An Imperial Affliction

Chapter 31 - True family

The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life.

-Richard Bach

In the unbearable heat of Hydrabad, Mrs. Ranawat was sipping tea from her usual cup which was dangerously hot, her eyes never moving away from the book she was reading. The easy chair moved in a rhythm, matching the curtains on the window which were moving back and forth due to the AC wind which was already on high. Behind her, the maid was cleaning the show pieces on the self, humming a tune under breath.

The phone rang then.

Putting the book aside, the elderly woman fixed her glasses, sitting up as she took the phone from the small tea table beside her chair. Some grey curls fell over her face as she leaned over the phone, the lines in her forehead smoothening instantly as she stared at the number.

She raised her hand in air without a word, and the humming stopped behind her. The Maid exited the room in a hurry, the lady never noticing it as the former closed the door quietly behind her.

She took a deep breath and clicked on the green answer button, "This better not be a call from Hospital." She threatened to whoever was on the other side. In response, there was silence for a couple of beats, then a small chuckle.

"Riyali Ranawat, you are going to give me coronary in this old age." The lady admonished in a stern tone as she removed her glasses which hung around her neck by thread, leaning back to her chair.

"I should not have called then." Came the quiet reply.

"It's good to hear one's granddaughter's voice in every one year or so, who walked away without a single glance." The bitter words had no heat, "You were worrying me, Sweetheart."

"Don't pretend you were not getting the news of whether I was alive or dead from sources." There was smile in her reply.

"If you had called, I would not have done it." She shrugged, unapologetic. There was no response from the other side, even the touch of smile was vanishing.

"How are you?" The lady asked, playing with the chain of her neck absent mindedly.

"Tired." Her voice sounded the same like her answer, exhausted beyond anything.

"Then come to me." The former replied immediately.

"Hydrabad is too hot." She teased, to which the elder lady scoffed.

"Mumbai is not snowing either. What is the temperature there, 40?"

"42.7."

"See? Here it's only 41."

"One degree less, Granny, doesn't matter much."

"It would matter if you come to me." She replied, emotion quoting her words a little.

"I don't fit there." The former replied, voice emotionless as she went, "Doesn't feel like home."

"I know." She sighed, "It stopped feeling home the moment you walked out."

The reply came a few moments later, the tone teasing, "I so wish I could rub it in Bro's face."

"Don't." The elderly woman said with a smile, "He will drive his poor secretary crazy. She is a nice girl."

"You sound impressed." Came the observation.

"Only because she appreciates how much Bengali food revolutionized the cooking of Fish through the passage of time."