Page 35

Backyard of Life
When Radha reported for work the next day, Dhruva led her into his study to thrown open his collection of Holmes, Mason et al for her to pore over them, and as she was engrossed with the former, Raju went up to her to usher her to join his master at the dining table. When she approached him with the lunchbox she brought along with her, as Dhruva said that the perquisites included free lunches, smiling coyly, she said that she would not mind working extra time if she could have dinners as well.
As Radha came to spend long hours at 9, Castle Hills, Dhruva lost no time in initiating her to drinks with Gin and Thums Up. When he asked her if his smoking a cigar was a bother for her, she said that having savored the smell of pogaku in his breath, she was all-eager to have a feel of its smoke. As he lit his lanka, maintaining that she enjoyed its aroma, she wondered whether he could make rings out of its smoke, the way actor Pran does in the movies. When he showed his prowess at it, as she wanted an encore, he too goaded her to repeat her booze; as he mixed a drink for her, she said that but for her abstinence then, her fate would have been tied up with the illicit couple and added that to usurp Madhu’s ill-gotten wealth, Pravar might have aimed at killing three birds at one shot.
What with Radha’s seductive balm soothing his jilted wound, and her eagerness to come closer to him tripping his resolve to be tightlipped until he sized her up, Dhruva appraised her how Pravar was fixed in the counterfeits case. When she said that maybe the dubious means justified the desirable end, he told her that Pravar had already confessed to the cop about his dubious role in the double murder. Saying she was glad to hear that, she said cheers all again, and clinking her glass with his own, he told her that he saw a possible role for her in dealing with the peculiar challenges Kavya’s release from Pravar’s psychological hold posed.
By the time Raju was ready to serve them dinner, Radha had a drink too many, and as Dhruva led her to the dining table by her waist, he was struck by her silken skin. After a sumptuous dinner, when she said that she would like to go home, he suggested that she better stayed back for the night, at which she turned coy and said that it might be risky. When he said that though a ladies’ man, yet he was a gentleman, having had a hearty laugh she said that it was about the risk he ran. Meeting his flummoxed look, she lowered her eyelids and said that she heard that a man lets a woman into his house only as a prelude to letting her into his heart. Elated at her unexpected advance, as he said that he who would shy away from such a welcome prospect, she coyly reminded him about the proverbial camel that took over the tent when it was allowed to cool its head. Saying that his heart and hearth were too big for any to fill them, he cajolingly led her into Mithya’s room, and as he helped her onto the mahogany cot, she pulled him into her embrace to anoint herself as the reigning queen of 9, Castle Hills.