Kaise Yeh Rishtey - 18

Chapter 18 

Over the next days and weeks, Khushi started to get into the routine of life in the Raizada house and into that of her new ‘job’. She had three patients to look after, and without much thought, she knew where she had to start. She started with Radhika.

It wasn't a cake walk. It was far from easy. But there was one main advantage to starting with Radhika. Radhika was a child, and children are transparent and easy to decipher, their needs few and easy to understand. Radhika was a frightened child who had lost her mother and her grandmother, the two maternal figures in her life, at one go, and was lost without them. The child needed love ... maternal love, the love of a loving mother and grandmother ... and lots of it. And that, Khushi's love-starved heart could provide in abundance. Children were simple, uncomplicated - you got back as much as you gave. Khushi had always missed her mother, and wondered what a mother's love could be like. Now she found herself on the giving end, and found it to be the most rewarding experience of her life.

The first night in Khushi's new home, she woke to Radhika's screams - a nightly feature for the rest of the household. She rushed to Radhika's room, and ignoring the others who had gathered there in worry, carried the screaming, kicking, frantic child, still fast asleep, back to her own bed, and laid her between herself and Arnav. She gentled her, crooned her, rocked her, till the child's screams slowly sank into whimpers, and Radhika woke almost naturally, to find herself surrounded by warmth. 

Radhika stared drowsily at Khushi. "Mam ...ma?"

"No, sweetheart," said Khushi gently, softly. "Badi mamma. Remember me? I came here yesterday to stay with you and your bade Papa. You had a bad dream, sweetheart. But you're okay now. I'm with you. So is Bade papa."

The little girl stared at her in the dim light, only semi-awake, dazed with sleep and the remnants of her nightmare. 

"I ... saw ... the fire. It took them away. It took ... my mamma away ...'

She hiccuped silently and two big tears rolled down her cheeks. Khushi hugged her close, aching for the little girl.

"There's no fire here, darling. See? There's just me and Bade Papa and you. You're safe here. Your mamma has gone to God's house to look after your baby brother. Remember I told you? Sleep now, sweetheart."

Her voice grew softer and softer as she spoke, and the little girl nodded drowsily, her eyes closing. Khushi held her close, talking softly, tenderly, and felt the child grow limp as sleep claimed her again. Then she looked at Arnav, who had been awake throughout. He nodded slightly, his face grim, pinched, and she ached again for the raw grief in his eyes.

"Sleep, Arnav," she whispered. "She's okay. I'll wake up if she wakes again. Sleep." 

After that, it became a nightly feature for Khushi to bring Radhika to her room at night, and slowly, steadily, she found the nightmares growing less violent, the child going back to sleep more and more easily, cocooned in the warmth and safety of the big bed, with Arnav and Khushi on either side of her. Till one night, Radhika had no nightmares. The child woke, and half-asleep, toddled to Khushi's and Arnav's room, crept in between her and Arnav, and went off to sleep peacefully.

Arnvav watched the child disbelievingly, as she slept, her stuffed doll clutched to her chest. He smoothed her hair gently, and looked across her at Khushi. She didn’t cry, he mouthed silently, amazed, and Khushi smiled softly as she held Radhika close to her warmth. Love, she thought to herself, a little longingly … a mother’s love … what magic it could do.

So she gave Radhika love, and in plenty. She would continue going to the hospital every morning – that had been a condition of hers when she agreed to marry Arnav, and she knew he would honor it. But she took a month off from work – the ever-romantic Mrs. Gill would have wondered if she hadn’t! she thought amusedly, and used the time to spend completely with the little girl. She told Radhika stories, took over bathing her, dressing her, doing her hair. She helped her with her coloring books, her letter and number books, played with her, sang to her, crooned her to sleep. She cooked special dishes for her, enlisting Shantitai's help for notes on what the cild liked, and what her mother and grandmother had cooked for her. And Radhika slowly got used to Khushi, to the love, the constant attention. Khushi talked to Shantitai, and together they told the little girl stories about her father and ‘bade papa’ and ‘chachu’, making the little girl laugh excitedly as they described how much trouble the three boys had got into. Soon Radhika was begging Shantitai for more stories about her father, her mother, and her two ‘naughty uncles’. Shantitai obliged happily, gratefully as she watched the little girl smile and laugh more and more readily. Shantitai was shrewd enough to see through Khushi's light hearted laughter and teasing to the motherly care and concern underneath, as well as understand her way of dealing with Radhika, and as Radhika smiled more and more, so did Khushi’s word become law as far as the older woman was concerned.

So that when Khushi decided it was time to try play school again for Radhika, Shantitai backed up her decision fiercely, and Arnav and his father had to agree. Khushi did her homework and checked out all the possible schools in the area, finally choosing one based on the Principal’s sympathetic reaction to Radhika’s story, and her agreement to allow Radhika to ease slowly into the school routine. Khushi took Radhika to school herself, and stayed there for days on end during school hours, till Radhika settled down and finally allowed Khushi to be out of sight for a few hours every day. Only then, did Khushi go back to hospital, and then, just for those few hours while Radhika was at school.

But both Akash and his father were harder nuts to crack. So Khushi gathered her forces, and attacked on the first front - her father-in-law.

Mr. Raizada had gone into a shell after the accident, Arnav told Khushi. He had given up the will to live. He barely spoke to anyone in the house, he stayed in his room most days and refused to come out, except for the evening meal, he had stopped his physiotherapy for his paralysed legs, and he didn't let anyone enter his room. Even the doctor had given up on the old man. The only person he liked to see was his beloved granddaughter, the only person who brought a smile to his face ... and she was the only person he could not say No to. 

Or so Arnav thought. But, he warned Khushi, even Radhika had not managed to reach the old man enough to make him do anything he didn't want to do. He didn't believe he could walk again ... he didn't want to believe he could walk again. He didn't want to live. 

"He hasn't got a choice in that," Khushi pointed out to Arnav. "He's alive. We have to make him feel alive again."

"How?" asked Arnav bluntly, and Khushi was quiet for a while, thinking deeply over what he had told her. Then she smiled. Put scruples aside, she thought. Arnav just gave you the answer to that. Use Radhika, the apple of her grandfather’s eye, the one person he can’t refuse.

So Mr. Raizada found Radhika knocking at his door every afternoon, wanting to show him her drawings, her numbers, her coloring, and demanding his attention and praise. As he rested on his bed in the afternoons, Radhika sat at his desk with his prized pencil set and drew pictures for him. She demanded his help with her 'homework', made him listen to her poems and stories, and wanted his applause when she finished.

And Khushi came with her – Radhika demanded Khushi’s complete attention when she was at home, so Mr. Raizada had no choice in the matter.

From being granted entry into his room to the next step, was easier. Khushi got into the habit of massaging his legs every afternoon, as he lay in bed for his rest. He grumbled and resisted, but she just smiled sweetly at him and continued. And when he found how relaxing it was to his injured, useless legs, his grumbling was more a face saving gesture than anything else. And as Radhika ‘worked’, Khushi talked. She asked about Radhika’s mother, then her grandmother, and the older man softened as he reminisced about his beloved wife.

“She adored Radhika,” he told Khushi softly, watching his granddaughter with fond eyes. “She always wanted a girl, and she got those three hulks,” he laughed gently and Khushi smiled with him. “When Ajay was born, she told me, no more, let’s adopt a girl. We fought and argued over that one for a long time, and then she discovered we were going to have a third – that was Akash. When he was born, she was a bit disappointed, and I told her – wait a few years, and we’ll have three daughters-in-law, then you’ll be happy. Other mothers are upset when their sons want to get married early, but when Ajay brought Poonam to meet us, my wife almost jumped for joy! And when Poonam was expecting, my wife was determined it would be a girl. That’s why I feel even more terrible that she went so early. All her life she waited for a daughter, and that joy lasted only three years. She loved Poonam also – she was more a mother to her than a mother-in-law and she was waiting for Arnav to …”

He stopped suddenly, as though he had said too much. Then he looked at Khushi.

“Whatever happens, happens for the best,” he quoted softly. “When this happened, I used to wonder if that was true. But now … I think …”

He looked at her again.

“Why did you marry Arnav?” he asked suddenly, directly. “Did you know about … us? About Radhika? That you have to be almost a step-mother … right from the start of your married life? That this child, unrelated to you, will be your primary responsibility for years ahead? Do you love him so much that you can do that?”

Khushi swallowed and looked down.

“I lost my mother when I was two,” she said with difficulty. “Even younger than Radhika. I know what it's like to cry for a mother. Yes, Papaji, I can do that. I knew what Radhika would want, would need … because I have craved that all my life. A mother’s love. I …” she stopped, unable to go on, her eyes damp. 

Mr. Raizada's eyes softened, as he watched her swipe at her cheeks surreptitiously. He reached out to her as she paused in her task of massaging his legs, and gently patted her on the head. 

After that, he welcomed Khushi and Radhika every afternoon, waited for them. There was a new understanding between them, and he never asked her again about why she had married Arnav. Their conversations every afternoon were easier, lighter, as he reminisced more freely about his wife, and for Radhika's benefit, about her parents. 

 That gave Khushi courage to gear up her forces into the bigger battle.

"Why doesn't Akash go to college, Papaji?" she asked him one day, smoothing the oil into his legs. "Arnav said that he's into his final year of MA. Surely he should be attending some classes. His exams will be coming up soon."

"He stopped going after the accident," said her father-in-law, heavily. "Arnav persuaded him to start again when he recovered from his injuries, but his heart wasn't in it, and he used to play truant. He would leave the house for college, but disappear for hours on end. That started worrying Arnav, so he stopped putting pressure, afraid that Akash would really rebel and do something drastic. Then I think somebody said something about his going abroad for his MBA, like Arnav had done, after his final exams. Akash just stopped going to college completely. He stopped listening to his friends, so they also stopped trying. He doesn’t meet them or go out with them anymore either. Now his principal says that his attendance isn't good enough, so … we don't know what to do."

Khushi nodded thoughtfully. "What do you want him to do, Papaji?"

"Isn't it obvious?" asked the old man, bitterly. "I want him to go back. Life has stopped for me, but it shouldn't stop for him. It lies ahead for him, and he has a long road to go. He has to make something of his life yet."

She nodded. "Will you help me? If I try to get him to go back to college?"

Her father-in-law looked at her in surprise. "You?! He will never listen to you, of all people! If anything, he'll do the opposite of what …" he stopped suddenly, and looked hard at her. It was the first time he had acknowledged, even indirectly, that he knew of Akash’s animosity towards her. But to his surprise, Khushi was smiling, a twinkle of mischief in her eyes.

"Exactly, Papaji. He'll do just the opposite. So, will you help me?"

Mr. Raizada looked hard at her, then a slow smile broke across his face.