The Greedy Brahmin [Part III]

I have to come back to the story now ...has been shelved for a few days now...read on..

Sindhu was awakened by Shakara Shastry's yelling at her. "Sindhu, can you arrange for my tumbler of coffee? Do I have to beg for it now? What kind of a woman sleeps till the Sun rises high in the sky?" He yelled at her before she even had the time to stand up on her feet. Sindhu was ashamed that she had slept in late. She hurried past him without a word, towards the kitchen - on the way, she glanced at the clock on the wall. She was stunned! It was a full 2 hours ahead of her usual waking time. Shankara Shastry had woken up earlier than usual and was kicking up such a fuss.If only...

She choked on a sob when she remembered how her mom woke her up as a child - "Sindhu, my little princess...wake up my sunshine" She would rub her soft hands on Sindhu's forehead very gently and prodded her till she was wide awake and smiling!

What did she owe this to? She never knew...

"Sindhu, I'll have 2 more Idlis"..just that sentence from her husband as she served him breakfast made everything else vanish for Sindhu. She watched him lovingly as he ate. Silly her, it was all her fault. He was a great husband wasn't he? That's what everyone in town told her. She chided herself to be more happy - see the good side of him always!

Babu came that afternoon to talk more on the Temple rituals during the Durga Pooja season. Sindhu wished from behind the door that she was asked for an opinion too - her father always had said that she was a smart girl. Her friends always thought that she knew a way out for every problem they had while growing up.

Now as Babu and Shankara Shastry debated on how to adjust the finances to meet the upcoming expenses, Sindhu silently wished she was part of the discussion too - she tried imagining what would happen if she just walked in and sat beside her husband and dived into the conversation. She trembled at just the thought.

Sindu casually moved a little towards the door and stood in the doorway - part visible and part hidden. Just like her thoughts. Neither open nor hidden.Neither here nor there.

As she peeped into the verandha, Sindhu caught sight of the maid as she served coffee to both Shankara Shastry and Babu. She was quick to see that the coffee cup was precariously placed between Shankara Shastry's elbow and the stool on the side. Just a small movement from his elbow would spill the burning hot liquid on him and worse of all lead to a scene she and the maid would remember for a long time to come.

Without thinking any further, Sindhu quickly went in and moved away the cup - just in time. Shankara Shastry's elbow hit her hand - just missing the cup topped with scalding liquid.

What followed next, changed the lives of four people...a change that was never meant to be. A change that didn't have to happen, and a change that was irreversible.

Shankara Shastry went blind with rage, and grabbed Sindhu by her hair as she turned to leave with the cup. He turned her around and spat into her face. Sindhu was shocked!

"You are such a useless woman. I curse the day I married you. Even the maid here has better sense than you. What she had done was right. What is wrong with you? I have forbidden you from coming in front of the visitors in this house - but no, you have to make an exhibition of yourself. It is not that you don't understand - it is your ego. You have to display yourself - don't I know this?" He stormed out of the room - the rage if it had a color would have been white. Blank, vicious, capable of destroying anything that it hit against....

Sindhu stood rock still. What would she do now? Any action didn't seem to fit in with the pain that spilt her heart, the hurt she felt or the way her self was exposed to people around her - strangers who knew the deepest secret about her relationship with her husband. She felt naked at this point.

The shame and insult tagged with being naked doesn't have to be associated with the physical self of a person - it could be in ways that only love, trust and respect could cover and protect like the way clothes do.

Any decent woman, even any decent man would know what this means.She experienced this - at the very moment.

Sindhu silently left the room. Her walk gave away nothing. Her eyes said nothing. Her entire being was calm. A calm before the storm came...a storm that engulfed her very being, a storm that destroyed everything in it's wake...