The Mother I Never Knew by Sudha Murty

Author:Sudha Murty
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780143422259
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2014-05-22T00:00:00+00:00

11

A Father’s Debt

By the end of the narration, neither Venkatesh nor Gauri could hold back their tears.

However, there was a smirk on Ravi’s face. ‘Well, I’m impressed,’ he said. ‘Though our grandfather had two wives, they didn’t know about each other. He was a smart old man, wasn’t he?’

Shanta asked her husband with her customary cold caution, ‘What do you want to do about it?’

‘I haven’t yet told Shankar and Bhagavva about my findings, but I know that they live in extreme poverty and I want to help them. That’s the least I can do.’

‘How much?’ she asked.

‘Fifty lakhs. They can buy a house with ten or fifteen lakhs and they can use the rest for their children’s education and marriage, or Bhagavva’s medical treatment.’

Shanta and Ravi exclaimed in unison, ‘Fifty lakhs!’

‘I inherited two sites from my father after his death—the Ganga–Tunga complexes. Besides that, he left me gold in the bank and several fixed deposits. Today, Bhagavva and her family are in a really miserable condition and I should give them what was due to them at the time of Father’s death.’

‘But we’re not responsible for their situation,’ Shanta said angrily.

‘You are right; we are not responsible at all, but when I inherited my father’s property, I also inherited his share of mistakes. Appa failed in his duty towards them. We can’t undo the past, but maybe we can make their lives a little easier, especially since we have so much wealth. There’s no legal proof of their wedding, there’s only a newspaper cutting of the accident and Appa’s picture; but there is a divine court of law above us where our souls are the witnesses.’

‘Stop talking about God and our souls, Dad. Let’s be practical. We can’t give them anything right now,’ Ravi said.

Venkatesh said, ‘Why not? Haven’t I toiled for this home too? Thanks to your mother and her investments made from the Ganga–Tunga rent we received initially, we’ve earned so much more in the last twenty years. Don’t forget that the start-up capital came from my father.’

‘Relax, Dad. Don’t get emotional. Didn’t you hear what Amma said? At the moment, we have financial problems of our own and yet, you are willing to give away fifty lakhs to someone for the sole reason that he resembles you. We all know that Grandfather was afraid of his mother. Maybe he had an affair and the old woman is simply making up a story. Why should we bother about her or her child when our grandfather himself deserted her? I feel like laughing at you. You may give him twenty thousand and close the issue.’

Venkatesh knew that his son was clever, but he hadn’t known that he was heartless too. Ravi felt no compassion or empathy. What kind of a man would his son be in the future?

For the first time during the discussion, Gauri spoke. She said, ‘Anna, I think you are right.’

Venkatesh turned to both his children and asked, ‘What’ll you do if I give away

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