Preparations Revelations

Read the previous part here

Satish woke up, lifted his arms high in the air and then stretched them. Then he went to the balcony and lit a cigarette. Drawing circles of smokes in the air, he appeared relaxed. Everything was going according to the plan, everything. All his woes were permanently eliminated the night before, when she had completed the sadhana and perpetually trapped the ghost. Now, it could no longer haunt him. He was restless all the while for all these years. Now he was a free man now – free of his worries and free of his past. Mentally, he prepared the list of all the things that he would do now. He was happy at the thought of living the life, he always wanted. He continued taking long puffs and making designs of smoke in the air. He was on another plane altogether. But his phone rang, and his reverie was broken.

'Tell me. I am all ears to hear the news.' He said.

'I am sorry Satish. Something terribly went wrong. We will have to try anew.'

'Disaster? How is that possible.'

'I understand this was something very important to you, but...'

'Not just important my life hinged upon it, and you knew it very well.'

'Satish, I will take another round of penance. You please...'

But Satish was not in a mood to hear the bullshit that she was offering. His dreams, his aspirations had vanished in the air like those fumes which he had released a couple of minutes ago.

***

Satish visited Swargsadan by ten in the morning. Sulabha was working in the kitchen garden. Vinay was reading the newspaper and Nisha was doing something in the kitchen. After Sulabha's illness, Nisha had taken up the responsibility of the kitchen.

'Is everything fine?' Satish asked Sulabha in a low voice.

'Yes. I am feeling much better now.' She tried to cover up.

'But how did it all happen.'

'I was working here in the garden and …'

'Satish, we better not broach this topic,' Nisha intervened and asked him to join the trio for breakfast.

'I am in no mood to eat.' Sulabha said.

'I can understand, but one shouldn't trouble this...' Satish cut short his words. One shouldn't trouble this body which is a vehicle to higher realms of life he wanted to say. He repented his arrival. He couldn't hide his emotions and control his words, and he was afraid of that. If Vinay and Nisha got an inkling about what they were up to life would be difficult for them. Sulabha had told him that Vinay and Sulabha were snooping around. They up to something and Sulabha had a hunch that it was about them.

Satish somehow gobbled down the breakfast and left after telling Sulabha to contact him if anything was needed.

***

'Satish's behaviour today was quite strange. He is never like this.' Nisha said as she washed the dishes.

Vinay preened the surroundings and seeing tha Sulabha was not within the sight of hearing said, 'I never liked that man.'

'Vinay liking or disliking a person is a different matter altogether. What I am trying to point out was the sudden change in his behaviour. If you noticed today his conversation was fixated only around Sulabha. Had it been some other time, he would have at least uttered a formal sentence to us.'

'Maybe because of her illness. Even otherwise he has always been taking keen interest only in Sulabha. We are the creatures on the periphery.'

***

Sulabha who had said that she was too tired and retiring to her room was hiding behind the door and hearing the entire conversation. She was relieved that Vinay and Nisha had not laid their hands upon anything concrete. That meant she could certainly carry out her mission albeit with an extra caution.

In the evening when they were having tea sitting in the porch Sulabha said, 'The last few days have been very exhausting to you. Why don't you both go out somewhere? Mahabaleshwar is closeby. It would be a pleasant change for both of you.'

'Di, you are just recovering. How can we leave you?'

'I was saying because...'

Snapping Sulabha's sentence Vinay said, 'Once, you recover, all of us will go to Mahabaleshwar.'

***

'Something is cooking for sure.' Vinay said.

'I have no other alternative but to agree with you.' Nisha said.

'I have a plan. Tomorrow, I will take Sulabha out on the pretext of her medical examination. You thoroughly search the entire house. Maybe we will find some clues.' 
Read the next part here