Who is she,part 19

Part 19

The moment Urmila walked away, I quickly unfolded the piece of paper she had given me. My first objective was to contact Anita and find out what was really going on. While holding the piece of paper in my hand, my eyes were searching for a telephone booth. Fortunately, there was one right in front of the restaurant we had just walked out of. I made a dash towards the booth, told the person sitting there that I wanted to make a call to Delhi and picked up the receiver. I was about to dial when I saw that the paper did not have any number written on it. I  was in for a rude shock. It was not a number but a short note.

Dear Lalit,

I love you, have loved you for years. You never bothered to look at me, if you had,  you would have seen that undying love for you in my eyes. Anita doesn’t deserve you, she never did. She is incapable of loving anyone. Please try to forget her otherwise all you are going to get is unbearable pain.

Yours and only yours,

Urmila.

What the hell was this girl up to? She had taken me for a ride and what a ride at that! Anita was her sister and she had no qualms about talking about her sister in this manner. Suddenly something clicked in my mind.”She is incapable of loving anyone” I had heard these words before, a long time ago. Somebody else had said the same, had it been Prakash? Yes , it had been Prakash. He had used the same words when I had told him about my having fallen in love.  The very words were being repeated by none other than Anita’s sister. I had not believed Prakash and I refused to believe Urmila. I had known Anita very closely for more than four years now, she was a girl with a golden heart, full of love and affection. Urmila had an axe to grind so she was deliberately trying to make me hate Anita. I recalled a few occasions when I had observed   Urmila looking at Anita with hate in her eyes. It was nothing abnormal. Sibling rivalry had been known to take many a tragic turn.

I had no time to think about the psychological ramifications of sibling rivalry, that could wait but what could not wait was my desperation to know about the whereabouts of Anita. Urmila had been my last hope and whom could I turn to now? Who was it who would be able to tell me what exactly was going on in the Suri household?  I could think of none. Was there any point of my staying on in Chandigarh?  Even if I had wanted to prolong my stay in the beautifully designed city (although it seemed horribly ugly to me at that time) I did not have enough money to do so. My mother had managed somehow to give me enough for the two way fare and a little bit extra for food. She did not dare to ask my father for money, she knew he would have blown his top. He had been vehemently opposed to my Chandigarh trip and it took all my mother’s persuasive powers to convince him to let me go. He had agreed on the condition that I would return the same day. There were two reasons why it was important for me to leave Chandigarh immediately. One was my father and the other was the limited financial resources at my command.

The bus stand was at a walking distance so I did not need to spend money on any auto rickshaw etc. The sun was beating down relentlessly and mercilessly but it could not have been more merciless than the circumstances I found myself in. I reached the bus stand, almost in a trance. An air- conditioned coach was about to leave to for Amritsar, I entered the bus but immediately got off. I realized I did not have enough money to pay for such a luxury , all I could afford was an ordinary bus. It would have been better to suffer the pain I felt within the confines of air conditioned comfort but that was not to be. I was destined to bear the pain in my heart along with the discomfort of the heat. I got into the first ordinary bus that I came across. I hardly remember anything of that journey; my mind had become a total blank.

My mother opened the door as soon as I rang the bell. She had been waiting for me and I could see a look of expectant hope in her eyes. She was soon joined by my brother. He was also looking at me hopefully. My father did not come out of his room and I also was in no mood to face him. I narrated the events of the day leaving out what Urmila had actually written. I told them that the telephone number which she had given me did not respond. It was obvious both of them were disappointed but there was precious little they could do. My mother served me dinner and then asked me to go to bed.

I woke up the next morning and the first name that came to mind was that of Swarn. He was the one who could find out the truth for me. I wanted to go to his place at once but that was not possible until all of us completed our morning ritual of having tea together. My father did not ask me anything about my trip to Chandigarh. All he wanted to know was when I would be starting my first job. As soon as I finished my tea, I rushed out and cycled my way towards Swarn’s house. He was at home. I asked him to come out and told him what I wanted from him. He understood my mental state, did not dither for a single moment and asked me to come in. I sat down on a sofa and Swaran started dialing a number.

“Hello, Sunny,how are you?” Naturally I could not hear what was being said by the person on the other side.

“Everything fine at home”? He continued with some formal talk and then,

“How is Anita? How are her studies going on? Does she like the university?” Sunny was Anita’s elder brother and he had just completed his mechanical engineering. Sunny and Swarn were very good friends and if Anita was engaged or going to be engaged, he would certainly not hide the fact from his close friend. The conversation carried on for some time and  all the while I was literally biting my nails. As soon as Swarn kept down the receiver; I waited for him to speak. I did not have the courage to ask him anything.
“Anita is fine, yes , she has gone to Delhi. There has been no engagement so far but talks with a particular family are going on. The boy is a captain in the army and it seems everything will be finalized soon. Now it is up to you to stop her, if you can. I cannot help you in any way. If Anita really loves you she will not agree to what her parents say. She is as stubborn and obdurate as her father is. Wait and hope, that is my advice”

I left Swarn’s place with renewed hope in my heart. All was not lost. I entered my home with a smiling face but my smile froze when I saw three tense and gloomy faces looking at me. I knew something was seriously wrong. What could it be? Had this Suri paid another visit?

“Bittu, I am afraid the news is not good” It was my father speaking and the tone was extremely somber.

“News about what, Papa?”

“You will have to leave for Kashmir immediately” It sounded like an order which it really was. Leave for Kashmir? Why? I knew things had not been normal back home but what had suddenly happened for which I was supposed to go to Kashmir….?