Tewari & Sons, 23, Chandni Chowk

Chapter 11: Spring Awakening

"Bua, kal aapka chuthi hai?"

Khushi looked up from the book on Advanced Statistics that she was reading. One of her star athlete students at Joseph's, Abhay Sinha was struggling with his coursework and wanted to take time off from sports to concentrate on studies. So Khushi had convinced him to be tutored by her, three days a week after track practice. A somewhat reluctant Abhay had agreed. Khushi understood that many students did use sports as a mean to get into the college of their choice, but once they actually got in coursework often took precedence over sports. Abhay was very talented, he was the only one with any talent, so Khushi felt that investing time on him would be good for the college team. Last week the Vice Principal had called Khushi in and told her that the original coach of Joseph's who was on a sabbatical was scheduled to return when college began in the new year. This meant Khushi would no longer be a coach with Joseph's in another month, but she wanted to make sure that she left on a high note. While she was worried about the uncertainty of the future without the Joseph's job, but she was also proud of it. In some ways, it was one thing that she got entirely on her own. There was no sifarish, nobody who played her guardian angel, nothing. And it was only right that she left the job on a high she decided as she grappled with a complex regression problem. She was at the counter of Tewari & Sons. For once she was glad that they didn't have enough customers to distract her. The thing about maths is that, once you don't practise, you struggle with it. She looked at Aarav. He had still not changed out of his school uniform, though he had been back from school for over two hours now. Renu Bhabhi had probably not come back from work yet.

"Aarav, abhi tak kapde kyun nahin badle. Jaa. Bhabhi se khoobh daant padegi."

"Kal toh chuthi hai mera. Badal loonga."

"Chuthi ka uniform se kya matlab?"

"Aap batao, kal aapka college bandh hain?"

"Holi toh parso hain. Kal college hai mera."

"Lekin kal toh chothi Holi hai. Aap ka bhi college hai, Mumma ka bhi office hai."

"Hmm. Parson khelenge. Ab jaa uniform change kar. Bhabhi ab tak aayi kyun nahi?"

"Mumma apne koyi college friend se milne gayi huyi hai. Aapne bhaang piya hain kabhi?"

Khushi did not want to be judgemental or petty, but Renu Bhabhi was sure going out a lot more often these days and it was always something vague. She had noticed this for the last month or so, but her relationship with Bhabhi was not close enough for her to be intrusive about it. Her thoughts were immediately brought to another thing that she noticed lately. Something that made her uncomfortable that she didn't want to discuss with anyone with: about Shyam Bhaiya. Honestly she had no relationship with her brother. She was eleven when he disappeared. He treated her with a kind of indulgence that much older siblings did. The only real recollection she had about him was when he would buy Bourbon biscuits for her and sneak it past Maa and Baba to give it to her. Maa and Baba believed in making snacks from scratch and found packaged food both expensive and unhealthy. While it was duplicitous in a way, Khushi's greed won over and she would polish off an entire packed of Bourbon biscuit on her own. Other than this, she and Shyam Bhaiya did not share much of a relationship with each other. In fact, it was likely that she would not even recognise him these days. When she last saw him he was eighteen. Now he would be in his mid thirties. And yet, there was this man she had caught lurking around their house twice and once outside her college. Except that he would move away rapidly and somewhat suspiciously when she spotted him. It could not be a coincidence could it? Khushi was convinced that nothing in her life was a coincidence. It was all adding up to something, leading her to some place. She had considered checking with Renu Bhabhi, but they never spoke about Shyam Bhaiya and plus, Bhabhi now seemed settled in this life of hers. Aarav was very young and attached to his mother. Shyam Bhaiya had disappeared from their lives when Aarav was just a year old. For someone who had a troubled life and an absentee father, he was a very normal and well-mannered boy. She did not want to mess with that. She knew that she needed to speak with Baba, but had somehow been unable to bring herself to do that. It was a confusing time for her. But her instincts told her that something was afoot.