OS: The Weight of Gold

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OS: The Weight of Gold

Aarti Raizada first became aware of her bracelet when she was five years old. Her mother had taken out the intricately decorated blue jewellery box and showed her all the jewellery she had been gifted in her five short years but it was the least expensive and most simple one that had caught the five year old's eye.

The chain was gold filigree and so thin it looked as if it might fall apart with one sharp tug but it was the star shaped pendant attached that Aarti had been most fascinated by. It was much heavier in weight and would inevitably drag the chain down with it when worn. Engraved in the middle was an 'A' and there were small diamonds on every point of the star which would catch the light and make the pendant sparkle like a light star.

She had only been allowed to try the bracelet on very carefully and very briefly but since that day whenever her mother had taken out their jewellery boxes Aarti had raced to her side just to be able to see her bracelet again. On her thirteenth birthday her mother relented enough to finally allow her to wear the bracelet at her party. Aarti had excitedly shown off the bracelet to everybody she spoke to that night regardless of whether they were impressed or not by its simple design.

Taking the bracelet off and putting it back into her jewellery box had been a hardship that night for Aarti but she had extracted a promise from her mother that she be allowed to wear it again for special occasions.

Aarti's mother very rarely refused her daughter anything and so the bracelet made its way onto Aarti's wrist more than 20 times in the next three years on the pretence of birthdays, festivals and parties despite the many protestations from Aarti's Mama. He was always very concerned that Aarti would lose her bracelet or damage it somehow and soon Aarti began to guard her bracelet from his scrutinising gaze.

When Aarti had finally at the age of 16 demanded that she be able to wear her bracelet every day her Mama had fought with her mother claiming she was still too young and careless. She would catch him now and again looking at her wrist disapprovingly with his lips set in a thin line and Aarti would move her wrist away from his jealous gaze. She began to resent the Mama she had once loved more than anyone and his low opinion of her only diminished her own high regard for him.

Until one day Aarti had to concede her Mama had been right. She walked into their house with her shoulders slumped, red-rimmed eyes and a bare wrist and just as she'd expected her Mama was the first to notice.

---

'Where's your bracelet Aarti?!'


'Woh... Mama... woh...'


'What! What Aarti? Where is it? What have you done with it? Did you lose it? Break it? Aarti!'


Aarti winced against his strong grip on her shoulders, 'I lost...'


'You lost...? How could you! Di I told you! I told you she was too young but you didn't listen! Your laadli daughter, you let her do whatever she wants and now she... now...'


Instead of making Aarti guilty for losing her most prized possession her Mama's anger fuelled her own and set a fire under her building resentment. 'Why do you care Mama? It's my bracelet! What is it to you if I lose it or break it? It's mine; I can do whatever I like! Even if I want to sell it or throw it aw...'


'Aarti!' Anjali interrupted the argument which threatened to ruin forever the bond that her brother and daughter shared and dragged Aarti away, into her own bedroom where they sat on the bed as they had done many years ago when Aarti had been a child.


'Amma, I'm sorry! I don't know how I lost it, I did try and look but there were so many people at the party anything could have happened to it. Amma are you angry at me too?'


'Shh beta, of course I'm not angry at you but... you have to understand. Your Mama he...'


'He what? He's always been like this Amma, ever since my thirteenth birthday! He never wanted me to have the bracelet at all! It doesn't even have anything to do with him, it's my bracelet!'


'Aarti no, please don't talk like that. Your bracelet it... it means so much more to your Mama then you could ever know.'

Aarti rubbed at her tear-stained eyes as Anjali left the bed to retrieve something from a drawer and came back holding a photo in her hand. 'It wasn't just some relative that bought your bracelet, it was your Mami. Do you remember me telling you about her?'


'Do you mean Khushi Mami? Yes, she went away didn't she? Because you all... you were all horrible to her?'


Anjali put her arm around Aarti again as she held out the photo for her to examine. It had been taken just two days after Aarti had been born and featured a much younger Anjali smiling at Khushi who had the baby in her arms smiling widely. 'No. We weren't just horrible to her we were... we were evil to her. When I think about some of the things I said to her I can't... Anyway, Chotte he... your bracelet is the only thing she left behind, the last evidence of her love for this family. It was special for all of us.'

---

Aarti had cried herself to sleep that night but woken up the next morning with strengthened resolve.  It had taken her and her friend over three hours of intensive searching before they finally found the bracelet. The clasp had broken most likely due to the poor design of the bracelet and pendant far outweighing the chain but it was unharmed otherwise. Aarti had rushed home into her Mama's room where Arnav was lying on his recliner looking out at the poolside as he often did.


'Mama, please forgive me. You should have this. I didn't know about Mami, I'm really sorry I lost it and I'm so sorry that it's broken. Please take it.'

He hadn't replied then, simply taken the bracelet she'd offered silently and looked away trying to conceal the tears forming in his eyes but Aarti had seen them shining just like the diamonds embedded in the pendant did in light.

The following evening though when Aarti had returned to her room after college there was a black velvet case on her bed accompanied by a note. She had opened the box first, gasping when she saw her bracelet inside. The clasp had been replaced and an additional identical thin gold chain was now threaded through the star-shaped pendant strengthening the bracelet further.


Your Mami wanted you to have this; it belongs to you. It's my fault you never got to experience the love your Mami had for you. I took that away from you, I can't take this from you too. I'm sorry Aarti, please forgive me.

Aarti had abandoned both the bracelet and the note onto the bed, running out to find her Mama and then throwing her arms around his neck, her tears falling onto his shoulder as his fell on her own.

She had taken special care of her bracelet since that day and although she still occasionally saw her Mama's gaze fall on her wrist he no longer looked resentful but simply wistful.

---

Aarti was as usual touching her bracelet as she waited for her friend Sonia to finish her coffee so they could leave for class. She hadn't been to this particular cafe before despite its proximity to her campus but there was a warm homely feel to it if you discounted the woman at the counter who Aarti had caught staring at her quite a few times.

She loved her University but homesickness was an emotion she was all too familiar with. Somehow this cafe with its bright interiors and lurid coloured cushions made her feel closer to home and even before their orders had arrived Aarti had decided she would be visiting this particular again.

She said as much to Sonia as they both stood up to leave. Sonia held the cafe door open and Aarti stepped out onto the street looking over her shoulder as Sonia followed.

'Come on let's go,' Aarti said with a quick glance of her shoulder at Sonia and the cafe before she turned back around and froze.

'What is it Aarti?' Sonia who had now overtaken her pulled at her elbow to get her attention, 'come on we'll be late!'

Aarti barely heard what Sonia said as she turned back around quickly looking from the name of the cafe to the window trying to catch another glimpse of the woman. All Aarti managed to see was a thick mass of black hair knotted into a bun and the tail end of a bright purple scarf as the woman went through a door at the back of the cafe which Aarti had recognised earlier as the kitchen. 'It's okay Sonia,' she said in short laboured breaths. 'You go ahead I'm not coming.'

'What why n..'

'Go, just go!' Aarti pulled her phone out of her bag with shaking hands as she looked up to see the cafe's name again. How could she have missed it before? 'KKGSR Cafe and Restaurant'. How had she not realised? She hadn't seen a photo of her Mami in three years but the woman inside the restaurant was almost completely unchanged.

'Hello, Aarti?'

'Mama... I... Mama...'

'Aarti what's wrong?'

Instantly she could sense her Uncle beginning to panic but she couldn't reassure him when she was panicking herself. 'Mama you have to... You have to come... Please straight away...'

'Aarti? You want me to come to Mumbai? What's wrong? Tell me! Are you alright? Are you hurt?

'Mama please!'

'Okay, okay I'll be there as soon as possible! Are you safe? Okay then just stay where you are. I'm coming!'

---

Arnav had been on the phone to her as much as he could while he was on his way but Aarti couldn't bear tell him over the phone. He was only five minutes away now and Aarti was almost shaking from anticipation. He needed to be there, he needed to see with his own eyes. She had stood in a bus shelter across the road from the cafe for a few hours and when she saw Khushi leaving followed her, praying with every step that her Mami wouldn't realise.

A taxi came to a roaring halt right in front of her and Arnav leapt out, instantly holding Aarti's arms as he examined her head to toe. 'Oh thank God you're okay! What is it Aarti? Why did you call me?'

Aarti couldn't speak. She shook her head and pointed towards the small red bricked house opposite them.

'What Aarti?! Tell me! Is it a boy? Did he... Did somebody do something to you? Is that where they live? Aarti!'

'Mama please, you have to come with me,' Aarti said tearfully as she began to drag her Uncle towards the house. She had no idea what would happen, it had been nearly 20 years and there might be a new husband and children in the house with Khushi for all she knew but she knew this had to happen. They had to meet again; her Mama had to have the chance to apologise.

Aarti knocked and then stood back pushing her bewildered Uncle forwards as the door started to open and watched in awe as she saw a sight she had never expected to see. The shock was evident on both their faces as their eyes met and Aarti gasped as her Uncle, the most powerful man she knew, the man who had always seemed in her mind to be 10 feet tall, fell to his knees.

'Khushi, Khushi... Khushi, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Khushi.'

He threw his arms around Khushi's waist; his face buried against her stomach as he repeated his apology over and over. Aarti watched with baited breath, her hands covering her mouth, eyes trained on Khushi for any hint at her inner turmoil. Aarti saw Khushi's initial shock begin to subside and her eyes begin to tear up as she looked down. She could hear her heartbeat pounding loudly in her ears but Aarti was deathly silent as Khushi's eyes softened and she reached down cupping Arnav's face gently in her hands, wiping his tears as she dropped to her own knees in front of him.

'You're asking for something I already gave you a long time ago Arnavji.'

As her Mama kissed Khushi's forehead and then tilted Khushi's chin upwards Aarti should have been embarrassed, she should have looked away but she thought she would never see something so beautiful and so perfect ever again. All she felt was absolutely pure and intense happiness.

Khushi remembered their setting first and pulled away standing awkwardly, her face flushed as she stepped forward and smoothed away Aarti's hair and cupped her face. 'You're Aarti aren't you? My Aarti? I knew it was you.' She took one hand and lifted Aarti's arm to examine the bracelet, 'I can't believe you still have it after so long. I thought Di might have...'

'Never,' Aarti shook her head in emphasis. 'Amma would never do that, she misses you so much. Please come back Mami. You will won't you?'

Khushi nodded, fighting back tears as she hugged Aarti tight.

Aarti felt Arnav putting his arms around both of them and joining their hug. She closed her eyes letting her own tears finally escape and sighed contentedly. In all of the 7 years she had worn her bracelet it had never felt as light on her wrist as it did now.