The Unnaturals . Book 2

Part 9 The Dinner Party

                                                                  Chapter 9 

 The Dinner Party

On the penultimate day of Rana Mama's stay , the men were invited to go hunting in the zamindari woods with Duke's dad . Afterwards , the family was invited to the big house for dinner in honor of his visit .

Piku wasn't invited to the hunting party but tagged along shamelessly . He was hoping to get a chance to talk to Duke alone . There was so much he wanted to say .

Duke didn't know about Piku's fight with his father over Rajani . Since that day Bhattacharjee moshai wasn't speaking to Piku. He needed to rant about everything to his best friend .

But , he didn't get a single moment of privacy with him . Nowadays Duke was always surrounded by his classmates .

Right from the beginning today , Duke treated him as a fellow guest . While talking to Rana about the terrain , flora and fauna of their jungle , he included Piku in the conversation , as if , he was a stranger as well .

Formal and pointedly polite he clearly demarcated a line between them .

Duke gave them a lecture about the solitariness of the Royal Bengal Tiger and Piku listened in chastened silence.

Rana uncle was having the time of his life. He was waxing eloquent about all the tiger hunting he'd experienced and said, 'They are magnificent aren't they, my boys.. its unfortunate that we won't hunt for them today. I wish we could at least see a family! A royal family gathering of a majestic mating pair with their cubs.. that would be such a sublime sight!'

'No uncle, there's no chance of that, even if the Bengal tigers still existed in our forest, they'd be isolated, living solitary lives. The Royals do not form family groups like the lions of Africa.'

Rana uncle nodded with interest and they continued walking through the rough path amidst tall trees and thick bushes, the thin trail leading them towards a swamp. The rest of the group had fallen behind them.

They chanced upon a huge swamp deer stag. The animal raised its head regally and stood its ground in silence. Its antlers were at least three feet tall, branching out, a testimony of the decade or more the stag had been a king of this forest. Duke's father raised his gun and the party stilled. Everybody held their breaths but before he could shoot, the stag jumped across a 6 feet ravine and disappeared.

Piku sighed with secret relief. He didn't want to see such a stunning creature die in front of his eyes.

The men commiserated with Adhiraj.

Piku's father consoled him saying, 'Those antlers would have been the pride of your collection! Never mind, I'm sure we'll encounter some again soon.'

Rana uncle turned to Duke and asked, 'so Duke, are Barasinghas social or unsocial animals?'

Duke smiled. 'They are both, uncle. The males are solitary and only form a family unit during the rut. They fight to control a harem of females and after the mating season is over, they go back to their solitary grazing. So, they are clever!'

Rana uncle patted his back. 'You are a real expert on this, aren't you my boy? So, tell me, what other animal is solitary in these forests?'

Duke said, 'The leopards are solitary as well. They are entirely unsocial, sir. People call them shy but I don't think so. I think they are apex predators who enjoy their solitude. They just simply don't need unnecessary company.'

'Really? So, what do you think about the human need for company is for?'

Duke glanced at Piku's direction and answered, 'humans need company for security and comfort. But not all humans need the company of others to feel fulfilled. Some are perfectly happy being alone. I don't think human beings can be as easily categorized as the animals in our forest. They are far more complicated, full of difficult thoughts and choices, sometimes benevolent, sometimes malicious. Humans are not so easy to understand.'

Piku listened in silence and absorbed the barb. He didn't have any idea what to do to break this insurmountable wall between them . 

 The men , clueless about this silent war waging in their midst , hunted busily and brought in a bunch of wild fowl . The fowl were being roasted in the continental style and the entire party looked forward to eating the meal .

Such informal dinner parties had become a semi regular occurrence in recent times . The two families were comfortable with each other . Adhirajnarayan took it as a personal duty to teach all the kids how to eat with a knife and fork , teaching them correct table manners and etiquette .

It had become a fun family time for both families since the Roychowdhuries hardly gathered together for a meal . The younger kids rarely sat with their father at the dining table so late in the night .

Adhiraj became the genial host , regaling them with anecdotes about his times abroad and kept dropping hints that he wanted to send Piku abroad along with his own son .

This evening went along the usual pattern with the sole exception of Duke's manners . He had become extremely formal . While usually , he joked around and disrupted the proceedings as much as possible , tonight he was punctiliously formal .

Greeting Rana Mama formally with folded hands he behaved like the perfect co-host .

All the Roychowdhury kids had English nicknames given by their father so , Duke was never called anything other than Duke although his formal name was Avisheknarayan . Then came Nandini who was called Lily by one and all . Then the two youngest , Ananda and Avik who were called Alex and Aron . They were formally introduced to the guest and then shunted off to the children's table along with Riku and Tiku , Piku's brothers .

The dinner went off very well . The formal continental setting not deterring the conversation .

The men , as usual , were talking politics . The women listened and joined in once in a while . The three eldest kids ate quietly , listening to the elders talk but did not take part in it .

Piku stole a glance at Duke . He wasn't sitting in his usual spot . A move so noticeable that all the elders commented on it .

Instead of sitting next to Piku , he was sitting further away , having said that he was feeling stuffy and wanted to sit near the window . He was quietly munching away expressionlessly .

He hadn't given Piku a chance to talk to him through the entire evening . Every time Piku came near him , Duke moved away . He was pretending to listen to the chatter from the kiddy table or talking to Rajani . This wasn't unexpected given his behavior the entire day but it still hurt . 

Piku had hoped to at least get a look from him but Duke ignored him completely . The dinner dragged on for him and he just wanted to disappear . Food was served course after course and the adults droned on about the war .

He stared at his feet . The last time when they'd gathered here , he and Duke had kicked each other constantly under the table . Their shins had bumps the next day . Now Duke was so far away that he couldn't even see his feet .

Piku stared at the legs of the table as the voice of the adults washed over him . This table had enormous tiger claws as legs , shiny and red . He wondered how they kept the ants away . Their table at home had wooden bowls filled with water under each leg .

It had always been his job to fish out the dead ants floating on them and change the disgusting water every morning . He hated this chore and finally this year he'd managed to pass it on to Riku . He touched the leg of the table with his foot . It felt smooth .

He turned to Duke and stared at the back of his head . 'Please look at me .. please, my love . Look at me , just once . I'm sorry , I'm sorry for hurting you ....' Piku thought miserably .

He got nothing from Duke and stared down at his dinner plate wishing again that he could just disappear .