The Hope Factory A Novel

nineteen





IT SEEMED HE WAS EXPECTED, but where was his father-in-law? The profusion of marble Italian nymphs in Mr. Sankleshwar’s reception room remained silently unhelpful on the subject. The receptionist had asked him to wait and then retreated into some inner sanctuary. Anand ignored the magazines on the glass table; he checked his watch. It wasn’t like Harry Chinappa to be late. He would give him five minutes more and then call.

The door to the inner office opened; Harry Chinappa stood framed in the doorway, a file in his hands, a smile of great cordiality upon his face.

“My dear boy,” said Harry Chinappa. “There you are.”

“I have been here for a while,” said Anand.

“Excellent. I thought to myself,” said Harry Chinappa, “that it is not like Anand to be late. Now, to more important matters … Anand, you know me, I’m not one to interfere, but I do not want to see you making a grievous mistake…. Mr. Sankleshwar has arranged a very beautiful property for you—I think it is extremely suitable.”

“What?” said Anand. “No, that’s okay.” He was instantly annoyed; he perceived that he had been enticed here on false pretenses—Harry Chinappa had not given up on making him buy something from Sankleshwar. “I told you. I have no need. I have already proceeded with that Landbroker.”

“Oh, that fellow,” said Harry Chinappa. “Don’t worry about him. Agreements of that nature can easily be put aside…. We can’t be foolish, m’boy. That fellow sounds like trouble. Now, I want you to look at these…. I’m so pleased; the land is an absolute treasure….”

He opened the file and pointed to a map, in full spate, seemingly oblivious to Anand’s growing irritation. “I imagine we can head out for a viewing after this morning’s meeting. It sounds simply perfect for our needs. Sankleshwar has really been magnificent. Beyond my expectations, really…. It’s all here,” he tapped the folder again, “the land specifications, the term sheet, everything. I reviewed them in some detail, and even managed to tweak them in our favor. And,” he lowered his voice, “not everyone can say that in their dealings with Sankleshwar. He is famous for being extremely shrewd, you know.”

“No. Thank you. But no.” Anand spoke wearily, feeling as though he were speaking chaste Kannada to an uncomprehending foreigner. “I am not interested.”

“Don’t be silly. We haven’t seen the land, true, but Sankleshwar wouldn’t recommend something that wasn’t completely appropriate. Not to me, I fancy. I think we can trust him completely. And the terms are extremely reasonable. All that remains is to draw up the papers, and we can proceed with that right away. This meeting, I told Sankleshwar, is a mere formality, after all.”

“A mere formality? What do you mean? What? You haven’t actually agreed to buy something from these people?” Anand stared at his father-in-law in shock.

“Anand. One can’t delay in matters like this. One could lose the property to a faster mover,” said Harry Chinappa, the f*cker, as though this were a matter of no greater import or consequence than choosing bloody prawns from some chuthiya catering menu.

“What? I told you. This will not work. I am buying something else.”

“My boy, what are you saying? You’re backing out completely? Don’t be foolish. You cannot seriously be thinking of doing business with that other fellow? Mark my words—you’ll get into trouble with him. What do you even know of him? Don’t be stupid now. This is ridiculous! We’ve got an excellent deal here. Besides, we can’t back out now. I’ve spent hours with Sankleshwar on this. I’ve agreed to all this. I’ve given him my word. We can’t back out. That’s impossible.”

“Excuse me,” Anand said. “But I have not agreed to anything. I have not given my word. And you had no business doing so. On what basis did you agree? I told you no. This is not,” he said, “some matter of some stupid prawns for some f*cking party. This is a matter of my company, and here you will not interfere…. I will talk how I like! I will use what words I like! … Yes, I know very well who I am talking to…. You please do what you like with the family but you please keep your distance from my work.”

And with the weight of his words pressing down like death in the silence of that marble-encased room, Sankleshwar’s comely secretary spoke, with a cheerful, astounding normalcy: “Sir? Will you both go in? Thank you.”

Anand did not even glance at her. He glared at his father-in-law—and turned and walked out of that room. Harry Chinappa could shovel his own shit. Anand was not going to be a part of his explanations.

He drove straight home. His father was seated on the verandah with his newspapers.

“Have you eaten, Appa?” Anand asked, forcing himself to a dutiful courtesy. His father usually consumed his main meal of the day at 9:30 in the morning, in a strict schedule that followed his morning walk, bath, and worship.

“No,” said his father. “Your wife is cooking pig flesh in the kitchen; the smell is upsetting my stomach—so I have decided to go on fast. A banana and one glass of milk—later, when the smell has died down—will be sufficient. A fast,” he said, “is good for the digestion, very cleansing, though the subsequent bowel movements take a day or so to settle down. Are you not going for your bath?”

“Later,” said Anand. “I have to finish some work in the study.”

“When I used to return home from outside, I would first head straight for the bath before saying even one word to anybody. But those are the old ways, is it not?”

“Is Vidya upstairs?” asked Anand.

“I believe not. I believe not. The servant,” his father said, “told me she has gone out.”

Anand headed to the study, his father’s voice following him: “… and by raising rail prices, the blighters will raise the prices of onions also. This country,” his father said, resorting to the expression he had employed as long as Anand could remember, “is going to the dogs.”

He heard Vidya enter the house and walked out of the study. He could see from her grim face that she had heard from her father. Thankfully, the children were at school. She addressed her father-in-law: “So I have bought some bananas for you. Will you eat them right away?”

“A little later,” Anand’s father said. “After the smell has died down. No, no, nothing else. A glass of milk and a banana will be more than sufficient.”

She followed Anand into the study and shut the door. He said, still seething: “Listen. I don’t want you discussing my work ever again with your father. Okay? After what happened today, I don’t want him involved. At all. Understand?”

“Understand? Do you think,” she said, “he would want to be involved after what you did?”

“What I did? What the hell are you talking about?”

“Ey, my father told me everything. Okay?” she said. “You ask him for help—he runs around for weeks organizing things for you, and then you coolly just turn and walk away. He told me. You shouted at him and abused him and used all kinds of foul language. He is really shocked, Anand. So am I. He has never been spoken to like that in his life. I was so shocked, I began to cry. How could you do this to him?” She sat down on the sofa.

“He had no goddamned business doing what he did. He had no business agreeing to anything.”

Vidya spoke through his words. “And that’s the other thing. Because of you, his reputation will get affected. He said that Sankleshwar actually accused him of double dealing—my father!—but thankfully, he put him right…. Otherwise, Daddy’s good name would be in tatters! Even so, he says, because of you, his own real estate development scheme could get messed up…. Anand, how could you!”

“What? What the f*ck did he tell Sankleshwar?”

“Don’t use that language with me now!” said Vidya. “He told Sankleshwar the truth: that you were the one who did the double-deal, agreeing to Sankleshwar and agreeing to someone else at the same time…. Anand, don’t look like that! Daddy’s reputation is important to him.”

“And mine isn’t?” Anand asked, so furious he could barely speak. “Vidya, listen. I didn’t do a ‘double deal.’ I only agreed to work with that other Landbroker person. Your father had no right agreeing to anything with Sankleshwar. What he did was wrong! Are you listening to me?”

“He risked his entire reputation for you. He’s bending over backwards and you bloody go and do something that he says no self-respecting businessman would do.”

“Vidya, are you even listening? He had no business agreeing to anything. He had no right.”

“Yes, only you can do whatever you want. No one else has any right! That is just how you want your world, isn’t it? No need to show respect to anybody else. He put his integrity on the line for you. He’s a man of his word—and you are not. You are not! That is the person you’ve become.”

“Well, you and your father are the only two people who think so.”

“And, of course, we are the only two people,” said Vidya, “whose opinion doesn’t matter to you…. I can’t believe you would treat my father so badly, while expecting me to cater to every whim and fancy of yours. It’s driving me crazy.”

“Fine,” he said. “Don’t do it. I’ll take care of my father—and you please take care of yours.”

“He’ll never forgive you, Anand,” she said, bursting into tears. “And neither will I.”

Great, he said. Don’t.

Later he heard her on the phone. “Kavika,” she said.

F*ck, he thought. Not that.