Fruitcake - Volume 1: The Chapter 9 9: A Mothers Dream

Now that we have made some headway in our quest of saving Geeta from her mean relatives, Monika and I headed back home. Dad was eagerly waiting for us. He inquired about Geeta’s situation and we informed him that there was no change or progress.

Monika excitedly started telling Dad about the medallion that Babul da gifted her, “Papa, look at this.” showing him the Raksha medal that she got from Master da. “Dr. Babul Sen, one of bhaiya’s friend gave it to me”. Dad leaned closer to take a good look at the medallion. He told her admiringly “Monika, this is a Jeevan Raksha Medal awarded for bravery. Congratulations my dear.”

Dad took her in his lap and acknowledged in a proud tone, “I am really proud of you my child. As a matter of fact, we are really proud of both of you. Today I feel my life is complete, I can proudly say I have raised both of my children well.” Listening to Dad’s emotional words, I could not resist asking him if everything was all right.

Dad let on”When you were gone, Mr. Banerjee came by the house today and told me about your meeting with him in the hospital, and how you promised him that you will be there for Geeta. I am happy that you have stepped forward to help someone whom you barely knew.” I replied “Dad, Its nothing, living in a hostel, we have learned a valuable lesson that friends are the family that we choose and cherish throughout our life. Our well-being depends on the happiness of our friends.”

Dad smiled and asked me what were my plans now? I replied, “I am thinking of going to the hospital and staying with Geeta overnight. The Banerjee family must be very exhausted coming all the way from Kolkata and they haven’t slept a wink.” He agreed that it’s a good idea and allowed me to leave.

Vikash told my dad that he will keep me company in the hospital. Even though it was quite early in the evening, Mom urged us to have our dinner before leaving the house. “There is no need to stay hungry,” said my mom in a bossy tone.

We arrived at the hospital at around 7 o’clock. I went to Geeta’s room and found both Mr. and Mrs. Banerjee sitting next to her. I convinced them to go home and take rest and let me and Vikash stay in the hospital for the night.

Uncle told me that he wants to stay with Geeta and asked aunty to go home as the daughters were all alone and would be hungry. Aunty left the hospital and uncle stayed back.

Vikas told me that he will be resting in his parked car and left. Uncle sat on the sofa lying in the corner of the room. I pulled up a chair next to Geeta’s bed and sat there. It was very difficult to take in the sight of Geeta’s unresponsive body.

I hold her hand and started mumbling, “Geeta I hope you can hear me, I beg you to please wake up. Think about what your dear friend Monica is going through. Remember all the sacrifices made by Monica because she wanted you to be safe. I urge you to think of your uncle who you know has always loved you more than anyone else in the whole wide world and last, of all, think of me and Vikash Dada. We all love you. Please wake up.” All of a sudden, I felt an arm around my shoulder.

I turned around and saw it was Mr. Banerjee. He said “Son, my child is one of the strongest individuals I know, and I also know that God always takes care of His children. My child will be alright in no time. Besides, I can see that bracelet on her arm. It has the inscription of one of your saints. I guess you are the one who gave her that bracelet. If you put your faith in Him, He will protect her.”

I stood up and said, “I just want Geeta to get well soon, sir”

Uncle replied, “I know son, you blame yourself for not being able to protect her.”

“I am sorry, uncle, I didn’t understand,” I was baffled.

He let on, “You might be thinking, if you would have stuffed the stockings back into her mouth, maybe she would not have been here.” I asked, “How do you know I was at your place?”

He took out his mobile phone and showed me a video that showed me and Monica entering the residence. I was embarrassed and could barely reply, “I am sorry sir, to have entered your residence stealthily. It’s just that I had a strange hunch about Geeta being in the house and some kind of danger and wanted to check out.” Uncle assured, “Its fine son. I don’t mind your intrusion. However the next time you decide to enter the house, you should watch out for the hidden cameras. And please don’t tell your aunty anything about these cameras. She doesn’t know. I would like to keep it that way. Besides I cannot deny the fact that you were only there to help my dear Geeta.” Saying this, uncle took out a piece of paper and said: “This shows the layout of the house and the exact position of all the hidden cameras in the house.”

I was at a loss for words and could barely stutter out for forgiveness from uncle once again. However, he intervened: “The moment I saw you entering the residence, I could only feel a sense of relief thinking that you being there must have saved my Geet from a fate worse than the current one. I truly believe that your intrusion might have saved her life.” I requested uncle not to ponder about worse fates than this. For some reason, his words assured me that Geeta is meant to pull through this ordeal.

I could not help but ask Uncle, “If there are hidden cameras in the house, how come aunty doesn’t know about it, sir?”

He replied “The only way she could know about those cameras was if she would have been taking care of the house. Geeta is the one who has beeing keeping our house clean. Your aunty only takes care of the kitchen and nothing else.”

I asked him if he knew how did this happen to Geeta because when we left her in her room she was fine if not better.

Uncle requested me if he showed me a video, I should promise him that I will not tell anyone about it. I replied “I promise, sir. I won’t.” He allowed me to call Vikash too. When he reached the room, He made Vikash promise the same. After that, he showed us the video of the aftermath of the basketball match.

When the girls lost the match they blamed it totally on Geeta and hurt her both physically and mentally. As I went through the video, it dawned on me that Geeta has been brutalized since the night of the basketball match. The day we found Geeta, it was the third day. I could not believe it. We continued watching the video and saw some very disturbing things. Vikas could not help but react and announce that if someone would force me, to do what Geeta was made to do, I would have been tempted to END my life. We continued watching the video and found that things aggravated when Aamaya made Geeta do something very dishonorable. I could not believe my eyes and the extent of cruelty shown by Banerjee ladies. By the end of it, we understood the reason why Geeta is in a coma. I asked Uncle why doesn’t he show the video to the cops. He replied “If I do that, there will be no one to take care of the girls. Darika and Garima are far too young to grow up without a mother.” I could not help but feel angry at Uncle’s selfish justification and asked, “So you mean to say that we should just stand by and let Geeta suffer.” Uncle replied in a calm tone “I have plans for Geeta.” I asked “Plans. What plans?” Uncle replied “Geeta has a dream to be great someday. 8 years ago, I made a promise to Geeta’s mom, my sister in law that no matter how difficult things might get, I will make sure she completes her studies. Back when we were in Kolkata, Geeta was expelled from school because of an incident, which I always suspected my wife was responsible for. The incident stopped Geeta from procuring admission to any other school. As a legal guardian, I had to ensure her studies did not get hampered. So I got her homeschooled. However after being homeschooled her academic performance started to deteriorate. Knowing full well that she needed a good school, I started planning her admission to a boarding school which requires her to clear an entrance exam. I have been making her attempt the exam, again and again, so that I can lead her away from this hell. But alas, my child is not able to fare well in her attempts.”

I heaved a sigh of relief, but I also acknowledged the fact that Geeta needed to study more to clear the exam, and knowing the atrocious girls, they would never allow her to concentrate on her studies.

Looking at Vikash, I could sense that the video was still haunting his mind and he has not heard a single word that Uncle and I just discussed. I asked Vikash what was the matter and he instantaneously replied “I don’t think aunty and the girls are ever going to stop. Geeta needs someone who can keep an eye on her and safeguard her when needed.” and Vikash spat out the whole plan about getting master da to be Geeta’s tutor, to Mr. Banerjee. Thank God he did not lose his mind entirely and manage to not reveal certain crucial parts of our plan.

Uncle replied, “I have been wanting to change the tutor for a long time. She doesn’t even know the subjects well. We were unable to find a good teacher and that was the only reason we had to keep her. I would have fired her a long time ago. Are you sure your friend will be able to mentor Geeta?”

Vikash replied “Trust me, Uncle. He is a Ph.D. and has done his MSc in Geology. This man runs a school for children for the backward class so that they can have a better future.”

Uncle replied as soon as Geeta regains consciousness, he will fire the teacher and our friend can start as Geeta’s mentor.

For once I am happy that there was someone in the Banerjee residence who truly cared about Geeta. And I hope he means it and keeps his promise.