SIBLING LOVE

Sankar was a disturbed man that Monday morning. He had arrived at his office as usual on time. Everything he did in his life had to have an order. There was no place for disorder in his life. It was this systematic and sincere work that had raised him to this position, combined with his undying belief in God. For the past 4 years Sankar has been managing the Southern region of his company with efficiency. His company was happy with him and had rewarded him periodically for his work.

He maintained the same kind of order in his house too. His wife, Ranjini, knew his ways and supported him to keep the family in harmony. They had brought up their daughter Sneha in a disciplined manner, but not forgetting to shower her with all their love. Sneha loved and respected her parents. Thanks to their love and their pious ways, the family had not had a discordant note till now. Sneha was now almost 22 years and in her final year of Master’s Degree. She was excellent in studies and never gave any reason for her parents to worry about her future. She was endowed with beauty and brains, with good pleasant manners to match.

The news Sankar heard today disturbed him considerably. He was not worried, but then the fact that Sneha hid something from him, was something he could not digest easily. He had given her enough freedom to confide anything in her parents. She had no reason to fear to divulge anything to either of her parents. But then she had hid something from them. The news had come from his assistant, Joseph, whom he trusted fully.

Joseph was a bachelor at 45 years and lived alone. He had shifted to a new locality three months ago where he had found a quite homely place to have his Sunday breakfast. Though he cooked daily, he enjoyed his Sunday breakfast outside, after his Church service. Joseph was an honest hard-working person and very trust-worthy. Sankar had found him to be quite a valuable asset.

On this particular morning Joseph’s usually smiling face was replaced by a slightly confused serious face. Sankar knew later that the news he conveyed had bothered him.

“I see them every alternative Sunday, right from when I started eating there. She didn’t recognise me. We have just met a couple of times. They are usually there when I reach and are there till I leave. The young man seems quite decent and well-behaved by look”

Sankar had listened quietly.

“I didn’t want to complain or spread rumour, but I thought you should know” Joseph had said quite apologetically. Sankar assured him that what he did was quite right and thanked him for that.

Sneha had no reason to hide her meeting a man. She was old enough and her parents had brought up with enough freedom to choose her own partner. They used to tease her often pairing her with some of the boys she was more close to. She could have informed him and her mother. Why was she hiding this? Why was she not telling them that she had met a man whom she wanted to marry? They would have gladly met the man and advised Sneha accordingly. She had no reason to fear and she knew that her parents would advise her well. Then why this secrecy about meeting a man. Sankar decided to investigate the matter. He wanted to be sure before confronting his daughter. He had no doubts about his daughter, but he wanted her to know that there was no need to hide anything from her parents.

The wait till the next Sunday was painful for Sankar. And he didn’t know if Sneha was meeting him that day. Sneha was usually out on Sundays from morning till evening visiting her friends and spending time at the mall or in some restaurant. As usual she left the house that Sunday morning too. During the week Sankar had observed her and found nothing out of the ordinary. She had been the same laughing, chatting, friendly, loving girl that he loved so much.

The restaurant was on the ground floor of a popular mall and had a window that faced the road. Sankar found a good coffee shop in the opposite building on the first floor from where he had a good vantage point. He waited for her to arrive. His wife had wondered where he was going on a Sunday when he usually enjoyed a lazy day with her. He mumbled some answer to her question which he knew she had not believed. He will explain later once he was back.

He saw her walking into the restaurant with a man. Sankar could not make out his age correctly but assumed it must be a couple of years more than his daughter's. He had a good face, with well groomed hair and a nice thick moustache. Sankar himself grew his moustache thick and favoured that in men. He didn’t like the clean shaven look that most youngsters nowadays seem to like. The man was dressed in jeans and T-shirt, much the same way as Sneha. They both were smiling and talking as they walked in and made themselves comfortable at a corner table. Sankar initial reaction to the man was good and thought he wouldn’t mind him as a match for Sneha provided he was well employed and from a good family. Sankar left soon after having confirmed himself that it was Sneha that Joseph had seen with a man.

Sankar was not concerned, but was angry at Sneha that she should hide such a relationship. After giving her all the freedom and love, she had hidden something from her parents and Sankar didn’t like that. He was a firm believer of honesty in any relationship. His own relationship with his wife and daughter was firmly based on openness and frankness. Sankar decided that he should talk to Sneha about this and make her know his displeasure. He discussed this with Ranjini and they decided to talk to Sneha the same evening.

As they sat for dinner around the table, Sankar cleared his thoughts and looked at Sneha.

 “I saw you with a man today at the restaurant” he said looking at his daughter.

Sneha’s hand stopped midway from the plate to her mouth. She slowly dropped the piece of dosa on the plate and looked at her father. It was not something she expected to hear. Taking her time to form a reply she asked “Were you tailing me?” There was a hint of anger in her voice. That was not something that she expected from her father. She knew very well that her father stayed home on Sundays and if he had gone out, it was only to tail her.

“Yes. My assistant Joseph says he sees you on most Sundays with that man at the hotel. If there is something between the two of you, you could very well have told us. You need not meet him secretly. He seems to be a good enough man, and you know we won’t object to anything without giving you a fair hearing” Sankar finished in one breath and looked accusingly at his daughter. Sneha saw anger in his eyes.

“He is not my lover” the words came out loud and both parents saw anger in her face and eyes. Sneha was known to fight back to anyone, even her father, if she was not on the wrong side.

“Then who is he? Why are you meeting him secretly? Why not tell us and go? Why do you want others to inform us of your clandestine meeting with some young man?” Sankar was equally angry.

Sneha looked at her father for a few seconds. She looked like she was deciding how to construct her reply.

“He is your son” She said hotly “The one we never knew existed. The brother who I never knew existed. The result of your earlier marriage with one Sunanda”

Sneha was angry beside herself. She looked at her father with open anger. The thought, that her dear father, who preached and supposedly practised honesty, had hidden this from her and her mother, had made her so angry. The anger that she had hidden for so many days, on the request of her step-brother, had come out in full force.

Her parents looked at her calmly. Her father’s anger suddenly seemed to have melted. There was even a smile on her mother’s face.

“Your mother knows” Sankar said calmly, looking at Sneha. He was partly ashamed at having doubted his daughter of some secret relationship. He was party also pained at the thought that his daughter had come to know of this through some other source.

Sneha looked at her mother who smiled and replied “I knew it before marriage. She was not a woman who your father could live with. Her ways were different and was not suited for the kind of married life your father wanted. Neither did she want to spend her life with a man who refused to allow her all her whims and fancies. They divorced on mutual consent.”

Sneha did not know whether to be surprised or shocked. But she was happy. She was happy that the image of her father in her mind had not been tainted. She was happy that the whole affair was accepted by her mother and that her father had been honest enough to tell her everything before their marriage.

“Yes I know about her” Sneha said as soon as she had recovered by her mixed feelings.

“Even now she is not with Rajesh. She left him with her parents when he was just 10 and is living with someone at Mumbai. Even he doesn’t know where she is. He used to hate her a lot earlier, but now he has purged the hatred out of his system. But why didn’t you tell me anything about this?” She completed her speech with this question, though she was proud of her mother for hiding this from her, thereby not tarnishing the image of her father in his daughter’s mind.

“There was no need for you to know. We never thought that my son, who I never saw, but knew of, would ever cross our path. But then how did you meet and how did you both find each other and knew that you were siblings” Sankar wanted to know. He wanted to know whether his son was contacting his daughter with some ulterior motive.

Rajesh had become Sneha’s friend in Facebook through some common friend of a friend. He had liked this smiling, bright girl and had browsed through her photos. He had been shocked to see the photo of the father and daughter. He knew that the face of the man was the same as that was on photo he had with him – the only photo of his mother with his father. There was not much difference though the man had aged gracefully. As soon as he saw the name he was sure. He had knows his father’s name through his grandparents. They were always full of praise for his father. He was happy at seeing his father and wanted to know him and talk with him. But more than that he had wanted to meet and know his lovely little sister. He had started liking her from her various posts and comments. She had an intelligence and maturity beyond her age and he liked that very much. He was thankful that he had not gone ahead thinking of her in a different way. He was glad that he had bothered to see her photos.

Rajesh then started communicating with his sister first through comments on her posts and then through chat. He had made it clear that their friendship was just that and nothing more. It was just 6 months back that he had taken a job in Chennai. He knew that it was more to be nearer to his father and sister, than for any other reason. He hoped that at least once he will be able to meet the man, who he had never had the opportunity to know or be loved by. He knew his mother’s ways from his grandparents and had hated her from the beginning. She had never been there when he wanted. But later the hatred had turned to indifference.  He tried not to think about her as much as possible.

After he had settled in Chennai he had requested to meet with Sneha, which she agreed readily. She liked this serious looking man, so different from others in that he had made it clear that it was just a friendship, whereas most others almost always tried to get closer to her with intent of making her their lover or in some cases tried sex chats with her. They had met at the same restaurant on a lovely bright Sunday morning. She remembered that she had told her parents that she was meeting on of her online friends. They had never taken it to be anything serious and forgotten about it.

He had dropped the bomb at the first meeting, but made it clear that he had no intention of her shocking her or shaming her father. All he wanted was to be treated as a brother, as family. She had seen the brotherly love in his eyes and all her apprehensions had vanished. They had continued to meet and he had showered her with brotherly affection and even sometimes admonished her on some of her habits. She loved this loving elder brother who had appeared out of nowhere. She had told him what a nice man their father was and what a happy loving family they had. Hearing that he had refused to come to their house or meet his father. He insisted he didn’t want to upset their happy family. He said he was happy to get the whole family’s love through her. She had cried hard on that day, not just there at the restaurant but also at home, at night in her bed, thinking of her dear brother who could not get a share of the love her parents showered on her.

Sankar didn’t know how to react after hearing the whole story from Sneha. He struggled to control his feelings. He was afraid he might cry. He couldn’t look at his daughter.

“Bring him home. Tell him his father wants to see him” Sneha looked at her mother in surprise when she heard Ranjini say this. Ranjini knew that this was what her husband wanted but was scared to voice his wish.

Sankar looked at his wife with gratitude and love. Sneha got up from her seat, walked to her father and sat on his lap, as she did as a little girl and as she even now does when her love for her father over-whelmed her.

“I am sorry to have doubted you, my baby” Sankar said, the words coming out in short spurts as his throat choked with emotion.

“I am sorry too, papa. I should never have doubted that you would have cheated mummy”

There were tears flowing down three pairs of cheeks – tears of love and happiness.