Chapter VII
Lallu, as soon as she came back home from school, jumped from the scooter and ran into the house calling "Grandpa!”, she went straight to the backyard where Narayanan was staying.
The coir cot on which her Grandpa had slept in the night before had been flipped over and leaned against the wall. Its legs were stretching out like the bones stretching out from the feeble body of a starving person for many days. In the kitchen, Rudra heard Lallu’s voice clearly, as she was busy with cleaning the coffee maker with an old toothbrush. At that very moment, her heart burned with jealous. She remembered that in the past, Lallu was not like this she usually comes calling 'Mom!, now the word 'Grandpa!' has become her tharaka mantra. She was running across here and there in search of her Grandpa in the front hall, in the dining hall, in the kitchen, in the backyard. Where has gone, the intimacy between Lallu and me? Rudra thought.
“Where is Grandpa mom?”, Lallu asked.
Rudra suppressed her anger and said.“ Change the dress and come to eat the snacks, dear! I have Butter Chapati for you ,Do you know what the side dish is? Your favourite- potato Kurma!”
“No mom”, Lallu threw her school bag at one corner of the hall and sat there itself. “I have got a surprise for grandpa but you’ve sent him somewhere!”.
Even though Lallu said that without knowing what has happened really her intention was to blame her mom indirectly.
"Grandpa has gone out for you, yesterday, you told him to repair that barbie toy, right?”
“Yeah!”
“He took that and went to east fort. He told me that he is going to give that for repair in a toy shop there. Hereafter, It's your time girl, You have got a grandpa to do all your run errands”.
Lallu looked at her mother with raising her eyebrows “But grandpa said he himself is going to repair, he even told me that he has learned toy repair in the office where he was previously working”.
“Really?" Rudra tried to manage the situation, “but I don’t know that dear! He has been busy repairing that doll throughout the day. He even asked me for “Feviquick”. Look, there it is.”
Lallu got up half-heartedly and came to dining hall. Lallu simply cannot wait for her favorite dish of butter chapati and Kurma. With a piece of chapati dipped in Kurma in her mouth she started saying "Mom today in our school..."
"In your school? What happened dear?"
“No,I am going to say that first to the grandpa.”
“You said there is some surprise, tell me dear, you were going to show something. What is that?”
“That too I will show only to my grandpa first.”
“Does he have only your run errands to do, he is a very busy person, He might have many more works to do in the city. He came here after a very long time. He might come after meeting his old friends and spending some time with them.”
“No matter how long it takes, I'm not going to sleep till I see him.”
Janu was the first to return home as usual. "Hello, Lallu!" Janu shook hands with Lallu. Janu was surprised to see that there is no reaction in her face. As Janu noticed that Lallu’s eyes were focused on the road through the window, she said, “See dear, If you were ten years older, then you are finished ,all tongues will start gossiping about you”, saying Janu laughed.
Hearing Janu’s voice Rudra came out from the kitchen. She was afraid that Janu who already knows about sending Narayanan to the village might spill out the truth to Lallu who do not know anything about this. “Janu,Lallu’s grandpa has gone to repair her doll, you know? Lallu was searching for him everywhere when she came from school! She said.
Janu knows well about her sister right from the beginning. It didn't take her long to guess that Narayanan has been packed off. “Oh! doll! That barbie doll! Oh, one of its hand was broken! Grandpa, has gone to repair it! Oh, I see! “Janu vouched her sister Rudra’s statement reluctantly.
“You need not say it in so detail dear Janu. Look! How oily your face is. Are you a college student? Go, wash your face, apply some cream and come.”, she wanted Janu to leave immediately.
At 8.00 pm, a scooter horn was heard in the street. Gopal arrived.in a low voice, Rudra told Gopal “Lallu has been enquiring about her Grandpa since she came home from school. I told her that he had gone to repair that doll.”
Gopal looked at her and sighed. He parked the scooter in a corner of the compound. It has become customary for him to look Rudra like an innocent person at one time and a conspirator at another time. Within a few days of his marriage, he realized that he would have peace of mind only if he is acting according to her will and wish. So, he did not react to her words. He knew well that his dad was going to be released one day and that he will come to stay with him, but he had never planned about how to face the problems that may arise due to this and the ways to resolve them.
He lifted Lallu up with the little chair in which she was sitting and kissed her as if he had never heard Lallu asking "Where is Grandpa?”. The fragrance of the little one’s hair oil mixed with her sweat relieved him mentally. The question of how Rudra was going to break the intimacy between the grandchild and her grandfather remained unanswered.
Gopal went to the kitchen and told Rudra, "Don’t worry about my dad’s arrival dear, everything will be alright." he tried to comfort her.
“Not only today. From the day one when I got married to you, only problems and humiliations I have faced.”
In Rudra’s mind thoughts travelled back to the day of her wedding. The wedding hall was full of her college mates. “What Rudra? You have invited these many people.” her grandma got wild. A young Janu was crying and fighting for a dress of a same color that was purchased for Rudra. Nanu uncle from the village who came in an auto from Central Bus Stand was quarreling with the auto driver for hire to be paid. Everything seemed to be quite normal as in any other wedding at that time, the unexpected happened.
Muhurth was in the early morning, still in half sleep the tired Rudra was getting blessings from all elders. “Rudra, Get the blessings of your father-in-law!”, they handed over to her a silver plate with the Muhurth silk saree. She gave it to Narayanan politely. As per her mother’s instructions she touched Narayanan’s feet for blessings.
After touching his feet when she looked up,
Oh Devi! What is this!
Two policemen were standing on both sides of her father-in-law. With a letter in hand,they said, "Sorry! We have got a warrant. It is our duty to arrest him immediately”
After that what happened … Emotions, Anger, Gossips, Questions, Answers, walk outs, the sound of the police jeep leaving, the sound of silent giggling, pathetic situation it was for anyone.
When Gopal stood in the dilemma whether to proceed with or stop the marriage, Gopal’s uncle Vasu, who were one of the eldest member of the family, convinced everyone to continue. Everything happened as if in a thriller movie. A marriage which is a celebration took place very hastily. Friends who were present in the morning were not there in the evening; “It seems like your father-in-law got caught in a forgery case. But why should he be arrested today?” Many people asked at her face without any sympathy.
Narayanan was not even released on bail. Straight away he was taken to the court followed by investigation, sentence and imprisonment. From Rudra’s life the chapter of Narayanan got deleted.
“ I can’t simply forget everything ,it is my life that he has spoiled”, she said to herself, wiping her tears with the tip of her cotton saree.
“Rudra, for the time being we have managed to send him to the village, but I am sure he will never return, as I know well my dad is a man of dignity and self-esteem.
Narayanan has got self-esteem which was ninety nine percent more than others.
He got up from the moss-smelling temple hall and was sitting, thinking what to do next? He still had the letter from his son telling him not to return to his family. He tore it and threw it away.
He looked down the street. Like the light of old torchlight, the twilight sun was hovering around.
‘What do I lack?’, He asked himself. ‘ I’m Educated, have experience. Even has worked as an accountant in a departmental store, I can earn my bread. Tomorrow I will find some work in this village.
He walked down from the temple hall. The last house in that street, with its wide porch, invited him to come and sit. He lied down there with his bag as a pillow.
Not even a minute has passed.
He heard the sound of a girl crying, Real or illusion? He got up. The sound of a woman's cry was clearly heard from the room adjoining the porch.
Only then he noticed. The room was locked from the outside. The main room was also kept closed.
At first, he thought he could get up and go somewhere else. But his sympathetic nature did not allow him to go away after observing that something had happened. He opened the window door and asked, "Who's there?"
Inside there was a lamp glowing. A young girl was lying on the floor with a rug spread on it. But not a patient. She was dressed up well.
She panicked when she saw Narayanan’s face outside the window. “Who are you? Please go away, He will come now…”, she said.
Narayanan didn't go.
“Wait. First I’ll find out a way to open this door”, he searched for a nail or rod everywhere.
“If he comes he will kill you. I am telling you about my husband. He always doubts me.…”
“Shit. Such an animal. Does he lock you because of his suspicious thought? It's disgusting to hear.” he said, actively searching all four sides. He got an old nail. The lock was slammed open within seconds.
“Come out! I am an old man. He will not doubt me even if your husband is a stupid”, he told her. Hesitantly she came out and stood near the steps of the house with her entire body visible.
She went to the back of the house with embarrassment saying "I've been in this room since morning"
Within two minutes the footsteps of someone coming were heard. Narayanan looked but it was not that girl but a woman of her mother’s age came down the street and climbed the stairs.
"Who are you?" the woman asked stunned, staring at the room door which was wide open. “Who opened the door? Raji! Rajeswari”, she yelled.
By this time a few people from the neighborhood had gathered. "Did you open the door?", someone questioned Narayanan.
“Yes...Why?”
“That girl is mentally ill, that is why her mother locked her inside the room and went to nearby temple. Why did you open it?”
