All Roads Lead Home - 17

“Now do you believe me?” I asked Prachi, “She knows something. Why did she clamp down like that?!” I shook my head. I was pretty sure the mother-in-law had answers to all my questions.

“First of all, I have always believed you.” Prachi said stiffly. I turned towards her, surprised.

She stood her ground. “I have come,” She said, “all the way here, just because, I believe. I believe that you need to do this, I believe that you will find them, I believe you, when you say you HAVE to do this. SO don’t go accusing me of not believing you!” She glared at me.

“I didn’t mean it that way.” I said meekly. I didn’t realize that what had been a big decision for me, must have been a bigger one for her. I had left everything to come find myself. Prachi had left everything behind, just for me. A warm glow enveloped me. Before she could say anymore, I put my arms around her. She struggled a bit, but came around pretty soon.

“Don’t say such things again.” She said a little gruffly. Then she smiled, “Sorry, just lost my cool there.”

I nodded. It had happened to me a couple of minutes back too. This whole thing was way too stressful for both of us.

“What say, we go back to the room and try to find out more about Mili and Arjun?” I said, with my arm still around her.

“Yeah.. Not a bad idea. With a name and a picture, we might have a better chance.” She said casually.

“You didn’t!” I squealed. Sometimes, Prachi surprised me.

“No, I didn’t take the photo!” Prachi shook her head, “What did you think, they’d let me walk out with it?” She asked.

“What I did do,” She continued smugly,“is to take a picture of the picture.”

“That’s great!” I said excitedly, when a thought struck me, “So..” I paused, “What are we going to do with it?”

“I have noooooo idea..” She said, exaggerating the “no”. With that, we both burst out laughing. The tension between us from just a moment ago, long forgotten.

“So..” Prachi sighed long and deep and we made our way back to the hotel room. Somehow, the excitement of finding my house had made us walk a LOT. Suddenly, we were faced with the colossal of walking back.

“What are the chances that your dog loving friend will come by this way today?” Prachi asked after walking for about fifteen minutes.

“Not very good.” I panted. I was kind of disappointed. Not like I was hoping for him to show up. But, it would have been nice if he had. I had felt as though I had a found a friend in him and I would have definitely liked to meet Lyka.

“Lets go see him..” I tossed the idea at Prachi.

“Your dog friend? Why?” She stopped, with both hands on her waist, breathing heavily.

“Just, maybe we can show him her picture.” I didn’t know why I wanted to meet him. I just did.

“How old was he again?” Prachi asked suspiciously.

I laughed. “As old as dad! Maybe older.”

“Okay..” Prachi relented, “If we make it back to the hotel alive, and we have the energy, we’ll go see your old man.” She said.

As we struggled to make our way back to the hotel, I couldn’t help but wonder, what it was, that was drawing me to him.

All Roads Lead Home - 16

Prachi and I stared at the picture for a long time. I was a splitting image of the lady in the picture.

“Ira,” Prachi said softly, “I think you found her.”

I didn’t say anything. I didn’t need to.

“Do you have any idea, where she is now?” I asked Aunty.

She shook her head slowly. “She moved out a long time ago. Sometimes, she came back to visit her family. But she never came and met me.” I detect a tinge of sadness in her voice. “We were best of friends, from school. And she just disappeared.” She sighed heavily and pulled the album on to her lap and started flipping through the photographs.

I turned towards Prachi, who nodded encouragingly. Could I dare to hope that this lady in front of me knew who my father was? There was no other way to ask her.

“Did you know she was going to have a baby?” I asked, I kept my head down. For some reason, I was embarrassed to ask her this question.

She looked up at me thoughtfully, “Come to think of it, no..”

“So there was no man in her life?” I asked.

She laughed, a little too hard, “Mili..” She paused, “Mili always had a guy around.” She said. I didn’t like the way she stressed on the word always. I stayed silent.

“Don’t get me wrong,” She said hurriedly. “Mili, was the kind of girl, everyone loved and adored. But she always wanted someone she knew she could never have. Why, half the boys from school would have married her, had she given them any signs.” She looked away, lost in her thoughts.

I glanced at the picture again. Sure, the woman smiling back at me was pretty, but she wasn’t of the “drop-dead gorgeous” variety. There was nothing, remarkably pretty about her.

Maybe Aunty was exaggerating, I thought to myself.

“Don’t you go on the photo..” She said, reading my mind. “Mili had a personality that could warm up a thousand hearts and a smile that could light up an entire city.”

Somehow, hearing nice things about her, made me feel nice.

“So is there no one that you can think of, who will know where she is now?” Prachi, who had been listening silently all this while, asked.

“No.. not really. I mean, she lost contact with all of us here, once her father died. And her brother moved out a month after her his funeral. We ever heard from them again.” She sighed wistfully.

“A brother?” I asked, surprised. I didn’t know why the idea surprised me.

“Oh yes, Arjun, he was the star of the family. We all knew he was going to make it big. Good-looking, intelligent, he could have been anything he wanted to. But after his father’s death, he just faded away.”

“Did something bad happen to the family?” I asked dreadfully. I was afraid, that I was the reason, the family fell apart.

“Nobody knows. Their father died of high blood pressure.” She said. I relaxed visibly.

“Or, maybe that’s what they told everybody.” She added.

“Did you see a baby? Ever? I mean with the family?” Prachi asked.

Aunty shook her head. “Not that I can remember.”

“I’ll be right back..” Prachi announced, and walked out of the room.

As soon as Prachi left, Aunty placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Listen.. Your mother, was a very nice woman. She wasn’t the kinds who’d sleep around. The guy,” She hesitated “Must have been special.” She was saying the words I needed to hear.

I nodded. “You were her friend right?” I asked.

She nodded.

“Why would she leave me? At first, I thought, maybe, she didn’t have enough money.. But the family seems very well off.” I tried to hide the bitterness I felt inside.. The hatred towards this woman, who had left me, not because she could afford to raise me properly, but because she had made a mistake. She had left me to fend for myself.

“Ira, Mili loved you..” She checked herself. “I’m sure Mili loved you.”

I stared at her. “You’re lying.” I said in disbelief. “You knew about me. You knew that she had a baby!” I accused her.

“Of course not. I’m just trying to help. Why would I lie?” She defended herself.

Prachi walked in, unaware of what had just taken place. She was holding the picture from the wall.

“Here, ” She pointed at my baby picture, “This is Ira. You must have seen..” She paused suddenly, as she sensed the sudden tension in the atmosphere. “What’s going on?” She asked.

“She lied to us!” I said hysterically. “She’s lying Prachi!”

“Calm down Ira, what happened?” Prachi held me by the shoulders.

“What is happening is, that I want you both to leave now.” Aunty’s face had hardened and she closed the photo album shut and held it against herself. “Leave, now.” She commanded.

“I’m not going anywhere!” I shook off Prachi’s hold on my arm and glared.

“Come on Ira, lets go.” Prachi tugged at my arm, pulling me outwards.

“No! She knows something! I’m not going anywhere till she tells me.” I was shouting, but I couldn’t keep my temper in check. Why was she hiding things from me after being so forthcoming with so many details. I just didn’t understand.

“Ira. Please.” I heard the quiet plea in Prachi’s voice.

As I turned around, I became aware of all the other ladies who had gathered there. All of them were regarding me with hostile glances. The scene could turn from bad to ugly.

“I think you should leave now Ira.” Mrs. Gurung echoed what must have been on all their minds.

Quietly, I began to make my way outside when I heard Prachi talk.

“If you ever feel like talking, please, please call me.” Prachi handed out her card, which nobody took.

She placed it on the table and walked out.

As we walked away from my past, Prachi asked thoughtfully.

“Why was she so sure that you’re Mili’s daughter and not Arjun’s?”

All Roads Lead Home - 15

Mili?? I looked around, confused.

The woman got off the couch and walked towards me, her eyes never leaving my face.

I started backing away as she put out her hand to touch my face.

Prachi stood behind me, blocking my way.

As the woman’s fingers touched my face, I closed my eyes momentarily. When I reopened them, she was smiling at me.

“Come with me.” She said.

I turned towards Prachi, who nodded encouragingly. The lady led me to her room and made me sit down. “I’ll be right back, stay right here.” She smiled kindly at me and went out of the room

 Prachi stood at the door.

“What’s going on?” I asked her.  I was finding the whole thing a little too eerie and creepy for my liking.

Prachi shrugged, “I have no idea.” She said.

We waited impatiently in the small room. I tried not to get my hopes too high. But it was hard.

Don’t, don’t don’t, I chanted to myself, but I knew it was a lost cause. The lady knew something! I could feel it in my bones. As a small smile appeared on my face, Prachi shook her head disapprovingly. She too, didn’t want me to get too excited about it. But I guess my smile was contagious, and pretty soon, Prachi too was bubbling with excitement. She came over and sat next to me, holding my hand.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the woman appeared with a stack of old albums.

Albums! Photo albums! She might be having my parents’ pictures! I quivered with excitement.

“Wait,” She smiled at me as I put out my hands to take the photo albums from her, as a little child would do.

She put on her glasses and opened one album, looked at a picture and then peered at my face.

It required all of my self control not to snatch the album from her.

She wiped her glasses, slowly and carefully looked again and then shook her head.

I caught my breath, and shut my eyes tightly. I didn’t want to hear her say it.

“If you’re not Mili’s daughter,” I heard her say “I need to visit my optometrist again.” She placed the album on my lap.

Surprised, I opened my eyes and quickly glanced at the picture in front of me.

It was a black and white picture, two young girls maybe aged 10 years were smiling into the camera. I looked up confused.

“I don’t understand Aunty,” I asked her. I really didn’t. Who were these girls? Why was she showing me these pictures?

She laughed and pointed at the heftier girl in the picture.

“That’s me!” She said, “And that..” she said pointing at the skinnier girl, “is Mili.”

“Who is Mili?” I asked, although I suspected I already knew the answer to that.

“Mili, is the girl who used to stay next door.” She said it simply. I frowned, looking at this picture, I couldn’t tell if we were related. There was no noticeable family resemblance. I tried to conceal my disappointment as I shut the album.

“Wait..” She put her hand in the album, not allowing me to close it. She turned the page over and suddenly, it was my turn to gasp.

The woman in the photo, looked exactly like me. Or more correctly, I looked exactly like her.

All Roads Lead Home - 14

“Ummm..” I tried to cover up for Prachi’s absence, “She must be around here somewhere.” I offered lamely.
“Yes, I think I saw her.” Mrs. Gurung’s interest in my sister faded and then she led me right in the middle of the ladies circle.
I felt as though I was handling a press conference, with questions being asked from all directions.
“Don’t be scared, they all want to help.” She whispered in my ears as she abandoned my side.


Help. Ya right!


“Who raised you?” one woman asked me. I couldn’t remember her name.
“I was very lucky to be adopted by a wonderful family.” As I said it, I realized how true it was. I had been extremely fortunate. What would I have been, had I not been adopted?
“Why did they tell you?” Was another question thrown at me.
I hesitated. All I had wanted to tell them was that I was looking for my parents who might have stayed in the house next door.. I hadn’t agreed to answer all their questions and I failed to understand why they expected me to do so.
I looked around at the expectant faces in the audience and saw Mrs. Gurung. “Answer!”, she mouthed.
I shook my head. As nice as their intentions could be, I didn’t want to share my deepest thoughts with complete strangers. Prachi was right, I would get nothing from this except a few moments of their attention.


I could tell I was nothing more than some form of entertainment for them. By the time they finished stuffing their faces with tea and biscuits that was now being offered, they would have forgotten all about me.
“I have to go now.” I said suddenly. I wasn’t up to answering their questions. “Prachi!” I called out.
“What happened Ira? Tell them, maybe they know something.” Mrs. Gurung was by my side in a jiffy. I shook off her hand off my arm. Suddenly, I was feeling claustrophobic. “Prachi!!” I called out again. I had to leave.


“Ira, maybe you should come inside.” Prachi had appeared magically by my side, shielding me from the rest.
I looked up at her, confused.
“Just come.” She held me by the hand and took me inside.
“Prachi! What are you doing? We can’t just go walking inside somebody else’s house!” I was mortified.
“Oh hush! I was inside all this while. And..” She stopped mid sentence. I turned towards her expectantly.
“She knew your mom.” I stopped dead in my tracks.
“How does she know that that woman is my mother?” I asked softly
“Well, that’s why she wants to take a look at you. Now come!” Prachi dragged me into a smaller room.
At the far end of the room, a television was on and a lady was sitting on the couch in front of it. From where I was standing, I could see the mop of grey hair on her head. She turned around as she heard us approach. She didn’t look very old. Maybe 50.
Her eyes locked on to my face as a gasp escaped her mouth.


“Mili!” She said.