Work Work and Work ---Chapter 6

Every room had a wall clock. The balcony ,too, had one. Everyone had a minimum of two wrist watches .Ani had fifteen watches of different make, design and manufacturing date. Her life was confined in the dial of the one she used each day. Every second was priceless for her. Laws of existence were slightly different for her.

" Madam,do you ever rest ? When do you go to sleep at night ?" asked the loyal and ever curious maid Sumitra. 

Ani gave a wry smile. The maid - cum-cook worked in four houses in the housing society. Every word that emanated from her was spiced up by eager housewives for their evening meets ,in the park yoga class or in kitty parties.

Ani gave them no encouragement to these enthusiastic do - gooders. Every time she crossed their path ,all that she did was a brief ' namaskar'.

" Are you that busy ,Aniji, that you can't even join for 'Mata Ki Chauki' , also? Mrs Arora's sarcastic inquiry didn't anger Ani.

" Please  ,Mrs Arora don't misunderstand my work schedule. Give me your good wishes so that I may be able to be in one of them from start to finish, "Ani spoke suavely. She knew that a lion can also be at the mercy of the hyena,s when they outnumber the king suddenly.

" Can you take a class for us on 'Spoken English' , say once a week ? Mrs Seedhar intruded. " What would be your charge like ?"

" Spoken English for what ?" I was given a googly. In fact , as far as I know ,most of their husbands were in MNCs and they have been accompanying them to various get togethers.

" Only Varuna went to an English medium school. Rest of went to local Hindi medium schools. We come from the business community. A girl's parents spends crores to get a groom for us. We are ingrained with the thoughts that a marriage is everything in our life", Sunira was not regretting but she communicated this quite proudly. 

" When we go to parties ,Ma'm, we do feel out of place ,most of the times. Being dressed up for the occasion is not enough ,Ma'am, " Mrs. Makkar had a dash of regret in her tone.

" Why do you attend such parties then ?' was my quick question.

" Do we have any choice you think?" an immediate repartee ,perhaps straight from the heart of Mrs Kawatra.

These women are the happily married ones. They have nothing that they dislike in their lives is what they claim at gatherings. They play 'Tambola ' at ladies meet. The are dressed like queens on 'Karwa Chauth'.

Ani was slightly amused .Will she look seriously into the matter of grooming them in party communication, etiquette and yes the so called 'Spoken English' ?

 Chapter 5.

Forty Years Curtain -lifted?

Where have all the feelings gone?

The face now is vague

The man now meaningless

The memory now painful 

The longing now forgotten.

'Aesculapia ',the medical college fest was the rendezvous. The Quiz Master ,a dashing bright scholar of one of the best medical colleges of the country.

Ani represented her college with two other students. Amit, a reputed quizzer, sat with his team. They were from a reputed state government college too. Amit's team got the first position with a wide margin. Ani's team left with the participation certificate with a fifth ranking. 

As Ani waited for the bus ,Amit politely congratulated her for their sincere effort and some bright responses. Ani felt humiliated. She wondered whether he was pulling her legs or is he a 'lady -killer' sort of male or may be those stick-jaw males ,who keep following ladies of their choice.

Ani waved out at to a taxi. She never bothered to turn back to see his reaction at her apathy towards him.

Why was Ani feeling restless en route home ? Why did she take a taxi when a bus would have been cheaper and money was important for her. Her father had lost his job suddenly. She offered home tuitions to school students of the higher secondary level and 'Spoken English' classes at home for upstart women, and conducted counselling sessions for the emotionally challenged adolescents .

She had worked out a schedule with no space for distracting emotional conditions for her. Why then did she feel different when Amit met her personally? Many males did meet her in the community centre in her residential area to discuss about social and religious programmes, cultural shows or  literary events. Why was her feeling of a different kind in the presence of Amit today? Why did Ani want to avoid him? His eyes ,she thought ,were too deep and captivating. His voice was like the sound that she heard, while standing with her family, on the hard shore of Digha. His words were so collected ,precise and demanding response.

Ani looked at the hazy sky of February. Why had she met Amit four decades  ago ,she wondered. 

Many a time ,in Ani's life, many a thing, has kept her pondering and till date she has received no appropriately satisfying answer to her deep queries regarding them. Friends and acquaintances had offered suggestions or solutions but they were too puerile Ani thought.

Was Amit the third, a Nor'wester, in Ani's life? Will she be blown away? Will she stand firmly rooted to the soil beneath her feet? Her experiences with the second , a Gulf Stream,  the first a typhoon, were still fresh in her mind .

Life has already made her familiar with some emotional servings that either she misunderstood, or over- rated , or under estimated or found too complex to comprehend. They did leave some scars like the chicken -pox marks but hidden away from access of the inquisitive eyes.     

 Chapter 4.

The Sunset at Belur.

" Can you understand the language of the ripples touching your feet?" Amit asked, touching Ani lightly on her upper left arm .

She looked surprised .What does he really mean? What answer is he earnestly waiting for? Will unspoken words and an expressive look suffice?

Ani was at a loss .Clueless she looked at the empty space and almost stretchless wavelets that flowed gustily towards the sea.

Amit broke the silence ." Will tea be ok now? It's in small mud pots with an interesting taste. It's piping hot, Ani."

"Is it healthy to have such tea? They keep it boiling and then reheating .It's poisonous." Somehow she felt awkward having uttered such  inane words. She knew how thousands had it without any complaints or unsolicited advice.

Amit seemed to have ignores her words. In no time both were sipping the hot tea-like highly sweetened stuff as the sun glided towards the distant horizon and suddenly plunged into the water .

The security men blew their dutiful whistles indicating that all visitors were then to vacate the entire area ,immediately.

 Chapter 3

And they started leaving serially.

Ani looked at the calendar pages from August 2020.

A sudden call from Kolkata. It was Raksha Bandhan, August 4. Her heart beat rhythmically with the caller tune. It was the early hours of the morning.

" Hullo,who's this ?"

"She's passed away this morning," a female unrecognizable voice conveyed in a solemn tone.

A silence followed on both sides for a few forgotten seconds.

"Ok." Ani found no other words to respond. No remorse. No condolence. 

Ani went down memory lane. When she entered their house, Pronoti was in full form. She stole hearts of stags in the Hall of Fame. Her performances on stage ,in the radio, in television and in parties arranged anywhere ,occasionally fetched laurels for her. Her only child ,as talented, handsome and ambitious ,carved out a niche for himself.

Ani fell for Amit. He longed for emotional dependence . He was a dreamer too. He found that he could share ,though in a negligible way, some of his experience with Ani ,who listened attentively and nver proved to be judgemental. 

Amit was too close one day to confiding something that he had never told anybody earlier .

" Will you keep it to yourself only?" Amit said as the boat sailed from the bank towards the middle of the Hooghly River. A simple treat on his birthday he gave Ani. They both would take the river route to Belur. The river was deep. The launches passing by caused the boat to rise  up and descend with the waves. The boatsmen rowed while Amit recited Jibananda Das,   Nazrul, Shankha Ghosh and sang some romantic numbers from Rabindranath's immortal collections.

Ani watched him ponderously. Does he have a mountain of unspoken words that he is giving a tangential vent through these mediums of expression ? He is not the person that she has known for almost two years now. However ,an unseen thread seems to draw them nearer to each other than ever before.

Ani was lost in her own thoughts when she realized that he was now sitting close enough to brush his shoulders against her. The oarsmen ,perhaps ,were used to such couple - behaviour .They were indifferent even when he took Ani's  hands in his and became silent suddenly.

Both were perhaps engrossed in the melodious sound that silently coverged in their feelings and the sound of silence made them oblivious of the moving boat that had already reached Belur and one of the oarsmen called out ---"Didi time to let us go".

O no so fast a space of forty minutes fleeted to feelings? Amit still gripped her right palm firmly.

They looked ahead .The Belur Math ,where monks, couples old and young, male and female loners, lovers of all age groups, fanatics and liberals, vendors and the frustrated unemployed buying peanuts or a cup of tea in paper cups, children with parents and grandparents --yes a colourful humanity walked around the vast green meadow every single day from early morning till sunset.