Part 78

"I mean.. I do not know from where to start! I was never good at expressing my feelings. I never wrote good essays in school. I always believed in action..." He started off little incoherently. Khushi kept looking at him.

Arnav had never expressed anything to anyone since he was a young kid. "I don't know how and when my parents met each other. I always saw my mother talk about it dreamily. They were deeply in love with each other. We had our own world of four and were happy with it. I don't remember my parents worrying about anything" He said staring at the floor. Khushi kept looking at him. He looked like a small boy to her who was happy with his family and friends around.

He never thought about anything other than his family and friends. His parents had put him in the best school in Luknow. They lived in a mansion, Sheesh Mehal. His papa was a big name in the town. He was a very short tempered person. Arnav was growing up looking at his father, following his footsteps.

He with his aggressive nature always used to pick up fights with his friends and his Di would always come to his rescue when it went beyond control. He had a special bonding with his Di. He used to confide everything on his Di and she never betrayed him by telling about his pranks at home.

"I never thought that anything could go wrong with us. But things did not move per my papa's expectations. I think his business was on decline and he had to stay out of house for a longer duration. Mama used to take care of us and always used to pray for the well being of all of us. She was a religious lady and used to visit temple every day. Di used to help her in everything. I used to go with her wondering how her God looks after so many people at the same time. She told me once that god assigns people for the job of taking care of other people around, just like my papa. I loved her bedtime stories...!" He still was looking down but his voice was heavy with the memories of his parents.

"Even I love bedtime stories....!" Smile appeared on her face.  

He had got up with a jerk that night when he saw people arguing in the hall and his papa raising his voice. He tried to go out but his Di, held him back and said "Chote, don't go out. Papa will not like it!" He stayed with his Di. His mother was nowhere to be seen. He did not like it at all. He felt uneasy and tried to peep through the door.

"Papa was shouting at an elderly person, saying that he had paid off the loan and got it released. I did not understand what was going on. But I saw another young person resembling my papa. He was shouting at papa too. The argument continued for a long time. And since then things were never the same again!"
Arnav looked at papaji and he was looking at Arnav with rapt attention.
"Mama looked worried and gloomy and papa was always in tension. That day we were coming from the school finishing our final exams and an older boy teased Di. I picked up fight with him and bashed him. That boy looked at Di and asked "Is he your real brother? Or he is..." Di bashed him too!" said Arnav.

Both of them came home and he asked his Di what that boy meant by asking this. She avoided Arnav's question with tears in her eyes. He went to his mama and told her the incident. His mama embraced him and told him not to pick up fight with such rogues. "You are not the earthen pot, Chote! You are the golden one... Very Very Precious...!" His mother consoled.  But he sensed something was wrong. His father came home in the evening that day and told them that they were shifting to Delhi. The kids were happy and their mother looked relieved.

They shifted to Delhi and their school started smoothly. He was realizing his abilities and powers. His mother always wanted to channelize his overflowing energy for productive work and tried to keep him busy and away from fights and arguments, which he was good at. Arnav resolutely avoided picking up arguments with other boys and started to be aloof. He had very few friends. His closest was his Di. He had picked up the habit of reading books and on his mother's insistence had started taking lessons in music. His Di was a very good singer and used to win competitions. Both the kids had gathered a lot of trophies in those two years in Delhi. Their parents were proud of them. The business was back on track.

"Those were the best years in our lives. Di was preparing for her 10th exam and I was to finish 6th." Said Arnav.

That day both of them came home from school to see his mama crying and trying to contact his papa. There was no trace of him. She tried all his contacts and friends but in vain. He was nowhere to be found.

"Mama, was panic struck. I did not know what to do. Di held my hand and stopped me from going to mama and asking her questions. She was crying. We did not go to school for next few days. Search was on for my papa. Mama was tensed up and had stopped eating. I tried to ask her but she did not answer any of my questions. But when they brought his body in the house, she was devastated. I did not understand what was happening. I only knew that something worst has happened and papa is never coming back. They made me lead the funeral. I came home after the cremation was over, exhausted! and slept for more than a day like a dead log. Di told me afterwards that people around me were growing worried about my sleep. Mama's condition was pathetic. Di tried to control herself in vain. Mama had completely broken down under the pressure!" he stopped chocking and struggling for breath. Khushi offered him a glass of water.

"How much he has endured! What he must have felt when cremating his father? Oh! My God! Devimayya, why did you do this to him? I was young too when my parents died.. but performing the last rite of his father at that age must have shattered him completely! " A faint sob left Khushi!

Arnav looked at her and continued

" Di shouldered mama's responsibilities. She started going to temple and worship. She did all the household work. She used to take care of me. We had no financial problems. Mama used to always say that papa had done enough arrangements for our education and future. But he too had left a mess behind, which we were unaware of!" Arnav paused for breath.

That day, he again saw the same set of persons in his house when he returned from school. The neighbors had gathered too. The look alike of his father had picked up argument with his mom. This time Arnav stood up to them to support his mother, not knowing what the argument was for. His Di again took him inside and asked him to keep quiet.

"I will not let you have our property! You are not the one to have it!" had said the person.

His mama tried to come out of this and started her routine. The school was never the same again. Friends kept distance, teachers stared at him, parents whispered behind his back, his Di was out of school. There were more complaints about him. He tried to control his anger and stopped talking to other boys. Sometimes the things went out of his control and he bashed fellow boys. Going to school became torturous. He refused to go to school that day and his mama thought of changing his school.

"I used to go and ask babuji why people kept looking at me? when babuji brought me in his family. Babuji had said i was a fairy and people had never seen a fairy so they stared at me! I felt so good! But Arnavji? Why couldn't his Di tell him he was the prince and people were jealous about him? " thought Khushi. She swallowed hard with watery eyes!

"That day, I came back from School. It was raining and I saw mama standing outside the closed door of our house. Someone had locked the house. We did not know what to do. Mama asked us to wait at the gates and went away. We waited for her. We had nowhere to go. Late in the evening one of neighbors took us to his house. My mama came with the key and we went in! " He chocked again. Khushi waited holding his hand. He continued.

"We are going back to Luknow, mama had said" I was happy to go back. Di looked nervous. But mama had made up her mind. We went back to our mansion. "Sheesh Mahel!" Arnav told.

"sometimes, mama got emotional and told us about her childhood and her parents. She used to take out the photographs from her box and show us. We had seen her family, my grandparents, and my uncle only in the photographs. She always talked about them. I had never heard her talking about them when papa was alive. But of late she always used to talk about her mother!" Arnav said pausing for a while.

His mother's only worry was his Di's marriage. She was not even 18 when his mama started the hunt. She kept on trying for her marriage as if it was the only cause of her existence. His Di's marriage became the sole motto of her life.
Khushi remembered how desperate her babuji was for payal jiji's marriage.

"I continued with my studies but in a different school. I was doing well. I slowly was understanding my mama's worries. We had never seen any of our family members; neither from my mother's side nor from my father's side. We three stuck together for each other. Di seemed to have gone in a shell. She was fed up with talking to the people who came up with marriage proposal and getting rejected for one or the other reasons. Her college too was no less than a hell.  She refused to go to college and kept her terms externally. Her laughter became a rare thing. I was very close to Di but I too felt distanced from her. The only place where she went outside our house was the temple. Sometimes I used to get angry with her god, that he did not spare her even for some time. She busied herself in worshiping and studying. She had developed inferiority complex about her limping leg. Mama kept on trying for her wedding. As the days passed she grew more anxious about the marriage." Arnav had continued.

"At last she found out a very good family and the boy was working in Delhi. I think, she agreed for everything they demanded." said Arnav thinking about the situation.

They were all very happy. His Di's face brightened up. She could not stop smiling. Arnav was happy that his Di was happy. He started paying more attention to household work and sharing responsibilities. He was to appear for his 10th exam. The wedding date was approaching. They all were busy in preparations. Mama looked so happy and excited. The boy had come home for a couple of times and taken his Di out. Di looked happy and so did the boy. His parents too visited the house a couple of times looking around in their Mansion. Arnav got upset that his Di would be leaving him, and was almost on the verge of crying. He had never cried after his father's funeral.

"I almost cried that day, but mama said that my Di was going to be very happy with her husband and I should not come in her way. I looked at my Di and she nodded. I smiled at her."

Smile appeared on Khushi's face too!