Quagmire

By Aditya Awathare

The air in the room suddenly changed & the atmosphere tensed. Anil was sitting on the bed wondering how he will face the situation, of what was waiting for him in the living room. He found himself dumbstruck. He had called in Janaki, who was calm and composed. She very well understood Anil’s situation, father of a ‘bride to be’ and the emotions that he was going through at that moment. After all for any father is a moment of anxiety as well as joy when his daughter is about to introduce her would be husband & his peers to the family. Not that Anil had not met Kiara’s would be husband Aarav before. After all he had met him a couple of times after Kiara had disclosed that she has a boyfriend from office a year & half ago. Kiara met Aarav during her training at the organization which was into analytics. Aarav was working there for the past 3 years & had joined that organization right after he finished his MBA. He had moved to a senior position quickly due to his adept knowledge & skill sets. In fact, he was the youngest of all those who had taken a training session. Kiara was very impressed with him right from the start, the way he simplified the topic & the way he took the batch of 10 trainees through the tedious session. He was not that attractive, just an average looking person, medium built, but he had an aura of confidence & mannerism around him. He could break down even the complex of topics in such a way that even a novice would easily grasp the subject. He also exercised a lot of patience to ensure that everyone understood the fundamental concepts. After the weeklong training was over, Kiara got assigned to workflow design & data integration team. While Aarav was on the product delivery team. During one of the product development projects their paths crossed. That is when they got more acquainted and started seeing each other. Kiara had almost completed 2 years at Supra Analytics and now was planning to get hitched. Not that she had any parental pressure to get married, but she felt it coming after dating Aarav for 1.5 years. Aarav had been to dinner with Kiara and her parents a couple of times on some family occasion. His wittiness, mannerism and genuineness had impressed Kiara’s parents too. Aarav’s parents were staying in another city, another state. In fact, his parents had moved back from the US back to India decided to stay back here. He was born in Mumbai but spent most of his childhood in the US where his father was working. His father Rakesh Patil was a software engineer & shifted companies in the Silicon Valley, while his mother Nandini was a house wife or rather turned one after marriage despite her high qualifications. But things went sour between his father & mother. Rakesh divorced Nandini & married an American there. Nandini met another fellow Indian Vijay Shankar a training felicitator for Indian software companies in Bengaluru. His job was to train the software engineers in soft skills and make them ready for offshore projects. Nandini met Vijay at a community unit where she used to visit when things were not working between her and Rakesh. She had told Vijay that she no longer feels good about being in the Silicon Valley where her dreams of a good life shattered. Where she found her husband’s ambitions, greed and desire to grow took over his senses & he got disconnected with his family. Rakesh ignored Aarav too completely. It was as if they both were strangers to him. Vijay provided her with moral support during those troubled times. So, when the divorce was finalized, Vijay stepped in and proposed marriage to Aarav’s mother. She too had no desire to stay in the US anymore & decided to return to India with Aarav. Aarav completed his engineering from Bengaluru & later did his MBA before moving to Pune where here joined Supra Analytics 3 years back. So, when he came back to India, he dropped his surname ‘Patil’ & changed his name to Aarav.V.S. using only the initials of his new father. He was not so close to his new father, but he respected him. At least his new father gave him time & guided him whenever he needed any help. His mother too got back to the normal routine life she was yearning to.

On her 25th Birthday, Kiara told her parents of her desire to get married to Aarav. It was not quite a shock for her parents, but they didn’t think it would come up soon. It was decided that Aarav & his parents would visit Kiara’s family ‘The Shirodkar’s’ 2 weeks later. Anil worked at an automotive component manufacturing unit ‘Techno Drives Auto Pvt. Ltd.’ around 50 Km northwest of the main city. He was in his mid-fifties, working as a semi-finished goods section head at the automotive plant. The Shirodkar’s lived in the suburban area around 25 Km from the main city. They had constructed a house there on the ancestral property & were staying there for past 10 years now. Actually, Anil was fed up with travelling all the way from their city house to the company daily in the company’s old rusty bus in which everything made sounds except the horn. Going through the monstrous traffic was a daily ordeal. Half of the people in the bus use to doze off and the ones who were awake either stared outside like zombies or looked at passing women like a pervert. The moment Kiara completed her 10th standard, he decided to keep Kiara at their city house with her grandmother & he shifted to the new house with Janaki, and he started to drive to his office in his own car. It was a relief for him as he now saved ample time, he used to earlier waste in travelling from his city home. Of course, Kiara would come home on weekends, but then she used to return to her grandmother on Sunday evenings to attend her junior college and classes in the city. Kiara was an all-rounder at school & she carried that trait all the way through her graduation as well. She had varied interests from dance, sports, reading and solving numerical puzzles. She borrowed her complexion from her mother & height from her father. She was taller than most of the girls from her class. By the time she was 16, she stood a good height of 5ft 7inches. During her college she made a lot of good friends, both boys and girls but she rarely got into any relationship with any of the boys. She had crushes, but they short lived because she was good at judging people. She used to observe the person on whom she had a crush & if that person did anything that were against her code of conduct or did something unethical, she would instantly strike out that person from her mental list. For her, her priorities, her ethics & a good Samaritan spirit mattered. Her aim was to first become independent person & attain a level of respect in the society, secondly to carve out a name for herself. Her family supported her and respected her decisions. So, when she decided to marry Aarav, they were pretty sure about their daughter’s decision & they respected it. The Shirodkar family swung into action for the big day. They started cleaning & re arranging the house. The plants in the front garden were trimmed, the small patch of lawn was neatly mowed. The swing on the lawn was fixed again & the cushion covers dressed up. The driveway leading to the semi open garage was cleared and now the view of the living room was pretty visible from the driveway as well as from the swing on the lawn. One could see through the living room window from outside and make out who all was sitting on the sofa in the living room. There was an entrance to the house from the end of the garage which opened into the storeroom leading straight to the passage that was running between bedrooms on either side and ended with the living room on one side & a kitchen on the other side. Anil used to work from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM & would return home around 5:30. He worked from Monday to Saturday, which was kind of mundane. But given his profile of a section head, his work demanded a sense of discipline & the need to work 6 days a week. The meeting day was set on a Sunday, and the Shankar’s were to have dinner with them post their discussion. That Sunday Janaki and Kiara spent the day preparing for the evening. However, some urgency came calling for Anil. He received a call from the factory around 3 PM that there was a mishap with the automated storage rack & some of the finished goods on the top rack came down crashing. He informed Janaki to usher the guests in & keep them engaged while he’ll quickly go and assess the situation. He reached the factory and did a quick inspection. It seemed that the wheel that moved the racks had given way due to the weight while the rack was being moved to open the adjacent rack. The imbalance that happened resulted in the pallets on the top shelves to slide down crashing. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the incident, but Anil had to prepare a report on the incident & do an analysis on the damage & its severity to be shared with the QA team & higher management. The fallen semi-finished goods were sent to QC for inspection services team informed to take care of the damaged wheel & floor space. By the time Anil had finished all this, it was already 6 PM. He rushed back to his car and drove back home. A few meters from his house, he could see a car parked outside his house, indicating the guests had arrived. It was around 6:30 in the evening & it was already getting dark. But the lights outside had not yet lighted. He drove the car inside the gate & could already see the guests sitting inside. As he drove closer to the parking space, he could see 2 men and a woman sitting on the couch, while Janaki was sitting across them on the chair while Kiara was sitting on the chair’s arm rest next to her mother, which was very typical of her. Now Anil was very closer to the living room & could clearly see the Shankar’s. He stopped the car abruptly just before entering the garage. He took a second look at the Shankar’s and was suddenly dumbfounded. He didn’t know what to do. Hurriedly he parked the car in the garage and entered through the back door. Janaki had seen Anil coming in and parking the car. But she too sensed something was wrong as Anil never entered the house from the back door. Anil now entered and went straight to his bedroom and sat on his bed. It was as if he had seen a ghost. His mind had lost all his senses. At first Janaki thought that Anil went straight to their bedroom to freshen up. But when he didn’t come out, Janaki excused herself and requested Kiara to make the guests feel comfortable while she checks with Anil.

When Janaki entered the bedroom, she was a bit taken back seeing Anil. She had never seen him this way. His face was turned pale & the cheerful face turned into remorseful one. Janaki asked Anil if everything was ok, but he was speechless. When Janaki said that the guests were waiting for him & enquired if anything at factory bothering him, Anil opened up. He said everything was under control at the factory. Janaki enquired what was bothering him & why did he come straight to the bedroom and sitting there instead of greeting the guests. Anil apologized to Janaki. He said, ‘I don’t know what to do or how to face the guests.’ Janaki replied, ‘They are your daughter’s future family members, and we too would now be an extended family of theirs. Is that what is bothering you how will you face your daughter’s future in-laws?’ Anil replied, ‘Life is kind of strange. Sometimes we bury our past and move on and yet life brings our past right in front of us.’ Janaki said, ‘I’m sorry I don’t quite understand you. Can you please say it in simple words?’ Anil said, ‘Remember when I first met you? I was hesitant to get into a relationship with you.’ ‘Yes, I faintly remember that’ Janaki replied. ‘You were trying to come out of a broken relationship with your girlfriend who left you abruptly and you lost all the hope you had in your life. You never spoke about what exactly happened or never disclosed who that person was, because you respected that person’. Anil just nodded. Then gathering all his strength, he said, the person sitting in their living room, Aarav’s mother was none other than his lost love interest. It was now Janaki turn who was now speechless.

It was 1992, Anil had completed his Mechanical engineering from a reputed engineering college in Pune and had secured a job through campus as a trainee engineer at a welding machine manufacturing company ‘Seamless Fits & Joints Pvt Ltd’ and was to undergo a year’s training at the plant’s training & manufacturing unit in Gujarat. He was ecstatic on securing this job through campus and wanted to share this wonderful news with Nandini, his beloved. Nandini was 2 years junior to Anil & was from the electrical branch. Nandini had come to Pune from Mumbai to pursue Electrical engineering. At that time there used to be very few inter departmental interactions & girls opting engineering was rare. Students had to adhere to a college’s code of conduct & strictly had to wear college uniform daily. The college maintained discipline of highest standards & any form of non-sense in the college campus was not tolerated. It was the month of August, 2 months had passed from the commencement of course for the year. The monsoon had eased, and, in the evening, nature used to display its vibrant side. It used to rain partially while the Sun was shining brightly in the Western sky which used to bring beautiful rainbow in the Eastern skyscape. The view from the lush green college campus used to be mesmerizing. It used to brighten up the students after their long tiring day. It was one such evening when Anil met Nandini for the first time. Nandini was very irritated and walking hurriedly out of her lab. She was furious with the comment of one of the lab assistants who mocked girls not understanding connecting the circuits and ending up getting all wrong results in the practical & thus prolonging their practical timings. Nandini was furious that it was she & her friend Reema being blamed for the extra practical time despite 2 other boys were part of their group. In fact it were the boys who failed to calibrate the instrument before making the final connections resulting in the practical to be performed over again. Yet the girls were blamed. Nandini was in no mood to talk to anyone & was hurrying back to her hostel. The girl’s hostel was on the west side of the college campus in an isolated corner hidden among a boundary of thick trees. In between girls’ hostel & the college main campus was primary health center and just before that was the canteen and a convenience store. The floor in the corridor used to be moist all time because of the rain water drifting there. Anil just did had some light evening snack & came out of the canteen & was walking towards the main campus & was heading to the North East side of the campus towards the main exit. That is when he suddenly heard a yelp. It was Nandini who twisted her ankle walking furiously. Anil went to check if everything was ok. Nandini was limping, yet in no good mood to talk to anyone. Anil asked Nandini if she was ok. She didn’t respond. She realized that she needed help but was confused if she should ask a boy for help. Anil without any second thoughts offered his forearm to Nandini for support. She grasped it tightly and tried to balance herself. He guided her to the primary health center. That was the first time ever that Anil had a very different feeling of a girl’s touch. Nandini too had now eased her anger and was now trying to be calm. They visited the health center & got some treatment. A pain relief ointment was applied on her foot & wrapped up in a crape bandage. Anil offered to walk her till the girl’s hostel. It was drizzling lightly & the Sun had painted the western horizon in golden & orange color and a rainbow appeared in the eastern sky. Suddenly Nandini’s mood got better & they had a quick introductory session. That night they both were thinking about each other. While the song ‘Maine Pyaar kiya’ from Maine pyaar kiya played in Anil’s mind over & over again, ‘Dil diwana’ from the same movie played in the mind of Nandini. Rest all was History. Anil & Nandini became very close friends, yet they never expressed their love for each other. They were like the made for each other type. Anil had introduced Nandini once to his mother when Anil had come to the main market with his mother for shopping & Nandini too was by chance shopping there. Anil met Nandini’s parents during one of the college fests where Nandini was performing a dance & after the dance when Anil went to congratulate Nandini, bumped into her parents as well. Encountering them for the first time he was very nervous & acted sheepishly. Nandini also used to talk about Anil with her mother whenever she used to visit Mumbai. By the time Anil’s graduation came to an end they were like a couple. But then Anil got a job opportunity & he gave this news to Nandini. He told her that he would be away for a year in Gujarat for training. Nandini was happy for Anil but sad at the same time as she would not be able to see him. Anil went to Gujarat & within 1 year everything changed. Nandini was feeling the pressure of her third year as she had lost concentration after Anil left. She started having second thoughts about him. Also, Anil used to be so busy with the training sessions that at times he used to forget to ring Nandini. Soon Nandini and Anil’s relationship started to fall apart. But Anil used to think that it is for Nandini’s good, that he doesn’t disturb her in her studies. Yet, he used to write a letter to her once in a month or call her on her hostel number. Gradually Nandini stopped replying to Anil. She also used to tell her friends to inform Anil that she was not around when he called. Anil’s training came to an end after a year & he was immediately put up on a project. He was assigned on the product development on a new type of MIG welding machine. After completion of his project Anil took a leave and came to Pune. He immediately went to see Nandini at college campus. Nandini saw Anil from a distance & turned back. Anil saw her friend Reema and enquired about her. Reema said that she was nearby a couple of minutes ago, but suddenly disappeared. Anil waited for Nandini, but she didn’t show up. He again came the next day & since he couldn’t meet her, her handed a letter to Reema to be delivered to Nandini. On the third day Nandini was waiting for him. Anil had a broad smile on his face seeing Nandini there. But Nandini was emotionless. She said that she felt embarrassed because her friends made fun of her for the letter. Anil apologized to her & said that it was the only way he could pass his message to her. Nandini said she needs to focus on her final semester & that she needs some time out. Anil respected that & promised to see her only after engineering final year result in June that year. On the result day Anil came to the college on the result day to congratulate Nandini & to wish her good luck. But Nandini did not come to collect the result. Reema informed Anil that she has cleared her engineering with a first class & that her cousin brother had already collected her result on her behalf. She also informed that her parents have decided to marry her off to the son of one of their family friends who’s a computer engineer in the silicon valley. Anil was devasted.

Suddenly he was back to the present & looking at Janaki. Janaki gathered her composure and just held Anil’s hand. ‘We have been together for almost 27 years now. We have faced lots of situation & overcame them together. We respected one another & always held strongly in matter of crisis. You have always been an honest man, a caring husband, and a good father to Kiara. We will have to see this too together.’ ‘But Janaki, I don’t know how Kiara will react if she finds out. What impact will it have on her relationship with Aarav, who is equally unaware of all of this. That’s why I’m afraid to go out. But I don’t want my past to spoil my daughter’s future.’

In the meanwhile, Kiara kept Aarav, Vijay Shankar & Nandini occupied with by sharing their family memories & some specific family milestones. Both Vijay & Nandini were impressed with Kiara. While listening to Kiara, Nandini glanced through the living room & noticed a family picture of a younger Kiara with Anil & Janaki. She immediately recognized Anil & immediately stood up. It immediately struck her the delay in Anil coming out. And now she realized why the surname ‘Shirodkar’ sounded so familiar, when she read the name plate on the gate ‘The Shirodkar’s’. She turned to Kiara & asked her if she could use their washroom. Kiara took Nandini towards the passage & pointed to her bedroom on the left & went back to the living room. Nandini walked towards Kiara’s room and saw the door of the opposite room slightly open. She knocked on the door. Janaki opened the door & then it was almost after 28 years they were face to face. But this time around the situation was different. Anil’s tongue had fallen into his stomach. Janaki smiled sheepishly trying to hide the awkwardness of the situation. It was now Nandini’s turn. She went close to Janaki and placed her hand on her shoulder. ‘I can understand. I don’t know if I can change all that happened or wished that it never happened, would that bring any difference to the situation now. First, I would like to apologize to Anil. I really am sorry and can understand how hurt he would have been. It was difficult for me too. I always repented every day of my life after I left Anil. After agreeing to marry as per my parent’s desire & that too to a family friend’s son I though life would be good for me. The temptation of settling in the US had taken over me. But then life has its own plans & situations change. I am very impressed with Kiara & the memories she shared about your family. I am thankful to you Janaki that you took such a good care of your family & healed Anil after the way I left him. You really are the best match for Anil. Even I would not have been able to nurture such a beautiful family. I’m really happy for Kiara as well as Aarav. If you are still considering Aarav as the right person for her, let us not have second thoughts. If they both like each other they should be with each other. I’ll inform Vijay about us once I go back to Bengaluru. He’s an understanding person. Let our children lead a happy life & we will tell them about us if needed, else it’s better this past of ours go down with us. Let’s go and discuss the marriage plans, shall we?’

Anil smiles, looks at Janaki & nods affirmatively.

By Aditya Awathare