Chapter 18: Abeer

The second year was: the year of the company.

Not the: crisis company — the crisis was: over, Randhawa reduced to noise, the merger: stable, the share price: recovered. This was: the building year. The year when the merged Malhotra-Khanna Industries — MKI, as the market called it, the abbreviation that reduced: two families and one marriage to: three letters — became what it was: meant to be.

The steel division: expanded. Three new plants — in Jharkhand, in Odisha, in Karnataka. The expansion was: Papa ji's vision, the vision of a man who had been: building since 1985 and who saw in: the merger the capital to build: bigger. The plants meant: employment. Twelve thousand new jobs. The specific, measurable: impact of a company that was not: just profitable but: productive.

The investment arm: grew. HK's expertise, freed from: the constraints of a single firm, deployed across: the merged entity's portfolio. New funds — infrastructure, renewable energy, the: specific financial architecture of a man who had spent: forty years understanding money and who now had: more of it.

And the foundation: flourished. Gauri's foundation — still: independent, still: hers, but now funded by: MKI's expanded CSR commitment — the foundation that had: started with five crore and borewells had become: a model. The Barmer programme expanded to: Jodhpur, to Jaisalmer, to the: Thar Desert corridor where girls' education had been: a sentence in a government report and was now: a reality in a classroom.

"One: hundred schools," Gauri said. At: dinner. In the Vasant Vihar dining room. With: marigolds, because Ramu kaka. With: Kamini, who was: one year old and who ate: dal chawal with her hands because Kamini believed that: cutlery was a suggestion and that hands were: definitive. "One hundred schools. By: next March."

"One hundred: schools," I repeated. "That's: forty-two more than we have."

"That's forty-two: more. In one: year."

"The: funding—"

"Is: available. If we redirect: the Jaisalmer infrastructure allocation."

"That allocation is: committed."

"It's: budgeted. Not: committed. Budgets are: conversations. Commitments are: contracts."

"Gauri. The board—"

"The board: elected me as vice-chair last: month. The board: trusts me."

She was: right. The board — the twelve people in the conference room on: fourteen — had elected Gauri as: vice-chair. Not because she was: the chairman's daughter-in-law. Because she had: saved the company from Randhawa. Because she had: redirected a gossip scandal into a front-page feature. Because she had: proposed the governance structure that attracted: LIC. Because she was: the most effective director on the board, and the board: knew it.

"One hundred: schools," I said. "Approved."

"That was: fast."

"I: calculated."

"Already?"

"The calculation was: simple. My wife wants: one hundred schools. One hundred schools costs: approximately twenty crore in additional CSR. Twenty crore is: point-two percent of our revenue. Point-two percent for one hundred: schools. The: return on investment is: uncalculable."

"There's that: word again."

"Your mother-in-law's: word. It: applies."

*

Kamini's first birthday party was: a contrast.

Mohini had planned it — from Mumbai, via: FaceTime, with the: organisational precision of a Goldman Sachs analyst who had: transferred her professional skills to: party planning and who believed that a child's first birthday required: a theme, a colour scheme, and: a timeline.

The theme was: books. Because Gauri: loved books. Because the Khan Market bookshop was: where Gauri had said "yes" (or: "I'll consider you," which was: the same thing). Because: books.

The venue was: the Vasant Vihar garden. Ramu kaka had: outdone himself — the garden was: transformed, the hedges trimmed into: shapes that resembled: animals (or: hedges, depending on your: perspective), the flower beds: overflowing with marigolds and: tuberoses (both: flowers, both: right).

Kamini: did not care about the theme. Kamini cared about: cake. Specifically: the cake's proximity to her: hands. The cake was: vanilla — Bimla aunty's recipe, the recipe that Maa had: loved, the vanilla cake that the Khannas served at: every birthday because tradition was: a flavour.

Kamini's hands found: the cake at approximately: two-fifteen PM. The cake did not: survive. The photographs: survived. Mohini took: three hundred and twelve photographs in the span of: forty minutes, which was: Goldman Sachs efficiency applied to: documentation.

Papa ji: held Kamini. After: the cake. The: stickiness transferred from Kamini to: Papa ji's sherwani, but Papa ji: did not notice because Papa ji was: looking at his granddaughter the way he had looked at: the merger on the day it was: signed — with the expression of a man who had: built something and who was: watching it: grow.

"One: year," Papa ji said. To: me. On the verandah. After the party. The guests: gone. The garden: littered with party debris that Ramu kaka was: already cleaning because Ramu kaka believed that a dirty garden was: a personal insult.

"One: year," I said.

"The fastest: year."

"The: best year."

"Your mother—" He stopped. Started: again. "Kamini — your Kamini, the: first Kamini — she wanted: this. Grandchildren. Noise. Cake on: the sherwani. She wanted: the house to be: full."

"The house is: full."

"The house is: full. And: I am—" He stopped. Again. The stopping of a man who: could not find the word, who had: spent his life in boardrooms where words were: tools and who was now: in a garden where words were: feelings and feelings were: harder.

"Uncalculable," I said. For: him. Because the word was: his wife's. And the feeling was: his wife's. And the: granddaughter named for his wife was: sleeping upstairs with cake on: her face and a peacock: watching over her.

"Uncalculable," Papa ji said. "Yes. That."