Tewari & Sons, 23, Chandni Chowk

Chapter 6: Pyaar Ka Tohfa

Khushi was walking along somewhat aimlessly around the state emporiums in Connaught Place when she heard her phone ring. By the time she got her hand out of the pullover's sleeves that she had squeezed them into and reached for the phone inside her bag, it stopped ringing. She checked the call log to realise that it said, Gomati Sadan, the house where her parents stayed, it was Maa who was trying to reach her. This immediately made her think of the worst. Something was wrong. What could be wrong? Maa and Baba were a creature of habit and that they had a designated day and time for their phone calls - Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings. Wednesday because it was mid-week and so it was a good choice of the day of the week and Sunday so that they could speak to Aarav as well. Of course, by they she meant just Maa. Baba no longer spoke to her over the phone. Which was to say, Baba no longer spoke to her. Usually when Maa made some kind of unscheduled phone call it was to say that some extended member of their family had passed away. Or a tragedy of some sort had befallen the Gupta brethren, many of whose existence she did not even know of until such phone calls. But occasionally tragedies would hit closer to home and those were the ones that bothered her. Perhaps Baba's BP had shot up again, or Maa's back ache had returned, or maybe Baba was making losses in the catering business, or something worse had happened. She stopped in front of the India Coffee House and dialled Maa and Baba's number. As always, Maa would pick it up almost at the tail-end of the call.

"Maa, jaldi utha nahin sakti thi phone ko?"

"Khushi?"

"Aur kaun?"

"Bua aayi huyi hai, toh baatein kar rahe the, phone suniya hi nahi diya. Bahut dheere bajta hai. Tum yahan aati toh theekh kar deti."

"Aa jaaoongi, Maa."

"Kab?"

"Jald hi. Acha batao phone kyun kiya? Sab theekh toh hai?"

"Haan. Tu bata, wahan sab theekh toh hai?"

Things were not particularly theek, but mother and daughter preferred not to burden the other with problems both small and big.

"Theekh hai. Phone kyun kiya?"

"Kal budhvaar tha, aur tu ne phone nahi kiya."

Of course, that was it. She had missed her scheduled Wednesday appointment because of Lavanya's Sangeet. This was a rare occurrence and naturally Maa was worried.

"Maine kahan tha na, woh Lavanya, New-Ons.. New Horizons walli ki shaadi hai, kal sangeet par gayi thi. Usne bahut baar kaha toh main mana nahin kar paayi. Abhi bhi uske shaadi ke liye gift khareedne Connaught Place aayi hoon."

"Acha. Kya lena walli ho?"

"Pata nahin, Maa. Invitation mein bataya hai, no gifts, please."

When Khushi saw that on Lavanya's wedding invite, she had been confused. This demand for no gifts was both a blessing and disguise. She had been out of touch with Lavanya for too long now to know what she liked and what would she possibly like as a wedding gift. And not to mention how she was always hard pressed for cash most of the times. And yet, how could she not give her a little token at least to celebrate one of the important milestones of her friend's life. In the last few years, she had bought presents for Preeto and Aakash, both of whom were the kind who were relatively easy to please. Though Preeto was very judgemental about a lot of things and people, but whatever Khushi bought her was accepted with a squeal and a hug. Aakash, she was sure did not even unwrap the presents she got for him and accepted whatever was sent his way gratefully. But Khushi reckoned that Lavanya would be a bigger challenge, which is why she was trawling the state emporiums, that had tasteful items albeit a tad overpriced.