Hiten, Aarav’s executive assistant, said, “Consider it done Aarav,” as he made a note on his phone.
“That’s about it for now. Anyone has anything else to say?” When there were no questions from his excited staff, Aarav smiled and concluded the meeting. “Right then, we’ll meet again tentatively on Friday next in this regard.”
Aarav slumped back in his chair when everyone left, opening his phone once again to look at the picture of Saloni and her son. He straightened after a few seconds, shaking off the feeling of melancholy. It didn’t make sense, pining for her. Saloni was taken. Well, he couldn’t stop loving her, but that didn’t mean he needed to be sad about it. Wishing the mother and child all happiness—no, he refused to include her husband in his wishes—Aarav got up to leave his cabin and join the rest of his staff for lunch.
9
Akshay and Sunita met Saloni at Heathrow despite her protests. They took her back to the hotel where they had booked a room for her. Sunita took charge of Mitesh, insisting that Saloni needed to sleep. “We are flying in barely another ten hours Saloni. It’s best you get some rest. Let me take care of Mitesh.”
Saloni hugged Sunita tightly, not saying a word as the latter left her alone, carrying Mitesh along with her. It was 5 am in Chicago and she was totally beat. Was she glad that there was someone to care for Mitesh?!
Lying on the bed, Saloni shut her eyes, only to see Manish behind her closed eyes, the way he had behaved that morning before leaving for work.
Saloni had overslept by half an hour and hadn’t been able to get a hot breakfast ready for him. All she had had to offer was cornflakes and milk along with fresh coffee.
“If it’s cornflakes that I wanted to eat, why the hell did I get married to you?” Manish asked her, his eyes red with temper. “What the hell do you do all day long? Watch TV and gossip over the phone, right? Couldn’t you get up a bit early and prepare something edible for your husband who slogs all day at work?”
“I’m sorry Manish. You know I’ve never done this before. It’s just that...”
“Just what? You’re useless in bed. Now you don’t want to do anything in the kitchen. Give me one reason why you should continue to be my wife.” He drank the coffee and left with the parting shot, “I need to speak to my mom. She’d better know how wrong she had been in choosing you for my wife.”
Was it she or he who was useless in bed? Saloni fumed in anger. Was there any use asking him the question? Before she became pregnant, Manish had chosen to bed her on an average of once a week, when he felt like it. The few times she had approached him, he had accused her of disturbing his sleep and even called her a ‘nymphomaniac’ a couple of times. Saloni had shrunk within herself, beginning to believe his words. Maybe women weren’t supposed to feel the need for sex. But somehow, deep down, she didn’t quite believe that. But there was no one she could discuss this with.
But today, Manish had crossed an invisible line of decency. He had accused Saloni of being useless in bed, when he had stopped allowing her in it since Mitesh’s birth. And this was the first time she hadn’t given him a hot breakfast since their marriage. How unfair was this?!
Saloni straightened up. This was it. She had given their marriage her best. She had gone against her instincts to return to Chicago with Manish, cutting short her holiday in Delhi. And what did she get in return? Forget about being loved, Manish treated her like dirt.
And whose fault was that? It was no use blaming Manish. He was what he was, a spoilt brat of a patriarchal family. He obviously thought that women had been created by God to serve the likes of him. But if Saloni continued to cater to his whims, then she would be the one who was at fault, making him believe that he was absolutely right.
This wasn’t going to work. It was obvious that Manish cared only about himself and not for his wife and their child. No, Mitesh was her baby—only hers. She couldn’t recall a single time when the child’s biological father had lifted him in his arms.
A scene inadvertently flashed before her eyes—of Mitesh in Aarav’s arms. Saloni smiled despite her sadness. That just went to prove that all men weren’t bad. It was all thanks to her mother Rati. Her ambitious mother had been hell bent on making a high society match for her eldest born and had managed to pick up a piece of coal, giving a miss to the diamond in the vicinity. Saloni laughed, despite herself, at the irony of that.
But first things first! Saloni wondered how she could get out of her marriage. She quickly prepared breakfast and lunch for herself and fed Mitesh. “Would you like to go to Delhi sweetheart? I’m sure we both will be happier there. What say?” she asked him, as he held his feeding bottle with both his hands, his tiny legs up in the air.
Mitesh stopped feeding to give his mother a brilliant smile as if he understood what she had said.
“You agree? So Delhi it is, little guy. We both will have a wonderful life there.” She bent down to kiss the infant on his forehead before placing him inside his playpen. He had been doing his best to sit nowadays.
Saloni checked the cost of flights from Chicago to Delhi. There were no direct flights that day and they all seemed to take more than forty hours. She checked some more, wondering if she could travel to either Amsterdam or London and catch a connecting flight from there. But would she be able to manage the trip with a toddler?
She had one credit card, with a limit of fifty thousand rupees that she could use from here. That wouldn’t be sufficient to buy their tickets. What to do?
If she contacted her father, he would immediately discuss it with her mother. And Rati would kill Saloni first.
Ruma? No, her sister was newly married and was obviously having a wonderful life. It wasn’t fair to burden her with her problems, not right now.
Saloni snapped her fingers when Akshay chachu came to mind. Her father’s young cousin from Mumbai was a rock solid person. He was the one to turn to in the time of trouble. Saloni couldn’t help the smile that came to her lips when she thought of the way he had stood in support along with her grandma when Ruma had married Laki in secret. The smile disappeared when a deep sigh shuddered through her body. Maybe, just maybe, she should have spoken to her grandmother Ganga when her marriage was being fixed with Manish. Well, her mother hadn’t given her a choice. After meeting Manish and not seeing anything to fault with him, Saloni had gone along with the tide. Only, she hadn’t expected to be stranded in the middle of the ocean. And her marriage hadn’t been a hundred percent bad. It had given her little Mitesh and that was one thing Saloni could never regret.
So, it had to be Akshay chachu to the rescue. It was almost four in the evening when she finally got through to him, after his mother, Saloni’s great aunt Tanuja, gave her the special number that he was using during his holiday. By then she had already packed all the stuff needed for her trip back home to India.
God bless both, Akshay chachu and his wife Sunita. They hadn’t asked too many questions and luckily, they were both in London, ready to escort her back home. Saloni only needed to manage the trip from Chicago to London on her own and then she’d be safe with her family. The thought helped ease her restlessness a little.
Her mind in a turmoil with all these thoughts about the past dogging it, Saloni didn’t know when she slipped into a deep sleep in the hotel room in London, more at peace than she had been for a long time.
10
When the four of them—Akshay, Sunita, Saloni, and Mitesh—got back to Mumbai, Raj had already left for Singapore with Tanuja and the kids. Akshay had decided to take Saloni to his home in Mumbai first. Sunita was also in agreement. While Saloni hadn’t shed a single tear, it was obvious that the younger woman’s confidence was shaken badly.
“Saloni, let’s first have a skype chat with Ganga chachi. What say?” He had already called the Malhotra matriarch and spoken to her briefly about the situation.
“Okay,” said Saloni. “Do you think we can do it privately, only with her? I don’t want Mamma to be a part of it. I...”
Akshay nodded. “But of course. You don’t worry about that. We’ll talk to your grandma once she’s retired to her room.”
“Thank you so much Akshay chachu. I don’t really know how I’d have managed without you and Sunita...” Saloni stopped speaking as her voice choked with emotion.
“Shut up Saloni,” said Akshay, hugging her. “Don’t keep saying thanks. We Malhotras stand up for each other, don’t we?”
Saloni nodded, biting her lip hard to stop from crying. She wasn’t a coward. It was just that she was petrified of facing her mother. But then, she couldn’t just pile up on Akshay and Sunita forever. She moved away to rub her hands over her face, straightening her shoulders and giving Akshay a small smile. “Chalo, let’s talk to Daadima.”
Akshay set up his laptop in the guest bedroom and while connecting Saloni to her grandmother, said, “You go ahead and have your chat Saloni. I’m going to play with your little guy.” He left, closing the door behind him.
“Daadima...” Saloni broke down as soon as she saw her darling grandmother’s face on the laptop screen.
“Saloni beta, what has Manish done to you?” Ganga frowned fiercely on the screen. “Did he dare to beat you?”
Laughing through her tears, Saloni shook her head. “No Daadima. He wouldn’t dare, unless he wanted his arm broken.”
Ganga smiled, her frown disappearing. “That’s my girl. So tell me. Does he know that you have left him? And that’s what you’ve done, right?”
“He should know by now, I’m sure. I left him a note. I know I should have called and told him or at least sent him a WhatsApp message, but Daadima, he doesn’t deserve any courtesy, believe me. And yes, I have left him.” Saloni valiantly squared her drooping shoulders yet again. “And I don’t plan to go back, Daadima, whatever Mamma says. If all she wanted for me was the life of an unpaid servant—no, slave—then why did she get me educated? I...” And with that, the floodgates opened. Saloni poured her heart out to her grandmother, as she regaled her with incident after incident of all the pain and ego battering that she had undergone since her wedding.
“He doesn’t even like me Daadima. He’s told me a number of times that I’m too fat to be a suitable partner in bed. We haven’t even made love...” Saloni broke off. Well, it was best that Daadima knew everything, “Since Mitesh was born. It looks like he wants me there only to cook his meals and clean his house. This wasn’t how I had envisaged my life.”
“Oh my God!” Daadima had never thought very highly of Manish, though she had kept her opinion to herself. But even she hadn’t expected it to be this bad. “Didn’t you try getting a job beta? I love little Mitesh too. But don’t you think a job would have made you more independent?”
“Do you think I didn’t try? My visa doesn’t allow it. I even asked Manish if we could shift back to Delhi. But then, he thinks the earth revolves around Chicago. And Daadima, he’s interested in neither Mitesh nor me. Will you believe me if I tell you that he hasn’t held the baby in his arms even once?”
“The bastard!” Ganga had no trouble calling Manish names. She had a fierce sense of independence and adored all her grandchildren. Just now, she felt sorry that she hadn’t interfered when her daughter-in-law Rati had fixed Saloni’s wedding within two days of her getting her MBA results. That the child had come first in the university had never counted with her mother. “Saloni, I’m coming over to Mumbai and will bring you back home to Delhi. Let me see who stops you.”
Saloni smiled at her grandmother, hope fluttering in her heart. “Daadima, have I ever told you how much I love you?”
Three days later, Ganga Malhotra walked into the Malhotra residence in Delhi with her granddaughter and great grandson in tow. Just like she had expected, within five minutes of their arrival, all hell broke loose.
11
Ganga and Akshay had got their heads together and planned Saloni’s arrival in Delhi to coincide with her father and brothers being present at home. They arrived just before dinner exactly when Vinayak, the cook, was placing the food on the dining table.
“Saloni beta, this is a surprise,” said Shyam, getting up from his chair to give his daughter a hug before lifting his grandson into his arms. “You have become so big, young man,” he said to the chortling baby who was happy to be among so many familiar faces.
Saloni’s eyes went in search of her mother even as she returned her father’s hug, unable to curb the flash of fear that sprung up despite all of Ganga’s reassurances.
Rati dropped the stand containing the spoons and forks with a clang as her eyes went wide in shock. “Saloni...” Her voice was a whisper before she gathered her wits together as she strode in a rush across the living room towards her eldest born. “What the hell are you doing here? Is Manish with you?” Her words were a shriek now even as her gaze pierced her daughter’s like a laser beam.
“No Mamma.” Saloni tucked her hands into her jeans’ pockets so that her mother wouldn’t notice their trembling. “He’s not come. It’s just Mitesh and I.”
“But you just went back to your home.” Rati frowned at her daughter.
“Rati, let us all have dinner. Saloni must also be hungry. We can talk later,” said Shyam, striving for peace as always.
“Yeah Mom, let’s eat before everything turns cold,” said Shaan, the youngest of the siblings—Saloni, Ruma, Ryan and Shaan, in that order.
Ryan ignored all of them as he held his little nephew in his arms, making monkey faces at the little boy who cackled away.
Rati turned away angrily to walk to the table. She didn’t speak with anyone as she ate her meal without tasting it.
Vinayak took Mitesh from Ryan’s arms. “You have your dinner Ryan. I’ll take care of Mitesh baba.” The love was mutual as Mitesh pulled at Vinayak’s black and white moustache, laughing as if he had met an old friend.
Saloni also remained silent as the other four chatted desultorily about this and that. Her throat clogged up as she tried to eat and she gave up after a few bites.
Rati pushed her plate away and got up. “Now tell me, what are you doing here? A wife’s place is with her husband. Haven’t I taught you that?”
Saloni gave her grandmother and father a pathetic look before facing her mother, giving a small nod.
“So?”
“I don’t want to live with Manish any more, Mamma.” Saloni dropped her bombshell. Well, there was no other way to say it.
Ryan and Shaan had also finished eating by now and were listening avidly. Shyam gave his daughter a startled look. Though he never said much, thanks to his hyper wife, Shyam was extremely observant. He had noticed that everything wasn’t well with Saloni’s life when she had come down for Ruma’s wedding. But to leave her husband?! Something terrible must have happened. He knew that his daughter was extremely level headed.
“What?!” Rati shrieked at the top of her voice. “Are you mad, girl? How can you treat your husband like a set of clothes or a pair of footwear—use one day and discard the next?”
“But Mamma, you don’t know what happened. I...”
“So tell me nah? I’m all ears.” The tempest in Rati’s gaze would have shrivelled a lesser person.
Shyam went to his daughter and hugged her before seating her next to him on a sofa. “Rati, will you please calm down? Saloni’s obviously upset. Let her...”
“So? Can’t you see that I am upset that my daughter has left her husband after just two years of marriage? Here I thought that I was done with all my responsibilities as both my daughters were settled with excellent husbands and one returns even before I have taken a deep breath.” Rati glared at her husband before turning to her daughter. “How can you do this to me, Saloni?” Tears ran down her cheeks.
Saloni gave her mother a bitter look, wondering how she always managed to turn the tears on and off at will. “Mamma, Manish doesn’t care for me. He doesn’t want a wife, but a servant. I...”
Rati gave a bitter laugh. “But isn’t that the role
of wives? I also work like a servant here in this house...”
“Mamma, don’t be ridiculous,” said Ryan, looking deeply at his mother. “You live like a queen. Pappa listens to everything you say.”
Ganga raised the edge of her sari to cover her grinning lips. That was a good shot from unexpected quarters.
If looks could kill, Ryan would have dropped dead by now. “Shut up Ryan, you are a kid, you don’t know anything,” said Rati before turning to glare at Saloni again. Luckily for her, she didn’t notice the humour in her mother-in-law’s eyes or she might just have hit the roof.
“Oh yeah, at twenty going on twenty-one, I’d be treated like a kid only in India.” Ryan didn’t bother to hide his sarcasm.
“Ryan, go away, will you? You are distracting us.” Rati shouted at her son before pinning Saloni with her sharp gaze. “So tell me, what’s wrong in doing honest housework? You...”
“If it’s housework that you wanted me to do, why the hell was I sent to university? To complete my MBA at that?” Saloni didn’t yell, though she badly wanted to.
“Exactly my point.” Rati’s voice was triumphant as she turned her accusing gaze to her husband. “Kyunji, you answer her question. Why the hell did we educate her?”
Ganga entered the conversation, not giving her son a chance to answer. “We educated Saloni to empower her, to help her stand on her own feet, to make sure that she doesn’t become dependent on another person, whether it is her father, husband or son.” She, for one, had never approved of Rati remaining a housewife. There were enough servants to take care of the house. As an educated woman, Rati should have taken up a career. With no work for her brain, she had channelled all her energy on finding grooms for her girls. In a few years’ time, she would go in search of brides for her sons. What else was there to do?
Flaming Sun Collection 3: Perfect Twins Find Anya (Box Set with 3 novellas) Page 27