On a dark, rainy evening, Sushma was walking hurriedly down the street to the main road to catch a bus back home. She worked for a leading automobile ancilliary company in the bustling textile city of Coimbatore as an accounts assistant.. Sushma was a 30 year old demure lady slightly plump, fair and not very tall, married at the age of 22 to her sweetheart in college. Sridhar, her husband was a young and upcoming politician and at the age of 35, looked destined to achieve greater heights. Theirs' was a love match, in the face of great opposition from both families as they belonged to different communities. Even today, in this era of computers and information technology, caste differences and prejudices still exist in India and these surface rapidly and violently in issues like marriage. Sushma was from the priestly, (upper caste) conservative Brahmin community while her husband was from a lower caste, that of carpenters. Despite stiff opposition from her conservative upper caste family who felt humiliated at their daughter marrying one from a very low social background, Sushma stood firm and finally eloped with Sridhar and got married.
However, eight years & two children down the line, she was not too sure that her decision was the right one. For, right from the beginning her husband seemed to have an inferiority complex which surfaced violently whenever they quarrelled. Also being an active local political leader of an important political party, he always was either away touring or having his political cronies keep dropping home at staying on late while he was in town. As a result they had no sex life to speak of. Things got progressively worse as the years went by and Sushma felt terribly neglected and lonely. To add to her frustrations, her mother-in-law also settled down with them after the death of her husband. Now, it would have been bearable if the old crone was a quiet type, but unfortunately she was tarter with a razor sharp tongue. Atogether, Sushma felt as she trailed along in the rain, life was a bitch. And to top it all she was getting quite wet as one of the metal struts in her umbrella had broken and it would not open fully.
She heard the purring sound of a scooter coming up behind her and as she turned, it braked to a halt beside her.
"Would you like to be dropped at the bus stop,"asked a deep male voice. "I know being a scooter you may hesitate but you are getting wet", it continued.
It was a senior manager of the marketing department, Mr. Sayeed Hussain. She hesitated for a minute sheepishly standing on the road.
"Come on," he said impatiently, "You will get thoroughly drenched by the time you walk to the bus stop." She haltingly hopped on at the back and as they moved off he said, " Hang on properly and don't feel embarrassed."
Sushma was thankful that there were hardly any people on the street and more importantly none of her colleagues. This was the first time she was riding pillion on a scooter and that too with a relative stranger. For although Mr. Hussain worked in the same office, she hardly had anything to do with him directly although a couple of times, he had given her, along with some other colleagues, a lift in his car to the bus stop.
Mr.Hussain was a bit of a maverick, having his own down to earth style in doing things. In a rather stiff and old fashioned atmosphere of their company, where senior managers went around only in chauffeur driven cars, Hussain used a scooter half the time and did his own driving whenever he used his car. In his late 30s, with his greying hair, he had a hansome, commanding presence and people always seemed a little wary of him.
They reached the bus stop and he slowed down. "Aren't you staying in the Ram Nagar area?", he asked suddenly. "I am also going that side so I can drop you at home. It's anyway dark and you may have wait a long time to get a bus," he continued.
"No-o Sir please don't trouble yourself," she stammered.
"Nonsense, we'll be there in 10 minutes. No trouble at all," he replied.
The intensity of the rain increased however and by the time they reached her house both of them were completely drenched. Seeing the house in total darkness he asked, "Isn't your family around?"
"My husband has gone to Delhi to attend a political convention Sir and my mother-in-law and children have gone for a holiday to Madras to stay with some relatives," she replied. "But Sir you are completely drenched," she exclaimed. "Please come in and dry yourself and let the rain subside before you go."
They went in and she got him a towel to rub himself. She excused herself saying," Sir I will be back in five minutes. I will just change and get you some tea."
