HERE I AM and other stories-3 A Prince and a Princess

HERE I AM and other stories

3. A Prince and a Princess

Telugu Original: P.Sathyavathi

English Translation: C.L.L. Jayaprada

          Vasantha laughed loudly, chatting with Aruna who was in the USA, the song from the music system at her side virtually shaking the earth.

          Vasundhara came into the room, yelling, ‘I’ve been calling you for the last half an hour – can’t you hear me?’ She switched off the music system and scolded Vasantha, ‘Come, eat your dosas. It’s already ten. When will you finish your breakfast?

          Does Sunday mean that you can delay all work?’ ‘Just half an hour, Amma,’ Vasantha pleaded.

          ‘No hafu, no houru – come on. Everybody has eaten. The cook has to begin with lunch after making your dosas. Your father wants dahi vada today. If you tell me what you want for lunch right away, one chore will be over.’

          ‘Get whatever you want cooked,’ said Vasantha as she came to the table.

          The cook placed a plate and bowls of chutney and steaming sambar in front of Vasantha and ran into the kitchen to make a dosa. Within minutes, she brought the dosa on a flat spoon and saying, ‘Eat this, child, and I’ll get you another hot one,’ she scrambled back and stood at the stove.

          Walking up to her daughter, Vasundhara sat in front of her. ‘We have fixed the time for “bride-viewing” on Thursday. The appointment for you at Urvasi beauty clinic for a facial is on Wednesday evening at 6 o’clock. Go there directly from office. Keep a pretty dress ready; there is no need for a sari. You can wear a dress. Look for a good one now. Did you hear me, or will you again say that you forgot? For a month I’ve been telling you to ask for a day’s leave.’

          It was impossible to oppose Amma and change her schedule. Her words were commands.

          ‘Okay, Mummy!’

          ‘Come! Let us see what nice dresses we can find in your almirah. Otherwise, we will buy one in the evening. Don’t leave the table . . . she is making another dosa for you.’ Then, ‘Don’t sit at the computer now! After you finish your breakfast, let us look for nice jewels for your ears and neck and bangles in the iron safe.’ In the same breath, she ordered the servant girl to remove the plate and the cook to fetch sweet lime juice from the fridge for Vasantha.

          Rapidly downing the juice handed to her by the cook, Vasantha looked at her mother as if to say, ‘May I go now?’

          ‘Come! Let us go to the almirah.’ She almost dragged her daughter into the bedroom and selected what she had to wear on her ears and neck. She took out a dress and said, ‘Leave it outside! I’ll get it ironed once again.’ She finally released her with, ‘Okay! You can go now.’

          Vasantha knew she could chat happily until Amma called her for lunch. Half an hour before lunch, she could rush through her bath, then finish lunch, and Amma would not disturb her till evening tea. Since it was a Sunday, she would be left alone until evening. Vasantha sat in front of the computer and began chatting with Aruna, Ravi and Nirmala.

          Meanwhile, Vasundhara came up to her and stuck a postit on the computer with, ‘Beauty parlour on Wednesday’ and ‘Meeting the groom – Thursday morning at ten,’ and went out.

          Just ten days ago, Vasantha had turned twenty-three. Four months ago, she had received a job offer and three months ago, a degree in engineering, that is, she had got a job in a campus interview even before graduating. She had now received a marriage proposal, and in Amma’s view, it was an excellent match.

          ‘If your mother has approved it, it must be matchless!’ said Nanna.

          The youth in the photo was good-looking.

          ‘Look at these four photos. See whom you like among them,’ said Amma.

          ‘They have only one daughter, very brilliant. Like you, she has also studied in an English-medium school since childhood. After that, a good rank in the engineering entrance test and a job in the campus interview! There is a spark in her face. As far as we are concerned, we like this match,’ Amma and Nanna voted for the same girl in one voice.

          ‘They have a house in town. The mother took voluntary retirement while her daughter was studying. The father’s job is pensionable. They are financially well settled. We don’t need dowry. If they hold a grand wedding, it is enough. What do you say?’ asked father.

          Satish did not know what to say.

          When Nanna had said, ‘No, not Biology, Physics, Chemistry – you can’t compete for a medical seat; I have taken an application for Maths, Physics and Chemistry, and filled it up,’ he wanted to say, ‘I want to become a doctor.’ But he was worried that if he did not get a medical seat, Nanna would get angry and so, he had joined the M-P-C stream in Intermediate.

          When Nanna had said, ‘I have arranged additional math tuition with Narasimham. Go there!’ he had gone meekly.

          When relatives had praised him, saying, ‘It seems your son has got a seat in IIT?’ Nanna had proudly proclaimed, ‘I have been guiding him since the beginning.’ His guidance continued from class I to MS. As for Amma, she had kept telling him all the time what schoolgoing children should eat and how they should exercise. Amma and Nanna had instructions for him on every issue – when he had joined IIT or when he had gone to the US.

          Since he was the only child, Satish did not want to hurt his parents’ feelings. Weren’t they advising him on every issue for his own good? Wasn’t it due to their tireless efforts that he had attained such a good position?

          The girl in the photo was twenty-three, but appeared as if she was studying in class X in a convent.

          ‘Dowry doesn’t matter, Vasundharagaru! If you take dowry with one hand, it will slip through the other. Book a good air-conditioned marriage hall. Get the best catering service. I need not give you the specifics, but you know what courtesies are to be offered. Ensure that our honour is held high.’

          When the phone started ringing in the middle of the night, Vasundhara lifted the receiver anxiously.

          Her sleep was shattered when Satish began yelling, ‘Why is your daughter so arrogant? She doesn’t listen to even a single word of mine. She doesn’t know how to do a chore at home, nor is she interested in learning it. I cannot put up with this. She has been sulking for the last three days. Is sending her to India as simple as going from Chennai to Hyderabad?’

          ‘Give her the phone. Let me speak to her,’ Vasundhara said.

          The girl was sobbing. What had happened?

          These boys seem to be all right on the outside, but they are like the fig fruit inside. I wonder how much he troubled her. These people made us spend ten lakh rupees, saying they didn’t want any dowry.

          If she asked her daughter for more details, he might overhear it. Instead, she asked Vasantha what time it was, telling her to call up after Satish left for office. Vasantha did so.

          ‘He doesn’t like anything I do. I don’t do it as his mother does. He says I didn’t make the beds and didn’t clean the counter. He expects me to put the clothes in the washing machine. He calls his friends over for parties and asks me to cook varieties of food. In India I used to happily earn twenty thousand rupees. You sent me to America – I have no driving licence and there is no public transport . . . This is a jail, Mummy, a jail!’

          ‘What do you mean? Aren’t Aruna, Sravanthi and Pramila there? Are you the only one to have left her job and gone abroad? You must learn to do chores at home. You’ll have to learn to do so.’

          ‘Did you ever allow me to make a cup of coffee? Now you tell me something new – “Adjust and learn!” Didn’t you all adjust to me?’

          Vasundhara was shocked.

          She immediately rang up her daughter’s mother-in-law. The latter, in turn, called her son in the US and pleaded with him: ‘Help the girl a little in household work. It seems all men do it in America!’

          ‘It is impossible, Mummy! I have never done any work at home. If I sit at home doing housework, how will I advance in my career? It is because I find it bothersome to do all these chores that I agreed to marry so early. What will this queen do if she works neither at home, nor outside? Do you know something? She cannot sleep without a teddy bear in bed.’

          The mother-in-law rang up Vasundhara. ‘I called my son, Vasundhara! He was so emotional. It seems your daughter will not even pour water into the coffee maker. She is online all the time. If you had got her married to somebody in India, she would have had many servants at home.’

          ‘Yes! That’s true. She left a job of twenty thousand rupees and went there. I know it’s my mistake,’ replied Vasundhara, suppressing her anger.

          If her daughter were in India, she would at least have had a chance to visit her and see how she was faring. At the least, she could have sent her a servant girl to help her. Suddenly her anger turned against her own mother. She had come to her when Vasantha was born. She had said, ‘How will you work outside and take care of the child? I’ll take her with me and raise her; I don’t have much work at home. It’ll help me pass the time, and you will be under no stress. I shall ask my son-in-law too for his consent.’

          There was a servant girl at her mother’s house to help and carry the child. Mother too was very careful. Knowing that she would look after the child very well, Vasundhara agreed.

          Mother stayed with her for six months. After that she took Vasantha and went home. She raised Vasantha until she was ten years old. A loving grandmother, she would not allow Vasantha to fetch a glass of water for herself or to put the glass back in its place. The child grew up without being aware that she could do a small chore for another person.

          ‘You spoilt her to the core,’ Vasundhara yelled at her mother.

          ‘I raised her till she was ten years old, and you raised her for thirteen years. She was a child when she was with me. When you took care of her, she was growing up and aware. Do you know why I raised your daughter? I do not have the degree and job that you have. I wanted you to live freely. I thought you couldn’t do justice to both your job and the child. But try to understand this. It doesn’t matter if she doesn’t know how to cook! Try to ensure that they understand each other. Otherwise, go stay there and cook for them. Why do you yell at me unnecessarily?’ her mother replied.

          ‘If you wanted a girl who knew how to cook, why did you marry an educated girl?’ said Satish’s mother, exasperated.

          ‘Mother! From the beginning it was you and Nanna who raised me, telling me what I needed and how I should be comfortable. You decided everything for me. Did I not listen to you? You selected the girl. I agreed since I thought you knew everything,’ said Satish.

          ‘It is no longer good manners to ask a girl whether she knows how to cook and whether she is used to doing household chores. Yet, don’t girls go to America after their wedding and learn how to cook? Anyway, put this aside. It seems there are many Indian restaurants and grocery stores there. Eat out for a few days,’ Satish’s mother told him.

          ‘Good advice! Leave the food alone, the house stinks like hell,’ Satish hang up.

          ‘I can’t make friends with him. He is a typical Indian middle-class male,’ Vasantha told Aruna on the phone.

          ‘You didn’t know anything about each other till you were engaged. You only checked each other’s certificates. That’s how life is. Let this pass. Why don’t you go to India for some time?’ said Aruna.

          ‘I tried even that. He seems to have spent a lot for the wedding. It seems it is impossible for him to buy the tickets. He told me this clearly.’

          Perhaps Aruna did not know what to say. For a while, there was a silence on her side.

          ‘I left the job halfway, in the midst of a good project, and came here. It was very interesting and in another six months, I would have become the team leader. He treats me like a homemaker. It is impossible to make friends with him, Aruna! He doesn’t make any effort to understand me. He doesn’t help me with small chores! Do you know that when mother was away and if the cook did not turn up, Nanna and I would eat out and happily go off to watch a film?’

          ‘I know! Our parents teach us how to be clean, look dignified and beautiful and get good ranks. They give parties for our birthdays, give us good food, get “a good husband” and all that. But to help us become independent in decisionmaking, to give us the self-confidence to face problems – none of these matters in their view. They try to think for us. This is becoming more and more common. Not just you, even Satish is like that. You were never in a situation where you had to think for yourselves. That’s why you are wriggling like fish out of water. Both of you should go for counselling. It is the usual thing here.’

          ‘Whatever this counselling is, let me tell you Aruna – in our house I never even washed the tea cup I used. I didn’t even put it in the sink. The maid used to take it from my hand. Here, Satish complains that I haven’t washed the bathroom. Can’t he do it once in a while? Moreover, he shamelessly confessed that he married me to escape these chores.’

          ‘Look, Vasantha! Listen to me – both of you should go for counselling. If he doesn’t want to go, at least you should go. Otherwise, you’ll get into a depression.’

          ‘I’ll take the baby. It is not easy for you to raise her here. It is no trouble for me. A cook, a servant girl . . . Moreover, your father is also there to help me. You say you have got the work permit. Look for a job or study for a higher degree. Initially, you were under a lot of stress because of the baby. We’ll bring up the little girl. You take up a job. Or take a course. Satish seems to have changed a lot. Don’t you see that?’ persisted Amma.

          ‘So you are creating another princess!’ said Satish on the phone. He was probably speaking to his father. His words were audible from the speaker phone.

          ‘Send the baby with Vasundharagaru, Satish! We’ll also take care of her for some days of the week. We will not leave the child to her entirely. We are in the same town, aren’t we?’

          ‘Five persons on this side and five on the other will take care of her. Wonderful, Nanna! Won’t you stop telling me what we have to do and how we have to do things? Won’t you allow us to think? Leave us alone, Nanna! At least now, allow us to live on our own and think for ourselves. Let us face our troubles. Allow us to make our decisions,’ Satish put down the receiver.

          ‘Not a big deal. If both of you work, you can buy a house soon,’ Vasundhara persisted.

          ‘We’ll find a way, Amma. Chill. Didn’t you hear what Satish told his father?’ and Vasantha moved away from there.

          ‘What is this!’ Vasundhara was stunned. Her daughter had never talked back to her until that moment.

*****

(to be continued..)