May 15, 2021

Morning 6:30 AM

Raghav was tossing in his bead lazily with his eyes squeezed shut. He wanted so much to continue his sleep. Alas, the noise from his next block neighbour’s house wouldn’t let him be in peace. It was an argument going on between his neighbours: a husband and a wife who couldn’t keep their voices down ever for God’s sake. This time, they were arguing about utilities.

Raghav tried sleeping through the argument, but he just couldn’t. Their voices droned on in the background, becoming louder and clearer by the second.

“Can’t you even calculate when you would be running out of gas? Why do you have to realize it only at the last minute?” the husband was shouting.

The wife shouted back at him equally loudly, “I did tell you two days back to call the gas company and book a cylinder. You were the one to neglect and forget it. Why do you blame me now?”

The husband questioned, “Why couldn’t you call them up?”

“One job Saral. I gave you one task to book a gas cylinder and you failed to do that. So, bear with it. No cooking for two days at home. Try and figure out how and what to feed the kids now,” the wife retorted fiercely.

“Yeah, dump it all on me! Am I responsible for everything that happens in the kitchen too?”

“Why, you don’t want to be? Everything is a shared responsibility. If you don’t want that, and if you think kitchen and household chores are all my responsibilities, then fine! From today onwards don’t ask me about my money, don’t ask me about my salary or bonus. Household expenses and childcare funds should all be your responsibility solely. Be a man and do it all on your own. I will stay in the kitchen.”

As the argument raged on, Raghav sighed heavily, opened his eyes wearily and stared at the ceiling with obvious irritation, mentally crying, “Please, stop it!”

The voices of the neighbours downed a little, as if they had moved to a different room to continue the fight. Raghav sat up on his bed, hanging his head in tiredness, only to hear his phone vibrate with an incoming call.

He picked up the phone from the bedside table with apprehension as he noticed the caller id.

“Hi Devesh,” he greeted the caller a little blandly.

“Hey Raghav, good morning,” Devise spoke breezily. “Sorry, I know it's a little early on a weekend. But, we have a problem. One of the container trucks from CP Motors Hyderabad heading to the Vizag port has met with an accident.”

Raghav sat upright in shock. “What? How? Is it serious?”

“Nothing serious,” Devise assured. “The container's safe. The driver was careful enough, but he got a little injured. We are sorting out the situation.”

“Okay, thank God!” Raghav breathed in relief.

“We have raised an incident for it and need you review it and take it forward with CP Motors.”

“Sure, give me a few minutes. I will be up online, and I will call you then. You can fill in on the rest of the details.”

“Great. Thank you Raghav.”

“Okay, bye.”

Raghav took a minute after the call ended to get out of his bed. He stretched for a couple of more minutes, and then went to the bathroom to freshen up.

Eshwar was sitting at the dining table, having his usual breakfast of well made toast and coffee while reading the newspaper. The TV in the living room was running with an international news channel turned on for morning news, to which Eshwar wasn’t paying much attention.

Raghav walked into the dining space with a laptop in his hands, setting it onto the table. “Hey, you are up so early,” he remarked to Eshwar.

“Yeah,” Eshwar answered, continuing with his newspaper reading. “I have to visit the construction site. There's some issue with the cement delivery.”

“What’s your Site Manager doing? And the supervisor?”

“Site Manager's in the hospital - his wife delivered a boy last night. Supervisor's at his hometown for a marriage proposal. His parents are setting him up for matchmaking and the guy's really excited.”

“Oh my…” Raghav sighed.

Eshwar turned to him. “Why are you up so early on a weekend?”

“Logistics issues. Need to tend to an urgent incident.”

“Ah, weekend emergency.”

“I was awake even before I got a phone call for this, thanks to our neighbours,” Raghav complained grumpily, slipping into the chair next to Eshwar’s, facing him. “Seriously man, what's their problem? Every day, every damn single day they start fighting at six-twenty in the morning. What kind of a start is it to a day? Their dining hall windows are exactly opposite to my room. I can hear literally everything. And my room has the worst echo, resound issues when I keep the windows open. I should blame you for this. How the hell did you guys build these apartments? The blocks are too close. You can eavesdrop on people across the blocks, not just on your own floor and block.”

“Don't blame me,” Eshwar said nonchalantly as he continued with his breakfast. “I wasn't involved in the construction at all. They built this when I was still in Dubai.”

“No wonder your parents wanted you back here,” Raghav remarked, straightening himself in the chair and opening his laptop.

“Best solution for you is to keep your windows closed and just keep the air conditioning on.”

“No way. Not when it is the monsoon season and raining properly. I prefer naturally cool air. Enough of AC in the office and everywhere else everyday.”

“Then deal with the ear pain every morning,” Eshwar shrugged.

As his laptop rebooted, Raghav got lost in his thoughts momentarily. “Their fights are always so pointless. Full of blame game,” he observed. “I am more concerned about their kids. Poor children. Aren't they worried about their children growing up in a messed up and abusive household? It's going to mess with the kids' heads in a bad way.”

“And in what kind of heavenly families did we both grow up in? My parents used to fight everyday too. Everyone does.” Eshwar sounded a little critical.

“Yeah, and we didn't exactly grow up into exemplary adults either, did we?” Raghav retorted sarcastically.

Eshwar considered it seriously for a minute before shoving his thoughts away and unfolded the newspaper to pull out a page and displayed it to Raghav. “Bhuvana is in the newspaper today.”

“What? Why?” Raghav got worried.

“Here, for that Federal legislation regarding immigrants' rights which is becoming an issue. Bhuvana's standing next to the New York Mayoral Candidate.”

The newspaper article had a picture of four people: Bhuvana and an Asian facing two white Americans in what appears to be a diplomatic greeting before a cold meeting.

“No wonder she didn't call this week. Busy bee,” Eshwa muttered.

“She looks tired. How many days till the elections?”

“A month. This issue is gonna tip the scales a lot in the game.”

As the two friends pondered over the news article, Eshwar’s phone buzzed with an incoming call from ‘Ganesh uncle’.

“Why is he calling?” Eshwar mumbled before answering. “Hello?”

His eyes widened as he heard the news. “Oh. When? How?”

Silence ensued as he heard Ganesh’s reply. Finally he asked glumly, “Ok. Did anyone inform Bhuvana?”

Whatever answer Ganesh gave displeased Eshwar immensely. He scoffed, “Really? Is that an issue now? These people are…” He reigned in his contempt and continued, “Ok. We'll see if we can come. I am busy today and so is Raghav. Honestly, we wouldn't want to go there without Bhuvana. Let's see. Ok... Yeah, bye.”

Raghav, who was listening to the conversation with curiosity while working on his emails, turned to Eshwar. “What is it? Did someone die?”

“Yep. The shrew of our neighbourhood. Collapsed with a brain stroke.” Eshwar’s tone was indifferent. Neither of the friends were upset by the news of death.

“Good. No one's going to be sorry,” Raghav affirmed.

“Bhuvana's father will be,” Eshwar suggested.

“Nah, I saw him a year ago. He's tired of her too. Who can bear her for so long.”

“That's true.”

“Did they inform Bhuvana?”

Eshwar grew a little agitated. “No! Can you believe it? That shrew's brother and nephew are instructing everyone not to call Bhuvana. In this situation they are worried that she might come and take her father away. He is their main source of income, right. They are restless that they might lose their wallet.”

Raghav scoffed. “As if that old man would follow his daughter to her home. It would be a miracle if he even lets her into his house. That old man would always be the shrew's puppet, even if she is rotting in the grave.”

“Should we call and inform her?”

Raghav checked the time on his laptop and proposed, “Let's leave her a message to call us when she can. We can tell her when she's not busy.”

Raghav’s phone rang before he could grab it for texting his friend. It was Bhuvana calling them. Eshwar and Raghav gave each other uneasy glances before Raghav answered the call on speaker phone.

“Hey Bhuvana, we were thinking of texting you.”

“You guys heard the news?” Bhuvana sounded quite normal.

“Yeah. Ganesh uncle just called Eshwar,” Raghav replied.

“I heard they were boycotting you. Who gave you the news?” Eshwar chimed in.

“Who else? Prakash.”

Raghav found it amusing. “The shrew, her brother and their whole family bully you, but her son still treats you like his sister.

“Well, he's the only one who takes after me and has a little bit of rationality.” Bhuvana could have smiled. “I don't know if genetics can be wired that way between half-siblings when the common parent is not exactly a good person. We got lucky, I guess.”

“Yeah, just that one. Anyways, you aren't making any plans, are you?” Eshwar asked.

“I am on my way to the airport. There's a flight in three hours. I will land in Hyderabad tomorrow morning.”

Eshwar and Raghav straighten in their seats, looking at each other in astonishment.

“Aren't you busy these days? What about the elections?” Raghav’s voice couldn’t masked his worry.

“They will manage well. I need to gauge the situation back at home, now that she's gone.”

“You're coming for your father,” Eshwar stated solemnly.

Bhuvana answered wearily, “Yes. Although, I don't think he would be happy about it. Still, if I don't come now, he will cut me off completely.”

“What makes you think he hasn't already abandoned you?” Raghav’s question was more of concernment.

“Raghu, death can sometimes break walls,” Bhuvana reasoned. "I know, he has a son and honestly, Prakash is a good human. But, he needs to see that the person who screwed up his relationship with his one and only daughter was that shrew. I need to be there to remind him that I have always been his daughter, though he rarely behaved like a father to me.”

“I don't know if he is so mellow.” Eshwar sighed. “It's okay. You be careful. You haven't travelled to India for more than a decade now. Call us if anything comes up.”

“Hey, send us your flight details. We will be at the airport here to pick you up. We can go over to your father's house from there together,” Raghav instructed.

Bhuvana chuckled. “Do I need you two bodyguards tomorrow to go home?”

“You do.” Eshwar smiled. “You never know how useful we could be.”

“Yeah, we'll see about that. Anyways, we'll talk tomorrow. I will send you the flight details.”

After a round of ‘byes’ and wishes for a safe journey, the call ended. Raghav and Eshwar stared blankly at the wall in front of them.

“She will definitely need bodyguards. What if the shrew's brother throws her out of the house?” Raghav was anxious.

“The three of us need bodyguards tomorrow, not just Bhuvana,” Eshwar prophesied. Raghav looked at him in confusion.

“You do realize that your parents and mine would be there too, right? It's going to be the whole damn neighbourhood's reunion,” Eshwar elaborated.

As realization dawned on Raghav’s face, he blinked, trying to digest the horror of the situation. “Right. That's right. The whole neighbourhood.” He took a deep breath and mandated, “We three should be each other's backup tomorrow.”

Eshwar got up from the table, having finished his breakfast. “You have any plans for today?”

“Nothing other than sorting out the mess at work.”

“Ok. Lunch would be minimal at work for me. You have whatever you can at home. Let’s head out for dinner.”

“Ok.”