Omkara and Chulbul were sitting at a dhaba, on their way back to Mumbai. Their lunch had got a little delayed, and Chulbul insisted that they have some food first.
They were waiting for their order now. Omkara was unusually silent, Chulbul guessed that he must be coming to terms with what they had find out about the kid today. The food arrived, and Chulbul eagerly dug in to the paneer and naan. After he had a few mouthfuls, he felt satiated, and asked Omkara, "Are you fine, Omkaraji?"
"Thanks for asking Chulbul, I was getting worried that why haven't you said anything since we stepped out of school." replied Omkara sarcastically
"Pehle pet pooja, phir kaam dooja (First food, then other work). I can't think clearly if my stomach is hungry. I only had those mangoes since morning, so I needed some food to get my brain working. Anyways, why are you looking like you've seen a ghost, Omkaraji? Today should be a day to celebrate. We got the first confirmed proof that your sister's fiancee lied about the kid, so he most probably made up the whole false story to blackmail you. Why don't you look happy?" asked Chulbul, surprised.
Omkara sighed. "You won't understand, Chulbul."
"Try me." said Chulbul, in a determined voice.
"How do I explain? This accident has been like a dark shadow haunting my dreams for years, sometimes once a month or sometime for days on end. Last year, when it reared its ugly head again, my first concern was to protect my sister. I couldn't live with the guilt of what we had done. I was ready to take the entire blame, to go to jail, just so that the burden of this guilt will be off my chest. But Priyanka made me swear on her to keep quiet. But then Ranveer sent me the photo of that kid...." Omkara's face darkened. "I couldn't bear the guilt anymore Chulbul, the guilt of separating a kid from his mother,I... I succumbed to the pain, and did something dreadful." said Omkara, thinking of how he relapsed into drugs.
He sighed, then continued, "My brothers, my family were so worried and distraught over what I had done to myself, made a mess of myself. With difficulty they brought me back, my mother shed her precious tears over me, and my elder brother...I've never seen him so broken before. To think that my family could have avoided all that pain, if I knew the truth about the kid, if I hadn't fallen prey to Ranveer's lie, I could have saved my family from all that sorrow and worry during that period."
"You could have saved yourself from all that self-destructive pain as well." said Chulbul quietly. Omkara hadn't told her what exactly he did to hurt himself, how exactly did he succumb to his pain, but Chulbul guessed that it must have been something that caused him physical pain or put his life in danger, because it explained why the family went into grief over him. What struck Chulbul, was that even at that moment Omkara was more concerned that all the pain and worry he had caused his family was for nothing, he was thinking about his family and not himself and his trauma. This man was so selfless.
Omkara didn't seem to hear Chulbul, he seemed to be lost in the truth of his own words.
"Omkaraji, I know life has been miserable, and it is going to be remain a bitter memory, but eating spicy food might prove helpful." said Chulbul, pretending to be really serious.
Omkara was at first struck by how insensitive that statement sounded, but then he realized that Chulbul was only trying to cheer him up, so he smiled. Chulbul cracked up and laughed. For some reason the laughter sounded little too high-pitched for a boy.
"Er, Chulbul, why is your voice sounding so thin?" asked Omkara, curiously
"Omkaraji, kisi ki kami ka mazaak nahi udaate" (Omkaraji, you should make fun of someone's deficiency) said Chulbul, again pretending to be serious, while laughing on the inside.
Omkara felt chastised. He thought that maybe Chulbul was mocked in his village for being slightly effeminate. Maybe in the village they made bigger issues out of these things. Perhaps unintentionally, Omkara had tread on his insecurity and made him feel bad about it.
"Sorry Chulbul, you are right, I should indulge in this feast, after all, today I'm feeling lighter after ages." said Omkara.
After a while, Omkara brought up the subject of Ranveer. "That disgusting man, telling such a huge lie. I'll confront him about the kid, and expose him in front of the whole family."
"Easy Omkaraji. We have definite proof of that the ploy about the kid was a lie. But we need to gather more proofs about the accident. What if that man says that his sister is still in coma? No, we'll need to prove that his sister is not in coma as well. Your elder brother did a background check, right? And that showed that he was an orphan without any siblings. So, now we just need to prove that the lady Priyanka saw that day, who was in coma, was not Ranveer's sister." said Chulbul, thoughtfully.
Omkara agreed.
It was night by the time they returned to Chulbul's chawl. Omkara dropped Chulbul off outside the compound, and said, "Thanks for your help and understanding, Chulbul. Seriously, it must have been my lucky day when you pulled me back from those rocks. I'm glad I met a friend like you." Omkara smiled and drove off.
Gauri was staring at the car as it went away. Omkara might have got rid of some guilt today, but Gauri just felt like more guilt descended on her, weighing her down. She had just wanted to do Omkara a favor, because he had saved her life in Bareilly. She didn't want to be his friend, or someone he considered he was lucky to meet. She had lost count of the lies she had said today. Some in jest and some otherwise, even though they were white lies, Gauri felt that they were lies all the same. If Omkara ever found out the truth, he would feel so betrayed, that he was helped all along by the girl, whose face he didn't want to see ever again.
Gauri made her way back to Dandi bhaiyaa's house sadly, thinking of how in her determination to do something good, she might have ended up doing some damage as well.