"Khamma Ghani."

"And what do you say if someone greets you first?" Kaveri Devi asked.

"Ghani Khamma," Niyati replied.

"Correct," Kaveri Devi Rajvansh beamed. "The younger generation of us Rajputs too greet each other with Hi-Hello these days but you will have to stick with the traditional greetings, I am afraid. Firstly, because in spite of your age you are one of the elder daughters-in-law and elder sister-in-law in the family with Uday being the third eldest cousin. Secondly, with Uday being in politics, adherence to traditions is expected from his spouse."

Niyati merely smiled. It didn't matter that the longevity of this relationship was uncertain, it didn't matter that she didn't want to be Uday Rajvansh's spouse; she was it. For now.

Thankfully, her relationship with her 'husband' was harmonious. They mutually held their side of silence, tried to keep out of each other's way and tactfully ignored each other on the breakfast table, one meal that Kaveri Devi insisted they all had together as that was the only time Uday Rajvansh ate at home. On their first day on that table, he had sneered at her presence, had asked his mother to keep the garbage where it belonged and had marched back to his room upstairs. Kaveri Devi had apologized to her and had marched right after her son, up an impressive flight of stairs, on her arthritic knees and a still mending heart. God knew what arguments they had had, but since then peace had prevailed on the table and in her life.

Anthony uncle's reading of Kaveri Devi Rajvansh had been spot on too. She doted on her firstborn like anything. He had her limitless love, loyalty, and support. He was also right when he'd said that she will consistently hover around her. In fact, the lady stayed put on Niyati's side as if super-glued there. The ground floor room Niyati had been given was just next to Kaveri Devi's. The whole wing was a guest wing, but owing to her recent heart attack she had been moved downstairs from the upstairs family wing, where Uday Rajvansh was the sole occupant now. Niyati was sure that the old woman would like nothing more than to sleep next to her, she only needed to ask.

To give her credit, though, she was really doing everything that could be done to make Niyati feel comfortable, happy and at home. She was clearly grieving for her younger son, but she didn't mention him ever in front of Niyati, except once. And that too only to explain what had made Abhay Rajvansh so selfish and callous, making no apologies for his deceit and apologizing to her instead. From what Niyati gathered, she and her husband had always wanted two kids, but after her first child, she couldn't conceive again for the next eleven years. After a while, they accepted the situation as God's will. As it is, they had one smart and intelligent offspring and decided to love and nurture him to their best. Uday Rajvansh grew to be the apple of both his parents' eyes. After almost a decade, though, Abhay Rajvansh came along. He wasn't a planned baby but a welcomed one. However, it soon became obvious that his father and elder brother had carved out a life which did not leave them much time for the newest addition to the family. While they loved Abhay Rajvansh, they did it from afar. It left only his mother to care for him. While she understood her elder son's distance from a bawling baby, she didn't like her husband's. So resentful and trying to be both a mother and a father in his life, she unwittingly spoiled him beyond repair. A fact, she confided, she had been regretting a while now.

After listening to all this, Niyati came to the conclusion that she will always have a problem relating to the moneyed class. Abhay Rajvansh chose to ruin his life, and that of others, in spite of having an obviously loving mother and all the opportunities of the world at his feet? Some people would die for that much! People, people like her, were getting by fairly well in comparison with almost nothing in terms of love or money in their lives. He might not have had a hands-on father or the constant attention of his brother but he had been blessed far more than an average human being. He could have counted the blessings he'd had, made this world a better place with all the power at his disposal, but no, he chose to waste everything away. Well, good riddance.

"Here, have this," Kaveri Devi pulled her out of her thoughts as she offered her a plate of thinly sliced apple.

Niyati marveled at the clockwork precision that was followed in this household for her meals. Every hour, without fail, she was offered to eat something or the other. Always a healthy option.

"These have come from our orchards near Kasol. We also have a vacation home there. The weather is marvelous in Himachal, never like this boiling heat of Rajasthan," she finished with a face.

Other than learning the fact that Kaveri Devi loved to talk, Niyati also found that she belonged to the Royal family of Patiala. That she liked to place bets with the servants of the house, always for money, on things like weather, cricket, etc. Though Niyati noticed that she let them make a lot more money out of her when they won. She was a good sport and took losing in her stride. But there was also a shrewdness under all the joviality that betrayed the intelligent within. Figures, Niyati allowed generously, these people must have to keep their guards up against all the opportunists out there. One of them was she herself, as per Uday Rajvansh.

Honestly, though, the luxury surrounding her was incredibly tempting. But it was her baby's life alright, it could never be hers. After the initial awe died down, she knew she would never be comfortable with this level of rich. She hadn't had the internal make-up for it. She was the person for whom two BHK was the epitome of luxury, who thought pav-bhaji was a delicacy and shopping was best done at Fashion street. These people lived in a house that put palaces to shame, ate apples plucked from their private orchards, mangoes exclusively from Lucknow, saffron from Kashmir no less, they flew to Thailand just to attend parties, attended fashion shows in Paris, shopped in London, had winter vacations in Bora Bora, summer vacations in Scotland.... the list was endless. Just listening to it bewildered her. Until a few days back, she wouldn't have believed had someone told her that people actually lived like this in this world.

Didn't they feel guilty when they visited villages begging for bare bone necessities like water, electricity and two square meals a day for their election campaigns?

In one of her contemplative moods, she had voiced that question to Kaveri Devi. She had expected the royal lady to jump in the defense of her family's extravagant lifestyle in the eye of their thriving public service careers. Instead, she had turn philosophical. She accepted that the wealth distribution was done very unfairly in this world. But she also pointed out that because they had been so blessed financially, it gave them no reason to con a common man out of his hard-earned money. They aimed to serve the people. It's not the status but what you do with it that matters, she'd said, and her family has been using theirs very judicially for the gain of their people.

Niyati didn't know if that was true or false. But what she knew to be true was that she was in imminent danger of falling in love with this mother-figure who shared her life anecdotes with her, pampered her, answered her every query patiently, tutored her indulgently in their Rajputi ways and didn't treat her like trash that her son believed her to be. Niyati who already nurtured a soft spot for any mother-figure in her orphaned life was a hair-breadth away from succumbing to Kaveri Devi's maternal charms. The only thing that kept her on the other side of the line was Anthony uncle's warning. That, and the mention of going to London for her delivery that kept cropping up in her conversations. Niyati was not sure what to make of it and had appraised Anthony uncle of the development. He had assured her that he will talk to Uday Rajvansh himself and find out what they were planning.

"Just one," Niyati smiled, swiping one slice from the offered plate. "I am not very hungry. I rather sleep for a while, if that is okay?"

.

.

.

.

"I thought you were my friend, Kaveri."

The raised voice from the formal sitting area arrested Niyati's approach to the kitchen. She had gotten up after two hours of blissful nap and had found the jug of water in her room empty. Still hesitant to summon the servants to pander to her every need, she had gotten up to do the task of refilling it herself. The voices coming from the receiving area of the house stopped her, though. She started to walk away knowing it was bad to eavesdrop, but on second thought, did not really move. Anthony uncle did ask to keep her eyes and ears open, didn't he?

"Of course, I am, Sumati," Kaveri Devi replied.

Niyati could make out notes of desperate pleading in the voice she had gotten very familiar with these days.

"Then what kind of a friend are you, please do tell? You'd promised you will get Uday married to my Vaibhavi! Does your word have no value anymore?" the accusation flew.

Niyati's eyes widened. Uday Rajvansh was almost betrothed earlier? She hastily peeked from behind the curtain. A very distinguished woman in her fifties, clad in a designer saree, stylish with her salt and pepper hair was furiously pacing in front of the couch where a contrite-looking Kaveri Devi was sitting, looking at her friend beseechingly.

"How could you do this to me, Kaveri? To my daughter? You knew how much I was looking forward to Uday and Vaibhavi's alliance. If you wanted a wife for Uday pronto, why didn't you come to me? Uday and Vaibhavi are friends, they work together, our families are friends, our business interests mesh, they are so suitable for each other that they are a match made in heaven, for crying out loud! But you ruined everything for some orphan from nowhere. Why?" Sumati, the friend, wailed.

Kaveri Devi looked around fervently. Niyati dashed back behind the curtains.

"Can you please keep your voice down? Niyati is napping on this floor only," she pleaded.

"Oh!," Sumati exclaimed sarcastically, "No disturbing the precious daughter-in-law, is it? Does the little madam have you wrapped around her pinky finger already? Wow!"

"It is not like that, Sumati."

"Then help me understand how it is, Kaveri? What has this, this ...Niyati... got that Vaibhavi hasn't? Is it because she is a divorcee, is it? Did you want a virgin wife for your darling future Chief Minister, is it? Then why did you come up with Uday-Vaibhavi proposal damn you! I didn't come to you, you came to me!! And then you didn't even have the decency to call me and tell me that you are dropping my daughter for that girl. After a month without a word from your end, finally, I had to come here like some shameless beggar begging for answers for some damned closure!"

Virgin? Niyati scoffed. Anything but that.

Kaveri Devi was indignant. "I am the culprit for not communicating with you, I accept, because the situation was so weird that I didn't know what to tell you. But don't say that Vaibhavi's divorcee status has anything to do with my decision. You know I love that girl like my own. She is like a daughter I never had, Sumati. Doubt my integrity but don't doubt my affection for her. I beg you."

"What weird situation?" Sumati pounced.

Kaveri Devi cleared her throat uneasily.

"And please don't insult me by lying. You owe me the truth if nothing else," Sumati demanded.

"You.. knew how Abhay was," Kaveri Devi started. "You also know how Uday feels about marriage. He likes Vaibhavi a lot, but he still hasn't recovered from his past experience to commit to a marriage. And with what all Abhay was doing with his life, I thought it would be good if I settle him first. But nobody from our circle was ready to give him their daughter, trust me, I tried."

What past experience? Niyati wondered.

"I can believe that," Sumati replied ungraciously.

Kaveri Devi didn't let that derision affect her and soldiered on, "So when I met Niyati at her orphanage's charity function in Mumbai, I thought she would be a very good choice. The girl is beautiful, intelligent and strong. If someone would be up to the task of keeping Abhay in line, I knew it would be her. The only thing missing was a social pedigree but I wasn't in a position to be choosy."

"So when Abhay died you hung his intended bride around Uday's neck? Uday, who you claim was taking time to come up to the scratch where Vaibhavi was concerned?" Sumati spat.

Intended bride? More like his discarded woman.

"Yes, it was Uday's idea. After my heart attack when I pleaded him to marry, he was the one to propose going forward with Niyati."

Now, this was a lie if she ever heard one!

"I don't believe you!" the other woman shot.

"Believe me when I say the kind of marriage Uday had in mind, I did not want to put Vaibhavi through it. I love her too much for that. I did what I felt was right for Uday, for Vaibhavi, and for Niyati too given the circumstances."

"Stop talking in circles, Kaveri!"

"Fine, let me be blunt with you then. Did you want a marriage of convenience for Vaibhavi? Because that is what this marriage is. Uday and Niyati haven't spent one full day together since their wedding. He has no time or love to spare for a wife. His sole aim in life is to build a political career and Niyati is here to provide him with his heir. Would you want to sign your daughter up for this arrangement?"

An uncomfortable silence followed.

Niyati was speechless as well. Nothing Kaveri Devi said was a lie, but it wasn't the truth either. The lady had a political bent of mind after all.

Niyati heard Kaveri Devi sigh and say, "I thought not. That was the only kind of marriage Uday was agreeable to. He didn't want the trappings of a normal marriage and I finally realized that however much I might want Vaibhavi as my daughter-in-law, I wouldn't want that kind of life for her.  Not with her having to endure one bad marriage already. Niyati, on the other hand, is grateful to get a family and a standing in life. I, too, can rest easy that our name wouldn't die with this generation."

"But Vaibhavi lost out on the only man she wants. She really loves Uday, you know," Sumati countered bitterly.

"I know, but Uday refuses to open his heart to anyone after that bitch Tanya. Vaibhavi deserves happiness the second time around at least."

"Yes, she does. My child has been through hell once and that was more than enough," Sumati conceded.

"Uday sees it that way too and he didn't want to be the reason for Vaibhavi's misery. He loves her a lot too, as a friend."

"You could have at least kept us in the loop? Warned us? We got to know that we have been kicked to the curb through damned news channels!"

"I cannot tell you how ashamed I am."

"Spare me. You didn't even take my calls."

"It all happened so fast and then I didn't know what to tell you when I was the one who had initiated the proposal. I will take any punishment you deem right."

"It will take me time to get over your betrayal, Kaveri. You thought of everything but my daughter's emotions. I cannot forgive you that. We both know severing ties with each other is not an option with our business ties and with Vaibhavi working with Uday at his party office, but the idea has its appeal. I never thought I would say this, but I wish I had never befriended you at that bridge game twenty years back. My friendship with you is the reason my family is so heavily involved with yours today, financially and emotionally."

"Please forgive me, Sumati," Kaveri Devi pleaded.

In the following silence, Niyati guessed that the lady has left. She risked a peek around the curtain and found Kaveri Devi sitting defeatedly on the couch, her head bent and her visage bleak. Abandoning her water refilling mission, Niyati turned back to her room.

She had thought that Abhay Rajvansh ruined her life. But she too had ruined another girl's life, who actually loved Uday Rajvansh!

Furthermore, she arm-twisted Uday Rajvansh into marrying her while he was still hurting over his past named Tanya.

For the first time since this hell had broken loose, Niyati felt something other than anger and sadness.

She felt guilt.

Apparently, she wasn't the only victim here.

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