by Sudha Murty
‘Amma, how do you spend your time?’ asked Sanjay affectionately.
‘I have plenty of work. Every week, I get supplies from Mysore and I must keep accurate accounts. That takes time. Moreover, there’s intense competition among the shops these days. If I close my shop even for a day, I’ll lose my customers. Getting workers to help in the field has also become difficult. There’s a big sand business on the banks of River Kaveri. You must have noticed it. Most workers go there because it pays more. The sand there is good for use in construction. Since there is a lot of building work going on in Bangalore, the trucks are filled with sand and sent there.’
Sanjay thought about what he had observed on his way to T. Narasipura. He had read in the newspaper that even big rivers like the Yamuna, Ganga and Mahanadi were subjected to this exploitation. Nobody checked whether the sand dealers were legally allowed to take away the sand from riverbeds. The digging caused the water to clog and collect in pits in the rainy season. Because of the stagnant water, many diseases were caused.
Ratnamma continued talking to Sanjay. ‘Now, I have started the chits business too. There’s a meeting every month. This month’s meeting is tomorrow, in my house.’
Sanjay read his mother’s mind straight away. The conversation at the meeting was going to be about finances and moneylending. He did not want Mridula to hear all that. He was conscious about what she would think about his mother. He said, ‘Amma, I’m glad that I came and met you. It is difficult for me to get a few days of vacation like this. So maybe Mridula and I will go to Belur tomorrow and meet Lakshmi too.’
This new plan surprised Mridula—Sanjay had not discussed this with her. She could never read her husband’s mind. But Ratnamma was not perturbed. She asked, ‘How many days of vacation do you have?’
‘Three, but I’ve already used up one day here in T. Narasipura.’
‘That’s all right. You can leave after breakfast tomorrow. There’s no direct bus to Belur from here. So you’ll have to go to Mysore and then catch another bus from there. But call Lakshmi before you go.’
‘Lakshmi has a phone now? I didn’t know that.’
‘Yes. Shankar wants to show off and Lakshmi agrees with him. The truth is that they don’t need a phone. But Shankar wants it because his brother Mahadeva has one in Mysore. There’s so much competition among the brothers and their wives. The competition should be about who earns more money and not about who spends more. Every week, Shankar and Lakshmi hire a taxi and go on a short fun trip.’
‘Amma, who gives you this information?’
‘Subbaiah Shetty. Lakshmi and Shankar met him two weeks ago at Shringeri. Four weeks ago, they were at Dharmasthala. They don’t try to save and don’t respect my advice. Since you’re going there, why don’t you talk to them?’
Ratnamma was tired, probably at the very thought of her daughter spending money like water. She decided to turn in for the night. Later, Mridula said to Sanjay, ‘You didn’t tell me that you plan to go to Lakshmi’s house.’
‘I thought that later I won’t be able get holidays and I’ll get busy preparing for my entrance exam. Lakshmi has invited us and you also wanted to go see her sometime.’
Sanjay easily hid the real reason for the change of plans and Mridula believed him. She said, ‘Okay, you’re right. But I don’t have much money with me now. How can we go to her house for the first time without taking a gift?’
‘That’s not a problem. Lakshmi won’t mind.’
Mridula found it strange that her mother-in-law did not insist that they stay with her for longer. The next morning, Ratnamma gave them breakfast. Before they left, she called Mridula inside and told her softly, ‘We don’t know when we’ll have to face difficult times. Life’s good when we have money. People will be friends with us. But when we don’t have money, nobody will help us. So try to save some money from your salary. I can’t tell Sanjay this but I can share this with you.’
Mridula nodded quietly. Then she touched her mother-in-law’s feet; she felt nice about getting advice from her.
When they reached Mysore, Mridula was happy. She said, ‘Sanjay, can we stay here for two or three days? After all, it is Saturday today. Then we can see the Mysore Palace, Krishna Raja Sagara Dam and Chamundi Hills.’
Sanjay thought, ‘Where will we stay? Lakshmi’s in-laws won’t welcome us and we can’t afford to stay in a hotel. We don’t have any relatives with whom we can stay without feeling obliged.’ So he consoled his wife and said, ‘We’ll come again and stay longer next time.’
With the little money Mridula had, she bought a synthetic sari, fruits, vegetables and flowers for Lakshmi from Devaraja Market. After seeing her mother-in-law’s house, she could only imagine how Lakshmi’s house must be. They called Lakshmi from the Mysore bus stand and she sounded happy to learn that they would be visiting her.
When they reached Belur, Shankar was waiting for them at the bus stand. Sanjay said, ‘Why did you come, Shankar? We know your address. We could have come on our own by autorickshaw.’
Shankar smiled and did not say anything. He had a taxi waiting for them. When he took them home, Mridula was taken aback. Shankar was an ordinary bank clerk but his house was better than a manager’s. It had all the modern amenities and expensive furniture and equipment, which even a rich person like Mridula’s father did not have in Aladahalli.
When Mridula placed her gifts on the table, Lakshmi smiled and said, ‘Oh Mridula, why did you bring all these things? We get everything we need in Belur.’
Lakshmi was wearing an expensive Mysore-silk sari and had fresh flowers tucked in her hair. Mridula said, ‘You’re looking nice, Akka. Are you planning to go out later?’
‘No, this is how I usually dress. Shankar likes neatness.’
Mridula was surprised. She had received only one Mysore-silk sari at her wedding. She kept it for special occasions and had worn it only once.
The lunch was excellent. Lots of dishes were served at the table. Mridula was pleasantly surprised. She asked, ‘Akka, how did you make so many things in such a short time?’
‘Oh, that isn’t a problem. I ordered some food from a hotel and our cook made the rest.’
‘Do you have a cook for three people?’ Mridula was open and direct.
Lakshmi felt uncomfortable answering her. She said, ‘No, I call a cook only when I have guests.’
The taxi remained in front of the house—it would be at their disposal through the entire visit. Sanjay told Shankar several times that they could travel by bus, but Shankar did not listen. He said, ‘You’re our guest. I can’t take you by bus.’
On Sunday, Shankar took them to the temples at Belur and Halebid followed by lunch at the Taj Ashoka in Hassan. Mridula was worried that he was spending too much on them. The day they were leaving, Lakshmi gave Mridula an expensive sari and presented a good watch to her brother. Mridula was touched. She thought that she had gained a friend and a sister. Life was beautiful.
When Shankar returned home after dropping Sanjay and Mridula to the bus stand, Lakshmi commented, ‘Mridula is really stingy. She’s the right daughter-in-law for my mother.’
Shankar was not as smart as Lakshmi. He asked, ‘Why do you say that?’
‘She gave me a cheap synthetic sari and shamelessly took the silk sari I gave her. She gave me vegetables as a gift—as if I don’t have vegetables at home!’
Shankar joined in, ‘Sanjay is also very shrewd. He didn’t offer to pay the taxi bill. He should’ve at least had the manners to ask. I don’t think he earns well. Even an ordinary doctor in a village earns more than him.’
On the journey back to Bangalore, Mridula was all praise for Lakshmi and Shankar. She was blissfully unaware of what they actually thought of Sanjay and her.
A few months passed and Shankar’s niece Usha’s marriage was fixed. The groom was an insurance officer.
Usha’s mother, Vimla, did not like Sanjay even though she had once thought of Sanjay as a prospective groom for her daughter. At t
he time, she had been impressed by the fact that he was a doctor—despite his deformity. He came from a good family and was a good-looking and decent boy. More importantly, everybody was aware that Ratnamma had money and the biggest share would go to her son. Though Ratnamma was stingy, she was not a cruel mother-in-law. Keeping this in mind, Vimla and her husband had thought that it was a good match. But Lakshmi was not interested and had not even entertained the idea.
Now, Sanjay was married and Usha had found another groom.
Secretly, Vimla and Lakshmi could not stand each other but no one would ever know it from the way they behaved with each other. Vimla gave a few wedding invitation cards to Lakshmi and told her to call whomever she wanted.
When Lakshmi sent a wedding card to Sanjay, Mridula was enthusiastic. The wedding was in Bangalore. She wanted to attend the entire three-day ceremony since she had not had a chance to attend family functions from the time they had moved to Bangalore. In Aladahalli, her house always had guests and there were plenty of invitations for gatherings. Mridula really missed the social interactions.
After her trip to T. Narasipura, she felt uncomfortable thinking of going to her mother-in-law’s house again. Though she liked Lakshmi’s company, she could not visit her often. So this wedding card brought her great joy. She asked Sanjay, ‘Can we attend the ceremonies on all days?’
Usually, Sanjay did not care about these things. But this time, he categorically told her, ‘No, we’ll only go for the reception.’ Mridula was raised to believe that she should not question the elders in the family when they made a decision. So even though she was disappointed, she did not push the matter.
They bought a gift and went to the reception. This was the first time Mridula was seeing a wedding celebrated with such grandeur. A lot of money had been spent on the decorations, flowers, live music and designer clothes for the bride and groom. There was a separate room full of gifts to be given to the guests. If someone from Aladahalli had seen this, they would have mistaken it for the wedding of a minister’s daughter.
Lakshmi’s relatives from Mysore saw Sanjay but did not bother to talk to him. There was a big queue of people waiting to greet the newly married couple. Before long, Sanjay and Mridula ran into Lakshmi. She had just come from the beauty salon and was looking even better than the bride. She asked them to wait to greet the newly-weds till the rush of people reduced.
Weddings are a gossipmonger’s paradise. There was a group of people sitting in a corner and chatting. Sanjay knew them. They had not seen Sanjay and Mridula yet but Sanjay could clearly hear what they were saying. One of them said, ‘I heard that Vimla’s husband, Dinesh, has spent almost five lakh on this marriage.’
‘Yes, he had to—because Usha was rejected by many people,’ said another.
‘Do you know that even Sanjay didn’t want to marry Usha?’
‘Which Sanjay are you talking about—Lakshmi’s brother with the short arm?’
‘Yes, the same dumb fellow.’
‘I heard something different. I was told that Lakshmi wasn’t keen about Usha’s proposal and the matter never even went to Sanjay. Lakshmi said that Sanjay wanted to marry a doctor.’
‘Well, he’s married now. Whom did he get married to?’
‘A girl from a remote village agreed to marry him. She must have some handicap too or her parents must be very poor.’
‘You’re right. Sanjay may not even be a real MBBS doctor. Lakshmi must be boasting. Who is going to check his certificate?’
‘Yes, that’s true. If he were a doctor, he would have opened a nursing home by now. Look at my son-in-law, Prasad. He has already purchased land to build a nursing home and owns a car too. Shankar is also very smart. He has a car and Lakshmi buys jewellery every month.’
Sanjay felt awkward and Mridula was horrified to hear what the people were saying about them. Just then, they saw Prasad skipping the queue and making his way to wish the bride and groom.
Sanjay and Prasad had known each other fairly well in college. Prasad had taken eight years to complete a four-year course. As a student, he cheated regularly. After his graduation, he had become an abortion specialist. He had married an ugly girl because she was from a rich family and, as a part of the dowry, his in-laws had given him land and a car.
Sanjay felt odd. He thought ruefully, ‘How can people compare Prasad to me? We shouldn’t have come for the wedding.’
11
Changes
Sanjay got admission to the post-graduation course and decided to go to Vanivilas Hospital in Bangalore and study gynaecology. He quickly became extremely busy. He was awarded a scholarship but their main source of income was Mridula’s salary from her steady government job.
In Sanjay’s batch, some students had work experience and some were right out of college. The head of the department was Dr Kamala, with whom Sanjay had worked before. She liked him for his hard work, experience, patience and intelligence. He took complete responsibility of all cases assigned to him.
After a few months, Mridula and Sanjay moved out of Yelahanka and into Vijayanagar. Fortunately, Mridula was able to get a transfer to Vijayanagar High School. She felt sad leaving the Yelahanka school. She was going to miss Principal Muniyappa and his wife, Kantamma. They had been family to her in the big city. Principal Muniyappa was going to retire after a year and he and his wife wanted to go back to Kolar where they owned fields and plenty of sheep.
When Mridula joined the Vijayanagar school, she found it quite different from Yelahanka’s. Nobody cared about anyone. But by now, Mridula had learnt not to expect to find a meaningful relationship in the school. The government schools were looked down upon. The school buildings were not maintained properly and the teachers felt it was the duty of the local corporation to maintain them. The corporation said that it was the duty of the government—and in this blame game, the school and its students suffered.
Four years passed.
Sanjay had finished his studies and started working as a doctor and lecturer in a government hospital. Mridula’s salary had also increased and, together, they bought a flat in Vijayanagar with the help of a bank loan. Soon, they also became parents to a healthy baby boy, Sishir.
In Aladahalli, Krishna had got married to Vatsala who was from a neighbouring village. Bheemanna and Rukuma wanted a village girl because they thought that she would understand the difficulties of an agricultural family.
Sarla had married Prasanna, a software engineer, and settled in San Jose, California. She had started working there. She came to India at least once a year and visited everyone.
Meanwhile, Satish had got married to Shyla who worked in a bank in Hubli.
Alex had married his girlfriend, Anita, in a church in Mangalore, and Mridula and Sanjay had gone for the wedding. It was a big event. Dignitaries from the government attended the marriage. Alex had come from the Middle East and spent money like water. Anita and Mridula liked each other at their first meeting and decided to keep in touch.
Shankar had been transferred to Mandya.
But life in Aladahalli and T. Narasipura had not changed even after four years.
When Lakshmi heard about Sanjay’s permanent job with the government, she was upset. ‘What’s the use of academic intelligence? My brother is wasting his time. He spent two years in Bombay and four years in Bangalore and now he’s happily working for a low salary in a government job. If he were practical, he would find a good location to open a clinic. Then, he would make money. But Sanjay hasn’t learnt to be smooth and charming, which is essential in private practice. And Mridula is even worse. She believes everybody. After all, she has been raised in a village. If I were her, I would control my husband and push him to start a nursing home of his own. There’s nobody in our family who can advise this impractical couple. My mother is in her own world and I really don’t understand why she wants to run a small shop. After all, how much profit can she really make?’
Lakshmi felt ashamed. She remembered how her sist
ers-in-law made fun of her. Shyamala, Mahadeva’s wife, had sarcastically remarked once, ‘Oh, Lakshmi! You come from a rich family—your brother’s a doctor and his wife’s a government schoolteacher. Your mother owns a shop. But look at me. My father’s only a revenue inspector and we have just one source of income.’
Lakshmi had known that Shyamala was not really complimenting her. At the time, her veiled comments had hurt Lakshmi like a high-heeled sandal wrapped in a silk shawl. She wondered now, ‘How much money can my mother earn from moneylending, the fields and her shop?’
If she asked Sanjay about it, she knew that he wouldn’t answer her. Sanjay was impractical. But not her husband, Shankar. She was proud of her street-smart husband.
So she turned to Shankar and asked, ‘How much money do you think Amma has?’
Shankar was distressed because the stocks he had invested in were not performing well and his wife’s question irritated him. He snapped, ‘Why’re you asking me? Neither your mother nor your brother shares their financial matters with me. The only way to get any information is from the village gossip.’
Lakshmi realized that if she continued talking, it would end in a domestic quarrel. So she kept quiet. She thought about Mridula. ‘She doesn’t understand the real world. If someone says nice things to her, she thinks that the person is good. There’s a difference between what we say and what we actually mean. Mridula is transparent and absolutely naive. She thinks about others and how they feel instead of what she herself wants.’
Whenever Lakshmi met Mridula, she praised her saying, ‘Mridula, you are fortunate. You give education to poor children and your husband gives medical treatment to poor patients. You are made for each other.’ Mridula happily thought that the praise was genuine.
But Lakshmi actually thought, ‘These days, Bangalore is growing fast. There are more tuition classes than schools. Many teachers have resigned their jobs and opened tuition centres where they earn much more than they did when they were teaching in schools. Why does Mridula continue to work in a stupid government job? She can take tuitions instead and earn much more money. But I can’t tell her that. She’s the perfect daughter-in-law for my stingy mother. Mridula doesn’t buy anything for herself. She uses every penny for the home. She hasn’t bought a gram of gold after marriage. All of Mridula’s ornaments from her wedding are heavy. If I were her, I would have bought many sets of thin jewellery. Poor thing, she has only one silk sari. My mother did not give her any gifts when she was expecting her first baby either. My mother is shrewd. She will say, “Oh, we don’t have that custom” if it means giving a gift to someone. It doesn’t matter whether that someone is Mridula or me.’