Poison Ivy

She was beautiful. He was handsome. They met in college and it was love at first sight. They decided to get married. But she was poor; daughter of a nobody. He was a prince with a crown and a palace and with a heritage of royal Rajasthan behind him. There was bound to be trouble. The queen did not approve of his son’s choice. But the prince was adamant he would go to any length to get married to his love. The queen finally consented. And they got married. It was 25 years ago.

Are you laughing? Yes I know there were no Kingdoms in India 25 years ago. But he lived like a prince. And who would have told the haughty lady that she was not a queen anymore? She ruled her house with more stateliness than her ancestors had ruled Rajasthan. And the village where they lived still considered her the Queen. But we are digressing.

Lets call them Roopamati and Kunwar Singh for sake of anonymity. Roopamati and Kunwar Singh got married. Soon Roopamati was expecting, everybody talked about heir to the throne would be born. When she went into labour the whole village held their breath. The instruments of celebrations were cleaned, ready to explode. The whole village stopped as generally seen during the last overs of world cup finals.

It was late in the night when the door opened, the nurse was smiling holding a baby ‘It’s a girl!’. There was a collective sigh of disappointment. The queen turned around and locked herself in the bedroom. The prince prepared for himself a peg of whiskey and went swimming for an hour in the backyard, the usual activity before sleeping. And so that night, nobody held me, nobody hugged me, except Roopamati, my mother. Nobody congratulated my mother, nobody even smiled at her. Unfortunately I was too young for that.

It was obvious, the prince needed an heir and that a girl could not be an heir, so Roopamati had to try again for producing an heir. And Roopamati tried, like an obedient daughter-in-law. I must be 4-5 years old then. 3 months later Roopamati fell violently ill. She was taken to a hospital in town; the pregnancy had to be terminated. And she was told she could not become pregnant again. She was discharged 15 days later, doctors had brought her back from brink of death.

When Roopamati returned, the whole environment had changed, it had become hostile. Everybody knew that she could not give the Prince an heir. She was ignored by everyone, from the prince, the queen to the lowest of the servant in the household. The queen was furious when she was told that her daughter-in-law could not have any more children, she needed a grand-son for continuing the lineage. The queen came to a conclusion and the royal writ was dispatched. Roopamati should do every pooja, every vrat, every upwaas have a son. And everybody should co-operate with daughter-in-law with the fast as long as it was sanctioned by the Royal Pandit, anybody violating it would be held responsible under pain of death. Although this was an empty threat, everybody followed.

Roopamati regained her strength, temporarily. And before she could recover completely, she was forced to follow a strict regiment to please the gods. She had no choice but to follow the orders. The only person who could help her, her husband, had withdrawn himself in a cocoon and refused to even talk to her. And the intention was clear, the fruit was distinctly unambiguous. They wanted an heir, she had to bear a son. But for all her hard effort to please the Gods, miracle evaded Roopamati and she weakened by every passing day. The dream of having a normal life faded.

It had become a fight between her spirit and her body. The body was getting weaker every day due to her effort to please the gods by sacrificing food. The spirit was strong and wanted life. Some days the spirit won, and she was almost cheerful. Other days the body won, and she was bed ridden. Finally the body won and gave up.

I was a silent spectator of all this, a helpless child. I watched her as she collapsed while doing rounds of Tulsi in the morning. I watched as she was carried into the bedroom and when nobody cared to call for a doctor. I watched her being confined to her bed due to weakness. I watched as her hunger died along with willingness to live. I watched and I cried. I was 10 when my mother was announced dead. Her spirit had died long ago.

After my mother’s death, the queen took on herself to mould me into something I was not. She frowned when I ate fast, it was not in accordance to another important feminine trait of Grace. She frowned when I refused to learn cooking, to learn stitching or singing. I had to learn all these things, if I had to become a good wife. She expected unquestioned obedience, I was free willed. And life became endless lessons, endless unpleasant lessons.

The library room in the palace was huge,and as it turned out, rarely used. I started hiding there from grandmother and her lessons. I also started reading. That’s when I learnt about Christopher Columbus and his journey to America, about Raja Harishchandra and his divine test, about Newton and his Theory of Gravity. But what fascinated me most was the land of animals and plants, of which I liked the snakes, the spiders, the scorpions the most. I would have considered it odd that a young girl like me was fascinated by poisonous creatures but I had nothing to compare with. I was a loner.

Soon after my mother’s death, father got married again. The second wife was a poor little soul who took on the task of producing the heir immediately and left me alone. One year later she produced an heir, and all the energy of the palace was spent around the Heir. I was left alone to the books.

That’s how I spent my next few years. I had no friends, I did go to school but talked to no one. I spent most of time in the library hiding. I was not unhappy. I was not ill treated. And I would have continued the life had it not for a servant who blabbered the plans of my father. According to him, I was old enough and he had plans for my marriage, negotiations were on through a middle man. I panicked. I did not want to end up like my mother. I wanted to control my own life. I hid in the library, I cried for a long time.

On that cool night, a young girl ran away from home. She had nothing but few hundred rupees stolen from her father’s wallet and an old diary which contained an address of an uncle whom she remembered having a kindly face. The address was that of Mumbai and the train which left the station at midnight also went to Mumbai.

It was a stupid thing to do, but I was lucky. I reached safely and the uncle with kindly face also had a kind heart and he supported me. My father searched the neighborhood and when nothing turned up, announced that I had could not handle the loss of my mother and had jumped to death. I am pretty sure he was relieved. After all he would had to give lots of dowry in my marriage to keep his status.

But that was 10 years ago. Lot of water has flown under the bridge and I have grown. I completed the schooling, went to college and now I am a researcher. The passion for venomous creatures which caught me in childhood has not receded, and I continue to work on the most poisonous species of the world. Our task is to extract the poison and find out about how it can be used other than to kill people. Some of them have fascinating applications, like anesthesia or anti-coagulant. The challenge lies not only in extracting the venom, but keeping it stable so that it can be injected at will. The work is fun, because I love what I do. But it can be dangerous too.

Few months ago, while I was working in the lab I fell down paralysed. A lab full of students with experience in handling poisonous insects soon realized that the symptom was that of being bitten by a rare Amazonian spider. I was working on exactly that species, so it was not a mystery how I got bitten. But they were perplexed none the less because I was nowhere near the glass box which kept the spiders. It takes only a few seconds for the paralysis to set in, once the spider has bitten. They panicked and although they knew that the effects reduce after 15 minutes, I was admitted me to hospital. I was fine by the time admission was done, but doctor kept me overnight under observation. I suspect the effects of spider bite were novelty for them too. I was a sort of a star that night.

But that stardom attracted an unwanted visitor. A person, who from the appearance appeared like a religious guru, stared at me endlessly. He was a middle aged person and from the number and quantity of visitors a fairly successful one. After lot of thought, he spoke to me:

‘You are daughter of Kunwar!’

I was cursing my luck. Of all the people in the world, the guy who knew my old identity should be in the hospital. He started narrating old stories and I realized that many royal families of Rajasthan were his followers. And as required by his profession, he kept all the information about each and every family. He knew that I had run away and that my father had declared me dead. He talked to me about my mother and the poor soul how much she had suffered. That was first time in 10 years that I was close to crying for my mother. He sensed my anger at my father, that I held him responsible for killing my mother and he talked about forgiveness. He talked me into meeting my father again. He convinced me that atleast I should try to understand his side of the story.

By the time I was discharged, this person had my phone number and my promise that I will forget the anger and meet my father. Not sure whether it was under the influential talk of Sadhuji Maharaj, but I wanted to meet my father. The spider bite appeared to have some divine intentions.

Sadhuji Maharaj went straight to my father’s house, and used his silver tongue and convinced him of meeting me. He knew for some time that I was alive and living in Mumbai, but had not taken any pains to meet me. But this time I was invited to stay in the palace. Sadhuji Maharaj had given a guarantee that I would not be harmed there. And so I went planning so that I need not stay for more than 36 hours.

I was welcomed warmly, more warmly by couple of old servants and less so by the family members. Lots of things had changed in the palace since the time I left. The queen was gone and my father was presiding over the palace. His wife was still a poor little soul who talked shyly even to the people who served her. Her only son had rebelled against his father and had moved out of the palace along with his wife and kid to a near by town trying to etch a living for himself. The father was trying his best by using his influence to make his son’s life miserable. He was hell bent on teaching his son a lesson for rebelling against him. A further digging revealed bits and pieces of the cause of son’s action. It was turn of my father to want a grandson and he had tried to pressurize his son and daughter in law. Thankfully the son, unlike his father, preferred to move out than let his wife suffer. I was sure this incident was just a last nail and my brother had more reasons to move out. But this went on to prove that my father had not changed a bit. My enthusiasm to meet my father waned.

When we met, me and father did nothing but stare at each other and then at the ground. Maharaj was a bit disappointed that we did not connect, but was somewhat relieved when I was invited for dinner at the hall the next day which was held as a farewell to Sadhuji who was going on foreign tour for 6 months.

The dinner was a grand affair befitting the royal lineage. There were number of guests with Sadhuji Maharaj being the chief guest. But he had made up his mind and was trying his best to get me and my father together. We spoke guardingly.

Later in the night, most people had left. Sadhuji Maharaj was talking to some of his disciples when he signaled all of them to leave which they did immediately, leaving only 3 of us. Maharaj made a small speech about how important Father-daughter relationship is and why he is happy that things are looking good between me and father. He concluded the speech when Maharaj hinted that he may have some good groom for me from suitable Khandan. He even had one in mind and spent the next 5 minutes praising the groom and his family. I was speechless but from my father’s expression I suspected he was privy to this information. I had always known that the Maharaj had ulterior motive but this was beyond my imagination. Our silence was awkward before it was interrupted when his disciple came to announce that the car for departure were ready. I made up an excuse that I need more time think and we could discuss further after Maharaj’s foreign tour.

Maharaj took it spiritedly. He thanked my father for the party, called his disciples and left in the car which was provided by my father. I had another hour before the train left. I bid good bye to my father and rest of the family and went to the room assigned to me in the palace. I collected my baggage, asked the servant to keep it in the car. I was following him when I took a wrong turn and reached the backyard instead of front door. There, my father was taking his pre-sleep swim alone.

When he saw me, he came to the edge of the swimming pool to talk to me. As I bent down to say good bye, he felt something prick his left arm. He instinctively retracted into deeper water, but the paralysis hit him at the very same moment.

Do you know what happens when a human being is paralyzed and in water? ‘Plop’ his body goes like a stone towards the water. No sound escapes the water, no thrashing. Silently the air gasps out of the lungs and all is over but not before a terrible pain when the spirit wants to struggle and live while body cannot. The same terrible pain as experienced by my mother.

I reached the front door, thanked the servant who had kept the luggage in the car and left. In the train I disposed off the syringe piece by piece on various bridges as the train chugged along.

My half-brother is the prince now. But there are lots of conspiracy theories on how the older prince died, some of them suspecting the wounded spirit of Roopamati. As for me, I don’t feel any interest in those poisonous creatures any longer. I am thinking of a career change.

The Curious Case of Shanti Priya: Truly Blind

This is the second part of an ongoing work. The first part can be found here.

Rajneesh Sharma lay awake on the bed, waiting. It was only 3 months ago that he was a shy young man away from family and friends toiling away for a successful career. And within these three months, his life had been transformed.
That day started on a very bad note. His bike had conked off just on the very day when he had an important meeting to attend. After trying his best to get his bike started, Rajneesh had made his way to the bus stop cursing away at each and every thing he passed. He hoped that he would get an auto soon and reach in time for the meeting.
Rajneesh waited impatiently for 5 minutes, but neither the bus nor an auto turned up. Just as his tension and frustration were rising, he noticed a girl gazing at him. She gave him a nice smile. Rajneesh self-consciously avoided her gaze for next few minutes. But then somehow they started conversing.
Rajneesh was not the kind of guy who could strike conversation with any passing stranger and he was especially an introvert around ladies. Even today he cannot remember who started it, but within seconds the conversation felt very natural.
Soon Rajneesh found out that the girl’s destination was along the same route as his and he offered her to share the auto. She agreed. Finally an auto driver made his way to the bus stop. Rajneesh hailed it and soon both were on the way to their offices.
That night Rajneesh analysed what had happened that day and was surprised at himself. He had not only talked to a girl, but had even made an arrangement to pick her up the next day on his bike on the way to the office. He was proud of himself. He had surely charmed the girl, because she had readily agreed for the arrangement. ‘Shilpa is not very beautiful, rather passable, but very charming.’ Rajneesh would have explained this to anybody who would have asked about Shilpa. But he did not, as nobody asked him the question. Nobody asked him the question as he had not divulged any information about her to anybody, not even her name. And his parents were completely in the dark even about Shilpa’s existence till around a week ago.
Rajneesh was very punctual in picking up Shilpa everyday, and Shilpa was on the bus stop without fail. This was the start of a very beautiful friendship between two very unlikely people.
Rajneesh was from North of India. He was here because his company had closed their operations in Delhi and had transferred him here. None among his family or friends had ever been south of Mumbai in their lives. And so Rajneesh was a loner in this city. He was here for more than a year now, and yet his acquaintances did not extend beyond his colleagues.
Shilpa was also new to this city, but she had come here from a nearby town after her graduation. For a long time Shilpa did not reveal neither the town nor any other details about her family. Whenever the topic came up, Shilpa would get restless and Rajneesh would drop the topic.
For the first month, Rajneesh used to religiously pick up Shilpa at the bus stop and drop near her office. Some time later they started meeting for coffee in the afternoon or evenings. Slowly they started watching movies and having dinners together. They took a couple of picnics together too and had even stayed in a hotel in Mysore overnight posing as husband and wife.
At this point Rajneesh felt quite natural that he and Shilpa would get married sooner or later, although nothing of this sort had been spoken of. Shilpa’s behaviour towards him left no doubt in his mind. He knew that one of these days he would ask her about marriage, and she would not refuse. Thus one day on the way back after dinner, he took her to a nearby park and asked her to marry him.
Shilpa was taken aback, and the next moment she had tears in her eyes. She had neither said yes or no, and Rajneesh was confused.
‘Rajneesh!’ Shilpa spoke softly still in tears, ‘Don't be angry at me. I cannot marry you although I have similar feelings towards you as you have towards me. I am being forced by fate and I am helpless. I cannot marry you!’
Rajneesh felt bold when he heard that Shilpa loved him. ‘Whats the matter? There is nothing like fate. Whatever it is, we can solve it together.’ He took her hand in his. Shilpa would not talk, but when Rajneesh insisted she relented.
‘I am from Tumkur, a city an hour from here. My parents used to live there, in fact most of my family is still there. But about time when I was graduating, an evil fell on our family. My father had taken loan from my uncle for business. The business failed and my father could not repay the loan. That uncle has big clout in Tumkur and he started harassing my father. Unable to take up the harassment, both my parents committed suicide. But this did not deter my uncle. He started harassing me. Uncle wanted me to make true my fathers loan and proposed that I marry a person of his choice. I am sure he had some deal in mind and wanted to sell me off. But then I was lucky and ran away. I came to Bangalore, found a job and have been living in hiding. Uncle has lots of contacts in Bangalore too. I wont be able to hide for long. And I don't want you to be caught in my uncle’s clutches, which you will if you marry me..’
That night was a long night. Rajneesh trying to convince Shilpa to get married despite her past. Shilpa refusing, saying that her uncle was very dangerous person. But as night wore thin, Rajneesh proposed to pay off the loan, it was a big amount but he could manage it. Finally that night Shilpa smiled, and they hugged for a long time.
The next week was even longer and equally hectic. They wanted to get married as soon as possible. Shilpa was worried that if her uncle even suspected about any of this, all hell will break loose. Rajneesh managed to scrap through all his savings and with a personal loan managed to collect enough for the repayment. He did not want Shilpa to live in fear and wanted to repay the loan as soon as possible. He also had insisted on buying some jewellery for the bride. Shilpa had insisted to get married in a temple and not in registrar office. She wanted to start her new life on an auspicious note.
On the big day, they woke up early and went to office as usual, met in the evening directly in the temple. They did not want any risk of being seen together on the D-day. They got married, took the certificate from the priest as a proof of marriage, and took off for honeymoon. The only witnesses were couple of Rajneesh’s friends/colleagues. Shilpa did not want to get any body, either her friends or relatives. Rajneesh’s parents could not make it due to short notice.
Rajneesh and Shilpa were just back from their honeymoon. The honeymoon was a short one as they had things to settle with Shilpa’s family. Rajneesh was excited. Tomorrow would be a big day. He had written off a cheque for Rs 5 lakhs. Shilpa would meet her uncle along with some of her other relatives, pay off the debt at once. Once that hurdle was crossed, Rajneesh expected the normal ending of any story ‘They lived happily ever after...’
Shilpa walked in the bed room carrying a glass of hot milk (as is the tradition). He drank the whole glass bottoms up. Smiling, he lay his head down on the pillow and fell asleep. That night Rajneesh slept like a log.
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Lakshmi, Shanti Priya’s mother, was wondering about the events of the last year. She was mechanically pacifying the baby. It was 2 AM and the day had brought more questions than answers.
Lakshmi was thinking of the day when Shanti’s husband dumped Shanti on their door step, the world had transformed for the old couple. All social contact had to be stopped because everybody would ask the same question, ‘What is Shanti doing here? Is everything OK between her and her husband?’ for which they had no answer. They were too embarrassed to explain their son-in-law’s despicable behaviour. They were hoping angainst hope that once the court had settled the matters, they could live peacefully.
But after the court verdict things in fact went from bad to worse. Now they had to face questions about their own daughter’s behaviour. Lakshmi did not remember when she had received a visit or attended a function in past many months.
Srinivas, Shanti’s father, had made up his mind to throw Shanti out of his house on the day of the verdict. Shanti’s behaviour in his typical middle class values was of the worst kind. And he wanted nothing to do with such sinful daughter or her ‘paapi’ sons. But then Lakshmi felt pity for her daughter and the new-born kids. She knew that Shanti could not manage to raise the kids alone while also having to earn a living. She had cried, she had pleaded, she had done everything to get Srinivas to accept Shanti living with them. But then he had agreed only after he extracted a promise from Shanti to reform her behaviour.
When Adi-Abhi were 3 months old, Shanti rejoined the job offered to her by the politician. Although everything including Shanti’s character was lost during the court case, the job had been retained as she had joined on permanent basis and could not be removed so easily. For the first few months after rejoining, Shanti had been regular to office, she left the house before 9 and was back soon after 6. She also took care of her children, although not as much as Lakshmi would have liked.
Then one day she called up from office to tell Lakshmi that she had work and would come late. She came back at 8 pm. Lakshmi ignored it as she knew that Shanti’s job responsibilities would require her to work late hours once in a while. But then this became a regular affair. Initially, she would be back by 8, then it became 9 and later she returned regularly after 10 pm.
This was not acceptable even for a forgiving lady as Laskhmi. She broached the topic and Shanti blamed her boss. H claimed that he had been targeting her from the beginning and had threatened her of dismissal if she could not complete the assigned job. Shanti felt that she was being targeted because of being a single woman . ‘I am being made to pay for one mistake of mine. Now nobody would believe me if I complained against him. Everybody thinks I am ‘loose’’, Shanti was trying her best to hold back the tears.
Lakshmi felt bad. She comforted Shanti and told her not to worry about the kids. Lakshmi would take care of them. Shanti could work without worrying about home. Lakshmi still believed that these difficult times would soon pass.
From that day onwards, Lakshmi never broached the subject with Shanti again. She silently toiled away taking care of kids when Shanti was ‘forced’ to work late nights, sometimes on Sundays too. But Lakshmi never complained even to her husband as she was sure of not getting any empathy. She had never felt the burden unbearable until today.
2 days ago, Shanti was in a very bad mood. She was complaining about everything including food. Then in the night, she confided to Lakshmi that she had to go out of station for 2-3 days on official duty. She had tried her best to convince her boss not to send her, but he had insisted and had not given her a choice. And so Shanti left the next morning.
The two days went well. The kids threw up tantrums once in a while as they were not used to their mother’s absence for so long. On the third day Aadi fell sick. He never stopped crying and had to be taken to doctor. The doctor had him admitted for a day. This was a difficult situation for the old couple as they had to take care of both the kids, one at home and another in the hospital. And all the while Shanti could not even be communicated with. Her colleagues at office always replied that they did not know where Shanti was and how to contact her. When Aadi was discharged from hospital, Lakshmi gave the charge of both the kids to her husband and determinedly reached Shanti’s office. She asked for her boss and was directed to a cabin which she directly entered and without waiting started abusing the boss for being so harsh on Shanti.
Laksmi spoke for half an hour. The whole office was listening. The boss, an old man with grey hair and soft expression, listened to Lakshmi patiently without interrupting. When finally Lakshmi had exhausted her feelings, she was given a glass of water and some coffee. Then he got up, without speaking, in deep thoughts. He paced up and down for few moments trying to analyse. Then he sympathetically looked at Lakshmi and spoke to her in soft voice.
‘I don’t know what to say. I know that part of what you are saying is truth. But Shanti has been given all the facilities possible including extra leaves past few months. Many-a-days she comes to office late, leaves early, no one questions her. Once when I had the boldness to ask to stay atleast when the work is more, she threw a big tantrum and she cried.‘
‘Who can help but feel bad for a lady when you are told that infant kids are alone at home and that she has to take care of everything. Even now she has disappeared for past 2 days without notice and that is why we could not help you trace her.’
Lakshmi was dumbfounded. Why would Shanti lie? Or was the boss lying blatantly in front of his subordinates? What was she doing till late in the night? With all these thoughts running in her mind and a heavy heart she left for home.
The clock struck 2 and as if on clue the door bell rang. Shanti stumbled in, she looked drunk. Lakshmi got agitated and demanded an explanation. Shanti glared at her, threw her handbag in disgust and banged into her bedroom. Lakshmi stared at the handbag for quite some time. Then making up her mind, she slowly carried it to her room and opened it. Inside, Lakshmi found a cheque worth 5 lakhs, some gold jewellery, a small bottle of half empty sleeping pills and a marriage certificate certifying that ‘Shilpa’ and ‘Rajneesh’ have been married at some temple.

Flower of Paradise

From being left to die on the road, Suma had come a long way to become the director of the ‘Young Flower Orphanages’. The orphanage, of which she also had been the first inmate, had seen phenomenal growth since the time Suma took helms. And then came the announcement of being the youngest ever recipient of the Indian Technology Industry for Social Responsibility (ITISR), the prestigious award for social work, all at the age of 30. This story was too good to resist. Within a short period of time she had become a darling of the media. Just when future looked bright for this New Kid on the Block, she did the unthinkable. She declined to receive the very award for which she had gained recognition. And she did it in style; she walked off the stage in the middle of the ceremony.

This news spread like wildfire. A twitter escaped from the very auditorium few moments after Suma had walked off. It was picked by a couple of news-blogs by evening, and was on in the main stream media next day. Nothing can be more ‘chewy’ than the fall of a rising star.
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20 years ago.... It had been a usual morning for Mrs Kumar. She always woke up an hour before her husband and took a quick morning walk along the tree lined avenues of Bangalore. This was 1990, the technology industry which was to transform this sleepy city into a bustling megalopolis was still in its infancy. And the roads of Jayanagar were still lined with giant ancient trees.

As she approached the gate with quick strides, she noticed a little girl in an half sitting/half sleeping position along the compound wall. A security guard was trying to wake her, but had so far failed to obtain a reaction.

Mrs Kumar soon found out that the child had high fever and was in a fever induced delirium. With the help of the security guard, Mrs Kumar quickly moved the girl into safety of her own house and called for her family physician. Doctor’s verdict half an hour later was that fever was the symptom of food poisoning and treatment had to be started immediately to prevent permanent damage.

It took two days before the fever reduced. When the girl was strong enough to tell her name, a search was made in the neighbourhood first then the issue was taken up with the police, but nobody seemed to be searching for a lost girl named Suma. Suma in the meanwhile was trying her best not to reveal her past. She seemed to prefer the sight of the kindly Mrs Kumar to her own family. Finally after a fortnight, Mrs. Kumar gave up trying to return Suma to her family.

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Monika Gupta. Aged 33. Wife of Mr. Saurabh Gupta who had recently returned from US to build the Indian office of the MNC he worked for. Mother of a 5-year old boy and a homemaker by profession. She was also the reason why Suma was in the city and not in the village where she grew up. Monika had explained Suma’s presence to her kitty party friends thus, 'I got Suma to city so that she can get good education. The schools they have in villages are so dirty. Also, she can help me with small chores. You know how difficult it is to raise a kid now-a-days.'

The second part was true atleast initially. For some weeks Suma had light work of taking care of ‘Golu’, Monika’s child. But that changed when Monika realised Suma’s true value, as a maid who was completely under her control. Day after the kitty party, the maid assigned for washing utensils fell sick (intentionally, Suma realised later) and Suma was requested to help with the washing of sink full of utensils. Within 4 months, the regular maid was fired and Suma was entrusted with the old maid’s duties till a new one could be found. New one was not found for next 1.5 years.

The ‘schooling’ part of the Monika’s statement was never true. For 6 months Suma was not admitted to any school, it being close to end of academic year. Later when she was actually admitted, the school turned out to be much worse than her village school. The teachers were sadistic, the facilities bare and teaching pathetic. Adding to that, Suma’s regular duties made her irregular at the school. Helping Monika was always higher priority. And Suma anyway was not expected to study once back from school. Thus Suma slowly became dejected and nobody noticed when she stopped attending the school entirely by the end of the 6 months.

The only saving grace in that house for Suma was the food. Suma could eat on the same table with Gupta’s and the same food as well. Well, almost daily. There were days when the family ate out, sometimes Suma was asked to accompany if it was a private affair. However when a party was being arranged by someone else, Suma was generally left out. Monika took care to get something packed for the girl on their way back which would be cold by the time Suma had time to eat. Suma was not allowed to cook when she was the only one to eat at home and had to eat the stale food from the hotel, which was atleast once a week.

On a particular weekend, Monika had to attend a function. Saurabh being out of town, Monika asked Suma to stay at home and guard it. There was leftover food from previous day which Suma could eat. Monika intended to come back the same day, but insistence by friends made her stay over that night and she returned back only by Sunday evening. When Suma did not answer her doorbells, Monika used her keys to open the door only to find Suma lying in the drawing room floor too weak to even get up. Monika panicked.

While she tried to get Suma to the car, Monika cursed a thousand times. ‘Saurabh is always missing when something like this happens!’. She got Suma to a local hospital where a junior doctor checked Suma.‘Its a case of food poisoning. What did she eat?” the doctor asked. Monika was upset. She remembered that she had left some chicken and some bread in the fridge. Chicken was left over from a packed dinner on friday. And today was Sunday. She knew that she will be blamed if something goes wrong.

Assuring the doctor that she would get Suma admitted in another hospital, Monika got herself and Suma into the car. She drove for sometime around the area, not knowing what to do. Suddenly impulsively she stopped her car and got down. The area was completely unknown to her. It was dark and silent, except for some dogs howling far away. She asked Suma to get down. Suma responded after 2 commands. Monika helped Suma get down, made her sit down on a stone nearby, got into the car and drove away. This was near mid night. Suma was found the next day after 6 AM.

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Mrs. Meenakshi Kumar was in her early 40’s. She was tall, slender and graceful. She kept short hair and a beautiful smile. On seeing Mrs. Kumar, Suma had assumed for some time that she had died and a fairy was standing in front of her.

For 7 days Suma lay on the hospital bed thinking. She had spoken only once till now, to tell her name. She had developed a distrust for anybody and everybody and was looking at passing doctors and nurses suspiciously.

She hated the Gupta’s and she hated her parents more. Her father had sold her to those monsters. And her letters which cried for help remained unanswered. Suma was angry, she was adamant and had decided not to go back home ever. Suma felt that she was unwanted there anyway.

From the hospital Suma was directly taken to Mrs. Kumar’s house. There Mrs. Kumar tried her best to ask about Suma’s home but failed as decisively as all her previous attempts. This event finally precipitated a long standing desire of Mrs. Kumar of helping the under-previleged and the ‘Young Flower Orphanage’ was inaugurated 6 months later, with Suma being its first inmate. Untill then and even later, Suma lived with Mrs. Kumar.

In time Suma regained first her health, then her spirits. Yet even after one year she would not tell anything about her past, except in bits and pieces. Mrs. Kumar, who by then had got busy in managing the orphanage, let the matter at rest. Yet she suspected something. Suma in the meanwhile was attending school again. In the spare time she was also helping with small tasks of the orphanage. Though technically Suma was an inmate of the orphanage, in practice she was more a partner in managing the institution.

It must be 2 years since the fateful day since rebirth of Suma. During their usual after dinner conversation Mrs. Kumar mentioned that a new girl will be joining the orphanage soon. Mrs Kumar informed Suma that the girl was around the same age as Suma and had a tragic past. Suma got interested and wanted to know more about her.

‘She is daughter of a small farmer, one who rents farms from the others and grows food. She had a happy childhood or rather happy initial childhood. Because the situation in her family got worse. No, it did not get worse because her father was a drunkard or a gambler. He is a decent man even today and tried his best. But somethings are out of our hands.’

‘A new trend started few years ago when somebody discovered a new cash crop. First a few farmers gave up growing traditional food crops for this new crop because it gave them big returns. This initial movement of few farmers soon turned into a revolution of sorts in the whole region. The girl’s father was not greedy for money, but then because others started getting bigger returns per acre, the rents for the farm of that area increased. So finally reluctantly he also shifted his crop to this new cash crop.’

‘However there is nothing like free food in this world, and this was no different. The girls father fell ill and had to take a lot of medicines. It has now been proved that the pesticides are the cause, but that was not known at that time. This crop required lethal pesticides. The cost of medicine had almost bankrupted the family. They did not have enough to eat. The girl did not know about this situation as she was young and her parents did their best to keep her ignorant. Many nights they used to sleep hungry so that their children could get enough food.’

‘Then one day the girl’s father met an old friend. The friend had settled in the city and was in the village on a mission for his boss. His boss and his wife, a young couple with a small child, wanted to support a girl child from a village. They intended to raise the child with them, send her to school and in general take care of her. The girl’s father saw an opportunity here and when he was satisfied with the couple, he struck a deal and sent the girl away with the family.’

‘But the farmer and his child had a raw deal. The girl was mistreated in the house. They even received a letter from the girl to take her back. But the farmer had again fallen ill and could not reach in time. When they finally arrived, the girl had run away and nobody knew where.’

Suma was sobbing by now and Mrs. Kumar had hugged her tightly. Suma had recognised this as her own story, there cannot be another tragedy like this. Mrs. Kumar consoled the girl.

That very weekend Suma was reunited with her family.
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Even before Suma was made the director of the institution, Suma had expanded the orphanage to support twice as many children. Most importantly she had garnered a strong support base of donors among the young professionals who were flocking the city. She assured them complete transparency in the operations of the institute, they in return not only donated money and volunteered for the institution, they also introduced their friends thus expanding the support base. And when this award was announced, everybody felt that now nobody could stop Suma from achieving her dreams.

Then Suma declined the award and the same people who were praising her, started denouncing her. There was speculation whether she had become arrogant due to the success. Another camp speculated that this was a publicity stunt. All the goodwill generated by the Institute and by Suma had vanished into thin air overnight. Donors would vanish soon and the institute could not survive for long. It seemed everything was doomed.

A week later, invitations were sent out by Mrs. Kumar to their biggest donors and volunteers. The invitation did not mention any agenda, yet nobody suspected it to be anything other than an effort to save the reputation.

The event was held in a big hall in the orphanage. It was a simple setting; the fans were rotating at full speed. The stage was empty, yet there was pin drop silence. Slowly Suma walked to the microphone on the podium. She was welcomed with hostile silence.

‘It was a magnificent event; both the award ceremony and the high-tea/reception which preceded it.’ Suma started talking all of a sudden as if picking up a incomplete conversation.

‘Who’s who of technology industry were there along with their spouses. I was the guest of honor and everybody made it a point to come chat with me. Most of them also explained to me how I deserved the award and the work I did, the honesty and the dedication should serve as a role model for today’s youth. Many of them had also got a bouquet in my honor.’

‘At the end of the reception, when it was time for the award ceremony to start, I chanced to look into the room where the bouquets were stored. They had filled up a small room. I was getting uneasy, but decided not to embarrass the audience and I played along.’

‘On the stage, the ceremony started and a speaker introduced me.

“And in the short span of 20 years, a girl who was lying on the road, helpless, deserted by her parents, had become one of the leading figures, raising help to support other helpless children. However this is only the reactive part of her work.”

“We all recognise along with her that although helping children who have nobody to care for is a noble duty, the child will be at its happiest in his/her own family. And most of the times the family does not desert the child for the sake of it, they are forced to. Suma herself would not have been an orphan, if her father had not gotten ill due to use dangerous levels of pesticides. She now campaigns around India in limiting the use of such chemicals in the farming sector and above all, generating awareness among the consumers not to buy such products which impact the farmers and their families.”

And at that moment I realized the reason for my unease. The members of organization which has analyzed my work to judge whether I deserve the prestigious award have to be aware that major target of my ‘proactive’ campaigning has been the growth of ‘Flower’ Farming. Flower is one of the few crops which needs very dangerous chemicals to be sprayed.

And I had been ‘Honored’ by a room full of bouquets, each and every flower of which would have been grown in one of the flower farms. They should have known that it was one such flower farm where my father had toiled for many years. And it was the custom of giving such useless bouquets that had turned me into an orphan. At that moment I could not bear sitting there anymore.

I know that some members present in that auditorium are doing more for the society than many other people in this country. But I expect them to be aware of the work for which they are honoring me. They were not honoring me in that auditorium, rather they were honoring my work. And they were not ignorant of the campaign, yet they never gave a thought to connect my work with their actions.

Every bouquet contributes to create an orphan and hence creating the necessity of one such donor. In their smugness they forgot that social responsibility does not end by giving part of their income back to the society, rather it starts with it. I will accept such an award only when I can influence the minds of the people to act responsibly towards the society. A person whose actions prevent an orphan from coming into being is thousand times more valuable than a person giving away all his wealth for supporting orphans.”

And Suma stopped talking as suddenly as she had started. The only sound in the room was that of fans spinning at full speed. Suma was no longer looking at the audience. She had turned back and had crossed half the podium. At that moment, Mrs. Kumar then in her 60s, walked up to her on the stage and embraced her. There was a huge applause. The audience had accepted her thoughts and they had pardoned her for walking out on the award.

Suma and the Young Flower Orphanage never looked back from that moment.

The Verdict

The verdict is a great compromise. It has left everybody equally unhappy.
- The Hindu's are unhappy that 33% has been allocated to the mosque.
- The Muslims are unhappy that 66% has gone over to the Hindus.
- Atheists are unhappy that the judgment has been made based on 'Faith'.

Yet, nobody is unhappy enough to throw stones at public property. And that's a great achievement in the emotionally charged atmosphere.

For me, Ram is just a figment of somebody's imagination who has at best out lived his utility. The day somebody inserted a parable justifying deserting one's wife only because somebody questioned her chastity, I lost all the respect for it. In short, I would not die for Him and expect to be taken care of in the next birth. But so is Allah, Jesus or any other god.

I would have preferred if this place was acquired by the government and made into a model school. But since its not possible, I fully support the current judgment.

And this is one rare occasion when I disagree with the atheists. The law of the land always follows the beliefs of the citizens. Why else would slavery be perfectly ok till 1860's and then become a crime. Why else would segregation was ok till mid 1900's till the morality changed. Similarly in this case too belief has to be respected.

And hence I am happy with the verdict.

Vacation Updates

It was rarest of the occasions. The three friends, Suresh, Mani and Dharma, were up before sunrise. They were heading towards the Sunrise point with great expectations. Lakshmi, the daughter of the owner of home-stay where they were staying, had strongly recommended it for its beauty, especially for the photographers. Mani, who had already extracted the expensive DSLR camera from its pouch, was shooting things left and right. Suresh also had his mobile phone out and shooting in the light of the torch. Although the photo quality was nowhere near the DSLR, Suresh was happy with his mobile camera because he could instantly upload the pictures to his Facebook for the world to see and comment. Mani had to wait till he could switch on his laptop back in the room. Suresh had thanked BSNL a million times already in this trip for providing 3G coverage in the nature's lap.

It was still very dark but navigation was easier as they had reached the motorable road. Suresh absent mindedly touched his head to adjust the cap, and realized that it had fallen down. Mani was already ten steps ahead while Dharma was lagging behind. Suresh turned around searching for the cap in the light of the torch. He had walked couple of minutes, turned around the bend on the road when he saw the cap lying on the road. Just as he bent to pick it up he heard the sound of a fast moving vehicle behind him. Suresh jumped from the road and narrowly missed the Maruti Omni which was hurtling on this hilly road. Ahead of him Suresh saw Dharma walking deep in thoughts. Suresh shouted loudly to warn Dharma of the approaching vehicle. The shout helped partially, for Dharma was alerted but his reaction was not quick enough. The car came to a screeching halt near him, just as Dharma tried to jump to miss the car, a couple of hands grabbed him and pulled him into the car. Suresh heard a stifled cry from the car. But before Suresh could do anything, the car had disappeared around the bend.

The shout had brought Mani in search of Suri. He had not seen any of the events and it took Suri complete 10 minutes to convince that Dharma was really abducted. For next hour they were sitting on a rock next to the road unable to think. Dharma was abducted. Why was he abducted? And who was behind the abduction?

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Suresh Patel, Illyas Dharamshi and Manikandan Kameswaran also known as Suri, Dharma and Mani were classmates. If they had been classmates today, they would have been known as '3 Idiots'. But 10 years ago, they were known as 'The SIMs'. They were inseparable. Yet, ten years later, fate had thrown them in 3 different cities. And in the last five, they had never met. A group chat leading to couple of nostalgic jokes and a vague suggestion led to planning of this trip, a deja-vu trip. It also helped that year was ending and they had some leaves to spend. They wanted to re-live the numerous treks and trips taken together as students. Dharma had suggested a 4 day trip, first 3 days in nature's retreat in the western ghat and then a day's visit to their college nearby, by the beach.

Suri was not enthused. He had read about the communal violence which had flared up in the region recently and thought the trip to be too risky, especially to Dharma who was from a Muslim Family. Dharma was insistent. His nickname, Dharma, could easily hide his real name and hence his religion. He would be safe. Suri had agreed reluctantly. The prospect of visiting the college had played a large role in persuading him.

The vacation was excellent, until the fateful morning. Suri flew in from Mumbai, Mani from Delhi and soon all three of them were on the bus to 'Kadu Mane', the house in the forest. It was a home stay, where the owner of the place stayed in the main house, while a couple of small yet comfortable cottages were built for tourist. Visitors could eat with the owner's family if they chose so and could experience the 'village life'. This particular ‘mane’ lived up to its name; it was a kilometer from the motorable road and was surrounded by thick forest. When they reached, Colonel Gundu Rao, the owner, personally welcomed them. He was an ex-serviceman, and true to his name, completely bald. He had a handle bar of a mustache and
strict demeanor even in the house. He ran the house like a platoon and even the visitors were part of it. The three friends experienced it first hand when they reached 15 minutes late for the dinner and were greeted with a long lecture about importance of punctuality. But the food was excellent and made up for the strange behavior of the Colonel.
The first 2 days went off well. The nature was at its best as well as the weather. But on the second evening, Dharma suddenly got ill with acidity, his companion from the college days. He slept off without having dinner and others were forced to face the Colonel who would surely take exception to their friend's absence. But none of the things happened. Colonel's daughter had arrived from Bangalore that very evening and she was quite friendly. The colonel still presided over the dinner, bored them with outspoken support of military action in Kashmir, and tried to convince them that killing all Muslims in India was the panacea to all the maladies India was facing. The daughter, Lakshmi, sensing the discomfort caused by her father’s comments, changed the topic. Soon they were discussing the places to be visited in neighborhood. It was then that she had suggested going to the sunrise point. Mani agreed, and the next day being the last, they decided to go very next morning. Dharma had fast recuperated and inspite of many objections, he accompanied his friends on the way to Sunrise point well before sunrise, early next day.

And then Dharma was abducted.

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As they thought over the past 2 days, Suri had got convinced that Dharma's religion had got known somehow. Suri knew now that it was Colonel who had abducted Dharma. He had made his views on the issue quite clear yesterday. It was his daughter who had lead them to go to the sunrise point, early in the morning. She was an accomplice. This meant that Dharma was in mortal danger. Or was he already dead?

They made up the mind to report it to nearest police station. It was already dawn, but reaching the town was not easy, especially if the Colonel was in the enemy camp. Suri decided to call somebody to find out the phone number of the nearest police station. He thanked BSNL again for the coverage in remote areas. He unlocked the phone and froze. His phone was showing the latest updates from Face book and the last update was from Madhu, Dharma's roommate, 'SIM’s job is done. Pack your bags and leave. DO NOT inform anybody. Payment is already done.'

They were now puzzled. What could this mean? Suri felt that Madhu was involved in the plot. Suri soon built up an elaborate conspiracy theory, involving Madhu and Lakshmi as lovers, Colonel as the instigator and Dharma as the poor victim. But Mani did not agree and called up Madhu.

The conversation convinced Mani that Madhu was as innocent and he was also as clueless as the two friends. He had acted on the instructions of Dharma given earlier in the week. He did not know why, as Dharma had refused to clarify. Madhu was almost sure that it had something to do with Sudha, the colleague Dharma was involved with for past 2 years. Things were not going well between the two, something related to her father's opposition. But he did not have the details. Madhu provided Mani with the phone number of a common friend, Komal, who would know more on this topic.

Suri and Mani were in deep thoughts. Mani finally decided that they should move fast, in order to safely vacate the guest house. It was nearly 7 when they quickly packed; they were surprised that Dharma's luggage was missing. They crossed the window of the main hall carefully afraid to attract attention, and once near the gate ran as fast as they could. Once at safe distance, they walked couple of bus stops before waiting for the bus to arrive. In the town, while eating breakfast Suri got anxious and could not hold his curiosity any more. He wanted to call Komal. Mani finally relented. It was 9 AM, a decent time to call even during the weekend. Thankfully Komal answered the phone and she was very anxious herself. She had been trying to reach Sudha since the last night and her cell phone was not reachable. Sudha's last twitter attempt was troublesome, 'Tomorrow I will be with Him, and I will be free.' Komal knew that she was planning something since 2 weeks, but did not know what. Now she was worried.

Mani soon learnt the background. Sudha had fallen in love with Illyas and both wanted to get married. Illyas' family had no issues with the religion of their daughter in law. But Sudha's father was a different case. He reacted extremely to the news, flew in rage, and locked up Sudha. She was held incommunicado for a fortnight and was finally allowed to return to Bangalore only when she promised never to meet Illyas again. In addition, she had given up all her privacy; her father could monitor all her emails, account statements. He had even hired a security agency to trail her and tap her phone. Any suspicious movement from Sudha, and she would loose her freedom. And so for last 6 months, she lived in virtual jail, always questioned about every thing by her father.

Her last twitter message indicated she was planning something to get rid of the imprisonment and marry Illyas. Komal was worried that writing this on twitter for the world to see was a dangerous move. If her father had got even a whiff of the plan, she would be locked up, and her life would be ruined.

Mani asked her about the alternatives? Komal had one, but she had not dared to do it. She had the land line number of Sudha's father's house. But she was too afraid to call. What if her worst fears were true? Mani noted down the number. Now both of them started discussing the plans. They had too many options, and making decision on this scant knowledge was not possible. Should they go back to Bangalore? What if Dharma was in trouble? What if Sudha's father came to know of their plans and abducted Dharma? The more they discussed, it seemed very likely. Suri could clearly remember the fear in Dharma's eyes when being pulled into the van. They had two options, complain to local police, but then they did not know anything about Sudha or about her father. Go back to Bangalore and complain. But the actual abduction had happened in another district altogether. Also it would be too risky for Dharma. Both Mani and Suri had strong opinions supporting opposite options. They were deep in this argument when Suri's phone beeped. It was a face book update, from Dharma. It resolved the immediate debate, but muddled the confusion more.

On Facebook Dharma said: 'Don’t worry. Meet me in front of hostel gate, 7 pm today.'

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It was 7:15 pm. Suri and Mani were pacing along the road, bored of watching the traffic. Every van raised the heart beats, but each one was false alarm. Why do so many Maruti Van's ply on this highway, Suri was cursing the choice of the car made by the abductor. His tension was rising and finally reached the threshold, he could not hold his mind together any longer. He told Mani that they were fed a false lead forcing them away from the crime scene and they should not delay reporting to the police. He argued with Mani, cursed him for not listening, told him that he was to be blamed if Dharma got hurt due to the delay and as a last resort snatched Mani's mobile phone where Sudha's home phone was stored and dialed it.

After N number of rings, with Suri's tension rising with each ring, the phone was finally answered: 'Colonel Gundu Rao Speaking!' Suri froze. The certificate in the dining hall flashed in front of Suri's eyes. It was an award in inter school competition given to one Sudhalakshmi G.

A Maruti van had slowed down. Neither of the two friends sensed it till it stopped right in front of them. They were busy analyzing the newly found data, trying to fit in the details, when somebody getting down from the van cried "April Foooool!'.

It was Dharma, holding his just married wife, Lakshmi alias Sudha alias Sudhalakshmi.

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When emotions had tempered down, Suri was the most difficult to handle. Things got clarified. Sudha had arranged this marriage with help of her cousin. However if they had tried to get married in Bangalore, the instructions to the security agency was quite clear, abduct the girl at all costs. Hence, this stunt was planned of getting married under the very nose of her father.

Illyas had not informed his friends because he was not sure they could keep composure upon meeting the Colonel. And yet he needed friends to hide himself. He could not have possibly come on vacation alone.

But why update the facebook? Dharma had a simple explanation. Dharma knew, given the addiction of Suri, he can forget to eat sometime but will not miss checking Face book updates on his mobile.