Chapter 16-- Too Deep A Cut

Ani had walked in earlier to his office. He set his chessboard in a Chanakyian mode. She could see clearly how he got rid of a couple of pawns. Sixteen pieces on the opposite side were intact when she first saw Sunil. He got rid of a couple of pawns. The man opposite Sunil smiled thinking that Sunil is a novice in this game.

" I had to leave the game halfway for quite some years.," Sunil sarcastically laughed, softly though.

Ani met Sunil, after that near a retail outlet. His wife and son, in the rear seat of the car. He was at the wheels with a very pretty lady beside him. 

Ani recalled those words round the vine about Sunil, generally repulsive in appearance but with an ability to engulf or uproot any impediment to the acquisition of movable or immovable good be it human or otherwise.

Like a tamed and subjugated pet at home, his wife waited for him to serve silently. His son, a withdrawn and slightly bereft of restlessness, inquisitive look or enthusiasm, stared out of the window, in an indifferent manner.

" Sunil, we are waiting to see you rejoin the game and continue," Ani's repartee brought Sunil back to where he left his game.

" I will, Ani: it's just that I need some gearing up.I believe that the winner takes it all," Sunil sounded confident.

Sunil's years of silent preparation made him was embedded in the policy of ostracism.

He rose like the phoenix after five years. 

Ani had a view of him, accompanied by a local Cleopatra. Rumour was that she presented the coronet to Sunil and that brought him face to face with his former challenger to resume the game from where they left five years ago.

Ani admired his tenacity and determination. She waited to witness his move. Sunil smiled from the corner of his lips.

Now, sitting in front of him, at the height of power that he aspired for and achieved with cautious moves, Ani appealed for a few more days to serve . He was specific and diplomatic. He had removed the rook, knight, bishop queen and said, " Checkmate". Ani remembered.

Victory crowned him. There were rejoicings. He rewarded the loyalists and ruined the traitors.

Ani too had been through thick and thin . The sea was also rough for her. She is about to anchor but she suddenly realized her anchorage is not sought for. She would like to sail for a little longer. Her cut was too deep to be healed. Ani can still feel the excruciating pain. The crews, so long, made her forget everything.

Ani came back to the present.

" I will be hopeful. All that  I possess is honesty and hope," Ani stood up. Lost in her thoughts, she walked towards the door , turned right, walked down the corridor, feeling the old ache rising to choke her.

" You should have learned to play chess, too, and challenged your opponents, in every game. You have accepted defeat without reason and never strategised to sit on a throne or walk out in pride. Why ? O why Ani", she introspected.

 Lockdown -- A Repeat: Chapter 15

Ani has been literally confined to her small, reasonably furnished, and convenient flat since March 2020. She did work offline. She had met her colleagues,her employer as and when required. Things were becoming normal and everyday work carried on in cohorts and bubbles after observing all safety protocols.

"Were they ignorant or in the denial mode about the second wave? Countries that experienced it had thirteen to fifteen times more damage during it, " Ani wondered.

"Were the Indians overconfident, lackadaisical, or hideous about the disaster that it can spell?" Ani asked herself.

She observed from her high-rise building, how cars parked in huge numbers, Not a soul was found wearing a mask. It was an engagement party. Tables were laid on the lawn. Guests wined and dined as if nothing is wrong in such gatherings or their closeness, shaking hands or hugging.

The country's per day infection data was above three lakhs.

Ani's friend called as she observed the social drama some one thousand yards away.

" Hullo Kavita, How are things at your place? " Ani enquired.

" My husband has been discharged, Ani. He was under observation after the second plasma treatment. There's a wedding in the community park. I really wonder why can't they have a little patience for a few more months or a year for it the situation to improve and then do all this, " Kavita sounded unhappy.

" The private hospital bills drain our bank balance and uncertainty still remains,I guess," Ani tried to sympathize with her." My son advises me not to step out of my flat unless it's a dire need.  I am foxed to see the rise in the gaiety of some humans, especially when crematoriums have corpses piled up and people are falling like flies.

Silence prevailed for a fraction of a second before their conversation deflected to the election campaigns in such troubled times and the election results in some states.

Life has its varieties.Life has its oddities. Who are we to be judgemental?

 A Fear Lurking at the Back of the Mind--Chapter 14

Ani seemed dauntless. She recalled the English teacher of the Eighth Class, reading out expressively 'Lochinvar' and in another class, a few weeks later, The Highway Man.

'Did she ever dare in love or life ?"' she asked herself.

'Yes, not once but many a time,' she answered herself.

What was the consequence each time? she asked herself again. In the end, she lost everything. She lost more than she could ever imagine.

Having reached her fiftieth year, she decided not to dare anymore in the years to come.

Covid-19 infodemic scared her. Dead bodies piled up in crematoriums. Friends and aquaintances being hospitalized some dying outside as hospitals run out of beds.

Ani stopped her evening walks. No stepping out of her flat.Whoever called only negative info with rumors as an addendum were shared.

Ani took to an inhuman lifestyle now. She started watching comedy films and cartoons. She started uploading light jokes on social media. Minds need refreshment, she thought, and not ingredients for feThe virus has committed till date the biggest genocide that any human brain could have ever imagined !

 From the Podium --Chapter 12

We all gathered maintaining all official protocol norms. What would be the agenda, we wondered.

One of them looked so fragile, on stage. 

Ani pondered, " Why is she present? Is it a fanatic sense of responsibility or boredom of being at home with no honest syncing with the inmates? "

The flow of words from the stage continued. His willing and thrusted responsibilities have been on the rise. He can delegate some of them. 

" Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown? " crossed Ani's mind. 

" He's putting his best efforts to keep us going," murmured someone in the audience.

Ani was unaware of the unmindfulness that she suddenly had. There were quite a number of heads that she had worked curiously with. Now her submissiveness is a consequence not only because of the unforeseen pandemic but experiences that taught her that ' The Boss is always right and peaceful coexistence became Ani's first and last option for almost a decade.

Ani looked around at the expressive, bland, curious, uninterested, timid but not a single annoyed look on the uplifted countenances . Some, as usual, were busy reading or responding to whatsapp texts or SMSes.

Ani remembered Sr. Geraldine, the most beautiful Principal who would strum and sing a hymn followed by a popular English number . The staff members were lost in her pleasantly expressive instructions, her commitment to the institution and the system. 

" Why did she have to leave the earth so fast? "Ani wondered.

Ani's present master is of a different make. He's like a coconut. With the passage of time, he has mellowed down. She hardly meets him. She observes him. She hears most of his words 

 A Video Call-Incredible --Chapter13

" The whatsapp message was that he would call very soon. Ani found it too difficult to believe. She recalled her near-death escape. Her Blood Pressure reading of 35 /50 scared her doctor friend. Dr. Rimmi gave her sorbitol, probably. She took Ani to her house. Amit did not call his mother even once to find out how she was. In fact, when she recuperated within a week and called him, he seemed to be in a hurry and wanted to see the medical report.

' Did he distrust his mother?' Ani painfully wondered. Or was he under the impact of someone who wanted proof to believe? Is it the same son who wished to call now ?'

After four video calls, they could talk. She did not wish to waste a second even.

" I need to teach you three most important exercises to you, Sonu, " Ani went on very fast and excitedly.

She wanted him to lose the extra flesh around his chin, neck and also keep his brain and the nervous system working normally till his last breath. For Ani, he was still the boy he had breastfed for three and a half years. 

It does not matter at all if he is indifferent or too materialistic or never cared about her because of infinite reasons that are exclusively his very own or if he is close-minded to any argument. She is speaking with him now. She can see him on the virtual platform. She has no expectation from him other than that he stays safe and healthy.

Once she tried explaining her situation to him and every bit of it was genuine. The apathy shown by him made her withdraw. The iceberg of aces and insults remained with her since then.

Ani worked out an equation of life then onwards. Every moment of her life will be filled with joy, work, entertainment, maintaining her health, traveling, making friends smiling at whomever she met to get back a counter smile, and winding up her day with a tired body that will give her a seven to eight hours of sound sleep to get up afresh next morning to start anew.

 What a memory! Chapter 11

The dust storm raged on. The washing machine in the corner of the master bedroom's balcony had a printed white rexin cover. It looked beige now. In seventeen years, Ani changed six houses.

Ani whatsapped her only son, settled overseas with his wife. 

" Do you remember the address of each house that we stayed in?" Ani was slightly hopeful that he might remember at least three.

Rupai, her thirty-year-old son, responded immediately with the addresses.

Every house had some sweet some bitter memories associated with it.

" You are like your grandmother, who, immediately after the recovery from her cerebral attack, could recall every wee incident, every word of hundreds of poems that she professionally recited. Blood is thicker than water. The memory is your only legacy," Ani felt thankful that he has been deprived of her weak memory.

Rupai and Unnati had last seen each other when he was just a toddler. 

Ani was a university student then. She had completed her master's but was pursuing her bachelor's in education. Torn between the two families who were equally important to her. The ego battle of mature women had complicated even very simple and comprehendible situations. Nobody was willing to budge even a centimetre to make things pleasant or acceptable.

Ani watched the huge funnel of dust that moved across the fields and over the houses with closed doors and windows. Dusty memories let tears roll down her dusty cheeks .Her palms were dusty and she could not wipe them away.

 Vanity -thy followers are mental  & physical ailments-Chapter 10

Supti , an apparently pleasant tall, high-nosed, especially for those who with those bound to take instructions from her or are in no way of use to her, has not been in the good books of Aesclepius.

" How are you all here together? Aren't you aware of the protocols?" She reprimanded the defaulters.

The maid stood blinking. The teacher - on -duty was not only ignored by her in her round but the minimum courtesey of a soft look or a' good morning ' is perhaps not her cup of tea.

"You have no idea,Ani , how she imposes tasks /assignments on us. Most of the time we are doing most of the work", her immediate colleagues expressed their angst.

Ani recalled an insignificant memory of the willingness she had exhibited more than a decade ago to assist Supti with the Board Coordination work. Ani came to know how Supti chose her trusted one and did not have the politeness to inform Ani about that and Ani's trip to France had to be cancelled because Supti continued suavely to assure her that she would call Ani anytime to assist her.

Aesclepius, however,  showered all sophisticated urban ailments on Supti. She was theoretically well versed with the biological aspects of plant and animal life. She had the quality grease to apply where work-life needed it.

"I am not even going to give a side glance now to recognize her presence in this corridor," Ani told herself. 

" Is she unhappy, frustrated or is it her nature?" Ani asked herself to reanalyze  Supti.

Ani decided to divert her attention and plucked some fresh neem leaves from the tree looking down on the balcony and who but Supti addressed her as she made her way downstairs .

" Are you going to eat them raw?'Supti was curious.

"No .I will cook them with sliced egg plant,grated ginger and green chillies."Ani was quick to respond.

En route home Ani wondered about the enigmatic presence of Supti.