Intricate Relationships

“How dare he slap my son?” Mr. Mehra’s voice echoed in the silent room as his angry eyes went across the table and saw his mother and wife silently watching him. Breaking the silence his mother, Mrs. Paramjeet said, “Forgive him. Rakesh is your younger brother”.

Mrs. Mehra was oblivious to everything. She had gone for shopping when everything happened. She glanced at her husband and then at her mother- in-law.

“No. I will not”.

Mrs. Pramjeet asked her daughter-in-law to prepare the dinner.

Still confused, she began chopping & pondered over the possible reasons for her husband’s sudden outburst. Suddenly, Rinki, wife of her brother-in-law, entered.

“Let me help you. You must be tired.”

“No need. I can manage my work myself. What has your husband done to anger Rohan’s father?”

Rinki started stating the events after she had went shopping.

***

Rohan had gone out to play with his friends. Suddenly a commotion was heard and everyone went outside to see what had transpired. Rohan’s father had not returned from the office yet. Rohan was standing with his friend Mukesh and his mother.

“Don’t you have any shame? Is this what your parents have taught you?” said Mukesh’s mother holding Rohan’s ear.

I and Rakesh went towards them.

“What happened?” enquired Rakesh.

“You should ask this from your nephew”.

Rakesh stared at Rohan but he hung his head low.

“Uncle, when we were playing in my balcony Rohan stole my ball” explained Mukesh.

“But maybe there is some confusion as Rohan had the same ball”.

“Oh really! I think it to be a dream now”, said Mukesh’s mother in a sarcastic tone.

Rakesh once again asked Rohan about all this. I saw anger blazing in his eyes and went ahead to calm him. Everything happened in a fraction of second. I gathered composure as I saw Rohan in tears. Rakesh had slapped him as he had answered in an affirmative tone to his question. I apologized to Mukesh’s mother and we all came back.

“He’s just 6 year old”, exclaimed Mrs. Mehra after hearing the narrative.

“But…”

“Rakesh has not done right. He should have thought for a second before slapping my son. What he did was unnecessary”.

Nothing was normal the next morning. Tension prevailed in the atmosphere. No one dared to break the ice. Both the brothers went to their work behaving as if the other one didn’t exist.

Returning in the evening…

“I think you should apologize…”

“What for? For slapping Rohan. Don’t we as his relatives have a right to think about his benefit? Can’t we make him see the right path?”

Suddenly, Rakesh saw a frail shadow. Looking over he saw his mother standing at the door with tears welled up in her eyes.

“Mother, why are you crying”? exclaimed Rakesh as he guided his mother towards the bed.

“Your brother wants a share in the property”

“But mother…”

Suddenly his voice was interrupted as Rohan came running in the room.

“Uncle, I’m very upset with you.”

“What happened?”

“Why haven’t you come to play today? I was waiting for you. Even papa said that you won’t come today.”

“I’m sorry but I’ll not be able to come today. I’m little busy today”

***

“Shall I arrange food at the table?”

“It’s not needed. From now onwards we’ll have our food in our room and ask Rakesh to stay away from Rohan.”

Rakesh’s wife was startled when she heard Rakesh shouting her name. With quick steps she went towards her mother-in- law’s room. She panicked seeing the view.

“Call the doctor immediately.”

Everyone gathered in the room. Rakesh and his brother paced the room while their wives occupied each side of the bed. Rohan was sitting on the lap of his aunt.

“Thank you doctor for coming”, exclaimed Mr. Mehra as he saw doctor entering the room.

Everyone waited with batted breath as the doctor examined Mrs. Pramjeet.

“Has there been anything which has upset her?”

Everyone remained silent.

“If there is any such problem ensure that it doesn’t persist. Now she has just fainted due to the stress but it may have severe implications if the stress persists. Take care of her.”

“Thank you doctor. We’ll take her care. Let me drop you at the gate.”

As Mr. Mehra was returning he heard whispers from the room.

“Let’s forget everything and start anew.”

“We had talked to mother about this matter and there is nothing that we want to talk about now.”

The ladies went silent when they saw Mr. Mehra approaching the room.

“We have nothing to talk. Let’s move to our room. Come Rohan.”

Rakesh was left stunned after the turn of events. They had accepted him to be more docile and had hoped for the differences to end.

***

The next morning, Mr. Mehra stepped out of the home to go to his office.

Mr. Mehra took his car and pondered on what had happened in the past few days. In a certain corner of his heart he longed to forgive his younger brother with whom he had shared some of his best moments. But as soon as the thought of his son being slapped by his brother crossed, his face went red and the idea of forgiving his brother evaded his mind.

He stopped his car in the garage and became surprised the way those things had occupied his mind, although being determined to not talk with him.

Mr. Mehra was greeted by his colleague, Abhishek, as he entered the office.

They both sat at their desks and started working. Mr. Mehra noticed tension on Abishek’s face. He waited for the lunch break. As the clock struck 2, Mr. Mehra along with Abhishek went to the canteen.

“What will you have?”

“Nothing. I’m not feeling good.”

“Why? What happened?” asked Mr. Mehra as he sipped the tea which had arrived on his ordered.

“I have a friend and he did something inappropriate which I don’t want to mention. He then wanted me to take his side. Instead I slapped him for what he did. Now he’s pissed off with me for the fact that when even his parents hadn’t dared to slap him how I did that.”

“Just relax. Don’t get tensed. If your friend did anything inappropriate then what you did was right. Your friend should understand that a true friend is the one who doesn’t support you in your misdeeds but in fact is the one who cares to bring you on the right path and thinks of your welfare.”

“Thank you for understanding. I feel relieved now.”

Mr. Mehra reflected on what he had just advised to Abhishek.

The rest of the day was mentally tiresome for Mr. Mehra. He couldn’t focus on his work. A turbulence was there in his mind which kept on increasing as the clock was nearing 5.

With fast paced steps he moved towards the exit as he quickly jumped into the car with the need to quickly reach his home.

***

“Hello, Mr. Mehra.”

Mr. Mehra turned to see his lawyer, Anand, standing a few steps back facing him.

“How are you? Is everything ok? You called me on an urgent basis.”

“Yes. Actually… No everything is fine. I’m sorry to distub you.”

“It’s ok, Mr. Mehra. See you again.”

Mr. Mehra’s step quickened as he made his way to his mother’s room. He found his mother sleeping and quickly went to his brother’s room only to find his wife there.

“Where’s Rakesh?”

“He’s not returned.”

Mr. Mehra returned to his room. Surprised by this gesture she called Rakesh only to find him approaching the door of their room.

After she had narrated what had happened in his absence, Rakesh quickly went towards his brother’s room.

***

Few weeks later…

All the family was enjoying a dance performance being held at Rohan’s school.

“It’s good that you apologized to Rakesh” said Mrs. Pramjeet looking at her family who was busy enjoying the performance. A small smile played on her lips as she hoped for her family to stay together.

***