VEDIC VOWS - BOOK 1 THE MOHINI

Chapter - 3 THE TRIP [PART2]

I went on hunger strike which lasted Two days at the end of which resulted in the appearance of my father. Father is an Indian Foreign Service officer and generally shuttled around the world; at present he was posted in Rwanda. Apparently moksha had called in an SOS after I had eloquently poured my just want of freedom in to her ever sympathetic ears and the action I had taken, to solve this standoff. True, I could have called him myself but that would not be so effective a dramatization.

The living room was fraught with tension; my father looking at my emaciated form was angry that my mother had let it this far and my mother that it had come to this.

It was my father who spoke first, “Now, that we are here, I think you should break your fast and put an end to your childishness.”

I was amused at the naivety; I slowly shook my head, “Unlike you think, this wasn’t needed at all. I did this to show how childish both your behavior is; I said including my mother. I am a woman as you both keep forgetting; my fighting for your permission shows how much I respect you, likewise you not permitting shows how little you trust me.  I am going to cut the chase, and tell you what I want; I know about my grandmother’s inheritance of about Two Hundred and Fifty crores** which had more than doubled in the span of Twenty years. I think I should have been informed earlier and as for Mr. shasthri, you are welcome to view the proofs of his activities. Don’t worry I have rectified the situation and ensured the entire employee’s loyalty to me. So, now the point is whether you treat me as an adult or should I be setting up my own house?”

Believe me, it generally gives one great pleasure when you have everyone where you want them and watch them squirm under guilt; as I watched them with satisfaction and waited for them to run true to form.

It was my dad who spoke first, “well, I would say my kitten has grown claws;”  “mmmhhh he said rummaging around his file; here it is, your ticket; the flight is at 8:00 P.M, I have already spoken to Raghu, Rupa’s father and Deepthi’s father Sanjay. Deepthi’s flight is at 11:00 A.M tomorrow and hence I have made arrangement with my colleague Guru who will be collecting you and drop you in Rupa’s house, the day after.”

“Bon voyage! Remember life is just not black and white; its shades of grey, perhaps you can judge our actions unbiased one day and find that our intentions were good. As actions speak louder than words we had already decided to send you and made everything ready.” “Good night angel; Come shanthi.” he said to my mother.

“You go ahead karthick, I will join you soon;” said my mother. Then she turned to me and said. “You might think that I had no interest in your inheritance, on the contrary, it is in your interest I hired Mr. shasthri. I hired him solely to keep the legal and admin team away. There is something wrong with legal team. Their group is not listed and partners unknown to anyone. Certain cases of that group are handled by outsiders who go back once the case is over. Once when I tried to approach such a lawyer, I could see only fear in his eyes. Even in your firm there is no permanent lawyer for more than a week. Don’t trust Rajnath, he has been backed by the legal team that means he is compromised. Watch well before you do anything.” And she left.

I was not stupid enough to disregard my mother and decided to look in to it after my trip; as a precaution I had already willed my wealth to be in a trust, with my parents to continue as guardians and moksha as a trustee. The next day I flew to Indore.

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This chapter was solely for showing the mettle of vedha and her family life. 

Moksh* – heaven [denoting male gender in case of names]

Moksha - heaven [female gender]

To try finding the sex of the baby before it is born is a criminal act in India.

This act was instated to stop innumerable female foeticides [selective abortion of female foetus].

Crores** - Indian system of counting, 10 crores make 1billion   1, 00, 00, 000 = 1 crore. We count in two’s after thousand.

BBC – here it does mean British Broadcasting Corporation, used as a simile to highlight the gossiping and up to date info collecting abilities of moksha.

All Women Police Station: First introduced in India in Tamilnadu by the Chief Minister Dr. Jayalalitha, to combat various harassments’ against women especially dowry which led to killing of many daughter in laws and consequent remarriage of the grooms this was a vicious cycle, sexual abuse, rape, eve teasing, violence against women, spousal abuse, etc. this police station is filled with lady police officers only and hence women found themselves able to express freely and not be judged unfairly by a biased male. This brought down crime against women considerably, especially the dowry harassment.

 Dowry: is like price paid by the bride’s family to the groom’s family to marry their daughter. It includes gold, hard cash, vehicle for the groom, land, etc. and it does not stop there; any festivities the bride’s family has to give money and gold ornaments and all this does not ensure that their daughter is treated well.