The Benefit Season (22 page)

‘
Oh no!’

‘
So here I am, nearly
broke- much of what you see around you is where mom has spent my
money. I have nothing right now- no job, no recommendation, no
house and no car’.

‘
Have they accepted your
resignation?’

‘
Not as yet- but I guess
Vishal’s word will convince them to accept it’.

‘
Is it really that
bad?’

‘
Believe me, I’d run out
of choices’.

‘
What are you going to do
now?’

‘
Look for another job, I
guess. I think I did okay, so the competition should be happy to
take me in their fold. Or I could start off on my own- I know the
ropes.’

‘
Hmm’, she said, and
became quiet. The lights seemed faded, and the music
muffled.

‘
Do you still want to go
through with this’, he asked, looking away.

A tear appeared at the edge of her kohled
eye. She looked up at him, hurt, and said, ’Try and stop me! ‘

‘
Are you sure? You could
wait out. Or…’

‘
Or?’

‘…
There are many men,
better men out there. You don’t have to do this- I will perfectly
understand’.

‘
Many men… Better men?
You’re telling me now? With your ring in my breast?’ She took out
the ring from her blouse and tossed it on the table. ’You be the
man, Mr. Arjun! Don’t make excuses. If you want to break off now
for whatever reason, say so. But don’t make me do it just so that
you don’t feel guilty!’

‘
I don’t want to break off
Aarti! I wouldn’t for the world! Would you still believe in me, is
all I ask’.

She smiled through her tears. ‘I have always
believed in you. Since the days you used to save the school bus
seat for me- next to yours, and fight off anyone for it- even the
bigger boys’.

‘
Thanks’, he laughed;
bending down, he kissed her head, and carefully daubed at the rogue
tear that had found its way to her damask cheek, leaving a furrow
in the makeup in its wake.

‘
We still have a couple of
weeks before the wedding- I make enough for both of us. And we can
stay at auntie’s place for a while’, she said.

‘
Let’s see, it shouldn’t
really come to that. I have spoke to a few people, and they will be
getting back to me anytime.’

‘
All right! But can we not
tell the folks- please? At least not for tonight!’

‘
I wasn’t going to. But I
couldn’t have gone through this without coming clean with
you’.

‘
Okay. But next time, can
we please discuss before we take decisions that affect both our
lives?’

‘
I promise’.

‘
Is there anything else
you want to tell me?’

‘
Nope’.

‘
Good then. To tell you
the truth, in a way I’m really relieved that Monal is out of our
lives. She was a blight.’

‘
Same here’, he said.
Picking up the ring from the table, he kissed it, and tucked it
back inside her blouse. ‘Take good care of it’. He patted her arms
and left.

‘
I believe in you Arjun,
more than I believe in myself
,’
Aarti thought to herself, as his reflection
retreated out of view.

People greeted Arjun fondly as he mingled
with the guests. He smiled easily; a great weight had lifted off
his shoulders after speaking with Aarti. Luckily she’d not probed
much; perhaps she’d already guessed what was going on. And maybe
she was right; having Monal out of their lives should be such a
good thing.

His mom called out to him to introduce him
to a small gathering of her relatives. Khosla also hung around,
swaying a little. He had perhaps been spiking his drinks with
liquor smuggled from the lawns. No drinks were permitted till the
ring ceremony was over, but Khosla didn’t regard himself as a
guest. He was the host.

‘
I knew this boy was
trouble,’ Khosla said, hugging Arjun warm-heartedly; ’…trouble
since the day I found him climbing the tree to sneak into my
daughter’s room. He was ten then, I think’! The small crowd gasped
and gaggled appreciatively.

‘
Really’, said his mother,
shocked. ‘You didn’t tell me this one before’, she turned
accusingly to her son.

‘
Ma I don’t tell you
everything now: do I?’

‘
See, what a big boy he’s
become, not telling his ma things,’ She complained, not a little
proudly.

‘
Excuse me, I’ll go check
the arrangements outside’, he said and walked into the lawns
outside.

The evening was chilly and foggy; it was the
coldest weather in Delhi at this time. Luckily the garden was far
from the bustling road and blaring traffic outside. Arjun felt at
peace after long last. He paced the thick, fragrant lawns and
contemplated on the immediate tasks at hand: no hitches in the
ceremony tonight, and a couple of phone calls the next day sounding
people off that he was available for hire. He stretched himself and
inhaled the sweet-scented air deeply, preparing to speak with the
manager regarding the arrangements.

‘
Excuse me sir’, a clear,
pleasant voice spoke behind him, ‘Mr. Arjun’?

He turned around. A pretty hostess dressed
in the hotel uniform of white and blue, with a small clipboard
tucked in her arm stood there, bowing slightly.

‘
Yes’.

‘
Sir I have a message for
you’.

‘
Yeah what’?

‘
Someone has sent for you
urgently, requesting for an immediate parlay’.

‘
Now? It’s my
engagement!’

‘
I know sir, sorry sir.
I’ll tell her you can’t come now’.

‘
Her? Who is
it?’

She checked the clipboard.’ Sir it’s a Mrs.
Nagrath, Monal Nagrath’.

‘
What! What’s she doing
here?’

‘
I have not been informed
sir’.

‘
Where is she? Is she
here’, Arjun asked, darting a quick look across the lawns, scanning
the shadows to see if she might be lurking there.

‘
Sir, she said she could
come here if you liked- she has an invite. She’s in the parking lot
right now’.

Damn! Khosla had invited her to give
blessings! Her blessings? What a mess! Monal was a blot that
refused to budge from the landscape.

Arjun struggled with his thoughts, thinking
of a way to spirit her away. Monal’s presence in the hall was bound
to get Aarti upset, very upset, especially after he’d told her that
he’d burnt the bridges with her and hers. It would be far better to
persuade Monal to dispense her blessings from the anonymity of the
parking lot outside and leave, rather than lounge in the glare of
the dais inside and stay.

‘
Take me to her’, he said,
firm that he would settle the matter once and for all.

‘
Follow me sir’, she bent
forward at the waist and gestured with her hand. They snuck out
through the brush covering the lawns, avoiding being seen by the
staff. She walked towards a large black Audi parked away from the
lit up areas. ‘There’, she pointed out and fell back. He strode
firmly towards the car and snatched open the rear door. The car was
empty.

‘
Hey, there is no one
here’, he said, turning back towards the girl.

She had crept up quietly
right behind him. She raised a hand deftly and Arjun felt a prick
in his neck.
The bitch had dug a syringe in
him!
As he tried to massage his neck, he
felt his legs folding under him, and the girl becoming a blur. He
tried to lunge at her throat, but it became black all of a sudden
and he collapsed to the ground. He faintly heard steps and shouts
of some men, and sensed being lifted off the ground and shoved into
the back seat, before he finally passed out.

ϖ

The men drove Arjun out to
a plush farmhouse in Rajokri, South Delhi. The large gates were
swung open for them after the armed sentries, with two large
imported
Akita
guard dogs, checked their ID and confirmed with someone on
the phone. All the while the ferocious dogs, uncomfortable with the
visitors on their watch, wouldn’t let up on the barking. There were
CCTVs all over the place, monitoring the gates, the grounds and the
big house itself. Two armed men watched keenly from the rooftop as
the car drove in and stopped under the porch to the sprawling
mansion. Assisted by the house staff, the men from the car lifted
Arjun and put him on a bed in one of the rooms inside.

‘
God, this guy is dead
weight’ exclaimed one of them.

‘
Yeah, and he can be a
real nasty too. Better keep a sharp lookout on this one,
yeah’.

‘
How did he get messed up
with the likes of us- seems clean’.

‘
You’ll live long buddy,
if you don’t ask so many questions. He’ll come round by morning. Be
careful’.

‘
Sure. We’ve got an armed
watch outside the room- 24x7’.’

‘
Wonder what good that
might do ya. We be off now’.

The visitors returned to their car and drove
out into the chilly, foggy Delhi night. Visibility with fog lights
was no more than 50 meters. The driver drove painfully slowly to
the railway station and dropped his two passengers there. He left
the car in the parking lot and walked down to a nearby seedy
Paharganj hotel full of Israeli and British junkies, and skinny
Ukrainian girls who come to India swooning with dreams of making it
big in modeling or even getting a break in Bollywood, but end up
having their passports seized and forced into prostitution.

The paan-chewing man with stained yellow
teeth asked him only for the cash before turning around a heavy,
well worn and moldy register, and tossing a ball pen tied to a
string on it for the driver to put his details down.

‘
Thumb or pen?’ asked the
cheeky receptionist, needling the driver just to rid himself of
boredom.

The driver looked up menacingly and raised
his middle finger. ‘How about this, after I shove it up yours,
along with the register, rolled up?’

‘
Just asking- no offence’,
the receptionist tittered nervously. Then he slammed on the desk a
large brass key with a plastic card that said: Room
≈
113. ‘Here
long?’

‘
No longer than I can
help’, the driver said, crinkling his nose at the general smell of
decay. ‘Anything died in here?’

‘
Not when I checked last-
can’t remember when that was! But we have a cleaning staff who
bring out the dead- when they find any’.

The driver slammed shut the hefty register
and looked with surprise at his key.

‘
First floor, third room
on the left as you climb the stairs. The three digits are just to
impress. We just have seven rooms in this joint- mostly on triple
sharing basis. And no lifts’.

‘
Do you want anything,
damn you’, he shouted after the driver who didn’t bother to look
back. ’Something to smoke… drink… a girl… boy…virgin or hardcore...
any color? No? You’re welcome!’

The driver unlocked the door to his room and
lay down on the narrow, damp bed next to the window. His long,
thick legs spilled several inches beyond the bed’s edge. He looked
around the shabby lodging and sighed. He took out his mobile and
called a number.

‘
Yes’, whispered someone
huskily at the other end- a woman’s voice.

‘
It’s done ma’am’, he
said, a respectful tone in his voice.

‘
Is he okay’, she asked
with concern.

‘
He’ll be fine, and pretty
too when he wakes up. We didn’t bump him or anything- just a small
jab in the neck. ‘

‘
Same place?’

‘
Yes. But be careful- it’s
heavily armed, they’ve got dogs and TV all over’.

‘
Stay low till I come.
I’ll call you when I reach, you don’t call me again’.

‘
Fine ma’am. When do I
expect you?’

‘
Soonest’, Monal said, and
hung up.

She smiled her way through the throng of
uber-cool, ultra-rich guests at her anniversary party, and walked
out of her lavish penthouse without anyone noticing.

It was only in the morning, close to noon
actually, when on being awakened, Vishal, feeling the usual crash
of nausea as the high of coke wore off, was told she was missing.
His maid, after cleaning, had announced triumphantly; ‘madam is not
in the house’. She probably did a couple of merengue dance steps in
the passage and chuckled to herself while leaving the house,
feeling happy for madam.

The following evening Vishal reported her
missing in the police station. Being a high profile case, the
matter was handed over to the crime branch.

ϖ

The shaken guests at Aarti’s engagement
ceremony discovered Arjun was missing, when they began to look for
him to escort a ready Aarti to the grand dais to an expected
thunderous applause. He wasn’t in the toilets, he wasn’t taking any
calls- his phone was switched off, and none of the hotel staff had
seen him leaving the grounds. Yes, he had wandered into the lawns
to check on the arrangements, but the manager there too confirmed
that he hadn’t seen Arjun that. After several hours of search they
finally gave up.