Serendipity

60

"Vanraj, have some more daal dhokli." Baa served another portion on to his place. Vanraj merely nodded, scooping some of the food onto his spoon before placing it in his mouth.

"How does it taste? Is the salt okay?"

He stayed silent, continuing to scoop food into his mouth.

"Beta," Leela sat next to him, gently running her hand through his hair. "What's done is done. Kavya has gone. Anupama is not coming back. There is no point sitting around moping. It's time you snap out of it all.

"And remember, you're a man. A well-educated, successful, good-looking man. You'll get any woman you want. What's this childish insistence on wanting Anupama back in your life?"

Vanraj looked at his mother and then turned his focus back on the food, refusing to answer.

"Vanraj..." Leela gently tried again.

"No Baa. Please don't. No one can replace the mother of my children in my life."

"But Vanraj, you yourself never liked Anupama, because she was uneducated and not worthy of your stature."

Vanraj dropped his spoon into his plate with a clang, the noise scaring Leela for a moment. He then looked hard at her, his eyes red with fury, his lips quivering with the unsaid words he was holding within his being.

"Vanraj?" Leela questioned.

"Please..." he begged her to keep quiet. He was this close to losing his restraint.

"What is it beta?"

He didn't know what it was. Perhaps it was her tone. Perhaps the fact that she had referred to him as her son. Perhaps it was all of the taunts he'd managed to overhear since his wife's with Anuj Kapadia photo had made to the papers. Perhaps it was the fact that the management had earlier that day notified him that his dreams of becoming a partner had died a rather painful death. He was no longer in consideration. He was lucky he still had a job.

That thread of patience that had held his tongue in place snapped and for the first time in 48 years, he lashed out at his mother.

"No Baa. My marriage with Anupama DID NOT fail because of her. It failed because of YOU.

"It failed because YOU made me believe those things about Anupama. When I got married to her, I found her cute. But slowly you poisoned my mind against my wife. You made me dislike her. You kept telling me she wasn't worthy of me until I genuinely began believing it.

"You lied to me, you led me astray, you broke my marriage, you ruined my life. It was because of you that I strayed towards Kavya. Look where that has landed all of us?"

Leela looked at her son flabbergasted and worried.

"What happened?"

And he held his mother's arm and cried.

"Everything is over Baa. Everything is over. My dreams, my aspirations, my career. It's all finished. Nothing remains. Nothing."

As Leela gently threaded her hand through her son's hair, soothing him with her touch, her mind went back to Vanraj's accusations. She had always supported him in all his decisions. And yet, Vanraj had squarely blamed her for everything that had happened in his life. 

All because of that Anupama. 

Vanraj wanted her at any cost, and if he didn't get her... Leela shuddered to think of the repercussions it would have on her relationship with Vanraj. For the first time in 48 years, he had raised his voice on her. Leela had to ensure that it would be the last time.