Winner of Wattpad India Awards 2020 (Judge's Choice) in the New Adult category.
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"The lights are cheeky, you can't live without them, and yet if you get too close, they'll blind you. Darkness? Well it doesn't cheat. It's cool and soothing. It's r...
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The next day, Nakul returned with a doctor after dropping Suman and her daughters at the bus stand. To Madhu's relief, her injuries were shallow, and she was given the green light to move around on the condition that she would take things easy.
The following week passed by uneventfully. Once she could get out of bed without feeling the presence of darts sticking to every surface of her body, Madhulika spent her time taking long walks across the estate and poring over the accounts of Jasm Inn her father faxed Nakul once a week. He also wanted to know if she was doing okay and whether she had adjusted to Bhabra well enough. Madhu informed her dad about her broken phone but apart from that, didn't mention the recent fiasco. Nakul didn't either and she was glad he wasn't the meddling type.
Champa came back to cook three days later. In spite of what Nakul had told her, Madhu could see the fear in the older woman's eyes at the mention of the police complaint she had filed. Thankfully though, she said that Kamal was alright and would be discharged from the hospital soon.
After leaving her bed and bathing before dawn on her tenth day in Bhabra, Madhu found herself walking further away than usual, squinting at a conical spire, an ancient looking shikhara of a temple. She could've taken the shorter route through the bazaar but decided against it and followed the river instead. The river had a ghat, eleven large stone steps leading into the water. She imagined the steps being crowded by devotees on holy days, bathing and praying in the river. Right now, however, they were empty except for one familiar-looking pundit. She stopped near the boundary wall of the temple to remove her sandals before approaching her father's old friend.
Wearing only a simple white dhoti and a sacred thread over his chest, he was standing on the fourth step of the ghat, water splashing his ankles, or rather ankle, for his other foot was resting above his knee in the yogic posture of vrikshasana, the tree imitation, his hands joined above his head. The rising orange sun seemed to be positioned exactly above his heaven-pointing fingertips and it hurt Madhu's eyes to look at him directly. It was odd how calm he looked, despite having an impressive pot belly, his balance was perfect.
"You can come closer Madhulika, the water won't burn you," he said eventually, resting both his feet on the ground. He didn't explain how he knew she was standing behind him.
"I wanted to offer prasad in the temple, but I couldn't buy another box of sweets after the first one was...well, used up."
He didn't face her when she descended the steps to stand beside him, but Madhu could spot the corners of his mouth turning upwards at her words. "I'm sure God won't mind; it must've been used up for more important purposes."
Madhu got a feeling that he knew more than he was letting on. She hadn't ventured out of her house much after the incident, but Nakul had mentioned in passing how the villagers were talking about the granddaughter of the old Thakur sahib being involved in a truffle with the men of Brigesh Babu sahib, another rich landowner in Bhabra. Wealthy people fighting seemed to be their only source of entertainment.
