Rhythm Of Love Page 4

  Esha stamped her foot hard which he didn’t notice. It helped to relieve some of her rising anger. As soon as they sat down in the restaurant, he ordered a number of items from the menu. Just imagining the food made her salivate and her stomach started to growl.

  She decided not to look at Siddharth, opened her notebook and started to write some headings without having any idea what the meeting was about. The food arrived and was placed on the table. The wonderful aroma filled her nose. She could clearly imagine what smell belonged to which food but didn’t want to look up from her notebook, as she knew that the fact that she was very hungry would be evident in her eyes.

  “Let’s eat.” She heard him say.

  She wondered about where the client was, as she didn’t see anyone coming to join them at the table and she looked at Siddharth questioningly.

  He gestured to her to eat. She tried to see if he was joking or if he was actually asking her to eat.

  “Will you put down your notebook now, please? I am very hungry and I know you are hungry too,” he said while looking down at the table as if he was sorry for what he had done.

  Esha folded the notebook immediately, put it back into her bag and asked, “But how did you know I was hungry?”

  “You are funny, Esha. Who eats biscuits for lunch? If I hadn’t forgotten my wallet at the office, I would not have known you didn’t really eat anything for lunch,” he said and took a bite of his chappati which he had dipped into the chicken curry.

  Esha frowned at him and asked suspiciously, “What about the client who we are meeting?”

  He gulped down another bite of chappati, cleared his throat and said, “Because I mentioned meeting a client, you didn’t hesitate to come with me. If I had asked you to come for lunch, you would have taken your own sweet time to decide whether to come with me or not.” He looked at her with a knowing look on his face. She burst out laughing, knowing that he was right.

  While going back to the office, Siddharth got a call. He used his speaker-phone while driving. Esha could make out it was his mother. He sounded happy talking to her. It sounded as if his mother was calling from America.

  When he finished the call, she asked, “Was that your mother?”

  He smiled and nodded, "Yes, my sweetheart.”

  Esha smiled at the word he used to address his mother. “Does she spoil you?” she asked.

  She didn’t know why she asked that question, but he replied with a smile, “Very much. I belong to a family of Mehta steel company owners, but I wanted to make a name for myself in the garment business. I don’t know why, but the smell of garments makes me crazy. I’d like to create new designs and bring Indian handlooms to the forefront of the world. That is my goal.”

  “So you decided to start this company and manage everything on your own, without taking their help?” she asked.

  He looked at her and said, “They agreed with me after I said I wanted to start without their help and that if it doesn’t work out in five years, I will go back into the family business.”

  She smiled, it was good to know he came from such an established family and yet wanted to run a start-up. She had noticed the way he dressed and had guessed he came from a wealthy background but now he had confirmed that and also why he was running a start-up.

  A minute later, her phone buzzed and she saw it was her mother calling. She was about to disconnect the call feeling uncomfortable talking to her mother in front of him, but he told her to answer the call.

  As she answered the call, her mother started asking her about her health and her job. She answered her quietly saying, “Mom, everything is fine. I will call you later.”

  “Remember, don’t go anywhere else except the office. It seems Aunty Puja’s daughter, who was staying in Mumbai has run away.”

  Esha bit her lower lip and said in a hushed tone, “Mom, I only go to the office and then home, and nowhere else. Don’t worry. I am hardly left with any energy to go anywhere else with all the travelling that I have to do.”

  Her mother listened quietly and gave her blessings and ended the call.

  Esha kept her eyes on her phone. Then she heard Siddharth say, “Your mother is quite strict it seems.”

  Esha nodded her head and said, “Yes, she is. Actually, she wasn’t always like this. She was a very broadminded lady, but my relatives influenced her to change her social nature and broad outlook when my father passed away. Since my father died, she hasn’t been the same. She always fears the unknown and doesn’t trust anyone, even me at times.”

  Esha’s eyes began to water as she remembered her life when her father was alive. She turned to look out of the window.

  “Esha...It happens, but you know what, you can change it,” he said.

  She turned towards him and asked, “How?”

  He smiled and said, ‘One day you will make her realize that you are priceless and she shouldn’t listen to anyone else. The day when she stops thinking about what others say, she won’t judge you anymore. You will be her pride and joy.”

  Esha smiled at his assuring words and she whispered, “I hope so.”

  He smiled again, changing gears and said, “You will, don’t worry. Trust in God.”

  Esha wondered, ‘Where is the girl who thought God was everything and everywhere?’ Now she couldn’t figure out where God was and why did it feel as if he was always kind to the rich.

  But somehow Siddharth’s words moved her heart and she became determined that one day her mother would trust her as she used to before their lives changed.

  As soon as she stepped back into the office, she remembered the blunder she had made with the email. She thought to herself, ‘If I tell, he will get angry and then probably ask me to leave the job.’ But, she had to tell him or he would only get angry with her later.

  She went to tell him about it, but before she could tell him about the email, he handed her a file and said, “Take this. It’s the list of all the clients we have. Can you record all of them on our company server?”

  She nodded and went away to record the customers’ details.

  She was busy filing the details when he said, “I have to go for a meeting. After you finish, you can leave for the day.”

  Esha nodded and then remembered that she hadn’t told him about the email. She got up to follow him, but he was already walking quickly towards his car parked outside.

  Three days later, remembering the email thing again, she thought to herself, ‘Nobody has emailed back. The email might have gone to their spam list.’ And so she decided not to tell him about it.

  A few days later, it was late Saturday afternoon and they were going to a meeting with a client when her phone rang. It was her mother. She disconnected the call thinking she would call her back when she reached home, but she called her again and she had to pick up.

  As soon as she picked up, she heard her mother shouting, “Where are you right now?”

  “I’m on my way to a meeting,” she said.

  “Why did you lie to me about your Uncle?” her mother asked angrily.

  Esha started to shake. She didn’t know how to answer her mother without being embarrassed in front of Siddharth. “Mom,” she said. “I am on the way to visit a client. I will call you later.”

  Her mother shouted back at her, “I want to meet you right now. Tell me where you are, I will come there.”

  Esha’s felt her eyes fill with tears. She realized her mother had made the wrong assumption about where she was. She didn’t want to discuss anything like that with her on the phone. She didn’t want to explain while she was in the car with Siddharth that she hadn’t done anything wrong.

  “Are you coming to your Uncle's place now? Or just tell me where you are, and I will come there,” said her mother sternly

  Esha tried explaining, “Mom, I am about to go into a meeting.” But her mother was not listening.

  Finally, she said, “Ok. I am coming to Uncle’s place.” She ended the call and wiped her eyes.
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  Siddharth looked at her with concern. “Is something wrong? Can I drop you somewhere?” he asked.

  Esha looked at him with tears in her eyes. “My mom is in Mumbai and she thinks I told her lies about not staying with my Uncle. I don’t know what to do. I need to go to my uncle’s place,” she said.

  “Don’t worry, everything will be alright. Tell me where your Uncle lives and I will drop you there,” he said kindly.

  Stopping outside her Uncle’s place, he asked if he should talk to her mother. “No, but thanks. I will handle this,” she said.

  When Esha went inside her Uncle’s house, her mother stormed towards her and asked, “Why did you leave without telling your Uncle?”

  Esha looked at her uncle, who avoided making eye contact with her. Esha’s mother shook her and asked again, “Tell me. You know why I sent you here. Why did you leave without informing him?”

  Not getting any reply from Esha, her mother slouched on the sofa and said, “So in the end, you did what I was worried about since so long….”

  Esha looked at her mother, her eyes welled up with tears. She felt a burst of emotions. “You never trusted me,” she said to her mother accusingly. “Did you ask him even once if he did anything wrong?”

  “Why should I ask him? I know him well?” argued her mother.

  Esha couldn’t control her emotions. All the struggles she had faced alone in Mumbai had made her fearless and stronger than she could ever have imagined. She could feel the change within. She looked at her mother directly.

  “So, are you saying that you don’t know me well? If you don’t know me so well, then why should I tell you anything?” Esha asked her.

  She took out a piece of paper from her bag and wrote something on it and left it on the table.

  “This is the address for Lucky’s home where I am staying. And the number of the office where I work,” she said looking at her mother. Her mother just looked back at her and didn’t say a word. Esha turned away from her and walked out of her Uncle’s house. She kept on walking as the tears flowed down her cheeks.

  The next day when she reached the office, her eyes were swollen and she looked pale and sad.

  She was quiet and continued to work on her previous day’s assignments. Sometimes, she felt her eyes well up with tears and she would wipe them before Siddharth could see them.

  She knew he was watching her, but she didn’t want to answer any questions, he might ask about what had happened the night before. So when he received a call on the landline, he got up and said to her, “I will be back in half an hour.” She was relieved to be on her own for a little while.

  But once he had left, she started crying again. She kept crying until she realized he would be back soon. Almost immediately, she heard the sound of Siddharth’s car outside the office.

  She heard his footsteps approaching and those of someone else walking with him. She quickly wiped her eyes and carried on working at the computer.

  Siddharth came into the office. “Esha,” he said softly, calling out her name.

  She turned towards him and saw her mother standing next to him. Siddharth excused himself, saying, “You both carry on. I will be back a bit later.”

  Esha looked at her mother. There were tears in her eyes as she held out her arms and she called out her name gently. Esha immediately ran into her mother’s arms and sobbed on her shoulder.

  Her mother held her tightly, trying to comfort her. “I was mistaken,” she said. “I am so sorry about what happened. I don’t know how you managed everything. Esha, I am really sorry that I left you all alone with that evil man.”

  Esha wiped her mother’s tears and said, “It is ok, Mom. It’s over and I am fine.”

  They both were still engrossed in wiping each other’s tears and comforting each other when Siddharth came back into the office and handed them a cup of tea each.

  After a little while of chatting together about the business, Esha asked Siddharth if she could leave a bit earlier.

  “Yes sure,” he said with a smile. “Spend some time with your mother.”

  When they reached Lucky’s home, she opened the door and was surprised to see Esha’s mother with her. She looked down at the floor and didn’t know what to say as they came inside.

  Esha’s mother smiled, put her arms around Lucky and hugged her. “You don’t need to hang your head down,” she said to Lucky, looking directly at her. “Because of you, my daughter is safe and happy. Thank you Lucky and I am sorry that I always misjudged you.”

  Esha noticed her mother’s attitude changed considerably over the next few days while she stayed with her. One night, when Esha got home late due to problems with the trains, her mother didn’t ask her any questions about why she was late. She just laid out the food she had prepared for Esha to eat. She found it strange that her mother didn’t question her about getting home late.

  “Mom,” she said. “Why didn’t you ask where was I?”

  Her mother patted her on the shoulder and said, “I know you work very hard and must have been delayed for some good reason at work.”

  For the first time, Esha noticed that her mother looked at her with a smile in her eyes.

  All went well during those days. However, Esha didn’t find a chance to ask her mother how she found out that she was telling the truth. When her mother was about to leave to go back to her hometown, she asked her about it.

  Her mother smiled and said, “I had never seen such fire in your eyes earlier, so I knew you spoke the truth. When I asked Uncle what he had done, he started crying. I didn’t ask him anything further and just left his house.”

  Chapter 3

  It was only a month since Esha had started working for Yashodha Garments but their client list had grown substantially because of Esha and Siddharth’s hard work. One day, when she got to the office, he told her he had to go to his house and from there to a meeting with a client.

  It was the first time that Esha would be going to his house so she felt a little awkward, but realizing it was work related, she kept quiet.

  His bungalow, enclosed in high walls was located in Andheri. As they entered the gate, Esha was spellbound by the architecture of the bungalow and the garden that adorned the house.

  Getting out of his car, he walked towards an elderly couple sitting in the garden having tea.

  He introduced her to his parents and asked her to take a seat while he did what he had to do.

  His mother smiled and handed her a cup of tea, “Tea, Esha,” she said.

  Esha shook her head and said, “No thanks, Ma’am, I just had a cup before we came.” His father looked at his mother and frowned. “Yashodha, you should ask her first whether she would like tea or coffee,” he said.

  His mother laughed and said, “Oh yes, I forgot. Do you want coffee, Esha?”

  Esha smiled at her. “No Ma’am, thank you,” she said. “So, Siddharth’s company is named after you. I didn’t know that.”

  His mother smiled when his father said, “He has given the company his mother’s name because if he had used my name, she would have been jealous.”

  His parents laughed heartedly at each other. Esha felt overwhelmed seeing the love the family had for each other.

  Sipping tea, his mother asked, “Does he take any breaks in the office? He always seems so busy everyday.”

  “Yes Ma’am... he is always busy,” she replied. “He often leaves the office very late.”

  His father asked, “So, how’s the business doing now?”

  Esha told them they had increased their customer list and we're now designing garments.

  His parents seemed happy with the reply. Then his mother said, “He loves his work and doesn’t rest enough. I know he wants to be successful in this field, but please ask him not to get so stressed about work.”

  Esha nodded her head and said, “Yes Ma’am, I will try to take care of that.”

  A minute later, Siddharth came back. He gently kissed his mother on each
cheek as they said goodbye.

  Sitting inside the car, Esha said to him, “Your parents are very concerned about you.”

  Siddharth smiled and looked at her, “Which parents aren’t concerned about their children? Isn’t your mom concerned about you too?”

  Esha nodded her head and remembered her mother’s changed attitude. She was still thinking about her when he asked, “Why don’t you give her a call?”

  She smiled and replied, “I will as soon as I get home.”

  Siddharth told her they had to go to a national handloom expo, then to meet a client regarding a contract. As soon as they arrived at the handloom expo, they heard someone calling out Siddharth’s name.

  Siddharth turned and walked towards the man who had a French Beard, and hugged him. Turning to Esha, he introduced her. “Aditya, this is Esha, the life and soul of my company.”

  Esha smiled at being introduced in such a way. Aditya moved forward and said, “I never thought he would introduce someone like that. By the way, I also own a garment business. Would you like to come and work with me?”

  Esha just smiled not knowing what to say, while Siddharth punched his friend's arm gently. Aditya smiled and added, “I would pay you double, as well as make you my partner.” He extended his hand and asked, “Can we be partners?”

  “Thanks,” said Esha, “but I am happy where I am.”

  Aditya grinned back at her and shook his head. “Never mind,” he said. “Someday I will surely hire you.”

  Siddharth and Aditya spoke quietly to each other, but she couldn’t hear what was being said. Then they walked towards the stalls in the expo.

  Esha noticed that Siddharth was paying close attention to any new material he found. He would hold one or two of the fabrics together to see how they would work in a design.

  They spent almost three hours at the expo going from stall to stall. When Siddharth had finished taking a good look at the different samples exhibited there and enquired about costing and where the handloom was located, he felt happy with all the information he had gathered. He looked at Esha and sighed.

  “Esha, there is a lot to be done,” he said.