The Whirlwind

The freckled , squint eyed bespectacled girl too has a poetic heart. Although hard to believe yet at times she blushes and her acne covered face turns a faint red. Kalpa actually looks endearing at those times but very few people have the vision to recognise her beauty. She often dreams about her knight in shining armour. Kalpa often dreams about her knight who comes riding on his milky white horse and sweeps her off her feet, carries her on his horse to his kingdom, a place full of bliss and contentment. Kalpa imagines herself to be the princess in her fantasy world.  Every time Kalpa's parents look for a suitable groom for her, she imagines him to be the prince of her dreams. She imagines that he would recognize the beautiful heart Kalpa possesses beyond her freckled face. But alas , it does not happen. Poor Kalpa, she cannot bear to see her father's crest fallen face everytime she gets rejected by her prospective groom. She gazes helplessly as negotiations are done. Kalpa's father stoops under the burden of the dowry he had to pay for his elder daughter. No wonder her father looks much older than his age, bogged by the drudgeries of life. He has yet not been able to amass a lucrative dowry for his younger daughter with the meagre salary he earns in his job as a government clerk. A sum of money large enough to make Kalpa look beautiful in the eyes of her prospective in laws and groom. Kalpa's father is cursed with two daughters. If he had been lucky enough to father a son, his son would have brought wealth to the family, but he was cursed with two daughters with average looks. At times he wonders whether he should have let Kalpa complete her education. Maybe education would have given Kalpa the contentment which she does not get through the prolonged wait for the man of her dreams. Kalpa is an excellent cook. Kalpa is skilled in the art of painting. Kalpa has a nightingale voice. But alas Kalpa is not good looking, Kalpa was not born in a rich family. Kalpa has miniscule value in the matrimonial market.

Kaya is beautiful, flawless rich creamy skin, deer eyes and perfect features. Kaya does not bother to dress well and apply make up unlike the other pretty girls around her.Kaya likes playing basket ball in the sun, does not care for the fact that the harsh glaring sun tans her skin. Kaya likes wearing loose ill fitted trousers, Kaya loves chewing pan, not bothered by the red stains on her teeth. Kaya's jet black tousled hair flies wildly when she jumps about in the basket ball court. An undeniable fact is that Kaya is beautiful. In spite of her careless demeanour, Kaya is definitely stunning. Kaya's father is rich, he can get her the best groom, he has the money to buy the best groom for his daughter. But alas Kaya does not dream about a life of marital bliss and boredom. Kaya is a state level basket ball champion. Kaya is passionate about her game and dreams of representing her country. Is it fair to curb her dream, to clip her wings and not let her soar her winning flight?

Kaya , Kalpa, Sumedha, Vasudha..all are trapped in their world, trapped in a whirlwind. They make an effort to break free from their entangles. They dream of a world where they could actually live their lives on their own terms, pursue their dreams. Kalpa and Kaya are hopeful that a day would come when they would actually be the owners of their life.

The Diary of an Indian Bride

A short story about a typical Indian bride Mitrakshi, who with a quivering heart and dreams untold had stepped into a new phase of life. Two years down the line she has realized that most of her marital aspirations have not been fulfilled. Who is to be blamed?? She has learnt to accept her destiny and lead a life of contended boredom.

18th February, 2011

Dear Diary,

Today is my wedding day...it will be a special day in my life for years to come. I am about to tread on a new phase of life..my heart skips a beat. I have all the qualities to make a perfect Indian bride. I rarely do have an opinion of my own and even if I have an opinion I very rarely express it. I am submissive, homely, gullible, obedient and dutiful. Exactly six months back I had seen my to be husband for the first time, I do not remember his face clearly, I was too shy to look at him straight in the eye. My mother in law had rubbed my hands and forehead to see whether my yellowy fairness was genuine or due to the foundation which she herself had applied all over her face and neck. She patted my head as if I was a pet dog to check how thick my hair was. I have been blessed with a glowing complexion but my younger sister is not so lucky. She is dark and my parents are worried that she might not be able to grab a good husband. We Indians are racial. Yes dear diary, its true, we too are racial. We like fair people, all of us aspire to be fair. Have we not seen how important it is to be fair in the fairness ads. One becomes confident after applying the fairness cream. But I disagree. Arunakshi, my younger sister was always more confident and smarter than me. Arunakshi is dark, very dark. But have you noticed her bright eyes, her deer like eyes and when she smiles , the room lights up with her exuberance. Arunkashi is aspiring to be a journalist. She idiolizes Barkha Dutt. When my parents express concern about Arunkashi's marriage she brushes off their concern. She does not care for marriage, she does not care for anybody to approve her or her skin colour. She is complete in herself. Dear Diary, I have a confession to make, I always was a little jealous of Arunakshi. I am pretty and gullible but I am not as attractive as Arunakshi. When we were kids, friends and relatives would exclaim.."Ohh such a cute little girl, Mitrakshi is, and then pinch my chubby cheeks with affection". Everybody though Arunakshi looked drab. But Arunakshi was beautiful in her own different way. I was an obedient girl and Arunakshi was the rebel. She refused to live by the hypocritical norms of the society which let our cousin brothers to enjoy late night parties but mandated us to return home before six. She would fight , she would scream and never wanted to accept the fact that we girls are inferior to boys. I would try to reason with her but to no avail.

I was always the good girl. I played with dolls and Arunakshi played with guns, played cricket. She would defy anything and everything which discriminated her from the boys around her. I would play the role of the housewife and she would be my husband during our games. She would go out to work and I would do the household chores, cooking, sweeping , mopping. I aspired to be like my mom, the docile petite woman who had hardly ever expressed her opinion to her husband. She was the dutiful wife, the caring mother who never asked for any thing more than what she was given in benevolence. Today, I am entering a new phase of my life..this is what I have aspired for as long as I remember...to have a house of my own, my husband, his family..to live a life of monotonous contentment..but why does my heart skip a beat, spell a omen, why do I feel as if I will never be able to breathe freely in the days to come...a caged heart.

18th February, 2013

Dear Diary,

I would like to apologize to you for having forgotten you entirely. The past two years have been tumultuous, I had almost forgotten about your existence. A few days back while cleaning my cupboard I chanced upon you. Dear Diary, my life has changed. My dreams have changed. I was so wrong. I am the perfect Indian bride. I cook for my husband and my in laws and make sure that the house runs fine. I instruct and supervise the maids. I am trying my best to be like my mother in law, she is the genius in the house. My husband wants me to be like her, cook like her, dress like her, talk like her, eat like her. I have been trying to do that since the past two years but have failed totally. Dear Diary, I think I cannot be like her. At times I wake up at night with a fear gripping my heart, I am losing myself. I fear falling into the oblivion. Dear Diary, in the past two years I have come to know how useless I am. My in laws are still angry about the arrangements that were made during our marriage, the gifts that were given in marriage, the dowry which my father had given. Dear diary, I do not like it when my in laws abuse my family. But I have learnt to be tolerant, I never protest when they abuse me and my family. I keep my mouth shut and never protest to any wrong being done or said. I am the perfect Indian bride. My husband feels irritated at my stupidity. I have become stupid and absent minded too preoccupied with my life's problems. Dear diary, I have almost come to believe that I am evil. My mother in law says that I am 'manhus'(evil). I am a useless 'housewife'. Dear diary , I wish my parents had not gifted me dolls and kitchen set toys to play with during my childhood. I wish they had helped me to dream a different dream, had given me the wings to soar a winning flight. Some times I feel like running away from everything, from the humiliations and from the pettiness around me. I plan to pack my bags and leave but I change my mind the next day. Dear Diary, can I start my life fresh, can I not manage to get a job, I have done my graduation!!! But reality slaps my face, there are many jobless graduates in and around me, with better marks and better experience. I reason with myself and console myself that things will get better. After all my husband and in laws are still kind people. They verbally abuse me but have never hit me. They never set me on fire for dowry like Aruna's in laws had done. They have never pressurized me to bring more dowry and made me want to jump from the fifth floor of my apartment , like my friend Sunita had done. Sunita was scared of heights but jumping off from the fifth floor of her apartment had seemed like a better solution to her. I feel lucky for all the things that are not done to me rather than feel sad about the things that are happening to me. My husband would gradually start liking me, appreciating me for the things I do for him rather than rebuking me for things that I do not do...... Dear Diary, I will live with this hope of things getting better......

Now, the reason for which I have picked up my pen again to scribble my thoughts today, dear diary is my happiness. I am extremely happy today. The sun seems brighter today. Arunakshi has finally grabbed a coveted job as a news correspondent in one of the prime English news channels of our country. Arunakshi has done and achieved all that I had never done in my life. I wish I too was the different child, the rebel that Arunakshi was. I wish I was not the obedient docile child whom everybody would praise. I wish I had led life on my own terms....Dear Diary, I wish I had pleased myself more than trying to please all the masked plastic faces around me.

The 'chai' Connection

"Next time rinse your cup, before leaving..." the tea serving house keeping boy said. Sunaina thought she had heard wrong, she asked the tea fellow to repeat. He again repeated the same thing. Immediately Sunaina flared up, her ears became fiery red, knees felt weak, she started shivering with rage. She could not believe that this illiterate fellow had the audacity to actually order her to wash her cup before leaving the cafetaria. She felt like slapping the tea serving boy but knew better. Reacting in  such a manner  is not a demeanour expected from respectable employees of a reputed organization. She could almost imagine the smirking smile of her colleagues who were sitting in another table at one corner of the cafetaria.

This was not the first instance that this fellow had shown impudence. Employees in the company usually carry a cup of tea to their workstation and the tea serving guy, Rakesh collects the cups from everybody's desk and takes them for washing. Sunaina often would carry her cup back to the washing sink, at one end of the cafetaria. One day, she forgot to take her cup to the sink and this guy too did not bother to collect the cup from her place. The next morning when Sunaina went for a cup of tea, Rakesh ordered "Keep your cup in the sink after having tea". Sunaina felt insulted and surprised too at the fact that although this guy used to collect the cups from everybody's workstation, yet it was only she whom he had ordered to keep the used cup in the kitchen sink. Sunaina was new in the organization and did not react. She kept quiet at Rakesh's insolence. Rakesh was a Tamilian and Sunaina , a bengali girl. Rakesh did not speak much of either english or hindi, the two languages Sunaina was comfortable speaking. Sunaina thought of explaining Rakesh that he should not be talking in such a rude manner with an employee in the organization. But language was the biggest barrier. Alas, Rakesh  would understand very little of what Sunaina would say.

Sunaina noticed that this guy especially behaved rudely with her. He was otherwise good to other people. Many girls would call him 'hero' and it made him feel very proud. Sometimes he could be seen standing in front of the mirror placed at one end of the cafetaria and practice various dancing poses. All the girls and the guys in the office would joke with him and were rather fond of him. Most of  them considered him to be rather sweet. Rakesh a dark , thin fellow with curly hair and a filmy style considered him no less than any movie hero.

Sunaina could no longer tolerate Rakesh's impudence. Sunaina an introvert, a quiet docile person has a temper like a  sleeping volcano. She usually is very patient until things go beyond tolerance level. The sleeping Vesuvius was now gradually melting and molten lava started emerging...Sunaina's mind said "enough is enough...I cannot take it any more". She barged into the administration officer's cubicle and told him everything. He tried to pacify her telling that he would look into the matter and talk to the guy.

The next day Sunaina received a mail from her manager, her manager had been approached by the behavioural team of the company. They had felt that Sunaina had certain behavioral issues, was not getting along well with some people in the company. It seems they had talked to Rakesh and had researched about him. They felt that he was a very polite guy, it was entirely Sunaina's fault. Sunaina being from a privileged background was ill treating this poor fellow. Sunaina was asked to appear for a couple of psychology assessment tests. Suddenly the behavioral assessment team had become very busy, they had found an issue in the organization which had to be sorted out. They often are on the look out for 'guinea pigs'  and the moment they get an opportunity they start testing their psychology assessment learnings on that person. The other day when  a girl in the office collapsed due to low pressure and was writhing on the floor, one girl in the behavioral team commented that the other girl was having a 'panic attack'. Sunaina appeared for a couple of online tests, the results of which were never revealed to her. The pleasant looking girl in the behavioural team councelled Sunaina on how she could get good behaviour from that tea guy by smiling at him and trying to be friendly with him. Sunaina was upset, she had never misbehaved with anybody, she had never in her life ill treated any person , socially placed at a lower pedestal than her. She always talked politely to her maid, her driver, the watchman and so on and now she was being judged as an arrogant person misbehaving with the   tea serving guy in her office. She was unhappy that she was being misjudged but felt that it would be better for her to ignore this incident.

Weeks went by, Rakesh still would talk rudely to Sunaina and she would simply ignore. Sunaina was rather taken aback to see that most people including the pleasant looking girl from the behavioral team, would simply leave their cup in the sink without bothering to rinse it. The rule of rinsing the cup after having tea was solely meant for Sunaina. Sunaina was really bothered now, was something wrong with her?? what made that guy talk rudely to her for no fault of her's. She too started wondering whether it was a behavioural issue as was diagnosed by the behavioural team.  However she admonished herself saying that she could have confidence on herself, no body can be a better judge of her character than she herself.

Suddenly one fine morning a devastation occurred. The company decided to lay off several employees and close the operations in that entire office. Every body was crestfallen , scared of the connotation of losing a job and starting a fresh search for a new job. But destiny always has its final call, so Sunaina like many others bid adieu to the organization which had earned her bread for the past 9 months.

A month later, Sunaina visited her old organization for certain leaving formalities and due clearances. When she walked up to the receptionist's desk, she noticed a familiar face, a guy sitting on the stairs, it was none other than Rakesh. Rakesh too had  been laid off, just like the others. He was dressed in a navy blue T-shirt and a tattered jeans. The usually cheerful fellow looked crest fallen, the serious demeanour somehow did not suit him. Sunaina could not help but feel sorry for the guy. She walked up to the guy and smiled at him. He was a little taken aback, he had not expected Sunaina to smile at him. Sunaina asked "Kaise ho Rakesh?". He stammered and some how managed to say..."th..thi..thik hoon MADAM". It was now Sunaina's turn to be surprised, Rakesh had never addressed her as madam as long as both were working in the organization. Now when he was no longer a subordinate, he had actually addressed her respectfully. Suddenly Sunaina felt a sort of kindred with this guy, he too had suddenly turned jobless, just like her. Suddenly Sunaina remembered that one of her friends ran a staffing agency and was hiring some people. Sunaina inquired from Rakesh on whether he had managed to get another job, to which he said 'no'. Gradually Rakesh told Sunaina  about his family, his ailing mother and school going brothers. He was the sole earning member in the house. Sunaina wrote down her friend's address in a piece of paper and told Rakesh to meet him. Rakesh looked at her gratefully, his eyes reflected many things which he could not express in words. Sunaina felt good , after a long span of time she felt good for doing something selflessly.

A New Side Effect

Srilekha and Sanjoy are a happily married couple. Just like all other happily married couples they have a lot of differences in their taste for movies, music, books and films. Sanjoy hates 'mushy' 'mushy' romantic movies. Srilekha hates action movies. Sanjoy hates 'slow' movies and Srilekha hates war movies, martial art movies. Sanjoy watches mostly english movies and Srilekha watches mostly hindi movies. But not to forget just like many other adjusting couples they make sacrifices for each other's sake and often go to the theatre to watch movies of each other's choices. Sometimes quite unexpectedly they even enjoy watching the movie of the other person's taste. We can benevolently ignore some solitary instances when Srilekha actually fell asleep while watching a movie of Sanjoy's taste or Sanjoy was bored to the extent of feeling like simply walking out of the theatre. But on the whole Srilekha and Sanjoy, most often, do manage to watch the entire movie together trying to understand the other person's taste and choice of movies and music. Srilekha fails to understand how her husband actually enjoys the senseless 'raps' which do not rhyme and the 'noise' which is actually music to him. Sanjoy fails to understand how can someone of his generation can enjoy rabindrasangeet and ghazals which makes him yawn and fall asleep. Sanjoy feels irritated at Srilekha's absent mindedness and her carelessness. Srilekha gets irritated at Sanjoy's finicky nature, his OCD and his attitude of always finding faults. So irrespective of all their differences, Srilekha and Sanjoy share a 'happy married life' ignoring the occasional differences, the bickerings, the arguments and the fights. Thus at the end of a days' work both return under the same roof, share a cup of tea and share each other's experiences of the day.

On thursday afternoon Srilekha calls up Sanjoy in office, " Lets go for the movie Shaadi ke Side Effects on friday after office, the promos seem interesting". Sanjoy replies " Lets go on saturday". Srilekha says "Agreed". Sanjoy books the tickets for the 6p.m show on saturday evening, 1st March. After a sumptuous weekend lunch, Srilekha and Sanjoy reach the multiplex hoping to enjoy a good laugh on the marital side effects having experienced side effects themselves. Sanjoy walks up to the booking counter , goes to the kiosk and types his booking id. Unfortunately the screen shows "error". Sanjoy types the booking id again, the screen again flashes "error". Sanjoy goes to the man sitting at the counter and tells him the booking number. The man prints his ticket and gives him. By now Srilekha is restless, she does not want to miss the beginning part of the movie as they usually do when they go for other movies. Srilekha and Sanjoy usually reach late for all movies and miss out the 'beginnings'. But they are blessed by lady fortune , this time they have reached on time, rather they have reached 5 mins early. Sanjoy and Srilekha walk to their seats but to their utter surprise two people are already seated on their seats. Sanjoy and Srilekha are flabbergasted, the same seats have been allotted to different people, 'how can they do this???? The cheeky young 20 something guy seated in their seats asks "which movie have you come for?  Srilekha retorts" Shaadi ke Side Effects". Sanjoy goes to the multiplex manager with his ticket, Srilekha is clueless as to what is happening. Sanjoy is sweating profusely. The manager looks  closely at the ticket and replies with an expressionless face " Your ticket is booked for 28th Feb, friday and it is 1st March today, your ticket was booked for yesterday and you have missed the show". Srilekha could not believe her ears. She could not believe that the ever so careful Sanjoy who always double checks before booking tickets had actually booked the tickets for friday evening while all the while they had been under the impression that the tickets were booked for saturday evening. So do Srilekha and Sanjoy start fighting, start blaming each other..they do none. The manager is kind , he arranges two seats for them in the first row. Sanjoy complains about the seat, the inconvenience of sitting in the first row, complains about the fact that he had so carefully chosen two very good seats. Sanjoy had never before watched a movie from the first row. Srilekha had however watched movies from the front row during her college days. Srilekha , happy over the fact that atleast they will not have to miss the movie consoles Sanjoy saying, "it is so convenient to sit in the first row, you can stretch your legs as much as you want without the person in the row ahead, complaining. Srilekha jokes" the good students in the class sit in the first row after all and it is a lesson learnt after all, you will never make the same mistake while booking flight tickets atleast". Lesson learnt , Srilekha and Sanjoy smile at each other and get engrossed in watching the marital side effects. having already experienced quite a few marital side effects themselves. Srilekha discovers a new marital side effect and realizes a fact that when your husband is booking a movie ticket you should always double check because husbands are after all very poor with dates whether they are birthdays, anniversaries or something as trivial as buying tickets for a movie show.