Night Jasmine

Untitled Part 3

Her ten year old eyes twinkled with excitement as she took in the grandeur of the regalia adorning the Shekhawat haveli. Randhir had managed to persuade Vidushi to include Sanyukta as a playmate amongst them because he was tired of indulging the young girls in their childish game of hide and seek. He really needed his own time and the boys' help in assembling his grandfather's hugely complex antique alpine train set. Ever since he could remember he was fascinated by all things mechanical. Helping fix the family's vintage cars or tinkering with scale models of airplanes that could actually fly was just a few of his interests.

There Sanyukta could not contain her fascination for the things she saw in Vidushi's room. One section of the room held a huge three storey German dollhouse, complete with timber-frame walls and miniature wooden furniture, the detail in the design and construction was an artistic triumph. There was also a real cuckoo clock, a wind-up music box that chimed old English melodies and a Steinway piano that Arohi and Vishaka liked to play. A bunk bed had been brought in for the cousins as the girls preferred sleeping in Vidushi's room so they could have pyjama parties daily. Vidushi's favourite ragdolls lay propped on her canopy bed and her massive toy trunk beneath it. The bathroom had a large sunken bath tub that the girls could slosh in for fun.

The maid brought in a porcelain tea set along with dainty cucumber and peanut butter sandwiches, and sliced fruit cake. Sanyukta's mother usually served her namak pare or mathri and achar for tea. The visit to the haveli was like an epiphany for her. As the girls escorted her back home her eyes furtively searched the forbidden part of the corridor for a glimpse of him, Randhir had made it clear that his room and study were off-limits to the girls, he disliked being disturbed while he was busy working on his railroad track.

Back in her own yard she quickly checked on her jasmine plant that was by now well-rooted. Even her mother did not know why it was so sacrosanct to her- that was a secret between Randhir and her that he would hardly think about but she would always cherish.