#2 Sorry, Vijay Uncle

Second chapter of the novella, 'Beachhouse Diaries.'

‘If not for him, the three of us would be languishing in jail, itna toh banta hai!’ Penny smirked when Kavya asked her again why she had stopped the jeep at the gates of the cemetery instead of the beach house. ‘You mean Vijay Uncle? Is he …. is he here?’ Kavya fumbled. ‘Hmmm,’ Penny got down from the jeep and went behind it to take out a brown packet. It had white flowers peeping out with a sigh of relief. His favourite. She caressed them and took out another one. It had candles, the scented ones. His favourite.

So rotten of me not have thought of this. So rotten of me to forget. Where else would he be? The moist in Kavya’s eyes poked her. ‘Sorry P. We should have come here the first thing.’ Kavya lowered her eyes in shame and held out her hands to hold the packets. May be that could reduce the weight dragging on her eyelids a bit. In all of this, in all these years, somewhere the girls had left him behind. They had never even called to check on him. Reasons were many. None justified. But they knew he would understand. As always.

*

Vijay Uncle is no more. Kavya ’s inbox had informed her. Sorry, Ria has her exams going on but I will try to be there asap. That’s it. That ‘asap’ kept constantly getting pushed down in her list of priorities and sneaked out tiptoed without leaving any trace of guilt on her. As if nothing happened. Like nothing ever happened. But then even Alaya did not come, she assured herself. At least she should have. After all, she does not have any boss to take permission from and there is an army of maids to take care of her kids. Kavya turned left to look at her. Alaya still lay with her head rested on the seat. Kavya knew she was not asleep.

‘A? Aren’t you coming?’ Kavya yelled at her. ‘You know well how scared I have always been of this place, even as a kid?’ Curtly she replied without even bothering to lift the hat off her face. ‘Don’t tell me you still believe in ghosts and all?’ Kavya chuckled. ‘Grow up A!’ ‘No way. I don’t fear anyone.’ The hat toppled over. ‘And I am a grown up. I run 18 companies. EIGHTEEN. Every single day’. said Alaya looking at Kavya. ‘Yeah right! But with a brigade of people working for you.’ Kavya did not wish to let it go, ‘And there is a difference between running and plain signing of papers and…..’ ‘Now, both of you please don’t start this again.’ Penny grunted. She looked straight in to the Sun and shook her head. ‘Let’s just skip this. Even I don’t feel like going, maybe I shouldn’t have dragged you all here’. said Penny. That caught Kavya’s attention. So unlike Penny. Alaya also sat up. A color of reassurance rose in her cheeks. A mix of unease and relief heaved the air making it too dense for Kavya. ‘But why?’ Kavya looked at both of them first and then at the iron gate on which they used to swing for hours together. Years back. ‘What has happened to the both of you? It’s Vijay Uncle! Remember?’ Kavya tried to push them further, ‘After all, he was the only one with us all those years.’ ‘Yeah but….’ Alaya whimpered. ‘But what?’ Kavya retorted again piercing in to their eyes. In hope. May be someone would open up.  Maybe she would get to know the reason for her sleepless nights. May be right here, right now, she would be able to get what she had come here for. For which she had planned nah plotted this trip for. ‘Nothing. Let us just get it done with.’ Penny took back the brown packets from Kavya and walked ahead. Alaya was still unmoved. ‘Now, won’t you even offer flowers at my dad’s grave?’ Penny stopped to tease her. ‘Chal na. He is waiting.’ She trudged back, held Alaya’s right hand with a caress and shut her eyes with the other. ‘Think of me as him!’ She exclaimed standing in front of the iron gate as they stood years back. Vijay Uncle and Alaya with the two of them, two steps behind.

A flash of good old days danced before them. Alaya would be sitting on the boundary wall of the cemetery. Kavya and Penny would sneak in. To show her off they would jump on graves, nibble on jamuns and spit the seeds around. They would shout to her but in whispers - see nothing happened, none got up? Of course, they did all this badmaashi only during the sleepy afternoons when none was around. People usually visited the graves before 12 in afternoon. There was one more reason for choosing that time of the day. The girls would get to play with the best of flowers left behind by the visitors. They  would weave necklaces and bracelets out of them. But one day, probably it was Alaya’s birthday, they were caught by Mrs. Demetrius while they were fully involved in their routine. She treated them with a volley of slaps and pushes. The curses; the girls didn’t even want to recall. It wasn’t her fault. Any lady would retaliate finding a hysterically laughing brat jumping on her dead husband’s throat. After her hands could not anymore bear the hurt hitting them, she rushed to what they called the - the shitty house, the yellow mansion.

The girls found the heart to appear before Vijay Uncle only by evening. Kavya remembered standing in front of him after removing all evidences of their act. They washed hands and faces, re-done pony tails, and put on big toothy and innocent smiles. He kept his face behind the newspaper, but his curt expression was very much sensed by the girls. A minute later he made a sound clearing his throat to allay his opening remarks. But before he could, Alaya stepped forward and pleaded.

‘Uncle I was sitting outside, I swear on you, I never go inside, I am so scared of the dead. These two are the culprits.’ That face of Alaya blaming Kavya and Penny and that finger held like a pointed torch stayed in Kavya's mind for a long time. Alaya had gasped pointing at the other two and was almost in tears when a mischievous smile bursted on Vijay Uncle’s  face. ‘But why are you so scared?’ He said folding the paper and putting it on the side.

‘Because they are dead.’ The tears finally rolled out of her. Alaya wiped them with the ribbon of her recently plaited braid. ‘Exactly!  They won’t wake up even if you pull their ears like this.’ He playfully did that to himself, left and right. It was more than enough for them to giggle and jump in to his lap. He held them all in a tight hug. ‘Let me take you all there tomorrow. But there is one thing I am not happy about’. On this declaration of Vijay Uncle, their faces fell. ‘Give them names but not mean ones - like the one you gave to Mr. Demetrius. Let them be funny so that you bring a smile to them every time you enter. I will show you how when we go there tomorrow.’ Alaya never stayed back on the boundary wall after that.

The girls climbed up the steps of the cemetery and pushed the iron gate. It had probably rained yesterday. Kavya missed the screech it cried those days. Someone had got it painted a nice white. The names they  made fun of  were shining in the sun welcoming them. Especially, Mr. Demetrius, smiling a smooth sparkle at his little girls coming back. I think he liked the name we gave to him, the most, Kavya chucked to herself. Vijay Uncle was at the far end. The end they never walked to fearing the caretaker who slept that side in his makeshift hut.

‘Even his grave is  pristine white. He stuck to his rules - Goan rules.’ Kavya  remarked as they reached him. ‘That is how he was. A man of principles.’ Penny pulled up her chin. Kavya  realised they were talking in whispers. ‘And imagine what we made him do?’ She could not help blurting out. ‘And he did, silently, just for us?’ Alaya whimpered. ‘He died suffering’. Penny revealed. The words came out of her as if for the first time. ‘Because of us, only us.’ Kavya nodded biting her lips hard. ‘And we never even bothered to check on him.’ She  turned her  face to the left. ‘Sorry P’. ‘Neither did I.’  Penny kept her gaze fixed in the front, kneeled down and placed the flowers on the marble. The white of the grave gleamed at the touch as if urging them to plonk there, in his lap again. But they were not the same girls anymore. Neither was he, the same. Penny offered a candle to Alaya to light it but Alaya was still petrified. Kavya  took it over. Penny  folded her hands in prayer.

‘You must be coming here often. Every Sunday?’ Kavya asked while trying to light the candle. The matchbox was worn out and soggy. She was reminded of her lighter in the jeep. ‘No. Actually for the first time after his burial’. ‘Why?’ Kavya  stopped midways. She stared at Penny. In search of what she was here for. She did not take her eyes off despite the lit matchstick in her hand.

‘How could I?’ Penny sighed. The flame at the end of the matchstick caressed Kavya’s finger. She threw it off. They  were around each other again, a shaky, trembling and sobbing hug. ‘Let us ask for forgiveness.’ Penny pulled herself away and faced Vijay Uncle. ‘He will, I am sure. Like he always did. Let us say sorry for whatever happened, for what he was forced to do, for not staying in touch, for not saying sorry.’ Kavya joined Penny. ‘We were just kids, little girls.’ Alaya pitched in. ‘His little girls - we just got scared and ran away. Never had the heart to face it, to come back.’ ‘The worst is me, his own daughter……,’ Penny unburdened herself with a deep breath out.

‘Hey…hey let us move out of here.’ Alaya suddenly put her hand on Kavya’s  shoulder. She could feel the fresh sweat and the tremble in her palms. ‘Calm down. You have to face it. That is why we are here.’ Kavya told her in irritation. May be Penny was finally ready to let something out. ‘No.. there is some one’. Alaya shook her shoulder again. ‘Where?’ ‘Right behind the bushes, can’t you you hear the rustle?’ She pointed. Kavya  got up and looked around. A silhouette hurried towards the back door. ‘It must be a monkey, your old friend. Don’t panic.’ Meanwhile, Penny tried to comfort her. Alaya was now gasping for breath. ‘There is someone, I am telling you!’ She kept looking back in the bushes. In between she was mumbling something holding the golden pendant between her fingers. It sounded like a chant. ‘Even if there is. Ghosts don’t need to run. They just disappear.’ Kavya lied to her. The silhouette was there. May be a thief, or the caretaker, but why did he need to run? There was no time for this, Kavya realised looking at Alaya. She was shaking fully drenched in sweat. They made her sit up straight. Penny ran to the jeep to get some water.

‘I am telling you. We should not have come back’. Cried Alaya , her eyes in despair.