Sorting Out Sid (24 page)
Neha grinned at her and said, ‘So why don’t you start looking your age, Mom?’ She put one arm around her mother and squeezed lovingly.
Her mother melted a little. Neha felt the stiffness in Mom’s shoulders recede. She was still a little plaintive though. ‘That Julie of yours hasn’t even bothered to bring me a glass of water. You have to train your help on the basics. And I still don’t think you should have given her a key to the apartment.’
Neha quickly cut in to inform Mom that Julie had not offered her water because Julie wasn’t in yet
–
it would be another half an hour before she arrived.
‘I’ll get you some water, Mom,’ Neha said and set Kippy down next to her grandmother, but the little girl started to squeal in protest. Apparently, she’d had her fill of Nani’s company for the day. ‘Shh, Kippy, quiet … just a minute,’ called Neha as she hurried into the kitchen. To her surprise
Kippy quietened down. Neha then heard strains of music and realized her mother was showing Kippy something on the phone. What was that? She recognized the opening theme of
Tom and Jerry
. Neha rolled her eyes … Great … That’s what comes from gifting your mom an iPhone. Neha never let Kippy watch cartoons at home and she had a feeling that her mother had been using YouTube a lot to amuse Kippy through the day. Neha was about to call out in protest but then checked herself, shaking her head. Let Kippy have
someone
to spoil her sometimes.
Her mother’s voice floated into the kitchen. ‘I still don’t think you should trust someone else with the key to your apartment … this is Gurgaon, anything can happen…’
Neha said nothing as she took out a bottle of water from the fridge and poured a glass for her mother. Mom was just being paranoid about everything. It was trying, but she meant well, Neha supposed. Better not to react at all. Neha took a deep breath to fortify herself.
Her mother glanced up and finally smiled as she took the glass murmuring, ‘Thanks, Ninu.’ She still hadn’t given up Neha’s childhood nickname, but Neha was just glad to sense that she was finally relaxing. Neha grinned as she went back into the kitchen to prepare tea.
After a while, Neha brought out two steaming cups and sat down with her mother. They sipped in silence and Neha could tell from the faint smile on her mother’s face that the tea had turned out perfect.
Kippy’s Tom and Jerry episode finished and she started poking at her nani for another one. Mom immediately put her cup of tea down and fiddled with her phone to oblige. Neha deliberately took another relaxing sip of tea to keep from
protesting. Kippy started to giggle in delight, pointing out the cat-and-mouse antics she was seeing for the first time. Neha decided cartoons probably weren’t that bad an influence after all, given how Kippy was laughing and enjoying herself. Neha watched her mother and daughter fondly.
‘What’s that?’ her mother asked curiously, breaking into Neha’s reverie.
‘What, Mom?’ Neha craned her neck around to see what her mother was talking about.
Mom set her cup of tea on the side-table and went past Neha towards the studio. From where Mom had been sitting, the corner of Neha’s newest creation had been visible, propped up near the door. Neha’s mother stared at it for a long time without speaking. Neha got up and walked over to stand behind her mother while still sipping her tea. She found herself wondering what her mother thought of her painting. Her mother wasn’t an artist herself, but had a critical artistic eye.
Her mother finally said, ‘It’s nice.’
Okay … That actually meant, ‘It’s great.’ A smile played on Neha’s lips as she stood behind her mother.
Her mother continued, ‘It’s a rainbow, right? An unusual representation, but interesting.’
Neha’s smile faded a little. She opened her mouth to correct her mother, but then changed her mind. By the time her mother turned around, Neha’s expression was pleasant again, and she said in a warm, concerned tone, ‘Come, Ma, your tea is getting cold.’
By 9.30 p.m. Neha had managed to put Kippy to bed. Her mother was already asleep in the other bedroom. Most nights
Neha felt tired and had to make an effort to be fully attentive to Kippy, but tonight had been great. The time to herself, and the painting had really helped energize her. And the evening with Mom had actually ended up fairly pleasant. Neha grinned at herself, stroking Kippy’s hair as she slept with her mouth half open. Things were peaceful. It was as if there was a certain rhythm to life.
Neha heard a faint knock on the front door. She went over to look through the eyehole, and was pleased to see Aditi. Neha quickly unlatched the door.
‘Hi, Adu!’ Neha said as the two of them hugged, adding, ‘How was Goa?’
‘It was great! I can’t believe we haven’t caught up after I’ve come back … it’s been days!’ Aditi said. ‘Listen, Krish and I are heading out for a quick drink and I thought I’d check if you wanted to come along?’ She saw the doubtful look on Neha’s face and added, ‘Kippy can come over and sleep at our place till we’re back…’
‘Oh that’s okay … Kippy’s asleep. Actually, Mom’s here too, she got in last night
–
she knocked out early too.’
‘Oh, I must say hi to aunty tomorrow then!’ said Aditi. ‘So great, you’ll come, right? I just thought you might like to get out for a change. I don’t like the thought of you alone all the time.’
Neha gave her well-meaning friend a wide smile. ‘I’m not alone. I’ve got Kippy.’
‘Yes, but you know what I mean … you must miss not having regular adult company, right?’
At this Neha thought of Sid for some reason. Did Sid count as adult company? Out loud, she just said, ‘I don’t want to be a kabab mein haddi … Krish and you should get your alone-time together. Don’t worry about me sweetie, I’m just fine.’
‘Sure? I’ve been feeling guilty for being so busy of late. I mean when you moved in here we thought we’d spend loads more time together.’
‘I’m fine!’ said Neha. ‘Mom’s here only for a few days. Let’s hang out next week.’
‘Okay … great.’ Aditi smiled and turned to leave. She then paused. ‘Hey, is that new?’
Neha followed her gaze. The painting.
‘Ya … I’m still working on it.’
‘It’s beautiful.’ Aditi walked over to the door of the studio and examined the painting closely. ‘I love the colours you’ve used.’
‘Thanks. I’m glad you…’
‘And you’ve made the rainbow a single colour while the sky is multicoloured. That’s quite clever!’
Neha never tried to be clever, especially with her art. But she wasn’t going to say that to her well-meaning friend who was heading for a fun night-out. So, she just grabbed her by the shoulders and steered her to the door saying, ‘You’re getting late, sweetie. Have fun and tell Krish I said hi.’
‘I will … I will. Stop pushing.’ Aditi called back over her shoulder, laughing. ‘Bye.’
Neha shut the door, locked it and then walked a few steps over to stand and stare at her new painting. The time she spent on it had been the best part of the day for her. It didn’t matter that no one really seemed to get it despite the fact that it wasn’t meant to be abstract. She was lucky to have people like mom and Aditi. They cared, they were there for her, and that was more than enough.
With a final, satisfied grin at her creation, Neha turned out the lights and went into her room.
‘Y
ou’re such a bad boy, Sid’
Meenakshi pushed herself up on one elbow next to Sid on the bed, the sheet falling off her bare, skinny shoulders. She smiled in a contented, catlike manner and twirled her fingers lightly over his chest.
‘Really?’ Sid mumbled in confusion. ‘My best friend Aditi says I’m a good boy.’
‘She’s wrong,’ Meenakshi purred, shaking her head slowly, her long hair swaying side to side and shimmering in the pale light of the room.
Sid watched her in a distracted manner as she curved her back in a long, lazy, feline stretch. As usual, Meenakshi made him feel that strange combination of attraction and revulsion. Whatever it was, she was fascinating in her own way. But there was something Sid couldn’t quite put his finger on as he watched her. She turned towards him and flashed him a smile, baring her teeth and gums.
The gums … oh God! Those gums so red that they looked almost bloody, and so large that they dwarfed her small white teeth. Sid tried to scream but was unable to get any sound out of his throat.
The ringing of the alarm startled Sid awake and he sat up ramrod straight in bed, gasping for breath.
Thank God … only a dream
–
a nightmare, in fact. Pretty much what this whole week had been. A nightmare.
Sid sat frowning at his laptop. It was already 4 p.m. and he had been unable to concentrate for most of the day despite the four black coffees and six cigarettes so far.
Just three days off from work and his inbox was flooded
–
ridiculous! Just because he had left in a rush and, therefore, been unable to switch on the ‘Out-of-Office Auto Reply’, people continued to email, even cc’ing him on conversations that had nothing to do with him. Now that he was a VP, everyone seemed to feel it was their sworn duty to cc him on everything. Sid hated it, but some perverse obsessiveness made him go through all his email. He couldn’t bear leaving anything unread, even if it was an email thread between 25 people saying, ‘What should we buy Charu as her maternity leave gift.’ Sid shook his head. He was partly pleased that his team didn’t see a reason to remove his name from such exchanges. Colossal waste of time though.
Abandoning his email, Sid opened the monthly sales report and stared at all the numbers in their neat little rows and columns. Excel sheets were much better
–
they were neater. There were formulae involved. Why couldn’t life be like an excel sheet? Orderly and manageable. So what if it also meant life would be boring enough to make you cry? He found himself unable to concentrate and the numbers started swimming around in his head.
Sid sat back and closed his eyes. This wasn’t fair. He had been so looking forward to getting back to work and having
something normal to do. But something was still bothering him. Why wasn’t he getting that feeling of relief now? After all, he had finally got it over with
–
he had told his parents about the divorce.
