‘Bhau!’ Meera threw herself into her brother’s arms, and for the first time since she watched Abhimanyu collapse on the field that day, she cried. Every secret in her heart began to reveal itself, and in between her sobs, she told Kamal about her relationship with Abhimanyu – how it began and how they had kept it a secret for so long; that they would have spoken about it after receiving the royal approval, but everything had gone so, so terribly wrong. Kamal stood stunned in the hospital corridor. But before he could say anything, Meera blurted out, ‘I have to go to New York with him. I don’t know how, but I just have to!’

‘Meera, calm down. What are you saying?’

‘The doctor, he came to the room a few minutes ago and he said so many things. I didn’t understand him. But they’re taking Abhimanyu to New York to a hospital that will save him, and Bhau, I cannot be here and wait and wonder what will happen to him! I have to go, please!’

Kamal took his sister back home and sat the family down, speaking for Meera, who could barely utter a word without bursting into tears. He had been upset when he found her at the hospital and when she told him her secret, but his initial misgivings were quickly replaced with happiness – his little sister was in love, and was loved back by a man he so admired. While his mother and Veena chided Meera for being naïve and starry-eyed for even imagining that she could have a life with Abhimanyu, Kamal remained instrumental in subduing their protests and made a case for allowing her to travel to New York. He stepped out “look for Ranjit Singh to seek his help in getting Meera a passport and a ticket to fly to America. For all his indiscipline, Kamal, like Meera, was a practical sort, and he knew that these things took time to come through, and given the situation, he understood that there was none to waste.

When Abhimanyu was informed about how Meera had been honest with her family, and how Kamal, his friend from whom he had kept this relationship a secret, had come through for the lovers, his guilt knew no bounds. Meera’s fiercely independent spirit that he so admired had truly come to the fore, and there he was, unable to speak the truth. He did muster up the courage to ask his family to back off, to stop them from coming to Bombay or to New York. He wanted to be as far away from their judgmental presence as possible, but he just couldn’t tell Meera about his conversation with Uday Singh. That would have to wait yet another day.

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

‘FLY WITH ME TO LONDON VIA CAIRO AND GENEVA,’ screamed the full page spread in the Times of India. ‘I LEAVE BOMBAY EVERY TUESDAY IN A BEAUTIFUL CONSTELLATION.’