Nandini rang the doorbell of her house and managed to smile convincingly at her mother when she opened the door.  She had just stepped inside when her mother said happily, "We were waiting for you to come home. Rajeshji's friends have arrived. They came just a few minutes after you left for college."

To Nandini's good fortune, her mother did not wait for her to respond and turned to go back to the kitchen, continuing to talk, and so she missed the tiny shadow that flitted across her daughter's face at her words.

They had come in the morning itself....if only she had known, Nandini thought despondently. She usually called up her mother before leaving from college but had forgotten to do so today.  She sighed and followed her mother.

There was a little round table in the kitchen, with two chairs. Nandini sat down on one chair and kept her bag on the other.

"They are really nice and decent people. We couldn't have found better tenants than Sumer Singhji and Prithvi," her mother was saying cheerfully, adding tea powder and sugar to the water boiling on the gas. "They had breakfast here, but Sumer Singhji insisted on having lunch in Ayodhya, even though we tried so hard to convince them to stay. So, I prepared food for them and took it to them. But we made them promise that they will have dinner here with all of us for today at least. Nandini, give me those cups from that shelf, we can't serve them tea in our ordinary cups."

Nandini got up from her seat, reached to the shelf her mother was pointing to and cautiously took down two of the best and most expensive cups they had in the house. Her mother poured steaming tea into the cups, placed them onto a tray and held it out to Nandini.

"Here, go and give this to them.  I've made some pakodas. I'll come with you with a plate of those and I can introduce you to them."

"Go there? Right now?" Nandini asked weakly. Prithvi had lambasted her less than an hour ago and his words were still ringing in her ears.

Her mother carefully replaced the tray carrying the cups back onto the platform and asked concernedly, "Nandini, what's wrong?"

"I had lost my anklet and I went to check in Ayodhya before coming home. I didn't know they had arrived and I just walked inside to look for it," Nandini said shamefaced.

"Oh dear," Sarojini muttered, sensing in some way that what had followed had not been very pleasant.

"I apologized to them," Nandini said hurriedly. "But to going there again...so soon...."

Her mother smiled at her worried expression. "I'll go and give them the tea and the pakodas. Don't feel upset about what happened. I am sure you'll become friends with them tonight when they come for dinner." Even though Sarojini had said 'them', Nandini knew her mother was somehow aware of whom exactly she did not want to face so soon.

"Here, have some tea. It solves all problems, doesn't it?" her mother asked with twinkling eyes, knowing it was one of Nandini's favourite ideas.

Nandini grinned and took the cup. But she felt guilty as Sarojini adjusted the plate of pakodas also on the tray with the tea cups. Her mother has just picked up the tray again when her grandfather appeared at the door, magically lured by some appetizing aromas.

"Did I smell something good?" he asked enthusiastically, and then saw Nandini, who was walking back to the table to sit down while smiling at his excitement.

"When did you come from college Nandini? Did your mother tell you? The tenants have arrived," he beamed.

Just then Prakash came running into the kitchen, with a cricket bat in hand. The smell from the kitchen had been delicious enough to force him to make a stop there before joining his friends for a match on the ground near the house.

"I smell pakodas!!" he yelled happily.  Then his eyes fell on Nandini, who was sitting at the table, with the cup of tea lying untouched. She smiled at him, but he looked at her a little thoughtfully and started to walk towards her. Assuming that he was about to sit on the other chair, she removed her bag and placed it on the table. But to her astonishment, he came and stood at the back of her chair, put his arms around her neck and hugged her.

Such displays of affection were unusual for Prakash, who had forbidden her mother and her from hugging or kissing him when he had turned seven years old. That was the age when he had decided he had become too old and mature to be cuddled and kissed. But today, it was almost as though he had intuitively sensed something of what his sister was feeling. Delighted and very touched, Nandini drew him around to the front, hugged him back and then held him firmly to her side.

Bhoothnath sat in the empty chair next to her.

"Sumer Singh is a good man", he nodded appreciatively, "and that boy...there is something about him. Something familiar," he frowned in concentration. "And he was so quiet. Hardly spoke a word or two when he was here, and I didn't feel it was because he was shy. Do you think he was feeling shy?" he asked Sarojini.

Nandini who had just taken a sip of tea almost choked on it. The very idea of calling Prithvi shy. She started to laugh, unable to control herself and saw belatedly that grandpa and Prakash were looking at her curiously. Bhoothnath opened his mouth to ask the reason for her laughter.

"I have prepared your favourite pakodas, father," Sarojini interrupted and hurriedly filled a plate and handed it to him.

Bhoothnath exclaimed in delight and bounced off with the plate towards the living room, forgetting all about Prithvi and the mystery behind Nandini's amusement.

"Hey," Prakash said indignantly, "you are not going to finish off all that by yourself, are you!". He pulled out of Nandini's hold and ran off to protect his share of pakodas.

Nandini and her mother laughed at the sight and then looked at each other, relieved. If Bhoothnath ever learnt that anyone had so much as looked angrily at Nandini, Rajesh Garewal's friends or not, the tenants would be on their way out within minutes.

********************

Prithvi and Sumer Singh were standing in one of the five rooms on the first storey of Ayodhya. They had examined the ground floor, which had the big living room, two bedrooms and the kitchen, and now they were surveying the other rooms in their new home. Three of the rooms were totally bare, but the other four were well furnished. A flight of stairs from the living room opened to a big landing, with one room straight ahead. There were two rooms on either side of this room.

The room right opposite the steps was the biggest room in the house and had a big sturdy bed, a sizeable cupboard and a wooden table and chair facing a big window that opened onto the small locality with the temple in the centre.

"This room is perfect for you, my lord," Sumer Singh said.

"No," Prithvi responded, "You will take this room, Baba. I'll take one of the other rooms."

Paying no heed to Sumer Singh's protests, he left the room. Sumer Singh had years of experience with Prithvi's extremely obstinate nature, and so he accepted defeat and strolled over to the window to admire the beautiful view outside.

Prithvi walked into the room to the left of Sumer Singh's room. This room was just a little smaller and had similar furnishings, and it had two big windows, one each on adjacent walls. He decided to occupy this room and walked over to the windows. One opened to the same scene as Baba's room.

But when he turned and walked to the other window, which was in the middle of the adjoining right-hand-side wall against which the bed was placed, he found himself looking at into an identical room in Vrindavan, some feet away. Even as he was looking, a young girl came into the room with a bag in hand. She placed the bag on the table, opened the cupboard, took out something and walked out of the room again.

Prithvi immediately turned around to leave the room and saw Sumer Baba standing at the door.

"Should I arrange this room for you, my lord?"

"No," Prithvi said shortly, "I don't like the view from the windows. I'll take the room on the opposite side." And he walked past Baba and towards the staircase to return to the ground floor.

Mystified, Sumer Singh remained standing there for an instant, wondering what was wrong with the view from the windows. They seemed perfectly fine to him.

***********************

Prithvi walked around the huge living room, looking it over again, while Sumer Singh sat on the rather old sofa, planning the arrangement of furniture once the truck came with their belongings. Two empty cups of tea and a half eaten plate of pakodas were on the little centre table in front of the sofa.

"The house does seem to suit our need for peace and quiet," Prithvi said slowly. "The area is calm and secluded, but is still close to the heart of the town."

"All the bedrooms are quite large, airy and have plenty of light coming in. Rajesh was right," Sumer Baba said approvingly, "The furniture is very old but the wood is of really good and long lasting quality. As for the rest, all our possessions from the previous house will arrive tomorrow."

"Now just as long as the other neighbours are not like the guest we had this afternoon, I think we'll be fine."

Sumer Singh kept silent this time.

Prithvi sighed. "You can say it."

"Was there really any need to be so harsh with her?" Sumer Singh asked quietly.

"She came into this house without knocking," Prithvi retorted, "It is important to set down some ground rules if we are going to live here for a while."

"But the poor girl didn't do it on purpose, my lord. She didn't know we were inside."
 
"Maybe," Prithvi shrugged impassively. "But she needs to know she can't do it again. And now she'll think twice before simply walking into the house as and when she pleases."

"After the way you spoke to her, I doubt she'll ever come here at all, my lord" Sumer Baba said dryly.

"That's what I'm hoping for," Prithvi said under his breath, before changing the topic and saying, "I'll take the bags upstairs to our rooms. We'll let this room remain vacant....for now." 

Sumer Singh didn't ask what he meant and simply nodded.

Prithvi went into the small bedroom, where they had temporarily kept the luggage while they inspected their new residence. He emerged with one of the heavy suitcases in one hand and the smaller bag in the other and climbed up the staircase to place them in the rooms above.

When he came down again, he saw Sumer Singh coming out of the room with the other heavy suitcase in hand.

He strode over, took the bag from his hands, placed it on the floor and asked heatedly, "What were you doing?"

"These bones are still very strong, my lord," Sumer Singh said soothingly.

"Yes, I am sure you are very strong," Prithvi replied angrily, "In fact, I am sure that every night after I go to sleep, you wear a mask and a cape and fly around the world rescuing people and fighting evil. But for my sake, please pretend that you have some health issues and shouldn't be lifting luggage that weighs twice as much as you."

Ignoring Sumer Singh's laughter, Prithvi grasped the old man's upper arm and, with a gentleness that was in stark contrast to his tone, led him to the sofa again.

"Sit down," Prithvi ordered grimly, "If you move an inch before I say so..."

Still chortling, Sumer Baba nodded in response to the warning in the unfinished sentence and said, "As you wish...."

With a look that said 'you better do as I wish', Prithvi picked up the bag and moved towards the stairway, saying loudly, "And don't you dare end that sentence with 'my lord'".

"...my son," Sumer Singh fondly completed his sentence in the empty living room.

 
***************************

Nandini peeped into the living room from the kitchen. Bhoothnath was sitting in his favourite armchair, and Sumer Singh and Prithvi were sitting on the sofa. Sumer Singh was chatting contentedly with her grandfather, but Prithvi was sitting silently, looking very uncomfortable. Prakash was sitting on the sofa opposite to theirs and was staring at him with a strange mixture of approval and suspicion. Prithvi was ignoring him very successfully.

He looked like a school boy who was being punished for some mischief, Nandini thought, and fought down a laugh.

Then she took a deep calming breath and walked into the living room, smiling and carrying a tray with two glasses of water.

But she need not have been worried about facing Prithvi again. Sumer Singh smiled back at her warmly when he picked a glass, but for all the attention Prithvi gave her when he took a glass, the tray might have been floating by itself in mid air.

"This is my granddaughter - Nandini," Bhoothnath announced with a proud smile. 

"Oh yes, we met her in the afternoon" Sumer Singh said, smiling at her.

"You did?" Bhoothnath asked, frowning. "Nandini didn't tell me anything -"

"Sumer uncle, we heard you were in the defense forces." Nandini said hastily, trying to divert the topic from dangerous territories.

Sumer Singh smiled, "Well, actually I was with the UN peacekeeping forces."

"You were with the UN forces!!" Bhoothnath asked, very impressed, and he exchanged awe-struck looks with Prakash. And soon, he and Nandini's brother were pelting Sumer Singh with questions about his experiences in various countries.

Nandini suddenly realized that Prithvi was finally looking at her.  And his expression only showed mild contempt at her obvious attempt to change the topic. She smiled at him uncertainly, but he simply looked away again.  She sighed faintly and returned to the kitchen to help her mother with the dishes.

*******************

Dinner was finally over. Sumer Singh was now extremely friendly with grandpa and Prakash. Prithvi had been very reserved but polite with her mother and grandfather, and though he hadn't spoken to Prakash at all, he seemed tolerant of her brother. He had given very brief answers to most questions, but her mother and grandfather appeared to have accepted his reticence indulgently, and they had directed all their questions to Sumer Singh.

Prithvi's attitude towards her, of course, was a different story. He hadn't looked at her once during dinner, leave alone talk, and had refused servings from her while accepting them quietly from her mother.

Nandini was thoroughly bemused by his animosity towards her. She had thought his anger in the afternoon had only been because of her ill mannered entrance into their house. But now she was not so sure. He seemed to radiate hostility when it came to her. 

Then there was another feature of the dinner that Nandini found puzzling. Throughout their visit, Sumer Singh had managed to keep the conversation centered only around general topics, and about his experiences in the peace keeping forces. Every time her grandfather or mother started to ask anything about their family, their past or anything about Prithvi, he would effortlessly steer the talk to some other topic.

But the others didn't seem to have noticed anything unusual. Maybe she had just imagined it.  

When they finally got up to leave, Prithvi had the air of having survived a big and terrible ordeal. They had just stepped out the door when Sarojini came down the steps holding a big stack of bed sheets and blankets.

"Nandini, go and give these to them. It's a cold night and their belongings will only come tomorrow. They might not have sheets or anything warm for tonight."

Just then the phone rang and her mother went to answer it.

Nandini hurried out of the door, holding the stack and shivering slightly because of a sudden gust of chilly wind.

Sumer Singh had gone into the house but Prithvi was just stepping through the connecting gate.

"Prithvi," she called out from her door.

Prithvi stopped, and turned around to look at her.

"Maa has sent some blankets and bed sheets," Nandini smiled, holding up the bundle, and walked over to him. "It gets quite cold here on some nights. It will be a little chilly till mid February, after that the climate is really lovely. Shamli's weather is very pleasant all through the year. Summers also are not too hot. I'm sure you'll like it..." her voice faltered into silence. She realized that he had been looking at her like he was trying to understand why she was telling him all this.

She flushed under his derisive glance and quietly held out the bundle and he took it without saying a word and, Nandini noted with amusement, with great care not to touch her hands.

"If you need anything else..." Nandini started to say.

'Yes. Actually I do need something else," he said coolly "I need to get some sleep...that is if your hour long commentary on the weather is over".

Nandini sighed and said, "You are still angry with me, aren't you, about what happened in the afternoon."

Prithvi paused in the act of turning away.

"I'm really sorry about that, it won't happen again," she said earnestly.

"Apology accepted," he said sardonically, "Now is there any other irrelevant topic you would like to discuss?"

"No...there isn't anything else," Nandini said softly, "Good night."

He turned around wordlessly and walked into Ayodhya.

Subdued, Nandini returned to her warm living room, closed the door securely, and sat down on the sofa. Now she was convinced that Prithvi had taken a strong dislike towards her for some reason and nothing she said or did was going to help.

And in that case there was only one way out, Nandini thought resignedly. If he found her so irksome, she would try her best to stay out of his way and not disturb him again.

She looked at her mother, who was sitting on the chair near the phone stand and chatting very cheerfully to someone. It would be difficult to explain to her why she couldn't go to Ayodhya with food or other refreshments or for anything else...but she would manage somehow, she decided somberly. 

Just as she got up from the seat to go to kitchen to clean it up, her mother said, "Nandini, talk to Garewal aunty, they both are at the airport and will be boarding the flight in some time..."

Nandini had just taken a joyful step towards the phone when she suddenly remembered an unopened letter lying in her bag upstairs. She stopped mid step, feeling horribly guilty and apprehensive. How could she have forgotten to read it so far. She was the most terrible person on earth. What if aunty wanted to talk about something she had written in it? How would she respond?

Her mother was holding out the phone to her.

She nervously took the phone from her mother, who left to tidy up the kitchen, and sat down on the vacated chair.

However, to her intense relief, the sweet woman on the other end didn't talk about the letter at all. She only asked questions about Nandini's studies and college, and then spoke about how much she missed her and their family. Then she gave the phone to Rajesh Garewal and they spoke for a long time. And both got a little emotional at the end when they said their goodbyes.

"Here, talk to your aunty again. She hasn't had her fill of talking to you," Rajesh said in a slightly uneven voice.

Mrs Garewal's voice came over the line. "Nanhi," she said, and her tone was no longer casual. She sounded strangely apprehensive. "I need to ask you something. I know you must have read the letter I sent by now. "

Nandini closed her eyes in despair, wishing the earth would open up and swallow her...

Feeling miserable, she started to confess that she hadn't read the letter, but was interrupted.

"I know you will not ignore my request, Nanhi. But we will be boarding the flight for the US in some time, and before I left, I just wanted to ask you once. You will do it, won't you? For me? And your uncle too?" Mrs Garewal asked almost pleadingly.

 Nandini felt totally bewildered. What had Mrs Garewal asked her to do? She cursed herself again for not having read the letter.

Her silence prompted the older woman to say worriedly, "Nanhi, it's okay if you don't want to do it."

"Oh no, aunty," Nandini said, horrified at the misinterpretation of her silence. "Of course -of course, I'll do it."

The voice on the other end sounded profoundly relieved. "Thank you so much, Nanhi. I knew you'll not let me down. We love you."

They spoke for some more minutes and said a touching farewell. After keeping the phone, Nandini sat still for some time, depressed by their leaving. Then she got to her feet and slowly climbed up the steps to go to her room. She had to read that letter tonight...

What exactly had she agreed to do?

And why did she have a strange feeling that she had somehow sealed her fate by giving her consent.

**********************************