It had been a classy neighbourhood for a long time and the houses on those streets still looked elegant. A little deserted, given the generations of youngsters who moved away to bigger cities, but still giving the vibe of affluent 1980s. Few people walked by, going to and fro from Bhuvana’s house, or rather a place that was once her house. A shamiana was set up in the front yard and the street in front of the building.

Two men standing at the gate turned around to see the three friends walking down the street towards the house. Recognition hit their eyes and they almost gasped at the sight of Bhuvana. Fingers pointing at them, the two men talked in hushed tones before moving past the gate into the front yard to alert others about the presence of the three friends.

“There it begins,” Raghav sighed.

Bhuvana, Eshwar and Raghav walked through the main gate of the house into the font yard, just as people started filing out of the house into the yard to see them.

Prakash was the first one to step out. He strode towards Bhuvana with a good natured smile, greeting her, “Sister! You made it. I wasn’t sure you would come.”

“Hi,” Bhuvana greeted back, unable to smile as widely as she wanted to. She didn’t want to be mistaken as being too happy. People would say she was happy with the old shrew’s death, and not because she was able to finally come home. “Are you okay?” she managed to ask.

Prakash raised his shoulders and gave a short nod. “It was too sudden. But, I guess I had expected it at some point. Her health had been failing for a couple of years now.”

Bhuvana patted his shoulder. “I’m sorry”

Their relatives who had come to attend the funeral were milling out of the house into the courtyard, keeping a distance from Bhuvana, split into groups of three and four, gossiping amongst themselves at her sudden appearance. As Raghav and Eshwar both looked around at the people gathered there, they noticed both their parents standing with the neighbours and relatives. Raghav waved at them in acknowledgement while Eshwar gave a curt nod.

Varun, who had been standing and smoking under the shade of a tree in the front yard till then, had recognized Bhuvana the moment she walked in. He dropped the cigarette butt onto the ground, snubbed it with his shoe and started towards her to greet her, when he noticed people gathering around in commotion, talking about Bhuvana. Varun knew he couldn’t risk greeting her before the obvious drama breaks out. So, he stood apprehensively at one end of the yard, watching the scene unfold like he expected.

“Let’s go in,” Prakash said as he gestured Bhuvana to get inside the house. “Father would be happy to see you. I didn't tell him you might come over, just in case you couldn't make it.”

As Prakash turned around to lead Bhuvana and her friends into the house, his uncle Chalam moved to stand in front of the main door of the house, blocking the way.

“She is not coming in,” Chalam declared quite threateningly. “Prakash, you better not bring her in.”

“Uncle, not now,” Prakash tried to clear it up. “This is not the time to start something like this. Plus, this is her house too.”

Chalam snorted and took a few steps into the courtyard till he was a few feet away from Bhuvana, Eshwar and Raghav. “Her house?” he mocked. “She left twenty-five years ago and never set foot here all these years. How will this be her house? She never looked this way when my sister was alive, and now, just hours after she died, this woman wants to come back? Why did she come? To see my sister's dead body and laugh at it? Or to stake claim at her inheritance?”

Raghav rolled his eyes as Eshwar sighed quite audibly at those remarks. They knew the conversation was going to be obvious.

“Uncle, she didn't come here with any of those intentions. She never wanted anything from us. She just came as a duty towards the house, to see her father,” Prakash reasoned.

“You believe all that?” Chalam ridiculed. “You really believe her? All her life she wanted your mother dead.”

Bhuvana couldn’t stay calm any more. “Did I tell you that?” she asked pointedly.

“What?”

“Did I ever tell you myself that I want your sister dead? Or did you ever overhear me saying that to someone else?”

“You think I don't know what is there in your mind?”

“Yes, you don’t,” Bhuvana certified. “You don't know anything. So, don't make false statements.”

Chalam looked furious at being chided. “You are not coming in. Go back. Leave.”

Raghav stepped forward stating, “You don't have a right to stop her.”

“This is my sister's house,” Chalam claimed.

“This is Bhuvana's house. This is her father's house, passed down to them from her grandfather. Do you want me to talk legalities now?” Raghav spoke firmly.

“And what gives you the right to talk?” Chalam retorted.

“I'm merely stating the facts in support of my friend.”

“This is a family issue. You should stay out.”

Raghav turned to Eshwar and commented sarcastically, “See, this is why I don't prefer to talk to people who don't have any sense.”

“What?” Chalam stepped forward threateningly.

Raghav turned to face Chalam with conviction and stated, “Why,  did I say anything wrong? This is Bhuvana's house. It doesn't matter how long she has been away. You just can't stop her from going in. That would be illegal.”

Chalam knew he could never win an argument with Raghav. So, he tried the next best option: shaking Bhuvana’s credibility and character. He turned to Bhuvana and remarked maliciously, “You are smart to get two men here along with you to back you up.”

Raghav was about to retort at the comment when Bhuvana subtly put her hand on his balled up fist to stop him. Raghav looked at her and she whispered to him, “I’ll handle him.”

Chalam got the opening he needed. He started with a mocking tone, “Wah, look at you. How sly you must be to have two men at your command, that you tame them.”

Bhuvana gave him a sharp stare and uttered in a low, deep, commanding tone, “One more word and I will make you regret everything.”

Chalam didn’t stop. “Why? Did I say something non-existent? Look at you three: unmarried and staying together. Everyone here knows how intimate you are you with these two men. Seriously, what is the relationship between you three?”

Prakash tried to reign in the situation, “Uncle! That’s enough.”

Eshwar, who had been silently holding himself back, couldn’t stay still any longer. He turned to Chalam and stated, “I used to think that you are just a money-hogging, power-hungry person. You have now proved yourself as the cheapest man I've ever seen.”

The dispute got intense as one of the onlookers gathered in the courtyard, a woman who was Bhuvana’s distant relative, spoke up, “Eshwar, he didn't say anything wrong. You and Raghav helped her run away all those years back and stayed without getting married. We know it is all because of her.”

Eshwar let out a gasp of breath scornfully at the ridiculousness of her allegations and cried, “Do you people really know the reason why I didn't get married? Or why Raghav stayed a bachelor? You weren't a part of our struggles or our lives twenty-five years ago. And you are not a part of them now either. So don't speculate on your own and spread rumours. That is really low.”

Eshwar’s mother, who had been standing next to that woman, said out loud to her son, “Eshwar, don't be rude! Isn't it true that Bhuvana influenced you and Raghav? First, she ran away from her wedding and didn't even look back once. And then, you and Raghav took her example and abstained from marriage.”

Eshwar, exasperated with his mother’s claims, vehemently answered, “Mom, for how many years, how many times, do I have to explain to you the real reasons for my abstinence? When will you ever understand me?” He looked around to see the alleging expressions on the faces of the people gathered there and raised his voice, “And why do you people always blame Bhuvana for everything? Why blame someone who simply saved herself, lived her life far away from here, from you all? Because she's a woman? Because she doesn't have anyone prominent to support her? It's easy to blame everything on a lone woman, isn't it?”

He turned to Chalam and with his voice controlled yet intimidating, asked, “Should we really delve into the morality of your sister and you too then?”

Eshwar knew he was going to explode at this rate, trying to knock sense into senseless people. He turned to Prakash and ordered, “Brother, I need you to handle your uncle now. This is getting ridiculous, and being dragged on and on.”

As one last effort to confront the people gathered there, Eshwar made one last, loud statement to everyone, “A bunch of said elders stopping an innocent woman from visiting her father. This neighbourhood is never going to change, is it? None of you helped Bhuvana when she was suffering, but now you are ganging up on her. Snap out of it, please. Otherwise things will get really messy. You want a bigger scene here with police and legal notices?”

That was the lengthiest and heaviest public outburst Eshwar had ever had, and the people gathered there felt the heat of the situation with someone as reticent as Eshwar going on length to claim how low they were being. Silence ensued and it became evident that no one was going to opose Bhuvana or Raghav or Eshwar any more.

Prakash took Chalam’s arm, steering him away and pleaded, “Please, uncle, don't make this an issue now. This isn't something we should fight on the street about. It's been just a day since mother passed away. I don't want a scene here, and I don't have the energy for this.”

The way Prakash looked at Chalam seriously, and the threats of Eshwar and Raghav to take things up legally, sealed Chalam’s mouth.

Bhuvana sensed the break in Chalam’s offence and finally turned to walk into the house, followed by Raghav and Eshwar.