Fitoor | ✓

08 | Aath

08 | Aath

If he could just get an out from this place, his life would be set. The only thing was, earlier he never had the guts; and now he had a duty to fulfil. Lekh huffed as he descended down the stairs, second time today.

His mother had to do everything dramatically, she could just come upstairs and inform him about the dates, it wasn't like she was gathering everyone for a group discussion. If she was so fond of announcing things, she might as well be a reporter.

Lekh had seen this coming; obviously, Indira was going to set the dates very early. She couldn't afford to waste time or Tara's pregnancy would start showing. She had to get them married before that. Lekh saw Tara sitting next to Ramya downstairs. She looked tensed and fiddled with her choli worriedly. With everything going around, the best of Lekh's efforts went on trying not to think about Tara.

Thinking about her made him weak, it reminded him what it was like to be human. What it was like to feel. Looking at her made him feel what someone else had a long time ago, it was something about the look on her face. Whenever Tara looked at you, whether happily or in fury, it was always innocent. It was always honest. Like someone trying to tell you to look into yourself and dare yourself to be as honest with yourself as she was with you.

When he finally reached downstairs to the living room, his father gave an annoying sigh.

"If people could understand that time is the most precious thing in this world, their life would be sorted." He said referring to Lekh's late arrival.

"If people could understand to mind their own business, everyone's life would be sorted." Lekh mumbled and sat down next to Arti.

Everyone chose to ignore the little conversation between the father and the son and sat sullenly. Ranjan glared at Lekh with furious eyes and before things could accelerate into an uncontrollable fight, Indira got up.

"Okay, so I have spoken to the priest. And he's said next week will be perfectly auspicious for the wedding!" she said happily.

"Next week!" Arti shrieked, "Maa, how are we going to do a year's worth of work in a week?"

Lekh huffed. He was perfectly sure that there was no priest, his mother was making this up to speed up the process. People didn't even leave God these days and he was wishing he'd get rid of his mother. Pleasant dreams, Lekh in wonderland.

"Well, we have to do it soon, we can't keep your potential groom waiting, what if he goes out of our hands?" Indira told Arti. Yes Arti, if this one goes out of our hands you'll stay unmarried forever.

His eyes lingered on Tara, she looked like she was expecting this. She kept fiddling with her saree and barely looked up. It was not like it mattered anyway, she was the daughter-in-law, she wasn't supposed to speak anyway. Imagine if she spoke, it would shake everyone; the Rajputs might as well have a heart attack.

Suddenly Tara looked up to find Lekh staring at her. When Lekh finally realised he had been caught, he immediately looked away and pretended Tara's eyes weren't looking at him.

"Anyway," Indira started again, "The wedding will be very simple." Lekh scoffed, you mean you'll invite three hundred people instead of six.

Everyone decided to ignore Lekh again, although Arti did laugh lightly instead of her best efforts to not to. Ramya glared at her to stop.

Ranjan stared icily at Lekh, he had decided over the years that ignoring his younger son was the best way to go, but despite his best efforts Lekh always got the best of him. He didn't understand why Lekh had become what he had become, why was it that he had started hating his own family. It was out of Ranjan's understanding why a perfectly groomed young man from a perfectly honoured family start acting like this. It was also out of his understanding that his wife might have something to do with this. It was also out of his understanding that his aloofness might have something to do with it too.

Indira's face fell with Lekh's constant disruptions. She took a deep breath internally, "Okay, so I have prepared the list of the events. Starting tomorrow, we start shopping, from day after tomorrow the festivities will start. Just because it's going to be simple does not mean we don't follow our traditions."

"Okay, then I think it's all women's business from now." Ranjan said standing up, "I'll leave you to it. Make sure you pass the bills to our accountant so he can keep track of the finance." He ordered with an air of finality and left.

When Ranjan was gone, Indira turned to the children again. "Okay, so take all the rest you can today, we'll discuss our schedule of the following days tonight during dinner."

"Okay." Ramya said for everyone. "I'll go see what the kids are doing."

Ramya wasn't for the marriage and she hadn't made any particular attempts to hide her opinions. She was a strong headed woman, in many ways she was like Lekh, her thinking diverged from that of her family. She had gotten married into a liberal family and her husband had supported her into studying on a higher level after marriage. Something her parents had never offered. That was the thing about arranged marriages, sometimes you got really lucky. Now, Ramya was happily married with two kids, a beautiful daughter and a handsome son.

When she left, Arti followed her; and then there were three.

Indira and Lekh had a staring match while Tara chose to ignore their presence. When several minutes had passed, and neither Indira nor Lekh had deterred from glaring at each other, Tara deliberately let her empty glass fall. Both of them looked at her distractedly while she mumbled an apology but it did the job. Tara wanted to leave as soon as possible but Lekh had asked her to stay awhile when he had the chance.

"I want you to sign these papers." Lekh said as he took out a few sheets from the folder he was carrying. Lekh pointed to the space where he needed Indira's signatures. The document was in English and Indira didn't know English.

"What are these for?" she demanded.

"Some papers sent by the army for Kartavya Bhai. They need the mother's signature." He said simply.

Tara flinched which didn't go unnoticed by him but he chose to ignore it. Sometimes Lekh really wanted to help her, sometimes he wished to go and talk to her, like really talk. He wished to go and console her and promise to her that he will take care of her, that she was his responsibility now.

But he could never get himself to actually do it. He didn't think he was capable for it at all. You couldn't ask someone who didn't feel at all to take care of someone to felt too much. You couldn't ever expect the ashes to keep the ember burning.

Indira had gotten emotional as she signed the paper. Her face had gotten dull, memories of her dead son had come strolling back on the day she had announced the date of the marriage of his widow with his brother.

But then, she was doing it for her grandchild. It was fair then, it was supposed to be fair.

She signed the papers and left leaving only Lekh and Tara alone.

Tara felt weak again, thinking about Kartavya made her sombre which in turn stressed her out. She tried to be as positive and as happy as situations allowed for the baby.

"What are the papers about?" Tara demanded as Lekh turned to leave himself.

He turned towards her and stared. Tara looked at him questioningly.

"My mother just transferred all her property to our child."