Political Stories- 3 Nose stud

Political Stories by Volga

Political Stories-3

Nose stud

          Once again, a potential suitor will come today to see her. Rama is tired of it. For the last six years she has had these visits by potential suitors at least five, six times a year. It started when she was in the second year of Intermediate. She has since passed her B.A. and has been employed for the last couple of years. Rama is good looking. A tanned white complexion with a pretty face. Though the nose is a bit short, and slightly big, it can’t be called stubby. With her long braid, and a well proportioned body, you could definitely say that Rama is good looking. But beauty isn’t the real problem. The previous suitors hadn’t dropped out because they didn’t like her. In fact, liking her or not liking her had never been the issue at all. What they didn’t like was the dowry offered by her father.

          If one is able to understand what a problem is really abon or identify where the real problem lies, one could easily solve most of the world’s problems. A given problem has several angles and reflections. If the problem lies in one place, its shadow is found in another. We sometimes grab its shadow instead of the problem itself. For some time, in Rama’s case, it has been her nose that was believed to be the true problem for the suitors. When Rama was three years old, her grandmother had Rama’s nose and ears pierced. She protested and screamed, but in vain. As she was trying to wriggle out of grandmother’s grip, her nose got pierced at two places. Her grandmother again held Rama tight, pressing down firmly on her hands and legs, while the nose-piercing boy poked a big hole on her nose joining the two smaller holes. The holes in the ears had healed quickly, but the wound on the nose became infected. Rama got a fever, which subsided only after sucking the life out of her for two long weeks. olanas od au bo b o Her grandmother had announced to everyone that Rama would inherit her nose stud. And after her death, when the girl was ten-years old, Rama’s mother placed the stud in her daughter’s nose. The children in Rama’s school teased her so much that she removed it and left it in her jewelry box. But the hole in her nose remained open. And a black scar marked the area around it. By the time Rama joined college, nose studs were completely out of fashion. Many of her classmates didn’t even have their noses pierced. 

          Many of them often stared at Rama’s nose, with its hole and dark marks. “That is the only problem for you,” they told her. “Why is it a problem? It doesn’t interfere with my breathing. I can still smell things. I don’t have any nose-related diseases. I haven’t even had a cold in four, five years. What’s the problem with my nose?” Rama asked. “Well, it doesn’t interfere with all those other things, but it will sure come in the way of you getting married,” responded Saila. Everyone called Saila by the nickname Stubby Nose In fact, it wasn’t just Saila. Every girl scrutinized her own body, particularly her face, to monitor and measure its perfection. Noses were causes for worry. One girl complained that her nose was too long, another worried that hers was too short, and a third one thought her nose was bent. One girl fussed that her nose drooped down. Every girl had an ideal nose in her mind. It was the thin, straight, sharp-ended nose—the one poets and writers describe. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a nose like that?” Mallika wondered aloud when the Telugu teacher explained a poem on the nose from Manucaritra.

          A nose like the sampangi bud!

          A beautiful nose like that of the heroines in stories and novels. Rama was tired of hearing the girls talk disappointedly about their noses and wishing for ‘that’ nose which they didn’t have.

          Many of them often stared at Rama’s nose, with its hole and dark marks. “That is the only problem for you,” they told her. “Why is it a problem? It doesn’t interfere with my breathing. I can still smell things. I don’t have any nose-related diseases. I haven’t even had a cold in four, five years. What’s the problem with my nose?” Rama asked. “Well, it doesn’t interfere with all those other things, but it will sure come in the way of your getting married,” responded Saila. Everyone called Saila by the nickname Stubby Nose In fact, it wasn’t just Saila. Every girl scrutinized her own body, particularly her face, to monitor and measure its perfection. Noses were causes for worry. One girl complained that her nose was too long, another worried that hers was too short, and a third one thought her nose was bent. One girl fussed that her nose drooped down. Every girl had an ideal nose in her mind. It was the thin, straight, sharp-ended nose—the one poets and writers describe. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a nose like that?” Mallika wondered aloud when the Telugu teacher explained a poem on the nose from Manucaritra. Por A nose like the sampangi bud! lo se A beautiful nose like that of the heroines in stories and novels. Rama was tired of hearing the girls talk disappointedly about their noses and wishing for ‘that’ nose which they didn’t have.

          But she gradually realized that her own nose would become a problem for her. When four suitors in a row had talked about the hole and scar on her nose, her parents grew worried. Rama’s mother cursed the deceased grandmother who had had the nose pierced. When the fifth suitor’s folks said, “We are not worried about dowry. Our boy wants a beautiful girl, but your daughter has a tanned white complexion, and on top of that she has that thing on the nose;” Rama’s father decided that the hole in the nose should be fixed somehow. When Rama was in the second year of her B.A., he took her to a famous surgeon in Guntur who operated on her nose and made the scar invisible. The scar-less nose appeared to mock her. She was used to the scar. It had been a part of her. Now that it was gone, Rama missed it for some time. But she was pleased that the one excuse the suitors always brought up was gone. Her friends were delighted. “You will get married now, watch our word,” they told her. ‘Girls can be required to change every part of their body for the sake of marriage, depending upon the desires of the suitor’s family, thought Rama. About Sobha, who was whitish, they said she was too white, not pretty at all. About Vani who had big eyes, they said, “My, what big eyes, what a weird gaze!” 

          Rama was convinced that when a girl hoping to get married sat in front of the boy’s side of the family, they would find some fault or the other in her. Rama has finished her B.A., and has been working as a typist for a couple of years. Yet she has not found a match even though her parents have been making efforts. In the meantime, thanks to a film star, nose studs have become fashionable again. Every girl is getting her nose pierced. Rama is astounded that the very girls who laughed at the hole in her nose are now rushing to get their noses pierced. Everyone has high hopes for the suitor who is coming to see Rama today, a lecturer who has already agreed to a dowry of twenty five thousand Rupees. His elder sister, Savitri, has been a neighbor of Rama’s family for the last three years. It was Savitri who encouraged this alliance and handled most of the negotiations. The boy has seen the girl’s photo and the girl has seen his. On the few occasions when the boy visited his sister, Rama accidentally saw him and ran away. Today everyone is confident that the boy, Satyanarayana, is coming to see the girl formally; he definitely would not come to say that he didn’t like the girl he had seen in the photo. Yet there is an undercurrent of tension. If she were a bit fairer, it wouldn’t have been this difficult, her mother mutters. Even Rama isn’t all that excited. She dresses up for the occasion as she has done in the past. The formalities are finished, and the groom’s folks leave, apparently satisfied.

          They ask for a formal engagement in about ten days. Rar feels as if a big burden is lifted from her shoulders. She has a hearty lunch and dozes off until five in the evening. Savitai wakes her up, commenting that she will surpass her brother when it comes to sleeping. Rama wakes up feeling bashi at the comment. “There is one thing you have to do in a hurry now.” Savitri says. “What is that?” Rama asks, yawning idly. “You have to get your nose pierced,” she says. Rama is astonished. “My brother dearly loves nose studs. He thinks a woman’s nose isn’t pretty unless it is studded. ‘She is pretty alright, but she doesn’t wear a nose stud,’ he said. I told him that this can be quickly fixed. He said he will have a diamond stud. It probably costs no less than a couple thousand. You are truly a lucky one. Now let us get going. We will get your nose pierced,” Savitri continues in a barrage. “I will not get my nose pierced even if that breaks this alliance,” Rama declares, with her nose twitching in anger and resentment

          Who can tell whether it looks beautiful now or not?

Eenaadu, May 13, 1990.

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(To be Continued-)