Finding Arun (29 page)

‘Oh Lucky, I love it, thank you so much,’ she
gushed, throwing her arms around her brother’s neck and pulling him
into a tight embrace.

‘You deserve it. I know it has been hard without
Mata-ji; you are the one who has really kept us both going,’
whispered Lucky into her hair, just loud enough for Arun to
hear.

Arun instantly felt like he was intruding on a very
intimate and personal moment, and though he was still baffled as to
the significance of the exchange between his siblings, he couldn’t
tear his eyes away from their obvious display of love and
appreciation. He felt close to Lucky and Hanara in the way that he
had felt close to his mother, but his siblings had been on a
journey together, a journey that had been tougher than his own in
so many ways, and it was the strength of their unity that had seen
them through.

Hanara released Lucky from her embrace and shimmied
leftwards until she was facing Arun. There was no trace of malice
when she gazed up at him meaningfully, her soft hazel eyes filled
only with love. She repeated the same ritual that she had conducted
on Lucky and this time produced a red and silver braid from her
pocket to tie around Arun’s wrist.

‘Arun, I love you too,’ she began, almost with tears
in her eyes, ‘thank you for coming back to us. I am so grateful to
have both of my brothers in my life again; I don’t know what I
would do without you either.’

She sat back on her heels once more and looked at
Arun expectantly, but he was so warmed by her unexpected words of
kindness that his eyes shone with tears and it took a few moments
before he was able to find his voice.

‘Hanara, I … I love you too. I know that at first we
had our differences … but I feel so privileged to know both you and
Lucky … and I am truly humbled and thankful for the way in which
you have welcomed me into your home. I … I wish I could stay
longer, but I will always be here for you if you need me.’

Hanara smiled at him encouragingly, visibly moved by
his choice of words.

‘I’m afraid I don’t have any –’ he continued, but a
sharp jab in the ribs from Lucky was all that was needed for him to
join the dots together. ‘This is for you,’ he said, reaching behind
his cushion to produce the bag that his brother had given him
before dinner.

Hanara enthusiastically accepted it and reached
inside, removing a crimson sari covered in black beading.

‘Wow,’ she gasped, lifting the folds to inspect the
delicate handiwork, ‘it’s beautiful, Arun, thank you.’

She placed the sari on top of the one that Lucky had
gifted her and reached forward to embrace Arun tightly, allowing
him to snake his arms around her small waist. Arun had meant every
word and with Lucky smiling and winking at him over Hanara’s
shoulder, he was never more grateful to know that he had a big
brother looking out for him too, especially when he wasn’t even
aware that he needed one.

When the emotional exchanges were over, Lucky
disappeared into his room and returned carrying a large wooden
square and a small bag. He set the square down on the floor between
them and Arun noted the intricate markings that seemed to indicate
that the piece of wood was a board game of some sort. A large
circle was painted in the centre and there was a hole in each of
the four corners with various other lines and small circles
arranged on the board in a symmetrical fashion.

‘What is this?’ asked Arun, intrigued.

‘It’s carrom,’ answered Lucky brightly.

‘It’s a family tradition,’ explained Hanara, ‘we
always play carrom on Raksha Bandar; that is, on this day. It was
Mata-ji’s favourite game only. She was the best at it so she was
always making us play, just so that she could at least win
something.’

‘You mean she didn’t tie a string and get a sari
too?’

‘It’s called a rakhi, and no she didn’t. Only
sisters tie rakhis on their brothers, or sometimes also on their
very close cousins and friends.’

‘Didn’t Mata-ji have any brothers or cousins?’

‘No, she was an only child, that’s why she always
liked to play carrom on Raksha Bandar. Everyone was always busy
tying their rakhis, so she would stay home and make first her
parents, then Bapu-ji and then us play carrom, to keep her from
being bored.’

‘I see,’ replied Arun, delighted to have picked up
this new bit of information about Mata-ji. ‘So we’re not going to
the mandir tonight?’

‘Oh no, hardly anybody is going to the mandir
tonight. Not even your beloved Chandni,’ teased Lucky, noisily
pouring a stream of red and black draught pieces onto the board
from the bag that he had been carrying.

‘But why not? Chandni doesn’t have any brothers … or
cousins or male friends for that matter,’ replied Arun, a little
sad that he would not get to see her that evening.

‘Her cousin-brother always comes from Mumbai for
Raksha Bandar. Hey, you should be careful while he is here; he is
not very nice and he will not like you being close with
Chandni.’

‘What are you talking about, Lucky? Naresh is a
sweetheart only,’ Hanara swooned.

‘Hmph,’ exclaimed Lucky with a snort of disdain, ‘it
is only the girls who are falling for his smooth-talking, Mumbai
medical college rubbish. He is always looking down at everybody,
always thinking he is better than them. Just because I drive a
rickshaw, it doesn’t mean that –’

‘What did you just say, Lucky?’ interrupted Arun,
his eyes suddenly wild with excitement.

‘About Naresh? That he’s always looking down on
other people?’

‘No, no, the bit before that, about the medical
college. Did you say that it’s in Mumbai?’

‘Oh yes, they have many medical colleges in Mumbai.
In Delhi also, actually, but Naresh thinks the one that he –’

‘Lucky, you’re a genius!’ cried Arun, launching
himself at his brother and flinging his arms around his neck with
such vigour that he accidently kicked the draughts that Lucky had
been carefully lining up, scattering them across the carrom
board.

‘I don’t understand,’ grumbled Lucky, almost falling
backwards from the force with which his brother had struck him.

Arun released his brother and calmly sat back in his
place. He took one of each of Lucky and Hanara’s hands into his own
and after taking a deep breath, squeezed them both tightly. He
studied their confused faces while they waited anxiously for him to
speak, but he was savouring the moment; savouring the moment of
clarity that he had so desperately awaited, a moment that had
finally come when he had least expected it to.

‘Lucky, Hanara,’ he began, nodding at each of them
in turn, ‘I’m going to apply to medical college in Mumbai.’

HANARA and Lucky were thrilled and, unsurprisingly,
both supported Arun’s decision to stay in India. Though Mumbai was
not exactly around the corner from Puri, its proximity relative to
London was enough to make regular visits an affordable possibility.
Being a bigger, more modern city, there was also much less chance
of Arun growing bored there whilst he completed his studies. It was
so simple that Arun didn’t know why the idea hadn’t occurred to him
sooner and, too excited to sleep, the three siblings stayed awake
late into the night, plotting and scheming how best to move things
forward. Their discussion wound up being largely theoretical, and
with Lucky and Hanara both having left school at a young age, there
was little that they could offer Arun in the way of advice. At the
very least it seemed likely that he would have to delay his studies
for another year in order to make the necessary applications and
complete the mountains of paperwork that he was certain would
accompany the process.

After sleeping soundly for the first night in a long
time, the following day passed impossibly slowly and, unable to
focus on anything except advancing his new plans, Arun found
himself consistently making errors in the shop. There was so much
to figure out and so much to be done, but he was confident that
this was what he wanted, and an inner peace prevailed within him
now that he was no longer agonising over the decision to return to
London. He couldn’t wait to tell Chandni of his plans either,
knowing that it would bring to her face the shiny smile that he so
adored, and the prospect of remaining near to her set his mind
adrift with thoughts of their future.

By the time evening came and the trio were
journeying to the mandir, Arun was entirely absorbed in his own
thoughts, leaving Lucky and Hanara to bicker in the front seat over
how best to assist their brother. Lucky rejected Hanara’s repeated
calls for him to speak with Naresh for assistance, reasoning that
not only was involving Chandni’s snooty cousin in their business a
bad idea, but also that her judgement was impaired by an obvious
attraction towards him. Arun slipped in and out of his daydream,
occasionally catching snippets of their conversation, and, without
having fully engaged in the discussion, determined that Naresh was
a logical starting point for his enquiries. If nothing else, he
figured that it couldn’t hurt his cause and the opportunity to
build connections with Chandni’s family seemed like something he
ought to embrace.

After the evening prayers were over, they were
engaging in their usual chatter when Arun spied Chandni lingering
behind Hanara’s other friends, who after all this time persisted in
shamelessly competing for his affections. He politely excused
himself and, pushing past the giggling ladies, deftly slid past
Chandni and grasped her hand, tugging her a few metres away from
the crowd.

‘Arun,’ she muttered through gritted teeth, her
beautiful green eyes wide with alarm. ‘What are you doing? You know
that you’re not supposed to touch me in public.’

‘Sorry,’ he said, dropping her hand instantly, ‘I
just really needed to talk to you.’

‘What’s the matter? Has something happened?’

Her bright eyes widened even further with concern
and Arun once again felt the overwhelming urge to kiss her.
Instead, he took a deep breath and prepared to deliver his exciting
news.

‘Chandni, I’ve decided to stay in India.’

‘What?’

‘I’m going to apply to medical college in
Mumbai.’

‘Hey Bhagwan! Really?’ she cried, a little louder
than intended, unable to prevent a sweet smile from breaking across
her face.

‘Yes, really. I don’t want to go back to England.
Not yet anyway. I want to be near to Lucky and Hanara, and well …
to you,’ he answered, returning her smile.

‘I can’t believe –’

‘Hey Chandni, is this guy bothering you?’

A short, slightly balding, but young man, with skin
as fair as Chandni’s and thick-rimmed glasses had appeared from
nowhere and placed his arm protectively around Chandni’s shoulders.
Dressed smartly in western clothes, there was an air of superiority
and self-importance about him as he sized Arun up, causing Arun to
take an instant dislike to him.

‘No, not at all. Naresh, this is Arun; Lucky and
Hanara’s brother,’ she responded, her eyes silently communicating a
look of warning to her beau. ‘He was just telling me that he’s
going to be applying to medical college in Mumbai.’

‘Oh, well you know I study at Topiwala,’ he said
gushing, ‘where are you applying?’

‘I, um, I haven’t really decided where I will be
applying yet,’ Arun answered hesitantly.

Naresh regarded him curiously and Arun felt his
insides freeze, certain that he’d said something wrong.

‘Your accent; you’re British?’

‘I live in London, yes, but –’

‘Oh well then you can’t apply to Topiwala, they only
admit Indian citizens.’

‘Actually, I was –’

‘In fact you can’t apply to any of the good
colleges; they’re all state-run and they absolutely don’t accept
foreigners. You’ll have to look at the private colleges.’

‘Okay, thanks for the –’

‘
The private colleges are
very
competitive though and there are only a few places
for international students. You have to be really smart to get
in.’

‘That’s okay, I –’

‘
And then even if you
did
get in the fees are absolutely astronomical,
especially for the foreigners, so you shouldn’t really even
bother
unless you have a lot of money,
otherwise you’ll only be disappointed,’ finished Naresh
smugly.

Arun’s mouth was wide open in disbelief, unable to
compute Naresh’s obnoxious discourse, but Naresh seemed completely
unaware of how his words had fallen and quickly turned to his
cousin, ignoring Arun completely.

‘Chandni, Rajukaka said to tell you to go home if
you are tired. He is going to be a little while yet, but I’m going
to stay and come back with him later.’

‘Okay,’ nodded Chandni, pink from embarrassment at
her cousin’s arrogance.

‘Nice meeting you, Arjun,’ he called over his
shoulder, before skulking back towards Rajubhai Joshi and the group
of men gathered around him.

‘Sorry about that. Naresh is my cousin-brother … he
doesn't mean any harm.’

‘I’m sure he doesn't,’ replied Arun dubiously,
immediately recalling with greater understanding Lucky’s dislike of
Naresh.

‘It’s all very exciting,’ she continued hopefully,
trying to put Naresh to one side.

‘Yes, it is. Do you think that he’s right though?
About me only being able to go to the private colleges?’

‘I really have no idea, I’m afraid. But either way
you are an Indian national; you were born here, remember?’

‘That’s true. I don’t know if that qualifies me as a
citizen though,’ he concluded with a sigh, ‘I guess I need to do a
little more research.’

‘It will all work out, Arun. Don’t worry,’ Chandni
whispered softly, lightly grazing his arm with her hand.