“How!”
“It was not too hard. But a magician should keep his secrets. The magic can get lost, you know?”
Shivani laughed, looking rather like a mischievous college girl.
“Are you sure that your car met with an accident? You didn’t play Sherlock Holmes and annoy someone, did you?”
Any other person would have taken offense at the flippant remark but Jacob didn’t. He merely appeared thoughtful.
“I started playing Sherlock Holmes after I had nothing better to do…I wonder what he would have thought of that?”
“Considering the amount of his stories you made me read out aloud, he would have been pleased to have gained such a fan.”
Dan joined in, animatedly. Hmm…Sherlock Holmes…I did remember seeing the name on one of Shiva’s books. “I’m not a fan exactly.” Jacob shook his head. “He is a very clever man but what he did to poor Watson during that…that…” He screwed up his face, as if trying hard to remember. “What was the story’’s name again…”
It was Shiva who replied.
“The Final Problem. And yes. I agree. He shouldn’t have done that to such a loyal friend. It must have broken up the poor Doctor.” “He apologized.”
Dan cut in.
“Certainly…But from what I sensed of Watson’s grief from the story, an apology wasn’t enough. If I were him, I wouldn’t have forgiven Holmes so easily.” It was clear that Shiva felt strongly about the subject. I wondered for a moment if a friend of her’s had betrayed her once. Other than that, the book talk didn’t interest me much. Oh! Not because I wasn’t Other than that, the book talk didn’t interest me much. Oh! Not because I wasn’t
interested in stories but because, I knew nothing about the story involved. I made up my mind to check it out when I got the chance.
“Did you know there was a big public library nearby? Since you are very much interested in books…”
“A library?”
Shiva’s eyes lit up. The maniacal energy I saw in the morning was back. Maybe it was a writer thing. The getting all worked up. Not madness at all.
“We’ll show you.” Dan said eagerly. “We use it regularly. And there’s also a great bookshop in the same building.”
“Not we.” Jacob chuckled. “Admit it Dan. You open books only because I ask you to.”
Dan went red.
“I don’t understand the kind of books you like. I might as well be reading something written by martians.”
There was something cute about the way his eyes sank to the floor.
“And to think he read almost five hundred pages last weekend just because I couldn’t wait to hear the ending.” Jacob laughed.
Shiva was silent for a while as her eyes traveled from Jacob to Dan.
“He must really like you.”
The library…The immediate foreboding image I had was of a grey, dusty room, filled with an aura of darkness. But the place Shiva was taken by Jacob and Dan was anything but that. Flashy with too bright lights that threw light into every corner, highlighting even the tiniest speck of dirt.
The three of them went up to the desk of the librarian. She had an owlish face with a humongous pair of glasses. Her deep blue eyes glimmered at Jacob while he requested in his polite voice for a membership form.
“I have come to introduce a friend.” He explained. “That is indeed the library police since five years ago.” The woman replied reaching her hand inside a drawer. “Recommendation by a member is compulsory in the case of……”
“This is Shivani.” Jacob said quickly. “She is a friend.”
“I would like to open a membership.”
Her quiet voice took over. There was no need for further explanations or introductions. The form was filled out and the card was issued.
“If you would like me to show you around…” The librarian said as she handed over the card, “I’m…”
“No.” Shiva said quietly. “I prefer to be by myself.” The blistering hot afternoon cooled down in the library’s faithful air conditioner. Smell of old paper flew around, occasionally enveloping the wandering Shivani. Dan’s booming voice told me that Jacob and him were in a nearby section.
Shiva rushed by a section labeled Romance (not really surprised there) and drama and stopped only when she reached the end of the hall labeled ‘psychological thrillers’. She looked around eagerly, like a kid at a toy shop, her slender hands running through the spines of several thick volumes.
“Would you like some help?”
Shiva looked up. Jacob and Dan had come to join her, Dan slouching from five thick books in his hand.
“I know my own tastes.”
Shiva smiled, holding up the book in her hand. Her eyes twinkled, full of a kind of peace that I’d never seen in them before.
“Never forget that.”
Shiva, who had turned to pick up another book, started. She turned towards him, her mouth half open.
“Is there any need to look so surprised?”
Shiva was silent for the briefest of moments and then she laughed. Threw back her head and laughed.
“I guess not. I only wonder where you keep your cauldron and spell book and whether your sidekick can turn into a cat.”
“A cat?” Dan’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. “A cat?””
“Maybe a more commonsense deduction would have been ‘Is this man pretending to be blind to gain my sympathies? Is he a regular Don Juan?’” “I would never think that.”
“Really?” Jacob’s eyes brimmed to life. “Just because I used to be Jacob Lewis, a singer who mesmerized you into becoming a great fan?”
“No.” Shivani’s reply was immediate. “Because I……I feel instinctively that you are a good person.” She paused, her eyes lighting up. “Although you like to play Sherlock and are a bit of a show off.”
“Show off…” A gentle smile spread over Jacob’s face. “People called me that all the time. You’re a show off but an adorable one, a crinkly faced grandma told me on the street.”
The smile vanished from Shiva’s face.
“Oh! I…”
Jacob appeared not to her. His eyes were fixed on a window fixed high up on the wall. “Now I might walk past those same people and they might not know who I was.” “Jacob!”
Dan’s hand pressed comfortingly on Jacob’s shoulder. He looked reproachfully at Shiva, his jolly eyes unnaturally fierce.
“There was no need for that, you know!”
Shiva, disarmed, looked here and there awkwardly, as a string of apologies escaped her mouth. “In the end, that’s what matters, isn’t it? What you are…now.””
Jacob’s eyes glistened, a thin layer of tears forming on the surface.
“Jacob…”
Dan shook him slowly, as Shivani rushed forward too. She kneeled down beside him and took his hand, fresh terror ripening in her eyes.
Jacob looked down just as Shivani reached the arm of his wheelchair. His eyes, back to their normal serenity, dwelled exactly on her face. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” he paused, his lips curling to a school-boyish grin. “I am a showoff, you know. I thought I’d show you how a…a…Shivanized Jacob would look like!”
“YOU IDIOT!”
Dan’s fist landed hard on Jacob’s shoulder. “YOU SCARED ME, ALL RIGHT…AFTER WHAT HAPPENED AT THE HOSPITAL WOULD IT HAVE BEEN A STRETCH TO ASSUME THAT I WOULD BE SCARED OUT OF MY LIFE! YOU…ABSOLUTE……”
What happened at the hospital? I really wanted to know that...I really did. But Dan had evidently run out of steam. His angry eyes turned the sourest specimen of bitter, as he turned away, tears running down his cheeks.
“I'm sorry man. I'm really sorry...I...” Jacob said, rather sheepishly I thought. If had been a trick or a prank as Jacob was evidently making it out to be, it had not been a nice one...But something in eyes told me a different story.
“SORRY!”
Dan bellowed like an angry bull.
“You're SORRY!
After nearly giving me a heart attack, you're sorry?”
“Dan...” Jacob's voice was calm. “It won't happen again...You do know that, don't you?” It had the effect of a torrential rainshower on a forest fire. Dan’s anger drained out to be replaced by the frightened look of a lost little boy. Suddenly he embraced his friend in a hug, tears streaming down his cheeks.
“Never do that again...Never...”
“I'm sorry. I didn't...”
Shiva's voice sounded so little girlish that I half expected to see a five year old standing in her place, drooping mouth full of apologies to mother for being so naughty.
“I was just...”
Dan just gave her a scornful look and turned his attention back to his friend. Jacob's attention on the other other hand was entirely fixed on Shivani. “Just a prank gone wrong...Nothing more to be said.” He said sheepishly. “A prank!” Dan's anger came simmering to the surface again. “A prank!” “Dan...”
“Ok fine...”
He made as if to wheel.Jacob away but Jacob stopped him.
“I never had a look at the books in this section.”
He said mischievously.
“But...” Dan pouted. “You have already...”
“Maybe the lady would be kind enough to spare you the trouble of reading titles aloud.” “Certainly...” Shiva sounded rather out of breath as if Jacob just lifted her out of some unpleasant nightmare. She put her file unceremoniously on the ground and dashed from one shelf to the other picking up this book and that. She returned to Jacob a few minutes later with no less that twelve books balanced daintily in her hands. Her eyes were alight with a passion I have never seen before.
“ Was there a need to pick so many?” Jacob asked in amusement. “ As dear Dan kindly reminded me...The maximum number of books that can be taken at a time is six.””
“You can choose.” Shiva said. “I can hardly assume you would like what I like can I?”
“Odd...” Jacob’s eyes appeared to bore into Shivani's. “ Everyone knows it...Yet everyone forgets it...”
“People have said it better. Brilliantly even...” Shivani said, as she put the pile of books on the ground. “People have said many great things.” Jacob twinkled. “But no one seriously pays attention to them, do they? All philosophies are read carefully and forgotten quickly.””
Shiva merely smiled and started to read the blurbs aloud for Jacob. The blind man's eyes perked up in concentration when she began. His pensive eyes were fixed somewhere in the middle of Shiva's forehead.
“The fifth one.” He said firmly when she was done. “The one about the haunted house.” Shiva handed it over to Dan who groaned.
“You don't like...”
“I certainly don't.” Dan said, staring at the book cover with a shudder. “I'll pick another...” said Jacob.
Dan shook his head quickly.
“No...It's fine.”
As they parted ways some time later in the street, Shiva shook back her windswept hair and told Jacob.
“ How I envy you.”
Both Jacob and Dan looked extremely startled but before they could ask for an explanation Shivani was gone.
CHAPTER 10
There was a new spring in Shiva's step when she reached her home. Her face was as radiant as it could get. As for her eyes...They glimmered enchantingly with a new ray of hope that had perhaps never been in them after her disastrous marriage.
“Oh you're back.”
A relief swept voice welcomed her into the house. Eyes aged and fading like a pale moon surveyed her anxiously from head to foot.
“No Mom...I haven’t gone on a rampage and killed off both Anasuya and Nandan.” She chuckled as horror spread over her mother's face. ““ I’m fine Mom. Really.” She strode in briskly to her room. The file that weighed down her hand was gone. She had not bothered to pick it up from the floor of the library. The past was placed in a grave and buried never to be dug up again. Ugh! How could I think about it so calmly...so rationally? Surely...Surely human inhumanity wasn’t contagious!
The old typewriter appeared to sparkle when the owner entered the room. I brushed against it as I followed her. It was the sweetest feeling in the word. The “high” as a druggie would describe it. A tender mix of affection and big hopes. A saturated sugar solution of love.
One would think a girl who skipped both breakfast and lunch would be hungry but Shiva gently refused the huge glass of juice her mother brought her and sat down in front of her typewriter, a bunch of dusty old papers faithfully at her side. There was something practised about the way she inserted them into the typewriter. Her dainty fingers began ponding the keys, their clicking getting even more pronounced as time went by.
“Where did you run off to?” A voice, very like that of a spoilt child about to throw a tantrum hailed me. Oh! I had forgotten all about Goldy! And to be frank....I didn't think a yellow would want to stick around to delve deep into the twisted lives of the human race.
“Followed Shiva around.” I said, simply. “Nothing much happened.” “Nothing much happens to people like her....” said Goldy. “Wake up..Do some stuff...Go to bed...Not much of a life, is it?”” “You just described the lives of the entire human species.” I said, amused by her seriousness. “Maybe that’s why they look so bored all the time.” I paused, smiling a little. “ Did someone hit you on the head dear?”
Goldy didn’t laugh, which was odder still.
“Goldy? What happened in here?”
Goldy sighed as her glow faded the tiniest little bit.
“I went out too after I realized you were gone..” Goldy said, looking as if she was ready to puke. “But there was evidently some sort of green convention going on next door and...”” Goldy retched loudly “They were clogging the roads and skies so decided to return.”
I frowned. I couldn't understand what on earth she was complaining about. One knew what to expect from greens and I wouldn't be offended if they didn't address me with the politest expressions.
“I know you think I'm an idiot but I'm not so much of a buffoon as to expect goodygoody behaviour from greens.” Goldy said fiercely. “Then wh-”
“I've been stuck in here all day while you were enjoying your little day out.”
I should have told her that I was still pretty much in the dark but she looked so tired and worn out that I felt sorry for her.
“What happened, Goldy?” “Nothing's happened and that's the whole damn point!” Goldy exploded. “The husband's here and wife's here. She's been in the kitchen since morning and he in his study. They have'nt spoken to each other nor eaten together.”
“That's...”
I was going to say pretty bad but stopped myself. Pretty bad was too mild a choice of words. And I swear I don't know the right word to describe the situation. “How can they live like this...Love between them is as cold as ice, mate.” I flinched a little at the ‘mate’, but stopped myself from.making a retort. Love as cold as ice...Put so candidly in a yellow’s cheerful bubbly voice it sounded quite eerie. “Suffocating...I wonder they don’t die from this appalling boredom...Kitchen.and work...Work.and...”
“I see you are taking an interest in life again.”
Goldy jumped at the voice and did a brisk uturn. The man himself was at the door, his eyes surveying his daughter with something of a sneer. Shivani looked up without interest.
“Glad you noticed.”
The pounding of keys began again as the typewriter rapidly spat out paper.
“Since your mind is obviously right enough to begin writing I assume you wouldn't be averse to getting a job.” The noise of typing stopped. Shiva stood up, her frowning face glaring at her father. “Would you please allow me to work in peace?”
“Work!” An orange hissed out of his head like air from a pressure cooker. I'm sure he wanted to look all intimidating and everything but really...the only response I could muster was laughter. He really was a pathetic little man. The kind destined to realize
all the blunders on the death bed.
Poor Goldy on the other hand looked quite terrified. Because of the man or because she feared I had lost my marbles, I don't know. “Yes. Work.” Shiva uttered each word loudly and carefully. “Work I like. Work I care about. Work I enjoy instead of stretching indefinitely like an awful chore.”” She paused, her eyes fixed contemptuously on her father. “Obviously...you don't know about that kind of work, do you?”
The man clenched his fists. An orange poked out his head briefly out of his chest but disappeared back inside as he gritted his teeth in a painful effort to control his anger. “Shiva dear...” He began in a high affected voice. I must have shaken my head and stamped my foot at the remark. Fake ‘dears’’ always make want to do that. “I am not saying you must drop your hobby. Definitely not. But you must learn to stand on your own feet. If you had the mind to do that earlier...everything....would have been quite different.”
“ I didn't give up my job of my own free will.” Shiva shot back, her eyes burning like embers. The revelation, of course, didn't surprise me. From everything I knew so far, I could very well imagine Shivani as a passionate young woman eager to be her own mistress...eager to leave a mark on the world.
“But you were a mere school teacher with salary not worth a...” The man bit his lip. “Nandan would have wanted better than that. He would have preferred a....”” “A brainless pretty face like Anasuya.” Shiva blurted out. “Who isn't even a postgraduate and doesn’t have a job. So you can stop all this nonsense about Nandan being too good for me.”
Shiva's Dad bit his lip. For one brief moment there was an ominous crack of Shiva's Dad bit his lip. For one brief moment there was an ominous crack ofVIBGYOR knuckles.
“And Nandan himself...” Shiva went on, taking a firm step towards her father. “Who exactly is he? An engineering drop out. Feeding on the family fortune like a slimy parasite.””
“Shiva...That's....” I could see the slap coming. I could see that he was trying desperately to restrain himself, driven by the motive of making his daughter follow his orders.
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