RECAP

KR’s outburst sounds funny to Roshni, though not entirely inapt.  She relishes the small attentions KR pays her, till the turn of events find KR facing Mother.  The old lady, courteous to a fault, tries to shame KR into accepting that he is a family man and too old to be drooling after her young daughter. She also upbraids Roshni for inciting the old fool to lust for her.

CHAPTER 5

Mother was right in everything she said, only that it irritated me.  It was like she had pointed out an ugly pimple on my face that I could do little about. 

‘I’m not going to office,’ I said severely, ‘And Mother, you should have knocked at the door before you entered. This is no way to enter my room.’

‘Acchha!  Since when have you started teaching manners to your mother?  This is my house and I will enter any room as I please.  Understand?  If you have any problem, go live somewhere else!  There is that kindly old man to help you…’
 
‘Will you ever stop? I shouldn’t have brought him home, now I know. This is your home, all right.  Next time I think of inviting someone, I’ll seek your permission.  Is that enough?   Now if you will please leave me alone.  I’m having a headache.’

‘That is a nice way to settle a family affair!  If I dare open my mouth, my daughter starts getting a headache.  After all, I am also a human being.  I need someone to share my thoughts, discuss my problems.’

‘I know what’s your problem right now!  Your problem is that old monkey, KR. Hai na?  I will manage him, I promise. But let me live my life, please, Mother.   I can’t stand your bickering every now and then.’

‘Just you watch, beti, how I let you live your life.  I am not my father’s daughter if I don’t find you a proper man and marry you off in six months!  I have had enough of your tantrums.’

It was the fifth day that I had not gone to office.  KR sent Ashraf with a bouquet to know whether I was well.  I told the office boy that there was nothing the wrong with me. I just wanted to keep away from the sordid business of office as long as I could manage.  Let the chap tell the old man whichever manner he fancied, I did not care.  KR had become the easy target of my anger.

Time passed like a crawling worm leaving behind a sticky ugliness.  At night, I lay in my bed waiting vainly for the sleep to calm my agitated mind.  The phone bell rang.  It kept on ringing for some time before I got up and wrenched the receiver off its cradle.  The wall clock showed it was 11:38. KR’s time for a phone call!

‘Hello!  Who is there?’ I screamed in irritation.

‘It’s me, Roshni.  Kayaar!’  As usual he sounded muffled, afraid of waking up his wife lying by his side.

‘KR sir, what’s the urgency? Couldn’t it have waited till morning?’  Unlike other days, I did not feel obliged to lower down my tone.  Let Mother overhear, for all I cared.

KR must have got flustered with my response.
 
‘Roshni, my dear,’ he said in a scratchy voice as if his throat had gone dry, ‘All I wanted to know was why you are not coming to office.  Ashraf told me you are well and there is nothing to worry on that account.  Is it something to do with your mother?  She did not appear happy about my visit to your place.  I hope she was not unduly perturbed.’

‘No, Mister KR, she was not perturbed.  On the contrary, she was overjoyed to see you with me.  She enquired if our company could keep geriatrics in employment, then perhaps she too could have a chance.    She feels so lonely and bored these days, poor Mother.  Could you help her please...?’

As I fell into a mirthless laughter, the line went dead in my hands.

Mother was feeling neither lonely nor bored.  She was planning a visit to our native town Khanna in Punjab to find a suitable boy for me.  I tried to dissuade her, but she won’t listen to me.  'I should have gone there much earlier,' she said.  'What kept me from going was the thought a city-bred girl like you would not like to be tied down to a rustic for life. But now water has risen above my head.  I don't want to become a laughing stock before the wide world.  Today, that old lecher comes wagging his tail after you, tomorrow, someone else will.  I'll have no more of that.  You wait and see...'

The matter was brought to a head by a phone call one afternoon from Jallandhar.  Masi Kanta, Mother's cousin and confidante, was seriously ill and counting her days.  Masiji was a chronic asthmatic and it was not the first time that we had heard of her impending death.  She had managed to turn round every time in the past and was likely to do it this time as well.  But why would Mother heed me? That very evening she had packed her cloth-bag and left for Jallandhar by an over-night bus.

With Mother gone, I felt terribly lonely.  TV did not seem to offer much, though I was reluctant to switch it off.  There was quite a stack of novels in my bed room but I was in no mood for a book either.  Then I caught myself looking time and again at the mute telephone. Was I expecting a call from someone?  Would he call me after what I had said to him!  It was with a great difficulty that I resisted the urge to dial KR's number.

Early next morning it was Mother who called.  Masi Kanta's condition was not as bad as she had feared.  Mother said she would be staying with her for a couple of days and then go to Khanna.  I protested that there was no need of going to Khanna.  But she hung up the phone on me.
 
As I got up for the day's business, I felt light in body and mind.  After taking a bath, I made myself aloo-parathas that would see me through the day.  I thought of going to office,  but quelled the idea.  Not yet, I told myself.

                            To be continued…