RECAP

Roshni goes sulking to her room for the night.   Next morning she refuses to go to office.  She rejects Mother’s attempts to call a truce.  Mother reacts, challenging her that she would soon find a match for her and stop this nonsense once for all.  She leaves for Jallandhar apparently to see her cousin, Masi Kanta, a chronic invalid.  Roshni knows too well that it is only a ruse cooked up by Mother and Masi Kanta to find her a match.

CHAPTER 6

There was nothing much to do at home, though I managed to keep myself busy.  In Mother's room, concealed under her charpoy, was a wooden trunk with a big brass lock.  When she was around I ignored its existence, not that I didn't know what it contained. Its brass key, tied with a cord, was in a rectangular Haldiram Sweets tin-box, kept behind a row of the grocery containers on the kitchen shelf.  Retrieving the flat brass key, I opened the chest. Under layers of a carefully folded towel lay saris of embroidered silk of various hues.  In a corner, wrapped in a cotton shirt was an ornate jewelry box which contained old fashioned gold jewellery - a nose piece, rings, gold bangles, a necklace set with red-and-green stones and bell shaped ear-tops.  She had kept this little treasure for my dowry, poor dear Mother!   I picked up a lemon-green sari set off with delicate white booty work.  Standing before the dressing table, I wrapped it over my salwar kameez.  It looked nice on me.  Then I adorned myself with the gold ornaments. As a finishing touch, I applied a large bindi on my forehead with the maroon lipstick, and looked longingly in the mirror.  The image there was fetching.   How often had I played this game when alone in the house!  This time it seemed for real.

As I was taking off the jewellery pieces, I thought of calling KR.  It was a ridiculous idea but it won't leave me.  Finally, in the late afternoon, to get it off my system, I rang up his office number.  On the third ring he took the call in a tired manner. 

'It's me!' I said.

'O, canvassing for your mother again!  But you know the Conduct Code prohibits this.'   KR's response tasted of the bitterness that I had created the last time I had spoken to him. Yet I could see he was glad to hear me again.

'OK.  I say sorry!  I get mad sometimes.  I can't help it.  But tell me what are you doing this evening?'

'It’s nothing special.  Why do you ask?'

'I wonder if we could have dinner together.'

'Where?'

'At my home, where else!'

'Is it a call from your mother to coach me how to behave in my dotage?'

'You are too hard-boiled for that.  In any case, Mother is out of town.'

'I'll come.  And don't bother yourself with the kitchen.  We'll order home delivery from a place I know.  Will 9 o'clock be too early?'

'Come any time as you please.'

Now that KR had accepted my invitation, I became jittery. Mother would cut me to pieces if she got any wind of it.  But if I told KR that our intended escapade was off, he might as well guess I had taken fright.  A hundred ideas came to my mind, each one canceling the other.  In the end, I decided to let the events take their course.

I had a leisurely bath.  It took me some time before I picked up the navy blue sleeveless nightdress with matching housecoat for the evening.  I had beautiful arms, round and supple, with not a trace of cellulite on them. Like the rest of the body, my arms were a source of pride for me.  I let the housecoat rest on the back of a chair in the drawing room.  If need arose, I could easily retrieve it.

KR arrived earlier than expected.  I thought he would bring me a bouquet. He wore a big smile instead. Once inside the house he made as if to hug me, only to move abruptly towards the nearest chair.  His marionette-like action left me blushing. In order to hide my embarrassment I went to the kitchen and got busy with preparing lemonade for him.  He followed me.  When I raised my eyes to him, I found him staring at me intently.  In those bulging eyes of his there was an ageless hunger.  Stirring sugar and salt in the ice cold water I became conscious of my nakedness. He dug his hands into his coat-pocket and brought out a gold locket. ‘A beautiful gift for a beautiful girl’, he said.  The ornament irradiated naughtily as I grasped it from his hands.

'Why don't you wear your glasses?' I said rather sharply.  'Glasses?   Why glasses?' he asked, perplexed at my demand.  His familiar voice gave me a degree of reassurance.  'You'll see better with them.  You will look better', I rejoined. 

Obediently, KR went back to the table where he had left his leather brief case.  He opened it carefully and fumbled for his specs. It took him precious few minutes to open the bag, take out his reading glasses and put them on his nose.  His moments were ponderous, much like the dying rotation of an electric fan when the power is cut off. I had time enough to retrieve the housecoat from the chair and put it on.
 
I brought the plastic tray with two tall stainless steel glasses of lemonade in it.  'How was your day?'  I asked, while putting down the tray on the centre table before him.  Sipping the soft drink KR gave me rather a baleful look, 'It was hectic as usual. I have to attend to everything single-handedly...But what the hell, I have not come here to complain. It's an occasion to celebrate, not to crib about office. Come here, sit with me.'

I sat on a chair opposite him.  He peered at me through his thick glasses. 'You change your dresses faster than a film star does in a song sequence.  But if you ask me, the thing you wore earlier gave you a much better look.  I liked it immensely.'

It was not to be KR's day.

'I don't wear a dress because someone else likes it,' I said coldly, 'I wear it to please myself.  For my own comfort.  I felt like wearing a housecoat over my nightie, so I wore it.'

I could see KR was fumbling for a repartee, but he chose to remain silent in the end.

                        To be continued…