Serendipity

68

Anu was busy packing her bags, for her four day trip to Modhera. A strange feeling of excitement and melancholy was setting in at the same time. She would be travelling by bus along with the rest of the troupe. The troupe was booked to stay at an upscale local inn at Mehsana.

On Day 1, the troupe would have a stage rehearsal. Their performance was scheduled for Day 3 and they were due to return on Day 4. Anupama re-read her itinerary to ensure she'd packed sufficiently and hadn't forgotten anything.

As she continued to place her clothes in her suitcase she pondered on the changes in her life in the last six months. She'd learnt to stand up for herself, express herself, feel proud of herself, celebrate her achievements. She'd begun smiling a lot more, believing herself worthy, asking for what was rightfully hers. 

She opened her cupboard and looked at the frame with Anuj's picture she'd hidden in there and blushed. She'd fallen irrevocably in love with him. And she wasn't shy to admit it. And while she knew without a figment of doubt that Anuj loved her back, he'd never vocalized his thoughts in as many words.

She gently patted her head and smiled. She was being given the world, and she was now acting greedy. He might have never said it, but his actions spoke out loud. Still, a part of her longed to hear those three magical words from him, as they were and not in the roundabout fashion he'd said it a few times.

She'd hoped against hope that he would say something to her on New Year's Eve. Instead, the two had spent that night with family and close friends. Too many people, too little privacy. While Anu had thoroughly enjoyed the party, her wish remained unfulfilled.

Once done with her packing, she began to fill a vanity pouch with odd bob pins, safety pins, makeup, kohl, eyeliner, gloss, anything she could think of that might be required for the performance.

Her room had begun to resemble a warehouse stockpiled with things for the dance festival and her upcoming wedding. Anuj and she were set to marry, three weeks from now, on Feb 14, the same date Anuj's mother and father had gotten married.

On an impulse, she walked back to her cupboard, picked up the photo to place in her suitcase. As she turned from the cupboard, a beautiful red and black Anarkali filled with colourful Kutchi embroidery and mirror work fell out of her cupboard. Another of Anuj's gifts. She picked it up, opened her drawer to fetch the beautiful anklets he'd proposed with and packed those two as well. She would wear it on the day of the performance.

She sighed as she closed her suitcase, excited to see her months of hard work finally achieving fruition. She wished Anuj would be there to celebrate that moment with her. Wishful thinking never got anyone anywhere.

She sighed and walked out of her room to check if Kinjal needed any help with her packing.

*****

"Anu."

She looked up from her dinner.

"Come to my room once you're done with your chores."

Anu looked at him quizzically. Anuj was aware that Anupama and Kinjal were leaving the next morning for Modhera. Kaka had lamented that the house would feel lonely without the two of them. And Anu and Kinjal had both smiled, finally getting a sense of home, realizing that they too had people in their lives who cared for them and missed them.

"Anu?" He asked, snapping his fingers in front of her to break her out of her reverie. "Come and see me once you're done with everything."

She nodded and continued to eat.

*****

It was close to 11 pm by the time Anu finished all her chores. It involved detailed instructions to Sheela on what to make for breakfast, lunch and dinner; when Kaka took his medications; where all the emergency numbers were listed; whom she should call for what; and what was the best way to reach out to Anupama in case that was required.

GK, who'd come to the kitchen to fill his bottle up, smiled. Ever since this girl had walked into their lives, she'd filled it with so much joy. He couldn't remember how they'd lived before she'd arrived.

"Yes Bhabhi," Sheela had told her. "You go. Don't worry about here. I'll take care of everything."

Anu had smiled at her. "Thank you, Sheela."

Sheela had been touched. No one thanked their house help. She'd felt respected.

"No mention Bhabhi," she'd told Anupama beaming. "And all the best."

Anu had hugged Sheela then. 

As the departure was nearing, excitement was predominantly taking over. Picking up her bottle of water, she walked towards Anuj's room and knocked on the door.

"Come in," he yelled. Even before she stepped in, she knew he was working. She rolled her eyes. She'd fallen in love with a workaholic. She worried about his health. But he'd been doing better with his food and sleep. And that had been assuring.

"You wanted to see me."

He nodded and passed her an entire sheaf of papers.

"What is this?"

"Kinjal's adoption papers. Sign wherever I've marked an X."

Momentarily, dumbstruck, she stared at him.

"What?" he asked. "Don't tell me you've changed your mind."

She shook her head. "I didn't know you were doing something about this."

"Were you?"

She shook her head again. 

"Well, who do you think was going to do it then?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "You never mentioned anything and by the looks of it you've been working on this for nearly a month."

It was his turn to shrug. 

"Anu, as we discussed, we need to finalize this adoption BEFORE our wedding, which is less than three weeks away. That means I will have to file these papers by tomorrow. Because even with all my influence, things will still take some time."

She gave him a crooked smile and started signing. As she flipped through the papers, initialling and signing where required, she spotted a consent document signed by Rakhi Patel for Kinjal's adoption.

"What is this?" she asked him.

"Oh, that. Since Kinjal's biological mother is still alive, we needed her to consent for this adoption. It isn't mandatory since Rakhi has had no active say in Kinjal's life for the last six months. 

"But one never knows. Once we get married and Kinjal becomes Kinjal Kapadia, things could change. Relatives could begin to appear from the woodworks and accuse us of unfairly stealing the child.

"While I don't believe Rakhi will ever come looking for Kinjal, I didn't want to take any chances. So I had one of my associates from the legal team meet with Rakhi last week, explain that you wanted to adopt Kinjal and request her to sign this document. She was more than happy. She was living with the guilt of having abandoned her daughter. Knowing that her daughter would be cared for, gave her some sort of closure."

Anu kept the papers on the bed near her, bent forward to hold his hands.

"You did all this for me?"

"For us, Anu. Remember, there's no you and me anymore, there's only us."

"I love you Anuj." She walked up to him and placed a kiss on his forehead.

He quietly got up and walked to his cupboard, opened it and brought out a beautiful emerald and ruby Kundan choker with matching long earrings.

Anuj never ceased to surprise her. Her eyes welled up. She looked at the set and gently caressed it with her hands, afraid to touch it that it will disappear when she noticed that the quite large piece of card paper attached to the set wasn't a price tag but a note from Anuj.

She turned it over and read it out loud:

You remind me of a phoenix that rises from its ashes. I am so proud of you. You deserve this and much more. Own it all.

"I'll wear it on the performance day," she told him. He nodded.

She walked back to the bed and finished signing the documents.

"I love you, Anuj," she told him again.

"I know," he replied, before bringing her close and placing his lips on hers.