Reunion

No sooner had the plane landed, people started getting off their seats and started unloading their baggage from the overhead compartment as if it was a city bus. So I waited for the huddle to fade and got up cautiously, making sure I don't have any bag tumbling over my head. The girl sitting next to me did the same too. She began,

"I never understand why everyone is in such a hurry!"

"I wish I had the answered," I giggled.

"You know my father got a sprain in his left arm the last time he travelled when a bag fell on his hand."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."

"Don't be sorry, the one who should have been sorry argued that my father should also have got up to grab his bag! What a logic!"

"Can't help them. If aeroplanes start getting degraded like this, we will soon have a day when people will be boarding it, standing on the entire walkthrough."

"It was nice meeting you." She got up as we were now the last to deboard.

"Same here."

The thing I like the most about Delhi is that it has metro plying to and fro the airport. The subway seemed an entire world in itself. Though isolated from the world above, it was lively all along. Not all routes are busy, and some are always vacant to board no matter what time of the day. I booked my token for Delhi Gate and got on the magenta line and rode till Hauz Khas, thereby changed line for yellow and went further till Central secretariat. The final line was violet till Delhi Gate, and I walked the remaining half a kilometre to reach MAMC within an hour.

"Hello, brother," Sheena greeted me as soon as she saw me.

"Hi, sis, you look good." I hugged her.

"How was the flight?"

"Well, not bad."

"So business meeting?"

"What?"

"I called maa in the morning, and she told me that you have a business meeting in Delhi and asked me to invite you over."

"What else would I have told her?"

"You could have simply said that you're visiting me!"

"As if she'll let me do that alone without accompanying, you're her favourite child."

"Oh, please." she laughed.

"So when are we visiting her?"

"Evening. Take some rest now, I'll inform you."

"Cool then,"

"Make yourself comfortable. Ring me up if you need anything." she handed me the keys to the guest house room.

As soon as she left, I dozed off to get rid of the jet lag and regain my energy.

Sheena rang me up at 4 to meet her outside the gate. I put on a plain Tee and blue denim. Sheena removed her apron as I reached and folded it into her bag. That's the nice thing about girls, you know, they would fold their dress correctly before putting it inside the bag. And me? Oh, I would crumble it inside.

"Where to?"

"Vasant Vihar." She replied.

"What? I left it behind on my way from the airport. I could have just got off there!"

"As if I would let you visit her alone."

"Those are my words!"

She laughed.

So we travelled back almost the entire route to the airport, save one stop. "It's about two kilometres from the stop. Should I book a cab?" she enquired.

"You know how much I love walking!"

"You got that habit from me, nice."

"Will you ever stop taking all the credits?"

"No, I won't." she gave a cunning smile.

We reached the apartment just before it started raining. At first look, it looked like an old building with the paints being fade off the walls and algal growth all along. There were also a few apparent cracks, and the staircase was worn off the edges.

I was overwhelmed to see Anjali greeting us at the door, and once we went inside, it looked like an entirely different place. The walls were neatly painted, the floors lined with tiles, air-conditioned rooms and well-decorated surrounding. I have this old habit of exploring the site before starting a conversation, so I wandered around the rooms, guided by Anjali with Sheena accompanying me. There were balconies attached to each room, with the living room having two of them. I was amazed at this sudden change of their fortune. It was an excellent improvement.

"She's Sneha," Anjali introduced us to her three-year-old daughter. I took her in my arms and smiled to greet the wide-opened eyes that were staring at me.

"She took after Utpal. Just look how alike the nose is!"

"Ya," Anjali agreed.

Once we were done exploring the house, Anjali laid down food for us. I was still holding Sneha, and she was unwilling to let go of my hold. I was always good with kids, and since she's my niece, I too was reluctant to part with her. "Come to me now, let your mama have his food," Anjali took her finally.

As we were having our food, the doorbell rang, and I realised it would be Utpal back from work. As the guy came near us, he began, "You must be Arjun," he shook my hand, "I have heard a lot about you." He then shook hands with Sheena, "And you're Sheena; I have heard about you a lot too!"

Sneha got down from her mother's lap and ran towards the guy, "Papa," she hugged him.

Papa? What is happening? I looked around in surprise! How come this guy is her father! And where is Utpal? And for that matter, where is Abhinav, Anjali's elder son. I was so into Sneha that I completely forgot about him. I looked towards Anjali as my mind was blown off by what I just saw!

"And he's Sujit," Anjali began, "You must be tired. Get freshen up. I will make your plate too."

He nodded and went away.

"You didn't tell him?" she asked Sheena.

"I thought it would be better if you told him yourself," Sheena replied.

"You knew about the new guy?" I questioned Sheena.

She shook her hand vertically.

"Why am I always the last one to find out things?" I demanded.

"Calm down, Arjun. I'll tell you my tale once the dinner is over!"

I had motioned over the balcony to get some fresh air after the food. I tried to figure out different scenarios to what might have happened to Utpal and Abhinav, but none seemed to make complete sense. Sneha left my company as it was time for her bed, and I was there alone, with the black sky outside staring back at me.

"Hey, you're here", I heard Anjali calling me from behind.

"What took you so long?"

"Well, I had to explain the matter to Sujit that you didn't know about him and hence was shocked to see him. I lied to him while inviting you that both of you knew about him while it was only Sheena who knew!"

"Go on; I'm listening."

She came towards me and began, "It's okay for you to judge me!"

"You know I don't judge people before hearing their part of the tale."

"I know. I just wanted to make sure if you're the same guy."

"I like the way you're now. The last time I saw you in Guwahati, you were pathetic. You looked as if you'd been starved to death."

"Well, it won't be incorrect to say so!"

"Let me finish what I've to say. Then you can begin."

She nodded.

"Your smile was taken away from you, but today you looked pleased and cheerful. I wish uncle could have seen you like this! Back then in Guwahati, I was surprised how you were transformed. The girl who would never step into the kitchen was blowing through a pipe to lit the fire in a poorly ventilated kitchen. Even the tears from the smoke couldn't suppress you from being there. I won't call that to be an improvement but a demotion from where you could have been had you made your choice wisely," I paused to let the words sink into her head, "So whatever might that be, you chose that life, and you were supposed to continue living that, as per the society! I'm not saying if you made the right choice by dumping him or a terrible crime but do tell me what made you do so! Didn't you even think about Abhinav once? How will that poor boy thrive without his mother?"

Anjali was in tears by the time I finished. I wiped off her tears and patted her in the back.

She began, "I wish I had brought Abhinav with me the second time!"

"Second time?"

"Listen very carefully. It began when you're out of station for your training. You knew right that my mother-in-law would taunt me at times for coming empty-handed. She would indirectly hurt me by mentioning about neighbours what all their sons received in Dowry! Sometimes she would get too poky and start in front of Abhinav that I'm a terrible mother, and because of me, they are poor! Once or twice is fine, but hearing the same thing every day was like hell. So one day, I argued back, mentioning that they're poor and would always be poor even if their son had married someone else. To this, she got too hyper and dragged me by my hair and threw me out of the house. Neighbours started gathering around to enjoy the drama happening early in the morning.

"But among those eyes were a pair filled with sympathy at my plight. Yes, it was Sujit's. He worked there as a lead manager in the BSNL office and was on rent in one of our neighbour's houses. Once the crowd dispersed, he approached me to ask if I was okay! Just imagine that situation, all of my neighbours who have known me for a long time now, but nobody came forward to help me. Only a stranger came forward, and it was natural for me to take him into my confidence. Every day, while going to his office and on his way back, he would ask my whereabouts if I was okay and if anyone had troubled me again. He would be hurt whenever he gets to know that I've been abused. At first, I rejected his offer to visit his place to escape from my mother-in-law, but once the torture started getting severe and receiving no helping hand from my husband, I was left with no other option but to approach Sujit.

"There would be days when I would move to his house early in the morning and leave late at night. He was never worried about me stealing that he would go for office with me being all alone in his room. However, it backfired the whole situation, and people started spreading rumours of me having an affair with Sujit. I was not much hurt that people began calling me characterless but felt terrible for Sujit. He was such an angel, and even after helping me, after providing me with the strength and support that I much needed, he was looked upon with disgust by the local people. Some were even threatening him that he spoiled a local girl. And all these happened because of me! I lost all hopes in life and wanted to kill myself and would have been successful too if it was not for Sujit. He calmed me down by telling me that he would be gone the next month as his work would be over here and people will forget about everything in due time. I always admired how he would be calm and composed even in the tensest of all situations.

"And he was gone the next fortnight, but much to my surprise, the rumours were still prominent. If Utpal abused me before for Dowry, he got a new reason to beat me up. He would deliver a new scar even before the first one could be healed. I didn't want Abhinav to grow up in such a family where the father would come drunk from work and beat up his wife. So I decided to threaten Utpal by running away. I took Abhinav with me and boarded the Rajdhani Express. Sujit told me his new address before parting off and off we ventured to our new destination. I was three months pregnant with Sneha then. Finding his house was not a problem, even though it was the first time I was travelling outside the state on my own.

"I initially ignored all the calls from Utpal to make him long for me. On the seventh day, I finally picked it up and was happy to hear that he was in tears for losing me. He wanted me back and promised to keep me happy and also gave his word that he would never raise his hand on me ever again. I was so delighted that I let out a cry of happiness. But there was no way I'm going back to the same place and live with my demonic mother-in-law. So I put him the simple condition of having me back only if we moved to a new location and stayed at a rented house. He agreed, and hence I came back the following day.

"Things were fine for the initial months until my pregnancy report came in! I thought Utpal would be happy to have a new inclusion into our family, but he was filled with suspicion of the child belonging to Sujit! And that broke my heart into pieces. You expect your best person to support you even when the world is against you, but you're left with no hopes from life when he takes their side too. You start getting engulfed by darkness and misery. There would be several fights and heated arguments about the baby with him asking for an abortion. I was in no way dropping my child, and one day..."

"One day, I visited her," Sheena joined in, "in her new place in Amingaon. I tried to convince them to be at peace, but none was ready to forgive the other. Utpal was not even listening to my plea that the child was his and he should accept it. Anjali told me later that it was a mistake coming back. Society rejected her, framed her to be cheap, and now even her husband was doing the same. So the only place she would be able to stay without being reminded that she committed a crime would be the premises of Sujit. And hence she decided to come back here! I reminded her repeatedly to think about Abhinav before taking that step, as there was no way back had she decided to leave Utpal. I urged her to think of the consequences of either taking Abhinav or leaving him behind; both had far-reaching impacts. But she was too adamant about listening to me. The last thing she told me that night was that it was easy for people to advise her as they're not in her situation. And the next thing I heard the other day was that she goes missing."

"Yes, I didn't contact Sheena for a long time after going back to Delhi," Anjali began, "I thought Utpal would be tracking Sheena, so I decided to stay out of reach for a long time. I texted her back once I was settled and invited her over."

"Wait, she told me that she met you in Chandni Chowk."

"I asked her to tell you that way." they hi-fied.

I made a face to Sheena.

"What?" she answered me, "don't look at me like that! It was always better to tell you the truth in person. You wanted to meet her right, so there was no fun telling you the truth over a call."

"But why didn't you bring Abhinav along?"

"Well," she sighed, "that was a mistake, I will agree. I should have brought him too, but he was sleeping with his father that day, and there was no way I could have woken him up without his father knowing. So I decided to leave him behind. Yes, I'm a terrible mother, and I know that God will punish me someday or the other. However, it was the only option I was left with! I'm sorry," she began sobbing.

I tried to console her. Wiping off her tears, I began, "It's okay, sis, you're a strong girl. You did what was best for you, and I'm delighted to see you happy now. "

"Thank you."

"Hey, I was just wondering if I would need to drop you guys?" Sujit came in.

"That would be wonderful; it's getting late," Sheena said and went behind him. After biding my goodbye to Anjali and landing a kiss on Sneha without disturbing her sleep, I motioned outside the house.

On our way back inside the car, Sujit said, "You know I asked Anjali to bring Abhinav; I would have put him in a good boarding school." "That was sweet of you, man, and I'm really overwhelmed for everything you have done for my sister. I don't have words to describe how much it means to me."

He smiled at me.

"Can I call you Jiju?" Sheena muttered in from the backseat.

"That's up to you!" he laughed.

Well, one thing about Delhi you should note is that it is peaceful at night. One should see an opposite scenario to that during the day! Traffic ceases, and there are very few people outside. We reached our place around 10.

"Let's go around Delhi tomorrow. What say?" Sheena asked.

"Yes, surely. I got three days in my bag to explore the capital."