Alia left his side quickly. He stood by the door waiting for whatever it was that grandmother sent for. A young man with the same features as Karan strode down the stairs. He ran back upstairs as soon as he saw his grandmother.
Karan shook his head at Kieran's stupidity. Instead of saving him from their grandmother's claws, he ran back to the room like a foolish cat.
Kieran was one of the multiple boys, his mother had at birth. They were triplets namely: Karan, Kieran, and Koran. What make it more fascinating was that they were identical. Raising three identical kids involved a lot of energy but Saraswati, his mother said, was fun. She enjoyed every minute of their childhood.
"Grandmother," Aunt Jigyasa's voice kicked him out of his thoughts. "The holy water, you requested is here" there was a female servant beside her, holding a plastic bucket containing water from the temple.
"Good. Did you bring my holy broom?" The old woman looked around. When she saw the broom in Jigyasa's hand, she was satisfied. "You did well, bring it here."
Karan's face went dull when he saw the broom. During their childhood days, whenever they sinned, their grandmother would cleanse them by sprinkling water on them with a broom. It was a painful moment because the edges of the broom landed on their bare skins.
But this time, he was not afraid of the pain. What was her reason for the cleansing?
She walked to him, staring and chanting one of the holy songs. He could barely hear the lyrics due to her coarse voice.
This time around, it tickled him. Karan jumped as the broom landed on his body. Grandmother sprinkled holy water on him- it was enough to wet him.
"Now you have cleansed my child," she dropped the broom on the floor and held his face in her palm. "Don't go there, ever again sweetheart."
She let go of his face, gently and he left her at the door without saying a word.
He went to his mother who was holding a white towel. She started mopping his body like a baby's. "I don't know why you have to wet me today, grandmother."
"Stop complaining like an innocent child, Karan" grandmother walked to the living room. There were about fourteen long seats. She settled in one of them with her legs crossed in front. "You can't hide the truth from us, Karan. We were told that you went to the slums.
A tiny gasp escaped his mouth. He did not expect them to trace where he goes to or who meets with. "were you following me around?"
"Not at all. Why will I do that?" grandmother lied. She sent men after her grandson to ensure his safety. She has warned him several times not to go out with the bodyguards. It's not safe out there, especially in the slums.
"I went to treat a patient, grandmother" he answered. The rest of the family members stood aside and watched their drama. Nobody wanted to get involved.
"What patient? Didn't I warn you about going to the slums?" She shouted again. "The people who lived there, are of bad behaviors.
"They are just poor, mother" Saraswati corrected, even though she knew that her opinion was not needed.
"No, they are not. Especially those girls that call themselves dancers. There has no character at all" She shrugged.
Karan understood her point. He met one today and found out that grandmother was right all this while. Many years ago, he lost one of his uncles to a dancer. She came in disguised and handed him to their rivals. Ever since that day, his family had nothing but hatred for the dancers.
"Grandmother is right, mother. They are very terrible people there" he said, collecting the towel from her. "Good night."
The women watched him climb the stairs to his room. They believed that the old woman's charm has began to work on him. He spoke like her.
"Finally, my grandson is sensible" Grandmother boasted, showing how she was pleased with his comment.
*** **
The next morning, Priyanka woke with a headache. For the first in months, she slept in her room. On a normal day, they all sleep in her mother's room. Krishna would wake up in the middle of the night with a fever. When they try to make him feel better, he gets worse and fainted.
This situation brought nothing but pain to the family. However, they were grateful to Mrs. Khan and the doctor who came and treated him last night.
She went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for the family but her mother was already there. She was dishing out the food.
"Mother, you woke up very early" Priyanka took a cup and fetched water from a big jar on top of the table by the corner. In her hand was a toothbrush. There was no toothpaste on it. The money for the toothpaste was used for transport fare yesterday. It was wasted on a competition she did not end up participating in.
"Yes dear, good morning" Kamala greeted with a smile. Her hands moved rather faster than before. "Krishna woke me up early for the first time. He told me he was hungry, so I decided to prepare breakfast for everyone."
"Wow. Impressive mother, it seemed like the doctor is a good one. His drugs worked fast."
"Thanks be to the creator, I was restless about his situation," Kamala said, carrying the tray in her hands. "Be fast with that and join us."
"Sure, mother. I can't wait to taste that delicious paratas" Priyanka dashed out of the back door and started brushing her teeth. In less than three minutes, she was done.
The happiness, she felt overshadowed the pain she carried yesterday. Krish's recovery gave them a ray of hope. It gave to enough time to arrange money for his surgery. Only the creator knew how they will do that before the due date.
As she settled down to sit with her family, a strange sound came from the old sofa. It was the only chair available in the living room. Most of the time, the sofa houses some of her clothes. Kamala had quarreled about this a lot of times.
"Where is that sound coming from?" Her mother asked.
"I don't have an idea, mother. I think it is from the sofa" After listening carefully, Priyanka swallowed the food that got stuck in her throat. She stood up from the floor to check if her guess was right.
The Black jacket! The sound was coming from the strange jacket, that was given to her, by the bike man.
"Try and find out what it is" Kamala insisted, feeding much food to Krish.
She dipped her hand into the pocket and brought out an iPhone 12 pro. Too shocked to shout, her mind spoke for her 'problem solved, Priyanka Kapoor. You can sell this lucky gift of yours and save the money for your brother's treatment.'