House of Cards: A Novel Read online

  Life went on. Sanjay was away for four days attending an international conference in Malaysia. Mridula received an urgent call from the nursing home regarding some documents for the new pharmaceutical company. She told the clerk, ‘I don’t know anything about the documents.’

  ‘Madam, this file is usually with Shankar sir or Anil. When both of them are unavailable, it is with Doctor sir who keeps the file in the nursing home. May I get it today? It’s important.’

  ‘Well, in that case, you can ask Rosemary and take it.’

  ‘Madam, Rosemary is not allowed to open Doctor sir’s cupboard. She has the keys but doesn’t operate it on her own.’

  Usually, Mridula did not go to the nursing home except on Ayudha Puja day. But she felt sorry for the clerk and said, ‘Don’t worry. I’ll go to the nursing home and search for the file.’

  A few years ago, Anuradha had had a baby in their nursing home. After trying to conceive for a long time, she had finally become pregnant and had a normal delivery. Everybody was happy. Sanjay had assisted in her case. Mridula had told Sanjay, ‘Please don’t charge Anuradha anything. When we had no money, they looked after Sishir without any expectations. I never felt hesitant to leave my child with them.’

  ‘Of course, Mridula. Whatever you say. I won’t charge them a rupee even though a normal delivery costs fifty thousand rupees. I respect your feelings.’

  Mridula was happy that Sanjay was listening to her, at least this time.

  At the baby’s naming ceremony, she had given a gold chain to Anuradha’s baby boy. Kantamma had welcomed her and made ragi balls especially for Sishir. When Mridula was about to leave, Kantamma had thanked her and said, ‘Your husband’s a nice person. In spite of being such a senior doctor, he came for the delivery in the middle of the night. He also gave us a concession of ten thousand rupees.’

  Mridula had been taken aback. To reconfirm, she had asked, ‘How much did you pay?’

  Muniyappa had said, ‘The actual bill was fifty thousand but Sanjay gave us a green slip with ten thousand written on it. So I paid forty thousand rupees.’

  When she sat in the car, Mridula had felt disgusted. She had thought, ‘How can Sanjay take money from them? At this stage of life, forty thousand doesn’t mean much to them. It was just to show them our affection. Doesn’t Sanjay understand?’

  When she had come home, Sanjay was talking to Rosemary over the speakerphone. Rosemary was asking, ‘Doctor, how much discount should I give the Transport Secretary’s daughter? She’s getting discharged tomorrow.’

  ‘Rosemary, don’t charge them anything. Write a complimentary slip and send them a nice bouquet. He may be of great use to us later.’

  Mridula’s anger had known no bounds. After he had finished his call, she had asked him, ‘Why did you charge Anuradha for her delivery?’

  Without batting his eyelids, Sanjay had said, ‘Because Anuradha wanted the bill.’

  ‘Of course, she would’ve asked for it, but you should have refused. You have done wrong.’

  ‘What’s wrong in taking money from them? Anuradha and Arun have senior-level jobs and each of them takes home at least one lakh rupees. And their company will reimburse them this cost. I have still reduced ten thousand rupees.’

  ‘Then why did you lie to me?’

  ‘Because you would get upset.’

  ‘Well, I’m even more upset now.’

  ‘That’s your problem.’

  Sanjay had gone to the other room and started making his office calls again. After that day, Mridula had stopped going to the nursing home except on Ayudha Puja day. She felt that the nursing home could run without her help. Neither her words nor her presence had any consequence.

  Today was a first after a very long time. Though Rosemary was just the head nurse, she was Sanjay’s right-hand person. She knew how to invoice, whom to bill and how much to charge different people. She knew which doctors to call in Sanjay’s absence. But Rosemary was aware of her limitations. Sanjay did not allow her to touch his personal documents in the cupboard.

  When Mridula reached the nursing home, she asked Rosemary for the keys. Rosemary said, ‘Here you go, madam. But I don’t know what’s in the cupboard. I’ve never opened it.’

  Mridula opened the cupboard and searched for the file. She found a bank passbook first. She was surprised—all the passbooks were supposed to be at home. When she opened it, she found that the passbook was from Sanjay and Lakshmi’s joint account in a bank in Malleshwaram. Mridula did not know about this account. She was under the impression that she was looking after all of Sanjay’s accounts, at his own suggestion. The account balance was close to fifty lakh rupees. It was not the money that astonished her, but the fact that she blindly believed that nothing happened in her house without her knowledge, particularly since it was an unwritten understanding that money matters were her domain.

  At that moment, something inside her just shattered into pieces. When the foundation of trust cracks, how can a marriage remain the same? Mridula felt like she was drowning. Her thoughts haunted her. ‘How can Sanjay open an account without telling me? The date of the first transaction is five years ago. I’ve been cheated for the last five years and I was not even aware of it. Isn’t this infidelity too? Alex cheated on Anita in one way and Sanjay has cheated on me in another. He’s the one who said, “I don’t want to handle money. You manage it and I’ll manage the nursing home.” I guess the apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree. When my mother-in-law is desirous of money even at this age, what else can I expect from her son?’

  Mridula wanted more information about the account. She saw the counterfoil of a Rs 10 lakh DD sent to Ratnamma. Sanjay had sent the money to his mother but he had told Mridula that he would not send it. Mridula realized that he was a practised deceiver. She found a gift deed of a car given to Anil. She recalled how easily Sanjay had told her that it was a company car. Apart from that, there was a joint fixed-deposit for fifty lakh in Sanjay and Lakshmi’s name.

  But the most important paper was lying at the bottom of the cupboard. Four years ago, Sanjay had bought a house for Lakshmi and it had been rented out. Lakshmi was probably collecting rent every month and was staying in a house paying lower rent instead. Mridula also found numerous cheques made out to Pratibha Jewellers in Chickpet that came to around five lakh a year. Now Mridula realized that all the gold that glittered on Lakshmi’s body was real. Every year, she had been giving Lakshmi ten thousand rupees on Gowri festival without knowing that Lakshmi was collecting five lakh from her husband on the side.

  For a second, Mridula was upset with Lakshmi; then she thought that when her husband himself was manipulating her, why should she blame anyone else? Was it her ignorance, foolishness or Sanjay’s cunning nature that had encouraged all these activities? Mridula did not even care to close the cupboard and walked out without speaking to Rosemary. As soon as she could, she ran to her car.

  In one moment, Mridula had lost all her confidence. She reached home without tears and did not let her driver know that anything was wrong. She went inside her bedroom and closed the door. She was so hurt that she could not even cry. She was filled with shock and anger. ‘I can’t believe that Sanjay has cheated me like this,’ she said to herself. ‘I’ve lived with complete belief and trust in him ever since we got married. How am I going to live with him for the rest of my life? I don’t know what to do.’

  Soon, Sanjay came back from Malaysia. It was late at night when he reached home. He felt at once that something was amiss because Mridula did not get up to talk to him when he lay down next to her. Sishir was also absent since he was in Delhi with his friends. Early next morning, their driver, Nanja, told Sanjay that Mridula had not been to school for the last two days. Something was definitely wrong.

  Sanjay thought, ‘Mridula is talkative and doesn’t stop talking even in adverse situations. A few friendly words to her will make her herself again. I’ll go talk to her now. In spite of the servants at home, she ma