Prithvi... [Vol 1] (Ongoing) (Winner of Wattpad India Awards 2019)

Chapter 17

Nandini switched off the gas just before the milk boiled and spilled over.

“Why did you wake up so early, Nandini?”

Nandini turned around to see her mother enter the kitchen.

 “Didn’t the doctor say you should be resting?”

“He only asked me to rest for a day, ma,” Nandini answered, “And I’m completely well now. I can’t sit with doing anything for one more day.”

“But if you feel even a little tired, you’ll go and rest, alright?” her mother said, and Nandini nodded.

“Did someone come in just now, ma?”

“Sumer Singhji has come. He is in Prithvi’s room.”

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“What time will the car come to pick you up, Baba?”

“I’ll be leaving in the evening by around 4’O clock.”

 “In the evening?” Prithvi frowned. “You were supposed to leave right after breakfast.”

“I was….but I spoke to them and they said it was alright if I reached by tomorrow.”

“You forced me to come to this house yesterday because you said you were going to leave early in the morning today,” Prithvi said irately.

Sumer Singh sighed. “I know I should have told earlier. But are you facing any problems here?”

There was a knock on the door and Nandini walked in with two cups of tea.

“Here comes the biggest one,” Prithvi muttered.

“I already had tea some time ago, Nandini,” Sumer Singh smiled.

“But you didn’t have the special tea made by me,” she said chirpily.

“I can’t argue with that,” he laughed and took a cup from her hand. She held out the other cup to Prithvi. When he didn’t take it, she kept it on the stand with a sigh.

“You have to travel today, Baba,” Prithvi smirked. “So I don’t think you should drink that.”

“And what do you mean by that,” Nandini asked indignantly.

Ignoring her, he addressed Sumer Singh. “Baba, before you leave, I need my laptop and some books from my room.”
 
“Laptop and books? Why do you need those?” Sumer Singh enquired.

“So that I won’t go insane with boredom in this place.”

“You won’t be bored here, and you are supposed to take complete rest for some days.”

“That’s right, Prithvi,” Nandini said tentatively, “You shouldn’t be doing any work.”

“Did I mistakenly give you any impression that your opinion matters,” Prithvi asked interestedly.

“Prithvi, you are a guest here for the next few days, so don’t behave like this with her,” Sumer Singh said strictly as Nandini’s face fell.

The phone rang in the living room. “Nandini, the call is for you,” her mother called out.

“Thank God,” Prithvi muttered as she left the room and Sumer Singh sighed again tiredly.

Nandini picked up the phone, wondering who it was this early in the morning.

“Hello.”

“It’s me, Nandini”

“Hi Nishi,

“Nandini, listen, Vrinda and I are coming over in the evening.”

“Since when you do have to inform me before coming?” Nandini grinned. “I’ll be waiting for you.”

“Well…the thing is….someone wanted to come with us.”

“That’s alright, tell them they are welcome. But who is it?” Nandini asked.

“Suvek,” Nishi said after a pause.

“Suvek?” Nandini repeated, astonished. “But why does he want to come?”

“To see you of course. He wanted to come and meet you in the hospital. But then you were discharged in the morning. And yesterday he said he would like to come with us to your house to see you.”

“But why?” she asked in consternation “We’ve hardly spoken a few times. And Nishi,” she added hesitantly, “Mother knows all my college friends and I’ve never even mentioned his name before. I don’t what she’ll think….and grandpa -”

 “I know, so I’ve already hinted to him that it’s not a good idea,” her friend said reassuringly.  “I just wanted to ask you once before I tell him finally.”
 
“Thanks a lot, Nishi,” Nandini said gratefully.

She kept the phone down some time later, a little disturbed. Why was Suvek so keen to meet her….Had her friends had been right all along about his interest….she fervently hoped they weren’t. Suvek was a very nice person but she only thought of him as a friend, nothing more.

Sarojini came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands with the saree’s pallu. “Nandini, I had washed and hung some bed sheets on the terrace yesterday evening. Could you bring them down?”

Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill, Nandini told herself firmly as she climbed the stairs. As a model student of their college and a top ranking member of The Club, Suvek was very considerate of the other students and often went a little out of his way to help them with any problems they might have. 

He was just being friendly…there was nothing more to it….


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Suvek stood in front of a big bouquet in the flower shop and examined it critically. It was attractive, but not good enough for the recipient he had in mind. Nothing but the best would do for her.

If only he could have gone to Nandini’s house to see her once, he thought sadly, to know for himself that she was absolutely fine. But Nishkala had said the family was having a lot of visitors and guests, so it would be best if he waited till Monday to meet Nandini in college.

He hadn’t had a moment of peace after learning about her accident. If the driver of that rogue vehicle had been caught, he would have ensured that the fellow got the harshest punishment possible.

Vrinda had told him that Nandini had been saved by someone, a neighbour of hers. He would have liked to meet the guy too and thank him personally.  But that would also have to wait…

If he couldn’t meet her himself, he could at least let her know that he was thinking about her, and was praying for her well-being…

Just then the owner of the shop came from the workshop with an absolutely stunning creation of red roses. This was it. This was something worthy of Nandini, worthy of his first love.


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“How is he doing, doctor?” Sumer Singh asked, while helping Prithvi put on his shirt again.

“Far better than I had expected. The injuries are healing very nicely and a lot faster than I had thought. And if the leg recovers at the same pace, I think the cast also can come off very soon.”

Sumer Singh didn’t look surprised, only relieved.

“But you must continue to rest as much as you can, Prithvi.”

“I’ve been doing nothing else,” Prithvi said grumpily. “If I lie down any longer, I’ll grow roots.”
 
Dr. Mathur chuckled. “Hmm…well, I suppose it would be okay if he walks around a little. And where is that young lady, I’ll have a look at her ankle too while I am here.”

“What happened to Nandini’s ankle?” Prithvi frowned. 

“There is a small wound on the ankle; it’s nothing to worry about.”

“Worried?” Prithvi said derisively. “Who’s worried? I was only asking out of curiosity.”

“Oh ok. It’s just, when I saw how upset she was when you were in the hospital,” the doctor said reflectively, “I thought you must be good friends or something.”

Prithvi was being helped to his feet by Sumer Singh, and did not give any signs of having heard what the doctor had said. Just then, his cell which had been resting on the little stand near the bed began to ring. Sumer Singh picked it up and handed it over to Prithvi.

“You go ahead with the doctor, Baba,” he said. “I’ll answer this call and come. And I can walk on my own now.” Sumer Singh nodded and walked into the living room along with the doctor, taking care to shut the door so he could talk in private.

Nandini was in the veranda, putting on her slippers to go to the temple. She had wanted to go since yesterday….there were so many things to be thankful for…

“Nandini, the doctor wants to have a look at your ankle.”

She turned around to see Sumer Singh. “Why are you looking so serious?” he asked in surprise.

“That’s right.” The doctor’s round, friendly head appeared by his side. “A girl as pretty as you shouldn’t have any reason to look so troubled,” he said with twinkling eyes and Nandini giggled. “Now come inside so I can change the bandage on your ankle.” And he and Sumer Singh returned inside.

When Nandini walked into the living room, the doctor was sitting on a chair near the sofa, and Grandfather and Sumer Singh were talking about something they had read in the papers.

She sat down and the doctor began to change the bandages, chatting merrily to her all the while. “You only need to keep this bandage on for today. Tomorrow, after I change this, a small plaster will do.”

The door bell rang.

“Don’t get up, Nandini. Prakash, open the door,” her grandfather called out.

Prakash zoomed out of the kitchen with his mouth stuffed with biscuits and ran to the door.

The door to Prithvi’s room opened, and he slowly limped into the room. Nandini looked up and smiled at him, but pointedly ignoring her, he began to walk towards the door.

“Where are you going?”  Sumer Singh asked, perplexed.

“To sit outside in the courtyard for a while.”

“Di,”

All of them looked towards the door and were baffled to see an enormous bouquet - a lovely creation of pristine red roses – walking into the room.

“Someone has sent this for you,” Prakash’s voice spoke from somewhere behind the flowers.

There was minute of pin drop silence in the living room, while all the men in the room looked from the bouquet towards Nandini, who was staring in complete astonishment at the flowers.

“For me?” she repeated faintly, as Prakash deposited the flowers on the table in the living room.

“Who must have sent these,” grandfather asked, looking very puzzled.

Mystified herself, Nandini couldn’t think of anything to say. She stood up, walked over to the bouquet and touched the immaculate roses in wonder.

“Was there a card with it, Prakash?” Sumer Singh asked.

“No, that delivery man didn’t give me any card,” her brother replied. “But he said the flowers were for Nandini Bharadwaj.”

Nandini carefully examined the bouquet incase the card had fallen in-between the flowers. But she couldn’t find one. Who had sent her such expensive looking flowers….and there was no card either.

“Red roses, that’s a gift of love,” the doctor said meditatively, talking to himself again the way he had done in the hospital.  “Nothing proclaims love the way red roses do.”

As Nandini swung around with a crimson face, aghast and embarrassed beyond belief, the temperature in the room seemed to drop sharply ….and the pleasantly cool atmosphere abruptly became icy cold. 

““Hmmm….such beautiful flowers…and no card either…You must have a very ardent secret admirer somewhere, young lady.” the doctor continued artlessly, impervious to the chill in the air, and unaware that two people in the room were glaring at him very unpleasantly.

“Oh no! I don’t,” Nandini said desperately, completely mortified and unable to meet the sharp eyes she sensed on herself. “I really don’t -”

“My granddaughter does not have any admirers,” grandfather announced, glowering at the doctor.

“Oh, did I upset anyone?” the doctor asked, genuinely surprised. “I am truly sorry. I was only joking.”

Sarojini came down the stairs to find the air colder than that in her fridge. “What happened here?” she asked bemusedly. “Why is everyone so quiet and serious?”

Then she saw the flowers. ““Such lovely roses!” she said delightedly.

“They are for Di, and we don’t know who sent them,” Prakash said promptly. Sarojini glanced at her daughter, who was looking very confused and nervous, and immediately grasped what had happened.

“It must be a surprise combined gift from her friends in college,” she smiled.

Grandpa face cleared suddenly. “Of course!” he exclaimed, “why didn’t I think of that!”

The tension in the room seemed to disappear as rapidly as it had come. Prakash picked up his cricket bat from under the table and ran out the door to join his friends on the playground.

“They are so beautiful; we should keep them in a good place.” And Sarojini walked towards the table with the intention of keeping the flowers in a place they would be seen prominently.

Still feeling flustered, and wanting to escape from the room, Nandini mumbled that she was going to the temple and rushed out into the veranda.

As she reached the door, the doctor said, “I heard you are doing your Phd in aerospace engineering, Prithvi. I was interested in that myself once upon a time,” he added wistfully. “As a child, I always wanted to go up into the clouds.”

“Your wish has been half-fulfilled,” Prithvi said coldly. “I can see that your brain is already there.”

************************

The visit to the temple soothed her considerably, and now the whole incident seemed almost funny. Mother was right. Her classmates must have pooled together some money to surprise and cheer her up. But even so, it was unlikely that they would have spent so much….

Nandini was nearing the gate when she realized that Prithvi was sitting on an easy chair in the courtyard, leaning back with his eyes closed. His right foot was resting on a stool in front of him.

Not wanting to disturb him, she noiselessly closed the gate and began to walk towards the door.

“The flowers were a joint gift from your friends, were they?”

Nandini stopped and turned around to see him looking at her mockingly.

“I think so,” she said hesitantly.

“So I suppose Suvek is the short form for a group of Stupid, Useless and Virtually Empty-headed Knuckleheads,” he said with raised eyebrows.

“Suvek?” Nandini asked, taken aback. “How – how do you know him?”

“There was a card with that thing. It had fallen down by the gate,” he said shortly.

“Where is it?” she asked, not seeing any card in his hands or on the stool.

“Where I saw it...on the ground. I don’t pick up trash from the streets.”

Nandini sighed and retraced her steps to the gate. And then she saw it, lying by the side of the gate. It was a relatively large card and she could read the wordings before even picking it up. 

‘Dear Nandini,

Hope the flowers brought a smile to your face. All my best wishes are with you. Please get well soon.

Suvek’

She picked it up and wiped it clean of dust. So Suvek had sent the flowers….that was extremely sweet of him, and highly unexpected too…...And once again, the frightening thought occurred again….did he really think of her as more than a friend…

“So Mathur was partly right,” Prithvi said sardonically, breaking into her troubled thoughts. Nandini looked up from the card to see him studying her flushed face with a very disdainful expression.

“Impossible though it seems, even someone like you has a boyfriend.”

“I don’t have any boyfriend!” she said indignantly, aghast at the thought and feeling absurdly distressed that he thought she did.

“With a face like yours, that’s not surprising,” he said cuttingly. “But then you should seriously consider making him your boyfriend.”

“I should what?” Nandini asked in quiet disbelief.

“If he is stupid enough to waste good money on those rotten flowers for you,” Prithvi shrugged, “then I think it will be an ideal match.”

The words, and the indifference with which they had been uttered, sent a surge of anger and pain through Nandini.

“Thanks for the advice. I’ll keep it in mind,” she said stiffly, spun around to walk towards the house, and found herself face to face with her mother, who was coming towards them with a glass of juice in hand for Prithvi.

“Why are you so upset?” her mother asked concernedly as she handed the glass to Prithvi, who took with a murmured ‘thank you’.

“I’m not…I was just…” and then Nandini stopped, suddenly struck by an idea.

“Ma, I was just talking to Prithvi,” she beamed, “and he was saying that he hates eating alone in his room and from now on, he wants to have his meals with all of us. Isn’t that right, Prithvi?”

Prithvi was gaping at her in shock, and when she had finished talking the incredulity in his eyes changed to fury. But Nandini only smiled sweetly in response to his livid gaze.

Oblivious to the undercurrents, her mother turned to Prithvi with delight in every line of her face.

“You do?” her mother said joyfully. “Nothing could make us happier. From now on, we’ll eat all meals of the day together…as a family. Nandini, come and help me cut some vegetables for lunch.”

Prithvi’s forced smile became a scowl once her mother had left. “What did you do that for,” he snapped, when she made to follow her mother.

Nandini turned around grimly. “You gave me such good advice,” she answered tautly. “I was just trying to return the favour in some way.”

*****************************

“Where are you going again?”

Prakash, who had been sneaking out of the kitchen, halted in his tracks and saw his mother looking at him questioningly. He had only come in to gulp down some water and intended to run out to play some more. But the plan had clearly failed.

“Just one more hour,” he begged “I’ll come back before lunch”.

“No,” Sarojini said sternly. “You’ve played enough in the hot sun. Wash your hands and legs, they’ve become so dirty.”

Nandini, who was tipping vegetables into the frying pan, looked around to see a very sulky Prakash.

“You can go out again in the evening and play for an extra hour,” she told her brother appeasingly, once her mother had left the kitchen. “And I’m making your favourite parathas for lunch.”

Prakash grinned, rushed to her and gave her a quick hug. Then he ran out of the kitchen, threw his bat under the table, picked up a comics book from the table and plonked himself down on the sofa.

A few minutes later, Prithvi came in from outside and sat down on an armchair. Prakash kept down his comics book and watched him silently.

“Prakash, did you wash your hands and legs?”

Nandini came out of the kitchen, saw Prithvi who looked visibly exhausted, and she went back inside.

“Sumer uncle said you are not getting sleep at night,” Prakash said suddenly.

Prithvi looked at him disinterestedly. “Your Sumer uncle needs another reminder not to gossip about me,” he retorted.

Nandini came out of the kitchen with some water and held it out to him without saying a word, prepared to be ignored or snubbed. But surprisingly, although he didn’t look up at her, he took the glass from her hands quietly and began to drain it thirstily.

“Whenever I don’t get sleep, I lie down in Di’s lap. You should try that too,” Prakash said brightly.

“Prakash!” Nandini exclaimed in horror as Prithvi choked on the water, and began coughing.

“What happened here?” Sarojini came out of Prithvi’s room with some sheets in hand, looking anxious. Prithvi’s coughs had subsided. The exertion had turned his face red; but Nandini’s face was pink too, she noted curiously.

“But I didn’t say anything wrong, Di,” he said crossly.

“What did Prakash say, Nandini?”

“Nothing!” Prithvi and Nandini said in unison; they looked at each other in alarm and immediately looked away.

Sarojini looked confusedly from one red face to the other.

“I-I was just telling Prakash to wash his hands and feet, ma,” Nandini said quickly.

“You haven’t done that as yet, Prakash?” Sarojini said severely, “go to the bathroom right away.”

“I’ll take him, ma,” Nandini offered hurriedly and she pulled her protesting brother from the sofa and urged him towards the washroom. “But I was just saying that if he has an elder sister, he should go and lie in her lap,” Prakash said indignantly on the way, “what was wrong in that?”

“I’ll go and lie down for some time,” Prithvi muttered without meeting Sarojini’s eyes and he rose to his feet as fast as he could and hobbled towards his room.

A little bewildered, Sarojini stood in the empty room with the bed sheets in hand, wondering why she felt that she had missed something.

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