Please do not read these chapters at a stretch. I repeat, DO NOT read these chapters at a stretch. There are things you need to focus, remember and contemplate on when reading each of the following chapters. You can comment separately about each chapter if you want. But please do take to heart what is being said here….since I wrote it hastily, there may be errors and I ask you to pardon me for them. I will be away for 3-4 weeks, like I already said, and when I come back, I will update ONLY if I am ensured through your comments that you have read the chapters so far as I have given you and that you are READY for the new promising update!
Chapter Thirty One: Concluding a String of Events
The sky roared and lightning flashed but no rain poured. The wind was too wild as the afternoon sky darkened before its time. With the sack of swords heavily rattling at his rear, the General rode through the expanse of land heading for the East. He had crossed the bridge and reached the other side of the river, aiming for the forests before him. The dark trees could be seen from the distance and he was still racing forward hoping to reach the forests before the downpour began when he heard the girl's cry immediately muffled by a splashing sound. Pulling at the reins, he stopped his horse suddenly and looking over his shoulder, he scanned the river beside him. There was no sign of anyone in it and thinking it was probably the restless wind he'd heard, he was about to proceed on his journey when his gaze fell on a scarf floating down the river. He urged his horse and retraced the expanse he had already covered, keeping close to the river while maintaining a good enough distance so as not to fall into it. The current was too strong and the scarf was being pulled down faster than Lightning's hoofs could manage. But his master led him on, and soon they had passed the scarf and then he saw the drowning head of the girl, and the General hasped, "It's her, Lightning. We must save her!"
The General prodded his horse on, but the current was too strong and she was getting carried further away and then he lost sign of her and she was lost in the swirls. "We must find her!" he cried out, and then digging his spurs into his horse's side, he made the horse accelerate its wild race.
"Hiyahh!!! Hiyahh!"
Suddenly her head appeared on the surface again and without a word, the General stopped his horse, leapt off the horseback, removed his coat, threw his hat off and ran towards the river. Fortunately, he didn't have to swim for just as soon as he arrived at the lapping side of the river, her body washed onto the bank and he only had to lift her by her arms. He pulled her to the grassier place, and laying her on her back, knelt bedside her.
"You, girl," he called her, "Wake up!"
There was no sign of life in her and her lips were blue, her face dangerously white. He read her pulse but it was feeble, "Get up." A shadow fell over them. Lightning stood before them and the horse's muzzle nudged at the girl's immobile head and neighed feebly.
"Lightning, stay away!" yelled his master and he leant towards the girl, intending to try and get the water out of her, when she suddenly coughed and rolled on her front, her stomach pressed to the cold ground. She spat out water and then looked up trying to catch her breath and he helped flip her again on her back, and watched her lying there, staring at the sky.
"Are you alright?" he asked, his eyes scanning her wet, pale face.
She took some time to register his voice and then stared at his face for sometime adjusting to the sight before her watery eyes. She tried sitting up. He helped her up and she sat still for a moment.
"Are you alright, madam?" he asked again.
She had her eyes on the ground, and she only nodded.
"Don't you live up North? What are you doing here?"
She looked up and realized who the man was for the first time, "You're….you're that man. The one who…"
She paused not knowing how to convert the dreaded memory into words.
"Yes, I am he," said the man, standing up and offering her his hand. She held it and he lifted her to her feet. "Why are you here, madam? Isn't your house up north?"
"I am presently staying with my aunt in the South Village," she explained, looking down at her dress and seeing how wet she was.
"Oh I see," he said and then caught her inspection, "Oh, you must get them changed quick lest you catch a cold."
"Yes, I must be on my way," she decided hastily, "Thank you, good sir, you have saved my life twice now."
"Oh please, madam, no words of praise for me. I only did what was my duty: save a girl in need of my aid."
"I am greatly indebted to you."
"You needn't be," he said and then he asked, "How do you suppose to get home in this dreadful weather. It is too late already."
"I must make a run for it, leastways," she said, shrugging.
"I don't think you can run and make up for the lost time and distance," he pointed out, "You are too far away from the village to get there on your feet."
"I have no horse or cart, sir," she said, her eyes saddened.
"I am on my way to the East, and I cannot return to the Village for it will be a great loss of time then," he contemplated, and then a thought occurred upon his mind, "A little distance away there is an industry where there is a secure room for the laborers to reside as well. Perhaps if you ask them, they will be kind enough to give you a change of dress and a horse to ride you back to the village."
"How far a walk is this industry?"
"A walk will take you to its gate by nightfall," he said, nodding in the direction he was indicating in words, "But a horse ride will take you there quicker."
He patted on Lightning's mane as he watched the girl's expression but she didn't need to think to answer, "I am sorry sir, but I prefer going by foot."
She had no intentions in riding with a strange man.
The man seemed to understand and as he picked up his coat and began putting it on, he said, "If its my presence that makes you uncomfortable to ride on Lightning," he put his cap on and looked from under its brim, "you can place that sack of swords between us when we ride."
The offer was appeasable and the girl fidgeted with the thought for a while, biting her lip and looking around to search for other possible options. She had apparently found none, for she nodded a short while later and he helped her mount onto the horse. He placed the sack behind her, and mounted up behind it. He felt the cold steel blades pressing into his chest.
"Do the blades hurt you?" he asked, concerned.
"No, I am too cold to feel them," she said shivering. She hated horsebacks and she was trying all she could to not let the realization that was on horseback scare her.
She felt him fidgeting at the rear and realized he was probably removing his coat again, "Please don't. I am getting warmer now."
"But you will get warmer if you have something to cover you," he said, handing the coat to her. But she did not take it. She had her arms crossed before her chest, "Please don't offer it. I cannot take it."
"Why? Is it because it's weighed by medals? Or is it because its mine?"
"The first reason," she picked quickly, wanting to evade the topic, "It will be too heavy for me."
"But you could-"
"Please sir, if you don't mind, can we not waste time in more chatter and just ride? You have to reach the East before nightfall, don't you?"
"You are right," he stated, and pressed her no further with the coat issue. He shrugged into it and as soon as all the buttons were put, he picked up the reins, hugging the sack before him and feeling her shrink away from his arms. He sighed but said nothing and soon he had Lightning speeding across the land, heading for the place he had recommended to her as the sky grew deadly darker.
Before long they could see the huge gates before them, and helping the girl alight he told her he had to hurry and that she was safe here, and so left her there and rode off into the night and soon the white horse and its rider had vanished into the stretch of thick forest trees and was seen no more.
Kushi waited and pondered her next move for sometime before the immense gates. It loomed over and she shivered again. She pressed her arms across her chest to fight the cold and knew the wind was challenging her state to further misery.
"I have no choice, he said it was safe her," she decided, and pushed the huge gates, that were surprisingly open.
On walking into the grassy lawn of the place she spotted a tree nearby and she paused for a while against it and watched the surroundings. There was no sign of movement or people and she didn't know whether to feel sacred as she usually did or gather her brave instincts that were still trying to recover from her drowning. She couldn't believe she had actually drowned and almost died a few minutes ago. If that man hadn't been riding that way at that precise time…
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Alright, Kushi, gather your pluck and get moving! She stepped out of the tree's shadow and headed for the huge construction before her. She didn't know what to call it, except that the man had told her it was an industry. Like a mill?
The lawn was dull and vast and it took some time for her to find the path that led from the gate right up the huge doors of the 'industry's entrance. She stood facing it and waited for a few seconds before knocking. She leaned forward and with her ear on the cold door, she could hear the echo of her knock booming through the supposedly vast space behind the door. Soon silence returned and as she waited, a shadow appeared at her right side and she edged away fearing it to be some fearsome stranger.
"Who are you? What are you doing here in this late hour?" asked the huge voice and she took the courage to look up. An enormous man with heavily-muscled arms was towering before her. She couldn't see his face though but knew from the tone he had used that he was probably scowling.
"I…I was lost and I…." she stammered, "And I'm wet."
The men inched closer and inspected the authenticity of her remark. She presented a sad look on her face to appear lost and to be wet she didn't have to try anything for she was dripping from head to foot.
He stated finally, "It a good thing the Master left a few minutes ago or he would have thrown you out. Come along now, you shouldn't stand in this weather in such a state," he grunted and walked away, expecting her to follow. Lifting up the heavily wet fringes of her gown, she rushed to catch up with him and found herself circling the huge 'industry' until they were at the very rear of the structure.
There was a tiny door there and he opened it for her and she could see that there was some form of light within and trusting that the man could be trusted, she bent low and walked in. He followed her subsequently and shut the door behind him.
Kushi found herself in a huge room where over two dozen men and women sat crowded around a fireplace and warmed their hands and drank some soup. They looked up to see who had entered.
The voice behind her addressed someone in the crowd, "Mina, get this girl a change of dress. She's shivering wet."
A lady in the crowd, younger than Kushi's mother, stood up with her bowl, and stepped out of the circle. "Right this way," she beckoned to Kushi, and led the young girl to a division in the room that was separated from the other area by a huge dark curtain, its upper length tied at the ceiling.
The woman placed her bowl on a cluttered worktable, and opening a huge chest that stood against the wall, she began rummaging through its contents. Finally, she lifted out of it with a sad, plain gown and handed it to Kushi.
"This might suit you right," she said, as Kushi took it, "We can offer you nothing to choose from."
"Your kindness will suffice, ma'am," said Kushi, smiling.
With an acknowledging nod, the woman picked up her bowl and left.
In the solitude behind that curtain, Kushi waited to make sure no one was close by and then began undressing. As she undressed, something fell off of her dress, and she looked down, saw the glint of a gold-plated heart and realized it was her necklace. Gasping inwardly, she picked it up and hastily tied it around her neck. If she were to part with anything, she hoped it would never have to be this necklace. It was the last thing she had that belonged to her birth mother and Babuji had told her once how he'd rescued her from the river and carried her home and found that all the while she had clutched onto the necklace in her hand even when she had been unconscious.
Her eyes watered at the thought of what it must have been like had her mother and father been there to love her and what kind of a home they would have lived in….But Kushi shook her head, I am happy being Babuji's and Amma's daughter and Payal's sister and I do not want to change that. After making sure that the clasp of the necklace was fastened and would not slip off again, she dressed into the warm dry gown she had been offered. It didn't look that bad on her and she was grateful that these people were so kind to a stranger like her.
She stepped out from behind the curtain, straightening the creases, and smiled at the crowd, among which sat the huge man who had directed her. He was sipping his soup and on seeing her, looked up and nodded, "Suits well?"
"Yes, sir, thank you," she said, kindly.
"Don't sir me, kid," said the man, and then Mina looked at her, "Are you hungry, child?"
Kushi tried to quieten her growling stomach as she sheepishly answered, "You must not have enough to feed another mouth, I suppose." She was in fact starving after her unexpected nightly adventures.
"We have plenty to feed a whole army, child," said Mina, and beckoned her to come towards the circle, "Come and sit here."
Kushi obeyed and soon found herself among the soup-sippers and she was also offered a steaming bowl filled to the brim with soup and a wooden spoon with which she began on her dinner.
"This is good," she said, to no one in particular for she did not know who had made it, "And its such a comfort to have something warm running down your throat after being out in the cold for long."
"Where do you come from?"
"Where is you home?"
Some of the people in the crowd had decided to break their silence and interrogate the newcomer.
"I come from the South Village," said Kushi, sipping and smiling around at all the faces, "I was travelling to the North for some errands but an accident happened," she paused, gulping the hot soup hastily to forget the 'accident' that was flashing through her memory as soon as she had mentioned it, "and I got lost and didn't know what to do."
"How did you get wet?"
"Yes. It hasn't begun raining yet. So how did you get wet?"
Kushi paused before answering, "I slipped into the river."
All the sipping and slurping stopped and every face looked up at her in dead silence. It was Mina who spoke first, "Hope nothing…Did you drown?"
Kushi didn't know if how her 'yes' would be taken if the mere mention of 'slipping' into the river was benefited with such a reaction. So she simply smiled and resumed her soup sipping.
All the others too, deciding that no harm had probably come to her if she were to smile and sit here, sipping soup with them instead of floating in the river, continued with their dinner in silence. After a while, a question was put forward for Kushi, "Don't you want to go home? Won't you parents worry over your absence especially since its nighttime?"
"I would love to return back," said Kushi, "But I have no means with which to get there with the storm coming."
"We have a horse cart handy, if you want," offered the huge man, smiling at her, "Or you could stay here for the night and leave for home as soon as the storm is cleared and daylight can guide your way."
"Thank you sir but I think it would be wiser to go home as soon as I am finished with this soup," confessed Kushi and the man nodded.
When she and the man and finished their soup and the bowls were put in the pail of hot water to be washed, the man led her to the tiny door that opened to the outside world. No sooner had he opened it than a blast of wind with a heavy spray of water splashed onto his immense form that shielded Kushi behind him from getting wet and he shut the door and faced her, dripping of rain.
"It's wild out there," he pointed out verbally what she had seen visually, "You better stay the night, girl."
Kushi reluctantly nodded, knowing that she had no other choice for there was no way she was going to brave through that storm.
And so Kushi found herself spending the night in a strange place, with strange people who were kind enough to give her warm clothes, warm soup, an offer of a horse cart ride and even a blanket and a space on the floor to sleep in. The men slept in a row along one side of the wall and the women along the other side. Lying parallel next to an Mina and another older woman, Kushi tried to comfort herself with the thought that Buaji must have assumed that she had stayed at the herbalist's since it had turned late, but she worried about her sister who would grow anxious with every hour of Kushi's unexplained absence and probably even decide to stay watch on the front door all through the night. Kushi closed her eyes and shut her minds of all thoughts wanting to go to the land of sleep where she would no longer have to fear the unfamiliar darkness around her.
Chapter Thirty Two: Back Home
Early morning after a silent breakfast of bread and coffee in a bowl with the others in the room at the back of the 'industry', the man, who was named Lal, hitched the cart and took Kushi on a rapid ride to the village. Rapid ride, not because Kushi was worried as to what state Buaji and Payal might be in, but because the man Lal had to be back at the 'industry' before his fearful Master arrived.
"Who is your Master?" asked Kushi but they had reached the outskirts of the village and it was time for her to get down.
"I will not enter the village for it will take off too much of my ride-back time," explained the man, and Kushi nodded and then waved as he rode his cart away back to where he had come from. She didn't know why but she stood for sometime watching the cart shrink into the distance as the sky began clearing for welcoming a stormless day.
Skipping and humming, Kushi walked through the silent street of the village and soon found herself at Buaji's house. She didn't bother to knock on the door and opening it, peeped in to see if anyone was in the living room. Sure enough, Payal and Buaji were sitting there, the former reading a book and the latter knitting.
"Buaji!" announced Kushi, walking in and closing the door casually, as if she had left the house for a walk in the garden instead of being away from home a whole night.
Both the women looked up and betrayed no expressions. Their faces were set as if nothing dangerous like drowning could have happened to their morning visitor but they eyed her dress all the same.
"Is that the herbalist's wife's?" asked her aunt. She was wearing a most hilarious wig that morning and Kushi had to fix her eyes on her Buaji's hands lest her eyes wander to the head and she started laughing.
"Yes," said Kushi, not knowing how to answer to that question, "Did you miss me?"
"We?" Buaji asked, "Of course, we wouldn't. Especially after that kid came and said that you had told him you'd be staying at the herbalist's for the night because the storm was coming."
"Oh." Kushi frowned, wanting to ask which boy but that would put her aunt under suspicion for she must have assumed that the boy was sent by her. And then she remembered having Ram with her when the cart broke.
"Kushi, did you have a good stay with the herbalist's?" asked Payal, eyeing Kushi's expressions.
"Yes," Kushi said to the ceiling, and then looked down at her aunt's hands again, "How is you hand, Buaji?"
"It cured as soon as you'd left," stated the woman, mater-of-factly.
"Oh."
"Did you have breakfast, Kushi?" asked Payal, still not taking her eyes off Kushi.
"Yes," said Kushi, tapping her feet restlessly on the floor, "Em….Buaji, can I go out and thank Master Happyji's boy for conveying the message to you about last night?"
"Sure," said her aunt, who was completely immersed in her knitting now.
Kushi wasted no time. As soon as the word was out of her aunt's mouth, she opened the door and slipped out, trying to run as far away from Payal's observant eyes as possible. She reached the horse carriage shop and called for the owner but he was not there. She walked into the garage and found to her delight that the boy was there. He was bent over the worktable, nailing something. She strode up to him and tapped on his shoulder. He looked up and his face lit with a relieved grin. He signed something with his fingers and she stared back at him.
"What does that mean?" she asked him, nodding to his hands.
He signed again and she shook her head.
"Can't you write it out for me?"
He shrugged.
"You don't know how to read and write? Haven't you ever gone to school?"
He shook his head.
"Babuji went to a village school when he was a kid so he taught me and Jiji all we needed to know in Reading, Writing and Arithmetic."
The boy stared back at her.
"Never mind," she waved a hand in the air, "But show me again what you had showed to me before? Just try and make it more…understandable."
So he conveyed a slower and simpler version of hand signs until she grasped the gist.
"Oh, you mean you are happy that I am back?"
He nodded.
"But didn't you wonder if I'd have lost myself?"
He shook his head.
"Why?"
He signed again.
"I am brave?"
He nodded, and signed something again and he had to repeat it once more before she understood.
"A girl…who answers back to….the First Lord- Oh!- is brave…."
She smiled and ruffled his hair, "You are a clever one you know." He nodded, unabashedly.
"I like you," she said, "Listen….why don't you teach me how to speak in signs with you and I will teach you how to read and write."
The boy's face brightened and he nodded.
"Oh goody!" Kushi clasped her hands, "But now I have to go. You carry on with your work, lad. Oh and thanks greatly for saving my neck last night."
Kushi walked out of the garage and headed for her aunt's house but before she'd reached the door, a hand reached out and pulled her to the side.
Kushi instinctively gasped and then sighed, seeing that it was only Payal. But Kushi had to gulp down her sigh on seeing the knowing look on her sister's face, "What is it, Jiji?"
"What happened to you last night?"
"Eh…"
"Where did you stay last night?"
"I…."
Payal titled her head and cocked an eyebrow, "I've known you for nearly ten years, Kushi. There is no way I can't read the lie on your face."
"I know," sighed Kushi.
Payal frowned, "Then what is it? Have we begun keeping secrets from each other?"
"No, I mean, its just that…" Kushi paused, her face anxious and fearful, "tell me you won't yell at me."
"Another of your scrapes, eh?" said Payal, "I knew it. Last night when that boy came and said what he'd said, I knew there was more to the story. But Buaji believed it and slept soundly but I was awake all night!" She pulled Kushi to the garden and they squatted on a grassy clearing between some shrubs.
"Tell me."
And so Kushi, reluctantly but frankly, conveyed all there was to convey, leaving out the gist of the conversation she had had with the First Lord and the General and the part where she'd drowned.
"A soldier on a white horse? There was such a solider here to buy Buaji's swords. "
"Oh, he had a sack of swords on his horse too." Kushi jumped at the connection, "He saw that I was lost and offered to take me to a closer shelter for I had gone too far from the village to return in time on foot and he had to ride to the East."
"I see," Payal nodded, believing it, "So after crashing into the unknown rider and his black horse, you were without a horse cart, you sent the boy on horseback and yourself remained lost, then got rescued by the man on the white horse and he dropped you at the industry?"
"Yes," said Kushi, rushing to the conclusion hoping her sister wouldn't accidently stumble on the gaps in the story, "And the people there were kind enough to lend me a spare dress-"
"Which you had gotten wet in the rain that poured while riding on the white horse?"
"Yes," said Kushi hastily, "And they gave me hot soup to drink before sleep and in the morning after breakfast, offered to ride me to the village."
"That is so kind of them," said Payal, beaming, "But Kushi, what a lot of things happened to you in one night! Are you sure you didn't see the face of the rider on the black horse?"
"No, he toppled the cart over and sped off," said Kushi, shrugging.
"What kind of a place is this industry?" Payal was curious.
"I think its something like our mill. But here the workers stay at the industry itself."
"What do they make there? Not chocolates, I presume."
"No, not chocolates," said Kushi, realizing that she had not asked that in all that uproar and newness, "I wonder what they make there and who owns that place."
Payal pulled at her ear, "Promise me you won't go wandering there again to inspect what they make or who makes them."
"Ah! I won't I won't, I promise!" yelled Kushi, pulling at Payal's hand which only increased the pain.
Payal let go off her and chuckled, "I missed you so much last night. No one to fight with to sleep last night."
Kushi giggled, "And I was afraid if the darkness in that room at the industry would pick on me and I would have died of fright if the old woman next to me wasn't snoring and thereby assuring me of her presence."
"Women snore?" Payal asked, amazed.
"That woman did," said Kushi, and then leaned closer, "And I think Buaji does too."
Both the sisters laughed and so the string of events came to an end with no one harmed and no one remembered. Or so we thought.
Chapter Thirty Three: A Carriage Arrives
A week had passed since the "string of events" and all was well and normal in Arhasia. It was a little late in the morning hours when the quiet of the land was disturbed by the sound of huge carriage wheels crunching over the forest path from the East.
As it was passing through the region where the forest was on one side and the river on the other, it suddenly stopped in the middle of nowhere. The door of the carriage burst open and a woman, heavily dressed and jeweled and sporting a marvelously painted face, emerged, fanning her face with an Oriental fan. She was a little above middle age but the colour and blush upon her face levied any beholder impossible to ascertain her exact age.
She hobbled out of the carriage door, banged it shut and marched right up to where the driver of the carriage was seated. Fixing him with a furious glare, she admonished him, "How slow you are! How deliberately dawdling!! We haven't got the whole day to keep riding and riding and riding through this nothingness. I'm hungry and my legs hurt from all this sitting. You better speed your horses lest you know the full extent of my wrath this fine morning!" She sniffed angrily and walked off, throwing a "Hello Hi Bye Bye!!!" over her shoulder.
"But my dear," said the driver, patting his hat to see if it was standing aright, "The carriage is very old and if I drive it any faster, it will break and we will be stranded in this….nothingness, as you call it."
The woman stopped on her tracks, turned around and stared hard at him, "We are such a loaded family and you never had the time to afford a new carriage?" Her features now drooped with sadness as she wailed, "How many times I reminded you that there is a new kind of carriage being sold in town, one with mirrors inside and overhead lamps to give light when you need to touch up on your pretty face. You have no care for me! I can't believe I married a loveless man who cares naught for what his dear wife wants!"
The man shook his head, exasperated over this speech and knowing not with what words he was to soothe her or tell her that her usual "loveless man" speech was beginning to bore him greatly instead of the vexing she expected of him.
Just then an uninterested sigh was heard from within the carriage, followed by the sound of an open book being closed, and then a handsome head peeped out and eyed the scene outside.
"Mother," said the gentle voice of the young man, his dark hair neatly combed to a side, and his eyes dancing with ready mirth as he said, "Wasn't it enough for you to fire our driver a week ago for sleeping while riding and then have father ride the carriage for us? Why do you pester him so? He has his reasons for going slow."
The woman gasped, eyeing both father and son, "You are both warring against me? Oh, what more does a woman need!!!" And she wailed and threw her fan to the ground, "I am going nowhere until you take back your words, both of you!"
"Then you'd better move aside, Manu," said the husband cheerily, and lifted the reins to rear the horses.
"What!" The woman stared at her husband, "How heartless, how loveless, how….warmless you are!!!"
"So Mother," asked her son, his eyebrow arching a little towards her direction, "Are you continuing the ride with us or not?"
"And leave you two men to enjoy the stay at the Castle by yourselves?" The mother's eyes glinted, "Never!"
She threw a glance to the man at the reins, "Whether you remain heartless at words and slow at riding, dear husband, I shall live and die with you two beside me!"
"That sounds more like my Manu," said the man, assuring her with a sincere smile, but the woman only frowned and looked away, picked up her fan from the ground and hobbled back into the carriage. The man exchanged an amused wink with his son, before the young head disappeared back into the carriage and the father pulled at the reins and set the horses to resume their disrupted journey towards the destination.
Soon, before long, the carriage had rumbled itself to the foot of the hill upon which was the Raizada Castle. With a little striving, the tepid wheels groaned as they dragged the occupants uphill and through the gate until they were soon drawn to a relieved stop before the mansion doors.
No sooner had the man dismounted from his seat and opened the door to let his wife step out, that door of the Castle swung open and a cheery voice greeted them, "Mamiji, Mamaji!! Oh and little Akash!!!"
All eyes turned to look at the radiant looking Lady Anjali, dressed in a gentle peach gown as she held the door open for them. The threesome climbed the few steps and after Lady Anjali had order the butler to see to the carriage and the luggage, she led them in with immense joviality.
"I am so glad you had a wonderful vacation," said Lady Anjali, "The house was so silent what with just me, and Chotey and…" Her voice trailed away and she cast a glance to the room at the far end of the upstairs.
"Didn't Jeejaji come for a week or so?" asked Lord Akash, after kissing her on the back of her hand.
"He did," said Lady Anjali, and then her voice waned, "But he could only stay for a week. He left for his new assignment last week."
"Oh you poor child," said her Mamiji, and she pulled the young woman into an embrace her fan pressed on Lady Anjali's back.
"I'm fine now," said Lady Anjali, "Chotey has promised to get me a friend to give me happy company…." Then she frowned at the ground, "And I do hope he did hear the 'happy' part…."
"He must have," said Mamaji after having monitored all the luggage deposition.
Mamaji kissed his niece's hand and she smiled at him, "You must all be starving…Shall we all have some lunch? The dinning table has been set."
"Yes," said Lord Akash, stretching his arms as if wanting to embrace the space around him, "it's so good to be back home."
Chapter Thirty Four: News and Nuances
Bright sunny morning was upon the lands and Kushi woke up to the sound of birds greeting the dew-touched leaves. She slipped out of bed and walked toward the bedroom window and opening it, she breathed in the smell of damp grass.
"Come and smell the air, Jiji!!" she called out to her sister who was stirring awake too. Payal sat up in bed and contemplated, as she watched her sister's back bending over the window, "Kushi? Why hasn't Babuji and Amma written any letters to us? It's been two weeks since our stay here and we have sent them four letters already."
"They must be busy, Jiji," stated Kushi, turning about and leaning against the window sill with her eyes on her sister, "You know how hard Babuji will find it to manage the mill all by himself. If we were there, we could have helped him out."
"Not, we…you," piped Payal, getting out of the bed, "You're the one who always jaunts down the lane faithfully following Babuji every morning to the mill."
"You do not involve yourself in making chocolates, Jiji, or you would have come with him yourself," stated Kushi.
"I prefer helping mother at home," said Payal, "That's what girls are supposed to do: help the mothers and learn from them because one day they will have to be wives and mothers themselves!!"
"Oh, is my Jiji preparing herself for her wifely days?" teased Kushi as both the sisters headed to the basin where they were to wash themselves.
"And you should too, Kushi," said Payal, blushing slightly but keeping her tone in control, "It is Babuji's wish to see us off on the same day."
"Marriage on the same day," wondered Kushi, delighted, "Oh! That would be lovely indeed. But you now what would be more lovely, Jiji?"
"What?" said Payal, least interested in the topic.
"Marrying to the same house," said Kushi, waving her and ion the air, as if she had done an impossible magic trick, "You and me, sisters, married to…"
"Brothers?" chuckled Payal, "That is most ridiculous! Nothing of that sort is going to happen." And then Payal paused and a look of terror came upon her eyes, "tell me Kushi," she pulled Kushi's arms, "You didn't by any chance wish for us to be married to the same house at the Temple, did you??
"No," said Kushi, "I actually wished for-"
"No," Payal said, waving her hands in the air, "I don't want to hear. I just wanted to make sure you hadn't done anything absurd…even if it was just making wishes."
"Bitiya!" called out their aunt from her bedroom. And Payal and Kushi, knowing not which bitya was referred to, rushed to their aunt's room and presented themselves before her.
"Yes, Buaji?" they asked in unison.
Their aunt was fidgeting with something on her head before the dressing table. The reflection of her face was one of desperate efforts, puffed red with strain.
"Buaji?" Kushi asked, "Are you alright?"
"I-can't-get-this," the woman was panting, as she struggled with the hair, "to-sit-"
Payal and Kushi stepped forward and soon all three were fidgeting with the wig, flipping it over and then angling it everyway possible to see how it could be made to sit. Finally, the exasperated and panting threesome dropped the wig, defeated by it, and as soon as the aunt had caught her breath, she officially announced that she wanted to go shopping for another wig.
"I think since you girls came here and my headaches being frequent have caused all my wigs to appear shrunk!"
Payal and Kushi only looked at each other.
So, during the afternoon, while their aunt went shopping for wigs, the girls cleaned the floors and cooked dinner. After a while, when they were knitting, the sound of cartwheels coming fell upon their ears, and they kept their work aside and peeped through the window. It was Master Happyji's cart and on it was the boy Ram and Buaji talking away gloriously though the boy was paying no attention.
The girls ran out of the house and helped their aunt down, who said as she descended, "I was about to come home after my shopping when I saw this lad returning from his trip from up North and asked him for a lift. Why waste feet power when you can access willing horsepower?" She chuckled contentedly at her joke and left the girls to manage the basket of goods.
With Payal walking before her, Kushi had also turned towards the door when the boy clapped and she looked at him from over her shoulder. With a quick lift of her eyebrows, she asked him why he had called her.
He nodded her to come closer. She lightly dropped the baskets in her hands to the ground, and walked up to the cart. He leaned low from his bench and signed something. She frowned at it, and then her eyes lit, "You saw Babuji? When? How is he?"
The boy placed a finger on his lips reminding her to not raise her voice.
She asked him in a low eager voice, "Did he look happy? Was he healthy to gaze at? Did you notice any sign of illness? Was he with Amma?"
The boy slapped his hand on his forehead and rolled his eyes. He shook his head and sat up. When he took the reins again, Kushi pleaded for him to stop and complete what he was to say, but he only shook his head and signed "later" with his hand and then Kushi pouted her lips and watched the cart ride away to the adjacent garage. The boy had not even spared a backward glance in her direction.
In the late afternoon Kushi and Payal were being taught how to make swords by their aunt who believed that girls had to know everything about anything and they were working in the backyard busily, when Master Happy walked that way and looked over their fence and found them so.
"Madhumatiji," said Master Happy, "Is it true what I heard?"
The soot covered woman looked up from her hammering on the anvil and tilted her head as she gave a confused look at the man, "Whatever do you mean, Happyji?"
"I mean about your brother."
"What about him?" asked Madhumati, dropping the hammer casually and wiping her hands on her apron.
"I heard he is selling his mill because his workers have stopped coming."
"What?" This was uttered by all three woman in one voice and Master Happy looked flummoxed by their expressions, and then he looked sad and guilty, "Oh, so you didn't know. I am sorry that it had to be me who broke the news to you."
The uproar that followed upon this news is better shortened. All I can say is how each woman was generally found to react. Kushi was pale with shock and kept walking to and fro in a frenzy, questioning someone who was visible in a mixture of mumbles. Payal knelt on the heated grass, clasped her hands and dramatically cried up to the heavens, "why oh why!" Well no, actually she was just wailing. And the aunt. Sigh. She was the loudest of the lot and she barraged an array of questions upon the poor Master Happy and all he could do was stare back at her in disbelief as if she were accusing him of burning down her house and that was what I felt too because she had his collar fisted in her beefy hands, over her fence.
Suddenly Kushi stopped, "This is all my fault."
"Silence!" ordered the aunt, looking over her shoulder and releasing the poor man who fumbled with his collar to see if his neck was still there.
"But Buaji, the people might still be reacting over-"
"I said SILENCE!" said Buaji with finality, looking at Payal, "And you get up!"
Payal was on her feet, her face saddened as if someone had died, "Oh Buaji, mother and I had been with father when we made that mill from scratch and stone….from its first stone to its last."
"Stones and sticks!! Silence, I say!!" The girls were hushed and vigilant, wondering what their aunt intended in making them quite. The elder woman had a mourning look on her face but her voice was determined, "We do not and shall not deal on the past….not on how the stones began and how the stones cannot end up…We must think of what to do with the present."
This is what the aunt had always been best at. Reassuring herself for what was to come than to mourn over what was past. The sudden loss of her husband had taught her this valuable habit and she upheld it with vigour. It was true and she knew that the fault for this tragedy lay in that matter that everyone was accusing Kushi for. Lord Raizada who had owned all the lands had granted some land up north for the village to be set up and the people, though they knew he was hard and heartless, esteemed him with great respect and honor. To have impeded into his land and angered him was considered gravely punishable by the villages.
"We need to begin making more swords," said the woman.
"Swords?" Kushi worded, "who buys swords? Buaji there are no people other than soldiers who will buy swords and all soldiers have gone for war."
"We'll send them through an envoy," stated Buaji, "On the battlefield there will be great need for more swords."
"Too much swords can be bothersome too," said Kushi, "Some will not be used and remain rusted in their tents."
"Nonsense," said Buaji, but she said nothing more for she knew there was some truth to it. Swords at excess were wasteful.
"We could knit to sell," opined Payal, walking up to her aunt, "People always need clothes."
"Handkerchiefs," Kushi announced suddenly, "People easily get tired of using the same handkerchief and washing it fades the color away. They also like flourishing new handkerchiefs for others to see for same old handkerchiefs are so tiresome for eyes."
Buaji and Payal only stared at her.
"Well, we could start with handkerchiefs?" asked Kushi, seeking some support.
Payal nodded, "Yes, we could start with handkerchiefs."
"But we will also make swords," stated Buaji, and the girls were going to protest but Buaji raised her hand and stopped all protests from being raised.
"We'll make a stack of swords and I'll consult for some buyers at the market," Buaji said.
And so began the strenuous work at home: knitting, swordsmithing and knitting and more swordsmithing. The aunt spent her day at the backyard and when it was nearly dusk, she would clear it up and commence her knitting in her living room. The girls took turns with their aunt at swordmaking. If one was in the backyard helping in the filing and polishing, the other was in the house, knitting.
The girls were never given a break, starting with the early morning rising, going to collect milk and eggs from the neighbour, making breakfast, cleaning up the floors, knitting, swordmaking, knitting, swordmaking, preparing lunch and then again knitting, swordmaking, knitting, swordmaking and teatime and then knitting knitting knitting knitting and then making dinner and then more knitting knitting knitting and finally it would be bedtime. And the two of them fell upon their bed exhausted and too tired to talk.
Poor things. But they are also to be admired. For through her rearing, the aunt was making them able, agile, quick and determined. They could handle multiples tasks and run an entire house with just those two hands to aid them. And among them, Kushi was the brightest student. Not only did her swords come out sharper and better shaped than Payal's but she also mastered the art of quick cooking. However, when it came to knitting, Kushi was a disaster. The needle in her hand was always restless and her thread kept knotting at places she had never intended to knot. Payal's patience and nimble fingers worked magic at the needle and Kushi could only sigh and stare at her messed artwork.
"You never had time to sit and learn from mother," stated Payal, looking up while knitting away, "You always had to go dancing to the mill after Babuji."
"Well, I don't like staying at home and doing nothing but homely labours," said Kushi, frustratedly pulling at the thread again, "Why doesn't this thing obey!"
Payal frowned and asked her to hand her the "thing". Kushi offered it and watched how easily Payal corrected her blunder.
"There now," said Payal returning it back, "You need to be gentle upon it, Kushi and not expect it to be clever than you."
"I hate knitting," grumbled Kushi, pocking the needle through the cloth.
"Knitting clams the mind and strengthens one's will power," said Bauji's voice from behind them as she entered through the backdoor, having cleared up the backyard for the night, "Is the dinner ready?" she cast a look over the kitchen table.
"Yes," said Payal.
"How can you be good at both swordmaking and knitting, Buaji?" asked a curious Kushi.
Buaji came and sat next to her and took Kushi's knitting from her hands and began working on it, "A woman needs to be not just fiery and fast but also gentle and silently watchful too."
Kushi watched as her aunt made a heart on the cloth with a blue thread, "You see a calm heart can think clearly. And you must also need to learn that greater than fierce love is love that is gentle and sacrificing."
"But Buaji," said Kushi, "I can't always be a nodding statue."
"Who said you had to nod?" said Buaji making a red heart, "You must also know how to silently say no. My Kushi bitiya is sacrificing but she is not silent. You must train yourself to be enveloped in calm and not be carried away by everything that happens around you."
Kushi was silent and thoughtful and Buaji announced that it was time for dinner. They had to sleep early since the next day they were going to try their hand at selling the stock they had made so far. And when Kushi lay to bed that night with Buaji's words echoing in her mind, she never would have thought that she would rise to hear the same woman tell her something she detested doing.
Chapter Thirty Five: Against One's Wishes
"No, I won't," said Kushi, her face determined, and her arms crossed before her chest.
Buaji sighed, "They are our best option, for no one else within the proximity will need swords, and they might buy it at least to put them up on walls," then she said with finality, "You will go there."
"Buaji, maybe you should not let her go there," Payal offered gently and with great difficulty she took the courage to say, "I'll go instead."
"No, Payalia, you are coming with me," said Buaji, "The Goddess of Mischief can handle this by herself."
"I will not go!" Kushi looked away towards the window and stared fixedly at it.
"You WILL go," said Buaji sternly, "And before you offer them the swords and the kerchiefs you will say you are sorry for what happened."
"It was no fault of mine what happened, and I do not have to waste a sorry on them."
"Kushibitya!"
"Buaji! Don't force me!"
"You WILL go! It is for your own good."
"Why? Will that First Lord ask for my head if I don't apologize to his hardheadedness?"
"Put a rein on your words, girl, and take these things."
"I won't take them and I won't go."
Payal had been watching this exchange with extreme anxiety and she once more offered her sacrifice, "I'll go."
"No, you won't Jiji!" said Kushi, "I won't send you to that lion's lair!"
"Oh the words you use!!" Buaji was fuming, "you need to watch your words, girl!"
"I have my dignity to watch out for," stated Kushi, with a proud nod.
"Well then," said Buaji, with a sly grin, "If your so stubborn to not apologize to him, that makes you no different from his hardheadedness."
That comment threw the veil. Kushi stared at her aunt, her face appalled that her aunt had brought her niece so low as to be equated with the haughty First Lord.
"Fine then" said Kushi, through clenched teeth, "I'll go to their place. But because you tell me that he will not be there during the daytime."
"He won't be there," assured Buaji, handing her the basket of goods, "And you can come back as soon as you are done with it. Apologize on his behalf to Lady Anjali and offer her a purchase of these goods."
Kushi said nothing for though she had said 'yes' she was still fuming inside and only wanted to get this quickly done with. She took the basket and without a backward glance, walked out of the house and out of the garden where Ram waited on his cart. Wordlessly she climbed it and sat without giving him any greeting or even a nod. He eyed her rigid expression, shrugged and then led the horses out of the street and on to the Village Road.
You are so going to love the chapters that are about to come!!
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Udne Ki Aasha
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
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