The Monsoon Rain (20 page)

“When I asked what was the significance of the day, he said he would tell me, but first he wanted a drink. Helping himself to whisky, he always drank neat whisky those days, he said in a very matter-of-fact voice that it was the birthday of someone who was very important to him and he should be there instead of here with me! All very hazy. What was he trying to say, I asked myself.

“He stretched himself out on the floor and called me to him. I went to him, and he held my hand for a long time and looked deep into my eyes. ‘Today is my son’s birthday,’ he said. He clutched my hand tightly and turned his face away from me. I had so many questions to ask, but I could not. I was dumbfounded. You could hear a pin drop it was so silent in the room. I could not utter a word.

Mira could not believe her ears, she was dumbfounded.

Hanna continued,

“Derek himself broke the silence and said in practically a whisper that his son was in Essex and was being looked after by his parents. After that, he said he was famished and wanted to eat but then changed his mind and abruptly left. I could not stop him, I was numb, paralyzed. I could not move.

“I do not know anything else. I don’t know anything about the mother. I did drive to Derek’s family home in Essex out of curiosity, pretending to look for Derek. He was not there, of course; he was in India. I did see a little boy playing with his grandmother, an awfully sweet little kid.”

Hannah glanced up at Mira. “So there you are,” she said. “I have told you all I know. You judge for yourself and decide. Myself, I
refused to see him after that. You may blame me for being selfish, but what could I do, Mira? My entire being felt suffocated. Who was this woman, the mother of his son? He was not forthcoming. I loved him enough to forgive him, but he had changed. He could not trust me enough to tell me who the mother of the child was.”

Hannah offered her hand to Miranda, pulling her out of her chair. “Let’s go and have something to eat. I told you you’d need it,” she said playfully. She seemed playful enough, but there was a tinge of sadness in her voice. “That you’d be hungry after my story!

“Oh, there is one small point that I forgot to add. When I finally broke it off with Derek, he said something very poignant. ‘You too are leaving me, Hannah? Everybody leaves me.’ It was sad, but I was not prepared to be his verbal punching bag any longer. I’d had enough. Mentally I was becoming a wreck. His moods used to change like the English weather! Bright one moment, dull and thundery the next.”

“My uncle and aunt,” Mira exclaimed. “Let’s go and ask them to join us for dinner, they must be starving!”

That was the last time she would see Derek, as Miranda would be leaving for England without saying good-bye to him. Their next meeting would be under very different circumstances.

Hannah was awakened early the next morning by a loud knocking on her bedroom door.

“Memsahib, memsahib, telephone!” Bahadur the bearer was outside knocking vigorously on her door. “Mira memsahib,” he said. “Very important, very important.”

Collecting her housecoat, she opened the door and ran to answer the phone.

“Hello?” she said. “Mira?”

Without wasting any time with the basic preliminaries Mira informed her that she was leaving for Calcutta that very day and then flying back to London as soon as she could get a ticket, which would not be difficult as so many flights were available.

“Was I instrumental in this sudden decision?” Hannah wanted to know.

“No, I had been thinking about this for a very long time. Let me be straight, I had come to India with the sole intention of meeting up with Derek and eventually maybe becoming an item, maybe marriage. I was besotted by him. But looking back now I have also been at the receiving end of his erratic behavior and mood swings. I was willing to overlook it, which is very silly, but I soon realized that all this would come to nothing. It was a sheer waste of time. It was too much of a strain for me to cope with. I felt that I had to conform to his ideas and wishes, whom I fraternized with, where I went with whom, and so on and so forth. We were not even an item! He has no rights over me, and I do not have any moral obligation to him. Anyway I was getting too used to the good life. It would be awfully difficult to get down to the nitty-gritty. Well, Hannah,” she continued, “London, here I come. And Hannah, please do keep in touch and ring me when you get back. And thanks for everything.” With that she replaced the receiver.

Hannah was stunned.

“You will be missing the best part of the year,” Dolly said, “the tail end of monsoon and the start of wonderful autumn!”

Dolly was most indignant at this sudden decision; she blamed Hannah on one hand and was literally begging Mira to call Derek on the other. She wanted to call him herself, but Mira had already seen to that. She threatened never to speak to her aunt ever again if she made the slightest move to call him! And she told her not to call him until she had left India.

Dolly was cursing and swearing and blamed even poor Tom who was driving her niece to the little airport to catch the flight to Calcutta.

By the time Mira boarded a British Airways flight to London it was far too late to do anything. Dolly had broken her promise and had
phoned Derek. But she was very surprised at his behavior. He seemed very cool when she told him, as if he somehow had expected it.

“Oh well,” he said. “She must have been bored out of her mind. Thanks for letting me know.” And with that he had hung up! Dolly was very upset. She was genuinely fond of her niece and was very reluctant to let her go. She could not stop crying. Tom slowly walked her to the car after seeing off Mira.

“That bastard!” she said, referring to Derek. “My poor, poor Mira.”

Tom paid no attention to her recriminations. Silently he gestured to the driver to drive home. The news of Mira’s departure for England had spread like wildfire. At the Planters Club the next evening it was a common topic of conversation. “Have you heard?” And so on and so forth. And Derek had a sinking feeling that all eyes were on him. He was mortified by Miranda’s leaving and the surreptitious glances.

When he had received the call from Dolly he could hardly believe his ears.

“Left?” he said.

“Yes, left.” Dolly sounded awfully upset.

That evening he could take it no more. He was out of the club in one shot and drove home. Pouring himself a drink, Derek stretched himself out on one of the easy chairs on the veranda. Thank God the rains had stopped, briefly. Autumn was on its way. Taking a big swig of his whisky, he rang the bell.

“
Koi Hai
?” he called out. “Anybody there?”

Radhu came running, what did chota, the little one, want?

“Radhu chacha,” Derek mumbled, “why was I so stupid? You never told me what happened to her.” He looked at Radhu who by now had pulled up a small stool and sat down.

“Rukmini?” he asked.

“Yes, Rukmini!” Derek said and banged his fist on the table.

“Forget about her,” Radhu said in a very small voice. “Go and make peace with your son.”

With that, Radhu stood up. “Marry that nice young memsahib who was here. She has left, hasn’t she?”

God, nothing escaped this man. This was the mysterious East. Were there no secrets?

“Have some dinner, Chota.” He softly padded away. Derek called him back.

“Chacha, uncle, please tell me.” He was entreating Radhu by this time. “I have to know.” Radhu looked at him for a while. “Not tonight, Chota. Another day.”

Derek knew Radhu was going to put a call into England to get permission first from his mother. Derek sank further into his chair. Yes, his young son. He had committed no crime. Radhu was correct; he would make peace with him. But the mystery still remained—what had happened to Rukmini? Radhu was so tight-lipped. Derek smiled to himself, a sad smile. He would have to force it out of him!

9

IT WAS A
lovely autumn day in England when she landed at Heathrow. Mira’s heart was beating fast; she was excited in a way. Coming home was an excitement in itself. She would see her mum after a long time well not that long, but long enough. She would have to look for a job. Thanks to James she had not sat idly by. Her time at the tea-garden clinic would look good on her résumé.

Collecting her luggage she made her way toward the exit, through the nothing-to-declare gate. Debating whether to take the Tube or stand in line for a cab, she decided to be slightly extravagant and take a cab. She made her way toward the taxi stand. The past few days had gone so fast; it had been a whirlwind departure. She did not say good-bye to Charu for the simple reason that speaking to Derek would be very difficult. She did not want to see him or speak to him. It would take a bit of time for her to get over him. But this was the best way out, a clean and absolute break. She had avoided calling James and Mary as well.

“Where to, love?”

She was miles away. “Edgware.” She flung her suitcase inside and got in. It was a hackney carriage, expensive.

London as usual was busy and bustling. The cars were going very fast on the motorway. She had forgotten how fast the traffic moved in this part of the world.

She was deep in thought and thankful for the glass partition that separated her from the driver. Suddenly the driver braked and she
was slightly pushed forward. She looked out. Gosh, they were on the North Circular! How had that happened so fast? She would soon be home.

She hoped to God her mother would dispense with the questions. She could not face a Spanish Inquisition—not after such a long journey. She needed a hot bath and bed.

Molly was all agog waiting for her daughter at home. Her bed was made and a lovely roast dinner was waiting for her. Dolly had called her, all weepy and near hysterics. It was Tom who rang again and filled her in. He absolutely agreed with the dear girl for taking the initiative to leave. If a man did not come clean, it was best to call it a day. And he said to please let Mira know that her uncle was all for her and that he understood perfectly. That would make Mira happy, Molly was sure. The poor girl. She’d gone to India with such high hopes; in fact, all of them had such high hopes. But, well, never mind, things happened. She was sure there was a much better chap round the corner who would snap her daughter up. After all, she was an attractive young woman with a lovely personality.

Just then she heard a car roll up to the front door. She peered through the lace curtains and saw her daughter alight from the black hackney carriage. Molly practically ran to the front door and flung the door open. She had on her bedroom slippers, but still she ran to the taxi and hugged her daughter tight.

“I missed, you, darling,” she said, tears streaming down her face.

“Me too, Mum. It is good to be back.”

“Change, miss.” The taxi driver was holding out a fiver and a few coins.

“Thanks,” she said. And with that, both mother and daughter entered the house, arms linked.

Molly could hardly leave her daughter alone. There was so much to talk about, so much to tell. In time, in time, Molly thought to herself. In the meantime her daughter needed a bath, and the lovely dinner, the lamb, was roasting in the oven. She would have to get the Yorkshire pudding in and get the mint sauce ready. It was lovely to have her daughter home. The house had seemed very empty without her, as if the house itself had a lost feeling.

She could hear Miranda moving about upstairs, the old familiar sound. She should be down soon, all pink and fresh. Then Molly would put the Yorkshire pudding in. Have them nice and hot. Mira loved a roast dinner. The wine was being chilled in the fridge. She herself hardly drank, but today was a special day, a special occasion. She was so happy. Her daughter was home—and a courageous daughter at that. She had the strength of character to stand up to a man and tell him in not so many words to go to blazes! Well done, Mira, Molly thought to herself. He could be rich, but that did not deter her daughter from leaving. Thank God she had decided not to waste any more time on that Derek. Molly started to hum under her breath as she went about setting the table and finishing all the other little chores, which she had to dispense with before her daughter came downstairs.

She decided not to do the washing up that evening; she would leave it for tomorrow. There was too much to talk about.

By the time Mira came downstairs the dinner was on the table, including the piping-hot Yorkshire pudding. Molly was already sitting at her usual place with a broad smile, looking very fondly at her daughter.

“Oh, Mum,” Mira said, embracing her mother. “I love you so much, Mum!” she continued. “I missed you such a lot. I love you loads, you know.”

“There, there, go on and start you dinner. It’s going to get cold. You can carve the lamb.” With that, she handed her daughter the carving knife.

Mira felt so relaxed and very comfortable in her own home. She was in their sitting room, Mum was dozing, and the black-and-white TV was on. Neither was watching it. She was relieved to get away from all the mood swings and suppressed anger, and Derek. Never again would she put up with all that. Life, she decided, was too short and there was more to life than that. What a lucky escape.

Derek seemed a very disturbed and unhappy man. He was always so very restless. But who could blame him? His son—that was very intriguing indeed. Who was the mother? Where was she? Was Derek married? Maybe estranged? Maybe that was why commitment was out of the question for him. She was confused, but she decided to go
to bed as she felt awfully tired and jet-lagged. She could have a lie-in tomorrow and slowly get back to normality. First and foremost, a job, and then all would fall into place.

She nudged Molly to wake her up from her snooze in front of the TV. Slowly both mother and daughter made their way upstairs and to bed.

Mira had been back for over six months and had settled in nicely. She had contacted her old friends and was able to get a job at the Accident and Emergency Department in one of the big hospitals. She had been trained for accident and emergencies and was quite happy about starting to earn some money again.