Serendipity

52

Can you stop by the office after school?

Anupama stared at her phone screen before locking it. She'd just come out of her class and checked her phone. Two missed calls from the Shah household and a text from Anuj. Anupama pursed her lips. She wondered what the matter could be. Anuj rarely ever made such a request.

That brought her thoughts back to the two missed calls from the Shah house landline. None of the kids, Vanraj or Kavya would use that phone. And Leela didn't have her phone number because she didn't know that Anupama possessed a phone.

"Wow", the entire family crooned looking at the new white iPhone 4 that Vanraj Shah had recently been given from work.

"This phone is so amazing." 

Vanraj continued to demo the wonderful features of the new phone. "You can call and text, check your emails, this also has a weather app that tells you the weather, and Baa, you keep asking for the new moon and full moon dates right? This phone even tells you all that."

Leela walked up to her son, circled her arms around his head, and crackled her knuckles near her temple. "May Kanhaji give you loads of success." Her happiness knew no bounds.

"Papa, I want a new phone too," Toshu, their then 15-year-old had asked. Vanraj had smiled benevolently.

"Of course, beta. As soon as you go start college, I promise, I will buy you the latest iPhone.

"And you too Baa. Next month, I promise I'll buy you a smartphone."

Watching all this excitement from afar had Anupama excited too. She walked closer and gingerly picked up Vanraj's smartphone, clasping it daintily between her fingers, afraid to drop it. 

Leela suddenly came and snatched the phone away from her hands, using the stole of her sari to wipe whatever invisible fingerprints Anupama might have left on the instrument.

"Don't even think about it. You don't need a cell phone. You only ever call your mother. You can use the landline."

As Anupama turned to go back to her room, hurt by the tone and attitude of Leela towards her, Vanraj ordered a cup of tea. Midway, she veered towards the kitchen. That's all the Shah family thought of her as - a glorified maidservant.

Anupama had only bought one, a flip phone, that too on the insistence of Dolly, only after she'd moved out of the Shah household. She needed a phone number for her job applications.

The smartphone she now held in her hands was Anuj's gift, just like the smile she now wore on her face. 

****

Is everything okay?

Anupama didn't feel like calling the Shah house, so she'd texted Samar to find out if Bapuji had tried reaching out to her.

Within minutes her phone beeped.

All good Ma. Nothing special.

She frowned at that. Someone had definitely tried calling her from the Shah house landline.

Someone tried calling me from the landline. Twice.

Samar responded with a confused emoji.

Anupama sighed. Whoever had tried to reach her, would call back. If not, she really didn't have any energy left for their incessant drama. She had moved on. And she had no space left in her life for any member from that household.

During one of her conversations with Anuj, she had opened her heart out to him about the overt reactions she often received from choice members of the Shah family and Anuj had cheekily named them the Shah Drama Company. Anupama had laughed hard but the name had stuck in her head. Now every time she thought of them, she thought of the name Anuj had given them, and she unwillingly smiled.

*****

Kavya looked at the final product. She was super pleased with it. It looked so real. No one could tell it was photoshopped.

The original photo was a New Year Party photo from three years ago, where she and Vanraj had rung the New Year in with a kiss. Both Vanraj and Kavya were on a cruise boat off the coast of Mumbai.

Clad in a deep maroon sequinned dress, Vanraj dressed in a black suit, the two looked stunning together. And so in love.

A friend had captured the moment for eternity. The photograph was one of Kavya's favorite ones until she'd laid her eyes on Anuj Kapadia.

She saw the photo she'd just received on her laptop. The graphic designer had worked cleverly. He'd superimposed Vanraj's face with Anuj Kapadia's. 

The new photo showed Anuj Kapadia and Kavya, their lips locked, looking very much in love. 

The picture was clicked right at midnight, so the background had colorful fireworks going off. 

She took a deep breath to calm her racing heart. She was about to take the biggest gamble of her life. From this point onwards, there would be no turning back. She didn't know what she would do if it all didn't work as she hoped.

A small voice in her head told her to back off. That she would fall off the cliff and die. But she shushed that voice. She had lofty ambitions, ones that were beyond the means of Vanraj Shah. Fortune favored the brave. And by doing what she'd set out to do, she was being brave.

Taking another deep breath, Kavya picked up the phone to dial a number. There was silence on her end.

"You sure?" she asked, part excited, part petrified. More silence on her part.

"All right, let me know if you need anything else from me."

Some more silence.

"I'll transfer it into your account right away."

Click. She ended the call and took another deep breath. Her palms were sweaty. She'd played her turn. Now all she could do was hope to win.