Free The House of Hidden Mothers by Meera Syal Page B

fumbling on the stairs was not only what she needed, it was what had finally healed her.
    â€˜If it was none of my business,’ Tara spat, ‘why even tell me about all the IVF crap? Did I ask? No. Do I care you’ve stopped when I didn’t know you’d started? No again.’
    â€˜I thought you’d want to.’
    â€˜What? Share the love? Mum, there is no part of my brain that even gets why anyone your age would want a kid. So yeah, thanks for letting me know you’ve given up. At least I don’t have to worry about dying of shame seeing you pushing a buggy up and down the high road.’
    â€˜Maybe I haven’t given up.’
    The moment Shyama said it, it became true. Her anger receded, leaving cold calm resolve, which not even the slight tremor around Tara’s mouth could dissolve.
    â€˜You’re joking.’ Tara shook her head slowly. ‘OK, for the record, just stop including me in any more baby chat, we both know it’s pointless.’
    â€˜Fine. If that’s what you want,’ Shyama said evenly.
    â€˜It’s what
you
want, Mother. We done now?’
    Meanwhile, in the ground-floor flat opposite, Prem sat on the carpet in front of the television with the sound turned down, one eye on the recorded cricket highlights, paperwork spread before him. Next door he could hear Sita gently snoring. He had waited for her to fall asleep, pretending to read his newspaper until he could slip back out to the sitting room and begin the familiar task of reordering their legal papers, ready for the next round. He had decided to make a definitive list of the various stages of their ten-year struggle to repossess their flat. It made sobering reading, as he knew it would, which is why he hadn’t wanted Sita to see it.
March 2002 – eviction order granted in Delhi High Court with order for Yogesh Bedi to vacate within six months. Order ignored.
November 2002 – arrived at flat with bailiff. Yogesh Bedi refuses to vacate, bailiff says not legally allowed to use force and tells us to forget it. Yogesh Bedi seems very friendly with bailiff, not sure why.
January 2003 – lawyer asks for new eviction date with new bailiff and is told original paperwork is lost and he will have to reapply all over again.
April 2004 – lawyer reapplies for new eviction order.
December 2004 – new court date given: January 2005.
June 2005 – new eviction order granted.
January 2006 – date fixed for eviction in October 2006.
October 2006 – eviction halted as Yogesh Bedi’s lawyer argues we do not intend to live in flat but to sell it to someone else. This is because we are apparently too old to climb the stairs.
January 2007 – application for new eviction order.
May 2007 – date given for new hearing: November 2007.
November 2007 – eviction hearing. We discover that judge who was handling our case has been changed, he has retired or moved court, no one is sure. We are told we have to refile all over again.
February 2008 – lawyer reapplies for eviction order. Clerk points out there is a mistake on the court records. Flat has been noted as number 14, not 14A. Case halted as new records have to be filed, even though we showed them ownership papers and it was their fault, not ours.
November 2008 – lawyer reapplies for new eviction order in front of new judge. Eviction date given for March 2009.
March 2009 – day before eviction, Yogesh Bedi’s lawyers claim eviction illegal as no paperwork received from chief inspector of police to sanction eviction. Lawyer swears he had it lodged with the court but now somehow it cannot be found. Eviction postponed.
October 2009 – new eviction date given for February 2010.
February 2010 – lawyer informs us whole court building dealing with our case has been relocated from original site in Thri Nazar to new site of Patiala House, resulting in delay of all cases as all records need to be