Reena was over sixty, but she was working. She would visit the office every day and oversee all the companies she headed, it had been like that for her. She came from a upper class business family and was married into a similar kind. Initially she wasn't very keen with work, simply not that abled, but the slow and staedy support from her inlaws and husband helped her improve into a better businesswoman. She had for around last 35 years worked and managed her family very well, not that she would actually cook and clean, but just the fact that she was always avaliable for her family.
"Thankyou!" Neetu, her daughter and eldest child took the tea from a staff member and walked over to the lounge area where Reena and her husband Romi sat. "Yeh lo, aapki chai. Mom!" She spoke. Reena was fond of tea, the basic Indian chai , while Romi and Neetu preferred their herbal teas.
"This one thing makes me work better!" Reena replied. She was a graduate of a prestigious Miranda house in Delhi, and it was there that she had developed a liking to Chai. "Tum log kabhi aisa, roadside vendor se chai nahi piye ho, ya for famous chai wala se, so you don't know the addiction to chai!" She spoke smiling. Her children were the typical of their generation, very less used to the ideas of chai.
"Sidharth kidr hai? Aaya nahi abhi tak?", Romi spoke, taking a sip of his herbal tea. Sidharth and he were close, very close almost like best friends. "Milta bhi nahi hai, its been a week usko mile hue?"
"Kya abhi three days back we had dinner together!" Neetu interrupted in between, knowing her husband missed the only other man in the family. "Hai kidr woh? Call kar k dekh?" Neetu added a moment later. It was already night and her brother wasn't home, she was naturally expecting a family dinner.
Reena took another sip, not speaking a word in between. She always been like that, very observant and calculative. Astute to the core, she had always been flexible, knowing that austerity would always do more harm than good. She had an easy flowing bond with her children, Romi and Neetu lived in a house adjacent to Reena's after their marriage, where as Sidharth had shifted to a penthouse with his wife post marriage. Reena had never objected to what ever her children did, she would disclose any doubts and concerns she would have, but never interfere. But then, the things with alomst ex -daughter in law had turned pretty ugly and she had taken reigns for a lot of things
"Call nahi pick kar raha!" Romi spoke, looking at his wife. Mumbai had weirdly started to rain in the Feburary, the rain poured over the surface of earth, the plants and the houses alike. They were sitting near an open glass partition as the rain would hit the huge balcony of first floor. The darkness of night mixed with the subtle warm light from inside the lounge area, the green canpoy of huge potted plants, the elephant ear plants and the prayer plants, and so many with those huge deep green leaves. The rain would strike them violently, touch the metal furniture that lay in the balcony and make a dancing act, while the lighting would occasionally strike the sky.
Reena, straightened herself, she kept the cup on the table. "What do you think of Shehnaaz ?", she aksed all of a sudden, while her son in law and daughter looked back.
"Shehnaaz? Who Shehnaaz?", Came out of Neetu's lips. It was a quick reaction, not that she did not know Shehnaaz or did not remember her, but that it woud have taken a little more time to remember the girl.
"Maama's friend!" Came the sound. It was Mia, her daughter. Ofcourse she remembered the girl a little better, Mia was the only one who had spent any time with Shehnaaz, during her short stay.
"Think as in? Kuch hai kya? Sidharth had told me that it was a one time thing " Romi questioned looking at Reena.
Reena smiled, while she adjusted herself, letting Mia lay in her lap. "Sidharth is with her. Very likely. He's been doing that for some time, he comes home and sometimes later in the night he goes to her. Maine poocha tha ek baar, he said he's not in love, not that he seems to be in love!"
