The Rathores in Therapy: A BCHD Epilogue

Chapter 1: What happened last night?

Last time: After a few minutes of silence, she spoke up again, her voice broken, and much more vulnerable, "Was... was he right? Last night... he said I wouldn't understand... was he right?"

February 4th, 2023, Jain Counselling Centre, Jodhpur

Shobha leaned forward, intrigued. This was her chance to get the clearly guarded and extremely stubborn girl in front of her to open up. She had been observing the young couple closely ever since they entered the clinic. While her husband had been quietly cooperative, albeit extremely fidgety, easily answering the preliminary questions and then unquestioningly following Sandeep into his cabin, Banni Singh Rathore, or Banni Chow Home Delivery as she was popularly known around the city, was a whole different story. Banni had been hostile from the very beginning, extremely defensive when questioned, and outright combative when told that she couldn't accompany her husband to his session. Only when her husband reassured her that he would be okay, did she finally let go of him and followed Shobha into her own cabin.

"What happened last night, Mrs Rathore? Did you and your husband have a fight?" she asked.

Banni started a little at the word "fight", but then gathered herself.

"No! It wasn't a fight!" she defended, the "strong" mask back in place. "It was just an argument. A difference of opinion, if you please."

Shobha raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Difference of opinion indeed," she thought to herself. "The husband has voluntarily written that he has trouble controlling his anger, and the wife is visibly shaken due to something he said. Sure, this is just a difference of opinion."

She decided to try another approach to get Banni to open up.

"I see..." she conceded mildly before asking her next question.

"Mrs Rathore, did your husband get extremely angry due to this 'difference of opinion'? Did he get aggressive? Or violent?"

____________________________

Sandeep didn't know whether to be pleased or not with the forthrightness shown by his patient. In the fifteen years that he and his wife Shobha had been running this centre, he had seen many types of patients. Normally, he would need to spend a good amount of time coaxing them to open up and admit there was a problem. However, Kabir Singh Rathore was well aware of his need for therapy. However, his revelations were pretty shocking and put Sandeep on the back foot, a place where he hated to be.

"Is it a habit of yours? Breaking things?" he asked Kabir curiously.

"Not really, not anymore." Kabir mused, "I haven't actually gotten that angry in a while. My system was working well, until last night that is. Last night, though, it was scary."

"Scary? Why so? Did anyone get hurt?"

"Physically, only I was hurt," Kabir clarified, lifting his left hand to show that it was bandaged. "This happened when I pushed over a vase."

"And not physically?" Sandeep asked shrewdly.

Kabir hung his head in shame before admitting, "Banni was hurt. I yelled at her, said she doesn't understand... My words were hurtful, and they made her cry. And trust me on this, Doctor, any words that can make Banni Chow cry would have to be very hurtful."

___________________________

"So during your disagreement, your husband accused you of not understanding him. Do you think he meant it? I mean, he could have just said it in anger."