A SUCCESSFUL LADY AND A
HAPPY HUSBAND
When I entered my house, a gorgeous
chandelier hanging in the drawing room left me spellbound.
I remembered seeing it once
in Firozabad, when Nidhi, my better half was bowled over by its sheer beauty.
She stopped our vehicle right beside the highway, ran to the shop and asked
it’s cost.
Subsequently, I was also
bowled over, not by the beauty of the lamp, but by its cost.
Nidhi curled her lips and
came out of the shop. We were silent for a while as we drove back via NH-2
towards Agra. That was a long, uneasy silence.
That was long time ago.
**
Today, not only that same
majestic chandelier is visible here, but also I felt fragrance of an expensive French
perfume wafting across the room.
An exquisite
marble-inlay-worked table from Udaipur based on pure white Makrana stone is tastefully
laid out in the drawing room.
An expensive pure-pashmina Kashmiri
carpet spread out on the entire floor of the lounge.
I was left truly overwhelmed
and felt a sense of content fill my heart.
This is THE lifestyle, the way in which Nidhi wanted to lead her one small
life.
“Life is small, so let’s
enjoy it to the fullest, we should live it kingsize and others should envy” she
declared once.
**
I had to carefully step aside
and make way to a group of people, who parked their flag-wielding, tinted-glassed
top-model SUVs in the sprawling campus of the bungalow.
I heard their hasty steps
and loud conversations coming closer as they made into the drawing room….
“Madam, I told you earlier
also…we need to change our strategy this time…” a gruff male voice ringed over…
He continued….”public are
conscious now…they want some real work to be done by you, they are not to be
swayed by our antics and histrionics anymore”
The fiery Madam interrupted and
snapped out fiercely…..
”To bloody hell your janta-janardan, they are hungry, just dangle
the carrot, the hungry ones will grab it….just tell me what I need to do
now…shall I again pose with a kid in my arms wearing a white rob, tears in my
eyes, begging alms of votes from you’re the
public?? Why don’t you re-print another ten lakh posters of myself posing
with my baby in my lap??”
“Madam the same tricks….”
She rudely interrupted again
…..”look….get me a baby from somewhere, my own one is already grown up taller
than me now. Hope it’s not a big deal for you. After all, you people are here
for this purpose only…not to enjoy simple joyride in jeeps with me…haan!!!.
What do you say…..KD sahab?? When will you arrange it??? After my death??”
“O ho ho Madameji…you flare
off so often…nowadays a bit too often”… KD sahib become sardonically
polite…”what a heart-rending thing you told now…once more you do it, and I’ll
burst into tears right here…in front of you”…
It seemed he was about to
burst into laughter instead….the irony of the situation is palpable…”Madamji, our
old strategy needs to be revamped now…. you have to bring some change in your
image…the same old story will not do…some new strategy is to be framed…..you
know”
“Ah…is it?? Then let’s rain
notes in the villages. Or lets adopt the good old carrot and stick policy. Anything
else…?? Any…any other damned thing…whatever....whichever comes to your bloody
mind…..just go and do it…do it now…..”
The madam hissed ominously
and leaned forward….”look Sir-KD-ji, I can’t go and dance a mujra for your conscious and enlightened
public … …I can’t go that far…but I can easily arrange a session for one, for
all, who all matters…DM, SDM, SHO…who else?? Look, I have sacrificed a lot, have
come too far to achieve all these and am not at all willing to turn the clock back,
not at any cost. I want to live this one single life of mine kingsize… …do
whatever you need to…. …you people are rotating around me like honeybees for performing
these jobs only…”
“So Madam…” The pitbull-like
huge head of KD-ji interrupted obligingly, in a patronizing tone…” We need a
little bit of your favor…”
She snapped out again…”Ohh…so
that’s it….needn’t worry my dear Sir…I will put a blanket of notes on you…rather….I
will usher in a rain of notes….but do what I said…anything more you need
…Sir..??”
she stopped suddenly, lost
her words as she sunk deep in the cozy divan…with a sudden, unexpected sense of
vulnerability and blank gaze upwards.
Mr KD may be rough, but he
is very patient, cunning and a real veteran player of the game…he lowered his
voice and gently quizzed….”OK now…tell me Madam…what exactly YOU want us to
start with?? One color TV per impression of a finger?? Or better still, going
by the latest trend, one laptop for each family…?? Sounds too much?? What about
a pouch of white powder per finger?? Not a big deal for this place; I think so,
masses are fond of it; it’s local, you know. Or better still, one full bottle
of Black-Dog Premium – sound good this winter?? You tell Madam…..choices are
aplenty…options are there many more…but the final call is yours”
The sarcastic and sardonic
tone at the end of his every word and the sinister tone of his reply is quite chilling.
The other silent, burly figures present in
the room started feeling visibly uneasy as KD lowered his pitbull-like head
towards the madam already sunk in the couch, exhausted.
I enjoyed to the fullest this
apparently paisa-vasool drama, smiled
silently at the unfolding anti-climax, then, silently moved ahead inside the
bedroom.
Once, this was our bedroom.
Once inside, I felt elated
and started laughing my hearts out silently. None can hear me now.
I was really bemused, was thoroughly
enjoying the drama, the absorbing exchanges.
I couldn’t but admire my
dear little madam, how elegantly and effortlessly she hurls her slangs, how
snugly she manages the burly hippos around her, she is a perfect-matching diva,
who seems to be in full control of everything, even when, it actually may not
be so.
I had to admit that she
fully deserved everything she now posses, which anyhow she should not lose at
any cost now.
These were all she always
dreamt for, but could somehow never achieve earlier in her life. Now she
possesses everything.
I felt great, happy and
contented.
**
Some small events,
apparently trivial incidents go a long way in shaping up one’s life.
Though I was good at sports,
especially cricket, in which I was playing at the sub-junior tournaments, but
an untimely demise of my supportive, encouraging father forced me immediately
to bring my focus back in studies.
My mother got a job and also
my father’s pension, she worked hard to balance our middle-class family, struggled
bravely, married off my elder sister and was bold enough to dream about me for
a bright future.
My father’s death was a blessing-in-disguise
as it brought out a sincere, hard-working and intelligent student out of me.
With a focused approach, I cleared the engineering entrance, got branch of my
choice in my hometown college, and also parallelly I resumed my passion for the
game of cricket. Soon, I got selected for my college team.
My mother, after seeing me once
in my cricketing gears when I was in second year, called me near and calmly
delivered a brief discourse …”look, there’s a guy named Sachin Tendulkar who
earns billions as a cricketer, but I also know with my limited knowledge of
this game that you are just an amateur prodigy with a few days’ shelf-life, no Sachin out there…but you do have some
prospects out there in your studies in the college and..” she pointed out
towards my study-books…”there….in your studies, in your subjects, you may shine.
Your father worked lifelong as a LDC and then an UDC in an office headed by an
under-secretary or a joint secretary…they were the bosses who barked orders at
him lifelong…I want you to stay focused in your studies and be a leader, a boss
yourself one day…your father always desired that you’ll clear the prelims and
mains of any CS exams and you’ll never lead a life of a clerk taking only
orders and stenographic dictations…I have still kept all the volumes of CSR
magazines bound for you….for your reference…so please honor your father’s
wishes, study hard and don’t let me down…I want to see you one day a proud and
respected civil servant in full control of an office before my demise. Is that
clear??”
It became amply clear to me that
my willows will never earn my mother’s respect.
**
Instead, my willows did gift
me the lady-love of my life.
I met Ms Nidhi Chaudhary in our
college canteen after a sort of informal get-together to celebrate the
double-whammy of my selection for the university team for the national-level inter-university
cricket tournament as well as my clearing the prelims of state-level PSC exams.
Looking back, I feel, there
were quite a few admirers of mine in college; however, being an introvert,
focused and serious natured guy who’s strongly routed to the roots, I never
entertained any sorts of gesture, neither any subtle overtures.
But Madam Nidhi Chaudhary
was a different ball-game altogether. The only daughter of Shri Daya Shankar
Chaudhary, a prosperous real-estate-broker-cum-rising-new-entrant in the field
of education-merchandise, she had all the reasons in the world to be an
extrovert spoilt-brat coming from a well-connected, rich, ambitious family.
So when she came straight to
me at the end of the party, cornered me alone, sat close across the chair and
delivered in a deadpan manner without batting an eyelid..“You are the real hero
of my life and by the way…I love u”, I was flummoxed.
At that instant I couldn’t
really make out any difference between a pacer’s sudden bouncer in field and
her proposal. “Is this the way in which a heroine is supposed to propose a hero
in real life?” I quizzed her back.
“I don’t know, neither do I
care…” she continued to chew the chewing-gum and went on …”now don’t think that
I was waiting for this grand moment when you clear your exam and excel in
sports and I get convinced that Ohh this guy do have a bright future so let’s
take a plunge and hang up with him… …look, what I admire in you is your
tenacity, sincerity, honesty. With these three weapons, you are managing your
responsibilities, studies, sports, projects, competitions and still managing to
keep your head steady…means, what they call, you are a real man. To me, you seem to be a real man, a
real macho so to say…rest all are a pack of eunuchs who jump like a bunch of
monkeys behind my ass, smelling the filthy lucre that my dad has amassed…“
“But madam…”, I submitted
desperately…”Before you take a plunge, won’t it be prudent on your part to know
something about me, my roots, my background, from where, which pits do I
come…?? Or may I hope you already know all these beforehand??….”
“OK Sir…” She turned back
the chair and sat astride across it…”Now I think the right time to order two
cups of strong coffee as we are switching over to real discussion-mode”…
“Coffee.. I already had…” I
tried to interrupt; she waved off…..”Heard an old Kishore Kumar number…I
propose you sing that now for me…”Tu chand nagar ki shehzaadi main iss dharti
ka banjara”….
“What made you think that
I’ll start singing this for you…??”
“What else can you guy’z
do?? Have fun then back-off when the moment of decision comes?? …When I am
dreaming to unite my life with you…don’t you think I am prepared to share and
shoulder all the sweets and sours of your life with mine…??”
**
She came to me as a
bitter-sweet-sour package of brutal straight-forwardness and honesty, something
straight-at-your-face-take-it-or-like-it sort of a persona, whom I unsuccessfully
tried to brush out from my mind, finally gave up, decided to take a call, took her to my mother and introduced
her.
My mother proved to be a
perfect match for her….”I know you come from D S Chaudhary & Sons
family”…she told almost wryly…”to make a few things clear, my son will marry
his choice after clearing his CS exam and receiving his final his appintment-letter
in hand….and I expect him to honor this commitment”….
“D S Chaudhary and Sons is
the name of our business proprietary and it’s not my primary identity…Ma, my
name is Nidhi”.
**
When she left after an hour
or so, my mom turned back and asked me keeping her eyes fixed on mine…”so there
you are, absolutely sanguine about your
choice, about taking the most critical decision of your life so early, yeah??”
“Mom I am already 26, which
is not too young for marriage and as of now I think I have never made a wrong
judgement both in and out my cricket-field”
“Life is not a cricket match
and its never too late to think once more.”
**
Keeping my mother’s advice
in mind, I thought once more on my decision, and then started preparing
sincerely for the mains, the interview and other exams.
Madam Chaudhary did me a small
favor, she decided not to disturb me except for some occasional refreshing
phone calls, till I crossed this crucial period of my life.
**
Around 10 months later, we
met her father in their palatial apartment. The towering personality looked at
me and frowned…”while I like to heartily congratulate you on your final selection
in your exam, I deeply wonder what prevented you from opting for such comfortable
general branches of CS like revenue, judicial, administration, irrigation,
customs etc and select the police service out of all options for your
specialization…”
“Sir, for one reason that my
rank allowed me only the opening in police service, and for another, I always
thought that one can serve meaningfully whichever arena of life one prefers to
trudge in.”
“That’s fine..that’s really
great…and that I’ll never deny”..Chaudhary Sir nodded his big head on both
sides…”but as a would-be father-in-law, a slight negative thought about the
risks that are associated with your profession crossed my mind…after all you
will have a family also to take care of…”
“Oh daddy…”…the daughter
interrupted…”police service is after all not that rotten an option…and
moreover…” she stopped with a meaningful silence.
“I’ll be fine Sir…” I had to
interrupt politely…”and after all I do now have an entire society for whom I
shall be feeling caring and responsible for, not only for my family. Rest all like
risks etc I think is in the hand of Almighty.”
**
Around 3 years after our so-called
simple marriage followed by a grand ceremony sponsored by M/s. Chaudhary Bros
& Sons, we were posted in a semi-urbanized, crime-ridden mid-range district
town located in the midst of so-called wild-wild-west of our state.
Municipality election was
drawing near. I just attended an emergency meeting at DM’s office and was
approaching my official car when my mobile rang and I received Nidhi’s
distinctive ring-tone…
“Oh my dearie, please come down
and help me immediately….I am in deep trouble…I need your urgent help right
now..”
“Where…where are you by the
way…”..”I am right here in K Nagar..plz come immediately…”….K nagar was pretty
close-by to DM’s office…I asked the driver to rush and frantically asked Nidhi
not to worry.
The moment I neared a
reputed jewellery showroom, I located Nidhi standing just beside the road, waiting,
beaming all smiles with no signs of any worry.
Feeling a simultaneous
feeling of relief followed by a surge of anger, I somehow managed to restrain
myself, calmly got off the car and approached her…”what’s exactly the
trouble…??”
“My dear ASP Sir, without faking
a trouble, can I afford to avail of your presence within office hrs?? That’s
why I had to play a little prank on you…now plzzz..plzz come with me or shall I
pull your hand like my child going to school..?” Without waiting, she really
started pulling my index finger.
“Nidhi, please look at the
people around, they are staring at us, I am anyhow going inside or outside
wherever you want me to go.” There was hardly any option for me but to give up
to her pranks.
She pulled me inside the
jewellery showroom and made me sit in front of a sales desk where a beautifully
crafted dazzling diamond necklace was laid open in front of us.
The set also included a pair
of dazzling diamond finger-rings, one for male, one female.
I quietly stared at Nidhi, now
knowing fully well what’s coming next.
“See I like this set and
want to have it in our coming anniversary next month…and you’ll wear the male diamond
ring that day…and we’ll have a grand party at our bungalow…”
“So you selected your own
gift for your anniversary….??”…I couldn’t hide the irony in my voice.
“Sir, its our marriage
anniversary and not only your or mine alone”..she replied with a sudden curtness
that startled and made a few heads turn towards us.
“How much is the cost of the
set…?” I inquired. It’s two lakhs twenty five thousands six hundred only,
Sir”…the reply came after a few minutes of checking the data…”the rings contain
high grade solitaire Sir and that adds up to the cost…and it will be sold as a
complete set…”
I looked at the small car
outside the shop. The three-year old small hatchback that was Nidhi’s own; I
gifted this to her by taking loan in our last anniversary. If I sell this now, it
will never fetch more than one lakh. And here we are…
I also remembered that my
mother is recently diagnosed with second stage cancer and she will soon start
an injection-course of three doses. Each of these injections will cost more
than seventy thousand rupees. And she
stays separately after my marriage.
**
“Nidhi, can we take this
decision a little bit afterwards…”
“Oh sure..why not…I knew
that, it’s exactly like this that happened several times earlier”, I saw she turned
her lips and gave a disdainful shake in her cheeks…”I think let’s go out now
and will visit the shop afterwards..eh…what do you say??”
**
That night, during a quite
dinner at home, Nidhi asked me in a cold, quite manner…”around how much does an
assistant superintendent of police earns? I mean net in hand?”
The query left me stumped. Regaining
my composure, I fired back a tender little salvo…”and how much do you expect
him to earn…”
“I expected a civil servant
of this country can afford to gift her better-half an elegant piece of
jewellery on a lifetime occasion when the age and time is still left to enjoy
life.”
“I for one do not want to
splurge now and repent later. There are other ways of enjoyment and
contentment. Moreover my mother….”
“To hell with your enjoyment
and contentment…” it seemed the whole house reverberated with the roar of a
lioness…”what sort of enjoyment and contentment did you shower me with in these
3 bloody years after our marriage…?!!”
“Nidhi…the baby is
crying…hold your voice”
She continued as if she
didn’t listen…”For three bloody years I pent up, suppressed, stored up my
emotions and what do you think shall I will fall silent for right now…?? Tell
me, did we ever have a honeymoon?? A proper getaway ever?? Did you take any
leave after marriage?? Did we have a proper Sunday?? Did we ever had a quiet
dinner at a cozy restaurant?? Was there a single night when I could have you in
my arms and we could fully enjoy our conjugal life without a single phonecall
rudely interrupting us and you jumping out of the bed in the middle of night
and having a long conversation over your cell, leaving me fuming and empty,
alone, aloof in my bed…?? Did you ever realize that the golden moments of life,
once gone are never going to return?? Did you ever feel that these are the
moments for which shall we lament back in our olden days when we’ll feel that
these days will never come back…?? Did you ever feel that I hide back my
solitude, my agony through my compulsive shopaholism?? Do you also want me to
become a compulsive alcoholic??”
I listened. Then I replied.
She replied back. I hurt her. She hurt me back. That was the first day. And
that was not the only day. Not the last day. That was only the beginning. Beginning
of an end.
**
The informer’s message was
relayed to me when I was sitting in my office in late afternoon after a busy
Monday, checking a file. It left me a bit curious. I looked up to Karan Deo
Singh, the CI of the range, who came to meet me with this piece of message.
“Sir, it’s better for us to
be prepared in advance”, the alert CI responded. “It’s a splinter group of around
three to four ultras, who have sneaked in through the inter-state border.
However, they do not have any mass-base here and will need some resources to
survive for long till they leave our state and move onwards.”
“Good line of thinking”, I
applauded him….”now proceed further”
“Sir, the obvious symptoms
will be a spurt in extortion here or say a robbery there…we need to be watchful
over next few days…”
“Keep a close watch on the
two banks…tomorrow by the way is the last day of the month and they will move
cash to our security outposts for their payday…and let me be posted of any
exigencies, I will rush in”
“Sure, Sir”.
**
I was not in a hurry to go
back. My residence is all empty now. Nidhi is in her house for the last 3
months with her baby. My mother is now nestled amongst the stars in heaven
after a losing battle with her disease. There was no one waiting for me
anywhere anymore. I felt desolate. I
thought of going back to my bungalow for a while and down a few strong pegs of
scotch, then come back. Nowadays, my
thought process gets blurred unless I feel intoxicated. Or so do I feel. And
there is none to shout at me, none to whom can I shout back at, none to prevent
me, restrain me.
**
The call came next morning,
faster than I expected. I was indeed feeling pretty relaxed and in an elated
state after I had my replenishments and came to office. Karan Deo, my CI on the
other side of hotline relayed it…”the boys are located close to the bank and they
are indeed making a move”
“Good”, I muttered, “will
come over to your place very soon with my friends, do give me some cover as I
move in”; I hung up and grouped up my team fast.
We rushed out in an innocuous
hatchback in plain clothes. As we closed in near the destination, my cell
crackled again…
…”Sir…they moved in really
fast…and they are shooting towards the main entrance”
“Move and close in, hold
them up till I arrive…” I literally dived out of the car with my associates
closing in a formation as we swiftly closed along the blind allay besides the
bank which will give us a direct entrance to the main gate steps from the side
of the building.
My pulse raced as I heard
the gunshots and cries of scared populace, running helter-skelter, as a mini
gun-battle raged in front of the stares of main entrance.
I nodded to two of my ASIs
to close in and myself took a close-in position behind one of the pillars of
the main entrance, from where I could immediately locate a man in a dress quite
unfamiliar to this region wielding a sophisticated automatic in hand, sprinting
towards the main gate of the bank, the barrel of his gun still emitting smoke.
They used to call me a
hawk-eye at the academy in Hyderabad; until then, I used to maintain my
sincerity in whatever trades I learnt. Moreover, I was feeling unduly relaxed
today. There was not a bit of trembling in my as I fired my first two shots.
The man couldn’t even fathom from where and how was he hit, he just flung
across like a bird hit mid-air in his flight, his gun swirling across the
floor, and fortunately the impact of it hitting the floor did not spew out any
of the bullets loaded within. Had it
done so, it would have been a disaster.
Before I could get up and
wave a thumbs-up sign to my team-mates, I felt something hit me softly, twice,
from my backside, just below my belly, releasing a fountain of gushing warm
fluid out of my body.
Gradually, a sense of
numbness engulfed me. I staggered, feeling absolutely nothing, no force at the
lower portion of my body, no force of gravity to support me. I tumbled over
head-on, embracing the ground.
My visions started growing
hazy; still I could recognize the towering figure of my CI, Karan Deo Singh and
one SI from his team leaning over me.
“That’s really perfect Sir,
great hit, well done Sir”…, K D, as he was fondly told by his colleagues,
whispered to me…
“And yours one too…well done
K D…a good one from my behind, perfect stab in my back”…I could only mumble out
my words…
“I am really sorry Sir….it’s
all planned by madam and funded by Daya-Sahab…I had to follow them….we’re paid
by them…”
Those were the last words of
his I could hear before the world turned all grey for me.
I looked down at myself.
There, in my own pool of blood, I lay still in eternal peace. I forgave him.
I forgave all.
----
** -----
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