"Megha"
"What is it?"
"Where have you kept my tie. I just can't find it anywhere."
"It's inside the wardrobe."
Suman always expected her to attend to him when he was getting ready for office. When they had got married twelve years back she could do that. But now with their two kids going to school her morning schedule was hectic. Getting up early, preparing breakfast, waking up the kids, serving breakfast….it went on and on until Suman left for his office and she took the kids to the bus stand to catch the school bus.
Mornings were even tougher when the maid didn't turn up. Lakshmi was a nice person and always went out of her way to help Megha. She never refused to do anything, quite unlike most of the maids employed by her friends and neighbours. When they had moved into this beautiful bungalow in Salt Lake, in the eastern suburbs of the city, she had felt elated. The apartment blocks would no longer stifle her. No doubt to it, she hated living in apartments.
But then Lakhmi had her own share of problems – her drunkard and abusive husband. He would return home late most of the days just managing to keep himself steady and would beat her up for flimsy reasons. Whenever the thrashing got too hard she had to stay away from work for a day or two. Megha pitied Lakshmi. Why did she stay with him? At times she tried to imagine an abusive Suman. If anything like that ever happened she would, surely, walk out. It was not a question of how much it hurt physically; it would be an intolerable insult on self-esteem. Then she would laugh at her idea of an abusive Suman…after all they had been college sweethearts and knew each other so well.
Whenever Megha expressed her opinion to Lakshmi, she laughed patiently.
"You don't understand everything." Lakshmi would say, leaving Megha wondering.
But, Lakshmi had agreed that next time he repeated it she would bring him over for Megha to try to talk him out of this beastly habit. Yesterday when Megha learnt from another maid that Lakshimi wont turn up for work for a day or two she had expected them. They hadn't turned up till now.
"Varsha and Vipin, I want you to finish your breakfast within five minutes." She warned. The kids were in their usual habit of messing up with the breakfast. Varsha with ten summers behind her was capable of taking care of herself but her seven year old brother was still the baby of the family.
She looked up at the wall clock. It was eight-thirty.
"Honey, I'm off. Might be late in the evening. Suman stood beside her in the kitchen just long enough to plant a kiss on her cheek. It's one of those gestures that have stayed with them for the last twelve years. She followed him out of the kitchen, yanked the kids out of the table and sent them off to the bedroom to get dressed for school. They managed to do that on their own.
As she started to get dressed standing in front of the wardrobe mirror she mused that there was at least one bright side to her tough schedule. It definitely helped her to stay in shape. She was slim, tall – almost five feet seven and medium complexioned. She knew that even at thirty-six she was attractive.
"You are still a head turner, honey." Suman was always saying that. It was a harmless leg pulling on his part but going by the way people stared at her she knew he wasn't wrong. Having put on her pale blue saree she turned, her side facing the mirror and arranged her shoulder length hair. That's perfect, she decided. No unwanted prominence.
"Mama, we are ready." Their shout brought her back to her senses. It was time she took them to the bus stop for their school bus.
She flopped down on the bed. She felt too tired even to change her clothes. The blast of cool air from the ceiling fan helped her relax. It went just like that on day's Lakshmi didn't turn up. Later, she would get up, change and have her breakfast. A brief flip through the newspaper before she returned to the kitchen to get on with her daily chores. Now the only thing she could think of was to relax under the fan. Everything else could wait. She closed her eyes just to enjoy that stupor of sleep come over her.
The ringing doorbell brought her back to her senses. She looked at her watch. It was almost ten o'clock.
"Who can it be?" She murmured rising from the comfort of the bed. Peeping into the door-eye she could see Lakshmi standing outside. She opened the door to let her in. It was then that she noticed the man standing a couple of yards behind her, right on the driveway.
"Do I need to tell you what happened day before yesterday?" Lakshmi said.
No, she nodded. "I have brought him with me. See whether you can talk him out of this beastly habit. I have my doubts."
Megha made way for Lakshmi to get into the house. As Lakshmi went past her she looked at the man standing there.
"Come in and close the door behind you."
She walked into the drawing room and sat down on the sofa. She was in a fix, should she invite them to sit on another sofa or on the floor. Before she could decide, Lakshmi made herself comfortable on the floor. Her husband followed suit.
"What's your name?"
"Bilash"
It was for the first time Megha had a close look at him. Unshaved, it looked he was having a hangover. That's nothing surprising considering his habits. Otherwise, his hair was neatly combed and the shirt he was wearing was one of those she had given to Lakshmi. He looked fine in it. He must be around forty-five, she decided. He was couple of inches taller than she. Lakshmi had told her that he was a mason.
The next quarter of an hour she talked to them, at length, about the virtues of being a teetotaler. He seemed to understand everything, agreeing with her that he should get rid of this habit.
"Nobody had explained to me the problems of being a drunkard the way you have done." He went on. "You are definitely younger to me in age but you are more matured. I guess, that's what education does to you. Don't worry, from this moment onwards I'll concentrate on earning a decent living rather than wasting our earnings on drinks."
As they left, she could make out the gratitude on Lakshmi's face.
More than an hour had passed by. She was still leafing through the newspaper…not feeling like starting the chores in the kitchen. But first, she had to change. She got up and started towards the bedroom. Just then the doorbell rang.
Must be the postman delivering the registered mail, she thought.
She opened the door to find Bilash with a cloth bag.
"What is it?" She felt irritated, but controlled herself.
"I have put all the bottles that I had back home in this bag. As a tribute to the way you helped me I request you to throw these away yourself."
She agreed reluctantly, taking the bag from his out-stretched hand.
"Can I have a glass of water?"
"Sure." She replied putting down the bag on the floor.
When she returned with a glass of water, she found him standing inside. He gulped the water down and returned the glass to her. She took the glass but before she could move it away he caught hold of her hand pulling her to him. It was unexpected and fast…she just couldn't react. All that she managed to do was to turn around so that he was behind her. At that moment panic struck her and the glass slipped out, shattering itself into pieces as it struck the floor. His hands were on her breasts gripping them so hard that it hurt. She bent forward to free herself form his amorous bear hug.
That didn't help. To keep her balance she had to shove her behind at him. He responded immediately, his loins ramming against her behind. He was squeezing her breasts rather painfully.
"Stop or I'll shout." She found her voice at last.
