Part 54

It was nearing 2pm when I entered the house. I knew I was late, very late. Both Babuji and Amma must have had their lunch, they were very particular about having lunch at 1.  This was a special day for them, at least in my opinion, Anita was coming and it was highly probable that they might be waiting for both of us in the hope of having food together. Would they be disappointed at not seeing Anita with me? It was equally possible that it might be a relief for them. after all the presence of Anita could mean a lot of trouble for them.
I entered the drawing room, I thought that is where they would be and I was not wrong. Babuji was sitting in his favourite chair and Amma was sitting in the corner , saying something which I could not catch.
" Here comes the Latsahab, the lord of everything he surveys. You left very early in the morning, what took you so long? I am surprised that Anita didn't tell you that we might be worried, I thought she was a very wise girl, that's what you told us, didn't you? By the way, where is she, have you kept her waiting outside?" Babuji's words were laced with sarcasm and the tone no less.
I tried to speak but my tongue did not support me. I was at a loss for words. What could I say? I was reluctant to tell lies and the truth was something I would not be able to explain. But this time all escape doors were closed for me. I glanced at Amma and saw her staring at me with some kind of an apprehension. what was she afraid of, I wondered?

" Come on, Bittuji, ask her to come in, what are you scared of, we are not wolves who will gobble her up, we are here to welcome her with open arms. We made a promise to you that we will get you married to her and I am sure, you know, we don't break our promises or have you lost faith in us?" Babuji seemed to be in an unusually belligerent mood.

" She is not with me, Babuji", I finally managed to find my voice.

" What, not with you, then where is she? Did she refuse to come with you?"

" She was willing to come with me but we could not find a cab, she has lots of luggage with her, you see. It would have been impossible to fit it into an auto rickshaw. I have booked a cab for her, she will be here by the evening" I lied shamelessly.

" Really, did she bring all her wardrobe with her? How did she manage to do that? She ran away from home so in what miraculous way did she manage to pack all her clothing etc?" Babuji had calmed down, now his tone had changed into a mocking one. He seemed to be making fun of me and enjoying it but why? Why was he making fun of me?

"Please, you can talk about this later, let him have lunch first. My poor son must be famished. Bittuji, I prepared ABC and D also today. Never cooked so many dishes in my life. But my daughter in law was coming and she deserved a special meal". Amma had suddenly sprung into action, perhaps she sensed this conversation between Babuji and me might take an ugly turn.

" You have really spoiled him", Babuji turned his ire towards Amma. " Do you seriously think he is hungary? Remember he has come back from Hotel Lake View, one of the most luxurious hotels in Srinagar, do you think his friends must have sent him away without treating him to lunch? I am sure he must have had a delicious meal, right Bittuji?"

" I can see from his face that he hasn't had anything to eat, a mother can always sense such things. Now, you please stay quiet for sometime, let him have his food and then you you can say whatever you want to" Amma looked at Babuji, did not bother to wait for an answer and headed for the kitchen. Babuji gave me a withering look but did not say anything.

I was really feeling hungry. And the thought of having all these dishes of my choice made my hunger pangs grow stronger. Amma must have worked very hard to prepare ABCD. In Kashmiri Pandit lexicon, A meant Roganjosh, B meant Kaliya, C meant yakhni and D meant meatballs. All the four were mutton dishes. Anita would have enjoyed the food, she was very fond of Kashmiri dishes, especially mutton dishes. The moment this thought came to my mind, my hunger seemed to vanish. I was not in a mood to eat anything but saying no to food would cause great distress to Amma, so I took off my shoes and sat down, not bothering to think that Amma might need help. How selfish have you become, Bittu? Never imagined you could be so insensitive! 

Amma bought the food. A thali with a heapful of rice  along with small bowls filled with the dishes which she had talked about. She had also made Haakh (collard greens) , green leafy vegetables of which the Kashmiris were very fond. Although, I had thought I would not be able to do justice to the food, the moment I started eating I not only polished off whatever was in the thali,remember Kashmiris used big thalis, but also asked for more. Whoever said that sadness takes away your appetite did not know what he was talking about.

Amma fussed over me while I ate. There was an expression of bliss on her countenance as she watched me devovour everything that she had put in my thali. All this time Babuji did not utter a single word. He had picked up a newspaper and was reading it or pretending to. Amma made me wash my hands there itself and also gave me a towel to wipe my hands with. I did not make the smallest effort to get up. You lazy Bittu, you should be ashamed of yourself!

Now that I had had my fill, I rested my back against the bolster behind me. All baithaks or drawing rooms had a lot of bolsters placed against the walls for the guests to relax. I desperately wanted to place my head on the bolster and try to sleep away my blues but I knew Babuji had still a lot to talk about.

" You were truly very hungry. Seems your friends forgot their manners in Amritsar or Chandigarh or wherever they had come from. How indecent of them!" Words oiled with sarcasm.

" So Bittuji, what time will the cab pick up your dear dear Anita and also your best friend, Prakash?" Babuji asked , the tone unchanged.

" I am sorry, Babuji, I lied to you. They are not coming. Both Anita and Prakash had left the hotel before I reached there" I had no choice but to come out with the truth. How long would I continue to play this game of deception?

" Ha Ha Ha, you lied, Bittuji lied, wonderful. What happened to that Satyawadi Harishchandra in you,? You have been feeding us one lie after the other but I did not say anything as I wanted to see how long you would continue weaving this web of lies. Now let me tell you something. I knew you were making up stories because I know what the truth is. " These words left me open mouthed. The truth? What truth was he talking about and how could he know the truth?

" You don't believe me, do you? Of course you don't. How can you even imagine that I know all the facts just by sitting at home but I know everything, maybe much more than you do" Surprisingly, Babuji's voice had softened a little, he almost sounded sympathetic.

Much more than I did? What did Babuji mean by that? First of all, how could he know what I knew, that itself appeared impossible and on top of that he was saying he knew more than I did. The clouds around me became darker, the mystery deepened and even good old Hercule Poirot could not come to my rescue here.

" Let him take some rest, can't you see how tired he is? You can tell him all that you want to later, what's the hurry?" Amma, who was reclining against another bolster , spoke with authority. But Babuji was in no mood to listen.

" Let me speak, will you"? Babuji shouted. I was startled. I had seldom heard him shout and that too so loudly. He had always been a very soft spoken man, rarely, if ever, showing any outbursts of anger. Everybody admired him for his ability to keep calm no matter what the provocation. There were people, people in the family, who would swear that they had never seen Babuji lose his temper and they were right. But since my coming to Srinagar, I had seen him lose his temper at least thrice, all because of this selfish brute named Bittu.

 " You are responsible for having spoiled him and for having made him what he is", Babuji continued railing at Amma. Poor Amma, sensing his mood, did not say a word. " When he was a child, you went out of your way to fulfill all his demands no matter how unreasonable they used to be. So much so that he started thinking that if he asked for the moon, he would get it. And that is what he is  doing now. He wants the moon and he thinks he will get it because we have made him believe so" Babuji  used'we' instead of 'you' admitting that he also had a hand in spoiling me.
" If you know the truth, tell me what it is?", I asked.
" I am sure you already know most of it but you don't know the whole of it. But first let me tell you  we know all about where you were the other night. We know the army picked you up and kept you imprisoned the whole day and night. I am not going to forgive them for that", the last words were said in a low voice,  like he was talking to himself. " Prakash lied to me over the phone that day. Told me you were with him when he very well knew where you were. And before I go into other details, let me tell you something which will knock you off your feet.  Anita never came to Srinagar. She didn't come to Kashmir at all. The girl with Prakash was someone else"