Taking Devyani’s photograph in his hand, Deosthali said,
‘I can’t keep her at a distance. She’s four years old now. She’ll stay with me for perhaps another sixteen years. Katdare, what’s the point of earning money? Isn’t it for these young ones? I can’t stay far from her to earn money. I’m happy the way I am right now.’
The phone rang and Deosthali picked it up.
‘Tell me, darling. Yes, this is Pappa here.’ He cupped the mouthpiece with his hand and said,
‘Katdare, what a sweet voice! And look at her manners. Money, promotion, tours, foreign trips – it’s all nothing compared to this.’
Katdare leaned in to hear her speak. Deosthali said,
‘She calls me whenever she feels like. Whom would she call if I was on tour?’
The officer who got the promotion in place of Deosthali blessed him with all his heart.
Once, when there was an important meeting scheduled, Deosthali rang up to say he would not be attending because Devyani had fever. A couple of staffers went to his house to enquire about her health.
‘How is our princess?’
‘She wants her Pappa to be there with her,’ Deosthali said proudly.
‘Who has got her into this habit?’
‘Pappa,’ Devyani said casually.
‘How did you get fever?’
‘Because this girl is mad.’
‘Why do you say that, Pappa?’
‘Oh, I’m sorry, my dear.’
‘But what happened?’
‘I’ve completed checking some of the files that were due.’
‘That’s good, sir. We need those for our meeting today.’
‘But that is what created the problem.’
‘Why, what happened?’
‘This mad girl stood waiting for me in the balcony while it was raining. She didn’t listen to her mother. So she caught a chill that night.’
‘Have you taken her to a doctor?’
‘I’ve called for a specialist. I’ll get a complete check-up done.’
Deosthali’s reaction to a minor fever attracted criticism from many. Finally, they came to the conclusion that if one had the money, one could spend it. No one usually cares. No one volunteers to come forward and pay for others. But everyone loves to gossip.
The only person who didn’t say anything was Katdare.
He knew the kind of emotional attachment and reactions parents who have only one child have.
Time flies fast. The staff in the branch increased. Instead of thirty people, now there were more than seventy.
Most of the old staffers had streaks of grey in their hair. Many were balding. Most of them wore reading glasses.
They laughed and talked louder.
When they met during a coffee break, one of them lit a cigarette and said,
‘I’ve never been able to understand why men cry so much.’
‘It’s only natural.’
‘But isn’t it obvious, for example, on the day your daughter is born? Why should one make such a fuss?’
Jayant Deosthali said, his voice a few notches louder,
‘Now, you know how much I love my daughter. But I’m sure I will not feel a thing when she gets married and walks away.’
Billimoria interrupted,
‘Saala, do you think crying is beneath your dignity or what?’
‘I don’t know, but somehow I’m unable to cry. I don’t understand why people should cry. The other day, my cousin was crying just like a woman. I mean, he’d been composed the whole day!’
‘Saheb, he may have been trying to hold himself back until then.’
‘It’s possible. The way he cried in the evening when his daughter touched his feet for his blessings … I’m sure he’d been acting the whole day.’
‘Did he cry so much?’
‘He cried his heart out. Four people had to console him. You should have seen how embarrassed the son-in-law was. He didn’t know where to look. He felt as if he was a criminal who had murdered someone’s daughter.’
‘Sir, you shouldn’t hold back. There’s no harm in crying if you feel like it. Let it be.’
‘But I should feel like it, isn’t that so? My wife was sobbing and my daughter too. I was the only one who had no tears. My wife looked at me suspiciously, wondering whether I had any emotions at all. Isn’t that funny?’
Deosthali got up laughing, patted Pinto on his back and moved away.
The reception went off well.
Deosthali was laughing as he bid farewell to one of the guests, saying,
‘Arre, man has reached the moon. Why the big fuss over Hyderabad? How far can it be, anyway? We can hop on to a plane and meet her whenever we feel like it. She’s not going away. She’ll always be her father’s first, then her husband’s.’
He was consoling someone else,
‘Aunty, that’s not true. She’ll come rushing the moment she’s asked. We don’t lose our rights over her just because she’s married now.’
The reception was finally over.
The bride and the bridegroom were exhausted from bending down to touch the feet of dozens of relatives. The contractor’s men were busy packing away the chairs and other furniture. A few guests were still having dinner. Everyone was happy as the entire ceremony had gone off as planned.
Soon, the bridegroom’s relatives were ready to leave the venue. Jayant Deosthali moved around without any urgency.
Dandavate said,
‘We should leave before Devyani does. We can leave saheb alone. We don’t want to embarrass him when he can’t hold himself back and starts crying. We might start crying as well.’
‘Arre, that’s so true. During my marriage, I cried when I saw my father-in-law burst into tears.’
‘Boss should cry freely. It will be good for him.’
Deosthali came in and the discussion ended abruptly.
‘So, what’s up?’
‘Time to leave. She’s being hugged by each and every one, and they all burst into tears. I can’t console everyone,’ he said, a little too loudly.
You could see the emotional scenes playing out from the window. Once in a while, a loud sob could be heard in the hall. Deosthali deliberately stood with his back to the window. He had no interest in participating in that overflow of emotion.
‘Saheb, we’d like to take our leave now.’
‘Devyani is about to leave. Wait for her to go.’
Deosthali found ways to delay their departure, with one excuse or another. He had,
