Mai, the eldest member, and head of the Kale family was sitting on her bed looking tired, almost ill. She was surrounded by her family members, who were looking at her with concern.
"Mai, what happened to you?" Vallabh asked in a worried tone.
Mai just sighed tiredly, not being able to respond to the question.
"Mai..." Devaki said.
"Oh my. Oh lord!" she exclaimed tiredly, "Shripad, Vallabh," she called the attention of her sons, "Digambar...has he gone out?"
"Yes, should I call him, mai?" Supriya asked, getting ready to go out of the room and call her husband.
Mai just shook her head in negative.
"Mai, what is happening to you?" Vallabh asked again.
"Nothing, my son...my call has come."
The ladies gasped at that.
"Mai, what are you saying?" Devaki exclaimed, "Nothing is going to happen to you. Nothing at all. You are fine."
"His call has come. Let me go in peace. Nothing will happen to me, no pain, nothing. Just have to travel from here to there," she said, pointing upwards.
For a moment, everyone's gaze followed her finger, but then as they realized the meaning...
"Mai!" everybody exclaimed in panic.
"I'll call the doctor," Vallabh said but was stopped by mai's voice.
"No, don't go anywhere. No need of that doctor."
"But mai..." Vallabh was again stopped by his mother, "I have lived my life fully, now nothing is remaining. What is left in this world for me now?"
Suddenly she looked up and said, "Please wait for a moment."
Everyone else, too, looked upwards to where her finger was pointing.
"I'm coming, I'm coming. Let me...let me look at everyone for the last time."
"Mai, who are you talking to?" Vallabh asked, with a confused expression.
"He has sent the message."
"Who has?"
"Yamraj, the God of death." A look of horror and panic washed across everyone's face.
"Mai, nothing will happen to you!" Vallari cried.
"He is saying to complete my work quickly. I can see him coming in his black clothes. But my...my Shyamrao hasn't come yet."
"He will come, he will come," Vallari replied.
"Shyamrao, come soon," mai cried.
Everybody started panicking more at that. But suddenly, a man entered the room, sending a feeling of relief in everybody.
"Ghana came, mai, Ghana came."
"My Shyamrao, my shyamrao, has come. Sit, sit near me," mai said, holding Ghanshyam's hand.
"What happened? What happened to grandma?" he asked, looking towards everyone.
Mai sighed, looking upwards, and said, "Now you are free to take me. Take me."
"What?" Ghanshyam asked, in both fear and confusion.
"Look, you still have to live a long life," Vallari said, "Don't you want to see the marriage of your grandchildren?"
Ghanshyam looked even more confused as his aunt was looking at him while saying that.
"What is the value of my wish? First, he should be willing," mai replied. She was still looking somewhere far away.
"Shyamrao, I'm going, my child."
"Grandma!"
"I saw you growing up from a small child to a grown-up man. I saw you from when you wore diapers to when you wore a suit. But, the only attire remaining to see was you in it was your wedding clothes. My wish remained unfulfilled. It's okay...this old woman's wish will remain just a wish."
"Grandma, nothing is going to happen to you, and you are not going anywhere. Nothing is going to happen to you, are you listening?" Ghanshyam said in a stern tone.
"He came in my dreams, you know."
"Who?"
"He, the God of death, Yamraj. I had said...let my Shyamrao become two from one. If you would have decided, then I would have gotten some time," she continued in a now angry tone, "Now when I went to say, he got angry. He said that your grandson is still undecided. Then how can I change my planning according to him, and for how many days?"
Ghanshyam's ears perked upon hearing the English word 'planning' from his grandmother's mouth.
"Planning? Yamraj used the English word of planning?"
"Yes, planning."
Ghanshyam looked at others around him, "Planning. Did you all hear? Yamraj said planning."
That is when everyone else, too, understood...including his grandmother. Her mistake was to use the word planning as said by Yamraj, who is diety, and who wouldn't use an English word.
Everybody had a smile on their faces as they realized that their mother, the head of the family, was just putting up an act. But mai, too, realized her mistake and rushed to repair the damage done, by crying and exclaiming about how she is going to go, to never come back again. At that, everybody panicked again and prodded Ghanshyam to talk to his grandmother.
"Okay, okay!" he exclaimed, "Grandma when do want me to go and meet a girl?"
On hearing that, his grandmother sat up straight, "My good boy, very good boy." Her face lit up with happiness.
"Her name is Prateeksha. Tell me, when do we all go to meet her?"
"No, no, there is no need for that," he shook his head quickly, "I...I will go and meet her in a restaurant today at 4...at 5 in the evening."
"My good boy!" his grandmother smiled and clapped her hands in happiness while everybody else smiled at the way a grandmother managed to convince her grandson.
Everyone left her room after making sure she was fine.
"Mother just brings our heart till our throat," Vallabh commented as all of them walked out of the room.
"Actually, it should have occurred to me at that moment itself. You know, when I said that she has to the wedding of her grandchildren. Even if it were for a moment, mai's eyes had sparkled in happiness."
"Oh, so you had brought up the topic in front of grandma?" Ghanshyam questioned his aunt, "Then it is right," he shook his head in resignation, "And our mai, too, is a first-class actress. I am telling the truth. If she would have been an actress, then she would have beaten all the other top actresses. She acts so convincingly."
"You don't speak," Devaki, his mother interjected, "You think about why she had to do all this in the first place. Because of you!"
"No, no, but one thing got sorted because she knows how to bring you onto the right track," his father, Shripad, said.
"Mai had told me about that girl long ago," Devaki informed, "And I had informed him, too. But does he listen to me? Good, now that mai caught him at the right moment."
"But today, you have to definitely go and meet the girl," Vallari, his aunt, said.
"And not just go and meet, but also say yes to her and come. Otherwise, Yamraj is always ready to come," Vallabh said, pointing to his mother's room.
"Great! Just great! This is the only topic where you both are found to be on the same page," Ghanshyam said to his aunt and uncle.
"Yes," his uncle replied.
Ghanshyam had started to walk away when he was stopped by his father.
"Wait, wait. Leaving the jokes aside, but today you have to say yes," his father continued in a humorless tone, "Say yes to the girl quietly. Today your grandmother said it in a joke, but tomorrow she might be there or not there to joke. Fulfilling her last wish is in your hands now."
He patted his son's shoulder and looked behind at the other family members. To them, he raised his hand to show a thumbs-up sign as if to say, 'It is done. It is successful!' Everyone else got the message.
Then Shripad just faked some tears and walked away from there, making Ghanshyam feel guilty and sad.
"Listen," his mother, too, went behind her husband as she said loud enough for her son to hear.
"Nowadays, he has become more emotional," she commented, referring to her husband.
"Vahini!" Vallari, too, faked crying and went away from there. She was followed by Vallabh, who kept his hand on his nephew's shoulder and shook his head in dejection. (vahini means elder brother's wife)
Ghanshyam was left alone in the hall as he looked at their retreating backs with an I-don't-know-what-to-do look. 'Now who is this Prateeksha?' he thought in mind.
At the same time, in an office,
A girl walked towards her desk and picked up the landline that was ringing, "Hello. Radha Desai, speaking."
Published: 26th November 2020.