The temperature of the house was certainly higher than outside. Masi had spent the whole day crying and getting worried, though it was unclear why. At night, Nanu had given a briefing to all of us so that all were aware of what had happened. Nanu considered me part of his family and that mattered a lot to me. I was grateful that I have a family, Rajvansh was my family. After knowing that Kunal was Parul Masi's son, whom she had willingly given to Meenakshi Rajvansh so that he lives a dignified life and doesn't get the label of an illegitimate child, I was overwhelmed with respect for Ben baa. She had such a big heart.
While the whole family became shock, my respect for Ben Baa had increased. She was a strict and sometimes scary woman, but she was caring and loving too. I wanted to make her a little less angry so I went to her room asking her if she wanted something, I assumed she must be sad too but she was fuming. She yelled at me and asked me to tell all the servants to keep calling Abir and Kunal, to update her if they returned. When they didn't come back, she ordered everyone to go look for them. Both the phones had been switched off, something that neither of them did. My fellow friends and I went everywhere they could possibly be, but we also knew Abir Rajvansh, he was a wanderer so after searching in some prominent places, I told them if Abir bhaiya wanted us to find him, he would have located him by now. So we went to friend's house to rest of the night.
In the early morning, we rushed back to Rajvansh Sadan. The morning began with Ben baa's sitar and ended with Masi bringing in tea for her. I witnessed it all as I was dusting her room. I peeped through the window at both the women. No conversation and secret can escape my ears, but there were no conversation between them this morning. They didn't even bother to interact, Masi put the tea and left quietly. I quickly moved out of the room, avoiding Ben Baa at any cost as she entered to the room. As soon as I reached downstairs, I got busy with cleaning the living room. The remaining of the morning went by smooth, but at lunch time, no one came downstairs to eat and all the food was delivered to their respective rooms. It was rather a very quiet day, no Mami's uthi phuti english, no Mamu's work complaints, Ketku was rather too busy reading in the living room, while Parul Masi spent the whole day cleaning and cooking food.
The house felt so quiet without its normal activities. Unable to bear the silence, I finally gave a call to bhaiya, hoping to hear from him.
"Bhaiya!" I spoke, whispering to avoid letting anyone know.
"Hi Jugnu!" Abir bhai replied.
"Kunal bhaiya and you are alright? We have been so scared."
"We are fine, Jugnu," he replied, "we'll come back soon. How is Parul Masi? Nanu? I hope Maa didn't let her anger out at you."
"No no, bhaiya. Nanu is alright. He informed the entire family about Kunal and Parul Masi. Parul Masi, " i reiterated the how they didn't talk to each other, "and Ben baa, Hemant," the cleaner of the house, " informed me, that Ben Baa called up someone to print a card, maybe your marriage card, bhaiya?" I replied enthusiastically, hoping to cheer him up.
"I doubt Maa would do that! I trust you Jugnu, be the eyes and ears for me in the house."
"Of course bhaiya," I nodded, "anything for you!" Abir bhaiya always trusted me, sometimes I secretly think he trusts me more than anyone else in the family. It was weird, I was barely a servant in the house, but he had always been so open to me, he shares things with me without the fear that it would spill out, without the fear of being judged and without the fear that I would be unhappy for him. Sure I made some mistakes, remembering some innocent goofups i have made in the past. Abir bhaiya found a friend in me and I found a friend in him. It just sucked that we couldn't declare what we truly feel for each other, the friendship we have openly. I sighed. He'll always be the son of this reputed family and I'll remain a loyal servant of the Rajvansh.
When the clock struck four, a man, wearing semi formals, walked into the house asking for Meenakshi Rajvansh. The whole family was downstairs at that time. When Ben Baa took a stack of violet envelopes from the man and then gestured it towards all of us, "I'm asking for the last time, where is Abir and Kunal?"
None of us knew, so we just shook her heads.
"Okay then," she bit hi lips and glared at all of us, "If they don't return, then they leave me with no choice."
"What choice?" Nanu asked cautiously, then gesturing towards the stack, "What is this, Meenu?"
"PARUL! Abir would always talk to you, where is he?"
"Ben Baa, I don't know. Maybe, at the NGO?"
"No, I had the NGO checked. They are not there. Do you think they went to Maheshwari House?"
"I don't think so Ben Baa. I'm getting scared ," she mumbled, "what if Kunal..."
"Kunal will be alright, Parul." she glared at the stack, "This is all Mishti's fault. I hate that girl. Had she not come to my son's life, nothing like this would have ever happened. I kept telling you, this girl will ruin us all, now see what has happened."
Parul Masi started sobbing, "Ben Baa...if you hadn't threatened Abir," she took a deep breath, "Kunal would have never known this. The secret we kept for so long..."
"You are blaming me? You are forgetting Parul, I did all this so that Abir backs away from Mishti. You know how much I hate that girl, that girl is not good for our family,"she gestured towards all of us and looked at Parul, " Now only one thing is left to keep Mishti out of our lives, I will get more of these, Kunal's name changing ceremony cards printed."
"But why?" she was shocked. "But you love Kunal don't you? You have cancelled the marriage too. Why will you...." she was crying loudly.
"Another attempt to make Abir understand that I'll do it if he doesn't back away from Mishti."
"Meenu!" Nanu was next to speak, "what are you doing my child!"
"What you should have done Bapu ji, before I ruined my life, before I got married to Mehul Kapadia!" Her voice echoed the house. I pulled out the phone from my pocket, but got distracted when a phone call came to Ben Baa's phone, "Yes Laxman!" On the other side of the call, Laxman spent some time to explain something to which Ben baa only nodded and then exclaimed, "What? How dare they!" and with that she cut the call.
"Those Maheshwaris know the truth. Mishti must have told them the truth of our family," she was fuming, "Do you see this Parul! Mishti told them the truth about our family! The secret we kept guarded for so long is now revealed to the outsiders." she banged her hand on the table, "I'll remove her and her family's shadow from my family."
"Meenu, they are family." Nanu spoke quickly.
"No, they are not! Kunal doesn't even like Kuhu, he never wanted to marry her!" she explained, "I won't let my son be in a marriage he doesn't want to be in!"
"Ben Baa..." Parul Masi wiped her tears, "I never interfered in the way you were bringing up Kunal. I always let you do what you felt was best. I didn't interfere once when Kunal was taking the wrong steps in hopes that there must be a good reason behind it. I'm sorry Ben baa, but your hate for Mishti led this truth to reveal. This truth has not only shattered Kunal, this family, it will have other significant repercussions. If the world gets to know about it, the mere reason why we had sacrificed twenty-three years ago, will all go down the drain. I wanted my son to be called legitimate and you wanted to hide that your husband cheated on you from the society. We both needed each other."
"Parul?"
"Ben baa, I spent so many years, being your shadow, a faithful shadow. Whatever you asked me to, I supported you in the past six months, doing as you wished," she sighed. Parul masi continued, "Ben baa," she took a deep breath, "today, I want to speak up. You have hated Mishti from the day one, that is alright, you had your reasons. But you interfered in her life which you had no right to do. You wanted to expose her father's truth and defame her, whether that be revealing his portrait at Abir's painting exhibition or making him come to Kunal and Mishti's goddhana, plotting against Mishti, making him hit the chandelier's control, which came down, nearly hurting you, you left on stone unturned to defame her." She controlled her sobs, "You revealed the truth her family had hidden from the little girl for so many years for her happiness, who shattered her hopes and hurt her the way you and I can imagine," her voice echoed the house of the first time in all these years, she had the power in her voice that I had never heard in my life, "actually, maybe we can because after so many years, one secret we had kept away from our children is now in open." She wiped her tears and continued, "you brought that girl, Shweta back into Kunal's life," she nodded, her hands making a fist, "I know that too, you put salt on his wounds Ben Baa, he considers you his mother," she shook her head, wiped her cheeks , "I've witnessed too many of your plots, supported you in so many more, but this time," she bit her lip, "this time, if you threaten Abir, you'll lose him forever and I'm asking you to stop. And if you send this card," she pointed at the stack, "out for printing, you'll lose Kunal too."
"You have spoken enough today Parul!" Ben baa's voice shook the ground, I wished to disappear, this woman was lethal, "today I know you were never my friend!" she spoke, "you speak of all this without informing my family about my good intentions. You want to protray that what I did was wrong, if it was soo wrong, why didn't you speak of all this before? You are a liar Parul!" she screamt, "you and I both know that what I did was for the well-being of my family. But you make it sound like I'm a villian. Shame on you," she spat, "leave from my sight."
As she turned to leave, we all heard a car pull through. She stopped abruptly, wiping her tears and then going back to Ben baa, "Please I plead you, don't ruin their happiness."
"I won't Parul," we all stood to wait for the person who had entered the house premises, hoping it to be the brothers. I glanced at my phone, a strange fear chilled my spine.
The brothers entered the house, "Abir....Kunal!" Nanu went to them, "where have you been?"
Abir bhaiya replied, "We went for a stroll Nanu!"
"Of course, you both have returned home, that is all that matters now!" Nanu said.
Abir bhaiya looked at his mother then at the rest of the family, "Why is everyone here in the hall?"
Everyone shook their heads, even Parul masi who had spoken the truth did not utter the truth. We had gotten used to not speaking the truth to Abir bhaiya, to hide anything that we heard in the house. They say even walls have ears, but they forget that the servants listen to more things than they wish to. Sometimes, I felt invisible. If I would hear something, one glare from Ben baa and I would know that I should never tell anyone about what i heard. I had gotten used to being invisible at times like these.
He looked at Nanu, "What happened Nanu? I'm sure Maa might have said something." he directed at her.
"No beta, your mom feels bad for what what happened yesterday, she loves you both." he looked at her, "right Meenu?"
Meenakshi Rajvansh nodded, "Of course bapuji, I love my sons. And the truth should have never come out the way it did."
He shook his head, "So no one is going to tell me?" He walked towards the pillar that I standing, half hidden by the pillar. I was mopping the floor behind the sofa when the man had entered and I hadn't moved since then. "Jugnu bhaiya!" he directed to me, "thank you," tears flowed out of his eyes, he hugged me. Only Abir bhaiya looked at me like I mattered, I belonged and that I existed, someone more than a servant. He whispered in my ear, "I wouldn't have known the truth if you hadn't called me. Thank you Jugnu!"
He stepped away and looked at his family," This family would never speak against the great Meenakshi Rajvansh, it goes blind when it comes to exposing her." He looked at everyone else, "No more lies, I'm done here for good." He hurriedly went upstairs while I followed him. I was sure Meenakshi Rajvansh was going to eat me raw if she knew I had called Abir bhaiya and he had heard the truth. If she didn't eat me raw, she would definitely throw me out of the house. I ran upstairs to my friend, to support him and to save myself from the wrath of Ben baa. I didn't have the courage that Parul Masi had shown today.
As I walked into his room, he unzipped a suitcase and started throwing in all his clothes. He was leaving and this time with a suitcase, not a backpack. I had tears in my eyes, I need Abir bhaiya more than he would ever need me. Servants like me don't always need money to sustain, we need love and respect, something Abir bhaiya was good at giving. And this time as he threw his clothes into the suitcase, I felt terrible, he was leaving me, leaving this family.
Do VOTE and COMMENT your views! I am eagerly waiting to hear your response, I wanted to write Jugnu Bhaiya's point of view since some time. I feel his character is so much more than a servant, I hope you all agree!