Prithvi stared in a quiet disbelief at the old man. He didn't realise for a few seconds that the car had stopped moving, and it was standing still by the roadside. He had parked it unthinkingly in the past few moments.
It was strange to see the old man again after all these years. And it was odd that this time too Nandini was with him.
But it wasn't odd that he was perturbed by this, Prithvi reasoned distractedly. The last time he'd encountered the man, an incident with aspects that his logical mind still struggled angrily to understand, it had heralded the start of a time that easily eclipsed the horrors of his childhood..
His clouded gaze shifted to his left instinctively.
He could see the dampness glistening on Nandini's cheeks as she gazed in shock at the man. The turbulence he was feeling was instantly shoved aside by a sharp concern..
***********************
Shaken, Nandini removed her seat belt and tried to open the door unsuccessfully, with no thought but to reach the sage. Then she heard the sound of the door being unlocked.
She opened it swiftly and then got down from the vehicle and ran towards the elderly man. He had crossed to the other side by now, and was walking much faster, as if he wished to evade her, and she felt afraid that he would go out of sight any second.
As she watched him enter the woods, Nandini quickened her pace in desperation. But she halted abruptly as soon as she entered the shade of big, sprawling branches.
The old man was standing between two tall, large trees several yards away.
There was a sweet smile on his wrinkled face, as though he'd been waiting for her to show up.
Her tears had been flowing unceasingly, but now they stopped as if on command. But then a sudden fear arose out of the blue, making her freeze uncertainly.
Unaware of her shivering breaths, Nandini looked at the saint as memories of the last two times she had seen the saint played in front of her eyes.
All the words he had spoken to her resounded in her ears, just as they had done persistently in the past five years. The gentle advices and warnings that she had wilfully disregarded, and continued to disrespect. And the sadness on his face when she'd last seen him...
What would she tell him...how would she explain why she'd not only disregarded everything he had said but had also done the very opposite of what he had requested of her? In spite of knowing it was the cruellest thing to do...
The mystic raised a hand and summoned her with the same gesture that she would have used to beckon a little child closer.
All of a sudden, Nandini sensed with an unflinching certainty that he could see the harsh thoughts and anguish that were plaguing her...and the guilt that had been killing her slowly since years. And that he also knew something she could not still acknowledge even to herself - that sometimes, in the darkest hours of the night, she would be overcome by a cold, frightening certainty that she had made a terrible, unforgivable mistake...
The saint knew everything...all of the ugliness...and yet, all she could feel from him now was pure compassion and affection.
Sorrow evaporated from her heart and spirit for the moment, and she began to walk towards him hurriedly.
She halted before him with folded hands and then touched his feet.
The old man kept a loving hand on her head in blessing and murmured, "No grief, no guilt. Be happy."
Startled by the blessing, Nandini straightened and looked at him timidly.
He gently repeated, "No grief, no guilt. Be happy." Then he looked at something over her head and smiled.
Sensing instantly whom he was looking at, Nandini spun around quickly.
Prithvi was standing at some distance behind her, arms crossed.
He looked stonily at the scruffy man. The confusion he was feeling was strongly mixed with an old anger that wanted to roughly question the man to find out how he'd known the things he had...and why he had kept silent about it for years.
But he knew without a doubt that, no matter how hard he tried, he would not get the rational and sensible answers he wanted. And any explanation that hinged even remotely on supernatural bullshit would only serve to infuriate him further...
*****************
As her eyes softened, Nandini felt a soft elation that he had followed her, though she was a little alarmed by the look on his visage, and then she also experienced a new twinge of remorse.
She'd been so engrossed in dealing with her own turmoil so far that she'd not thought about how this would be affecting Prithvi too.
He didn't know the things the saint had told her, Nandini reflected with a piercing guilt, and she would probably never be able to share it with him. However, he had his own reasons for feeling unsettled, she recalled with a deep distress. But he too would feel better if he just spoke to the saint once...she was sure of it. But he wouldn't do it...she was sure of that too.
Still, despite knowing what his response would be, she couldn't restrain herself from requesting him to approach the saint, even if it was to just stand in the auspicious presence for a moment.
However, she had barely started to speak when Prithvi looked at her irately, and she saw the answer to her request in the forbidding obstinacy on his features.
Prithvi shifted his hard gaze to the old man again.
It was hard enough for him to stand here and witness Nandini's devotion and reverence that he wouldn't be able to understand in a hundred years. There was no question of him going even one step forward. And that was the best thing for Nandini as well. He would definitely not be respectful if he had to interact with the man or could even hear him speak, and that was bound to hurt her...which was something that had unfortunately become more intolerable to him than anything he had to endure himself...
Nandini looked hastily at the saint, wanting to apologise for Prithvi's behaviour.
But the elderly man only smiled warmly at him and then at her. "My blessings are with both of you always," he told Nandini compassionately.
An uncomfortable colour spread on her face. Had he thought they had come together again? Was that why he was being so kind and affectionate? After all, based on all the experiences she'd had with him in the past, it was clear that he was deeply loving and protective towards Prithvi.
Keeping her voice to a whisper, Nandini fumblingly said, "Baba, we're...not-
"Nothing is in your hands now," he said calmly, a mysterious light in his eyes. "Everything is as it has to be...and everything will be as it needs to be."
Befuddled and disconcerted, Nandini stared at him. She couldn't understand what he'd meant by that, but on the positive side, it appeared that he knew what the situation was. She didn't need to tell him. But what had he meant by those words...
"Alright, I must continue on my way now," the man continued kindly, starting to turn.
Nandini realised with a jolt that she had not offered him anything, and simultaneously became aware that she was holding her bag. She hadn't realised she had carried it while racing from the car.
"Wait, baba," she said quickly while opening her bag.
"No money," the man said. "Do you have any rock sugar?"
"Rock sugar?" Nandini said, bewildered. She didn't have any rock sugar. But...wait...she did...she did have it, she remembered in shock. She had received it at the temple earlier.
Feeling muddled but curiously elated, she looked through her bag and found the small leaf packet, and reverently offered the whole thing to him.
The man smiled and opened the leaf and picked two small pieces of rock sugar. He gave them to her, and then wrapped up the leaf again and kept it in his bag.
Nandini looked in joy at the sacred prasad. She would give both to Prithvi. But what if he refused to have it...
"That boy will accept poison if it is offered by you," the saint murmured.
He lifted a hand in benediction, then turned and rapidly walked off deeper into the forest.
Taken aback, Nandini looked at the frail form that was moving away at a startlingly swift pace. Had she heard correctly...
After a few seconds, she turned to Prithvi. He was gazing at the saint with a creased brow.
*********************
Prithvi looked at her as she walked towards him, and he felt a slight astonishment as well as a powerful relief.
She'd been so upset and subdued since morning...and when she'd halted on her way a short while ago, she'd seemed so fragile and vulnerable that it had strained his willpower severely to not move ahead and hold her. He'd managed to restrain the impulse only because of a queerly strong inner sense that she needed the space...
But the unexpected meeting with the fellow had clearly helped her. It looked as though most of the shadows that had clouded her face since morning had been wiped away. He felt his own spirits lift on seeing the lightness on her beautiful features and a new peace in the expressive eyes.
With a slight hesitation, Nandini gently asked him, "Are you okay?"
Prithvi's annoyance spiked up a bit too sharply at the question. "I'm fine, thanks," he said briefly.
Nandini withheld a urge to coax him into talking to her. She knew he wasn't really fine but she also knew he wasn't going to share it with her of all people. But maybe he would feel better once he had the prasad, she thought hopefully.
She offered him both the pieces of rock sugar. "He gave these. I know you don't believe...but don't refuse this, please," she requested softly.
Prithvi hesitated, then overcoming an intense unwillingness, he took the smaller piece with an irritated air.
"You need to have the other one," he said grouchily before eating it. "If it's poisoned, I'm going to need some company in the afterlife."
Lips twitching with suppressed laughter and a limitless love in her eyes, Nandini took the other piece and ate it happily as they started to walk back to the car, but at a very leisurely pace.
Nandini looked behind her and tentatively asked, "Will he be okay travelling through this place? Are these woods safe?"
"The woods? Didn't you notice his speed?" Prithvi asked with raised brows. "He must be halfway across China by now."
"I'm serious," she laughed.
"He'll be fine," Prithvi said dismissively. "The scariest thing that could happen is that a peacock might break into a violent dance in front of him."
Nandini's face lit up, and she looked around eagerly. "There are peacocks here? I've never seen one in real yet," she said ruefully.
"They make up over 70% of the population of this region," Prithvi commented solemnly. "Rumours say they are planning a coup to take over the local government."
As she laughed, he casually added, "They are all over the place in Taravan."
"Really? It must look beautiful," she said with a faint wistfulness.
He looked at her gently but didn't say anything.
Both unconsciously reduced their pace even more as they neared the road, slowed by the burden of a depressing awareness that the outing had already gone on for some time, and it would soon be time for him to take her back to the Garewal house.
Struggling not to think of the moment when she would again be parted from him, Nandini looked around her with determined focus.
It was a lovely place overall. The beautiful trees with leaves of varied colours and the foliage that was abundant with brilliantly coloured flowers. And something else too...the sound of gushing waters...
She paused on the way to the car and asked him, "There's a stream nearby?"
Prithvi halted and quickly said, "Yes. We'll need to drive further ahead if you want to go right up to the stream. But if we cross to the other side and walk for a while, I think there's a point from which you can watch it from above."
"Can we go that side then?" she asked unsurely. "But it's okay if you can't...if you have to go back soon."
Prithvi gave a nonchalant shrug. "It's not a problem. I'm done with my work for the day," he lied unashamedly.
His answer would have been the same if she'd asked him if he had the time to dig up all the trees in the area to look for treasure. Also, it was very pleasant to imagine his germ-like assistant having an apoplectic fit on hearing those words...
Pleased and thrilled, Nandini cheerfully said, "Okay, let me just keep my bag in the car."
Once that was done, she closed the door of the vehicle and hurried back to Prithvi, feeling euphoric and shy and excited.
As they crossed the road, she almost entwined her arm around his, but thankfully caught herself just in time.
Alarmed by her impulses, she tightly interlinked her fingers behind her back, releasing them only momentarily to give her right forearm a harsh pinch as punishment for being reckless.
The fleeting rollercoaster drama with the violent and disappointing finale didn't go unseen by her companion. But the frustration in the gaze he shot at her was tinged with amused laughter and tenderness.
Prithvi kept an outwardly casual gaze on her steps and the area around them as they strolled slowly into the midst of the widely spaced trees. He'd meant what he'd told her earlier about the woods being safe, but the presence of snakes couldn't be ruled out fully.
Nandini strove hard to keep a silly smile from her face, but it was difficult since her heart was spilling with immense gratitude and joy for this unexpected treasure of an evening.
She'd been happy while leaving the Garewal house, but the emotional weight of the day's events had still lingered on her heart. But now she was happier than she remembered feeling in a very long time. It seemed impossible that just shortly ago she'd been in tears, reeling under the joint assault of memories, guilt and pain.
And though it was only a feeling, she could already feel a tangible improvement in Prithvi's mood from the time she'd seen him looking at the retreating figure of the saint. And she believed in her heart that the blessings and grace of the old saint would flow to him whether he wanted it or not. There was an old, powerful bond between them. It could have been because of Prithvi's father, she reflected. Her grandfather had told her of many such instances, of how a divine master's protection and care flowed to generations of a devotee's family...
They walked without speaking for a while.
The silence was soothing at first, but soon, smoky wisps of a quiet, aching restlessness began to seep into it, manifesting as the strain of ensuring that they didn't walk too close together...of being careful that their fingers didn't graze against each other...
Nandini was unsure if she was imagining the tension but she felt a feverish need to break it nevertheless. She didn't have to think much for a topic. There was something she had planned to ask Prithvi from the start.
"How's Rajeshwari?" she muttered, and felt a sudden alarm when he looked at her with knowing laughter in his eyes.
But he politely answered, "Very unhappy and trying to hide it. If you happen to talk to her anytime, and she tells you anything - worrying, it would help if you let me know," he said briefly. "I don't need the details. Just an indication will do. Or you could tell Disha. She will convey it to me if she believes it's necessary."
"I'll keep that in mind," Nandini muttered. "Has she spoken to you about what happened that day?"
He shook his head. "No, and I don't expect her to."
"You could ask her..." Nandini suggested tentatively.
Prithvi looked at her tetchily. "I'm supposed to ask Rai about her experience of planning to meet someone she liked in a hotel. And my mother finding out about that and traumatising her. Yeah, that sounds like a beautiful conversation to have with my sister."
"You can at least ask her if she likes someone," Nandini said exasperatedly.
He looked at her with a frown, disgusted by the very thought. "Look, I understand that it is considered unnatural in your picture-perfect family to keep secrets. But it's literally a tradition in mine."
"I don't have a picture-perfect family," Nandini said quietly, looking away. "No one does."
Prithvi looked at her sharply, but didn't respond. Then he paused and looked back at the foot of a tree that they had just passed. He walked to it, and gazed at the thing that had caught his attention.
Half concealed under dried leaves was a small blue egg with brown spots. He looked up and saw the nest in the branches above.
Hearing a sound, he glanced down to see Nandini kneeling gingerly before the egg.
Prithvi watched with amusement as she gently moved the egg with a finger to turn it over, clearly prepared to jump back if she saw any sign of cracks.
Apparently convinced that the egg's inhabitant was fine, she picked it up very carefully and rose to her feet while holding it snugly between her palms.
"We should put it back," she said worriedly, looking up at the nest.
"Not a good idea," Prithvi retorted. "It's possible the mother pushed it out because she sensed there was something wrong with it. She'll do it again if she finds it back in the nest."
Aghast, Nandini looked at the cute little egg. She couldn't leave it lying here...
"What if something else made it fall?" she argued stoutly. "Maybe it fell out because of...because of the wind or something."
"Or maybe it jumped out to escape its family, and it has my sympathies if that's the case," Prithvi rejoined under his breath. "Anyway, nature takes care of its own. And it probably wants a poor snake or rat to have a healthy meal today," he said thoughtfully.
"What? No!" Nandini said angrily, horrified. "We have to put it back!"
"Alright, fine, if you feel that strongly about it," he said mollifyingly.
She felt greatly relieved until he smoothly gestured to the long dupatta that was neatly draped over her right shoulder and said, "But you shouldn't climb up with that."
"Me?" she squealed, flabbergasted.
"Yes, you," Prithvi confirmed benevolently, and pointed to the dupatta again. "You can give that to me. I'll hold it for you until you're back on the ground," he offered chivalrously.
"Prithvi, I haven't climbed a tree since I was a child," she yelped with a panicky laugh. She was about ninety-nine percent sure that he was only pulling her leg. But that one percent...
"And it's a part of my daily morning routine, is it?" he asked tetchily.
"But you -" she started to say, and then shut up while blushing and turning to the tree again.
"Oh wait, I understand why you thought I would do this," Prithvi said sardonically, causing her to swivel to look at him hesitantly.
"Last time, it's possible I had some long-term rewards in mind when I climbed that tree in Shamli," he said solemnly. "But since those rewards don't seem to be in the picture anymore, I no longer have any reasons to risk my life to make you happy."
Anger and mortification deepened the colour on her cheeks. She snappily said, "Fine, don't do anything. I'll find a way to put it back."
"Okay, okay," he sighed exaggeratedly in defeat. "I'll put it back, but has it occurred to you that you could be destroying a marriage by insisting on this?"
Still irked by what he had said earlier, Nandini maintained a haughty look as she glanced at him doubtfully. "What are you talking about?"
"This egg survived a fall from that height, so it's obviously the biggest evidence of its mother's explosive affair with Superman, which is probably why she tried to get rid of it in the first place," Prithvi conjectured seriously. "And if we put it back, you could become the reason the other children have to choose a side in the divorce court. Do you really want that on your conscience?" he asked her with a hurt look.
She tried to remain stern but couldn't pull it off. Thawing against her will, she chuckled and amusedly said, "Stop making up silly stories and help me put it back."
"Fine," Prithvi said glumly. "But just to make things clear, you do realise when you say "help", what you really mean is you will cover those pumpkin-sized eyes with your hands as I climb this cranky tree and you will keep yelling "be careful" and toss in a few screams too when the mother bird returns and tries to peck my eyes out for coming close to her nest."
"None of that going to happen," Nandini assured earnestly, trying to keep a straight face. "I won't close my eyes or ask you to be careful, the mother bird won't be back for some time, and this is not a cranky tree. It is very kind and sweet," she said affectionately, patting the trunk.
"Of course, you think that," Prithvi said sourly. "If there was a tree that sucked people's souls, you would say the same thing about it. But it's plain as day to me...this is the kind of tree that laughs when people fall off it and break their necks," he said darkly.
"Don't say things like that," Nandini said angrily.
Grinning at the fierce reaction, he pacifyingly said, "Alright, I won't. Give that thing to me now."
"Thank you," she murmured with a warm smile. She carefully placed the egg in his right hand, and kept her delicate fingers on the shell for a moment. Then she moved back, feeling very nervous all of a sudden.
Prithvi had just placed a hand on the trunk when she anxiously yelped, "Be careful."
He looked at her sardonically.
She clapped a hand to her mouth, and then giggled.
With an ironic shake of the head, he began to climb the tree.
Frightened, Nandini tried to watch him. He was easily finding footings where they didn't seem to be any. But her heart had jumped to her mouth, and she couldn't bear to look at him after the first few seconds.
She covered her eyes with cold hands and began squeaking, "Be careful" like it was a protective chant.
From somewhere above her, she heard him drolly say, "Thanks for proving me wrong and giving me such great emotional and moral support."
She laughed shakily but didn't remove her hands or stop with the chanting until she heard him say, "There, it's done".
Nandini lowered her hands warily and looked at him.
Dusting his hands off, Prithvi ironically said, "The egg and its two siblings are back to squabbling over the family property. Happy?"
She smiled brightly only after confirming that he seemed unscathed.
"You did it! Thank you so much," Nandini said happily, clasping her hands together with a tiny bounce.
He grinned at the childlike reaction, then dryly asked, "Can we go ahead now or do I also have to sit on the eggs till they hatch?"
Heady with adoration and joy, Nandini laughingly moved towards him and embraced him warmly.
Her face had barely rested against his chest when she realised what she had one. Horrified and flustered, she withdrew her hands and retreated quickly.
With her face flaming up and her lowered eyes looking anywhere but at him, she ashamedly mumbled a "sorry" while bitterly wishing it was possible for utter mortification to make a person disappear physically.
Desperate to end the degrading moment, she started to walk away quickly without noticing where she was going.
She'd just taken a step or two when his hand snaked around her waist, and pulled her up hard against against his dauntingly powerful frame.
The smouldering longings that seemed to have accumulated over a thousand lifetimes burned fiercely in his brilliant eyes as they regarded her shocked face.
"I'm sorry too," he murmured roughly before his lips came down to crush hers with a hot stinging force.
***********************