IPKKND FF:Perfection Th.4//Chapter 46 Pg 124(Updated August 14, 2015) - Page 34

CHAPTER 44


NK and Payal picked up everyone's luggage from the baggage carousel, and found the two cars that Aakash had arranged for them. Then, they gently led the other two passengers traveling with them into their respective spots, and supervised the loading of the luggage. Payal and NK, exchanging looks with each other as they handled the car rentals, understood by now that things were stacked against them on this trip. If they were planning to do some investigation about Shyam, tracking his movements and checking his background, they would have to do it by themselves.


Neither Khushi not Anjali were being of any help with anything so far. Khushi was almost catatonic, walking when she was pushed into walking, stopping when she was stopped, with a faraway expression on her face that nothing seemed to reach. And while NK had hoped to quiz Anjali about some details on Shyam, he realized that she was going to be useless, in a totally different way than Khushi.


Anjali was very much there with them, emotionally, unlike her blank faced Khushi Bhabi. Anjali was smiling at everyone, pointing out local sights, and chattering with their driver. But she was clearly distracted, oddly tense. She was jittery to a degree that made absolutely no sense, as if some big test or hurdle was before her, something she was determined to win. There was a sense of focus within her, as if she had decided on some course of action---entire body resonating to some frequency that was making her visibly agitated. A sheer veil had dropped between them and the Anjali they all knew, obscuring the person they knew, changing her into someone different.


It was the oddest behavior that NK had ever seen. Now, Payal's feeling from the plane, the unease and worry that she had first felt and told him about manifested within NK as well. The sensation of missing out on something essential about Anjali's behavior was so strong right now that NK found himself wishing he had not remembered that story about Anjali Di. That story, the one about Anjali and the dog-- the old story that he had told Payal. The one that had made Payal so worried and quiet.

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Payal watched as Khushi responded with monosyllabic answers to Anjali's questions about their hometown and plans here. As she settled back into her seat, aimlessly watching the north Indian scenery outside her car zoom by, Payal thought, once again, about Anjali and the story NK had told to her. NK had warned her that this story was nothing much, just something he had heard.


More than ten years ago, back when they had been children, back when Arnav and Anjali had lived here at Sheesh Mahal, Anjali had just recovered from her bout with polio. Crippled, and bedridden as she had been, it had been a stray street-dog, of all odd things, that had managed to get a young, helpless Anjali out of bed. The dog had been feral, slinking around the kitchens of Sheesh Mahal, living on scraps from the household,. It was clearly a dangerous creature. A flea ridden, monstrously large thing, this animal had become Anjali's obsession and her chosen pet. The animal had been anything but pet-material, NK had said.


But still, Anjali had fed it food from her own plate, tossing the creature scraps from her bedroom balcony. She spent hours watching over the feral dog, singing to it, demanding that it not be chased away, as the Sheesh Mahal cooks had longed to do. To see the dog, a creature she had optimistically named "Joker," Anjali would wobble onto her new crutches, slowly and painfully making her way to the second floor balcony. There she would spend her day looking down the dog, watching over it. She could inevitably be found at this spot, which overlooked the outdoor area where the wild dog would come to eat.


To say that she loved the dog would not have been an exaggeration. She truly did. No amount of bribes in the form of of wriggling pure bred puppies, be-ribboned kittens or pretty parakeets would make her deviate from her obsession over Joker. The love she felt was overwhelming. No one could say anything about Joker, and the complaints against the dog's viciousness and tendency to attack the servants were completely ignored. She was unmoved by everyone's comments. She was completely uncaring about the many people who the dog attacked--she felt no concern about other people's safety.


That was, of course, until the day that Arnav, running to grab a snack from the kitchen, tripped and fell right over the dog's food bowl. Anjali had been the only one watching, and she was right there as she saw her adored pet snarl, turn and attack. Helpless, she could only watch as her little Chote got savaged and almost killed for his small mistake.


The feral dog, completely untamed, had launched with a snarl right at a young Arnav, and sunk its teeth into the child. The dog defended its food, as its dripping teeth ripped and bit, leaving wounds and blood all over an unconscious young Arnav. Anjali had watched her brother get attacked, and it was her keening screams that finally brought the household outside, to the scene of the attack.


There, they had found that somehow---by some impetus, through some force--- Anjali had made it downstairs, to Chote, without her crutches or her leg brace. The little girl who could not lift herself out of her bed without assistance had somehow made it to her Chote's side. She was cradling the unconscious body of her young brother, her sobs raining down on his bloody face, her frail, fever-starved limbs shaking as she tried to examine the cut over his left eye.


And there, at her feet, lay the dead body of a dog that the cooks had sworn was the size of a large goat. The creature that no one could approach from sheer fear. The dog was dead, its neck snapped, its monstrous teeth still stained with Arnav's blood. No one could even for a second credit that the frail, crippled Anjali had killed it--and of course, it turned out that she had not. Later on, after Arnav had been treated and Anjali's limp body had been lifted and carried back, the Sheesh Mahal servants had examined the corpse. They decided that during the attack on Arnav, the dog had been wrenched sideways against a pillar. O course, their Chote must have fought back, and this move must have broken the creature's neck on impact.


Arnav, had been treated to an awe-inspiring numbers of injections, a lot of coddling and some weepy women. He thought that the cut over his eye made him look very interesting and dangerous. Unlike Anjali, who had become completely mute over this, being a typical little boy, Arnav had no problem discussing his heroics with everyone. Asked about the attack, and the dead dog, he had happily told everone in detail how he had managed to subdue the beast. Anjali had kept silent as Arnav described how he had thrown Joker against the pillar as he had fought for his life. Anjali Didi had come, and instead of turning to the dead dog, she had held him in her arms, crying, like all girls did, over his wounds. All was well.

The ancient, rich nawabi culture of the Mallik family was imbued in the intricate weapons, the old maps, beautiful paintings and portraits that lined the walls of their ancestral home. There were inlaid marble floors with lotus blossoms picked out in opal, colored tourmaline and semi precious stones. The exquisite carvings wrapped around the ancient, pressed metal doors while the windows and elaborate balconies glimmered with embedded mirrors. Everywhere imored rock crystal chandeliers gleamed down light onto mahogany and teak furniture covered in Lukhnowi silk and embroidered satins. It was, in every sense, a palace--and all this made Payal feel quite overwhelmed.

Payal was quite selfishly glad that she would never be the mistress of such a gorgeous, opulent home. Following Anjali inside, Payal realized that it was Khushi, who the many people of Sheesh Mahal had lined up to meet and evaluate-- to decide if Chote Sahib's wife was worthy of her palace.

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Later on, Khushi would feel bitterly ashamed of herself, because she had absolutely no recollection of her arrival to her Arnav-ji's ancestral home. She did not recall being handed out of the car, of being greeted by rows and rows of liveried and turbaned servants. She did not remember greeting, or being greeted by anyone. The truth was, however, that had she been in her natural, excitable state---the state of being a loud, cheerful, friendly young woman, her childlike, naiive excitement would have given the staff at Sheesh Mahal quite a disgust of their young mistress.


The fact that she had been "out of it" was much admired, as the servants did not realize that Khushi was basically in a state of emotional withdrawal. They, in fact, found her to be reserved, queen-like, and delightfully stand-offish. This impression of her would have horrified Khushi if she knew that the Sheesh Mahal staff thought that she was cool, collected and haughty. But these were qualities which was actually was very much in keeping with the elegance and hauteur the Sheesh Mahal staff expected, and wanted, in Chote Sahib's wife and in their new mistress.

The Mallik family's servants, chauffeurs, gardeners and personnel were actually very happy with what they thought they got--a lovely young woman in red silk who glided out of the car and serenely walked by them, nodding faintly. It pleased their snobbish souls that their new "Chote Malkin" treated everyone to the same calm indifference they were used to getting from their Arnav Sahib. She clearly was a very noble, aristocratic, high society miss. Thus, inadvertently, Khushi's frozen emotional state helped her greatly with the uniformed servants and bearers, who appreciated such a classy woman as the new princess of their Sheesh Mahal.

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The whole day had been spent in exploring Sheesh Mahal. The gorgeous rooms, the enfilade of space after space that had been lovingly restored to aristocratic perfection, the extensive, manicured grounds---it was just an incredible place to spend time in. The weather seemed to conspire with them in gilding the day with happiness. The entire day was crisp, cool, yet sunny with the streaks of light from a blazing northern sun. Temporarily, the combination of beauty and elegance removed every dark thought and worry from the visitors to this beautiful palace.