A Suitable Boy(590)

16.15


SAVITA had got into the front seat of the Austin; Arun was driving, and she wanted a word with him. Meenakshi sat at the back. The others went back to Calcutta in the Humber.

‘Arun Bhai,’ said the gentle Savita, ‘what did you mean by behaving like that?’

‘I don’t see what you mean. Don’t be a damned fool.’

Savita was the one person in the family who was not daunted by Arun’s bullying tactics. There was to be no summary closure of debate.

‘Why did you go out of your way to be unpleasant to Haresh?’

‘Perhaps you should ask him that question.’

‘I don’t think he was particularly nasty to you.’

‘Well, he certainly said that Praha was a household word in India and that the same couldn’t be said for Bentsen Pryce.’

‘It’s a fact.’

‘He had no call to say it even if it is.’

Savita laughed. ‘He only said it, Arun Bhai, because you had gone on and on about the Czechs and their crude ways. It was self-defence.’

‘I see you are determined to take his side.’

‘That’s not how I see it. Why couldn’t you at least be civil? Don’t you have any regard for Ma’s feelings – or Lata’s?’

‘I most certainly do,’ said Arun pompously. ‘That is precisely why I think this thing should be nipped in the bud. He is simply the wrong sort of man. A shoemaker in the family!’

Arun smiled. When, on the recommendation of a former colleague of his father’s, he had been asked to appear for an interview at Bentsen Pryce, they had had the wisdom instantly to perceive that he was the right sort of man. You either were or you weren’t, reflected Arun.

‘I don’t see what’s wrong with making shoes,’ said Savita mildly. ‘We’re certainly happy to use them.’

Arun grunted.

‘I think I have a bit of a headache,’ said Meenakshi.

‘Yes, yes,’ continued Arun. ‘I’m driving as fast as I can, considering I’m being distracted by my passenger. We’ll be home soon.’

Savita was quiet for a couple of miles.

‘Well, Arun Bhai, what do you have against him that you didn’t have against Pran? You didn’t have much to say about Pran’s accent either when you first met him.’

Arun knew that he was treading on dangerous ground here, and that Savita would take no nonsense about her husband.

‘Pran’s all right,’ conceded Arun. ‘He’s getting to know the ways of the family.’

‘He has always been all right,’ said Savita. ‘It’s just that the family has adjusted itself to him.’

‘Have it your way,’ said Arun. ‘Just let me drive in peace. Or would you like me to pull over and continue this argument. Meenakshi has a headache.’

‘Arun Bhai, this is not an argument. I’m sorry, Meenakshi, I have to have things out with him before he starts working on Ma,’ said Savita. ‘What is it you have against Haresh? That he isn’t “one of us”?’

‘Well, he certainly isn’t,’ said Arun. ‘He’s a dapper little man with co-respondent shoes, a grinning servant and a big head. I have rarely met anyone so arrogant, opinionated or self-satisfied – and with less cause to be.’

Savita merely smiled in reply. This irritated Arun even more than an answer.

‘I don’t know what you hope to achieve by this discussion,’ he said after a few moments of silence.

‘I just don’t want you to ruin Lata’s chances,’ said Savita seriously. ‘She isn’t too certain about things herself, you know, and I want her to make up her own mind, not to have Big Brother deciding everything for her and laying down the law as usual.’

Meenakshi laughed from the back: a silvery, slightly steely laugh.

A huge lorry came towards them from the other side, almost forcing them off the narrow road. Arun swerved and swore.

‘Do you mind if we continue this conference at home?’ he asked.

‘There are hundreds of people at home,’ said Savita. ‘It will be impossible to make you see sense with all the interruptions. Don’t you realize, Arun Bhai, that offers of marriage do not come raining down from the sky every day? Why are you determined to thwart this one?’

‘There are certainly others who are interested in Lata – Meenakshi’s brother for one.’

‘Amit? Do you really mean Amit?’

‘Yes, Amit. I do really mean Amit.’

Savita immediately thought that Amit would be most unsuitable, but did not say so. ‘Well, let Lata decide for herself,’ she said. ‘Leave it to her.’