Chapter 8

The next morning, as they sat for breakfast, Mrs. Rai had also joined them. She had started to walk slowly with the aid of a walking stick.

"These rice rotis are amazing Khushi," Mrs. Rai complimented her.

"It's thanks to your recipe book aunty," Khushi replied, "I have learnt so many new things."

"This was a favourite of Aarav's," Mrs. Rai said, talking about her son as she often did, "I wonder if he misses this in the US."

"How is Aarav doing aunty?" Manav asked Mrs. Rai, "your son just doesn't keep in touch."

"You know how tough it is for doctors," Mrs. Rai defended her only son. "He is upset that he couldn't come here after I fell."

"I told him not to worry about it," Arnav answered, "I am here for you right? He is busy doing his specialization -- so he should just focus on that."

"I bet you didn’t know that Aarav was my classmate in Bangalore." Manav told Khushi.

"Really?" The news that Aarav and Manav had been classmates during pre-university was news to Khushi. Mrs. Rai had mentioned earlier that Aarav had completed his medical degree at Mysore Medical College and had later left for the US to pursue further studies.

"That's why I already knew Arnav when I came to study here." He said, "I had met him a few times when he came to aunty's house in Bangalore during his semester holidays. "

He hadn’t mentioned this the other day. That was probably why Arnav had looked out for Manav during college, Khushi surmised.

"Before I forget," Arnav addressed Mrs. Rai, "Rashmi has invited you to lunch at her uncle's ancestral house for some pooja on Friday."

"It must be for the Nagamandala." Mrs. Rai said. "Rashmi is mistaken. The invite will be for dinner as the ritual is performed at night."

"What is Nagamandala?" Khushi enquired.

Mrs. Rai explained that Nagamandala was a ritual of the serpent God that was usually celebrated from the months of December to March just before the monsoons. It was done as an appeasement to the Serpent God that was deemed auspicious by the people of South Canara. It involved a "mandala" or drawing of the serpent in the form of a rangoli around which a dancer dressed in costume, performed a ritualistic dance.

"Wow – that's interesting," Khushi said, "I have never ever heard of it."

"We have many rituals here that people in other parts of the state are unaware of," Mrs. Rai said, "we have Bhoota Kola around March for the appeasement of spirits and the tiger dance during Dusshera."

"I am not sure I can attend the pooja," Khushi said tentatively, "I didn’t bring any festive clothes with me –"

"That's alright," Mrs. Rai said, "Arnav will take you to the city. He knows the stores where you can get a good silk saree or any other traditional outfit you like."

Khushi went red in the face, wishing she hadn’t mentioned her attire problem out aloud. "That won't be necessary!" she said quickly, "I can go by myself."

That evening after her classes, Khushi found Arnav waiting for her on his bike. He had messaged her earlier that he was going to pick her up.

"You didn’t have to pick me up," she said as she sat behind him, " You must have dropped all your important work to come here. I could have walked back home."

Arnav continued to ride in silence. After a while Khushi realized he was taking her to the city, and not home as she had presumed. It was only when he stopped in front of a saree showroom, she realized that he had taken his aunt's words seriously.

Khushi got off the bike. "You didn’t have to bring me here," she said, "I could have come here on my own."

"We are already here, aren’t we?" He walked to the door of the showroom and opened the door for her.

The sales man at the saree showroom welcomed her enthusiastically, seated her on a chair and began to show her sarees, one after the other. The rich colours and texture made each saree glitter under the bright lights, and Khushi's eyes lit up with pleasure. As his phone rang, Arnav left Khushi to continue, while he stepped outside to talk on his phone. Disappointed that he had left her to do the shopping alone, Khushi browsed through the sarees half-heartedly, finally narrowing down on three sarees. She draped the saree on her shoulder so she could make a choice.

As she looked at herself in the mirror, she noticed Arnav watching her. He indicated with a shake of his head that he didn’t like the first or the second one.

Finally, the last saree she tried was a Mysore Silk saree in fuchsia pink color with a thin gold border. When she looked in the mirror this time, the approval in his chocolate eyes made her happy. Whether the happiness was a relief because he had helped her decide, or if it was the way he had looked at her, was something she didn’t want to think about.

"Would you like to see matching blouses madam?" The man asked her, reminding her that she needed a blouse as well. He told her to go upstairs for the blouse section.

Soon she tried a few ready-made gold colored blouses for her saree, and had almost picked one when an enthusiastic salesgirl came up to her with a new-design.

"I really don’t have time to try it," she said looking at the time on her phone.

"This is the same size as the ones you tried madam," she implored. "if it doesn't fit you can bring it back for an exchange."

Khushi noticed that the design on this blouse was far better than the one she had chosen and on a whim, decided to go for it, bringing a big smile on the girl's face.

When she came downstairs ready to pay the bill, the salesman handed her a bag and told her that her "husband" had paid the bill and was waiting for her outside.

"How much do I owe you?" she enquired as Arnav stared the bike.

"This is a gift -- from management," he told her, "we gift a saree to all our female staff once a year."

Khushi stared at him askance. "Really?'

"Ask the other teachers if you like," he said, "come on let's go, I am hungry."

On Friday evening, Khushi stood in front of Rashmi's ancestral house. The house looked a lot like Mrs. Rai's house, except that it did not have a first floor. The external verandah extended to the length of the house and was spacious. There were flower decorations of yellow and orange chrysanthemums all over the house lending it a very festive look.

One part of the yard had been cordoned into a makeshift kitchen, filled with huge cauldrons, utensils, stoves, and cooks clad in dhotis sat on the floor, chatting with each other as they prepared for the impending dinner.

"Hi Khushi – how did you get here?" Rashmi said, as she hurried up to welcome her. She was draped in a beautiful silk saree in parrot green and pink, matched with a pink blouse with gold buttas that were typical of a Kancheevaram saree. She looked gorgeous. Sanvi was right behind her looking pretty in a red and blue silk lehenga and a long matching blouse.

 "Manav dropped me by car – he will be here later with aunty," Khushi informed her. Rashmi did not ask her about Arnav which meant she knew exactly when he was going to arrive. She didn’t want to let this information bother her but it did. For some reason, she had hoped he would bring her to Rashmi's house instead of Manav but he hadn’t returned from the construction site when she had left home.

Rashmi led Khushi to a space where a huge gazebo type structure was built. The flower decorations on the structure indicated that the ritual would be held in that area. A woman in her fifties, sat drawing a beautiful design using white chalk, that included a large snake coiled around it. Khushi was fascinated by the uniqueness of the drawing.

 "My aunt is almost done with the outline. Let's start filling in the colors." Rashmi said.

They used white, green, yellow, red and black colors to fill in the drawing.

"So, what made you come all the way to Udupi?" Rashmi asked, "I am sure there were plenty of opportunities for a counselor's job in Bangalore."

"I wanted to get away from Bangalore for a while." Khushi replied.

"What about your family?" she asked, "your parents – siblings?"

"I only have my mother," Khushi replied, "my father passed away a year ago."

Rashmi touched her shoulder, "Sorry Khushi," she said, "I can understand your pain about losing a father. A daughter can never really recover from it, can she?"

Khushi didn’t want to counter her by saying she wasn’t really that close with her father. Since Rashmi didn’t persist, there didn’t seem to be any reason for her to explain about Payal.

Rashmi continued. "I was in a total mess when my father died." She went on to explain how she had re-connected with Arnav. "Manav and I have been friends on FB since long but we hadn’t been in touch. After my father passed away I posted on FB and Manav sent his condolences. I took Arnav's contact details from Manav and called him.

"Arnav happened to be in Udupi – visiting his aunt," she said, "He came by my house and when he realized I was in trouble, offered to help me. He was the one who encouraged me to start a business, he event lent me money to so I could get the bakery started at home. I don’t know how I will ever be able repay him."

Rashmi had been iterating her gratitude for Arnav and it was understandable in the circumstances but for some reason it felt that she as trying to tell her something even though she didn’t seem too inclined to talk about her past with Arnav. Somehow Rashmi's words were beginning to weigh on her now.

A little later, when Arnav came in with his aunt and Manav, he saw Khushi working on the Rangoli. He helped his aunt to a chair, and while Manav went looking for Rashmi he walked toward Khushi. She looked stunning in the pink saree. With large gold jhumkis in her ears, matching bangles on her wrists, and her long, black hair braided elegantly, she looked very much like a South Indian belle.

When she stood up to look at the work she had completed, her saree moved and the sight of her beautiful back made his heart skip a beat. Gold lace that looked like wings of a butterfly covered her shoulder blades, connected by a hook at the base of her neck, while there were three hooks on a thin strip at her waist in a deep scalloped design. He couldn't take his eyes off her.

She looked at him and smiled. "Oh, you are here –" she said, "Is something wrong?" she asked him when she saw him staring at her.

He leaned down and whispered in her ear, "your blouse –"

Khushi didn’t let him finish, "I know!" she took one end of her saree and tucked in in her waist covering her back. "That stupid sales girl forced me to buy this without a trial. If I could get my hands on her –" She stopped when she noticed the amusement in Arnav's face. "What?" she asked but didn’t get a chance to hear what he had to say.

"Arnav uncle!" Little Sanvi had come running.

"Looking very pretty today, aren’t you?" Arnav lifted her and held her in his arms.

"Arnav --!" Rashmi walked up to them, "thanks for coming." Rashmi was glowing as she looked at Arnav.

"The rangoli looks lovely," Arnav looked at Khushi.

"Oh yes," Rashmi said, "it was all thanks to Khushi. I got called away on errands and couldn’t help her much. Sorry Khushi."

"That's alright," Khushi dismissed, "I love doing such things. It's no big deal."

"Come on –" Rashmi told them, "Dinner is ready." She directed them to the dining area that was set up in the yard, under a decorative awning.

As they sat for dinner, Khushi looked at Arnav seated next to Sanvi at a table across from her. He was wearing a tomato red self-embroidered kurta on blue denims. It was so unfair that he looked so handsome in anything he wore, she thought as her heart thudded in agreement. He looked up at her at that precise moment as though he knew what was going on in her mind.

As the child spoke animatedly, he listened to her indulgently. While the food was served, Mrs. Rai explained the different items on the plantain leaf. There was green gram and yam curry, bitter gourd fry, raw banana fry, urad dal bonda, string beans curry and wheat payasam.

As the server added another item on the leaf, Rashmi came up to them. "This is Pathrode – it is a Konkani specialty -- steamy rolls made of colocasia leaves."

"Pathrode?" Manav seated next to Khushi quipped, "remember Rashmi, during our first ragging session, one senior girl asked you the recipe because you were from these parts. You didn’t know."

"Of course, I remember," she said, "You were asked to sing a song and you couldn't remember it."

Manav looked at Khushi. "We were both punished as a result. Our punishment was to go to Arnav and make him laugh.

"When we went up to Arnav I suddenly remembered the song," Manav said, "in my anxiety I began to sing the song aloud and Arnav started to laugh."

"What could I do?" Arnav said looking Manav, "you sounded like a donkey."

Khushi looked on feeling a little left out, as the three friends laughed merrily recalling old memories.

A little later, as the dancers began to perform, a huge crowd gathered around to watch. The dancers began to dance around the elaborate serpent design while some priests chanted hymns for the ceremony.

Khushi began to search for Arnav and then she found him standing next to Rashmi. Suddenly, as though sensing her, he looked back at her with his mesmerizing eyes.

"It looks a little intense, doesn’t it?" Manav asked Khushi.

"Yes." Khushi turned her attention back to Manav.

Mrs. Rai explained that the one of the dancers dressed in a serpent costume was called 'nagakannika', and the other one called 'paatri', was dressed as a man who transforms into or possessed by a serpent God after inhaling the fragrance of areca flowers.

As the dancers performed to the increasing beat of the sound of the drums and the trumpets, Khushi felt an odd sensation of bewildering anxiety and her eyes once again darted toward Arnav. He seemed to be listening intently to something Rashmi was telling him.

"I am feeling tired Manav," Mrs. Rai said, "I would like to go home now."

"Sure aunty," Manav said, "I will bring the car out to the front and then Khushi can help you to the car."

"I will go home with you," Khushi said as she helped the old woman to her feet.

As Khushi was helping Mrs. Rai into the car Rashmi and Arnav came up to them.

"Khushi, you can't leave yet. You must take the tamboola. Can you please wait until I finish dinner? They are going to close the kitchen."

"But it's getting late – I"

"Khushi will stay," Arnav cut her off, "Manav, come back after dropping Ma. We will wait for you."

"Yeah sure!" Manav said, "we could all go for some ice cream later."

As Khushi sat in one of the rooms a little later, Rashmi's aunt came in hurriedly and offered her the tamboola that Rashmi had mentioned earlier, which was kum kum on plate along with a blouse piece, bananas, betel leaf and a small gift box. Khushi applied the vermillion on her forehead and accepted all the other items and put them in a bag. She realized that being a widow Rashmi would not be allowed to offer the sacred items to anyone. She felt sorry for the other girl who had to face such discrimination in the name of tradition.

Khushi walked to the dining area and saw Arnav playing with Sanvi as Rashmi ate her dinner. A strange feeling of restlessness filled her, and she felt like there was a knot in her chest. This feeling had been building up since evening and she didn’t know why. She turned around and walked away.

She decided to walk back to the house as it wasn’t too far and at this moment, she felt like the walk home would do her some good. After five minutes, she started to wonder if it was a good idea because even though the moon was out, it felt a little eerie as the road did not have many street lights.

Khushi.

Khushi was about to turn around when she suddenly remembered what Ratna had told her. Her heart began to beat like a sledge hammer. It was probably just a bird calling out, she consoled herself, or had someone really called out her name? Her imagination had been running wild since the incident at the well, and then Arnav's prank had worsened it, for she had a few nightmares after that. Why had she let her emotions get the better of her? She admonished herself.

"Khushi, stop!" Arnav came up next to her.

She thanked God that it was Arnav, but she didn’t want to show her relief to him. If he thought she was going to hug him like she had last time, he had better think twice. "What?" she looked at him.

"Why did you leave without me?" he demanded, clearly piqued.

 "I wanted to go home." She increased her stride cursing herself for wearing footwear with heels. "You were busy with -- Sanvi."

"Rashmi was having her dinner," Arnav said, "couldn’t you have waited for a few more minutes?"

"No I couldn’t!" Khushi retorted, indignantly. "Who asked you to come? You should have stayed until she finished dinner --- or breakfast tomorrow morning---"

As a two-wheeler sped past, Arnav moved Khushi away from the path. "Watch out!"

"What's wrong with you?" Arnav asked her, "We were supposed to wait for Manav."

"I wanted to leave earlier with Manav, but you didn’t let me go!" Khushi hated herself for being this way but she couldn’t seem to help it.

"Khushi are you upset because of such a small thing?" he mocked her, "come on, don’t be such a cry baby."

Those words were the final straw, and she lost control of the last vestige of temper she was holding on to. "And you don’t be such a high-handed, uncaring jerk!" she retorted, "you are always so insensitive!" She shouted back.

 As a few vehicles passed them on the road, he took hold of her arm and pulled her away from the path toward a big banyan tree on the side. "What do you mean?" His tone was menacing.

You have been ignoring me all evening! She wanted to shout but she couldn’t, so in desperate attempt to cover up, she prevaricated. "The way you spoke about Srijit," she referred to the week-old conversation, "that he should be seeing a psychiatrist and all that."

"Why are you bringing that up now?" Arnav looked nonplussed. "Is that what you are angry about right now?" he asked angrily.

"Can't you have some sympathy for him?" she asked, "he nearly drowned that other day."

     "Khushi, the boy was just acting up."

 "He wasn’t acting up!" She said, "He came to me for help and I turned him away!"

"Does that mean he should walk into the ocean without a care in the world?"

"You don’t understand a thing about human emotions, do you?" Khushi asked him, "do you know what happens when a person is heartbroken?  How would you know? You have only broken countless hearts – did you break Rashmi's heart as well?"

"Khushi!" Arnav took a step toward her.

Khushi took a step backward but she couldn’t seem to stop her words. "But I can see you are trying to make it up to her now," she said, "helping her with her business, with the litigation problems -- that's a good way to patch up with her – better late than never –" Khushi couldn’t continue as her eyes filled with tears. "You know what – I am tired and I–" she turned around and began to walk away.

In the next moment, Arnav grabbed her hand, pulled her flush against his body, bent his head and captured her lips before she could utter another word. Khushi went completely still as an electric jolt went right to the pit of her stomach. His mouth was rough on her, but she didn’t feel even a bit repulsive, on the contrary she reveled in it, feeling the wild beat of his heart under her palm. This raw feeling shocked her to the core. Afraid to reveal this side of her, she stood still, trying hard to appear impassive to the onslaught.

Arnav let go of her wrist to wrap his hand around her waist, while his other hand brushed through her hair to hold the back of her head for a better grip.

When his lips touched hers again, they were gentle, taking turns with her upper and bottom lip, his tongue grazing her lips ever so lightly. No longer being able to hold on to her resolve, Khushi surrendered to him, and opened her lips of her own volition. He darted his tongue inside to explore the moist caverns of her mouth while his hand at her waist pulled her even closer, causing liquid heat to pool at her core. As her knees threatened to buckle, she clutched at his shoulder for support. As his lips continued to devour her, his hands moved from her hair down to her upper back, to slip into the sheer lace, snapping the hook that held it together.

"Sorry!" he whispered as he raised his head, but Khushi looked back at him unaware of what had happened.

At that moment, his phone rang shrilly. It was Rashmi. Arnav cut the call and said, "It's too late now," his eyes bore into hers like hot coals. "I think Manav will be looking for us to take us for that damn ice cream." He took her hand in his and began to walk as Khushi followed him too dumbstruck to utter a single word.