RECAP

Mama

Mrs. Saraswati is waiting for her son and wife to arrive home and worries as to why they are late. She reminiscences on her past and how she brought up Sameer single handedly after she became a widow. She is very fond of her daughter-in-law and finds her a joy to have around. She tries the phone numbers of both and Sameer and Kavitha and cannot reach them.

CHAPTER 4

Sameer

The light and shade played hide and seek among the lamp posts and made zigzag lines on the street. There wasn’t much of traffic today and Sameer drove slightly fast working out his day’s frustration on the wheels. Sameer was usually a careful driver, almost too careful. He went at an even pace and often had drivers behind him hooting impatiently. Sometimes they drove past him at top speed calling out in irritation, but Sameer never turned a hair at all this. Safety was something he valued and did not compromise on. Arjun, if he was sitting beside him would shout back at the enraged drivers and often asked Sameer, why he never got angry! ‘Anger is a destructive emotion and served no purpose’, Sameer would reply, making Arjun even more irritated. All the same he had been angry with Kavitha today, why? Sameer mused.

Kavitha had been proposed as a bride for him by his Uncle, who was also Arjun’s father. She was the daughter of a family friend and generally considered good wife material in the marriage market. Sameer had a few possibles in mind from his own town, all smart career girls whom he had known since childhood. Sameer had been a soft-spoken, well mannered guy all his life and he would have liked some excitement in his life. Some proposals had excited his fancy in that way.

There was Namitha, Mama’s friend Mrs.Kaushal’s daughter; a petite pretty fashionable girl. She had been the heart throb of all the boys of his college; and he had initially been excited at the name some relative introduced at home. Namitha Kaushal! Oh My God! The Kaushals too were keen on the match. But Mama said the horoscopes didn’t match.

Then there was Vasudha, his boss’s niece, she was a little overweight and a little over smart too. She spoke fluent English with an American accent and wanted to stay in the City Square flat that her father would gift her after marriage. That sounded like a demand even before the marriage. Sameer didn’t want Mama to be alone; he couldn’t see her shifting to another flat, so the marriage plans were foiled quite on the way. Not that he regretted it at all! He had already started feeling slightly irritated with her accent, and so the horoscopes were announced as not matching again!

All these proposals were in half-jest, and now the really serious ones started pouring in. Sameer almost smiled when he remembered how much in demand he was as a groom, every day there would be a friend or relative calling up and telling Mama, “Saraswati, there is this very nice girl I know, shall we ask about their interest?” Santanu Mama had then brought Kavitha’s proposal. Kavitha also happened to be the cousin of Alka, his classmate; the girl on whom he had his first crush. In fact, they had met first at Alka’s wedding, and Kavitha had made no impression at all on him. Just a good looking girl dressed as any dignified girl would and not one to stand out in the crowd. Later when they met alone, he thought she was prettier but not tempting enough, but since Mama seemed keen on this match, he gave in to the proposal without any comment.

Mama was never wrong in Sameer’s experience. After the death of his Papa in his childhood, it was Mama who was his whole life, and he took care not to offend or hurt her in any way. Not that Mama was a tyrant or a possessive mother. She had been a mild personality all her life, and had never shown any inclination to assert her will. Her family, her home and later her work, after she had been given a compassionate appointment in Papa’s office on her widowhood, had been her priorities.

Kavitha had looked like she would fit into their small circle comfortably. In fact, the first things she told him when they met after their engagement was that she was glad he had a small family. Hmmm…not quite small, he thought, thinking of all the cousins and uncles that formed an extended family and affectionately claimed his time occasionally. Kavitha too belonged to a nuclear family of just her parents and a sister who was settled abroad for good. After marriage she had gone home for just the festive occasions and never seemed to demand that they visit her ‘maike’ frequently at all. She was quite content where she was…except when things began to go wrong unexpectedly…or so he perceived.

When did it first come to his notice? He racked his brains and then remembered….the day Arjun had said he was moving to the hostel. He had announced it very quietly while they all sat round the dining table peeling fruit. Sameer had exclaimed loudly and Mama looked up, but characteristically didn’t say a word. Only Kavitha didn’t look surprised. She just asked, “When are you moving, Arjun?”, as if it was a most ordinary thing. Arjun then proceeded to discuss the details with her, and pointedly ignored Sameer’s expressions of shock.

Sameer now wondered why Kavitha did not argue Arjun out of his decision. Bhabhi was his favorite person after all and one word of objection from her would have made Arjun stay back, but Kavitha chose to encourage his plans by discussing the moving in detail. She even called up the faculty staying in the hostel she knew personally to recommend the release of the reserve room which they held for the faculty. It happened too soon after marriage and Sameer had a feeling that it wouldn’t look good to ask Kavitha why she did this. So he had stayed quiet, as was his usual strategy in an unpleasant situation. Words and arguments never took anyone anywhere.

And Arjun was gone in just over a week! It was Kavitha who organized his packing and quietly supervised the shifting. The night Arjun left, Sameer felt an emptiness in the house that he had not felt for sometime. He even mentioned once or twice that Arjun made his absence felt, but neither saas nor bahu picked up the topic for further discussion. He felt them almost pointedly discussing the price rise in vegetables that week whenever he broached the topic.

In the days that followed, Sameer felt the gap most acutely, but he got used to Arjun’s absence after a while. It was then that he noticed that Mama was slowly withdrawing from the kitchen. One morning, instead of the daily Puri, dal routine, he saw that toast, fruit and cornflakes had been served. It was not that he didn’t like it, he loved pardeshi breakfasts as they called it in fun; but he missed the fluffy Puris and tangy dal that Mama made. He saw that Mama was taking just some milk and fruit and asked immediately whether she was ill. Mama had replied in the negative, but Kavitha didn’t even ask, he noticed; she just took another piece of toast and continued eating. She had left for office soon after and Mama disappeared into her room. She then came out only when he called out his daily greeting that he was leaving. For some reason, he felt that Mama had been crying, or was he just presuming that? Mama never cried and he never found out whether or why she cried that day either.

The lights were now brighter on the road and the car slowly swung into the lane leading to the Tennis Club. There were a number of cars parked and Sameer noticed the posh cars of some of his friends and smiled wryly. His was the only small car there, it had never given him any trouble, and he had found no reason yet to change his car, so preferred to wait till they needed a bigger one. He didn’t believe in too high a life. Comforts were fine, even luxury to an extent, but showing off was not exactly his cup of tea.

Mama had never been fond of luxury and Kavitha too was just the same. The thought of the two women in his life brought back the shadows to Sameer’s face and he walked briskly away from the parking lot, leaving the keys with the valet. He had already spied two friends on the court and a third one resting nearby flopped on a chair…Sameer waved and was greeted in return; he relaxed a little, ‘Ah! Here is someone who is happy to see me at last.’

                                                                                 To be continued....