asked me to."
"If they ask you to do that now, will you be able to? Some of them are you colleagues now, right?"
"Eh! I don't know. But the point is they still haven't asked me to. So... don't try to trap me Mommy dear."
Nandini laughed and so did Nidhi dissolving the seriousness in the environment.
"By the way Mom, do you remember one professor Dr. Ashutosh Mathur, I had told you about. He had taken some of my courses in the college."
"The one who didn't like you for some reason."
"Yeah. And guess what!"
"What?"
"I asked you to guess."
"Come on!"
"He is our HOD now."
"Really? Is he troubling you? Is that why you were so serious earlier?"
"No. No Mom. Don't get so worried. He is fine now. Actually quite helpful. Even I was apprehensive initially. But he is all right. Funny, isn't it?"
"Yeah. It is," Nandini looked thoughtful for a moment, but then jovially changed the topic of the conversation.
--
"No Problem Mom. I will take a cab or something. Bye."
Nidhi had returned from a study trip with a group of students. The bus had dropped them at the institute and all the students had gone back to their hostels or home, when Ashutosh overheard her conversation on phone.
"What happened, Nidhi?"
"Sir. Nothing. Our driver had an emergency in his family. So, Mom let him go with the car. She had called to let me know that he cannot pick me up."
"That's not a problem. I will drop you. It's quite late."
"Oh no! You will unnecessarily have to drive till there and then come back. I will take a cab."
"I have been sitting in my office for last ten hours reading papers. I can do with some fresh air."
"But..."
"You are not going to deny me that, are you?"
"You are manipulative."
"Things you have to do for small pleasures in life," Ashutosh said with mocked seriousness as they walked towards his car.
It didn't take them long on the traffic-less roads at that hour and soon they pulled up in front of her home.
"Please do come inside, Sir. Mom would be really happy to meet you."
"Umm... Yeah. Sure. I'd like to meet her too," Ashutosh agreed after initial hesitation.
--
"Dr. Mathur. Very nice to meet you finally. Nidhi talks a lot about you."
"I hope she says nice things."
Nandini laughed at that and asked him whether he preferred tea or coffee.
"Coffee I guess," Nidhi answered, "I will get some."
"Oh! Don't bother yourself Nidhi. I don't need anything. I came in just to meet Mrs. Verma."
"Me and Mom would have chatted for a while over coffee anyway. It's not a problem."
Nandini engaged Ashutosh in some small talk.
"So, Dr. Mathur..."
"Mrs. Verma, please call me Ashutosh. I can't claim to be young any longer, but I think I'm young enough for you."
Nandini laughed her pleasant laughter again, as Ashutosh noticed that Nidhi's laughter was similar. A lot of her facial features also came from her mother. Although she was taller and also had longer fingers. Probably that was something she got from her father.
Nandini's voice brought him out of his thoughts, "All right Ashutosh. Thanks for reminding just how old I have become. But with a daughter of that age, I cannot hope to hide that. I wish she hadn't grown up so soon."
The hint of emotions in her voice did not escape Ashutosh' attention. He knew that Nidhi's father had died when she was seven years old and her mother never remarried. She must have lived her entire life for her daughter.
"Oh! She has grown up fine. You should be proud of her."
"Slightly immature still, I am afraid."
"I would call it innocence, which is a good thing."
"You can be charming Ashutosh. But she has told me about all the irresponsible things she has done on the job. Thanks for helping her out."
"Oh! She might have exaggerated it. Everyone makes mistakes. Mature people learn from their mistakes and she did."
"That's good to hear."
Nidhi walked in just as Nandini was changing the topic of conversation.
"What about your family Ashutosh? Wife? Kids?"
Nidhi noticed Ashutosh' discomfort immediately and intervened, "Come on Mom! You can't find a more exciting topic to discuss than marriage and kids. Don't become the nosy, old woman."
Nandini laughed yet again, "Oh! He has declared me to be an old woman just a while back. So, I thought I'd display all the associated characteristics too."
"Mrs. Verma. I really didn't mean to..." Ashutosh was genuinely embarrassed.
"Sir. Don't get embarrassed about her jokes. When she decides to entertain herself at someone's expense, she doesn't care that it's her first meeting with the person."
"Did I ask something inappropriate Nidhi? Is there a problem in his family?" Nandini asked her daughter after Ashutosh had left.
"I don't know Mom. I don't know anything about his family. But he looked uncomfortable. That's why I intervened."
"That was clever of you. Thanks for handling the situation."
"You are welcome Mom. But you should really not become the nosy, old woman," Nidhi made a baby face and the mother-daughter duo broke into a loud laughter.
--
"May I come in, Sir?" Nidhi knocked at the open door of Ashutosh' office.
"Nidhi. Come in. What's up?"
She stood there, hesitating for a moment.
"Sit down. What is bothering you?" he asked.
"It's a student..."
"What happened? You got a distress call again?" he asked with concern.
"No. It's not about the counseling forum. This student in my class came to me after the mid-semester exam. And..."
"And?"
"And he was going bonkers. He says he needs to pass the exam, else he would have no option but to commit suicide. I have seen his papers, he cannot pass. What do I do?"
"Who is he?"
Nidhi hesitated in giving out the name.
"You can tell me," he assured her.
"Mohit..."
"Mohit Mishra?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. So here is the rule of thumb. Those, who do commit suicide, are not the ones who talk about it."
"But what if..."
"I know Nidhi. You are kind of shaken up after Rakesh' attempt. But don't be. In fact, it is likely that this guy is just trying to cash on that."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. And particularly about this Mohit Mishra. He is one hell of a manipulative person. I don't know how they learn all of this at so young an age. Don't worry. And if he tries these tricks next time ask him to talk to the HOD. Okay?"
"Yes Sir," Nidhi finally seemed relaxed and smiled, "Thank you."
--
Edited by sharmishtha02 - 13 years ago
Arjun
Cricket
Indian Mythology
