Chapter 1

2 years ago

twerping

@twerping

Raman Kumar Bhalla's return to Delhi was not the affair of pomp and splendour that his besotted mother had planned for him. In her excitement in welcoming home her eldest son and his child after a period of four years of them living in Mumbai, she had gone quite overboard in planning a welcome-home party. What she had forgotten was the rather fickle nature of health that children of this age possessed and Ruhi returned to Delhi with a fever and stomach ache. With Ruhi fretful and ill, the party had to be abandoned. Neighbours were sent off with packages of food and the bottles remained corked and preserved for the next festive occasion.

Since his wife of seven years, Shagun, had left him unceremoniously four and a half years ago for what she termed as 'true love', Raman had devoted himself to raising their child and building his career. In both, one could say he triumphed beyond all expectations. Ruhi was a happy child albeit with a penchant for asking uncomfortable questions. The absence of a mother she barely remembered wasn't one she seemed to particularly feel. 

Raman himself had found a store of inner confidence which had been dormant within him. Propelled by anger at Shagun's betrayal, he had set himself on a path where his ability to take risks and follow his intuitions brought him the success he could have hardly anticipated only a few years ago. His dedication and focus saw him being promoted to the post of Executive Director of the Janus group of industries within four years of his joining it. His meteoric rise had already attracted attention from the business world and his continued successes and rising appreciation within the company hinted at more promotions in the near future. He appeared a satisfied man and he wore his armour well. Refusing to be drawn into possible romances and having no faith in marriage as an institution anymore, Raman Bhalla was happy to keep his affairs discreet and dry.

The Bhallas were residents of one of the older housing complexes in Mayur Vihar. They had moved in at a time when the first apartments were going up in the neighbourhood and all three children--Raman, Rinki and Romi had been raised in that home. With Raman's professional career taking off, he had been hoping to move into a larger apartment in a less crowded part of the city. However as things stood, he was yet to convince the rest of his family to make the shift. His apartment in South Bombay had been a heavenly change from the hustle and bustle of his Delhi home. Especially after Shagun's betrayal, he had been thankful to get away from the over-solicitousness that his family insisted upon him as solace. In a new society, away from all familiar faces and hurtful memories, he had been able to create a new life for himself and his daughter.

Now after the passing of a few years, Raman felt he was ready to return to the familiar haunts. Buoyed by his newly minted confidence he had faith in his ability to convince his family to shift to a new home. He was ready to finally leave behind the memories that continued to torment him. For Raman Bhalla returned to Delhi, still haunted by his ex's betrayal. His emotional distancing from the very possibility of a life filled with love had hardened into a shield. It took the form of a poignant distrust in women and what he saw as their "manipulative charms". A relationship built on trust which was something he had once thought he had within his grasp now appeared a fool's dream.

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Mrs. Bhalla, being a gregarious soul, had many friends in the apartment complex. With the return of her illustrious son to the city along with his adorable daughter, it was natural that she would rush off as soon as possible to meet some of her friends. The excuse was to exchange gossip while the object was to get this son of hers married off. One of the dearest wishes of this lady was after all to see her son 'settled'. The day after Raman and Ruhi's return to Delhi, she went off to visit one of her friends, a Mrs. Iyer. Over tea and hot samosas, the two biddies went over all the eligible women in their circle of acquaintances.

"What about Pammi's niece? The one who has recently returned from Canada", said Seemanthani Iyer, matriarch and proud mother of two sons who were both already 'settled'.

Mrs. Bhalla tried to recall the girl while slurping some of the hot masala chai that Mrs. Iyer was famous for.

"On second thoughts, the girl didn't have any children in her first marriage. That isn't a happy sign", continued Mrs. Iyer. One of the saddest things in her life was the infertility of her younger daughter-in-law, Ishita and it haunted her day and night. The day the Iyers learnt of Ishita's condition had been the day when Mrs. Iyer felt as if she had been stabbed in the back by the girl she had herself chosen for her son. All her friends sympathised with her and it could be safely said that Ishita wasn't a favourite in any of the Mayur Vihar ladies' circles. Ishita's feelings on the subject was of course unknown.

Mrs. Bhalla showed herself to be a true friend and turned her attention away from the tea and samosas, and instead channeled her energy towards comforting Mrs. Iyer and dismissed Pammi's niece from the list of possible matches for Raman.

"How is Ruhi now? Has her fever gone down?" was Mrs. Iyer's next solicitous query.

"Yes, the child is much better. I left her with Rinki since Raman, you know, had to go into office. Things are rough on the boy and it was his first day here. He wanted to stay...he is so worried about the child"

The conversation then turned from Raman's possible marriage to Ruhi's possible schooling. After much deliberation, it was decided that it would be most convenient for the Bhallas to enroll Ruhi into the AGM Memorial School in Chanakyapuri. Mr. Iyer's boss was on the board of the school and it would be a simple matter to secure an admission for Ruhi. Shravan, Mrs. Iyer's grandson, the child of her first son, Bala and his wife, Vandita, was a student there and the family was very happy with the way things were run in that prestigious institute.

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Things soon settled down to the routine and mundane. Raman's apprehensions over his return were soon drowned by the new workload. His time at home showed that the neighbourhood was filled with far too many new faces to make him recall those painful memories of the past. His mother was less inclined to let the past go and not a day would go by when she wouldn't bring up Shagun's name. The reason for this was not that she wanted to deliberately hurt her son by hammering his past on his head. Her intention was to see him move beyond his past. Not a day would go by without her raising the subject of Raman's marriage. When he stubbornly refused to even consider matrimony as an option, she would start ranting about Shagun and how she had destroyed their family. 

Thus, unfortunately, despite her good intentions, Mrs. Bhalla hurt both her son and her beloved granddaughter. Ruhi was at an age when she could not understand the situation in her family clearly but to hear her daadi abuse her mother confused her and made her cry. Such is the way in which shortsightedness can make fools of the best of us.