Food for the soul

Mariam, a destitute, begged daily near a church and traffic signal. She got enough coins  to buy food for one meal. It was raining that day and she had a small packet of bread given that morning at church by a kindly visitor. It was past noon and she was very hungry

“Grandma, my child is starving for two days. Can you share some?” she heard from a young woman with small kid in her arms.

Without second thought she gave the entire packet. What if there is no food for stomach, there is enough for the soul, she thought.

(This was written in response to 100 word Saturday prompt of  "Food For Soul" on WT.)..

 

The wrist watch

­­­­“Akul, Akul…. Where are you?” I heard my husband shouting from the study.

The Nepali boy of 12 who worked for me ran from the kitchen where he was making tea.

“Where is the wrist watch I kept on the table a while ago? It is only 8am and nobody had come to our house so far.

“Tell me the truth, you little rascal” shouted my husband.

There was silence. I was doing the puja that day being a Friday.

Meanwhile he had gone to the boy’s small room at the rear and had the box opened to find his watch inside.

I heard a slap and then my husband’s voice” You ungrateful thief. I have  never liked your shifty eyes. I don’t want you anymore. Take your things and get out”

I heard the boy sobbing without responding to the accusation.

I left the puja in the middle and rushed in to see my husband holding the watch and the boy standing before him averting his gaze by lowering his head.

“Why are you accusing the young child? I had only given him the watch a little while ago” I said

“Who are you to gift my watch without my permission? Why didn’t he tell me so?”roared my husband

“Do remember that out of the six watches you have, I had gifted you five. This one you don’t wear as it has a metal strap and it hurts your wrist. When has it become things in our house like yours and mine?"

“You can gift the other watches also to your friends, I don’t care. Who am I to question you?” he replied. Touched by remorse at having slapped the boy, he added”At least you should have had the courtesy of telling me beforehand. I would not have wrongly accused the chap”

“I was busy with Friday puja.Who ever thought that you would be in a foul mood early in the morning?” I said

After my husband left for office, I called Akul and asked “Why did you do this? Have I ever kept you in want?”

The boy fell at my feet and clasped them  as he said “Sorry, ma.I have betrayed your confidence in me. My friend from my village who works in the bakery across the road told me that his mom told him while he was talking to her that my father was hit by a lorry and is in hospital. He also said that his mom mentioning that my mom had no money.”

“You should have told me and I would have given you money. How can you steal? Is it not a sin?”

“I am very sorry ma.I did it in a weak moment when the devil took possession of my mind. I promise I will never in my life do such things again. Please do not send me away. I beg of you>”he implored

“It is ok.Never do again. I have faith in you. Let me go to ATM and draw some money. I will give you 5000 rupees and we can send it to your home immediately. Don’t open the door for anyone and take care.

I returned in 30 minutes and pressed the bell. The door was not opened. I pressed again with concern. When the door was not opened, I opened with my key and rushed in. I smelt something burning and rushed to the kitchen. I saw Akul lying in the floor in pain and crying .I saw an iron ladle by his side.

“Akul, what have you done to yourself? Remove the towel over your hand “I shouted only to see the deeply scalded hand of the boy from the hot ladle. I lifted the boy in my arms and rushed to ER.

“Ma, please excuse me. This will ever be a reminder to me in my life to stay straight. I could not bear your telling a lie on my behalf” Tears flowed from my eyes as I hugged the urchin

The phone call

Trring, trring....the telephone rang repeatedly. It was noon.

"Hello"

"Is Krithika there?"asked a voice softly

  "Madam is taking her bath. Who is calling?"

"Tell me who you are"

"Subbiah, I am the cook .If you tell me your name, I can inform madam"

“You can say Ravi. Do you work whole time?"

"No sir, I will leave in another hour. I work up to 1 pm."                                                                          "Is the master available at home? I will have a word with him"

"No sir, he has gone on tour and will come after two days"

"I will ring after sometime. Is madam going out?"

"No sir, the car has gone for service. Madam will be in the house watching TV"

"Why, is there no one else? Kids?"

"No one.She will be alone.. They have no children. Don’t you know?"

Ravi was very happy. Ever since he met her in a party, he was struck by her beauty. She even danced with him but was half drunk. Whether by design or accident, her body frequently brushed with his and he took that she was indicating her interest. But she never asked his name or details. She went away dancing with others. Ravi elicited her name and number from the hostess.

From then on he stalked her. But she never showed sign of recognition or interest  even when he accosted her once and mentioned about her dancing with him. She did not seem to recollect though she admitted that she attended the party. She brushed aside his advances and requested him not to bother her. But he was not one to take a no easily.

The opportunity he had been waiting for had materialized today. He had a shower and dabbed himself with deodorant. Exactly after one hour he went to her place and rang the bell hoping to catch her alone. He was confident that his masculine charm can overcome her initial resistance.

One man looking like a servant opened the door and asked him to come in and be seated. When Ravi looked questioningly, he said" I am Subbiah.I had informed madam about your phone call. Aren't you mister Ravi? She is expecting you"

"Oh, very good. You had said that your job is up to 1pm."

"Yes sir, I was held up. I will get you coffee and then go away"

"No, no.I don't need anything. I don't want to detain you. You can go. I will also go after a few minutes"

"Okay sir. I will inform madam. Please wait"

A couple of minutes later Subbiah in a clean shirt and pant with his arm on Krithika along with an inspector of police  entered the hall.

The inspector held Ravi's arm even when Krithika was telling "This is the guy who has been stalking me and frequently telephoning. He will tell his name and plead with me to meet him. When I stopped answering, he would still ring and I could hear the heavy breathing. I was hesitant to tell my husband initially and one day when he asked why I shuddered whenever the phone rang, I confided in him. Today he duped this guy as if he is a cook and made him come telling that I am alone."

Abruptly Ravi fell at the feet of Krithika and said" Please forgive me this time. I will no more trouble you. Since you were on intimate terms with my friends Subash and Kumar, I thought you would be friendly with me too. I am sorry"

“It is a lie, a blatant lie” she screamed

“No, I can bring them to you and make them tell” Ravi protested

Krithika's face became pale and lowering her head she ran inside her room even as her husband looked at her in utter disbelief.

Suddenly the inspector turned to Ravi and bellowed angrily " Get lost this moment, you wretch. Next time I see you stalking her or telling lies, I will put you in jail and torture you."

The inspector friend then gently put his arm on her dazed husband and led him to the sofa.

The cryptic letter

As she turned the key of the door to her apartment, she found an envelope projecting from the crevice in the door. She found her name Stella Mathew written clearly with proper address in long hand. It was a printed envelope from a church in a town about 250 miles away. Wondering whether it could be a request for a donation or for voluntary service, she pulled the white sheet from inside.

"Dear Stella,

Your presence is required at 4pm day after tomorrow at the church adjacent to the main bus stand. I shall explain the purpose when we meet. You will not feel sorry for having come. You can return the same day. Please do not fail to come.

Pastor”

Stella was wondering what the pastor had to do with her and why this cryptic letter. She missed her granny now. She had always an answer for all her doubts and questions. She passed away three months ago. It was her granny who brought her up ever since Stella’s mother passed away when she was five years. The relationship between her dad and granny soured when he married someone else within six months of her mom's demise. There was some heated exchange of words and he stopped coming and even being in touch with his daughter. There was no contact and even his whereabouts were not known.

Stella was brought up by her granny single handedly. After her Master's she is now an officer in a bank. Her granny's only grouse was that though 27 years, Stella had not found the right man for herself. The old woman wanted her well settled in life before her end. But that was not destined.

She was now alone and her thoughts went back to her dad. There is a hazy memory of a tall man from the photograph of her mom and dad taken soon after their wedding. She could never the see the picture again. She suspected her granny must have hidden it away. On only one occasion he had come to her school and asked her teacher's permission to take her out for one hour. That was refused as he had come without her guardian's approval. He gave her a silver locket with Jesus picture and said he loved her a lot. Stella said she missed him too and wanted him to come frequently. Granny was furious when she heard about it and she did not know what had happened but he stopped visiting her thereafter.

She reached the church by 3.45 pm.There were lot of people in an adjacent hall with all of them looking grim. It looked a solemn and sad occasion. Some of them went round an open gasket placed at one end. She was in panic as fear enveloped her that it could be her dear dad. Tears flowed from her eyes and the last visit at the school came to her mind. She started sobbing when everyone turned towards her. Was it for seeing her dad for the last time the pastor had called her, she wondered.Summoning courage she started moving towards the gasket when she felt an arm touch her shoulder. She turned to see the pastor looking at her with a smile.

“Stella, I assume. I was waiting for you in my room at the church. When you did not turn up, I thought you would have strayed here by mistake. Come with me" he said

She followed him meekly to his room."You must have been shocked to see the gasket and made wrong assumption" he said with a laugh.

"You are right. I thought it could be my dad. Otherwise why would you have called me?"

"I agree you were right in making such a surmise though it is wrong. Do you love your dad so much? You have hardly seen him except once. Do you remember the occasion?" he asked.

“How do you know” she asked as she opened her hand bag and took out the locket."This was given by him. I see this daily and get the feel of being close to him. Yes I love him deeply no matter what my granny felt about him. He is my daddy and none can take that away from me."

He laughed and said "I told you that you will not regret your coming here. Would you like to meet your dad? I can arrange it now."

She jumped with joy and implored him to take her to him that very moment.  "That will be the greatest blessing I have been praying for" she said

He hugged her and said "Stella, I am your dad. I came to know of your grandmother's demise only last week. I thought she will forgive me now from the Heaven and decided that I should meet you immediately. The cryptic message was to surprise you. Come to my living quarters in the rear."

As they entered hand in hand, she asked “Where is my mom? I don't see anyone here"

"She too passed away two years back."He showed on the wall two photographs of her mother and her step mother. He brought a box and handed it over to her and said “These contain jewels of your step mother. These are for you. Do come frequently. That would make me a happy man"

“Daddy, how lucky and blessed I am. Can I seek a transfer to this town and come here?”

A risky act of compassion

Vijay had lost his job in a travel agency three months back and he was yet to get a new one. He had spent all his meager savings and was practically starving. The rent for his room was in arrears and he was afraid of a notice to vacate. The day time he roamed around various offices seeking for any job. His evenings were spent in the local big temple ostensibly to pray but actually hoping for some prasad that would fill his stomach He got something or the other many days.

That day was a festival day and the temple was heavily crowded. Nothing was available to eat and his stomach was gnawing with hunger. He felt his pocket and he had just 10 rupees in coins but he did not want to spend it. He went near the place where the coconuts were broken to propitiate god. He was shy of competing with poor urchins in ragged clothes to pick up the broken pieces. There was a virtual scramble but he was content to pick whatever fell near his feet. When he got three big slices he was relieved that the day’s dinner was taken care of. Someone had given him a plantain.

As he was walking away from the crowd, he saw a young girl of six from affluent family standing alone and crying. He went near her and asked her “Why are you crying? Where are your parents?”

“They are lost and not seen. I want to join them”

“Let us wait for some time. They may come in search of you. Have this coconut piece.”

“No, I don’t want it. I am thirsty. Can you get me that ice candy?”

He felt pity for that girl and unhesitatingly parted with his last ten rupees and fetched her a candy.

As she was happily sucking it, Vijay asked her whether she knew her house. She picked a slip of paper from her pocket and gave him. The parents had the foresight to leave it there. The place was just couple of kilometers away.

“Can I leave you in your house?” he asked. She happily nodded

Vijay was afraid to take the young girl with him what with news papers screaming daily of rapes of young kids. When he approached an elderly auto driver, he looked askance at Vijay in his soiled and crumpled dress with a well-to-do girl. Vijay understood his genuine suspicion and explained the circumstances and his aversion to leave the child alone or with a policeman especially when he had her address.

“Are you looking for a reward?”asked the auto driver.

“Not at all. It is just compassion and fear that girl may come to harm if she were to fall in ruthless hands.”

The auto driver agreed and within next five minutes they were at her house. The door was opened by the girl’s grandmother. Her parents were still trying to trace her. Vijay explained her how she found her and the auto driver corroborated.

“Grandma, this uncle gave me candy” she said with joy

This shocked the old lady and her suspicions about his intention returned again.

Vijay saw the change in her expression and said “The girl said she was very thirsty and I had only ten rupees and that is all that I could buy”

The old lady took the addresses of both Vijay and auto driver before they left

When Vijay came out of the house, he took out his old watch from his wrist and said to the auto driver “This is all I have. Please do not mind accepting it in lieu of fare”

The driver said “Hop in. I will drop at your place. You don’t have to give me anything. I am proud of you”

As the auto reached Vijay’s place, the driver thrust 100 rupees in his pocket and said as he sped away “Return it when you can”

Behind the veil

The auditorium in the women's college was over crowded with many students standing on the aisles on both sides. They were listening with rapt attention as the guest speaker Mr.Gangaram mesmerized the audience with his powerful and persuasive speech on the imperative need for quick empowerment of women. Known for his pro women stand, the young audience hung on to his words as he thundered that women comprising more than half the population were still a deprived lot, backward in political, economic and social spheres. Illiteracy,poor health, female feticide  and discrimination haunted them like a shadow. He bemoaned that even after independence of the country they were subject to all kinds of violence both mental and physical with no security. He pleaded for a society where they can walk freely with their heads held  high equal to men in every respect. When he concluded with a warning to the governments and the society that where the women were in tears gods did not reside in such places, there was a standing ovation. The girls thronged him after the meeting for his autograph. There were shouts “Long live champion of women”,”Gangaram Zindabad”,”Hail defender of women rights” and such like.

Gangaram was a successful man of many parts. A lawyer by profession, he joined politics early in his career. Given the gift of the gab he had the knack of drawing huge crowds for his political meetings with his oratorical skill. A clever man he could impress the leaders and rose within a short time to high position in the hierarchy. He saw no virtue in sticking to one political party and seamlessly gravitated to whichever was the ruling dispensation ensuring he held power continuously. With huge wealth made over a few years by means that cannot be called entirely  fair, he knew what businesses brought more money. He opened several educational institutions not forgetting women colleges, marriage halls, hospitals, destitute homes for young women and women hostels..He had several other businesses like hotels and resorts. He had earned a name over a period as a liberal, an educationist and fighter for women rights.His establishments had a preponderance of women employees.

It was 8pm by the time function ended. As he walked towards his big Merc followed by the principal, teachers and  girl students praising him for his great speech, he was a happy man. When the car moved a little distance, his faithful driver turned to him and asked “home?”

“No, it is too early. I am in a good mood now. Take me to the destitute home for women. I haven’t visited it for more than a fortnight. I wish to see whether things are all right there and spend some time with inmates to ask whether they had any specific needs.”

As the big car entered the compound of the home in the outskirts of the city, the hapless young women who were chatting happily in the long porch stood up in fear wondering who could be the victim for that night to the lust of their benefactor.

,

Flicker of recognition

Vimala had landed from London in the wee hours of morning. By 9 am she was in the hospice. The emaciated figure lay in what appeared to be a bed larger for her size. The hair was white and disheveled and the cheek and eyes were shrunk and hollow. The woman in her 80s was still dozing under the influence of tranquilizers.

The kindly nurse cautioned Vimala not to wake her up. Any small irritation it seemed gave rise to bouts of uncontrollable anger and foul mouthing, but was assured that was not uncommon among advanced Alzheimer patients. She added for good measure that the woman was in very advanced stage with practically very little memory of current events. But what bothered the nurse more was her inability to swallow food, to communicate her needs like wanting to drink water or go to toilet. Her continuous wringing of her hands to the point of hurting herself was worrying the nurse. The old woman  was hardly able to identify anyone except on very rare occasions for a flicker of a second and suspects others as cheats out to rob her though she had nothing with her. She was not even aware whether she was fully covered. But she repeated occasionally some names, may be her children’s.

Vimala could not suppress her tears. The nurse put her hand on her shoulders and said “Do not cry. Her misery may not last for long and possibly end in a couple of months or even earlier. But we try our best to make her comfortable. I will go now to other patients. Wait patiently till she wakes up”

Vimala sat thinking of what her brother had warned.”Vimala, you would be shocked when you see her plight. She is not recognizing me and manni (his wife) and is very abusive especially to manni.Infact our presence makes her agitated and that it took considerable time for her to quieten down that we were requested by the doctor not to appear before her. I go there once a week and have a look through the window. I had her admitted after much hesitation here only when things became unmanageable.”

Vimala could hardly believe that the ailment could alter so significantly a very gentle and soft spoken lady who had nothing but appreciative words for everyone. In the three decades she lived in Bengal, she was noted for her affability and was popular among her neighbours. It was her dad that was very impatient and angry. Her dad had left her mom in financial comfort and she was not dependent financially on her children.

It was then she heard a shuffle and found her mom turning her face towards her side. Vimala saw her staring vacantly at her devoid of any recognition. Vimala smiled at her that was responded with a twitching of her eyelashes and twisting of lips that showed suspicion and uncertainity.She did not reply when Vimala asked ”Amma,are you able to recognize me?”The silence dragged in what seemed eternity.

Then suddenly Vimala heard her bellow “Who are you? Who allowed you inside my room? Have you come to pilfer things from here? Get out before I call police”

Shaken by such violent and insensitive response, Vimala could hardly stop from crying for a few moments. She wiped her face and said again ‘Amma, can you not recognize your own daughter on whom you showered all affection? Just utter my name once and I will be greatly pleased.. I have come just a few hours back from London and will be with you as long as you wish. Won’t you please call me once by my name?”

The nurse entered the room and arched her eyebrows at Vimala as if to ask how things were going. Even before Vimala could reply, the old lady shouted ”Why did you allow this young woman in the room. She has come to strangle me, I am sure, as she came near the bed and pretended to caress me. Ask her to get out this moment. She is an evil woman“ and began throwing the pillow at her.

Inconsolably sobbing, Vimala started moving out of the room when she heard the ailing woman mumbling to herself “She resembles my Vimala, my Vimmu” Surprised Vimala turned towards her mom and told her in Bengali “I am your Vimmu, amma”

 Hearing this there was a sparkle of 1000 watts in old lady’s eyes even as she broke into a smile and replied in Bengali “Vimmu,come near me. I miss you so much” When Vimala gently hugged her and caressed her head, her mom started screaming again ”I am being strangled by an evil woman”

The nurse understandingly led the sobbing Vimala out of the room.