CHAPTER FIVE

                                                         THE FAMILY RIFTS

Mum didn’t press charges against my paternal family for sure reasons best known to her. We had to move to a faraway, remote area in Uttar Pradesh, to start out life afresh. I remembered vividly how she told me the story about what happened after Daddy’s family got the news about his demise...

“This may be a bad omen! My family has mixed itself with hostility. I actually have never liked her a touch from the very first day Aadi introduced her to us. She has this inexplicable dispelling presence, and now she has killed my son together with her witchery. Darling, please visit the seer before she comes for us, one after the other. Visit him to guide us on the way to set about the cleansing to forestall this impending doom that's looming at us. He may additionally tell us the factual story behind the incident that claimed our son’s life. How could he have died on the same day, his first fruit was born, a seed he had long expected for? How could he have died precisely 7:45 a.m., the exact time the baby was born? Ho! That evil woman exchanged his life with her evil child! This can’t be a mere coincidence. My son didn’t die naturally. My instinct is telling me that there's a hidden depth to this that we can't see,” Grandma insisted, as she vibrated in anger while pacing about.

“True, Papa! She is right. If we don’t do something and now, this woman would wipe out the whole family, taking us one after the other. I’m still very young with a brighter future before me. I think that Gold digger and Witch handles the woe that has befallen us. She had it strategically out. She took my brother out of the way, having gained all she wanted from him - cars, wealth, class, house… name it. Since she came into this family, she has caused us nothing but pain. I promise I will be able to make her pay dearly for it. It's a promise," Aunt Adhira expressed bitterly.

“I agree with you, we shouldn’t allow her to steer away a bit like that. Things were moving fine before she came. We'll need to send her and that evil child away with nothing, else we’ll empower her more with our son’s property, making it easier for her to inflict the rest of us with something terrible we'd not survive,” Grandma spoke in agreement with Adhira.

“Great idea, Mother. We'll need to find our way to Aadi’s apartment and seize all his assets. We will claim we were unaware of his marital status since none of us attended his wedding, and there's no way anyone would approve a proper marriage between them without our consent. Should the wedding be approved, we might come up with a tangible reason to get charges against her for instigating him to bypass his parents while they're still alive, which is against the wedding Act recognised here. Erm… Let’s just consider anything to carry against that gold digger that might prevent her from gaining access to his property,” she paused, then continued as if the previous thought wasn’t making sense, and a far better idea had just popped in, “Since she practised a special religion from ours, she isn't entitled to anything he owned as stated within the law applicable to our religion. Remember that within the case of interfaith marriage: if she didn’t convert to Hindu, the wedding wouldn't be valid; so, it doesn't entitle her to any of his properties. This could make us the only legal heirs to his assets. But we have to get the Letter of Administration through the Order of the Chief Judge of our State as soon as possible before she plays the trick on us with those things in her possession, then take us all out one after the other.” When Grandpa still had said nothing, she added so as to instigate his response, “What do you think, Father?”

As I heard, my grandfather was a person with a couple of words. When angry, it had been quite difficult to tell his mind. He didn't wish to feel slighted when he gave orders, especially regarding business and family. Not even my father's incessant plea for reconciliation pacified his anger! He didn't stop talking about how disappointed he was with him for breaching the agreement he made together with his friend and business partner regarding their children’s marriage.

After their wedding, Dad and Mum visited my grandparents to invite forgiveness, and hopefully, their blessings. But it didn’t end up well in their favour because Grandpa refused to ascertain them. Surprisingly, Aunt Adhira managed to keep them company, maybe she did due to her closeness with Dad. This didn't accompany subtle resentful remarks against Mum, though. The visit was on the same day she requested to be dropped off by Dad, despite having a private car she could use.

It became clearer now that she followed them to witness the consequences of the drug, she put in my mother’s cup of a drink she served her which led to having a running stomach. Mum had the foremost embarrassing moment of her life that day with all Adhira did to her when she messed herself up.

After a couple of thoughts, Grandpa started the conversation together with his wife concerning Adhira’s suggestions earlier that day. “I agree with Adhira on the second idea. Hmmm… but obtaining the Letter is sort of a rigorous process with technical complexities. It's not as easy as she said it,” he paused to collect his thoughts. “Uhm… I will be able to get in-tuned with Barrister Rauf to hunt his legal advice on this, and possibly assist me to wield and obtain the letter without stress and subsequent future issues,” he concluded.

Grandpa had been seeking a suitable time to show my father a lesson of his life, or at least tell him, ‘I told you not to marry her, didn’t I?’ Sadly, it never came due to his unexpected death. However, his death didn’t change anything, it made things rather worse because it only increased the hatred and bitterness he had against Mum. He can be that mean and unforgiving, though as long as he felt disrespected. Other times, he presented a mild and lovable persona (if you understand him).

Daddy’s decision to go against his will was a spat on his face, and therefore the only way to send a message to others who might want to tread his path was to teach him, or as it was now, anyone connected to him a lesson. Even, death cannot change that! So, the chance to show Mum a lesson for instigating his son to disobey his orders was to agree with aunt Adhira and implement the plan.

Grandpa wanted my father to marry his friend’s daughter to further cement their relationship. But Daddy refused and went for Mum instead. In anger, he swore to chop ties with him. In fact, he laid a curse on him for the humiliation he brought him because his friend interpreted what happened as weakness on his side for his incapability to form decisions that ought to be obeyed in his home.

It is not an uncommon practice for parents to rearrange marriages for their children in Indian society. It's a long-practised norm that didn’t start with my grandparents. Most parents match-make their children with the mates of their choice and interest that they (children) might never have met until their day. Unlike the way the planet of today accepts marriage as a union between two people in love, my people take marriage as an act to unite two families together to advance wealth and posterity. So, it's a responsibility that's expected from the match-made couple as their parents’ prerogative.

In my father’s case, Western culture played a huge role in influencing him to visualise marriage from a unique perspective. He chose his feelings over his parents’ choice of a wife for him.

There are diverse languages, religions and cultures across the twenty-eight States in India. And as one of the foremost ethnically distinct nations without religious constraints, a full-fledged man can plan to run his home as desired since the customs vary from place to place even within the country. Some parents might take the child’s decision as an act of disrespect and ingratitude; with time, a number of them still come around to simply accept their ‘prodigal’ child.