Part 26

Part 27

Niyojan Nagar

8:15 AM

Dec 22^nd

Saturday

Khanak frantically seacrched, her big LV suitcase and her cabin bag that contained the laptop, AND her purse… her hair fell all over her face…. She opened her study desk drawer in the corner, and sifted through the piles of random things… to find a scuncie… she went back to her suitcase and pulled one out of a leather pouch… tied her hair back…

Bai brought chai… and sat on the edge of her bed….

“What are you looking for?” she asked in Gujarati…

Khanak gave her a worried look?

“Your phone” Bai continued… grabbing it from the tiny carved Gujarati bed side table…

“Mmm..mm” “Bai”

“To phir kya?” Bai asked

“There is a thing that connects to the Internet. I left it at..” she stops before she says “home”… says “wahan” in Gujarati…

Bai is worried…. Asks her if she will be OK without it

K shakes her head in despair… she had forgotten her AirTel USB modem… she would carry it with her everywhere…

“Its your fault!” she cursed her husband in her mind… “I don’t live in Chembur anymore, I don’t have a set of keys any more, so where will I put it”

Bai: Where are you lost?

K shook her head… as she flung a skinny UMASS tee of hers on top of the messy pile on the bed… her husband’s grinning face… refused to go away…

“I promised Ram I would work Bai” she said softly in Gujarati

Bai is worried…. She starts looking through her daughter’s things….

K sits down and gulps her chai, it scalds her tongue, tears form in her eyes…

“I cant go back on Monday”

“I have to work on Monday, even today… for that matter”

“Its just MY luck”

Khanak sat there moping…

Aada came up too, to be by his fave thing in the world…. He was startled when he saw the room be a mess…. He enquired with his eyes

Bai chattered for atleast 3 minutes explaining

Aada looked at his daughter

A:You can go back Monday beta

K:Nahi!

(Her hubby’s “Ofcourse not!” rang in her ears)

Bai: She wants to stay her for sometime, don’t send her away…

A: She belongs with him… (filled with pride)

K: “Ofcourse” (in her mind)

A: They all love you so much…

K busies herself in putting things back in the suitcase

B:See she has already started to pack, instead of putting tsuff in the Godrej she is putting it away in her bags”

A chuckles and agrees with his wife’s attempt at cheering his daughter

K:The Godrej needs to be cleaned (softly)

A:And emptied and taken with you

K:Nahi…

B:She is quiet but she says Nahi very frequently (Bai laughs at her own joke)

A:Well think of something… (warmly hugs his daughter)

Khanak stays in the embrace… its soothing and energising….

A: I thanked him for sending you (softly)

K is paralyzed in anxiety, she jumps out of the hug with a “Aada!!!”

********************

Malabar Hill

8:22 AM

Saturday

Dec 22^nd

He grabbed a white Lacoste tee with a naby trim on the collar and a navy tennis shorts, …… grabbed more clothes… to head to work later… there was a knock on the door, it was HL, he had a pile of clothes in his hands… all neatly ironed…

ALL colorful… they set his clothes in his closet, but nobody ever entered hers… except her……. And him ofcourse… when they were making out or they were fighting…………..

“Not mine” he smiled derisively looking at the riot of colors……

HL gave his signature smile “Who Bhabhiji ke kapde”

“Thanks” Shaan nodded receiving those gently

HL lingered

HL:Who bhabhiji ne kaha, unke yallo lenhanga ko alag se lagana, to maine beech mein paper lagaya…

S couldn’t care less… he knows his wife will kill him if he didn’t pay attention

S:Aap rakh dogey? (begging)

HL: Mujhe Dadi ke saath 5^th floor mein Duggal ji ke yahan jaana hai

S:Great!

He walks into her closet……….. it looks like a paint shop swatch……. From lightest of blues to the darkest, from lightes of pinks to red……….. they all lay in order, he set her clothes on a corner bench……….. tucked his hands in his pocket… and observed…….

The tall closet shelving that contained boxes of trinkets and jewelry was all closed and put away…

By the tall mirror…There was an open box, a mirrorwork box, it had a bunch of colorful beads hanging out……….  With glass and mirror on every surface… everything sparkled…

“She loves her baubles” he concluded smiling…

On the mirror, he found a note stuck between the carved oak frame and the glass… his note “for when you choose to dress up” he had said… with no signature…… he had written that note to give with the jewelry he bought ………while at Seychelles……..

Every note he had ever given her was some place private…