Moni-Maa

Pinky had carefully drawn big squares for playing ekka-dokka when Tukai came and peeped over her shoulders. ‘Oh my! What big squares! Are you sure we can jump over them’ Tukai was clearly skeptical of her own jumping powers. ‘Why not , look here how I jump. It is so easy’ So saying a buoyant Pinky started jumping over the marks. Tukai took a step forward eagerly ‘let me try. But it is so hot out here. I am feeling queer……. thirsty….Pinky will you….’ tukai stopped talking and started tumbling down slowly like a Pack of cards . A strange sound started coming from Tukai’s open mouth- aanha…aanha…. Pinky looked awestricken at Tukai’s half closed eyes and began the fastest run in her life . Pinky knew what it was. It must be tetanus. She was sure. Only two days back, Pinky and Tukai were climbing the guava tree when Tukai fell from the lowest branch and scratched her arm. Pinky insisted that she should tell her mother and get an injection but Tukai would not listen. She was such a coward, so afraid of the needle. Though in her heart of hearts Pinky admitted that if it was Pinky, she herself would not have divulged the news for fear of the needle. But outside she put on a brave façade and urged Tukai to come along and get a proper medical attention. Tukai begged and begged of Pinky not to disclose the incident and a reluctant Pinky had to give in . Now see what happened. Dadi and Monima were in Dadi’s room . Dadi was busy reading the newspaper with her spectacles balanced precariously on the tip of her nose and Monima was busy knitting a pullover for Bablu. The ceiling fan was moving in full speed. It was mid April and quite hot outside. But the room was cool and comfortable. Bablu and Bhulo were no where to be seen and were most probably playing with ball in the garden. It was quite evident from Dadi’s countenance that the news that she was reading was quite pleasant. There was an overall atmosphere of congeniality in the room when it was rudely shaken by a sudden and violent intrusion in the form of a shrieking and disheveled Pinky who came panting and pale like a sheet of paper, ‘dadi, dadi, monima, monima, a disaster…a disaster . Come soon’ Dadi took a little time to comprehend and looked up from her newspaper with resignation written large on her face but did not show much alarm. But Monima acted so strange. The ball of wool and the half finished sweater fell from her hand ’ What is it Pinky ? Is it Bablu? What happened to my Babulu.. Where is my Bablu?” Pinky took a deep breath and a step backward. No no, it is not Bablu Monima, but Tukai. She has fallen down and is not talking. A somewhat relieved Monima and now an anxious dadi trouped behind a pensive Pinky to the spot, which was way up on the roof. Pinky sensed a stabbing pain deep in side. How panicked Monima looked and how strangely she cried ‘My Bablu..’ Pinky’s little soul some how realized that because Bablu was her own son, she was so upset. Would she have been that much perturbed if it was Pinky and would she have cried saying ‘My Pinky’ ? Pinky doubted it very much. Tukai was taken downstairs to Pinky’s room. But Doctor uncle said it was nothing serious but too much heat and a heavy dinner the night before that she had had at the wedding ceremony of her relative had a combined effect on her. A little rest and a few glasses of water with salt and sugar would be enough to make her fit and running. Pinky was sitting by her side when Rangakakima, Tukai’s mother, came rushing in. Rangakakima loved Pinky and showered her with hugs and kisses whenever Pinky visited their house. She was Pinky’s favourite as she had a mole on her chin just like Pinky’s mother had. Though Pinky did not remember her mother but she has seen the mole in her picture in the silver photo frame that is kept beside dadi’s bed But today Rangakakima came like a storm and did not even look once at Pinky. She bent over Tukai, and murmured in a broken voice ‘Tukai, my dear little girl. Are you ok?’ To Pinky it seemed as if a frog was crocking through her voice. And Tukai ! She also did not even think of Pinky. Did not care how much Pinky was worried for her and went home timidly with Rangakakima. And she claimed she was Pinky’s best friend. Pinky felt so much let down, neglected, and utterly forsaken. For some unknown reason Pinky felt like crying. Bablu stood by her side and tugged softly at her hand. Pinky brushed him rudely and said ‘ don’t you dare come to me.’ Monima now turned to Pinky…. ” How many times have I told you not to go to the open in this blazing sun. But no, you would not listen” ‘Ok, I am a bad girl. I do whatever I wish. I don’t care about what anybody says. I WILL go in the blazing sun and I WOULD be sitting under it the whole day long. I DON’T CARE ABOUT WHAT YOU SAY“ cried Pinky at the top of her voice. A dumbfounded dadi looked at her and exclaimed “Oh God ! What ever is the matter ? Why are you so upset? Calm down child. Come down.” “Why then she always picks on me?” Pinky cried defiantly? Monima was furious – Maa, I have told you, that you are spoiling her to no end. See how insolent she has become. She will be naughty and over and above she would answer back. How dare is she. Pinky I am warning you. Be very careful in future. If ever I catch you on the wrong foot again you will be sorry that you crossed my path”. And she gave a good spank on her back. See how unjust monima is, Pinky talked to herself silently. She would love Bablu more and on top of that she would strike me.. The whole day Pinky avoided Bablu like a plague. For some unknown reason she could not tolerate the sight of Bablu. She did not talk to anybody at all and kept to herself. No body was aware of the turmoil inside her little soul, how hurt she was and how angry at the world as a whole for the injustice of it. Little Bablu avoided her and kept at a distance. That night Pinky went to sleep crying and feeling angry and desolate. Next morning Pinky felt odd and flushed and very uneasy. She went back to her bed shivering from a very high fever. She found a towel lying on the floor, covered herself with it and went into a drowsy sleep. Not finding Pinky in the breakfast table, Monima went in search and the sight of the little orphan lying alone in that fashion pierced her heart like a sharp dagger. To say Monima and Dadi were flustered would be to grossly understate. Both the elders were so upset and cursed themselves so mercilessly that doctor uncle had to intervene and console them like two children. The whole day Monima never left Pinky’s side. Gave her medicine, took her temperature, stroked her tenderly. Next day Pinky was feeling much better. After two days the fever was gone but she was not allowed to leave the bed. Monima still fussed and refused to leave her side. Around noon, after giving Pinky a hot body sponge and washing her head with cold water, and after feeding her piping hot chicken stew with bread, monima was reading out a story while Pinky and Bablu and even Bhulo listened with rapt attention when Ramala-aunti, Monima’s friend and next door neighbor entered the room. ‘Seema (it was Monima’s name) I have got two tickets for matinee show of the new movie now showing at Menoka. Get ready fast. The show starts at 2.30 sharp’. But Monima showed no interest ‘please excuse me this time, I can’t go’. ‘ But why not? It is a real good movie. I have gone through the review in today’s paper’ coaxed Romala. ‘Please Romala, can’t you see Pinky is not well. How can I go to a movie, leaving her alone . No, no, I am not coming’ Monima was very definite in her assertion. Romala aunty was not at all happy ‘really Seema, you are making too much of a fuss. She is not that ill and Masima(meaning Pinky’s dadi) will be at home. Won’t she?” “May be, but I am not feeling like going to a movie and that is final.” Pinky’s pillow became wet with the flow of warm and salty tear drops that flew right from the bottom of her six and half year old heart. Bablu exclaimed “ma, ma, didi is crying.” Monima got worried ‘ oh dear. You are not feeling well ? See for yourself, if you don’t listen to elders, you suffer. Come on, dear girl, don’t cry’ ‘If I listened to you , I wouldn’t have known naa? Pinky whispered through her sobs. What would you have not known, child ? Monima was at a loss. Little Pinky felt shy and she put her head in her aunty’s soft and warm bosom and whispered ‘That you are a Jewel , my Moni MAA’ (jewel-mother)

Monkey Business

Pinky was jumping around the room almost like a baby monkey without a tail. Whoop, whoop, Whoop and thud, thud, thud, jumping from the divan on the floor and again up on the chair. Bhulo was sitting on the floor , watching her move with watchful and keen eyes, wagging his tail and was about to follow suit when “Oh stop it, Pinky; you are getting on my nerves. This is not a jungle but my study and you are disturbing my concentration”- grumbled Mama. “Don’t be such a spoilsport Mama!” Pinky complained with a pout; “you know I am the great monkey in our school’s drama in the Annual prize distribution programme.” “Don’t make me laugh, why in the drama, you are the little monkey in home also, you need not practice so much, you need no rehearsal. And now get lost, don’t make me angry.” “And you are the wicked devil,” muttered Pinky under her breath but she had no option but to run outside on the courtyard with Bhulo on her toe and start rehearsing, this time on real grass and on real trees. December has gone past. This is early January, a beautiful and cool Sunday morning The morning sun was blazing high and Pinky felt like being embraced by a warm and soft blanket. This year Pinky has managed to get a small role in their school’s drama. She is doing the ‘little pet monkey of the poor queen’ . In the beginning though Pinky objected – “give me the little princess’s role instead. I want to wear beautiful dresses”. “Look here Pinky anybody can do the role of a King, or queen or a princess as we are all humans. But just imagine imitating a monkey! It really needs strong acting prowess. We know only you can do justice to this role”. So Pinky had to oblige. She could not very well let them down. Pinky..eee…eee, some one was calling. Bhulo pricked his ears and ran towards the gate. Pinky looked over her shoulder, but could not find anyone. Pinky tiptoed towards the gate. There she was, waiting with a finger on her lips. “What is it Tukai ?” Pinky enquired in a studied whisper. “Come along, a circus party has come; they have camped near the railway overbridge.” “Look at those girls Pinky. They will walk on ropes wearing shiny dresses. I have seen their pictures on the posters” – Tukai was all excited. “Where are the cages for the monkeys, I must see how they behave, like how they laugh, how they cry, how even they eat bananas.” “Oh no Pinky not again. Stop being a monkey for a while, will you?” “I see, you are not my best friend! You should help me to be a perfect monkey” – a glum Pinky complained. Suddenly Bhulo emitted a mild bark as if to warn the girls . “Hey you girls, what are you doing there?”- A very fat and ominous looking fellow came out of one of the tents. He had a green and white checkered pajama and a crimson t-shirt on him. “Come inside I will show you my cages full of animals.” Pinky , Tukai and Bhulo were half way across the meadow before he could even finish his sentence. “We are very lucky to have escaped unharmed you know Tukai, Mama said these people kidnap kids and put them in their cages. That is why they are called ‘kidnappers’. They capture the kids and then put them to sleep and mesmerize them into animals and let them perform the shows. Didn’t you hear he said ‘come I will throw you in my cage’ ?” “But I thought he said I will show you the cages”- Tukai intervened doubtfully. “You don’t know anything. They will call you on false pretext and then …ok… if you don’t believe you can go back on your own.” Pinky was visibly hurt that Tukai questioned her knowledge on kidnappers. None of the girls narrated the incident to their respective elders though. On the big day Pinky was up and about in the wee hours and ready before dawn. The school gates though were opened only after 10 in the morning and the dress rehearsal started at about 12 noon. Everything was going smooth as ice cream. All the dresses, like that of the Queen and King, their Kings men were very good but the mask and the costume for the good little monkey was superb. Everybody was highly impressed. “Pinky, really, you look like a monkey out of the jungle book, such a beautiful tail” and Pinky was as happy as could be. They were served a lovely lunch full of fried potatoes and sweets and Pinky was so hungry she cleaned her plate like new. Purnima madam, their games teacher saw her empty plate and put two extra sweets on it- “I am giving you sweets in advance for looking so much like a monkey only and after the play is over, if you do your part well, I will give you a chocolate,” she patted pinky on her head. The show started at 5.30 and progressed without much hitch. Pinky had six scenes to her credit. In the first scene, the monkey was seen sitting beside a animal-trader and having a banana and the king bought it from the trader. Pinky was so natural in her hunched position and the way she ate the banana that the audience, mainly her classmates and family clapped hugely. Next she was seen sitting beside the sleeping queen, who was banished from the palace and lived alone in a mud hut. Pinky was supposed to sit for a while and quietly go out of the room in search of the palace and the king but Pinky thought that she would act a little more natural and started to pick lice from the sleeping queens hair as she had seen monkeys do. Leena a student of class VII, who was the sad queen in the play was not expecting any such move and jumped up in a most un-queenly manner with a hand on her head and exclaimed “what mischief are you at?” But the audience could not guess that it was an extra and the things passed of with only a stern look from their teacher. In her next few appearances Pinky was very cautious and acted as she was told. In the last scene, the monkey was to come on stage and the king (played by Rumpa, a Class X student ) would present him with a pearl necklace. Pinky was supposed to wait on back sage but she thought, there being two more scenes to be enacted before her scene was due, she could safely go out and have one or two toffees that she spotted in the teachers common room, which by then was thankfully left vacant, the teachers being busy watching the drama either as audience or managing the girls on stage. After a successful mission, Pinky was coming up on the stage, a very happy and content soul hopping two steps at a time, when her tail got tangled in a hook in the bottom stair. She frantically tried to free herself. All this while, unnoticed by everybody, a lone monkey escaping from the circus party was sitting on the top of the false ceiling made over the king’s throne and watching the proceeding down below with a keen animal interest. He had a very strong impulse to jump on to the stage and snatch the bananas but held himself back as he was suspicious of Pinky in the guise of a monkey. Years of training told him that he should beware of this creature but as Pinky was no where to be seen and the king howled “Oh monkey come and take your reward” for a couple of times, obviously to cover up the time gap, the monkey jumped down on to the stage and stood up before the king. Every body was a little puzzled. “Hey have you changed your costume?” Kabita a student of class V, standing beside the king and waiving a huge hand fan, muttered under her breath. The monkey made a face and said ‘cheeek, keeech, , cheek, keech’. “Don’t overact “(this was in a whisper and then in a loud voice) , “come here and take your reward”- the king extended his hand but the monkey was not interested in the necklace . He was hungry and he eyed the plate full of sweets and fruits placed before the king and showed him his teeth. “Oh naughty monkey, “ Rumpa invented a new dialogue line “take your reward or else..” Making a violent face, only to scare off the humans on the stage the monkey made a dash for the fruits. Realization dawned on people on the stage a little late and Pandemonium broke loose. The girls in their colourful, costumes screamed and scurried for cover. “It is a real monkey, it will bite us” “where is Pinky- has she turned into a monkey” and some one thoughtfully pulled the curtains down. In the audience Tukai almost fainted. Pinky was right ! The fat man has turned Pinky into a real monkey. And she jumped out of her seat and ran to the headmistress. Mrs Banani Haldar, a small, plump and fair woman having a very amicable disposition have just started taking a late Tiffin when Tukai rushed into her room panting and flushed ‘Big Aunty, Big Aunty , come, come Pinky has turned into a real monkey. It is not my fault. It is the fat man at the Circus”. Mrs Haldar looked on at Tukai uncomprehendingly, her eyes round and mouth wide open , full of sweets, which she forgot to swallow. The news that Pinky had turned into a real monkey, was puzzling enough to be digested, to be added with the vehement denial that Tukai was in no way responsible for the transformation, which she obviously could not be even if the transformation was real, which in itself was a matter of great disbelief and a further incoherent allusion to some strange fat man in a circus made her brain stop functioning for a while. Mrs Haldar was a very level headed woman, quite capable of dealing with the incongruities of little souls, but Tukai’s submission was too complicated and too sudden even for her consumption. Bahadur, the school caretaker, in the meantime, came and led the monkey away from the stage after tempting him with the bananas. Pinky was still toiling hard to free herself from the tangle. She did not want to spoil her costume. But when bits of conversation on stage and the screams reached Pinky’s ears she tugged at her tail mercilessly which came midway off into her hand. At last Pinky entered the stage. Oblivious of the commotion around, she stretched out her hand and said “Oh Rumpadi, I am a here, my tail got shucked, now you can give me my reward” In the excitement she forgot her lines somewhat. “Now you can give me my reward” - Rumpa mimicked “where were you . can’t you see the curtains are down?” All the girls pounced on Pinky. ““See what you have done, you have spoiled the whole show, it was going so smoothly, every body was clapping and only for you…” “But what can I do, my tail got stuck naa.?” Pinky whimpered in a nasal voice! “So what! You could have come without a tail or for that matter without costume also. Your antics are so much like a monkey nobody would have missed the tail. And any way, why were you not on backstage? You were supposed to wait outside for your scene? You stupid girl!” “We should have known better than to take you in our play and that too as a monkey. See what happened. Your friend came in search of you and spoiled everything. Next time you come a begging for a role in the play, we know you will, and then we will see.” Struck with the disaster, the girls, as girls of their age would be, unconsciously linked Pinky’s absence with the misadventure of the monkey and were being unreasonably harsh and critical of Pinky. Their games teacher came to Pinky’s rescue, ‘ girls, you should not blame poor little Pinky, you know. It is not her fault that a monkey should escape from the circus party and target your play. And it is only an accident that her tail got stuck.” And the teacher even actually gave the tearful (which the senior girls were sure was faked) and naughty Pinky a pat on the back and a chocolate as a consolation. The seniors looked on helpless and angry. They knew their teacher was right but still they had a feeling that Pinky was some how responsible for the mishap. Pinky, her hand held firmly by the teacher, looked back at the girls and gave them a perfect one sided grin which had a very uncanny similarity to that of the monkey in the jungle book.

The Yellow shirt

The Yellow Shirt


It was mid august, the air hot and humid, the sky cloudy and so was the heart of Rubina. Rubina family, comprising of mother, Ranu De, father Ramani De and brother Ranjan had moved in to their new home at Garia in extreme south Calcutta. Rubina had been born and brought up at Dumdum cantonment, extreme north of the city and had a host of friends and friendly neighbours the thought of whom made her heart heavy and depressed. Mr De and his family stayed so long at a rented house at North Calcutta where buildings were separated by so narrow margins that you could almost touch one another from the different roofs and Rubina, used to such narrow lanes and by lanes found herself lost and lonely. She now had a whole room and an attached balcony to herself and sitting on the balcony she was lazily observing the people down below when her attention was drawn to a yellow shirt and the young man in it, in precisely that order. The young man who held her attention was in his mid twenties and the owner of an attractive tanned complexion, a latest haircut, medium height and athletic physic. She could not see his face and felt curious until he looked up at her with a. pair of intense eyes almost angry and those were the only features that she was aware of when she looked into those eyes. Rubina heard some one shout at her ‘Does Ranjan leave here?” and she was conscious of another young man beside the yellow shirt. The companion repeated his question and Rubina came back to her senses, “Yes, yes, please wait” and she went to look for her brother.

Rubina was seventeen and had just finished her school. Rubina had an extremely sweet disposition, so much so that her looks more often than not reflected that sweetness. Otherwise she had almost plain features, her eyes though were big and black with naturally thick black lashes, a small but sharp nose and a soft and round chin. She was not fair , neither was she dark and she was quite tall by Bengali standards. Basically Rubina was conservative and shy by nature and so long she did not have any boy friend. This chance meeting with the young man in yellow shirt bowled her out completely. Gone was the state of melancholy – the days of boredom, her heart suddenly started singing songs, her eyes became mysteriously shiny, her skin glowed and she danced around the house, looking at herself in mirrors and blushing for no apparent reasons. That night she had a strange dream; she saw a man waving at her. It was a rose garden full of yellow roses .A beautiful melody was in the air. She thought roses should emit good smell and not good music and she put her hand out to pick one, when the rose garden turned into a huge yellow shirt . Rubina looked at the man who had a yellow shirt on but she could not make out his face, so she started walking towards him but her legs wont carry her, they felt so heavy and she tried and tried and to her despair saw the man turn and vanish -she came out of her sleep crying.

Bikash was a graduate engineer working with a business house situated near Park Street area where he spotted Rubina waiting for Metro on her way back from Loretto college. Bikash was attracted by her innocent looks and a devastating figure , which mother nature had generously endowed with youth. Her slim stature had well shaped full breasts and a round and slightly heavy hip, which gave an impression to the onlooker as if she was a delicate creeper with blossoms, which were heavy on it which reminded him of Kalidas’s Shakuntala. Bikash considered himself good looking and attractive to the other sex and was disappointed to find that the girl never looked at him. Rubina by nature was sober and dignified ,did not look at people when out in the streets. Bikash made a habit of taking the same train every day and after he got tired of catching her eyes, he made enquiries and found out that she had a brother who was a fellow student. That is how he made friends with him and visited their house. Rubina was blissfully unaware of the chain of events and saw him for the first time.

Nearly a year and a half have passed. Bikash would come dutifully everyday and spend sometime with Ranjan, helping him with his studies and showing no apparent desire to befriend Rubina, which most of Ranjan’s friends were in the habit of and which impressed him immensely. But Bikash would invariably choose the day and time when Rubina was at home and thus their eyes met, and many unspoken words were communicated without the knowledge of the unsuspecting elders.


Bikash could read the interest in her eyes and played for time but never spoke to her. He would come and chat with Ranjan making enough room in his heart as he was quite an eligible bachelor and ultimately approached him for the hand of his sister. By that time Ranjan was quite taken up with his senior and was also highly impressed with his sobriety and on his part he apprised his parents of the situation. That evening Rubina came back from her evening classes and heard them discussing about her marriage and immediately flared up.

“Why do you want to give me away in marriage so soon, am I a burden on you?” She cried. Her parents and brother were moved and refrained from speaking anything more about the proposal as they were not aware of her feelings for Bikash and Rubina in her turn was in the dark about the would-be-husband and never dreamt that it could be Bikash they were talking about. When Bikash heard that he had been rejected, his male ego was hurt so much that he married the very first girl that his mother chose for him and that too at quite a young age for today’s standard


For sometime now Bikash’s regular visits had stopped suddenly. An anxious Rubina waited at the specific time on her balcony, only to return to her room broken hearted. There was no Bikash in sight.

‘Dada one of your friends came while you were not home.” Rubina was dying with curiosity to know his name

Who was it?

Well I don’t know his name but I saw him the other day in a yellow shirt. Ranjan was thoughtful for a while and then exclaimed- oh Bikash? But he is supposed to be in Delhi now, he has got a job there. You must have been mistaken., Rubina.

So his name was Bikash?. Bikash …Rubina murmured to herself, her heart pounding with unknown fear and a hitherto unknown feeling . Her tender soul felt so hurt, he is gone, he is not in Kolkata and she did not know: why, why ,why , how could he.

Ranjan looked at his sister for a while then asked – do you like Bikash?

Rubina blushed – I hardly know him dada.

Yes , yes, ofcourse, my mistake. Ranjan attributed her blushed countenance to natural shyness, but still he remained thoughtful.


After sometime Ranjan again came to Rubina’s room. Rubina looked at her brother questioningly with wide innocent eyes. Rubina- funny that you said you saw Bikash. Did you know Bikash asked for your hand in marriage! Nothing could have been a greater news for her but for the tense that Ranjan used in breaking the news. He asked for my hand? “‘ Yes , remember , you got so upset when we were talking about your marriage’- it was him and after you declined he acted very queer for days and I thought may be there was something between you and you had ditched him. For Bikash said something about girls should not be trusted . And I was all the more surprised at his sudden marriage. I was thinking of asking you about you.

Alas ..If only Ranjan knew what blows he was aiming at his darling sister.

Rubina, when she heard about the marriage was shocked and broken hearted. How could he, she thought, as if he could not gauge from her looks how taken up she was with him. Her young heart bled and she cried so much on her pillow that in the morning her mother was shocked to see her swollen eyes. Days rolled into nights and months into years, and after two more years a very eligible match was found for Rubina, a very good scholar and a professor, though ten years her senior Mridul Sen was a jovial soul, well liked and popular among friends and students alike. Rubina did not say no, as there was no young attractive man in yellow shirt waiting for her with open arms. In her heart of hearts she still pined for his love that was now reserved for somebody else. As a loving heart sees no reason, she craved for her unfulfilled romance and quite unreasonably harbored anti feeling for the unfortunate husband .

Mridul with his inherent affectionate nature treated his young wife with sensitivity and care and attributed her aloof and somewhat curt behaviour to immaturity and side effects of being separated from loved ones at the tender age of nineteen.

On the third day after their marriage, as was their custom, Mridul came to Rubina’s house and by chance Bikash chose the very day for visiting Ranjan with his wife. Ranjan’s wife Sheela was a simple soul, pretty and plump.

Ranjan introduced the four among themselves and jokingly said that Mridul could get his sisters hand only because she refused Bikash. Before Mridul could react, Bikash said in a haste, thank God she refused or else how could I get a gem of a wife like Sheela! hee, hee, hee….the young man giggled to hide his embarrassment . Rubina looked at him in stunned disbelief. Such an effeminate voice! Is this the man she wanted to get married to, a man with a voice like a woman, giggles like a girl, no wonder he chose bright yellow of a shirt to show off the whiteness of his skin- such a dandy. Here Rubina was a little too harsh on him for it was the yellow shirt that made her notice the man in it and never before had she thought the colour too loud or effeminate .Really it is God’s grace that she escaped by a hair’s breath, otherwise she would have to be tied down to this man with a woman’s voice the whole life, she shuddered at the thought. Mridul was watching his wife closely and asked anxiously ‘ darling are you ok?”

For the first time since their marriage Rubina looked at her husband with gratitude and with love and marveled at the baritone, so reassuring and ofcourse so masculine- and said smiling, no dear it is nothing , I was only thinking of a yellow shirt.

For my soul mate

I saw you standing far, far away,

With your arms folded as you do.

A gust of wind came my way,

Bringing in your scent.

I took a step or two,

Fear lurching in my heart.

Suddenly I looked back

And it was the moon.

I ran as fast as I could

And was in your arms

holding me tight.

My eyes could not see you smile.

For, for my eyes it was a knight.

The river flew from my eyes

Dropping into your soul.

I saw the waves coming our way

Fury and passion blended in two.

My heart was laughing and crying for I knew

At last it was you and only you.

Maya

MAYA

A battered maid was just about to change Karuna’s Life.


It was a late afternoon in September, Durga Puja was round the corner and I had just woken from a siesta. I felt too lazy to get up and make tea for myself, so I waited for Maya – our maid. She was a kindly soul, very faithful and docile, but frail and almost bird-like. She’d come every morning and evening, with her curly black hair tied in a knot near her neck. I wondered what she was up to today and why she hadn’t yet come, was it Ramu ? Just the thought of the ruffian repulsed me. He had made Maya’s life miserable. He left Maya for another woman a year ago, but he still made demands on her. A dark, stocky fellow, Ramu had meanness pouring out of his beady little eyes.

Just as I was beginning to think of making that cup of tea myself, the phone rang. I answered,

“Yes?”

“Do you know Maya Mondol?” A gruff voice asked from the other end.
“Yes, she’s our maid. Why? Who is this ?” I asked. There was no answer, but just a clattering and then Maya’s voice came feebly from the receiver, “Boudi, please help me. Ramu has beaten me very badly. I am at the Jadavpur police station.”

“How? What happened?” I asked, shocked and yet with a familiar feeling of anger against Ramu.

“I was returning from the milk depot and Ramu met me on the street. He asked for money, but when I refused to give him, he started beating me up. The people around stopped him and brought us here. Oh Boudi, I don’t know what to do ?”

“Wait there, I am coming,” I replied.
“Who was that? What happened? And where are you going?” demanded Suren, my husband.

“It was Maya, she’s at the police station, Ramu beat her up badly. I am going to get her,” I replied quickly, as I got my handbag.

“Are you mad, Karuna? You are going to the police station, that too for Maya?!”

“But Suren, she need help!”
“You are going nowhere, and that’s final,” declared Suren in a tone that said there was going to be no further discussion.

I made two cups of tea. I looked at Suren, sipping his tea noisily and enjoying himself, his sharp features silhouetted against the evening sky. The desire to drink my cup suddenly vanished.



Two days later, Maya returned to work. Her left eye was swollen and had turned an ill shade of blue-black. Her left side of jaw was also swollen. I felt so guilty; it was like I had let myself down. Ramu was still in Police custody and Maya dreaded his release. I consoled her and assured that I won’t let Ramu harm her in any way, that I will take care of her and keep her with us. That day, we talked at length and Maya cried a lot. The next morning, we were getting ready to leave for work, when suddenly there was a loud knock on the door and someone shouted outside. It was Ramu – angry and all set to fight,
“Where is my wife? I have come to take her home.”

I felt Maya crouching behind me, “ I am not your wife any more, you have a new wife now, you brute, I am staying with Boudi,” Maya cried in a shrill voice.

“Come with me Maya, I say! Durga is with child again. Who will cook and look after the other matters? Demanded Ramu furiously.

“Get out of my house this moment or I will call the police. Maya is not going with you,” I said firmly.

“Karuna, let Maya go.” It was Suren. When I didn’t, he came and forcefully shoved me out of the way and pushed Maya towards Ramu.

With a leer and a triumphant grin, Ramu grabbed Maya’s arm. Maya looked at me with an appeal in her eyes, which turned into despair soon. I looked at the tears that reflected the pain, hurt and helplessness that engulfed Maya and the pain in them made my heart ache.

That night, Suren made advances, perhaps to make amends but I felt repulsed.

“Still angry?” he asked trying to cajole and then added, “Forget it darling. Who is Maya, any way? Is she dearer to you than your husband?”

“Please, Suren, I don’t feel like it,” I tried to push him away, but it was futile.
The next day, I left a note for Suren:
“Maya is not dearer to me, Suren. But my self esteem is. You lack basic courtesy and sensitivity – the two things I value most. I am under no illusion that you hold me in any higher esteem than you do Maya.

I am not leaving you because of yesterday, last night, or for Maya. I have been contemplating this move for a long time. I am well aware that there are thousands of Mayas in this part of the world, including me, and I know that I do not have the power to change their fate but at least I can try to change a few. Take care.

Karuna.