Ignoring her father’s question, Shiva turned to the young man.
“Mr.?” She asked coldly.
The man stared at her for a moment, as though wondering if she was real. Apparently convinced that she was, he held out his hand and said.
“Mr. Vaishnav Sachidanandan. Head of…” “Mr. Vaishnav Sachidanandan…” Shiva cut in, her tone still cool. “I know for a fact that you are the CEO of one of the companies that my Dad has a close relationship with. So cut the resume because it is absolutely of no concern to me.”
Goldy snickered.
“That’s cold.”
“And you cut it out with the understatements.” I laughed, giving her a thumbs up. “SHIVA! What in the f…what in the hell is wrong with you?”
Of course, Shiva’s Dad isn’t a fan of coolness. Less when the coolness comes from his daughter to someone he desperately wants to impress. Orange eruption…Here we come…
“I thought I made my opinion pretty clear. I have no interest in this young man.” She said perfectly calmly. Then turning towards the grand Mr. Vaishnav Sachidanand she held out a hand. “I sincerely apologize for all inconvenience I may have caused you. Ask my Dad if he even bothered to ask my opinion before inviting you in, and I think you’ll have a suitable explanation for my behaviour.”
For a second I thought the young man, inflated with too many airs and graces was bound to explode. His eyes certainly burned with heat worthy of a dozen oranges.
“SHIVA!”
“What is the meaning of this?”
The whitehead asked angrily. “You just brought us here to…”
“No…No…”
Shiva’s Dad deflated like a pricked balloon. His eyes, pleading, fixed on the whitehead’s dull ones.
“No…No…My daughter…Her reaction to suggestions of marriage are very strong. I will…” “You are implying that you dared to…”
“No…No…No…You see…She had just come around and….”
“I can’t believe that you would dare to be so idiotic.” The greyhead sneered. “I think it’s time we left.” Oh! The leaving part…Mr. Vaishnav Sachidanand didn’t seem to be in a mood to leave. His hand an inch away from Shivani’s was fixed in an awkward halfhandshake. The heat in his eyes would have scorched a delicate flower but Shiva stood her ground - her eyes as cool and calm as a large lake. The afternoon sun burned in the cloudless blue sky like a bonfire. A uncomfortably hot wind rustled many leaves in the garden.
“Vaishnav…I think…”
“Yes.”
Vaishnav turned away briskly and boarded the fancy car with his relations. But the heat in his eyes didn’t go. I felt it long after the car went away, in all its burning, destructive glory. An enemy had been made, my common sense told me. But was he a dangerous one? Some part of me answered that as well. Hell yes!
“You have no idea what you have just done! Of the…”
Mr. Raghunath raised a trembling hand but fortunately, it didn’t end up on his daughter’s cheek. It stayed in the midair, shaking like a cloth hung out to dry. “I know exactly what I have done. I just sent away a man I didn’t like.” “A man! Do you know anything about him?” “Isn’t he the same Vaishanv Sachidanand whose face was all over the news after his first wife was discovered dead under suspicious circumstances in a hotel room? There were allegations…That he engineered the murder after he discovered that his wife was having an affair with his brother? An allegation that strengthened after his brother’s ‘accident’? And later it was proved that this affair never happened. It was simply his…”
What! I didn’t know whether to break out in hysterical laughter or shed tears of empathy or simply scratch my head in disbelief. Certainly not the kind of man I would admit within ten mile radius of Shivani. Even if her Dad thought otherwise. A mild pounding started in my temples, which I tried hard to ignore. No more passing out. Not when I wanted to do plenty of things.
“The allegations were disproved and all investigations were dropped. You are the last person who should be blaming someone for a past tragedy.” At this emotionless dialogue, Goldy did scratch her head furiously. I held on to her, afraid that she was going to go on a mad rampage. To be fair, I was on the verge of doing it myself. My headache was getting worse, for one , making me want to let off some steam. For another, I simply wanted to slap his face hard for the way he was treating Shiva. Who was she? Was she so worthless as to be given away to a former murderer. And what was all the bullshit about tragedy? Tragedy, in my book, is something that hit you out of the blue. Not something you heap upon yourself - for example, murdering your wife and brother just because your mind is a heap of poison.
“Of course…Money has a way of doing that.”
“Shiva! Why are you insistant…”
“And thanks for bringing in such an eligible candidate for the post of future husband but no thanks.” The gates cried for oil, creaking and groaning in protest at being swing roughly open. An auto barged in rudely, holding inside the person who missed all the drama of the afternoon. The old tired figure with prematurely wrinkled skin stepped out - a withering flower in the heat of the house. The front door slammed shut, leaving Shiva’s father alone in the carporch to gape rather idiotically at his wife who had her hands were full of shopping bags.
“Where in the big wide world were you?” He caught her hand just as she was about to get the purse from one shopping bag to pay the auto. I new what he was doing of course. Satisfying a hurt ego. The thing that all humans were experts at although they would never admit it. Having an humongous ego equals being human.
“I…” The woman groaned, as her hand suffocated. “I had to get some things to…” I caught the man’s hand just as she twisted the woman’s. Gave him a nasty twist too, forcing him both to utter a cry of pain(music to my ears and balm to my throbbing headache) and let go of his wife’s hand. The poor old thing looked startled, more I think by her husband letting go rather than him crying out in pain at nothing. Equally or perhaps more startled was the poor auto driver who probably didn’t want to play the part of ‘embarrassed witness to the family row’.
“Madam if you would give me my fare…” he said, his round face rather red. “I have to…”
“Oh! Yes…” Devi’s eyes were still fixed on her husband, who at the moment was staring around bemused. If I didn’t know the jerk better I would have assumed that his wife was worried about his sanity. Probably, she was just wondering what horrible punishment he had in store for her. After all, he could punish her even if he couldn’t punish the people in the glossy car. Her…The one person who was under his thumb(not counting his daughter who had shown all too plainly that she would not emulate her mother).
After the necessary money exchanged hands, the auto made a speedy exit. Two people stood facing each other on the carporch - one at boiling point and the other in a blank state of confusion.
“Why in the world were you not in the house?”
Raghunath snarled, anger seething in voice and eyes. “Do you know what happened? Do you know how I have been degraded and insulted because of your daughter?” “Our daughter…” She said quietly and firmly. Although the visible anger was absent, there was something challenging in the way she said those words and the quiet dignity of her countenance. The man sensed this as well and if I had to guess…he wasn’t impressed.
“Do you know how she behaved? Do you have any idea…Where in the heck where you anyway?”
Wordlessly, the woman pointed at the shopping bags, now unceremoniously tossed on the floor, their many contents spilling out.
“Shopping couldn’t wait? Oh you…” “If you had told me beforehand…Then I could have gotten the necessary things and prepared lunch for our guests. As it is…I had prepared nothing fancy enough for your guests.”
Was there a slight sneer there? I stared hard at the woman. Was she defying her Was there a slight sneer there? I stared hard at the woman. Was she defying herVIBGYOR husband at last?
“Now there’s no need…” He spat out, his hands trembling. “Go inside and teach your daughter some manners!”
“Manners…” The woman whispered. “One must always be well mannered when they deal with murderers, huh?”
The man shrank back as though he had been slapped. The arrogance vanished from his eyes, to be replaced by a frightened pleading look. “He is not! I mean…all such ridiculous accusations have been…”
“You disgust me.”
The woman’s voice rose, perhaps for the first time in many years. Each word came out slowly and deliberately through trembling lips. Her lackluster eyes blazed with a fire I would have never suspected was inside her.
“You disgust me more than I can say or express.” The woman marched inside, her head held high. Tears slowly made their way down her cheeks, no longer tears of misery but raging fury. The front door slammed shut for a second time leaving Mr. Raghunath standing alone beside his car. Was it my imagination but did even the car seem to be mocking him?
Wild applause broke out followed by hysterical laughter.
“About time…don’t you think?”
I laughed, a kind of savage glee taking hold over me. There was no denying the superb sense of satisfaction I felt. Not to mention the fact that the woman went endlessly up in my estimation of her. No doubt there would be an explosion later as the man gets over his shock but…sometimes expressing an honest opinion or lashing out was worth any number of slaps that would follow. Pity a few humans understood this simple truth.
Unsurprisingly, the man didn’t head back inside. Instead he drove out. I could not feel even the slightest bit of shame coming off him. I wonder if I ever will. “Shiva…You could have spoken calmly…” Muffled conversation came from inside the house. Both me and Goldy headed towards the closed door, on the other side of which the women of the house were engaged in conversation.
“I will not be calm…”
Shiva’s voice simmered with anger. As we both went in, I saw that there was no anger on her face. There was only calmness and a strange sense of peace. “Use your common sense. You have only made you father more angry…” “I don’t care that he’s angry. And don’t you dare tell me I should have…” “I won’t tell you that. I will never tell you that.”
Shiva looked up in surprise at her mother’s tearful eyes. The woman stroked her hair with a weak and withered hand, worn out by years of slave labour. “Mom…”
“Shiva…I will not tell you to do an idiotic thing again.”
Devi took her daughter’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “But you should have left me to speak to your father and…”
“As if he’ll listen to you. When was the last time he did that?”
The woman sighed. She opened her mouth to speak, thought better better of it and closed it again.
“Let me be…” Shiva wailed, more to her surroundings than to her mother. “At least for once…Let me do what I want to do…” “Shiva…”
“Just go!”
After the frail woman was out of the room, Shiva breathed deeply, each breath letting out an overbearing mixture of emotions. Even if I worked throughout the entire day, it was doubtful I could make sense of even a few of them. One thing I was sure of though. Shiva has had enough and this…this half crazed way she was acting was her way of letting the world know it. I looked out of the window facing the road. People were walking about, chatting cheerfully. Some of them cast sly glances at the house and whispered before returning to the casual conversation mode. I recognized Rohini Aunty, her plump figure wrapped in a salwar of all things. The carefully tied up hair which was black during our first encounter was brown now. Odd…The way humans are obsessed about looking young…Maybe I don’t understand it because I don’t have to dread the day when skin becomes dry and wrinkled and eyes lose their sight and youthful charm.
“Who’s that?”
I turned to see Goldy behind me, watching the group of Greens marching behind I turned to see Goldy behind me, watching the group of Greens marching behind Rohini Aunty, and making a rude face at them. “Poison Ivy.”
Goldy giggled.
It was night before the car came purring back through the gates. The tires screeched when it stopped abruptly in the car porch, and the door opened rapidly. Shiva’s Dad stomped out, his eyes red. Goldy stepped back into the house immediately but I lingered for a little while more. He staggered up the front steps and almost fell through the door.
“Is he ill or something?” asked Goldy startled. I didn’t reply. I had recognized the scent. The scent of a horrible substance that takes over human senses and…They call it alcohol and sing its demerits but the thing about humans is…They secretly enjoy the things they denounce in public.
Suddenly, from nowhere came a cry.
“Oh dear!”
Devi came running, her face distressed. She caught her husband before he fell face forward on to the cold granite floor. Pity…I would have loved to see his nose break. “Tell me you haven’t been driving like this…”
“I…I…” The man slurred, his red eyes staring at his wife, “There was…” “Come on!”
She said kindly, leading him to their room. The man clung to her like a kid, muttering incoherent rubbish. Something I had thought many times before came back to my mind. Pathetic…
“Is he drunk? What in the world…”
Goldy shook her head rapidly, as if she was trying to shake the picture of him and the woman out of her head. “I just don’t…” Her voice trailed away but I could very well guess the tail end of the sentence. “I don’t either.”
The house was silent for hours after the man’s dramatic entrance. By silence I meant the absence of actual human conversation. I do not count the blaring music(I didn’t know that high volume could make the saddest melodies jarring to the ears) seeping through the wall of Shiva’s room. No one came out for dinner and judging by the lack of activity in the kitchen, dinner was apparently not cooking. As usual, the lack of of activity in the kitchen, dinner was apparently not cooking. As usual, the lack ofVIBGYOR
interesting activity tormented poor Goldy. And it tormented me too by making me the receiving end of whines and grumbles. It was therefore, a relief when a soft, barely audible voice whispered something in Shiva’s Mom and Dad’s room.
“You can hardly blame her…”
“Really!”
Oh!Oh! The volcano just exploded. Shiva’s Dad’s voice still held the remains of his drinks but it was as strong as ever. “I just wanted to do her good and…” “Think of the kind of man he is and how Shiva must have felt when she heard…For once…” “SHUT UP!”
Next to me, Goldy gasped.
“DID YOU EVER UNDERSTAND ANYTHING? DID YOU…HOW CAN YOU WHEN YOU’VE SEEN NOTHING BEYOND THIS HOUSE! HOW CAN YOU WHEN THE ONLY TIME YOU GO OUT IS TO GO SHOPPING AND TO THE TEMPLE? DO YOU EVEN REALIZE…HOW CAN YOU…”
The voice trailed away, letting silence continue its reign. I could hear some sobs here and there but that was it. Three people. A family. Not speaking for the rest of the night. I could only hope that they would come around in the morning.
CHAPTER 15
The sky was as stormy as my mind. Flashes of lightening lashed at me through the windows at regular intervals. Devil’s hands reaching at the hellhouse, I couldn’t help thinking as a particular vicious flash snarled at me. Very very pessimistic of me, I know, but recent events have not exactly inspired optimism. Even Goldy, whose chatter was sometimes a welcome relief(although I would never admit that to her) was silent, staring in silent awe at the raging storm.
Who would have thought it was 7:00 in the morning if not for the clock declaring it. Little squares of light shone in all the all the buildings. A sickly sun suffocated under a blanket of thick grey. From somewhere not far away came the startling ring of an alarm clock.
Shivani snuggled under her blanket, curling up into a ball. Without opening her eyes, she yawned.
“Mom…” It was not a summons, I was quite sure. Shiva was quite lost in sleep. It was more like a wail or a moan. The simple cry of a little girl for her mother. It made me want to cry too. Just like the sky was crying. Just like humans weep.
I massages my throbbing temples. Never knew sympathy was so annoying. If I did I would have never let myself feel it. Maybe that was why humans preferred to live in a small world, blind to anything and everything that was not directly related to them. A big heart was a huge load to carry around.
“Looks like we’re stuck here today.”
Goldy floated gracefully out.
“Kitchen’s empty!”
I heard her cry out from the drawing room.
“Oh my! Shakti!”
Normally, I would have felt a ‘adrenaline rush’ (again a very human expression) and rushed outside to deal with whatever was causing poor Goldy such alarm. But the bleak morning when nature was mourning, all I felt was a strange sense of weariness. This wasn’t the first alarm I had been exposed to since my association with the human species began and I very much doubted it would be my last. Surprise Surprise, a prize everyday! At least human world was unpredictable.
“Shakti…will you come over here!”
Letting out a sigh, I made a torturous journey out of the room. By the time I crossed the door, I must have sighed at least a thousand times.
“Goldy??” The dining room was dark, which was kind of a good thing. For one, the wretched house was finally at peace. For another it helped me find Goldy quickly. She was looking out of the closed window at something outside.
“Hey! What’s…”
“Look…”
Through the thick falling rain, a single person was walking towards the house, oblivious to the fact that she was soaking wet. She did not even wince when thunder rumbled ominously. She did not flinch when a bright flash of lightening brightened the dim earth. Her lips were muttering things I couldn’t hear. The wrinkled hands were clasped together in silent prayer.
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