On her eighteenth birthday, Mukundo had a chat with her. “You are officially an adult now, Mou. Here are the papers of the bank account you can now operate independently.”

“Thank you, Baba.”

“And Mou. This also seems like the right time to have an adult discussion with you. About Ahwaan. If you have any curiosities, questions, if you ever have to face that part of your life, you should be prepared.”

“Baba!” she had been touched.

“I mean it, Shona.”

“Would you mind Baba, if someday I try to find him?”

“Do you want to?”

“I don’t know. But just in case…”

“Wait a minute,” he had gone away for a moment and had returned with an old photograph. “You mother had given it to me all those years back. As a way of introducing him while asking for my help in convincing your grandfather for accepting him.”

“She had asked for your help?” Mou was surprised.

Mukundo had laughed, “Life is queer, Mou. Yes, she had asked for my help, and I had happily helped her too. But anyway. This is his photograph. I kept it, I don’t know why.”

“Baba. It won’t hurt you, if I keep it, would it?”

“No,” his reply was unhesitant, “So long as you assure me that I have not failed you as a father.”

“Oh. You haven’t Baba. Why do you even need an assurance? Everyone knows. You should know too.”

Presently she thrust the photograph in Ahwaan’s hand. “My mother had known you at one point of time. But when I met your sons in the jail, they said that I should be thankful that I don’t have a father like you. And I am. I am thankful.”

“How is Piyali?” Regret seemed to be hitting him after all.

“She is very happy. She has been so all these years. And yeah – she wasn’t the one who had kept this photograph. So, don’t get any ideas. I got it from my father. Now the final one. Good Bye.”

—

“Baba!”

“Mou! Shona. What’s up?” Mou sounded unusually emotional on phone.

“Nothing Baba. Just wanted to say that I love you.”

“Me too Mou. But why suddenly… Is something the matter, child?”

“Nothing to worry about. Just met some people who didn’t have a father like mine.”

“Nothing to worry about?”

“No. Nothing. I won’t lie to you Baba.”

“Yeah. I love you. And I trust you.”

“Me too, Baba. Good night.”

“What was it?” Piyali asked after Mukundo disconnected the call.

“Mou called up to say that she loves me.”

“Huh! Just that?” What was up with this sudden display of emotions.

“Hmm…”

“Mukundo Babu? She is not up to something stupid, is she?”

“I think she has met or found out about Ahwaan,” he replied.

“What?” Piyali got worried. “Why? How?”

“Calm down, Pihu Rani. That man isn’t exactly going to elicit fatherly respect from anyone.”

“You know something more then? What is it?”

Mukundo told her about his conversation with Mou on her eighteenth birthday and how he had given her the photograph.

“Why would you encourage her to…”

“I didn’t encourage her, Piyali. I just promised to support her in whatever she wanted. I didn’t want her to feel alone and do something stupid instead of seeking our support. And her curiosity was genuine.”

“Did she tell you now that she met him?”

“No. I guessed.”

“And you are sure that her meeting didn’t go well?”

“I fancy myself to be a liberal man, Pihu Rani. I have maintained that I wouldn’t interfere in my adult daughter’s life. But you know… it is a little difficult to do that as a father,” he gave a know-it-all smile. Piyali raised her eyebrows questioningly. Mukundo chuckled and continued, “When I realized that she would want to know about him one day or the other, I figured I myself needed to find out what was in store for her. So, I sort of kept an eye on him. I have some acquaintances in Mumbai who helped.”

“And?”

“And it isn’t pretty. I am sorry for what happened to his family. But none of it is surprising given what he did to you back then.” He briefly told her whatever he knew about Ahwaan and his family.

“And you think she has found out too?” she asked.

“I think so.”

“Is she okay?”

“It would have been disturbing, but she is brave as you have always maintained. And I think she appreciates the life you gave her all the more now.”

Piyali shook her head and replied with a smile, “The life you gave her, Mukundo Babu.”

“You, Pihu Rani, underestimate what you have done. And you blindly worship me. Remember that you had decided to bring her into this world before I even knew, much less support you.”

“Probably because somewhere, deep down, I knew you would help me. I didn’t know what form will it take, but I had taken your support for granted.”

“Give me all the credit you want. It seems to make you happy. So, I will bear it,” he repeated her words from ten years ago with a smile and she laughed.

“I have a complaint against you.”

“What is it?”

“You keep secrets from me, Mukundo Babu. You never told me that Mou wanted to find out about Ahwaan. And that you had been spying on him…”

“Piyali. I…” he looked guilty, “It wasn’t intentional… I…”

“It’s okay Mukundo Babu. I was… I wasn’t serious.”

“I don’t keep secrets from you Piyali,” Mukundo still felt the need to explain, “You know everything about me. I just didn’t like to mention Ahwaan before you. He didn’t bother me. Not even Mou. We were not the ones whom he had given bad memories. You were. So, unless necessary I didn’t want to…”

“You were protecting me, as always…”

“There is something else too…”

“What?”

“You have been over-protective of my status as Mou’s father. I sometimes felt that you were harsh on her if you ever felt that she was undermining my position. Although she never was…”

Piyali chuckled, “I was always tough with her. Both parents can’t be spoiling the child; you didn’t leave me with much choice.”

“Piyali. I haven’t said it in a while…”

“What?”

“I love you.”

Forty-eight year old Piyali blushed at that like a new bride. But she replied boldly, “I love you too!”

– The End –