Prithvi... [Vol 5]

Chapter 118

A frown on his lined face, Uday Singh watched the two troubled souls who had entered the room minutes ago.

Of the two, Prithvi was the one who was clearly in a great amount of pain and was barely aware of his actions. Yet, he was tending to his mother as if she was the one who needed care, giving her a glass of water and asking the maids to bring coffee and refreshments for her.

Priyamvada was accepting her son's ministrations quietly.

When the maids had left the room, Uday glanced at Prithvi. The young man was sinking into a chair near his mother with a sudden weariness.

Uday couldn't hold back his questions any longer. "Nandini has left?" he asked

"Yes," Prithvi muttered, gazing at the floor with clouded eyes.

"For the reason you mentioned? Something about her father?" Uday asked in consternation.

"She didn't leave because of that," Prithvi replied evenly, not looking at his mother

Priyamvada clutched her son's hand. "Prithvi, please believe me. I did not say or do anything that could make Nandini want to leave," she said pleadingly. "I did not want her to go away. I wanted her to stay with us."

The sincerity of that last sentence made Prithvi glance at his mother with unconsciously sharp eyes. "Why? Why did you want her to stay with us?"

Wrong-footed, Priyamvada took a few seconds to come up with a response. "Nandini brought you to me at the exhibition," she said weakly. "She's lucky for us. I want her to return. She must come back to us. She has to..."

Priyamvada stopped speaking. She'd been trying to remain calm but now the horrors of her actions and the surely calamitous impact it was going to have on her family swooped down on her.

Nandini had been hurt – physically and mentally – and she had left in anger. That anger was going to destroy everything again..

Uday Singh let out a startled sound as Priyamvada's eyes rolled back.

Prithvi moved swiftly to hold his mother before she toppled off her seat.

The subsequent minutes were a blur for him.

Later, he would only have vague recollections that he had carried his mother to her suite while shouting at someone to call a doctor. That he had placed her gently on the bed and sat by her side. And that he had held her cold hand, and as if reciting a prayer, he had repeatedly whispered, "Maa.."

What he would remember forever was the paralyzing fear that he had lost his mother again. And the staggering relief when her eyes had opened slowly and focussed on him. Just a few minutes had elapsed between both the emotions. But that time was sufficient to give him a radically fresh viewpoint on everything that had happened from the moment he had seen his mother sitting on the ground behind a stall at an exhibition...

After some time, while they were waiting for the doctor to come out of Priyamvada's suite, Uday Singh comfortingly said, "Your mother will be fine, Prithvi. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about."

"I should have known...I should have been more careful with her," Prithvi derided himself bitterly, his fair face glazed with tension.

"But the normalcy of her behaviour could have deceived anyone," Uday Singh insisted "When I was talking to her, it was difficult to remember that she - she had gone through so much. She's undernourished and weak, but she seemed fine otherwise. I suppose it will take a long time for her to achieve some normalcy," he sighed. "We will have to take good care of her."