Tewari & Sons, 23, Chandni Chowk

Chapter 4: Dilli Ki Sardi

Hari Prakash went to the table and checked if everything was in order. It was almost eight thirty in the morning and the family members were due to arrive for breakfast any moment now. He had been working with the Raizadas for the last thirty-eight years, from the time when he came to this family as part of Poonam Raizada's dowry. He was thirteen then and the young Raizada couple had kept him in their house after they promised his parents that they would pay for their son to finish his school. When he moved from Sitapur, a village in Uttar Pradesh to Delhi first, the Raizadas lived in a small house in Lajpat Nagar, House No. M-4, near the main market area. Poonam Raizada, whom he called Didi was a journalist working with The Hindustan Times and Anand Raizada whom he called Saheb was a well-known, young lawyer who defended several of the high-profile criminals in the city. Of course other than this aberration, Saheb was a man of high integrity. They were reasonably well-to-do then and could afford to keep him along with actual maids. His initial work used to be to help Didi do her monthly spring cleaning or tasks like taking out the warm clothes, blankets and razais to air them out when winter came in and to store them properly at the end of the season. He also served water and chai to the clients who visited Saheb in the office which was the ground floor of the house. They moved to the current house, Raizada House in Greater Kailash just a few months before Arnav Bhaiya was born. He was not at all biased when he said this, but Raizada House was the most handsome house in their street, which boasted of many other beautiful houses. But Didi who had quit her journalism job by the time they had moved to this house had literally built the house brick by brick. Every corner of the house had a story of how Didi had contributed to it and made it the way it was. He felt a great deal of loyalty with the Raizadas, Saheb, Anjali Didi and Arnav Bhaiya, but the person with whom he felt the greatest emotional connect with was Didi, Poonam Raizada. His wife Kusum would often complain that he did too much chaaploosi of badi deedi, but that is not how he saw it. He was loyal and at times did go out of his way to do things that Didi would ask of him. He was proud of how fiercely loyal he was. His Didi, who had treated him and his family with nothing but kindness and respect deserved his loyalty.

He looked at the clock, it was a quarter to nine and nobody was around. It was a very cold day, but he knew Didi and Saheb were not the kind to oversleep because the weather was chillier than usual. They were both very disciplined.

"Hira," he called to the cook, "Yeh toast andar lekar ja aur phir se banana. Yeh thanda ho gaya hoga."

Hira Singh, the cook, muttered something under his breath and picked up the plate with the slices of bread and left. HP realised that there was a slight revolution brewing among the servants of Raizada House, which he needed to take care of. He would normally have taken the help of Didi, but she was going to have her hands full with the return of that Chandni Chowk girl, she needn't be bothered with trivial things like the cold war between the cook and the gardener. But for now he had to tell Didi about Khushi Kumari Gupta, the girl who had brought trouble into their lives seven years ago was back.

"Didi ko mat batana, tumhe kya milega us ladki ko pareshaan kar ke. Peechli baar bhi.." Kusum his wife had pleaded to him almost to not tell their mistress about Khushi. He had nothing against the girl Khushi, she used to be a good person even back then, but his first duty was to protect the Raizadas.

Just a little after nine, his phone rang and he saw on the caller id that it was Poonam Raizada.

"Didi, aaj nashte pe koyi nahin aaye."

"Haan HP, ek zaroori meeting aa gaya tha to main office paunch gayi hoon. Mujhe aah dopahar hi nikalna hai, pehle Bombay aur phir wahan se London. Ek hafte mein wapas aaongi. Mera suitcase bahar nikal ke rakhna aur ek dawai ki list rakhi huyi hain side table par, woh khareed ke rakhna."