Chapter B
ORIGIN OF THE BROTHERHOOD
2) OUR MOST EXPECTED GUEST
Anu blinked her eyes open in that ocean of darkness and it lit to a clock where it was written 'AUGUST 11, 2031'.
She was bit surprised, thought it was a time machine which was holding her against gravity. Since it had taken her in to a time 39 yrs behind their civilization, she was worried. But her worries were washed out by the events happening around her.
A sound reverberated around her as if someone's mind speaking at her in elation.
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10 Aug 2031
I am privileged to have the most beautiful woman on earth serving me the wake up coffee.
She surprisingly wore a saree today and the jasmine flavor on her hair killed my dreams.
I couldn't all of a sudden close the world waking around me, though it's hard to get away from a lazy Sunday doze.
I never hid myself under the wool pretending sleepy before, nor felt like someone should lift me up to light again. It happened because I knew this was a special morning.
Everything happened as usual today except I felt more romantic to pull her closer, bite her lips and to take her in to the warmth of my wool. Before I could execute my thoughts, a shimmering voice pierced my mood.
"Appaa, get up now or have a bath with your pillow." Our heavenly soul was already up unlike any previous day and had a mug of water in his hands.
"Sachu, No." she shouted at him.
"We'll get late if he is not up in time." He replied with an innocent face.
"I know but this beggar looks too romantic today." She talked as if she could read my eyes.
"Then let's pull him to bathe."Further their hands pulled me up from the most peaceful space on earth to my wash basin.
"Brush yourselves like a good boy." Sachu said to me handing over mine. Even the red viscous gel which capped its bristles reflected the joy in my 'Nest' that morning.
Yes it was a special day and we had a very special guest. A close friend to Mr& Mrs Roy is arriving and we shouldn't get late for the eve.
I dressed up in my favorite brown Formal shirt, combed my hair to perfection, did some fancy facial and walked in to the dining room for my delicious breakfast.
"Mom, Appa looks too handsome today." Sachu commented on my first appearance on the table. She just nodded to it and continued filling the laziest mouth in the world.
"Achu, how does I look?" I asked to my daughter who sat in her lap licking her silky fingers.
"Looks like he's out for a date." She whispered loud enough to agitate her daughter.
"Pa, mom is jealous." Achu uttered with her coiled tongue around the food.
"Sweety, I know she is. She is afraid if some hot girls roaming around would propose me for my looks."
"Ok Mr. Handsome, could you please try speeding up, so that we can reach there on time." Lachu reminded me again about maddy's arrival.
"Yes, I know. Don't you remember once Stancy had proposed me back in college?" I started my usual way of lifting her temper.
"Appa who's stancy?
Your girlfriend??" Sachu took my joke seriously.
Whenever we used to quarrel I used this sole lie to prove that I had chosen her and not vice versa. She believed it blindly since the day maddy had told her this for the first time, back in college.
"Yes, she used admire me like lunatic and your mom used to go mad." "Definitely, especially when she admire the way he sips the tea." Lachu criticized my routine way of gulping hot tea.
"Be civilized at least to teach these robbers." She added.
"Broooo..." Achu started sipping her and I couldn't resist laughing.
"How could I except better manners? Its genetic." She was at the peak of frustration and took away her food to kitchen.
"Achoo that was more than enough. I think she's upset." Mama's boy closed his meal and walked behind her.
He was always there for her solace whenever we do such mischiefs and I was pretty sure what was going to happen next.
He would go and tell her that it was all a joke. She'll say, she knew it as he does but tell me that she is upset because of my cold response.
Within few minutes he returned to me with a similar response and I strategized my plan to ignore it.
Even when I was leaving to pick our vehicle from the porch, I was pretty sure she would be following me to this outing. After all, he was quite important to both of us.
"Mom, you had a boyfriend in college?" Achu surprised us all as I drove the car out of 'prince of wales drive'.
"Yes." She nodded in agreement. "Back in my college." Added her wounded mind determined to disturb my drive.
"Maddy uncle was your boyfriend, Am I right?" Sachu took over the discussion to next level.
"No way. He had a gorgeous girlfriend even before he joined college." I added to extinguish her play to fool them around.
"Or is it question mark uncle?" He added and I found the ball was rolling in to my court.
"Roy, Can't you stop telling these kids unnecessary things?"
"Same pinch, mom. I also have a boyfriend." Achu finally revealed the secret she meant to disclose.
"How dare you? Who is he?" The anxious brotherhood arouse in my elder fruit as he heard it.
"Xavier, he proposed me last week."
"And what did you tell?"
"I said I have to ask my parents." She smiled innocently.
"Good girl. Keep it up. You must know one thing. Only college girls are supposed to have boyfriends. Like mom and dad were. Then only you can get married when you get a job." Sachu started advising her and she lost nuts.
She pinched my ears like a school teacher and whispered. "Enough, you have spoiled our kids. Enough!!" I could do nothing but nod as I had to keep the wheels rolling.
"Dad you had promised me to tell how maddy uncle and you made grandpa approve your marriage." Sachu wasn't ready to let me drive silent.
"I will tell you later. Look I am driving right now."
"Why don't you tell them such things completely? Is it because you had no part in it?" Laxmi made a sudden change of tone, was astonishing and everyone changed to a listener mode.
"Listen your dad was too frightened, when I asked him to talk to your grandpa about us. So I had to call maddy uncle for help." She continued.
"How could maddy uncle help you both?"
"Because he was specialised in such diplomacy. He told a lie that I was seriously ill and took this 'dash guy' back to cochin from gangtok.
"But why would dad resist to come?" curiosities among children where growing like money plant.
"Because he is..." and I saw her whispering something to both of them. I knew she was spoiling my image but I couldn't let the smile evade from her face. At least when she was going to meet someone who bound us together.
"Then he took us both to grandpa's estate in beypore. Dad was too narrow minded those days and we were sure he wouldn't easily let us marry. So maddy uncle played a plan and fooled him smoothly."
"How could someone fool grandpa? He is such a sharp man."
"But he had a weakness. He used to boast unnecessarily when people are around."
"Tell me, tell me. What did he do?" sachu leaned back from the side seat loosening his seat belt, to listen to her.
"When we reached home there were few of his fellows discussing social issues. We both went in but your dad hid in his car."
"Shame on you papa." I saw my kids mocking at me the very next instant.
"No, guys. She is lying. She had called home and told them that maddy was coming with her and they didn't mention me. And they both insisted me to stay out until the home cool down.
"Appa,look the express way is fully blocked" sachu suddenly deviated my attention to the closed end due to some road miniaturization.
"Oh my God! How would we reach at ten? It's already ten to ten." Laxmi screamed from behind as I had to take diversion.
I took a longer way around the 'Symbiosis law school' to approach airport road.
"Mom you didn't complete your story." Sachu winded the same cassette when wheels started smoothly rolling.
"Oh! I forgot. I went in with maddy to introduce him to my parents. As he was my colleague at Jammu, they knew he was coming with me, they welcomed him quite wholeheartedly. Dad was busy with his panchayat members in planning a community marriage. He made him sit with his friends and they started discussing politics like never before.
Basically both of them were a bit leftist thinkers and they became friends.
When rest of the crowd were out and we were all, I presented my opinion before mom and dad. Initially they nodded to my demand thinking I had opted maddy. When I took your dad, they were bit agitated as he was christian."
"So mom, you took maddy uncle intentionally, right? Grandpa won't be able to justify himself once he nod for your love and then disagree with dad's religion." I was literally shocked hearing such a sharp observation from my boy of 12.
"Rightly said. So we had our supremacy over him and your dad was much loyal in his words. Three of us ultimately made him nod to our marriage."
"Superb mom, you were awesome." My kids were quite convinced with the partially framed story she had told them.
Meanwhile I was thinking more of real events that had happened in those days. We would never have been together now if my roomie hadn't made a faking phone call to gangtok, where I was posted. If he wasn't there things wouldn't have patched up between us.
They were busy in the story and failed to realize that we were late to airport. Due to the deviation from the expressway and heavy traffic we reached our destination at half past ten.
The flight from chandigarh had landed at 10:15 and all passengers were out. So we had to run around and search for a silhouette.
"We are late only because of your lazy outfit since morning." She knew whom to complain while I was searching for the man with short stature, deep seated eyes and hay complexion, whom I knew from college days.
It has been before 13 years we had met last time, that too during our marriage. He disappeared from all of us thereafter. Even though we knew he hadn't left the forces we could barely trace him out. The biggest disappointment we had was that, he invited no friends for his marriage irrespective of the promise he had given.
His passionate love to his childhood friend 'Sana' was known to everyone in the campus as he used to tolerate anything except some bitter words about her.
We were anxiously waiting to meet her from the day he informed us their arrival.
But now it was futile task to search someone as the next flight landed. So I retired back to my family who were sitting disappointed outside the check out.
"Did you try him on phone?" I asked laxmi to confirm where he was.
"I tried twice but the number has been switched off. May be he don't want us to contact him anymore."
"Then, should we go back?"
"No way my dear. I came here to invite him home and I am not going to move unless you find him. You made us late and so is your responsibility to bring my brother to me." She insisted and our conversation grew more in to a quarrel as she sat on the waiting desk forever.
People around us started noticing it from all directions once she lost her temper and blamed me for missing our guest.
But I knew he won't go anywhere missing and he might be enjoying the cat fight from a distance, waiting for it to peak so that he can intervene. Seconds and minutes passed, reaching out the friend we were here to pick and we started loosing hope.I searched around the shops and corners in that mighty airport to find him for her. But I was a failure in satisfying her strike, so I decided to rest next to her taking all the blames.
Unexpected things happen when we stop thinking about the expected ones in life. So we started our routine quarrel, but this time beyond the walls of our little nest. All in sudden a woody hand fell over my shoulder and extinguished the fire. The hand I knew for quite long from the days of moulding overselves a 'Kilroy'.
********To be continued***********
