Forsaken - Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Nisha was baffled. As she waited in the lobby, she was feeling the fatigue. The long, tiresome flight from London to Mumbai, the ride in the taxi, under the humid conditions and the jet lag made her feel very edgy. Another thing that was bothering her was her father’s strange behavior. Right after stopping for lunch, he had started acting very weird. She was sure it was not a fight between Amma and him about her not going home. While in the car, she has seen many times Raju fidgeting and clearly he was under tremendous pressure, then his wanting to go to Worli to pick Paappan Achayan. She could see only one possibility. The contentious matter of her marriage. He must be planning something that will make her agree for it. Perhaps he was thinking that if Paappan Achayan compels her, she may give in.

The mere thought of marriage made her uneasy. It always did. That subject always brought unpleasant memories. The memories of Ajit. All these years, she deliberately tried to suppress any thought about him. Even after the long years, the wounds were still fresh. How many years had it been? Fourteen or fifteen? She had an inkling that her parents were aware about Ajit and related that to her reluctance to get married. But they did not know the real reason.

Wanting to shrug off these thoughts, Nisha got up from the huge sofa on which she was sitting and treaded towards the door. She was getting impatient since Raju had not turned up yet. She wanted to rest her tired body. As she approached the huge glass doors, she saw a rather peculiar scene. Her dad was still sitting in the cab with his hand resting on the shoulder of the driver. The driver was facing him and it looked like they were having an argument. As she watched, Raju got out of the car, thought for a moment, leaned into the car and said something to the driver. Then he straightened and walked towards the door.

What were they talking? Nisha wondered. She knew her father was an amiable person, but some times he had a hot temper. Perhaps the driver has asked for too much money and he must have been negotiating. Or he might be trying to persuade the driver to take him to Worli. “Oh, what the heck,” she thought, “I don’t care about all this.”

Raju’s bulky frame entered the lobby and immediately came face to face with her. He squinted his eyes to adjust his pupils to the comparatively dimmer light inside.

“Ache, let’s go to the room. I am feeling very tired.”

“Ok. Let’s go.” With that he picked up her bag, and walked towards the lift.

They got out at the 7th floor, with Raju leading the way, they turned left. The room was booked by the organizers and confirmed by Raju in the morning. He was allowed to go to the room since she explicitly made a request in her delegation form that her father would accompany her. Now they were in the suite, a moderate one, compared to the Taj standards, while luxurious compared to any other. It consisted of a small living room and a bedroom with attached bathroom and toilet. The living room had a couch and a coffee table. A TV was present in the far left corner of the room and a small, miniature fridge next to it. A telephone was present near the couch, on a small stand.

After using the restroom and freshening up, Nisha declared that she would like to sleep for an hour. It was 2:30 PM and the conference would not start in another hour and a half. She could show up as late as 4:30 PM so it gave her about an hour to catch up on lost sleep, before she took a shower and joined the introduction meeting.

Raju took a bottle of mineral water from the fridge and drank almost half of it. Then he deposited the half-empty bottle back into the fridge and was ready to leave. He explained to her about the facilities in the hotel like the intercom number list, what was the number to get room service or to get an outside line etc.

“Ok Moley. Just bolt the door. I will go and come back with Paappan Achayan.” He was raring to go.

“Ok Ache. Just come back before the conference is over” She said in a tired, sleepy voice.

“Ok. I promise,” with that he left the room.

Once left alone, Nisha had difficulty sleeping. “Was it because of the time difference or the thoughts about Ajit?,” Nisha mused while she turned and tossed in her bed, trying to stave off the thoughts that were coming back with a vengeance. After a few futile attempts to push them off, she resigned with a shrug.