Prithvi... [Vol 1] (Ongoing) (Winner of Wattpad India Awards 2019)

Chapter 18

“She’s angry with you,” Prakash whispered.

Prithvi looked at his neighbour at the table. 'What are you talking about?' he asked impatiently.

Lunch was almost over and Sumer Singh had already left the table. Prithvi, Prakash and grandfather were still eating; Nandini and her mother had been serving them and would eat after the men had finished.

“I’m talking about Di. Didn’t you see how she didn’t look or smile at you at all when she was serving food? Di is never like that….never…. She gets angry very rarely. And I have not seen her so serious in a very long time. So she is really irritated about something....or with someone...' he added smugly.

“Who cares,' Prithvi snapped.

“Oh….then I don’t have to tell you.”

'Tell me what?'

'I was going to tell you about the stages in Di’s temper. But if you don’t mind her being mad at you, then that problem is solved.” And Prakash resumed his hogging of the parathas with relish.

There was a minute of painful silence.

“Since you’ve already started this ridiculous topic,” Prithvi said coolly, “I suppose it wouldn’t do any harm to know more.”

“Okay, then listen carefully,” Prakash said self-importantly. “There are three stages. The first is when you’ve said something that has only irritated her a little. Then she’ll do everything for you, but wont talk or smile at you. This only lasts for a day, and if you say you are sorry it won’t last even for an hour. The second is when you’ve said something very bad, and she feels very hurt. Then she’ll ignore you totally, and act like she doesn’t know you are in the house. But that also doesn’t last for more than 2 days, and one ‘sorry’ can melt her heart immediately. The third stage,” he dropped his voice dramatically, “is the worst. In this stage, she is both angry and upset. And she won’t talk for many weeks….and even saying sorry won’t help much. You are lucky this is the first stage and she is only little irritated with you, not actually angry.”

“Does she completely stop talking in the third stage?”
.
Prakash nodded.

“Then I’ll try for that stage next time,” Prithvi said enthusiastically.

“You may think that’s what you want,” Prakash said wisely. “But if she really stops talking to you and ignores you, it’s horrible,” he shuddered.

“I doubt that,” Prithvi answered confidently.

**********************

Grandfather sauntered into the living room with a gleam in his eyes and walked over to the chairs where Sumer Singh and Prithvi were deep in conversation. They looked up when he reached them.

He proudly held out two red threads. “I don’t know how I forgot to give you both my holy threads before. But Prithvi’s accident was a reminder that no one should be bereft of the protection of these talismans. So now you both must tie the thread around your wrist and no evil will cast a shadow upon you ever again.”

Prakash was bouncing a ball around the room and rolled his eyes at his grandfather’s words.

Nandini, who was clearing the table, saw Sumer Singh respectfully taking a thread, and grandpa happily tying it around his wrist. Then Sumer Singh rose to his feet. “I’ll just go and get Prithvi’s laptop and books from Ayodhya.”

Prithvi also got to his feet painfully and began to limp towards his room.

“I have a thread for you also, Prithvi,” grandpa beamed and then saw that a thread already encircled his wrist.

“Oh! You already have one,” grandpa said in a downhearted tone.

“That is also one of your threads, grandpa,” Nandini smiled.  

“Really! That’s a very good thing,” grandpa perked up noticeably. “These threads have great power.”

“Yes…. I am proof of how effective your thread is,” Prithvi said dryly.

The sarcasm in his tone – hinting at his accident - wasn’t lost on grandpa, who frowned. “Are you making fun of me, boy?”

“No, grandpa,” Nandini intervened hurriedly, glaring at Prithvi. How could he talk to her grandfather like that. “What he meant was that he survived the accident because of your blessing.”

“Is that what it sounded like?” Prithvi asked sardonically, “That certainly was not what I was trying to say.”

Nandini stared in dismay at the unfolding scene, Prakash stopped bouncing the ball and looked at Prithvi with rising respect, and Grandpa bristled.

“Do you know how many ghosts I have banished to the netherworld? Why, it was just a month ago that a family came to me, asking for my intervention to save them from a malignant spirit and I -”

“And you chanted some mantra and the ghost begged for mercy and you captured it in a bottle and buried it and the family was eternally grateful to you,” Prithvi completed the sentence in a bored tone.

“How did you know this?” grandpa exclaimed in delight. “Has my fame spread so far and wide?”

“Not exactly. That’s the word-to-word ending of all the stories you told us the day we landed here.”

Prakash burst out laughing and resumed his play.

Nandini couldn’t watch anymore, and glowering at an unapologetic Prithvi and her impudent brother, she hurried her spluttering grandfather into the kitchen and quickly ladled some kheer into a bowl and gave it to him to placate him.

She then whispered what had happened to Sarojini, who had bemusedly watched her daughter trying to mollify her grandfather.

Two more bowls later, he was appeased and Nandini left the kitchen to continue clearing up the table.

“That boy!” grandpa said grimly, and Sarojini tensed up, wondering if he was still upset.
“I still can’t understand why I feel there is something familiar but mysterious about him,” he continued, and Sarojini breathed a sigh of relief, “especially the way he speaks and walks. Rajesh had said they belong to an old and well-known family. Did I know someone in his family?”

“He is just an ordinary boy, father. A little reserved by nature, but I am sure there isn’t anything mysterious about him or his family.”

“Ordinary! hmph!”  Grandfather snorted. “That boy is as much ordinary as I am an underworld don.”

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Sumer Singh walked into the room with a laptop and some books in hand, drawing the attention of Prithvi who had sitting up in bed, looking out the window idly.  

“Here. Now you have everything you wanted, my lord,” he smiled, keeping the laptop carefully on the table and the books on the stand near the bed.

“You’ve made all the arrangements with the doctor, haven’t you? About the payments….”

“Everything has been settled. And as per your instructions, I managed to convince Bhoothnathji that through our connections with the trustees of the hospital, treatments for you and Nandini were almost free. And I paid Nandini’s hospitalisation bills along with yours.”

Prithvi nodded curtly.

“It wouldn’t do you any harm to show some of that concern in your behaviour too,” Sumer Singh said dryly.

“I wasn’t showing concern for anyone or doing anyone any favour,” Prithvi retorted. “She would not have had to go through anything if it hadn’t been for us. So it’s only fair that we pay for the treatment. Has your car come?”

“It will be here any minute. Have they been calling you up again?” he frowned.

“No, they haven’t called since yesterday.”

“Good. I think I should be back in 6-7 days, or even less.”

“I hope so. I can’t imagine spending one week in this place.”

“Sumer uncle, the car has come.”

The men turned to see Nandini at the door, and her stiff tone, and the determined way she was looking only at the elderly man made it clear that she had heard the last part of the conversation.

“Thanks, Nandini. And just a minute,” Sumer Singh said when she began to turn away.

He took two pieces of paper from his pocket, walked over to the door and handed it over to her.

“What is this, uncle,” she asked, puzzled.

“It’s a list of his medicines and the schedule of when he must take which medicine. He isn’t careless that way, but I’d just like to know that you are also keeping a watch….”

“I think you are mistaking my habits with your, Baba,” Prithvi said frostily. “I don’t need some nurse to tell me when I should be taking my tablets. So you can take that list back.”

“Yes, your nephew is very responsible towards his health,” Nandini said frostily, still talking only to Sumer Singh. “Which is why he doesn’t sit in one place and struts around like he doesn’t have a fracture and other serious injuries.”

“It’s only a hair-line fracture,” Prithvi responded brusquely, also not looking at her. “And I don’t need anyone’s permission to do what I want to, Baba.”

“Your nephew doesn’t need anyone’s permission to walk over other people’s feelings too, I suppose.”

“It isn’t my fault, Baba, that there are overly sensitive people around me who are only waiting for a reason to shed artificial tears.”

Nandini started to give an angry rejoinder when Sumer Singh said in a thoughtful tone, “I’m still in this room, but why do I feel I might as well have been on another planet and you both still wouldn’t have noticed my absence.”

When Nandini had left, incoherently saying something about getting his packed tiffin from the kitchen, and Prithvi had picked up a book and seemed to have found something extremely interesting in it, Sumer Singh came out into the empty living room and finally chuckled in peace.  

It had been one of Adityaraj’s staunchest beliefs that something good lay in every misfortune.

“How right you were, Your Majesty,” Sumer Singh admitted with a smile.


********************



After watering the front yard, Nandini kept the watering can in one corner of the kitchen, and went into the bathroom and picked up the long pipe that was lying coiled up on the top of a huge drum. She walked out into the backyard with it, connected it to a tap attached to the wall and began to water the plants. The yard was too big to be watered with the can, and even with the hose it would take her a long time to complete the task considering the sheer size of the place. But that was all to the good as far as she was concerned. The whole day so far had been extremely unsettling, she thought with a sigh. She sorely needed the peace and quiet, and was fervently hoping to have a restful and ordinary evening.

If only Nishi and Vrinda had been coming...it would have been such a relief to just talk to her friends. But some family friends had unexpectedly landed up at Vrinda’s house and she wouldn’t hear of Nishi meeting Nandini without her. So their plan had been postponed to tomorrow, much to Nishi’s irritation.

Sumer Singh had left an hour ago. Just before he had gotten into the car, he had looked at Prithvi, who of course had insisted on seeing him off despite everyone’s protests, and then at her. It had been a peculiar gaze, almost as though he were asking her to do something….asking her to take care of Prithvi. Not knowing what else to do, she had nodded slightly in reply, although the idea of her taking care of that….that mean boy…was almost funny.

She had gone a little into the huge yard, when she realised that she was not alone. There was an intruder in her little piece of heaven….the last person she had expected to see here.

Prithvi was a little way ahead, walking at a slow pace among the flowering bushes and trees. What else would he be doing, she thought crossly; after all, resting for some time was below his dignity….

She began to water the plants, finding their familiar presence and friendship very comforting after an exceedingly disturbing day. Nandini moved through the foliage, the evening sun’s warm rays giving a irresistible, golden hue to her creamy complexion, and playing with the long, luxuriant hair that tumbled down below her waist, making them glimmer and shine. Immersed in the beauty of the nature around her, and the heady fragrances being emitted by the flowers that were in joyful abundance, she was completely unaware of her own intoxicating loveliness amongst the blooming flora.

Nandini wanted to talk to her plant friends, but she couldn’t do it when someone else was around. She furtively looked around the garden and saw that Prithvi was some distance away. He wouldn’t be able to hear her, and she would surely know if he came close enough to listen to her conversation.

 “The doctor has told him to rest as much as possible,” she whispered to a bunch of jasmine plants. “But he will not sit in a place for an hour. Because that would mean he is human like everyone else. And he thinks he is a superhero, who doesn’t need to take care of his health at all. Let him do as he wishes…..as if I care. And it is time for him to take one of his tablets. But dare anyone tell him. but what do I care….and do you know what he told me today morning,” she hissed to another plant, getting more agitated, “he told me I should make Suvek my…..no, I cant even tell you what he said….it was that awful. And he was discourteous to grandpa too….He’s the meanest person I know…that’s what he is….mean through and through….mean, arrogant, heartless….”

“Are you talking to yourself?” a bemused voice asked, interrupting her furious monologue to her friends.

Nandini jumped and turned around and saw Prithvi standing some feet away, looking at her very suspiciously as though her answer would verify what he had known about her sanity level all along.

Flustered, she tried to maintain a dignified stance.

“Talking to myself…of course not,” she said haughtily. And that was true….she wasn’t talking to herself….she had been talking to the plants….though there was no need to tell him that….
 
“And even if I am talking to myself, you should be happy about it. At least I’m not talking to you,” she added resentfully and turned to her plants.

“Yes…there is that bright spot,” he agreed, grinning.

For some reason, Nandini sensed that he was ridiculing her again. But when she spun around angrily, he was looking at her with a very serious expression.

“Don’t let me interrupt your walk then,” she said rigidly, turning back to continue with her job, “but I would be grateful if you remember that it is time for you to take one of the tablets.”

“I -”

“I know what you want to say,” she forestalled him curtly. “It’s none of my business and I shouldn’t be telling you what to do. But I’m only reminding you because Sumer uncle asked me to.”

“Actually I was just going to say that…today morning, maybe…I shouldn’t have said….”

With the pipe still spraying water over the plants, Nandini gradually swung around to face him, both disbelief and hope filling her heart. Was he saying what she thought he did….was he actually apologizing for what he had said about her and Suvek….

“The tea wasn’t as bad I had thought,” he completed smoothly, leaving her feeling confounded and wrong footed again.

“You were talking about the tea?” she asked, aghast.

“What else did you think I was talking about?” he asked callously. “I don’t think I said anything else today morning that I shouldn’t have.”

So he didn’t think he had said anything far more worse ….

Fuming, Nandini stormed past him and walked further into the interiors of the yard, to a place almost surrounded by a cluster of trees.

Prithvi grinned and limped towards where she was watering the trees and the plants with a vengeance. He made his way to an ancient looking mango tree and stood leaning against it.

“How did you hurt your leg?” he asked suddenly.

Astonished by both - the totally unexpected question and the fact that he had come to talk to her, but not willing to look at him incase he was only making fun of her again, she glanced at him from the corner of her eye. He was standing under her favourite tree, gazing with great interest at some plants that lined the wall of the backyard.

“Was it when…you were pushed?” he asked hesitantly, still examining the plants.

Why was he showing concern when she wanted to be irritated with him….this wasn’t fair at all….but already she felt herself softening against her will.

“You were trying to save my life,” she said softly, staring at the roses, “so please don’t feel guilty about it.”

“Guilty?” he snorted, “why the hell should I feel guilty. If anything this should serve as a lesson to you.”

“A lesson….to me…?” she asked falteringly, twisting around.

“It should teach you not to stick your nose into matters that don’t concern you,” he said coolly.

Nandini looked at him speechlessly. Every time she thought she was becoming habituated to his hurtful words, he proved her wrong. She swung and returned her attention to her plants.

“I’ve learnt my lesson well. I won’t trouble you with my company from now on,” she said quietly.

“Is that a promise? Can you give me that in writing?”

For Nandini, who had been bottling up the resentment and hurt at his insensitivity since morning, that was the final straw; her control snapped. She spun around with her eyes sparkling with furious tears.

“You were right about me. I really am very stupid,” she said in swift anger, indignant colour flooding her cheeks.  “Why else would have I been trying so hard. I don’t know why I bother when I know….. But don’t worry; I won’t from now on, so you can do as you please.”

She flung down the pipe and started to return to the house, all limits of endurance having been crossed. But she had hardly made her way past him, when inflexible fingers snapped around her hand, foiling her attempt to walk away.

Prithvi had listened to her silently, his initial surprise at her outburst turning to unconcealed amusement. And now, without budging from his position against the tree, he pulled her around to face him and studied her with interest.

Too annoyed and distressed to even feel shocked at his action, Nandini glowered at him. She had vented her ire, so she assumed he didn’t want her to leave without insulting her in turn.

 “Leave my hand,” Nandini said stiffly and waited defiantly for him to release her hand and for his mandatory nasty retaliation.

But she continued to wait and neither of the two things happened….

“You know you should get angry more often,” he said slowly, “it suits you a lot more than that ‘poor-innocent’ act of yours.”

She could definitely see the glint of humour in his eyes. So he was entertaining himself at her expense, Nandini thought bitterly.

“Let go of my hand,” she repeated in a choked voice, feeling her throat clog with frustrated tears but resolutely holding them back.

But he still didn’t loosen his hold, and the amusement in his visage slowly faded away, to be replaced with some other unnamed emotion. Nandini felt her exasperation ebb away at his puzzling assessment, and then, all of a sudden, she felt a little panicky. And the silence and the solitude of the backyard that she had always found very pleasant and relaxing, now felt dangerous somehow….Why was he looking at her like that, she wondered nervously….

As she watched in a mixture of confusion and uncertainty, Prithvi’s eyes darkened mysteriously as it gazed at her extraordinarily beautiful face, which was aglow with the blush caused by anger and the red rays of the setting sun that shone through the branches of the tree, and her flashing huge, black eyes.

With his fingers still curled around her soft hand, Prithvi took a silent step towards her.  When she started to back away in bewildered fear, his other hand came up speedily and threaded itself smoothly into her silken hair, effectively holding her in place.

Feeling strangely weak and vulnerable, Nandini struggled to think….to say something to protest, but she seemed to have lost the ability to speak or reason. The colours of the scarlet roses around her found their way to her flawless ivory complexion, and she simply stared at him, wide-eyed and astounded, her heart pounding deafeningly, as he stepped even closer. In a futile attempt to break the mesmerising hold of his gaze on her, she forced herself to lower her eyes. But then his hand withdrew from her fragrant hair, and his fingers pushed up her chin, mercilessly compelling her to meet his steady gaze.

There wasn’t even the gap of an inch between them now…..

His eyes dropped to her lips. Nandini helplessly squeezed her eyes shut in desperation, as his dark head bent slowly….

“Nandini, have you lit the lamp for the tulsi,” her grandfather’s voice came loudly out of the house.

Shocked into sudden and terrible awareness, Nandini snapped opened her eyes, horror-struck….

As astounded as her, Prithvi stopped with his lips barely a breath away from hers.

He straightened and stepped back instantly with colour searing his cheekbones, looking just as dazed and stunned by what he had been about to do. His hands immediately dropped to his sides, freeing her.

With a jerky movement, a trembling Nandini backed away fearfully. Before she gave into the ridiculous urge to cry, she turned around unsteadily and fled into the safety and comfort of her home.

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