Chapter 11
Aditi sat in the courtroom after lunch, checking her mobile phone. Zubin had landed and gone straight to the office. She was carrying his lunch, way past lunchtime. And he was still not here.
She unlocked her mobile and pulled up his chat.
ADITI
I have your lunch
ZUBIN
Coming
ADITI
Hearing is starting in 2
She heard quick footsteps and turned to see Zubin striding in, his brow sweaty. She was about to get up and go to him, but their clients sat right behind them, glaring at each other. Aditi settled down, nodding at him as he came to the Respondent’s table and took his seat.
“Your food is in the Bar Room.”
“I’ll go after the hearing.”
“Did you eat anything?”
“Not yet.”
Aditi glanced at his stomach hidden under the lapels of his gown as he was busy accepting his iPad from Shashank and signing, eyes downcast.
“No acidity since Friday night,” he muttered. Aditi was this close to throwing her pen at his head.
“All rise.”
They rose to their feet as the judge entered and quickly sat down.
Today, it seemed, even he was in a hurry.
Good, Aditi thought. The case she had prepared with the list of absurd demands from Chandni Jethmalani and Zubin Daruwala was so completely devoid of common sense that a Justice Deshmukh in a hurry would immediately quash them and maybe even give his decision today — the Madh Island bungalow, the car, the painting and the divorce.
Justice Deshmukh looked at the appeal, quickly scanned through it, gleaned the reply, and then glanced up — “ Yes, Ms. Doshi, now that we have gone through the immovables and the movables, let us get done with the miscellaneous demands. This is the end of it?”
“Indeed, My Lord,” Aditi rose to her feet.
“My Lord, this is where the Family Court made a huge error in judgment. While its sweeping order in giving all the movables and immovables could be termed one-sided, granting some of these demands was completely shocking. In all seriousness, My Lord, before we go through these absurd demands, we would like to point out that it is these demands on which the Appellant has alleged the bias of the Family Court. It would be evident as we move on…”
“Objection, Your Lordship.”
No acidity but his food wouldn’t move from small intestine to large intestine if he didn’t use those three pretentious words, Aditi sighed.
“Lordship, the Appellant is again going round and round trying to pass adjectives on the demands. They have not yet proved or substantiated anything of the sort, so I would ask them to refrain from using words like ‘absurd.’”
“Mr. Daruwala, let us wait and give them time to substantiate before we jump to any conclusions, shall we? Ms. Doshi, please continue,” Justice Deshmukh gave this one to her.
“My Lord, the list goes into two dozen demands, but I would like to start with the most absurd demand block. The respondent demands that one, my client pay for her content creation team on Instagram, perpetually. They further want my client, who by the way is not even on social media currently, to like, save and comment on every reel of hers within the first ten minutes of posting…”
Aditi stopped talking, noting the judge’s eyes venture behind her. She turned, and Chandni Jethmalani had her hand stretched high up.
“Yes, Madam?” Justice Deshmukh humoured her.
“My Lordship, share also. Instagram’s new algorithm says shares over saves.”
He gestured for her to be seated. “Please continue, Ms. Doshi.”
“The demand further escalates to asking my client to be readily available in the future if the respondent wishes to create any content, video or podcast around their marriage. My Lord, what should we call this if not absurd? And this is only the tip of the iceberg.”
“Mr. Daruwala.” Justice Deshmukh looked at Zubin. “Should I presume you have no objection to calling this absurd?”
Zubin smiled, then got up very slowly — “Your Lordship, the Appellant is looking at the letter and not the spirit. Nobody is looking at the reason why these demands are made. My client’s only passion in life right now is creating content.
And by asking for this, she is making sure that there is some fiscal security in her future.
Lordship, Instagram is a growth engine for content creators and a business waiting to be built.
This is a business demand draped in an emotional one. ”
Aditi scoffed, half amused, but held herself back.
“Advocate Doshi is trying to make this sound ‘absurd,’ but this is the reality of the present. It is just that our orthodox institutions are ill-equipped to appreciate it.”
“Too many words, too little logic, My Lord,” Aditi quipped.
“It seems Advocate Daruwala put too much effort into defending this one. Let’s see what he does for the next one.
” She glanced at her husband, who was rubbing his fingers over his forehead.
Aditi bit back a smile. He knew what he had to defend.
“Their next demand is that my client should continue to pay for all her salon memberships, dermat trips, designer wardrobe upgrades, quarterly international vacations in first class, a new car every three years in her unique choice of colours, and the list goes on and on, My Lord.”
Aditi set the bundle of papers down.
“My Lord, most divorces end with a one-time settlement for the very reason that the people can then live happily apart. This one is the complete opposite of that. The Respondent wants my client to keep being involved and keep paying for all these expenses till perpetuity. How can this be acceptable?”
Justice Deshmukh looked at Zubin now as if it were a tennis match — “Mr. Daruwala, your turn.”
“Your Lordship,” Zubin stood up again, “Advocate Doshi said something very important at the end of her argument. She said that most divorces end in a one-time settlement. She may be right about the statistics, but not so much in applying them to this case. Lordship, most divorces do not happen like this, so late in life. This is a peculiar case and so the Appellant cannot shrug off his responsibility by paying certain monies. My client has spent most of her years with him, more years than she has spent with her parents. Now that he, not her, he wants to divorce, he should at least own up to the responsibilities and the repercussions of the divorce. And as far as the demands are concerned, paying for her salon memberships, dermat, designer wardrobes, vacations comes under maintaining her pre-divorce lifestyle. As for the car upgrades, it is more about ensuring her safety and secure travel.”
The judge made a note, then turned back to her — “Next demand, Ms. Doshi.”
“My Lord, the Respondent has written an entire essay on her social lifestyle demands. I am paraphrasing when I say that the Respondent wants my client to give up their club membership, which he paid for in the first place, to her, not go within a radius of 10 km of the said club in Mumbai, as well as in its subsidiary locations across the country and outside. My Lord, the club is 3 km from his Madh Island house, where my client hopes to reside after the divorce.” Aditi stopped, glancing at Zubin with this list of golden unicorns that his client had demanded.
“My Lord,” she went on, looking up at the judge, “the Respondent also went as far as to demand that their shared circle of friends will remain hers, that she will continue hosting their annual Diwali and New Year parties and he cannot host any event on the same days, nor attend her event. It gets even more absurd — My Lord, the Respondent demands that the public stance on their divorce be that she left him and not the other way around. To top it all, she further says,” Aditi looked down and read this part verbatim — “If I choose to remarry, you will provide a wedding gift and a honeymoon sponsorship to a locale of my choosing with my new husband.”
“My Lordship!” Chandni Jethmalani raised her hand again. The judge ignored her. “Mr. Daruwala.”
“My Lordship! My Lordship please!”
“Speak, Mrs. Jethmalani.”
“I want to correct that last line, it is not if I remarry, when,” she cut her eyes to her husband.
Aha! Aditi exhaled, because right here was her moment to rest her case.
“My Lord,” she said. “If the Respondent is already planning to remarry, then why keep pushing about life after divorce, the lack of resources for a woman, and the need to be the responsibility of my client?”
“Your Lordship,” Zubin interjected. “What you heard was the outburst of an emotional woman looking at the end of a 42-year-old marriage. It cannot be taken as certain evidence that she will remarry right the day after divorce.”
“Your client said she planned to remarry.” Aditi cut in.
“Planned, Advocate Doshi, not decided to. There is a difference.”
“But the intention is still there.”
“Intention doesn’t equal action.”
“Until it is done.”
“And then you have every right to come suing back to this court, I assure you I will be waiting,” he held his arms out.
“But until that day, after this divorce and before any remarriage, my client should be the responsibility of her husband, ex or otherwise. Now coming to the list of demands you read,” Zubin picked up momentum as if this was the set he had been waiting for.
“My client deserves her social circle, her social relationships and her social standing. What she asks for is to retain the people who make her life what it is today. From photographs and anecdotes, it is clear that she has been the life of every party they have hosted, she has been there for friends and family when he has been working, and shown up for all the births and deaths and everything in between for all their near and dear ones. She must be accorded that part of their life which he was too busy to nurture. Further, she deserves to keep her head up in that society. We may be in the 21st Century, but a woman left by her husband, even at this ripe old…”
Chandni Jethmalani coughed from behind him.