Chương 7: Rani's Keepsake

The sudden boom woke Suhasini up in her bed with a jolt. The gunshot had left the air shattered and Suhasini’s ears ringing. Silence fell upon her for a few moments and then a series of gunshots boomed around her. Terrified she ran out of her room, ‘Sudha! Sudha!’, she ran down the corridor and hurriedly descended the stairs, ‘Mohan?! Sudhaaa!’, she shouted. Sudha came running and stopped at the bottom of the staircase looking at Suhasini shocked. ‘What was that sound? What is happening? Is Madhavi alright?’, asked Suhasini worried. ‘Don’t worry madam, it’s just Nihaal saheb, he is shooting quails for dinner tonight’, said Sudha as if the booming gunshots were a regular occurrence. Suhasini stood affixed.

‘I am sorry if I woke you up’, came that deep voice and Suhasini’s last night’s dream flashed before her eyes. In the center of the hall stood Nihaal looking majestic and proud with his rifle hung on one shoulder and the quails on the other. ‘Sorry?! Are you out of your mind? Who does that? Who goes hunting in the backyard?!’, snarled Suhasini as she alighted the remaining stairs. She stared at him confused, she could not understand her anger. Was it because of the frustration she felt by the dream or was she upset about the argument they had or was it simply because she was woken up by gunshots? Nihaal stood quietly, he looked at Suhasini once and quietly turned his eyes away. This made Suhasini more upset but she released that it was not anger that made Nihaal avert his eyes, it was awkwardness and she wondered why? A draught of wintery breeze brought in the answer – Suhasini shivered and looked down only to be shocked. She stood in a bright red camisole nightdress, the plunging neckline revealed that she was bare underneath. Her small breasts clinging to the camisole and the nipples shown through the dress. She looked at Sudha and understood why Sudha looked so shocked earlier.

‘Excuse me!’, was all Suhasini could utter as she hurriedly walked towards her room, saving whatever dignity she could.

*****

It was noon, Madhavi was still at school and Suhasini sat basking under the sun with a book of romantic ghazals though unable to concentrate. Sudha sat on the grass peeling ripe apples. ‘Madam, have some’, she said as she pushed the plate towards Suhasini. Preoccupied with the dream and the morning encounter she picked up a slice but couldn’t bite in. ‘Why didn’t you tell me that I was wearing almost nothing, Sudha?’ she asked shaking her head awkwardly. ‘Madam, you never gave me a chance! You blasted me with questions and then ran straight into Nihaal Saheb.’

‘Yes! That I did’, sighed Suhasini cursing herself. But the very next instant, the proud and independent Suhasini sprang up and said, ‘but what else could I have done? Who fires guns’ early morning without any warning?’

‘He usually informs us about his hunting plans at dinner, madam, but last night’, Sudha’s voice trailed off.

‘Ofcourse! Last night he couldn’t inform anyone as he screamed at that poor child and stormed off’, Suhasini said testily. ‘I just don’t get it, it was just a frock’, she muttered irked.

‘Madam, it was not just a frock’, said Sudha politely. Suhasini looked at her questioningly. ‘It is the last frock that Rani madam had stitched before her death, Nihaal saheb keeps it folded in his cupboard. I don’t know how Madhavi got it but he doesn’t let anyone touch it. It is…’

‘It is Rani’s keepsake’, Suhasini completed Sudha’s sentence. ‘But still, Sudha! It’s just a frock’, she appealed.

Sudha sadly smiled, ‘madam, you know that Rani madam succumbed to pneumonia?’, Suhasini nodded. ‘I still remember that fateful day’, Sudha continued, ‘Rani madam woke up invigorated, wanting to do everything, to make up for the lost time. But the doctor had told Nihaal saheb that this sudden energy is nothing but the surge of the dying patient and that she should be made to rest. But she didn’t want to rest instead she asked me to set up the sewing machine. She sat there for hours stitching for Madhavi and as she made the last frock, she collapsed on the sewing machine and took her last breath.’

Suhasini sat still, guilty and abashed as she realized how wrong she was.

*****

With ‘clink’ the ice cube fell in the glass, Nihaal poured his scotch and stirred the glass when there was a soft knock on the door. He sipped and said, ‘yes!’

The door slowly pushed open and Suhasini entered carrying the book of ghazals. ‘Sorry to disturb you Mr. Nihaal, I just wanted to return the book’, she said and walked to one of the large cupboards in the study and placed the book back. She turned to see Nihaal raking the fire, light that fell on his face made him look, sad, lonely and handsome. His quiet pain was caught by Suhasini as Sudha’s narration of the ‘frock story’ only made it worse. ‘I am sorry for last night, Mr. Nihaal’, said Suhasini, ‘I should not have made Madhavi wear the frock and…’

‘Don’t be!’, interrupted Nihaal, ‘you didn’t know anything and you cannot be held responsible’, he added.

‘But I know, now’, she said and saw a wave of painful memories cast over his handsome face.

‘Even if it was unknowingly, the truth is that I caused you pain,’ she added. Nihaal kept his scotch aside and started to stop her when Suhasini interrupted him, ‘please Mr. Nihaal, let me apologize! Please! I know what the pain of losing a loved one is and the reminder that they are gone is the worst. And I inflicted that worst kind of pain on you…so I am really sorry. Sorry!’, she said and quietly went out of the dimly lit study. Nihaal stood unsure for a moment and then pulled out the book Suhasini had returned. He gently ran his hand over the cover of the romantic ghazals and wondered if he saw tears in Suhasini’s eyes.

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