EnglishOriginalRupali-Paritosh

Inevitable (Variation) – Part 2

“Ms. Banerjee?” Paritosh was surprised to see Rupali at his house a day before she was to start working as Meenal’s counsellor. “Please come in.” It was a Sunday and he was at home.

“I’m sorry to have disturbed you without informing. But I didn’t have your phone number.”

“It’s okay. I wasn’t doing anything. I thought you were due to start tomorrow.”

“Yes. About that, Dr. Khanna. You should tell them that… you don’t want to hire me.”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s not a good idea, Dr. Khanna. It won’t help your daughter.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I can’t explain that.”

“But you must.”

She fell silent.

“Look. Ms. Banerjee. If it’s about money–”

“It’s not about that,” she appeared out of her depths.

“Meenal has her troubles, of course, but she is a sweet child. And you, of course, understand her troubles being in this profession, being a counsellor.”

“I am not a counsellor,” she blurted.

“Excuse me?”

She hit her forehead in frustration. She wasn’t supposed to reveal that. But she also looked relieved to have spoken out. “My manager felt that your daughter had taken to me. So, she asked me to pretend to be a counsellor. I am not one.”

“You mean you are still in training or something?” he asked hopefully.

“No. I am not in training. I am not even eligible for it. I am only an admin staff there.”

His brows furrowed.

“Dr. Khanna. It was about your daughter’s well-being. I could not lie. But if you tell them that I have spoken to you, I might lose my job. A job that I really need!”

Paritosh slumped on the bed.

“I… I’m sorry, Dr. Khanna.”

“Mamma… Mamma…” Meenal came out of the adjoining room and rocked herself standing at the door. Rupali smiled sadly at the girl.

“Wait,” he stopped her as she made to leave, “I appreciate the honesty. But do you mind giving it a try, still?”

“But–”

“I know you are not a counsellor. But right now, I need somebody with whom she will stay while I am not at home. I can hire another counsellor if she stays with you. That’s what I had done when her nanny was around. But since she left…”

“But I can’t tell my employers that I had told you.”

“You don’t need to.”

“Then they will bill you for a counsellor.”

“Will you be getting paid from that?”

“Yes. Why?” That was the reward she had been offered to lie. That she would be paid the counsellor’s salary while she stayed with Meenal. The financial reward was high. But what was she to do with her conscience?

“Then there is no need to tell them that.”

“But a nanny’s salary–”

“Ms. Banerjee! This is about my daughter’s well-being. I am not exactly counting my pennies.” he sounded annoyed.

“Of course. I am sorry. Does her mother also work?” she asked just to change the subject.

“Her mother is dead!” he was bitter.

She looked astonished.

Paritosh remembered that she had seen Maya in the supermarket.

“The woman you met, that was Maya. She isn’t her mother. Just my friend. She tries to help. But Meenal doesn’t go to her.”

‘Not “just friend”,’ Rupali thought recalling the packet of condoms. “I’m sorry.”

“Will you come from tomorrow?”

“Yes Sir.”

“8.30 tomorrow, then.”

“You are paying the counselor’s salary to an admin staff? She isn’t even a graduate?” Maya was exasperated.

“At least, she was honest, Maya.”

“Honest? But Meenal doesn’t need lessons in honesty, Paritosh. She needs a counsellor who can help her become normal.”

“She isn’t abnormal.”

“I know!”

“Right now, what is important is that she stays with her and is comfortable. I will find another counsellor.”

“Yes. And what else is important is that we get to spend some time together,” she interrupted with a meaningful smile and bent down to kiss him. She had to make up for her carelessness in questioning Meenal’s normalcy. He kissed her back dutifully and felt the usual pang in his heart. He had grown accustomed to ignoring it, but could not grow accustomed to feeling it.

“Dinner?”

“Ms. Banerjee will only stay in the office hours, Maya. We can go for lunch tomorrow.”

“Fine!” she shrugged, obviously not delighted, but trying not to complain.

“Why don’t you come home for dinner? We can have it together.”

“All right.”

“This assignment is paying you much better, isn’t it, Didi?” Soumitra asked over dinner.

“Yes. It is,” she replied absent-mindedly.

“Then why don’t you leave this night job? Two jobs, all the housework. You look like a wreck.”

“He is right,” Sugata also chipped in.

“This is an accidental assignment, Piku,” Rupali explained patiently, “As soon as he gets a counsellor, I’d no longer have the job. The night duty here pays well, with not much to do.”

“Why did you tell him you were not a counsellor?” Sugata could get quarrelsome.

“I couldn’t have lied.”

“If your employers don’t mind lying–”

“Baba would be sad to hear you talk like this, Pintu,” she stared into Sugata’s eyes, “Other people’s morals should not define yours.”

“I know, I know.”

Rupali could not help smiling. Sugata tried to put up a façade of being worldly-wise, grown and tough man. But he couldn’t have killed a fly.

“Didi,” The more thoughtful of the twins, Soumitra, started saying something.

But she interrupted him. “You getting a job, even part-time, is out of question. You concentrate on your board exams.”

That was as good as her moisturizer and the old foundation could make her look. Sometimes she wondered why did she even care. It wasn’t like she would ever have a future with someone like Mihir – son of the rich proprietor of the pharmacy where she worked at nights. He was only spending his summers in Mumbai, after which he would take off to the US. Why had he even noticed her, much less flirt with her and almost have her for his girlfriend, she could not fathom. Perhaps he just wanted variety in his life, she thought with the cynicism that crept up on her every now and then.

But so what? The time that she spent with him was an escape from the dreariness of the world. She didn’t have to count her pennies. She didn’t have to take care of anybody. He was funny, he made her laugh. And he did not try to peer into her life. When she was with him, she pretended that she was just another twenty-four-year old, meant to have fun in life.

To be continued

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