Chapter 18
The sun was rising slowly. The white Ambassador was going fast, raising a lot of dust in the air. Slowly Subhadra opened her eyes and noticed her husband was nodding in the front seat and beside her, her brother and sister in law were nodding too. She raised her hand and checked the time. It was 5:30 in the morning, and in 20 minutes they would be in their house. She looked outside the window and the village temple came into view. It was a small Vishnu temple raised on a small hill, colored in complete white and bronze kalasa on the top.
A flight of steps lead from the temple to the road and a small flight of steps lead from the temple to a lake filled with lotus. On the edge of the lake there was a big peepal tree, and around the peepal tree there was a cement bund. “The whole world has changed but the village never changed” thought Subhadra, looking at the familiar temple. Gazing at the temple suddenly brought the thought of Gayatriamma. The times they spent chatting, sitting under the tree or dipping their feet in the lake. Instead of longing for her friend, Subhadra felt only angry. After all these 25 years, she still felt hurt and anger towards her friend.
Before she realized, the car was in front of the house. Her parents were outside to receive them. In two days time, one of her brother’s daughter was getting married and she had lots to do. The thought of Gayatriamma disappeared as fast as it appeared- until the day she was about to leave and one of her old friends came to her and told her that Gayatriamma’s 19 years old daughter passed away in a car accident. For a minute, Subhadra felt sincerely sorry for her friend. When she found out the Gayatriamma was in the same village, she decided not to go visit because she was still hurt and also felt probably her friend may not want her.
A few months later, when Subhadra’s father came to visit her, he mentioned that Gayatri inquired about her. Subhadra felt very bad. She wished that she had visited her friend. The worst thing that could happen to a parent was the loss of a child. At least for courtesy sake she should have visited her friend. After that whenever she went to the village, she made attempts to find out about Gayatriamma but she couldn’t get proper details.
The years passed, and one day, the world came crashing down around Subhadra. A police van came and the police took her and her husband in the van to police station. Subhadra was in a state of shock. What was going on? Nothing seemed clear for sometime. Initially she thought the police got the wrong people. When things got clearer, she found out that her daughter in law had filed a case on her husband and her, accusing them of harassing her daily and even threatening to kill her. Unfortunately, for Subhadra, her brilliant lawyer brother was not in the country and there was no one to give suggestions. Before they realized, they were in the police station signing paperwork and trying to figure out things. Finally, one of her brothers met another lawyer who happened to be their lawyer-brother’s friend. They couldn’t believe that police arrested them based on false allegations of their daughter in law.
Subhadra has a sharp tongue and a quick wit. More than anything, she loved her son very much and was very possessive of him. Her DIL is almost similar to Subhadra. In the first few years of marriage, war between both the MIL and DIL broke out. And since then, almost everyday, it was a battle zone. The one thing about Subhadra was that she never physically hurt her DIL, and her DIL was not as innocent as she portrayed herself in the complaint she filed.
Subhadra’s DIL was hellbent in taking her husband away from his mother, and she got ample help from her parents. The DIL insisted that the property should be divided, and that her husband’s share should be settled by Subhadra and her husband while they were still alive. They didn’t agree to this. The DIL used this as an issue to poison her husband’s head against his parents, saying that they don’t love him nor trusted him.
The DIL and her parents planned the whole thing carefully, consulted a family lawyer beforehand, and filed the case on Subhadra when her lawyer-brother was not in town. No matter how much they tried, Subhadra and her husband couldn’t prevent spending that particular one night in jail. The police refused to show any lenience because the laws of the land were very clear and stringent in this matter and they feared for their jobs.
According to their lawyer, the DIL’s parents might have paid some hefty sum to the police; that is why the police were refusing to cooperate. But to everyone’s surprise, the following day, there was a great change in the attitude of the police towards Subhadra and her husband. Their lawyer came with another lawyer and after some discussion with the police and the DIL’s parents over the phone, the charges were dropped.
Subhadra and her husband decided that they could not go to their house because the whole neighborhood would have heard about how they were taken away in a police van; it was too humiliating. So, upon the invitation from a friend, they went to the friend’s house to stay for a week.
During that time, Subhadra found out through their lawyer that their case was discussed among other lawyers and slowly reached the ears of Gayatriamma. And upon her request, Gayatriamma’s brother got involved. Because of his political and powerful connections, all charges were dropped.
One day, Subhadra found out about the whereabouts of Gayatriamma and paid a visit to express her gratitude. When they were chatting, Gayatriamma’s brother dropped by, and looking at Subhadra and his sister together together, gave him an idea. Later he had a chat with Subhadra and her husband. He suggested to them an idea to purchase an apartment in a complex which his company owns- one in which his sister was staying too. He offered to help them with all necessary things.
One month later, Subhadra and her husband moved to the new apartment. Subhadra never saw or spoke to her DIL. Her son came twice to see his parents. He pleaded with his parents to settle the property issues so that they all can live together. He said that his parents need to prove to him that they love him unconditionally. He was completely under the control of his wife. In fact, he was terrified of his wife.
Once everything was completed, Subhadra called Gayathri’s brother to thank him for everything. During their conversation, Gayathriamma’s brother ask Subhadra to take care of his sister. Subhadra agreed; she was back in the same position she was in about 30 years back.
Unlike the last time, she kept her relationship with Gayathriamma very subtle. She met Gayathriamma quite frequently, she kept an eye on the people going in and out of the house, on the cook and driver, she never encouraged any gossip about Gayathriamma, never talked good or bad about her, and she never acknowledged their relationship to anyone. She faithfully conveyed important issues that happened in the complex to Gayatriamma’s brother. Quite a few people knew that Gayathriamma and Subhadra greeted each other, but they don’t know anything else.
Once Anandhi tried to gossip about Gayathriamma and Subhadra attacked Anandhi mercilessly- to the point that Anandhi never brought up the topic of Gayathriamma again.
When a relationship is broken between people and then reestablished, no matter how cordial the relationship might be, there will be some creases which will never go away. It was the same thing with Gayathriamma and Subhadra, they couldn’t go back to their childhood relationship.
But all the years of experience taught Sudhabra to see her friends in a different angle. Gayathriamma spoke little to others. Even though it gave out an impression of arrogance, Subhadra understood that her friend didn’t have much to say good or bad about anything. She always greeted Subhadra the same way – no excitement or dislike, always the same.
At times, Subhadra could sense some acute sadness in her friend. Maybe she was missing the daughter she lost. Sudhabra felt good taking care of her friend, it gave her a sense of satisfaction.
Subhadra could relate to her friend’s loss because she too lost her son, but in a different way. Visits from her son became less frequent, and there were hardly any phone calls. Occasionally, she used to call him when she missed him too much, but he spoke very little.
Poor Maami, I thought, going over all the information she told me that morning. I didn’t go to the hospital that evening. My husband, Mr. Krishnan and Sailaja visited them. Maama was moved to a room from the ICU.
That evening, two of Maami’s brothers and SIL came from Madurai. I handed over the keys to Maami’s apartment and provided them with dinner.
Once Maami’s family came, they took over the responsibilities and we went back to our regular life.
Chapter 19
Sometimes, I feel that problems appear just like the monsoons. The monsoon rains pour and pour with little gap in between for few months. And by the end of those few months, we all are so desperate for sun.
Our complex was going through problem rains. We were all happy to see Maama back from hospital. Just when things started calming down, another problem started.
Maami walked in from the kitchen with 4 tumblers in a tray. She handed over the first glass to Neeraja- even though she was her least favorite. If I were in the place of Maami, I would have done the same. All of us in the room were feeling sorry for Neeraja.
“Drink before it cools down” Sailaja said to Neeraja.
Sailaja and Neeraja were sitting on the sofa. I was sitting across from them. The Neeraja I knew all these years was so different than the one sitting in front of me. Without makeup, and a crumpled punjabi dress and no jewelery.
Neeraja mumbled something but she didn’t make any attempt to drink the coffee. Sailaja nudged Neeraja’s hand and pushed the glass towards Neeraja’s face.
”Please Neeru. Drink a little”.
Neeraja took a sip. With her eye still down-casted she asked where abouts of her son.
“He is in Vijaya’s house playing with her sons” replied Sailaja.
“It was such a shock for him. They didn’t give us much time. They came and started taking away everything including the TV. He was watching his favorite BEN10. I am not able to forget the look on his face. How …” she couldn’t control herself anymore and burst into sobs.
I rushed to her side and placed my one hand on her back and with another took Neera’s coffee tumbler away. Neeraja covered her face in the her dupatta and continued crying. We didn’t know what to do. Sailaja and I kept rubbing her back hoping that might console her.
Maami put her tumbler on the table with a bang and said “What is wrong with you kids? When things go well, you act as if you are the only one that matters, and when things don’t go your way, you act as if the whole world has came up part. Get a grip” she chided Neeraja.
“Money is not everything in the world. So what if he lost the job and everything else. You are all healthy and together. That is more important, you see. You both are young, educated, and smart. You can make things better again. At least he got another job. You are still lucky when compared to many others. Don’t waste your time crying. Think about your son. You are not a silly girl. In life there will be ups and downs. Learn to use your brain”said Maami sharply.
Neeraja wiped her tears and looked up. May be that was what she wanted, not our sympathies. She wanted a sensible and straight, talk and Maami gave her one.
A few days after the episode, I was busy packing Curd Rice and Lemon Rice into little packs for Neeraja’s family. They will be leaving soon and can eat the food on the way. Neeraja came to my mind frequently. In less than an hour, she would be gone from this complex and city. My heart was filled with sadness. I needed someone to put the blame on. And there it was. Globalization! I cursed Globalization.
Yes, I agree with many that Globalization did a lot for India- even to my family too. Our middle class had expanded and many moved to the upper middle class category. ATM, cars, better life styles, vacations, and many more wonderful things.
Along with money came the increased demand for housing. And real-estate prices shot up. When Neeraja wanted to buy the 3 bedroom apartment which she was renting in our complex, I was happy for her. But when she mentioned the price that she would be paying, I was shocked. Even my ever-silent husband went out of his way to tell Neeraja’s husband not to buy at that price. They dismissed him, perhaps thinking we were jealous.
Also, like many of her peers, Neeraja splurged her money on fancy clothes, furniture, furnishings, appliances, eating out in 5-star hotels… They replaced their small car with two big cars. They employed a full time driver and a live-in maid. Both husband and wife were making lots of money and they spent it liberally.
And then, two things went terribly wrong: the American recession started affecting India, and bank rates started going up. Almost all of the housing loans were taken at floating rates- not at fixed rates. Neeraja’s monthly bank payments doubled and, adding to their problems, in less than a month’s time they both lost their jobs.
Initially, they never mentioned their problems to others. They somehow survived on their savings and pawning Neeraja’s jewelery, but they couldn’t pay their installments. Creditors started showing up and took away everything. Neeraja’s brother managed to get a small job for Neeraja’s husband in Bangalore and they decided to go there.
Some of the residents and kids of the complex gathered near the gate to say their final goodbyes. We were watching the kids play.
I said “I feel sorry for Neeraja’s son, he will miss the air-conditioned school and school bus”.
“Oh! He will be fine. Kids need other kids, not air-conditioning and fancy computers” dismissed Maami.
“Well, I feel sorry for Neeraja. I wonder how many times she will be able to go to beauty parlor” Sailaja said.
“I am going to open my own beauty parlor. All these days I paid others. It is time others pay me” Neeraja said joining us.
We all laughed.
“Here, take this packet. There is some food for you to eat on the way” I said handing her the packet.
Sailaja’s kids and some other kids gave small gifts to Neeraja’s son.
“By the way “ Neeraja said “Say bye to Preethy. I didn’t get time to talk to her yesterday evening when I saw her in the club”.
And then she looked past me and announced the name of the club to Maami. I was little puzzled. Firstly, I didn’t know that Preethy was back. Last week she told me that she was going away for a month. And secondly, why did Neeraja mention the club’s name. And that too to Maami. I was a little bit lost. In the mean time, the car started and all of us were waving hands and yelling byes.
“At least once in a while she used to join me in my morning walks. Now she too is gone” Maami was telling Mr. Raman walking towards her apartment.
“Don’t join her in her morning walks” Mr. Krishnan whispered to me and Sailaja. “Otherwise your names will be included in the wanted list”.
“What do you mean?” asked Sailaja suppressing her smile. We know he would say something funny.
“Nothing much. Maami is the notorious flower thief in the entire area. Her morning walks are just an excuse. She goes on a rampage and plucks everyone’s flowers” Mr. Krishnan replied.
“Not on a rampage. She may pluck a few” added Sailaja smiling.
“Have you seen her pooja room? All the walls, from ceiling to floor, are covered with pictures of gods. One cannot see a single inch of the wall. She has to offer at least one flower to each god, and that is why she goes on her flower-plucking rampages” replied Mr. Krishnan.
“Offering flowers to god is an auspicious thing. That is why she does that” I added.
“Well, if such were the case, why doesn’t she grow her own plants and offer flowers from her plants. Why steal flowers from others’ plants? Those people might have planted trees to offer flowers to their gods. Don’t you think their gods will be upset with her because she is depriving them of their flowers?” commented Mr. Krishnan.
“That is why Maami calls you a communist. Come home” Lakshmi chided her husband.
“I am not a communist. I am trying to cheer them up. They are separated from their dearest friend” he replied.
“They are happy now. Please come home” said Lakshmi.
“I may be a communist or not. One thing is very clear, I am a very good husband. See how obedient I am to my wife” Mr. Krishnan told us and walked away behind his wife with folded hands.