Her Calling

The Resolution... Or Not

The end of the semester was just a few weeks away, and Paritosh decided to wait until then to speak to Rupali. The outcome of the conversation could be tricky, and it wouldn't help if she was still his student and he was still responsible for her grades. In these intervening weeks, he kept up the pretense he had promised her, that the conversation outside Rajesh Sinha's clinic never happened. She too played her part well.

But the moment he submitted the final grades, he made the call.

"Rupali. I need to talk to you. Can we meet?"

"Where?"

"You decide."

She sent him the directions to a park near the campus. She was already there when he reached, sprawled beneath a huge, shady peepal tree, her back resting against the tree trunk. He walked over and stood silently for a moment.

"You can sit down," she said dryly, "I won't bite. All the benches were occupied. This was the best I could find."

He remained standing though. "You didn't talk to Rajesh after all."

"He told you after all."

"That was hardly a breach of confidentiality."

She snorted.

"Rupali. We had started on the wrong footing. But I think we both discovered each other to be better persons that we had initially assumed. At least I did."

"You did?" he seemed to have her full attention for the first time.

"Yes. But if I have misled you, or hurt you in anyway, I am really sorry about that. It was not my intention and if there is anything I could do to convince you to seek help..."

She jumped to her feet startling him into silence.

"You have not hurt me, or misled me, Prof. Khanna. You have been very clear about where you stand. I don't promise to see Dr. Sinha. But I assure you I am fine. I am not a child, not even a teenager. I will figure things out." She smiled warmly at him.

He regarded her for a moment, then smiled back, "This has been the easiest conversation with you, ever. And I was dreading it."

"Sorry to disappoint," she grinned. And for the first time Paritosh regretted that they hadn't become better friends.

"I am meeting your uncle tonight for dinner. At your home. I hope to see you there."

A frown appeared on her face, which deepened when she heard him chuckle.

"What is the deal here? Some teenage rebellion you have still not gotten over? Why do you snub your uncle like that? He seems so fond of you."

An flash of anger appeared in her eyes, but she spoke in a controlled voice, "Take his money, if you must. But keep him away from your work. I will see you tonight, I guess. Have a nice day."

Where did her warmth disappear in a matter of seconds, Paritosh wondered as she strode off. An ominous gloom descended over him, and try as he might he could not shake it off.

--

"You know something, Kaku," Rupali was unaccountably voluble on the dinner table; Paritosh pinned it on the glass of wine she had downed like it were sweet sherbet, "Prof. Khanna had an excellent idea for research."

"Is that so, what was it?"

She leaned forward on the table, "He wanted to interview incarcerated criminals and understand what made them the way they are. So that we could prevent more criminals from being made."

"You make it sound like the research would have been some kind of insta-pill against future criminals..." Paritosh interrupted.

But she waved him away, "Kaku, it is the best idea I have ever heard. Too bad administrators did not approve. They thought undergraduate students are too young to talk to the criminals. Right Prof. Khanna?"

Rahul Banerjee cleared his throat and Paritosh noticed him for the first time since Rupali had started speaking. His face was blanched. "I would say that they were good to be cautious. No offence, Prof. Khanna. But yes - I would also worry about twenty-year olds doing this kind of research."

"Twenty-year olds are too young, are they?" Rupali was not to be daunted, and with every passing moment Paritosh was getting the sinking feeling of witnessing something dreadful, but unable to make sense of it, much less prevent it. "You work with children, Dr. Khanna. How old?"

"Anywhere between five and eighteen."

"You, then, must be aware of the statistics of crime against children. Say children under ten, aren't you?"

"It isn't pretty."

"Nope. It isn't pretty at all. Now if ten-year olds can endure those crimes, why can't twenty-year olds try to understand it? Tell me, Prof. Khanna? Kaku?"

Paritosh chuckled nervously, "I don't think it makes for a great dinner-time conversation, Rupali."

"You are right. As always, you are right. Kaku. He is doing some wonderful work, isn't he? Why don't you finance the rest of his budget too? How much is left, Prof. Khanna?"

"Rupali!" Paritosh winced. He had learned to be shameless while raising funds. But right now Rupali made is look like he was using her to get her uncle to cough up more. "Mr. Banerjee has already been quiet generous..."

"It's all hers, anyway," her uncle spoke. His eyes were glued to his plate where he was pushing food around with his fork, "If she wants me to finance the rest, Prof. Khanna, who am I to refuse?" He looked up and gave her a sad smile.

"I haven't been in a more ridiculous situation," Paritosh blurted. It might have been easier if Mrs. Banerjee was also on table. But she had some other engagement; so it was just the three of them. "Yes - I would be very happy to get the money easily, Mr. Banerjee. Fundraising is a drain on my time and energy. But Rupali here is drunk right now. You can't possibly commit anything based on what she says. And what's the matter with you, Rupali? I get it. You are legally allowed to drink. But does that mean you have to get pitch drunk at every opportunity you get? Even the first time I met you..."

"Who do you fancy you are, Prof. Khanna? My father? Even Kaku doesn't fancy that, do you Kaku?"

"Looks like I made a mistake in inviting you to the table, Rupa. Will you please go back to your room and finish you food there? I will have someone send it to you," her uncle finally asserted himself.

Paritosh was sure Rupali won't obey, but she guffawed and got up. She stumbled a bit, and Paritosh jumped to his feet to support her. To his utter embarrassment, she threw her arms around him and hugged him. He threw his hands apart to stop himself from even accidentally reciprocating her gesture. Then she stepped back, flashed him a grin and spoked with a drunken slur, "Good night, Prof. Khanna. And all the best. I admire your work, and your dedication to it."

Paritosh and Rahul sat in silence while she lumbered across the hall, then up the stairs to her room.

"Sorry about that," Rahul broke the silence finally.

"It's okay. She has that tendency behave queerly, I think," Paritosh smiled at him.

"I cannot refuse her anything. That has probably spoiled her..."

Rahul did not sound convinced when he said that, but Paritosh, for the sake of politeness, accepted the clichéd explanation for what he had just witnessed. "Many parents are guilty of that, Mr. Banerjee. But don't worry. She isn't that spoiled really. Look at her grades, for example. She is doing fine."

"Yes. Yes. She is doing fine. By the way, you already have some commitment from the Bansals."

"Yes. Another five percent of my target is achieved. Thanks for the introduction."

"That leaves five percent. Consider it done."

"Mr. Banerjee..."

"She has enough money in her trust fund to finance that, Prof. Khanna. I might as well do it. It wasn't a drunken request that I can set aside."