Who is she,Part37

Part 37

“Wha,,wh…whaaa..What did you say? Have you gone mad? Have you lost your senses? Do you mean to tell me that Anita is going to run away from her home, run away from her parents? How can she do that? I am not going to allow any such thing to happen, do you understand? Whatever I said to Suri Sahab in the morning was said just to frighten him a little and make him change his mind. Do you seriously think I really meant what I said? I thought maybe he might cancel the engagement or whatever it was supposed to be. Now that he has not done that, the girl, whatever her name is, must marry according to the wishes of her parents. Do you get me?” Babuji had shouted himself hoarse and by the time he spoke the last few words, the baritone had become almost a squeak.

“Babuji, I did not ask her to leave her home, she didn’t even ask me what she should do, she only informed me that she would be leaving Chandigarh on the morning of the tenth and disconnected the phone. I didn’t have time to say anything. I am not even sure she will be able to come, I have no idea how she will manage!”

“Do you realize what your darling son is about to do?” the question was addressed to Amma. All along she had been a mute spectator, not daring to utter a single word.

“How should I know? Do you people ever bother to tell me anything? It has been a tradition in this family that women are never consulted on these matters, men folk have always taken all the important decisions and continue to do so. You never took me into confidence when I was young so what is the need of doing so now, when I am just a poor old lady, deserted by everyone?”

“This is no time to rake up the past and let me tell you your grudges are all false. I gave you the responsibility of running the whole household, how many husbands do that? Who took the final decision on Lalaji’s marriage? Who was the one who chose Papaji’s wife? Who insisted that Ratna would be the wife of Makhna? Answer me? Were all these important decisions taken by me? You were the one who behaved dictatorially in all these marriages. Did I say a single word? Did you even allow me to give an opinion? And now you sit there and say that you had no say in the matters of the family. What rubbish! There was a great difference between the way my brothers treated their wives and the way I treated you, my dear lady so don’t sit there and give me sermons about how the men of the family used to treat their wives!” Babuji had become calmer now, the baritone had returned but the anger still remained.

“I am in no mood to argue with you, you have always had the last word so why should I waste my energy? I know in this case also, you will not anyone to go against whatever you decide”

“Dhanvati, Bittuji is going to marry a Punjabi girl and it is not going to be the kind of marriage you had dreamt of!” I had never heard Babuji address Amma by her name, this was the first time he was doing so, at least, in my presence.

“I suspected something of that sort when you were shouting over the phone in the morning but I never thought the matter had reached a flashpoint. I didn’t say anything because Bittuji is young and at his age such things happen but I know he will marry the girl I choose for him and it will be a beautiful Kashmiri girl, not a dark complexioned Punjabi girl” That was the time when every non Kashmiri girl was called a Punjabi, whether she was from the North, the south, the East or the West. It was not just girls, every non Kashmiri happened to be a Punjabi. Kashmiris, being fair themselves had an obsession for fair skin and an aversion for dark skinned people. Sometimes I would wonder if we were not among the most racist people in the world. As Amma was talking about finding a beautiful Kashmiri girl for me, it occurred to me that Anita was as fair as any Kashmiri girl and even had the typical aquiline nose of the Kashmiris. Amma would have no objections on that score at least!

“Bittuji, won’t you marry the girl of my choice? Look, my son, I am old now, god knows how much more life is left in me but my last wish is that you marry a Kashmiri girl of my choice, won’t you fulfill this desire of an old lady?” The other weapons had not been exhausted as yet and Amma was already using that last weapon of all mothers, emotional blackmail.

“Amma, I want to marry, Anita, she is a very nice girl, you will like her, I am sure. Lalaji and Bahuji also like her and they have no objections to this marriage”

“Who are Lalaji and Bahuji to decide for my son? They took my son away from me and now they want to away all my rights over him. I will not allow such a thing to happen. Bittuli, why did you go to Amritsar, why did you leave this mother broken hearted? Did I ever ill treat you? All your wishes were fulfilled, everyone would say that Bittuji is being looked after like a prince and just because Bahuji asked you to come to Amritsar, you readily agreed and forgot this mother of yours. Why, Bittuji, why?” These words simply came out of the blue. It was as if she was pouring her heart out for the first time since I had made that all important decision to join my parents. It was the first time that I realized how hurt Amma had been, at what was, according to her a desertion of the worst kind. I had never thought of all this from her point of view. She was right. I had behaved like an ungrateful wretch, how could I have even thought of leaving them?

”Dhanvati, will you stop all this? Your tears are not going to solve the problem at hand. We have to discuss what to do with this girl, whatever her name is!” I was not sure why Babuji avoided using Anita’s name, although I was aware of the fact that ‘Whatever……is’ was a catch phrase of his.

“There is nothing to discuss. Phone her up and tell her not to come, simple isn’t it?”

“It is not that simple, Amma. If I ring her up, someone else may pick up the phone. Her father or mother might receive the phone. What will I tell them? Will I inform them that their daughter is planning to run away and come to me? In case, Anita picks up, what am I going to tell her? Imagine, Amma, how hurt she will be if I tell her that I don’t want her to come to Kashmir? Amma, won’t she think I am ditching her, I am betraying her? Won’t she think I am not interested in marrying her? Just think of her plight, Amma, you can understand, being a woman yourself!” So it was my turn to indulge in a little bit of theatrical action but what else could I do?

“Why should I bother about her, I am concerned only with the happiness of my son!”

Exactly,Amma.” I immediately pounced upon the opportunity she had given me. “You won’t my happiness, don’t you and my happiness is Anita so that is simple, isn’t it?” Amma looked around helplessly, glanced at Babuji but Babuji did not show any inclination to say anything. He seemed to be deep in thought; I wondered what he was thinking about? I knew I was being unfair to Amma but as the old adage goes ‘everything is fair in love and war’.

Bittuji does it mean you will bring a Punjabi girl into the family? Bittuji, my darling son, no one from the family has ever married a Punjabi. What will people say? What will our relatives say?”

“Stop all this nonsense, will you?” Babuji suddenly came out of his reverie and thundered. “I don’t care whether he marries a Punjabi or an Englishwoman. The problem is, if this girl, whatever her name is, comes as planned, what are we going to do with her? Where will she stay and what if there is a curfew on that day? How will anyone receive her at the airport? She is coming to Kashmir for the first time and that too in these disturbed conditions. Once she reaches this place, she will be our responsibility, don’t forget that, Dhanvati. A guest is a guest after all even if he or she is not welcome” Babuji spoke slowly, it was clear he was considering the situation from every angle. I could not help but wonder at the open mindedness of this old man, that too in an orthodox society like ours. Kashmiri society was almost a closed society; we liked to mingle only with our own people, even Dogras (the people of Jammu) were looked down upon as outsiders, it was said the Dogras did not have that class which the Kashmiris had.

“Look, I don’t understand what you are talking about. The problem can easily be solved if you talk to her father and tell him the truth, why don’t you get up and make that important call. Since the morning you have been sitting in that chair of yours, now it is time to get up and take some action” I was not sure whether Amma was really serious about what she was saying, had she been serious, she would not have made such an uncalled for attack on Babuji although it was true that Babuji had left the chair only once that day and that was when we had gone into the other room for lunch.

“Hear me out, Dhanvati, and hear me out once and for all. I care a damn about what people will or will not think. This girl, whatever, I mean Anita, is about to take a very brave step. She is risking her whole future for this good for nothing son of yours. He doesn’t even have a job and yet that girl is prepared to marry him, she does not know whether Bittu will end up as peon in some government office, which is quite possible, let me tell you, yet she is taking a giant step. Do you know what that means, Dhanvati? It means that this girl, whatever her name, oh, why do I keep on forgetting her name? It is Anita, isn,t it? Anita loves your son a lot and I am not going to move a finger to destroy her happiness, to hell with this damned society!” My,God, Babuji was in his elements. It was rare for him to use swear words but  he didn’t seem to care. Once he finished, he first looked at me and then at Amma like an actor who had just given powerful performance and was waiting for a thunderous applause from the audience. Babuji’s words gladdened my heart and I saw rays and rays of bright hope surrounding me.

“It is time for tea and Khalid has still not come back” I could sense the tension in Amma’s voice and could see the worried look on her face. My problems had become so predominant that Khalid had completely slipped our minds. I looked at my watch. It was nearly two hours since he had gone which was very long indeed. Normally, he should have been back in 15 minutes. How selfish of me. I was overwhelmed with guilt.

“I think I will go out and have a look, let me see where he has gone. He might have thought of going to see his family but he wouldn’t have dared to go towaeds Kanya Kadal in this curfew” Babuji was half talking to himself and half to us. Kanya Kadal was the name of a bridge and the locality around it was also known by the same name. It was about a couple of kilometers from our house. Where could he have gone? I was afraid, extremely afraid!