10. OS 21. An Unwilling Passion (Part 14)

Part 14

The next few hours were very strange for an Arnav Singh Raizada who never changed his mind once he had made it or questioned his own decisions.

He paced his room, conflicting thoughts eating into his peace of mind and corroding the certainty with which he had viewed his past.

Did he want to give Garima a chance to clear her name? Would he be able to listen to the details of his father’s clandestine romance with composure? Or was it better to leave Lucknow and effect revenge from the safe environs of Delhi?

Khushi’s face swam into his vision.

Maybe he should give Garima a chance to say her piece. It was the last time he would have to wade through the nightmarish incidents of his past. He could then leave Lucknow and return to Delhi.

Khushi’s tear-filled eyes filled his mindscape, pushing out every other thought. 

Yes, he would give Garima a chance.

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Arnav knocked on the door to Gomti Sadan the next day after he had seen Garima and Khushi enter the house.

Khushi opened the door, standing absolutely astonished. She had never expected to see him again.

He felt a pull somewhere inside at the sight of her pale face and bruised eyes.

“Arnavji...aap? Aayiye na?” she invited him in. Was he here to listen to amma?

“Where is Garima?” he asked quietly.

“Aap baitiye na? I will call her,” Khushi led him to a seat, praying fervently that her amma was innocent of the crimes he had accused her of.

“How is your father?” he asked.

“Better,” she said with a sigh of relief. “It will take time for his full recovery, but doctor saheb is hopeful.”

She went away to summon Garima.

Arnav looked at the polished shine of his shoes. His time in Lucknow was coming to an end. It was time to decide the fate of Garima and her family. By tonight, her fate would be sealed.

He looked away unseeingly at the amateur efforts by Khushi and Payal to decorate the living room with their works of art and embroidery.

“Bitwaa,” Garima murmured as she came to join him.

“I want to know how you came to meet Arvind Mallik and why you came to see my parents’ corpses before the cremation,” he said curtly, briefly.

She sighed soundlessly and sat down, pulling the ghoonghat to cover her hair fully. Then she locked the fingers of both hands and looked at the floor.

“Hum aap se jo kuch bhi kehne wale hein, woh sab Payaliya’s babuji knows. Lekin I have no proof to offer you that I am speaking the truth,” she said softly before launching into her tale. “We lived in Kanpur, my babuji and I. My jiji, that is Khussi’s mother, lived with her husband and daughter in Varanasi. Our mother died when we were young.”

Arnav said nothing, just tried to tamp down the bitterness rising in his throat.

“We had a shop adjoining our house,” Garima continued, looking up to meet Arnav’s eyes. “It was by the road. Your father stopped there one afternoon to buy something. He was passing through our area. Babuji had gone out. Isliye dookan mein hum the.”

Arnav’s lips tightened. His face was a mask, expressionless.

“He came often...to buy things from the shop. He used to talk very sweetly to me. He met babuji a few times. Pata nahi woh Kanpur mein kya kar rahe the...he told babuji that he was on some business.” Garima sat lost in thought. Then she continued, “After a few months, he came with his brother to meet babuji.”

“With his brother?” Arnav asked, astonished.

“Ji,” Garima said, nodding. “They asked babuji for my hand.”

Arnav stared at her as if poleaxed. His chacha knew Arvind Mallik was married! Why on earth had he helped his brother commit bigamy?

“They said that their parents were dead and that he had only his brother to bring with him as a family to make a formal proposal,” Garima recounted quietly. “Babuji was uneasy, but had to accept that he had no other relations. He asked me if I was willing to marry Arvind Mallik. The fool that I was, I said yes. He summoned our neighbours and they fixed a date for our sagai.”

Arnav couldn’t believe his ears. He stared at Garima with wide eyes.

“Sagai was at our house with his brother and our relations and neighbours as guests. A few days later, Arvind Mallik and his brother came to visit babuji again. They said they were setting up a big factory in Kanpur and that they wanted to buy a large plot of land. They asked if babuji would sell the property on which our house and shop  stood.” Garima said with a sigh. “Babuji was torn. He didn’t want to sell, but nor could he refuse his soon-to-be-damaad.”

Arnav clenched his fists. It had all the makings of a scam.

“They asked babuji for the papers to our property. Babuji handed them over. They took the documents and left. Uske baad do mahine, there was no news of them.” Garima had to blink away tears.

Arnav felt himself flushing in shame. He belonged to a family of crooks and lechers. Yes, he did. There was no hiding from the truth.

“Babuji began to get worried. We had no way of contacting Arvind Mallik and babuji fretted day and night. Finally....” Garima’s voice died away.

Arnav sat still, immobile, feeling time stand still.

“One night, while asking me if I had any way of contacting the Malliks and worrying about the property papers that had been taken from us, he suffered a heart attack. I ran to call the neighbours and we took him to the hospital, lekin....” Garima dried wet cheeks. “Phir kya tha? Jiji and jiju came with Khussi and took me to stay with them in Kashi. I told our neighbours to inform me if Arvind Mallik came looking for me in Kanpur, but.... Two months later, jiju was transferred to Lucknow. I was relieved. I was certain I could locate Arvind Mallik and get the papers from him and get married to him.” Garima leaned back with a heavy sigh.

Arnav had to look away from her. The way her tale was going, his father was more than an adulterer. He was also a criminal. He had a very clear idea what his chacha was made of but had expected his father to be a better man. Foolish in the extreme. Welcome to reality, Arnav, he told himself. Your father and his brother were cut off the same cloth. Not much to choose between them apparently.

“We settled down in Lucknow and I began to ask around about an Arvind Mallik. Someone told me that the Malliks were a rich family living in Sheesh Mahal. I was sure that the Arvind Mallik I knew couldn’t be from such a rich family and so I sought him elsewhere. One day....” She had to pause to draw a few breaths before she could continue. “One day I saw him at the temple.” She swallowed hard before saying with her head lowered. “There was a lady with him, with sindoor in her maang. I was shocked, lekin I comforted myself thinking she might be his sister-in-law or a cousin. I tried to approach him, but the crowd.... I ran out of the temple premises to see them leave in a car. I ran after the vehicle like a mad woman, but.... A man on the road asked me why I was running after the car. When I asked him if it was Arvind Mallik, he said it was and that he lived in Sheesh Mahal with his wife and children, his brother and mother.”

Garima took a few moments to compose herself. Then she continued, “I was heartbroken. I had gotten engaged to a married man! He had taken the documents of the only property we owned and had indirectly caused babuji’s death. It took me a few days to compose myself and then I decided to confront him. The property was my jiji’s and Khussi’s too and I couldn’t beggar them through my foolishness.” Garima wiped away a tear that had escaped her eye and continued, “I decided to go to his house and meet him. No more lies, no more pretense. I went there one evening. The whole house was decorated...lights, band, baaja...sab kuch...guests all around...I just wanted to find him. He came out to join the guests and I saw him. I went up to him. He was shocked to see me and scared that the guests would notice us talking. He took me to stand in the shadows by a flight of stairs. I asked him if he was married and he said yes. He asked me to leave, saying that it was his daughter’s shaadi and that he would meet me the next day. I asked him for the papers to our property and he said he needed some time to return them. I asked him why he had gotten engaged to me when he was already married and he had no answer. He begged me to leave and I did.”

Arnav sat before her, his face ashen.

“I returned the next day.” A look of bewilderment presented itself on her face. “He was dead. So was his wife. People were going up the steps and into the house to view the bodies. I joined them and saw the corpses lying in the hall.” She sighed. “I returned home and said nothing to jiji and jiju.”

There was silence in the room. The pall of sorrow and regret was so strong that it overpowered him.

He wanted to leave, walk away from the horrible truth of what had happened years ago, but he owed her more than that. Garima Gupta was no home-wrecker. She was another victim of his family’s greed.

He made himself look at her. She sat there, her mind occupied by the tragedies of the past, her eyes wet.

“I...I am sorry,” Arnav murmured the words that had never passed his lips before.

She looked at him, her eyes revealing her confusion. “Why?”

“My family...they...they cheated you...” He could speak no more.

Garima smiled kindly at him. “Bitwaa, it was not your fault. You did nothing. I was foolish enough to believe Arvind Mallik’s lies,” she said softly.

“It was my father and my uncle who stole from you and lied to you,” he insisted.

“Yes,” Garima agreed, “they did. They were adults who lied to and cheated me. You were a child who knew nothing of what was going on. Don’t feel guilty for what they did. You are responsible only for what you do.”

Arnav felt lower than a worm. This was the woman he had tried to destroy? Humiliate?

He stood up and turned to leave. At the door, he stopped and asked her, “Did you get the documents to your property?”

She smiled wryly. “No. Apparently, the brothers had pledged the property without our knowledge. Years later our neighbours informed us of its neelami.”

His lips tightened. He left the house.

                                                           ***