Part 11

"Naniji, I can explain." Arnav spoke softly.

Immediately Khushi watched as Naniji raised her left hand up to literally stop him, whilst her right hand pressed the paused button on the TV remote.

"It's recorded?!" Arnav asked.

"Yes Chote. It's a recorded program from an hour ago. The media must be having a field day. I trust they must have worked hard through the night to put this program up. It's not everyday that I get to watch "the exclusive expose of ASR's marriage". So I thought I'd make an exemption today and record this expos. Now, I and the rest of the family could be equally enlightened on your marriage, Chotey as we knew nothing."

Khushi felt a lump of guilt in her throat. Why? Oh why? Devi Maiya. Was I not a good child when I was growing up? did I not worship you in the right way? Did I offend you in some way? I've been your strongest supporter and devotee and yet, I'm here.

"Ammaji, what is this all about? We were seriously worried about you and you were here watching TV?" Mamaji intervened. 

Khushi smiled slightly. She was always fond of Mamaji. He was a man of few words but had a heart of gold. She was particularly impressed by the stance he took when Akash had insisted that he wanted to only marry Payal. He did not care about money or show, all he cared was for his family's happiness. 

And then, as though on cue, her eyes started feeling heavy with tears. How could she and Arnavji disappoint so many people?  Not mere strangers but close family members that thought only of their good?! All for the snake Shyam?!!!

Khushi refused to glance at the pathetic creature and instead turned her attention to the flowery pattern on the carpet.

"yes, mothers in law. We were worries about you. And you watching TV? This rubbish?!" Mamiji stressed the point again, pointing at the screen.

Khushi closed her eyes and tried to supress a smile. Even Mamiji had a heart of gold!!!!  Yes she was mean to her and Payal, but spending time in RM prior to the wedding, made Khushi realised that the woman had only love for her children and only wanted the best for them. She watched silently in amazement at the way Mamiji always treated Akash, Arnav, Anjali and NK with no form of discrimination between her niece, nephews and her son. One had to have a huge heart to do that. Kind of like her mother. And Khushi and Arnav had managed to disappoint her too.

"Listen. Manorama. This rubbish may not be so rubbish afterall." Naniji quickly turned her attention to the rest of the room, as though she was taking inventory of who were present.  "Hari Prakash?"

Immediately the little man appeared. "yes Naniji?!"

"Is NK sleeping still? Waking him up and ask him to be here within 5 minutes. Tell him it's important." Naniji commanded as the rest of them watched Hari Prakash scurry off.

"The rest of you can get comfortable. The girls can all sit on my bed. Chotey and Akash get the chairs in the corner and arrange them around the bed, making sure no one's view of the TV is blocked. I dont want anyone of us to miss this amazing expose."

"Naniji, this is not necessary." Arnav tried to placate the situation.

"Actually, I disagree Chotey. It's very necessary. Since the world out there knows about it. I think the world in here should as well." Naniji spoke crisply.

"Just press play Naniji and let's get this over and done with." Arnav surrendered. He had already seen Mr and Mrs Singh on  the screen and surely nothing could be worse than that. He moved his chair closer to Khushi and carefully picked her twitching hand from her lap and placed it in his. He inched closer and whispered in her ear. "We'll be ok, Khushi. Just believe."

"What's the hurry Chotey? Planning on going anywhere?" Naniji asked.

"No." Arnav replied. Just hell, possibly.

"Good. So a few minutes waiting will not kill you. We'll start when NK turns up."

We'll be ok, Khushi. Just believe.

Khushi watched in amazement at her husband. Which freaking planet was he on?! 

1: They were far from ok. She felt she was sinking in a perpetual never-ending hole. She would openly settle for just existing. But OK?! Was like a distant dream. A goal. She should have just stayed in bed. Why did she have to wake up and insist on going to the Pooja?If she was not there, she would not be here now and would have been happily oblivious to the whole supposed truth of the expos.

2. Just believe. The nerve of the man?! Believe in what?!

As they sat, Naniji was about to press play. And soon breaking news about the surprised marriage of the most eligible bachelor and speculations on the reasons why it was so hushed hushed would be on the screen. She watched her husband.

He said just believe.

Did he mean believe in him? Was this his plan? 

The way his eyes darted side to side suggested not. She had watched him yesterday before they had made their grand entrance and like yesterday, when he was thinking, he was quiet but his eyes darted from side to side. He barely met her gaze now, just kept squeezing her hand. Was that to comfort her or himself?! Instinctly she knew he was clueless and unprepared about the expose.

Khushi felt nauseas. They were doomed. He had no clue of this. The stupid man thought he could court the media and not have any repercussions. Wasn't he that wanted to leak the pictures of their marriage and now they were going to pay for his stupidity. She had to give it to him. He was the great ASR and she was sure that in business, when he was prepared, he aced. But now she was beginning to understand, her husband was awful, actually he literally sucked bad time when it came to improvising and making decisions spontaneously. He was also useless when he was angry. Anger, for him, was a literal switch to turn his brains off. And the great ASR was not thinking when they got married or when he decided to leak the pictures and the news of their marriage. He was just reacting and now soon, there will be an opposite, equal and propositional reaction from the family to this fiasco. Mr Subramaniam, her chemistry teacher, would be pleased with her that she could still remember some Newtonian law. But hell, like then, she would need to contemplate the usefulness of that piece of information to her current predisposition. 

Khushi tried to smile. She was already going down, she might as well enjoy the show. Now, she was convinced that she was losing her mind. Stress had that impact on one's mental state and hers was already too fragile!!

Could she believe in herself?!

How bad could the expose be?! She had already seen pictures of Uncleji and Auntieji from the dabba.  Khushi recalled that day and realized she had to take most of the blame. 

Wasn't it her that took Arnavji's petrol out of the car that resulted in the car stopping prematurely and then his mobile phone dying whilst hers was left at home. 

And then the trail across the jungle where she had fallen in to a hole literally and at least then he helped her out of that hole. Now, they were going to be in a perpetual hole for eternity. 

She then had to insist on going to the toilet and was so excited that some girl had stollen her clothes and left her with better ones, marriage outfit infact.

And then of course, it was her idea to go and eat in the Dabba ' what did she tell him? Oh yes -  food with one phone call free. 

Stupid stupid girl. 

There was no such thing as a free anything. Now she would be paying in interests!!! with her life, her honour, her sweat and blood. Next time it would teach her to be easily influenced by free things. 

Buy one, get one free ' my foot!!!! Khushi concentrate! No one cares about that. Think about this situation. 

What was there to think about the situation?! They were doomed. Period. 

It was her idea to come up with the pregnancy issue. Surely she could have thought about something else. But hell no. Once, she was on a roll, she was gone. Pregnancy as an excuse. Then she was feeling pretty pleased with herself for coming up with a better excuse than Arnavji. Now what?! Surely she too was just as useless as her husband in getting them out of this mess.

Believe in her? Surely not.

So who was left to believe in?! The only person that she had always rested her faith and trust in was Devi Maiya. She was praying earlier for Devi Maiya to show her a way to solve the pregnancy dilemma. Was this her guidance? The expos. Possibly. But what if it wasn't?! Was there more to lose besides her honour. She had nothing left, surely.

Think positive Khushi. You always found a way out. Remember the male models in AR and the typing skills in AR?! Surely you can do this now. 

But then was just trying to teach ASR a lesson. Now it was different. But surely same skills would be involved.

Skill sets?! Yes!!! That's it and what would that be?! More lies! More improvisation! She was good at it. 

Khushi looked around the room and watched as everyone was busy studying the patterns of the floor. No one looked up to make eye contact. Except shyam and khushi immediately looked away. 

Snake! Jerk! bas***d! This was all his fault and now he sat there with a smirk on his face.

She couldnt let him win, surely not. She would have to think of something, anything to help Arnavji with his explaination. And she had Devi Maiya on her side. In the past, she questionned but that led her to believe in Shyam, instead of the signs that was leading her to Arnavji. Not anymore. She would deal with whatever was coming their way, if that was what Devi Maiya wanted. She was now ready. 

She pondered the situation as they waited for NK. Where the hell was he?! Surely it had to be more than 5 minutes already. She didnt think she could wait anymore. 

She forced her thoughts back to her conviction in Devi Maiya. Yesterday, she had asked for a sign and immediately, buaji had insinuated that pregnancy was one of the few reasons for a quick marriage. Today she had asked Devi Maiya for help in convincing the family that she was pregnant. And now they waited to watch the expos.

Could they use this situation in their favour? Devi maiya seemed to think so. They did spend the night together and in the same bed, just different times. So that was a possibility of explaining her pregnancy. 

How far back was that?! October?! No. Too early. It must have been some time in November. 

She stared down at her abdomen and placed her's and Arnav's intertwined hands on her tummy ' could she get away with being 3 months pregnant since it was now February? Possibly. Didn't she see stars on TV that hardly showed until they were 4 months plus. She could wear more loose clothing to give an illusion of a bump. Possible. This could work. As long as they did not suggest seeing the baby scan.

Khushi started retching. No amount of lies or improvisation could help her there. Now that surely had to be worse case scenario. Again she retched.

"Khushi bitiya, are you ok?" Naniji spoke breaking the silence and interrupting her mental chatter.

Arnav inched closer and Khushi could feel his breath on her neck. She closed her eyes to concentrate. "Are you ok, Khushi?" he whispered, his voice revealing his concern.

Khushi tried to shake her head but felt more nauseas. 

Surely Devi Maiya wasn't planning for them to fake an ultrasound scan. Oh boy- they were definitely threading in dangerous waters. And she couldn't swim. Literally.

"Have you eaten, Khushi?" Naniji asked. "Anjali, you? Everyone?"

"No Naniji. We rushed up immediately after the Pooja." Anjali said.

"Hari Prakash" Naniji called again. 

And like before, he immediately appeared. Khushi wondered if he was always sitting to attention at the door.

"Hari Prakash, get some parathas up for everyone. Quickly. And two glasses of milk."

Khushi looked pleadingly at Arnav and then looked at Naniji. "No milk, Naniji. Please. I'll feel more sick. And besides, I don't have an appetite." She spoke softly.

"Khushi bitiya. You and Chote need to stop being selfish and stop thinking only about yourselves. You will have your milk and parathas because you need to look after yourself for your benefit and the baby. Understood?"

Khushi forced a smile and nodded. At least Naniji still cared for her, even if it was also motivated by the imaginary child that was supposedly growing in her womb.

"Khushi, come and rest here, by my side. Use the headboard to support you. Chote, you can move your chair to be close to her as well. Maybe get Khushi some water."

Arnav stood up and stretched. Surely, this had to be some kind of tortous plan by his grandmother. How long could they wait for NK?!  And how long was he prepared to wait for the grilling. It was going to come. He was sure of that. His grandmother never recorded anything on TV. The fact that she did record the expos meant it had to be more. He searched his brains for what other possibilities could there be and could not think of anything. To be truthful, he stopped thinking a while ago. The wait was just getting to him. Grateful that he could move around the room, he slowly walked towards the table and poured Khushi a glass of water. This was getting too much for her. She was not pregnant but the stress surely must be the cause of her retching and feeling nauseas. He had to sort this out somehow but how?! He was at his wits end! 

He offered Khushi the glass and smiled reassuringly. He brought his chair closer to Khushi and held her hand lovingly. Nothing he could do would get them out of this mess. The only way was to face it full on. And he was ready, for every eventuality. With her by his side, he could stormed through anything. But how long did he have to wait?! Where the hell was NK?!

Speaking of the devil, he immediately appeared by the doorway, looking rough, still in his pyjamas. "Naniji, you called."

"Yes, NK. Grab a chair. The show is about to begin." Naniji said.

"The show?" NK mouthed to Arnav with a confused look on his face.

"Yes. NK. We are about to watch 'The breaking news of the sudden marriage of ASR - an exclusive expose.'" Arnav replied as he stressed the title with his fingers tracing inverted commas in the air. 

He quickly glanced at Khushi and turned and looked at Naniji. "Please Naniji, just press play!"

Part 11 To hell and back

"Naniji, I can explain." Arnav spoke softly.

Immediately Khushi watched as Naniji raised her left hand up to literally stop him, whilst her right hand pressed the paused button on the TV remote.

"It's recorded?!" Arnav asked.

"Yes Chote. It's a recorded program from an hour ago. The media must be having a field day. I trust they must have worked hard through the night to put this program up. It's not everyday that I get to watch "the exclusive expose of ASR's marriage". So I thought I'd make an exemption today and record this expos. Now, I and the rest of the family could be equally enlightened on your marriage, Chotey as we knew nothing."

Khushi felt a lump of guilt in her throat. Why? Oh why? Devi Maiya. Was I not a good child when I was growing up? did I not worship you in the right way? Did I offend you in some way? I've been your strongest supporter and devotee and yet, I'm here.

"Ammaji, what is this all about? We were seriously worried about you and you were here watching TV?" Mamaji intervened. 

Khushi smiled slightly. She was always fond of Mamaji. He was a man of few words but had a heart of gold. She was particularly impressed by the stance he took when Akash had insisted that he wanted to only marry Payal. He did not care about money or show, all he cared was for his family's happiness. 

And then, as though on cue, her eyes started feeling heavy with tears. How could she and Arnavji disappoint so many people?  Not mere strangers but close family members that thought only of their good?! All for the snake Shyam?!!!

Khushi refused to glance at the pathetic creature and instead turned her attention to the flowery pattern on the carpet.

"yes, mothers in law. We were worries about you. And you watching TV? This rubbish?!" Mamiji stressed the point again, pointing at the screen.

Khushi closed her eyes and tried to supress a smile. Even Mamiji had a heart of gold!!!!  Yes she was mean to her and Payal, but spending time in RM prior to the wedding, made Khushi realised that the woman had only love for her children and only wanted the best for them. She watched silently in amazement at the way Mamiji always treated Akash, Arnav, Anjali and NK with no form of discrimination between her niece, nephews and her son. One had to have a huge heart to do that. Kind of like her mother. And Khushi and Arnav had managed to disappoint her too.

"Listen. Manorama. This rubbish may not be so rubbish afterall." Naniji quickly turned her attention to the rest of the room, as though she was taking inventory of who were present.  "Hari Prakash?"

Immediately the little man appeared. "yes Naniji?!"

"Is NK sleeping still? Waking him up and ask him to be here within 5 minutes. Tell him it's important." Naniji commanded as the rest of them watched Hari Prakash scurry off.

"The rest of you can get comfortable. The girls can all sit on my bed. Chotey and Akash get the chairs in the corner and arrange them around the bed, making sure no one's view of the TV is blocked. I dont want anyone of us to miss this amazing expose."

"Naniji, this is not necessary." Arnav tried to placate the situation.

"Actually, I disagree Chotey. It's very necessary. Since the world out there knows about it. I think the world in here should as well." Naniji spoke crisply.

"Just press play Naniji and let's get this over and done with." Arnav surrendered. He had already seen Mr and Mrs Singh on  the screen and surely nothing could be worse than that. He moved his chair closer to Khushi and carefully picked her twitching hand from her lap and placed it in his. He inched closer and whispered in her ear. "We'll be ok, Khushi. Just believe."

"What's the hurry Chotey? Planning on going anywhere?" Naniji asked.

"No." Arnav replied. Just hell, possibly.

"Good. So a few minutes waiting will not kill you. We'll start when NK turns up."

We'll be ok, Khushi. Just believe.

Khushi watched in amazement at her husband. Which freaking planet was he on?! 

1: They were far from ok. She felt she was sinking in a perpetual never-ending hole. She would openly settle for just existing. But OK?! Was like a distant dream. A goal. She should have just stayed in bed. Why did she have to wake up and insist on going to the Pooja?If she was not there, she would not be here now and would have been happily oblivious to the whole supposed truth of the expos.

2. Just believe. The nerve of the man?! Believe in what?!

As they sat, Naniji was about to press play. And soon breaking news about the surprised marriage of the most eligible bachelor and speculations on the reasons why it was so hushed hushed would be on the screen. She watched her husband.

He said just believe.

Did he mean believe in him? Was this his plan? 

The way his eyes darted side to side suggested not. She had watched him yesterday before they had made their grand entrance and like yesterday, when he was thinking, he was quiet but his eyes darted from side to side. He barely met her gaze now, just kept squeezing her hand. Was that to comfort her or himself?! Instinctly she knew he was clueless and unprepared about the expose.

Khushi felt nauseas. They were doomed. He had no clue of this. The stupid man thought he could court the media and not have any repercussions. Wasn't he that wanted to leak the pictures of their marriage and now they were going to pay for his stupidity. She had to give it to him. He was the great ASR and she was sure that in business, when he was prepared, he aced. But now she was beginning to understand, her husband was awful, actually he literally sucked bad time when it came to improvising and making decisions spontaneously. He was also useless when he was angry. Anger, for him, was a literal switch to turn his brains off. And the great ASR was not thinking when they got married or when he decided to leak the pictures and the news of their marriage. He was just reacting and now soon, there will be an opposite, equal and propositional reaction from the family to this fiasco. Mr Subramaniam, her chemistry teacher, would be pleased with her that she could still remember some Newtonian law. But hell, like then, she would need to contemplate the usefulness of that piece of information to her current predisposition. 

Khushi tried to smile. She was already going down, she might as well enjoy the show. Now, she was convinced that she was losing her mind. Stress had that impact on one's mental state and hers was already too fragile!!

Could she believe in herself?!

How bad could the expose be?! She had already seen pictures of Uncleji and Auntieji from the dabba.  Khushi recalled that day and realized she had to take most of the blame. 

Wasn't it her that took Arnavji's petrol out of the car that resulted in the car stopping prematurely and then his mobile phone dying whilst hers was left at home. 

And then the trail across the jungle where she had fallen in to a hole literally and at least then he helped her out of that hole. Now, they were going to be in a perpetual hole for eternity. 

She then had to insist on going to the toilet and was so excited that some girl had stollen her clothes and left her with better ones, marriage outfit infact.

And then of course, it was her idea to go and eat in the Dabba ' what did she tell him? Oh yes -  food with one phone call free. 

Stupid stupid girl. 

There was no such thing as a free anything. Now she would be paying in interests!!! with her life, her honour, her sweat and blood. Next time it would teach her to be easily influenced by free things. 

Buy one, get one free ' my foot!!!! Khushi concentrate! No one cares about that. Think about this situation. 

What was there to think about the situation?! They were doomed. Period. 

It was her idea to come up with the pregnancy issue. Surely she could have thought about something else. But hell no. Once, she was on a roll, she was gone. Pregnancy as an excuse. Then she was feeling pretty pleased with herself for coming up with a better excuse than Arnavji. Now what?! Surely she too was just as useless as her husband in getting them out of this mess.

Believe in her? Surely not.

So who was left to believe in?! The only person that she had always rested her faith and trust in was Devi Maiya. She was praying earlier for Devi Maiya to show her a way to solve the pregnancy dilemma. Was this her guidance? The expos. Possibly. But what if it wasn't?! Was there more to lose besides her honour. She had nothing left, surely.

Think positive Khushi. You always found a way out. Remember the male models in AR and the typing skills in AR?! Surely you can do this now. 

But then was just trying to teach ASR a lesson. Now it was different. But surely same skills would be involved.

Skill sets?! Yes!!! That's it and what would that be?! More lies! More improvisation! She was good at it. 

Khushi looked around the room and watched as everyone was busy studying the patterns of the floor. No one looked up to make eye contact. Except shyam and khushi immediately looked away. 

Snake! Jerk! bas***d! This was all his fault and now he sat there with a smirk on his face.

She couldnt let him win, surely not. She would have to think of something, anything to help Arnavji with his explaination. And she had Devi Maiya on her side. In the past, she questionned but that led her to believe in Shyam, instead of the signs that was leading her to Arnavji. Not anymore. She would deal with whatever was coming their way, if that was what Devi Maiya wanted. She was now ready. 

She pondered the situation as they waited for NK. Where the hell was he?! Surely it had to be more than 5 minutes already. She didnt think she could wait anymore. 

She forced her thoughts back to her conviction in Devi Maiya. Yesterday, she had asked for a sign and immediately, buaji had insinuated that pregnancy was one of the few reasons for a quick marriage. Today she had asked Devi Maiya for help in convincing the family that she was pregnant. And now they waited to watch the expos.

Could they use this situation in their favour? Devi maiya seemed to think so. They did spend the night together and in the same bed, just different times. So that was a possibility of explaining her pregnancy. 

How far back was that?! October?! No. Too early. It must have been some time in November. 

She stared down at her abdomen and placed her's and Arnav's intertwined hands on her tummy ' could she get away with being 3 months pregnant since it was now February? Possibly. Didn't she see stars on TV that hardly showed until they were 4 months plus. She could wear more loose clothing to give an illusion of a bump. Possible. This could work. As long as they did not suggest seeing the baby scan.

Khushi started retching. No amount of lies or improvisation could help her there. Now that surely had to be worse case scenario. Again she retched.

"Khushi bitiya, are you ok?" Naniji spoke breaking the silence and interrupting her mental chatter.

Arnav inched closer and Khushi could feel his breath on her neck. She closed her eyes to concentrate. "Are you ok, Khushi?" he whispered, his voice revealing his concern.

Khushi tried to shake her head but felt more nauseas. 

Surely Devi Maiya wasn't planning for them to fake an ultrasound scan. Oh boy- they were definitely threading in dangerous waters. And she couldn't swim. Literally.

"Have you eaten, Khushi?" Naniji asked. "Anjali, you? Everyone?"

"No Naniji. We rushed up immediately after the Pooja." Anjali said.

"Hari Prakash" Naniji called again. 

And like before, he immediately appeared. Khushi wondered if he was always sitting to attention at the door.

"Hari Prakash, get some parathas up for everyone. Quickly. And two glasses of milk."

Khushi looked pleadingly at Arnav and then looked at Naniji. "No milk, Naniji. Please. I'll feel more sick. And besides, I don't have an appetite." She spoke softly.

"Khushi bitiya. You and Chote need to stop being selfish and stop thinking only about yourselves. You will have your milk and parathas because you need to look after yourself for your benefit and the baby. Understood?"

Khushi forced a smile and nodded. At least Naniji still cared for her, even if it was also motivated by the imaginary child that was supposedly growing in her womb.

"Khushi, come and rest here, by my side. Use the headboard to support you. Chote, you can move your chair to be close to her as well. Maybe get Khushi some water."

Arnav stood up and stretched. Surely, this had to be some kind of tortous plan by his grandmother. How long could they wait for NK?!  And how long was he prepared to wait for the grilling. It was going to come. He was sure of that. His grandmother never recorded anything on TV. The fact that she did record the expos meant it had to be more. He searched his brains for what other possibilities could there be and could not think of anything. To be truthful, he stopped thinking a while ago. The wait was just getting to him. Grateful that he could move around the room, he slowly walked towards the table and poured Khushi a glass of water. This was getting too much for her. She was not pregnant but the stress surely must be the cause of her retching and feeling nauseas. He had to sort this out somehow but how?! He was at his wits end! 

He offered Khushi the glass and smiled reassuringly. He brought his chair closer to Khushi and held her hand lovingly. Nothing he could do would get them out of this mess. The only way was to face it full on. And he was ready, for every eventuality. With her by his side, he could stormed through anything. But how long did he have to wait?! Where the hell was NK?!

Speaking of the devil, he immediately appeared by the doorway, looking rough, still in his pyjamas. "Naniji, you called."

"Yes, NK. Grab a chair. The show is about to begin." Naniji said.

"The show?" NK mouthed to Arnav with a confused look on his face.

"Yes. NK. We are about to watch 'The breaking news of the sudden marriage of ASR - an exclusive expose.'" Arnav replied as he stressed the title with his fingers tracing inverted commas in the air. 

He quickly glanced at Khushi and turned and looked at Naniji. "Please Naniji, just press play!"