Sarita

It was 9 am in the morning and I was irritated with the fact that today also I had to mop and dust my room and wash clothes before starting for my lectures. It was the thirteenth day of Naina mausi’s absence from work. I decided that today I will have to speak to our hostel warden to replace her with some other maid.

I was in this state of irritated mind when I heard a soft knock at my door. I opened it to find the culprit with a broad giggle and a red box of sweets at her hand. Before I could say anything Naina mausi with all her guthka stained teeth told me… ‘Madam kuch mat kahiye… mere bête ne achanak ek ladki bhagake le aaya aur hum log un dono ka shaadi ke liye gao gaya the” (Madam don’t tell anything… my son had eloped with a girl and we went to our native place to get them married). With this, she handed me the box of sweets and suddenly from her behind a fragile looking girl emerged with broad sindoor and glittering bindi. Mausi introduced the girl to me as Sarita.

Ever since the re-advent of Mausi, I could only get her occasional glimpses at the University visitors benches chatting with her fellow mates or at one of the balconies of our hostel drying her hair. However I had no complaints against her because nowadays Sarita was doing the entire work. In fact I was quite happy because Mausi was an undaunted soul and I had almost accepted the fact that during my hostel life I will have to adjust to the collar stained tops, dirt hemmed jeans and greasy floors. But my premonitions came to end since the arrival of Sarita.

As the days passed by, I became particularly fond of Sarita. I discovered that she had just stepped to her eighteenth year when she eloped with Ganpat, who like Naina Mausi was a fourth class staff of University of Mumbai and was employed as watchman for the Garware building. She also narrated her experience while eloping with Ganpat.

Sarita had met Ganpat, when he had come for his friend’s marriage at Barur village near south Solapur district. The girl who was married to Ganpat’s friend was neighbor of Sarita. She fell in love with Ganpat on the first glimpse itself. When I asked her that why she had to elope, Sarita told me that she had two elder sisters, who were yet to be married and hence she was quite sure that her parents wouldn’t have agreed to Ganpat’s proposal. Besides, she was also sure that with the present financial conditions of her family it would have been impossible for her father to marry off three daughters. When I asked what she liked about Ganpat, she coyly said that Ganpat had an amazing brown complexion and a well built body.

Months passed and I was quite content with my new maid and it seemed that days of my dirty hemmed jeans and collar stained tops were gone. One morning Sarita came late. I was just going out my lectures when she stood at my door smiling. She said she was coming from the hospital and just got know that she was two months pregnant. I was happy but concerned for her. Knowing Naina Mausi, I was quite sure that the old lady will continue dozing off at one of the University benches and this poor girl will have to undergo regular tasks throughout her pregnancy. I thought of putting up this matter with our warden but kept quiet thinking that although Sarita will get rid of her present hardships at the hostel but Naina Mausi will surely not let her sit idle and put her to some other place for work. After all this is what it happens to the women whose only abode is at in laws’ place. So, I tried to help Sarita by taking to the other girls of the hostel so that they don’t give any her any heavy work to do. Also I shared half of her job, which she was assigned to do for me.

It was one day during fifth month of Sarita’s pregnancy, when she came to me with tears in her eyes. When I asked what happened she told me that Ganpat was having fever every night since past one month and now he was admitted to a municipal hospital. She told that doctors are suspecting him with Malaria. When I asked why wasn’t he taken to doctor earlier, and then she said that he was under medication of some local physician but couldn’t be cured.

Two days passed since Sarita told me about Ganpat and she didn’t come to work. I tried to search for Naina Mausi but couldn’t spot her anywhere. Two months were left for my MA finals exams but I couldn’t concentrate at my studies. It was at this point I decided that I need to get rid of my anxiety and found out from a University watchman about the hospital, where Ganpat was admitted. I could finally manage to locate Ganpat and the news which I got there was far beyond my expectation.

Ganpat was suffering from last stage of AIDS. His well built body which enticed Sarita to elope with him was reduced to a mere skeleton and anyone could make out that his days were numbered. I saw Sarita there with blank eyes but was not sure whether she understood what has happened to Ganpat. Naina Mausi’s wails grew louder whenever she saw any nurse, doctor or visitors entering to the hospital ward. I could also sense that somehow she blamed Sarita for all these ills. I took Sarita to a corner and I asked her whether she exactly understood what had happened. At this she started crying and said that it was all her ill luck that her husband was dying today. When I suggested her to undergo HIV tests, she looked at me vaguely and said what could happen to her… after all it was her husband who was dying!

Ganpat died after a week and hardships of Sarita multiplied. I heard from one of the maids that Naina Mausi have been torturing Sarita since Ganpat’s death. She made Sarita responsible for her son’s fate and even claimed that the child, whom she was carrying, was not her son’s. I was very worried for Sarita both because of the treatment she was getting from her in laws during her mid pregnancy and also because of the probability of her getting infected with HIV.

I called up Sunita, one of my friends from Sociology department, who was working voluntarily with an NGO. I narrated her entire incident and she promised me to help Sarita. The NGO authorities took in charge of Sarita and I discovered that my nightmare came true. Sarita was HIV positive.

My MA finals got over and it was time for me to vacate the hostel. Meanwhile I also got a job at one of the top media companies. I shifted to a working hostel and my new schedule kept me so busy that I lost touch with all my University friends and acquaintances. It was around four years after when I spotted Sunita’s profile through a social networking site. She was working as a HR professional for a leading multinational firm. When I asked her about the NGO, with which she was once associated and which took in charge of Sarita, she said she was no longer in touch with the organization. However she said that she had some friends there and promised me to get some news about Sarita.

Two days later Sunita called me up. She told me that Sarita had passed away two months after giving birth to a baby girl. The girl is now three and half years old and is HIV positive. However the doctors say that she is quite healthy and is expected to survive for another few years. When Sunita asked me whether I wanted to meet the girl or not, I said no.

Queen Bee- A Story

The ghazal was streaming into her ears like a flashlight in a dark night. The chill of the night and the scent of the fresh earth after the first shower made it so enchanting that it became sort of unbearable for her. Far off she could see the waves coming nearer to the shore and vanishing…. She could somehow relate herself to those waves who glistened with its white froth and vigour miles away but ultimately broke down into mere droplets of water against the rock.

Dimple was the darling of the crowd when she was in her college. In her blue capris and multi-coloured halter necks, she looked like a colourful bird that has just learned to fly. Her friends always suggested her that she should go for event management. After all, where on the earth can someone get more energetic person than her?

But her aim was different. Dimple wanted to be rich… in fact very rich. She was from a middle class family and had compromised with various things since her childhood because her family income never crossed 25 thousand a month. When she would see the designer shoes and clothes displayed at the huge malls, she would pray, “God next time when I visit this store, let not be that just for the sake of window shopping…”

Her friends called her a Queen Bee, who seemed to born for all the honey without working for it. She hardly cared for all these comments, because she knew that she at least had an aim, which none of her pals could even dream of. In spite of her high dreams, she was never snobbish or may be she never had a chance to be snobbish.

It is often said that youth is the time, when you are bound to fall in love. In Dimple’s case, her dreams never permitted her to fall in love. In her friends’ group, there was a boy called Swami, who was blindly in love with her. Swami would wait for her every morning in the college gate determined that today he would express his love. But each day came and went like the three years in college and finally it was the day of farewell.

Dimple was not unaware of all these. But somehow Swami did not fit into her dreams. After all his father was just a Manager in some Pharmaceuticals firm and he inherited just one two bedroom flat and a farm house some 156 kilometers away from the city. It was true that Swami was a bright student but yet his future was undecided.

It was during her farewell, Dimple announced to her friends that she was getting married next December to a rich NRI, called Aditya Verma.

Aditya was the Marketing Manager for a leading multinational company. Although he was just eight years older to Dimple yet people said, he had a promising future. His parents were separated just few years after his birth and he lived alone in a huge penthouse next to his father’s in Belgium. His father had his own glass business and was counted among one of the pioneer glass distributors, who made the expansions happen.

Dimple got married and went to her dreamland to live happily ever. Her life became suddenly interesting with new place, new culture and new people around. She now had her entire collections of all designer wear, which she refused to repeat in next party.

Life went on fine with all her servants to serve her and never ending personal bank balance, which her husband had gifted her during their wedding night. However among all the richness, what she lacked was a companion. Ever after she saw a relation based movie or read a nail biting novel, she longed for somebody with whom she could discuss the climax. Aditya was too much busy in his business trips and hardly had time to listen to her. When he would meet her at once fine weekend, he would rather discuss with her the latest deal his company has won and his huge contribution to it. Her society friends were too much engrossed in criticizing the latest designer who had goofed up an entire fashion show with an out of place wardrobe. Instead of the celluloid relationships they preferred to bond to new relations, which promised to elevate their status more.

Once she proposed her husband that she should start working somewhere to get rid of her boredom. At this her husband curtly replied… “Just enjoy your life baby. There are so many things to do. Go for a charity show or something. Besides you have your regular gyms and kitty parties. Why on the earth you need to work? I am anyways busy throughout the days and I don’t want your extra work commitment to come in our way, when we get time to spend with each other.”

Thus one complete year passed and Dimple started to become more and more cocooned in her shell of boredom. She refused to go to the fashion shows and parties now. In fact her husband had to almost drag her to some important family parties. When she was thus dragging her life, one day one of her society friends called Shalini called her to warn her about a forthcoming danger.

That night she waited for her husband till dawn until he turned around. He was surprised to see her sit on the staircase with her eyes red and swollen. Finally after a long and tired series of questions she asked… “Who is Norma?”

Aditya seemed to be completely cool at the question and thus explained her more coldly- “Norma is one of our new business development officers. I must say she is damn a woman and has brought us huge business with her skills!”

Dimple then asked her final question and at this Aditya answer as coldly as before, “Look darling…. I have my own circle, where you don’t stand. But it is a fact that you are my wife and I am not going to make you share this status with anybody. That’s a complete promise… Rest, such passing affairs are bound to happen and you will have to accept it.”

This was all they conversed that day. The next day was normal as if nothing happened and the following day Aditya promised that they will be going for a fortnight trip to India. Dimple was ashamed of her own callousness because she really did not feel anything. She once thought that she would go back to her parents but somehow could not gather the courage to take a step ahead.

A month later Dimple went to India with her husband. Aditya was treated as a demi-god in her house. Her neighbours stood awed at her new diamond ring and red ruby necklace. Surprisingly Aditya also acted like a perfect Son-in-law. Her parents were proud of her and her brother was all set to model her husband. She could not do anything but just to mock at the hypocrisy of the situation. Was she such a good actor, where even her mother could not discover the misery in her eyes? Or was she not in misery at all?

The night before their return to Belgium, Aditya proposed that it was time that they should start a family. At this she could say nothing but stare blankly at him. Her husband took his blank gaze as an approval and decided that they should thus start planning after they go back.

But something disturbed her. When Aditya was lying fast asleep, she went to the verandah with her little MP3 player and played her favourite ghazal by Chitra Singh, something which she had not done for more than a year now. For the first time in last one year, several things started to pop up from deep consciousness of her mind. Who was the recent other woman in Aditya’s life? Was it still Norma or somebody else? Why was she still tolerating him and was the status of being his wife all? Was not he supposed to be faithful to her? In fact, all her life this is what she has imbibed…. Then why was she tolerating this misery and why couldn’t she say everything to her parents and seek their support?

A huge wave lapped the shore breaking her chain of thoughts. Chitra Singh was now singing… “Dosto se wafa ki ummede…. Kis jamane ke aadmi tumho….” Suddenly she remembered Swami. What was he doing nowadays? She remembered his wet eyes at farewell party and how he turned down her marriage invitation. Then she remembered her lively college days and how her friends used to call her Queen Bee. All this was coupled with soothing tune of the ghazal and faint roaring sound of the sea.

Finally when the first ray of Sunlight was feeling the waves with moon still high but fade, Dimple decided that this morning would make things different in her life and she would not leave any of her questions unanswered. With this new resolution she went inside and crawled on the sofa of the bedroom. She could see Aditya deep asleep in the bed. She was convinced that she needed some rest now because next few hours will probably be the toughest ones in her life.