Neha expected Kapil to be suspicious and mystified with her sudden change of heart on the issue of visitation. But she decided she was willing to give this whole arrangement a shot for Kippy’s sake, if Kapil was truly prepared to make the effort. After all, bitterness and animosity between them didn’t mean that they couldn’t even attempt a new equation of trust for the sake of their child.
Except that Neha still didn’t trust him.
Why had he not put up more of a fight for Kippy’s custody? Neha had long suspected that Kapil was up to something. There was just too much history, too much baggage between them now. They both had been stubborn about the way they wanted things in the short period that they were married. Just the thought of some of their fights was enough to make her feel angry all over again. But that was the past, right? No point holding on to it. They had agreed to keep their communication simple, functional and brief, and their policy of only texting had worked well to ensure less acrimony, of late.
Neha glanced at her phone yet again, and then mentally kicked herself for the vague sense of disappointment that there was no message from Sid. Not that she had expected it. She was done with expecting anything of Sid. He hadn’t messaged in the past two weeks. And he possibly never would again. Whatever, she told herself. More time to focus on the more important things in life.
She picked up the coffee cup from the ledge and put it to her lips only to realize it was already empty. Strange, she didn’t even know when she had finished it. She turned and went inside the house to get ready for work.
The old guard at the gate of the day-care gave Neha a toothless grin as she got out of her car. Neha smiled back and walked around to help Kippy out of the car seat. As soon as her feet hit the ground, Kippy shot off towards the gate, almost tripping in the process.
‘Easy, Kippy,’ Neha called. ‘What’s the hurry?’
Neha was glad that Kippy seemed to enjoy day-care. It was a warm, friendly little place that wasn’t as commercialized as some of the bigger and more popular chains of Gurgaon.
The day-care in-charge was Vasundhara and she stood near the main building, smiling and greeting the children as they walked in. She was a tall, sari-clad lady whom Neha liked for being both elegant and warm. Kippy ran straight to her and Vasundhara bent down to give her a hug. She then straightened up and smiled at Neha. ‘Hello, Neha, haven’t seen you in a while.’
‘I’m here every day, ma’am,’ Neha protested with a laugh. ‘Just that I’ve been rushing off from the gate to get to work. Right now, I wanted to check with you – what is the system here for someone else to come and pick Kippy up? Do I have to write an application or something?’
‘Well, if it’s just a one-time emergency thing, you can call me directly and let me know on the day. Otherwise, if it’s going to be a regular affair, it makes sense for you to get a separate pick-up card. Our policy is that anyone other than a parent has to have a card, or an authority letter from the parent.’
‘It’s just a one-time thing for now,’ Neha said quickly. ‘I’ll let you know.’
She waved bye to Kippy, but her daughter had already taken off with two other children, and didn’t notice Neha waving. Neha walked back to her car, walking a little slower than usual to avoid getting gravel into her high-heeled shoes. Time to head to work and start another regular day.
Yes, everything was just fine. Life was back to being completely normal now and it was going to stay that way. Suppressing the faint sense of depression this thought brought in its wake, Neha got into the car, adjusted her large sunglasses over her eyes and drove to work, her face impassive.
By the time evening rolled around, Neha was exhausted. Three back-to-back client meetings had drained her. She checked her watch as she walked towards the car. She would be a little late picking Kippy up today, thanks to that last extended meeting. Oh well, never mind. Kippy and she would go out for dinner tonight, just the two of them – no outsiders. It had been so long since they had enjoyed an evening out alone.
As Neha got into the car, she felt a certain sense of anticipation. Something about this morning had made her feel a little uneasy and restless through the day. It was a small thing, but it mattered to her. She was used to giving Kippy a hug and kiss goodbye every time she dropped her off. But this morning Kippy hadn’t even looked back as she waved. It was silly to let it bother her, she knew, but still. Anyway, Neha was so looking forward to seeing Kippy now.
By the time she reached the day-care it was 6.45 p.m. She got out and smiled at the old guard. He gave her his usual, toothless grin, but it then faded and was replaced by a look of confusion.
‘Bitiya ko toh le gaye na? Aapne Madam ko bola tha ki koi aayenge.’
Neha smiled and said, ‘Nahin, bhaiya, woh toh agle hafte ki baat ho rahi thi.’
The guard looked unconvinced. He peered at his register and said, ‘Nahin, Madam, dekhiye, koi saab aaye thay aur Vasundhara madam se miley thay…’
Neha’s heart skipped a beat. She looked around at the main building and saw that all the lights were off. Everyone seemed to have left. This couldn’t be. Neha fumbled for her phone, hands trembling as she dialled Vasundhara’s cellphone.
‘Hello?’
‘Vasundhara, there’s some confusion. I got a little late and the guard tells me someone came to pick Kippy up.’ Neha couldn’t keep the panic out of her voice as the words came tumbling out. ‘What does he mean?’
‘Calm down, Neha. It was your husband. You said someone else would come and pick her up. He was there dot on time at 6 p.m.’
The blood drained from Neha’s face. ‘Kapil?’
‘Yes. I also told him it was surprising we hadn’t ever seen him before. In fact, I even insisted on seeing his identification.’
Oh God. Neha’s voice came out in a choked whisper, ‘But you told me that everyone else but me would have to have a pick-up card – you said it was policy.’
‘Anyone but a parent has to have the pick-up card. Your husband’s name was in our records and he showed me his driver’s licence.’ Vasundhara’s voice changed to one of concern. ‘Is something wrong, Neha?’
Neha didn’t know what to say. At the time when she first registered Kippy over a year ago, she had not told Vasundhara of her impending divorce. Neha hadn’t wanted to get into any extra paperwork, concerned that she might be asked for some sort of ‘Letter of Consent’ from Kapil. And, anyway, Kapil did not even live in the same city and never seemed to bother about Kippy. Neha had later felt that she could have been more open with Vasundhara, but at the time it had been easier to just avoid mentioning the divorce. And afterwards it seemed irrelevant to clarify.
It all made sense to her now. The whole thing had been an act for him. His agenda was nothing but revenge. He had probably known he could never win the custody battle, and so this had been his plan all along.
The one thing that would hurt her most – taking Kippy away from right under her nose.
The minute he managed to extract information from her about the day-care, details of which she had included in a message to him yesterday, Kapil had leapt into action and done what he had been waiting to do for months. How was she to explain to Vasundhara what was going on?
Only in the plainest terms.
‘Vasundhara…’ Neha took a deep breath. Her knees felt weak and her voice broke as she said, ‘I think Kippy’s been kidnapped.’
‘Hey, Neha, just getting into the house now,’ Aditi said into her cellphone, balancing her purse on her knee as she turned the key in the door. ‘What’s…’
‘Aditi!’
Aditi froze immediately at Neha’s tearful voice. She had never heard her friend like this.
‘Kippy’s gone…’
‘What?’
‘It’s Kapil.’ Neha practically spat out his name. ‘I told him he could meet her next week and where her day-care is. He managed to get her from them today. My fault for not telling them about our separation.’ Neha paused and took a shudderi
ng breath and Aditi thought she sounded as if she might actually break down.
‘I’ll call Krish.’ Aditi swung into action. ‘He must be leaving from office now. Have you called the cops?’
‘Not yet. I’m still figuring out what to do. I tried calling Kapil, but of course his phone is unreachable.’ She gave a bark of a laugh. ‘As if I could just reason with him to give her back!’
‘I’ll tell Krish to deal with the cops thing. Where are you?’
‘Still at the day-care.’
‘You get home. Krish and I will split up and at least start looking around.’
‘It’s no use, Aditi. He’s probably halfway to … I don’t know!’
‘We’ve got to try, sweetie. You get home, and…’
‘No.’ Neha sounded determined now. ‘I’m going to look too. I won’t be able to sit at home. If he or someone from the day-care calls, it’ll be on my cellphone.’
‘How long back did they leave?’
‘About forty-five minutes.’
Aditi kept her voice neutral and said, ‘Okay. I’ll speak to you after talking to Krish. Try not to worry. We’ll find her.’
In their heart of hearts both of them knew it was a false assurance. Aditi hung up, feeling physically sick with the worry she had just told Neha not to feel.
11
A Job for Super-Sid
‘Sid! Sid! Hello?’
Sid grimaced at his cellphone. Her voice was loud, and he could hear it even though he was deliberately taking his time to put the phone to his ear. This was the issue with bloody Aditi. She thought whenever she woke up, it was time for the entire world to wake up.
‘Kya hua, madam?’ he said grumpily, noting the time on his bedroom wall-clock. Seven thirty. Crazy, Stark Raving Mad Aditi – should change her name to Maditi!
‘It’s an emergency, Sid! Kippy is missing, Krish and I are out looking for her. Neha’s also driving around, although it’s unlikely he’ll be parading her around in public.’
‘Kippy is missing?’ Sid repeated blankly, unable to keep up. ‘Kippy? Since when?’
‘This evening, about an hour back.’
Sid tried to process this, starting with the fact that apparently it was seven thirty in the evening now. He felt dazed as Aditi continued, ‘I thought you should know. Neha is at her wit’s end.’
Sid couldn’t find the words to react. Little Kippy … gone? Who would do such a thing? His heart sank. Neha must be going absolutely nuts. This was terrible.
He knew what Aditi wanted to hear but all he really wanted to do was pretend it was just a bad dream and crawl back under the sheets and wait for it to go away. Everything about his life was in a shambles. His house, his mind, everything. He hadn’t bathed for days, he didn’t even know what day of the week it was. He felt more disoriented now than he had in all of the last couple of dark weeks at home alone. How could he possibly be of use to anyone else?
He found himself mumbling, ‘Okay, thanks for letting me know. And, Adu?’
‘Yes?’
Sid swallowed hard and said, ‘You keep me posted, okay?’
After a pause, Aditi replied, ‘Right. Okay.’ She didn’t bother to keep the disappointment out of her voice as she hung up on him.
For a few long minutes, Sid kept staring at the ceiling. He tried to keep his mind blank, but the images were persistent. A frantic, totally distraught Neha. And a lost, innocent, tiny, helpless Kipster.
Sid sat up in bed in a determined manner. He couldn’t just lie here. He had to do something.
The security guard at Sherwood Towers was a bit wary about letting him in. Sid realized his hair and French beard running a bit on the wild side had thrown the guard off. Only after Sid managed to convince him that he was the same guy the guard had personally let into the complex a hundred times earlier, was he finally allowed in.
At Neha’s place, Sid only found a quiet and worried Julie. There was no sign of Neha. Sid then recalled that Aditi had said that they were all out looking for Kippy. That’s where he ought to be too, he realized. Then why had he come speeding over here like an idiot? He tried calling Aditi and then Neha, tapping his feet impatiently. Neither of them answered.
Well, he couldn’t stand around here. He needed some fresh air to clear his head while he waited for one of them to call back and tell him where they were and how he could help. Sid decided to head towards the park within the complex. He bade Julie a quick goodbye and left the flat to take the elevator to the ground floor. He made his way to the park somewhat unseeingly and quickly occupied the first available bench. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself and then looked around.
Contrary to his first impression, Sid saw that he was not alone, despite the relatively late hour. There were two others at the far end of the park around the slides and swings – a man and a kid.
Sid squinted to get a better view of the two. He had left his glasses in the car as usual. The fading light made it even more difficult for him to see them clearly. He could just about make out that the man was a well-built fellow, and a stranger.
The kid looked a lot like Kippy though.
Sid did a double take and then stiffened. It really was Kippy.
Sid strained his eyes and saw that the man was attempting to stuff Kippy with some sort of fruit-like substance on a fork. The little girl was stoutly resisting, rejecting the proffered fork every time. A fork! Sid swallowed a little as he realized the implications. Big, armed and loony. Sid felt confident of the loony bit, given the half-witted way in which the kidnapper was trying to feed the child in the same complex where she lived. Clearly, the fellow didn’t have the brains to take Kippy to some other park, if parks were his thing. Gurgaon was full of them.
Well, it was up to him now to save the day. This was a job for Super-Sid.
Shit.
Sid had never been in an actual fight. You couldn’t really count the one-sided beatings by the school bullies. But those were the images flashing through his head, and they were not inspiring any confidence in him. He swallowed hard again. This miscreant reminded him a lot of Hirsute Harry. Sid recalled that it was the coining of this very term that had got him his first beating from that hairy bugger in Class 7. Sid wasn’t looking forward to this confrontation.
He squared his shoulders, making an instant decision – for Kippy, he was prepared to even take this on. It struck Sid for the first time ever how much he actually cared for little Kipster; funny he hadn’t realized it before. But now was not the time to ponder on philosophical matters.
He took a deep breath. His mind raced. First things first. He had to let Neha and the others know Kippy had been found. He whipped out his phone, vaguely pleased with the Rajinikant-type smoothness of the motion. He quickly typed a text message to Neha, and to be on the safe side, he sent it to Aditi as well.
Sid then stuffed the phone back into his pocket, took another deep breath and started walking cautiously towards the other end of the park.
Neha stared at her phone for a full thirty seconds. The car behind her honked and Neha shouted, ‘Okay, okay!’ as she quickly revved up the engine and steered the car to the side of the road.
She read the message again and quickly tried Sid’s number. He wasn’t answering. She tried him again and again, but to no avail. She then called Aditi, who answered immediately.
‘Aditi, I just got this message from…’
‘Sid, I know, he sent it to me too!’
‘But what the hell does he mean?’ Neha was almost crying with frustration and despair. ‘Where are they? He’s not answering!’
‘I know, Neha, I know. I’ve been trying his number too.’
‘What do we do?’
‘Let’s just keep trying till he answers. And hey, at least we know Kippy’s somewhere around. Try and relax, okay? It’ll be fine.’
‘Okay.’ Neha was unconvinced. She hung up and leaned her throbbing temple against the steering wheel for a minute.
She didn’t kno
w what to make of Sid’s message. It was as much a relief as it was frustrating and mystifying. Neha read it for the third time and resisted the urge to hit her head hard against the steering wheel.
‘Have found her here with a guy, come quick.’
‘Aha!’ Sid said, squaring his shoulders as he came to a stop about three feet away from Kippy and the man. The fellow glanced up at him. He was on bended knee, still trying to stuff the child with, what was now evident to Sid, small pieces of papaya. Kippy looked sulky, her lips pursed tightly to avoid the wretched fruit. But when she saw Sid, her little face lit up. Sid realized that even though it had been a while, and in spite of his dishevelled look, Kippy recognized him instantly. Her genuinely pleased smile made Sid feel funny in the stomach region. He resolved to do his best for Little Kipster.
‘Oh! Good morning … good morning uncle!’ said the man in a high-pitched, childlike voice.
Sid’s initial thought was that the guy was even loonier than he had estimated. But then he realized that the guy was merely relapsing into the same annoying behaviour that most adults exhibited around little kids. He was addressing Sid on Kippy’s behalf, the same way Neha had on their first evening out, months ago. This became more evident as he went on to say in the same kiddy tone, ‘So, is uncle a friend of yours, Kippy?’
Aha, thought Sid. Tricky fellow. Pretending to be all friendly. Well, it was time for Sid’s own acting skills to kick in. After all, Sid had been on the dramatics society in college. Though he was a little rusty, he prepared to give the performance of a lifetime. A lot depended on this.
‘As a matter of fact,’ Sid said in his deepest voice, ‘I happen to be this child’s father.’
The man continued to give Sid a slightly asinine smile as he gazed up at him. Then the words appeared to sink in. The smile disappeared and was replaced by a confused frown as he looked Sid up and down. His gaze finally settled on Sid’s face. ‘Excuse me?’
‘I will most certainly not,’ continued Sid in his fake, deep voice. He wasn’t quite certain why was he using this particular tone. Perhaps it was some sort of an unconscious imitation of how his father spoke to him. But now Sid realized it sounded more like Santa Claus. He modulated it closer to his natural voice and pointed an accusing finger at the man.
Sorting Out Sid Page 26