“You have this mirror to reverse without doing that.” She pointed to the mirror hanging between them. His brows drew together, confused. Amaal exhaled, beginning to shift in her seat. And suddenly she saw realisation dawn in his eyes. She thought he would make fun of her with another mini joke. Instead, he leaned back, giving her space — “You have a problem with my driving?”
She blinked, more affected by this gesture. Her eyes glazed over. What was this fog again after so many years? Where had her cramps gone?
“No problem,” she managed, leaning back on the closed window. “This is more evolved, that’s it.” She pointed to the mirror. He followed her gaze and moved back, having parked their car out of the way of the traffic movement.
“How frequently have you been having these cramps? Same once in 6-7 months?”
She was surprised he remembered.
“Last year, it was every alternate month, now again it has started pacing out. I had these bad ones after three months.”
“Stress.”
“Thanks, Daaxsaab.”
“I’d recommend getting checked.”
“Again, thanks.”
“Fine.” He held his hands up.
She huffed. “Mom has been pushing me to relax as well. It’s been a year since I met them, you know?”
“Why?”
“They came around the time of Atharva’s swearing in for the last time, and then I haven’t been able to visit London. When Atharva went for DEP in November, I planned a short work visit too. He and Iram were going to go to his grandparents’ house and I would have taken that time off at home. But this Maniar Industries thing was going big and Qureshi was leading it. There was no way I would leave it to my staff, Fahad is also not there…” Amaal trailed to a stop, observing him. “Does my talking about this make you uncomfortable?”
He smiled.Smiled.Then shook his head.
“Last time we spoke, you were bitter about this… what you missed.”
“I was.” His eyes went into the distance. “But then I took your words seriously. I stopped blaming what had happened and who had done it, and instead started charting my own path. Himachal has been good that way. The place has… good vibrations. Strong. Pristine nature. Travelling has helped me a lot. Everybody is new, nobody knows me, nobody judges me, I can be the person I want to be…” he stopped talking, dark eyes behind those rimless specs coming to her.
“Don’t stop.”
He nodded.
“I am the guy there who sets up shop every day. We have rented a first-floor office on The Ridge in Shimla. I open it every morning. I roll out membership drives there. I meet people myself, tell them about KDP here and what it is capable of. I tell them what I am capable of. And when they enrol,” his mouth split into a smile. “I feel how I used to feel when my surgeries were successful.”
“You have already built a party with fifty core leaders, and how many members?”
“3,564, latest count. It’s very small. But once we reach the 10,000 number, we will start expanding into different parts of Himachal. This is still rudimentary. I am engaging one-on-one. Later I may not get these kinds of touchpoints.”
“You sound excited.”
“I am. KDP will fund HDP very soon.”
“Am I divulging secrets if I say that Atharva is not sold on that idea?”
“You are not.”
“Then?”
“He is angry. He has his hands full. He does not trust me to raise a party from the ground up. When he sees that I can, I have, he won’t be able to stand in my way.”
She turned towards him and set the side of her head on the headrest — “Is there a way for you two to ever come back to ground zero?”
Samar’s chest expanded on a long breath. Then he shook his head.
