Page 14 of That Same Old Love

When they arrived home, the watchman opened the gate and took the keys from Sidhu’s hands to park the car in their seven-car covered parking. Only three cars were remaining and the rest were being used by other family members from the household.

Sidhu’s mother was in the living room watching a soap opera on the common room television set. She had her own television set in her room, but she claimed that she preferred to keep an eye on the help and other people in the house. When she saw Sidhu and Ananya arrive, she looked up briefly.

“Well, what did Srishti’s teachers say? That girl is getting way too headstrong and stubborn. That’s not how women should behave. No man will ever want a wife who mouths off nonsense and gets into physical fights like a street urchin.”

Sidhu immediately came to his daughter’s defense. “Srishti is still a girl, Ma, not a woman. Stop with your old-fashioned nonsense on how a wife should behave.”

His mother ignored him and continued as always. “Tsk tsk… why just this morning, she was shouting at me for serving Abhinav and Abhijeet more breakfast than her. They are the same height as her, but they are boys. They will need to get taller and stronger than her at some point. She was yelling at me,calling it unfair and some nonsensical words. She didn’t respect her own grandmother.”

“Ma, stop—” Sidhu was about to ask his mother to back off from his daughter when Ananya placed her hand on his to stop him.

Ananya urgently intervened, knowing full well that Sidhu would be drawn into another unproductive argument with his mother about Srishti.

“I will speak to her, Maji. Sidhu… you left early without having your breakfast properly. Let’s go have lunch. We made your favorite today.”

When Sidhu and Ananya headed towards the dining room, they could hear his mother grumbling loudly, “If only they would have a second child who might be a boy, then that girl wouldn’t behave like a spoilt brat.”

“God! How can you bear being stuck with that woman all day at home? I can only imagine what Srishti is going through with her grandmother’s antiquated ideas.” Sidhu fumed as one of the maids began to serve food.

Ananya sighed. “They are our family Sidhu, and it is important to stay close and look after them in their old age. You know how your mother gets; she doesn’t mean anything by it. She still loves us all.”

He put some rotis in his plate and began to eat. “No. I don’t think it’s important to stay with an extended family. Not when it creates a toxic environment for our daughter. There is only so much I can tolerate and I need you to back me up on this. Stop coddling my family when they are not being fair to our child.”

She knew that she sometimes bent over backwards to maintain peace in the household, even when she had to let down her own daughter or husband. She always wanted everyone to like her and that was her biggest flaw.

She was sure that he would think that the great Mahi would never put up with such nonsense from her mother-in-law and protect her cub fiercely like a lioness, even if they were wrong or being disrespectful.

“Let’s not argue. Let’s talk about something else.” She served him one more roti. “By the way, I saw Mahi today at my brother’s place. She’s back to India, either visiting or maybe staying for good,” she said casually.

“I know. Samrat called me earlier this morning to tell me that she was in India. Samrat and I are working on a venture that will need some of her lands. We wanted to buy it from her and she has agreed to sell them.”

Ananya was stunned that Sidhu already knew and also that he hadn’t mentioned it to her. “What venture?”

“The senior community venture. I have mentioned it to you before. Anyway, pass me that curry, it looks good.”

Mahi and Sidhu can meet for legitimate reasons. And what if Mahi wanted to be made a partner in that venture?

“Did you know that Mahi is divorced and her husband left her because she had an affair with a much younger man?”

Sidhu didn’t respond. He stood up to drag the curry closer and served himself some. He took a few bites before replying to her. “Anu… you shouldn’t engage in such gossip,” he chided her gently and continued eating. “It may be true, but one never knows what is happening in people’s marriages for them to act the way they did.” He stared into his plate. “Wow, is this your new recipe you were talking about last night? It’s amazing.”

Ignoring his compliment, Ananya looked at him icily.”Why would you defend her? And especially after what she did to you and me?”

Sidhu looked at her face and realized that she was upset. “Anu, that happened was in the past and we were very youngthen. Why does it matter to you now? We are all adults here and we have our own problems to deal with.”

Ananya felt a little foolish about her reaction and calmed down. “You are right. Whatever happened so many years ago doesn’t matter now. Sorry to jump on your throat about it just now.”

He smiled at her charmingly, flashing his dimples. “Well, all you need is to relieve some of that stress caused by my crazy family and your looming deadlines. I’m going to ease that tonight in a very enjoyable way. I’m eagerly looking forward to tonight, so be prepared for me. I’ll be home by eight thirty.”

He kissed her on top of her head before leaving the dining table.

Ananya sat there for some more time, mulling over what Sidhu had said about not letting whatever happened in the past matter now. But she knew that she had him and Srishti only because of what had happened in the past.

The incidents that took place then had shaped her entire adult life, be in her dressing, her thoughts or her behavior. She had gone from being an innocent naive girl whose head was filled with romantic dreams and notions, to deliberately shaping her life to being a woman and a mother worthy of her family.

Sidhu had heard about Mahi’s impending wedding from a classmate. He was heartbroken and was waiting outside Mahi’s house in the rain, wanting to speak to her. Mahi’s parents had told him repeatedly that Mahi refused to speak to him, and that she had willingly agreed to marry someone else who was better suited to their family.

Meantime, in Ananya’s household there was another devastating blow caused by Mahi. Her brother’s final year exams score was disqualified due to the cheating accusations. He lost his scholarship and admission to the university he wassupposed to go for his PhD program. Their mother had wanted to travel to a temple to beg god to save them from their difficult times.

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