Neighbors of Arya
Neighbours:
Arya, his
parent and his sister used to live in a typical individual house with multiple
portions. His family stays on rent and the landlord of the building stays a few
kilometres away. Arya’s father used to have a small business of fancy and
stationery store. His mother used to help his father in his business apart from
handling the household work.
It was
January 1998. A lady with a kid came and knocked on the door. Arya’s mother
opened the door and enquired who the lady was.
Lady: Heard
there is a portion for rent.
Arya’s
mother: Yes, who are you and who gave the details?
Lady: My
name is Rani and Arif who stays at the corner of this street gave the details.
We are looking for a rental.
Arya’s
mother: Wait, I will bring the key to that portion.
Arya’s
mother, Rani and her kid went to see the portion that was available for rent.
During the conversation, Rani introduced herself as a homemaker and she has
four kids. She also said that she used to stay in Mumbai along with her husband
and children, but relocated to this location due to her mother’s health
condition. She also said that her husband stays back in Mumbai.
After going
through the house, Rani was satisfied with the house. Arya’s mother shared the
landline number of the landlord and went to do her work.
In 2-3
days, the landlord came and said that Rani had met her and paid the advance and
in another week’s time Rani and her four children became neighbours of Arya.
She
introduced herself to other families in the street. As she already mentioned
Arif from the street corner was her brother’s friend, she used to visit their
house frequently. Rani’s four children were of different age groups. Rani’s
eldest child was Pramod and he was in his 10th standard. Rani’s
second child was Prashanth and he was in 7th standard, her third
child was Sony and she was in 5th and her youngest child was Bubloo
(as everyone used to call and no one exactly knows his name on the records).
During the
conversations, Rani revealed that her first two children were from her first
marriage and the latter were from her second marriage. This became a hot topic
for a while in the neighbourhood and as everyone got busy with their lives, it
subsided like any other gossip.
After a
week of coming to the new house, Nagamani came to Rani’s house. Nagamani was in
her teens and Rani introduced her as a maid to look after the kids. Within no
time, Nagamani became a noted person in the street as she used to go out for
every small thing required by the kids and household.
As the days
passed, Pramod used to play with the big boys, Arya, Prashanth and Bubloo
became good friends and Arya introduced Prashanth and Bubloo to other kids on
the ground.
Days passed
and it was the summer holidays in April.
It was the
time the country was going fervent with cricket fever. Like most of the kids at
that time, Arya, Prashanth, and Bubloo used to go out to play cricket full-time
from 7 AM till dusk with an hour break for lunch.
One fine
morning, Prashanth hit the ball onto the terrace of a neighbouring house and
they refused to give the ball back. It was a practice that everyone had to
contribute to purchase the ball. But the tradition was broken on that day.
Prashanth
said that he would sponsor the ball. He went to his home and brought a new note
of Rs 500/-. To everyone’s surprise, Prashanth declared that all the Rs 500/-
can be spent.
At first,
everyone including Arya was astonished and hesitant to ask anything. But as the
time lapsed, everyone got tired and Prashanth offered cool drinks to everyone.
Until then,
kids were used to only having water or a soda as refreshments. But Prashanth
changed the whole picture on that day.
After that
day, it has become a routine for Prashanth to spend lavishly and he used to get
perks like a double chance for wicket while batting or an extra over for
bowling as per his wish.
Word of
mouth was spread at homes by the kids. Some parents were initially sceptical and
asked Prashanth about the money. He said that his father was working in Mumbai
and sent them the money they wanted. Since it was a tier-2 city with meagre
incomes, parents thought that Prashanth’s father was a high-earning executive,
so they didn’t question him further.
While this
is the situation at the playground, Rani used to give Rs 500/- notes to
Nagamani even for a small purchase.
Though some
people in the neighbourhood noticed the lavish spending of Rani and her kids,
they were convinced as Rani portrayed her husband as a high-earning executive
in Mumbai.
Apart from
the abnormal and lavish spending of Rani and her kids, there is one thing that
went unnoticed by the neighbours.
Once in a
week or fortnight, someone used to visit Rani’s house. She used to introduce
them as her brothers, cousins or brother-in-law. This happened for three to
four months.
Arya used
to observe his surroundings with a keen interest in knowing what was happening
around him. On a fine weekend afternoon, this curiosity purged him to ask one
question Prashanth.
Arya:
Prashanth, who is that tall guy who came to your house 2 days ago?
Prashanth: I
don’t know the relation exactly. But my mom told me that he was some distant
relative.
Arya: It
seems you have a lot of rich relatives. They always come in cars.
Prashanth:
Yes, we have a lot of relatives. They bring cars to Uncle Arif and my uncle.
Arya: Oh,
what does your uncle do?
Prashanth: He
sells old cars. He has a big ground where there will be a lot of cars always
ready for sale.
Arya: How
many cars does he have?
Prashanth:
So many. Maybe some 50-60 at any time.
Arya: Can
we go there? I never saw those many cars in one place.
Prashanth
(Laughing sarcastically): No Arya, we are not allowed there. Even I went only
once or twice with my mom and we never went inside. My mom said kids are not
allowed there.
Arya (a bit
disappointed): Oh. Okay. I wish I get a chance to see that place at least from
outside.
Prashanth
(again laughing): You are not Prashanth, Arya. You need to be lucky to see
those many cars in one place.
Arya: It’s
okay. Let’s keep it aside and play our cricket.
They
gathered Bubloo also and went on to play cricket for the rest of the day.
Arya
thought about the cars and conversation while sleeping that day and he forgot
it by the next day.
What happened to those neighbours and how are they linked to the first episode of police calling Arya?
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