Part 39

It was almost 4.00 in the evening and Mr. Arnav Singh Raizada was waiting for the family members to arrive. He felt proud to welcome them. Every time he or his company took a leap towards progress, he had invited his sister and nani to his office.

His mind went back several years when he was a student of Textile Engineering and having completed 19 years, he had started a small venture of buying the readymade garments from the wholesale market from Mumbai and selling it to the small garment shops. He had made a small profit in a month and had bought a chocolate for his sister. In six months, while continuing his studies, he along with his two friends had started buying the cloth and getting the shirts stitched from local Tailors. He could pay for his fees with the share of his profit. Within one year they had started off with their own stitching unit. Mamiji had given the seed money by selling her ornament. He had returned the money in multiples within six months of his graduation. He had been making profit enough to support the family. 

Though Raizada's were well off with a status in the society, he always had felt himself and his sister to be a burden on the family. After the graduation, there was no looking back. He had seen waves of ups and downs and had managed to survive all the turmoil. His friends had withdrawn from the business and to buy their portion he had to pay them through his nose. He had managed to grow exponentially in last few years with his business prudence heading three companies in the garment business. In his journey to success he had never taken anybody's help and he had never depended on the luck factor. He always had achieved success through shrewd business acumen. Though Raizada family members owned some part of his empire he had always been the head. The head of the family and head of his companies.

And now he stood there with a glint of pride waiting to welcome his family members into the office of a 250 crore turnover company with growth plans to take the companies to the next level. 

** *** *
Khushi took the taxi and went to the airport. Papaji arrived in a few minutes time. Both of them boarded the plane. It was late in the evening when they landed on Kolkata Airport. It was dinner time when they reached home. Family members were waiting. Everybody was shocked to see Khushi back. Papaji gave them the good news of Aakash and Payal's upcoming wedding, though the date was not yet fixed. He went to his study for some urgent work. Raj and his family looked little tensed up. Khushi could not understand why? But she sensed something was wrong. After the dinner everybody went to sleep. Khushi watched TV for some time. She never wanted to go to her room. She felt lonely. She knew all the memories of togetherness with him will start rushing, taking away her sleep. She saw raj coming out of his room followed by his wife Elsa. She was surprised.

"Khushi, thank god you came back! We were about to call you. There is a situation, Khushi and I don't know how to get out of it." He said.
She looked at him not knowing what was happening and how she could be of any help.

"Khushi, you can take us out of this. " Said Elsa.
"Hum?" Khushi could not believe their despair. "How can I be of any help to anyone, when I could not help myself, yesterday? " she lost in her thoughts.
"Khushi, we may have to go back. I have a business to run. I stayed here for a long time. I need to go now. There are so many things I cannot handle remotely. I have to go back. Khushi, I cannot tell this to my parents. They are so happy being together. I cannot do it. I want you to tell them that we are going back." Khushi was shocked. She had thought Raj and family had come to stay forever. She kept looking at them. Then she said realizing...
"Oh. I understand. I too had thought you all have come here to stay. But silly me! I should have understood you have your own world there. But how do we tell this to mummiji and papaji? Their whole world will turn upside down. ... We need to think about it. When are you planning to go?"
"This weekend. We have booked the tickets but dared not talking about it to mom and dad" Raj said."Khushi I cannot stand hurting them again. We have already lost ten precious years of our lives staying away from each other. I cannot bear the thought of parting again, but I have to go...Khushi..!" Raj chocked on the verge of breaking down. Elsa held his hand and stroked him. 

Khushi wondered "Yesterday I lost my world by my haste and nature of poking into others problems... and now I will have to do it again. Yesterday I had done it voluntarily, hitting a self goal and now I will have to do it for the sake of my foster family, even if i will have to take the blame." 

"Don't worry bhaiya and Bhabhi, we will find out something", she said assuring them an amicable solution. 

She went to her room her mind now occupied with this new situation. She could not sleep for a long time. 

** ****
Arnav waited there in the evening to welcome his family members. He saw the cars arriving. He came forward his assistant Aman was behind him. Nani got down from the car. He came forward held her hand and greeted her. She blessed him smiling at him. He received mamiji and mamaji with the same affection and respect. Aakash had accompanied them. Aakash went ahead in the office. Aranv brought all of them inside and requested them to assemble in the board room. He was missing something, someone. He looked around and out. His Di was missing. He opened his mouth to ask nani but was stopped by a screeching noise of brakes. Another car had just arrived at the door. He came forward hurriedly to greet his Di. He opened the door of the car for her to get down. He looked inside the car and froze.

He looked inside the car and froze. Sham was getting down smiling broadly at him from the car......
He could not believe his eyes. What was he doing here?
"Where is Di?" he asked keeping his face straight forgetting to greet his jijaji.
"Oh! She stayed at home for some work concerning the upcoming marriage and instead I am here in her place." He smiled and said it in his silky voice. Arnav was shocked. He, not knowing what to say, escorted sham to the board room. He felt little nervous at the presence of sham. He had not expected this. Hi-Tea was served and the meeting started.

As the head of the group companies, Arnav briefed all of them about the previous year's milestones, their achievement in holding the fashion show in Kolkata. This had paved roads into Eastern region. He talked about the appreciation he received from all his associates. He talked about the bonus pattern and also about extrapolated growth of the company. He took a break for some time after a lengthy speech about his company. All the family members appreciated his work. He gave due credit to his mamaji and Aakash for handling the business of other two companies. He acclaimed his mamaji's marketing efforts abroad. Sham was very attentive and had appreciated Arnav's capabilities and prudence. 

After the break, Arnav started talking about the new venture of liaisoning for a bigger group. He gave all the details and said "I will be handling this myself as the client is new, the project is of high value and we have a lot of opportunities to work with the group. Everybody nodded in acceptance...
"um.. Saale Saab, Came a voice..." Arnav stiffened. He looked at Sham.. "I mean, sorry... Mr. Arnav Singh Raizada. What I feel is, you already have so many things on your plate. You already do multitasking and I really admire that. You are an amazing person with tremendous insight into the business. Now again this venture would put more burden on you." He looked at everyone. Arnav unable to understand this preamble gazed at him. 

Everybody looked confused. What was he trying to convey?
"So..?" Asked Arnav, questioningly.
"What I mean to say... is why not take help from someone? ".
"What do you mean? I am only heading this venture but mamaji and Aakash are always there to help in his this." He said looking upset.
"Please, don't take it otherwise, Mr. Arnav singh, what I mean to say is take a help of a person who knows the trade."
"What do you want to suggest Mr....?" Arnav hated to utter his name.
"I suggest, you entrust this venture to me. I am a lawyer, I know how to deal with government officials and I am confident I can handle this successfully. I don't expect anything in return. This is only to relieve you from some burden..." he said with fake sincerity. Arnav was speechless. He had never expected this. He looked around at everybody and was shocked to see them nodding in acceptance. 

"But why? Aakash and his father can handle this with Arnav.." Mamiji opposed. She thought another person in the management of the company will reduce importance of her son and husband. She never wanted an additional share.. she was happy with these three running the show.
"Oh! Keep quiet! You don't understand the tricks of the trade. Arnav, I feel this is a good idea of entrusting this to Sham. He will be of more help to us. We have another member of the family to run the show." Said Mamaji looking at Arnav. 

Arnav forgot to react. "What was going on? Why is everyone supporting this bugger? Can they not understand what danger they are entering into by giving him entry in their company?" But then he realized that no one knows the truth about this person standing before him with a smirk on his face.
Sham held a set of paper in his outstretched hand and said "This is my proxy document executed by my dear wife which gives me powers to vote and this is the power of attorney executed in my favor to manage all her financial matters."

Arnav took the papers looking aghast. Every one else seemed to be very happy with the outcome of the meeting and were ready to leave. Arnav went to see them off saying he had some more work and he would come later.
He stood in the porch like a statue. Situation was sinking in. He had failed in his shrewdness. He had never ever anticipated this. He did not know what to do. He regretted having not told Aakash about Sham's truth when he had asked. Sham proved to be smarter…

This was a big blow. This person called himself his jijaji, was spreading his tentacles. He had invaded upon his family life, his love life and now upon his business. He felt helpless. He felt like a tiger trapped in a cage.
"I must stop this. I should not allow him to invade upon my empire…" But how?

He could not talk about his desperation and fears to anyone. Everybody in his family had a blind faith on Sham. He kept staring unfocused losing sense of time. He badly needed someone. 

His cell rang. He picked up the phone. It was already late. But he was surprised to receive the call from Mr. Balwindar Singh. Somehow a faint smile appeared on his face. Was this His last ray of hope?