Suchita had virtual antennas and it probed the air for words and ticks that signaled trouble and she always moved swiftly to head it off , neatly snipping whiffs in the bud before it had a chance to grow and become unmanageable monsters.
So,at the table when my younger son said that Radha knew my name, I tried to play it down , but Su's roving invisible sensors had picked it up and said sweetly,
"Yes muchi,muchi and how did she know that...did you tell her? When she addressed Markus,she used endearments that grated on one's ears..."muchi muchi"... I hissed under my breath
"No mama"...."shaedoesamuasu".. He always answered in monosyllables and mumbles, something which his mother instantly deciphered and understood and relaxed.
I cut in .."anybody will know my name by the way you mama yells it and besides that,it's plastered as a banner on the front wall." When I had ordered for a copper plate ,I asked for proper font size and the agent had arrived at the hour of death with a copper plate and my name the size of a hoarding and installed it with promises to replace that as soon as the smaller one was ready. He took his money and had disappeared while the board stood and announced my presence from a mile out.
My son ate in silence , but I knew something was unsaid and I had to move with trepidation. Suchita would blow her top if she found out that I had fathered a child , albeit long ,long ago,in the heat of an unstoppable moment of sheer sexual pleasure, where consequences of such actions were least contemplated.My wife would most probably walk out on me were she to learn the truth.
But I was way in too deep with my date with destiny. Radha had come back into my life, not so lightly so as to shrug it off, but with a daughter in tow ,mine, and mine only and her umblical connection extended to me that I wouldn't be able to severe it in any manner, nor could I ignore the fact any more or live without holding my daugher in my arms at least once........no a million times. Yes ,be her father in the truest sense and bond and bond until my yearning soul rested content at her acceptance of me as her father .
After the initial encounter, weeks passed before I saw her again and then on, most of my time was spend at places where she appeared at different times of the day, and now I wasn't too bothered about whether she noticed me or not and after about two weeks of tagging her, I hoped to god that she would have a divine revelation and recognise me as the father of her girl. I hoped and hoped.
Meanwhile I had also set a detective, a sleazy bastard, on their trail and learnt Radha was the mistress of a wealthy businessman and he owned the supermarket where I now had to compulsively shop; my daughter helped out there in the evenings after college. Radha had a son by this fat , swarthy pit-of-the-world and they lived there separately,in a house owned by this tycoon . Any other women would have barfed at the mass of flesh in human form but Radha was rumoured to have him by his balls, holding that and part of his wealth as a
proxy , managing the business at his supermarket and also standing in for some of his not so legal businesses. The man was generous to her and it helped her maintain a fairly good lifestyle, going by the house and the way she carried herself.Like she didn't need one more mister to look after her.
James bond briefly sketched these details ,skirting most of the big story to tell me with a knowing gleam in his eyes her daughter's name was Samhita .Samhita? I had to look up it's sanskrit meaning. On his undercover mission,he had caught me tagging her and inferred that my true interests lay in the young girl. He had even proposed that he could set her up for me and whispered to me with great conspiracy....
"...see ...just like her mother, one day she will go that way. You know that's how these things end, after the mother , you know.... the daughter...yes,yes these kind of things happen ... it's easy ,you buy a small apartment, he winked and said that with his help and with some expensive presents ... "set her up as,...".you know, wink, ...".I knew that sly wink and I could feel my blood boil and stopped him short...
" What did you say?.". He was taken aback by my change of tone and explained that kids her age were vulnerable and usually ended up in the same rut as their mothers.I didn't want to listen further as that thought had crossed my mind and it disturbed me to the extent of going on and owning up and taking charge of her life.I couldn't come to terms that a similar fate to her mother awaited her in life ,when I could easily buy her any kind of life she desired. My concern for her had almost made me go across and own up.
One day, I saw the mother and daughter at their supermarket,at the far end of the line, among a row of hanging undergarments and had hurried down in great haste,determined to confront Radha ,when they had turned and vanished into the sheer wall adjacent the the shelves. I looked around. No trace of them. I peeked over the door of a small enclosure to be spat on by hissing cat with mamaries half stuffed into a lacy bra. I withdrew and hurried down the aisle and in the meantime, regained my senses and decided to be discreet until that time I had a plan .
Later I also learnt Radha's son and my younger son, Markus, went went to the same school and rode the same bus and were friends, being from thereabouts the same block and boarded the bus for school at the corner on the main road. My son told me he had been to his house and that his mother was a very funny and nice person.Yes, Radha the laughing miracle, every moment seemed to tickle her.
So, and what does your friend's mother do during the day ? I asked
