Naresh,
with a tinge of impatience in his voice, hurriedly replied, “OK, I
will do,” and drove the car towards the mall
Nirmala, his
wife, sitting by his side, plied him with a spate of questions
“Who is that boy? He seems from a poor background. Why does he want
you to talk to his Ma? Do you know her?”
“Yes,
they are known to my family even before our marriage. Possibly she
needs some help. Let me find out,” replied Naresh in a subdued tone.
She was
not convinced but kept silent. The evening lost its charm for her.
Even when she reached home, the question of who she could be kept
troubling her mind. The next day when Naresh was away, she
happened to see his passbook lying on his table by chance and was
intrigued to notice that he had drawn in the first week of each
month without fail Rs. 5000.. Her mind was riddled with all sorts of
doubts and imaginary fears.
After
dinner while watching TV, she casually asked him concealing her unease,
“Did you meet the woman, the boy’s mom?”
Startled,
Naresh turned towards her and nodded his head in the affirmative.
“Don’t
you feel the need to take me into confidence on these secretive meetings?”
she asked. I see you draw some money from your bank each month. I
don’t know what for,” she asked sharply.
With
some weariness at her suspicious tone, he sighed and said, “I
understand your concern. The monthly withdrawals are towards meeting a
liability. Any amount of my explanation will not satisfy you easily. I
will take you to her house tomorrow when you will understand things
better. Till such time, let us not discuss this.” Naresh replied.
“Why
should I meet this woman and humiliate myself further? Either you make a
clean breast of all your surreptitious dealings now or be prepared to lose me,”
she exploded.
“Don’t
talk crap and indulge in unfair insinuations. I am not willing to talk any
further. If you wish to know more, you can come with me tomorrow” he said
with finality and left for the bedroom
She
stayed behind seething in anger and did not follow him. She fell asleep
after a long time on the sofa.
As they
walked down the next day, the dimly lit narrow lane with cheap tenements
on both sides, she saw with revulsion the lane was dirty with garbage
littered all around, children defecating in the open and dogs running
around. The boy saw them and ran to his house to alert his mom. When
they entered, a woman in her forties greeted them with a namaste and said
with warmth," Welcome, Chota bhai(Young brother), we are
honoured by your visit along with your wife.”
She gave
a big smile to Nirmala and said “Welcome. I have no proper chairs to
offer. Please sit on this stool. I am so happy to see you. You
are very beautiful and make an ideal match for my bhai (younger brother).”
Meanwhile, one little girl of around twelve brought cool water in stainless
steel tumblers. The boy was standing at the door watching her with
interest.
Nirmala
turned around to see an old woman lying very sick on the floor with her legs
folded and drawn together. The house showed signs of poverty everywhere except
in the smiles of the woman and her children.
As the
woman went to the kitchen to prepare chai, Naresh broke the silence and
said almost in a whisper, "Nirmala,this lady is like my
elder sister. She was happily living with her husband and children till
one day I shattered their lives by my reckless act. Her husband who was
on his way home after work was killed on the spot when my car hit him. It
was no fault of his but fully mine. I decided then that I would adopt this
lady as my elder sister and help her bring up her family. It was a
penance for me and a duty that I owed her and her children. The
monthly withdrawals you noticed are the payments made to her. She called me
yesterday seeking advice on whether to admit her mother-in-law to a
hospital. I arranged for a doctor to see her and she is better
now.”
Nirmala
looked at him with some confusion still writ on her face.” You could have
explained all this to me instead of keeping me in the dark about what seems a
laudable work. Why the secrecy, I don’t follow?Do you think I
would have stood in the way?” she asked
“I will
explain on our way back. Let us talk to them meanwhile,” he
replied
After
spending some time with them exchanging pleasantries they left for home.
“Nirmala, I
should have told you on my own. I was shy of admitting to a grievous
wrong done by me lest you think poorly of me. It was before our
marriage. I was returning from a late-night party. This man
was cycling after his shift at the edge away from the road. I
was careless and talking on my mobile till the accident occurred. My dad
being a senior police official ensured that I was not held responsible. But
my mind was restless when I came to know about his wife, two young
children and his aged mom. It was a conscious decision that I took to
help them, “he explained
“What is
there to be shy of? I am actually proud of you,” she replied.
“No, I
must confess that when I drove the car, I was fully drunk and unfit to drive. I
stopped drinking from that night. It was this fact that deterred me from
taking you into confidence. The weight of the burden on my heart
has today been lifted. ”
As he
stopped the car in front of his gate, she moved closer to him and
hugged him tightly with pride in her eyes. She added, "The amount
you give is hardly adequate. I will chip in on my part an ad-hoc amount for basic
needs like a cot, chairs, beds and a gas stove and bear fully the expenses for
the education of the two kids till their graduation."
Naresh,
his heart lighter than it had been in years, returned her embrace aware he was
finally free of the guilt that had haunted him for so long and also happy that
his wife fully supported him.
