While returning from college, Prabir halted the bike suddenly observing a little pup dive into the front wheel of his bike. Bhargavi sprang from her seat and ran out to see if the puppy was alright. Luckily, he was unharmed.

"Why is this little guy so heavy?" She asked alarmed picking him up, who was shivering.

"Maybe, he's infested with worms. He won't survive if not treated properly," Prabir said genuinely.

"Look at his eyes! Poor little thing. Let's take him home please. He'll be run over if we leave him here," Bhargavi pleaded.

Grinning, he nodded a yes and turned his bike around in the opposite direction."Sit!" He said softly.

"Why did you turn around your bike?" She quizzed.

"Well, because we need to take him to a vet clinic first," he said smiling.

Returning home, Mr. Banerjee was heartily welcomed by Parul bouncing with joy. "Baba. There's someone excitedly waiting to meet you," she said dragging him to the kitchen, where Prabir had tied up Hope,(as he was named by Prabir) in a corner not wanting him to be hurt, following him everywhere. He was worried that he might stamp over his tiny paws, hurting the little one.

When Mr. Banerjee saw Hope, his glare shifted to Prabir and he asked frustrated," Two cats chasing cockroaches, lizard and mice... wasn't enough to destroy this house Prabir?"

Bhargavi entered the kitchen, munching a cucumber and replied before Prabir could say anything,
"Umm...Uncle. I think it is wise to pet a dog rather than a spiteful venomous snake?"

"What?" He asked astonished.

"Maa has been hissing like a pit viper since afternoon, coiled and ready to strike," she replied gesturing the position of the snake before striking with her right hand.

Parul, Prabir as well as Bhawani burst out laughing at Bhargavi's remark and the worrisome look cast on Mr. Banerjee's face, who now reclined on a chair at the dinner table.

"Is she mad at me? Well! Yes she is. But why?" Mr. Banerjee asked himself. Smiling now, he remembered that she had called him twice during the lunch hour, while he was discussing Bhawani's case with Dr. Menon,and thus had been unable to receive her calls. After the discussion, he had plenty of stuff to do and had completely missed out that he needed to call her back.

It was indeed a long time ago, when someone would be mad at him for not responding to her calls. Lost in the memories of his late wife Pratima, he stared blankly at everything but nothing in particular, as a tear drop rolled down his left cheek.

"Now before you go upstairs and get roasted like a potato, as Maa breathes fire, have this," Bhargavi said handing him a glass of warm milk.

No one else had noticed the silent tear rolling down Mr. Banerjee's face, except Prabir. However, he didn't want to bring up the issue in presence of Parul and Bhawani.

"Tell Maa that she has nothing to worry, because Radhika Di ( the nurse who looks after Ms. Nalini) is taking a leave for a day...both Bhargu and I will stay behind to help her," Prabir said after a while,observing his father slowly sip the milk.

"Alright! I'll start with the dinner preparations," he said getting up from his seat, signaling Parul and Bhawani to leave for their own rooms.

As Shekhar had been helping Bhawani with her studies, recently, Prabir had to guide only Parul and Mayank.

Starting to knead the dough already, Bhargavi was staring outside the window when Prabir started to chop some onions beside her.

"I'm such a mess. Why am I crying again? As I grow older, it seems I cry more and more," Bhargavi stated still looking outside at the twinkling stars and the crescent moon.

"Let's take a moment to appreciate the ability of onions dear," Prabir smirked, himself blind with tears.

Smiling to himself, hearing the conversation, Mr. Banerjee slowly crept upstairs to greet Ms. Nalini before pausing to take a closer look at Hope, wagging his tail excited.

Walking in after knocking slightly on the open door, he found Ms. Nalini weeping. "What happened?" He shrieked panicked.

"It would have been much better if I...I stayed back in the hospital. Tomorrow, Radhika won't be able to come. I...I don't want Bhargavi to miss her classes before exam because of me," she wailed.

"Exams, marks, education...it all means nothing Nalini, if a child can't look after her sick mother for a day, who sacrificed her whole life for her. Tell me how many sleepless nights have you spent looking after your little girls when they were sick?" He said slowly wiping her tears, sitting beside her.

"Don't you even think about telling all this to Bhargavi, she'll be hurt Nalini...
I am sorry I couldn't call you back," he apologized.

She started crying hysterically, like a baby who wouldn't stop crying, though the sound wasn't loud enough to be heard outside the room.

"Are you in pain? Please tell me what is it?" Mr. Banerjee asked nervously, softly stroking her hair.

"I...I have been so cruel to Bhargavi but she never behaves rudely.

She hardly sleeps, trying to stay alert all night, wondering...what if she falls asleep and I need a glass of water? I won't be able to fetch it myself.
I am so worried about her. I don't deserve all this affection and care," she went on rambling.

"Yeah! Right. You should remember all this you are saying now, and think at least twice before you hit her again, " he replied annoyed.

"Radhika stays here till six in the evening, so that she can rest in the afternoon post lunch.
And Prabir is there to look after her health, there's nothing you should be worried about. If you feel guilty for what you've done then that's a different matter altogether," he added icily.

You know it's sometimes hard to believe that Bhargavi is your daughter. No matter what the situation or circumstances are, she always has a good sense of humor and stays calm and focused. Instead of banging her head on the wall or whining all day about her problems. She smartly looks out for solutions, Mr. Banerjee though to himself, but restrained those words from parting his lips.

"An uneducated and illiterate person like me can't possibly be able to think like you Mr. Banerjee.
Yes! I have been very cruel and have beaten up my daughter several times. I have let out all of my frustrations on her. But she is my pride, she's my life, I don't expect her to do anything wrong. I had never seen so much cash in my life before, that...she had hidden in her room.

I am grateful to you for everything that you have done for me. I will never again call and disturb you," she said finally, leaving him flustered.

"Why did you call me?" He asked patiently.

"It's nothing you should be bothered with," she said angrily and looked away.

"Nalini please. Please tell me why did you call me?" He urged.

She again teared up and softly said," I need a favor. I...I know I am the most horrible mother on this planet, like you have said before but...umm...I want to gift something on Prabir's birthday as I won't be able to prepare any of his favorite dishes. Can you pick up something for me, something that he will value? I don't want to ask Bhargavi to do this because I have never gifted her anything on any of her birthday's...except for making a sweet dish, that was all I could afford. There was no place I could call home, my father kicked me out with two kids, and..."

Mr. Banerjee placed his index finger on her lips." No more crying and upsetting yourself Nalini. It's all in the past. Now you rest, I'll pick up something for Prabir don't worry," he said still remarking her face, which had turned deep pink after all the crying and bawling. When he stood up to leave, she held his wrist urging him to sit down for a bit longer.

"Do you still have back pain?" She asked concerned."When you didn't receive my calls, all I could think of was...maybe you had to be admitted to the hospital...Prabir and Bhargavi were not telling me the truth."

"Ah! I see, so you were worried about me. My back pain has subsided, luckily I don't feel it anymore," he said assuring her with a smile.

In the meantime, while preparing dinner, a bad smell pervaded the nostrils of both Prabir and Bhargavi. Turning around, they found little Hope, spreading shit all over the kitchen floor, dragging his bottom on the ground.

"Yuk! Did he do that on purpose... in protest of not being paid attention?" Bhargavi asked, now observing him spin in circles.

Having made some lukewarm water, Prabir gently wiped Hope clean, while Bhargavi cleaned the floor and stared at Prabir angrily, while he sweet talked with Hope. " You have an itchy butt, don't you? It's alright! Don't worry!"

Once, dinner was over and everyone retired to their rooms, Prabir would call up Mayank,to help him with his studies. Tonight, he needed help with chemistry. Bhargavi was still lingering in the kitchen, cleaning up and doing the dishes.

Before Mayank's arrival, suddenly taking a closer look at Prabir's laptop screen, which was still logged into his email account, Bhargavi saw many job offers lined up. He hadn't accepted a single one. Hearing the approaching foot steps of Prabir she went back to the dishes.

"You should accept the offer," she remarked when Prabir was staring at his laptop blankly. 

"Which offer?"

"The job offers Prabir, you don't find any one of the offers apt?"

"How can I leave you alone amidst all this chaos?"

"You won't be leaving within the next six months time Prabir and..."

"Till then we will be encountering N more number of problems," he sighed.

"But..." She had started but thought the better of it, as one by one Mayank and then Mr. Banerjee entered the kitchen.

"I had a word with Dr. Menon. She has prescribed some medications for Bhawani. Now, the sole problem is to ensure she takes the medicines on time. Well! We cannot roll up a pill in a fish ball and ask her to swallow it," Mr. Banerjee said slowly sitting down.

"May I suggest something?" Mayank asked softly.

"Yes, you may," Mr. Banerjee said.

"You can tell her that these medicines will help her study and keep her grades up. It will also help quieten the voices in her head," he suggested.

"It won't work. She doesn't admit that she is hearing voices. She is refusing... having any mental issues," Mr. Banerjee stated.

"Baba.Please rest assured.Bhargu will see to it that Bhawani takes her medicines on time," Prabir said. 

And how am I supposed to do that? Bhargavi questioned herself in her mind, scrubbing the dishes.

"Fine! I'll go to bed then," Mr. Banerjee said and strolled away, feeling much relieved. The unbelievable confidence, that Prabir had in Bhargavi made him believe that it won't be a problem at all. He had been worrying all this time unnecessarily.

Observing the night sky from the kitchen window, Bhargavi stood motionless not knowing when Mayank had left, or Prabir had locked the gates and placed the keys on the key holder in the kitchen. There was something in the night sky that fascinated her.

"How long will you stand there?" Prabir asked finally, startling her.

"Oh! Mayank left?"

"Yes! A while ago."

"Are you worried about something?"

"How do I ask Bhawani to take those medicines? How will she react?" She asked, laughing derisively at herself, although, what she actually had been thinking about was Prabir's birthday, two days later.

He never hosted a birthday party at home, as Mr. Banerjee wouldn't allow him to cook or clean on his birthday and would have to end up getting exhausted and sick working extremely hard, throughout the day.

Herself, no good at cooking, she had taken Sarvesh's help, who would hire a cook for a complete day, to prepare healthy, scrumptious meals for breakfast, lunch as well as dinner for the party in the evening.

"We are stuck in a limbo. If she asks us...why do I need to take any medications? It will be hard to explain that she's delusional and really, really needs to take these medicines.
Hey! How about we crush the pills and mix them with some chocolate syrup? It always worked for Paru," Prabir insisted thoughtfully.

"You sounded so confident while assuring Uncle, I assumed you had a better plan Prabir," she let out a heavy sigh.

"We'll talk to her, I'll urge her to take those pills at least for your sake. Bhawani realizes that you have always had the best of intensions for her in your heart. Maybe, she'll agree to take the medicines if you ask her," he added,remarkably sanguine.

Author's note:

Happy Diwali everyone!!

I wish you all lots of happiness and success in life. May this auspicious day, beautifully illuminate every corner of your life.

Happy Reading!

Stay safe,blessed and happy!