‘Three days, they were holed up in Pal Bhavan. It’s a quaint old bungalow hidden in a crowded lane. The terrace at full moon seems to invite lovers and angels. It is beautiful.’ Rano wanted to stop but she could not. Every word she said burnt him and despite herself she enjoyed it. It doused the burns she felt herself. She was ashamed. She was helpless. She was in love as she looked at the ravaged handsome face of the man holding her in his arms in a moonlit night, by a silver lake under a beautiful tree soaked in the scent of jasmine. She whispered to him almost ominously, ‘It’s time to save Rajjo from her own self.’

3

3

RAJJO was ready in her silks and satin. Her face was painted with gold and silver. Crimson marked her forehead. She was ready to meet her devotees as the Godwoman. Her mind constantly wavered and struggled to focus on the people present in the room. She had not answered Harsh’s question. It whispered in her ear yet again, ‘Can they be together?’ A delicate moth fluttered on the wall, mocking her. She was still unaware that silken threads of love were weaving a spell.

The indecisiveness numbed her as she sat in her room listening to her brother Sheru and others describe his expansion plan. ‘I think it’s a bloody good business plan and we should back this construction guy. He is designing it in a way that the sprawling campus will have three kinds of flats for the elderly. Category I, Ganga, the biggest in size will be available for Rs 21 lakh; Yamuna is for Rs 11 lakh and Saraswati for Rs 5.5 lakh. Any person of the age of fifty and above can apply for these flats. One can start living there once the payment is made. If the person dies, the spouse gets to use the accommodation. But once the spouse dies, the flat goes back to the trust and is re-allotted. These flats have ACs, reverse osmosis water purifiers, geysers, and pipeline gas connections. It’s a money-making machine – we don’t sell any estate, just rent it out and given the bad polluted air in India, oldies are not going to live long.’ Sheru waited excitedly for his sister’s response. Rano and Karam stood there disapproving. This was another one of Sheru’s schemes to swindle people and the trust. Not to mention his excitement over his tenants dying soon, if only he could reign in his thoughts of profit and appear sombre. But Rano had to admit it could work well.