– Poduri Krishna kumari
When the calling bell went on pestering without a pause, I ran holding my breath and opened the door.
Satya-Satyavani barged in as a combination of swiftness and whirlwind. Without even giving me a chance to offer a seat she dumped herself in the sofa with a ‘Dhudel’ sound.
“Have you remembered? We had another Vani in our batch, Soumyavani? She is residing just opposite to your home. It’s her house” breathlessly at a stretch she went on.
“What? Is she there? Come lets go and meet her” my happiness knew no boundaries.
“Oh my fool! The fool of fools! Never try to meet her.
If you touch her she will stick to you. I felt so delighted when you settled here buying a house.
But I regret her permanent stay here.” She said
“If she stays in her home, why do you feel so bad?” offering her snacks and coffee I said.
“What? a coffee, I am dead tired off coffee now a days , more over High BP , recently even migraine started haunting me, I should go for blood sugar checking I think,”
My God! Who could save me from this hypochondriac? A trivial trial as a wisp of grass to save myself from those floods
“You say something about that Soumya? What do you know about her?”
Saved!
The direction changed.
“Is it a question? You might have seen her twenty five years back. Probably after her marriage you never had a chance to meet her.
Though she had a house here she roamed elsewhere for her job and her son’s studies. Very rarely she used to come to collect the rents. I had a chance to meet her frequently.”
“What is the story?”
“Her husband died long back, you know she married him against the wish of her parents. In-laws refused to see her after their son’s death. This lady, would you think, leaves them? Dragged all to the court and collected the share of his property?”
“What’s wrong in it?”
“I know you say this. You always supported her. But the thing is to educate her son and to get a job she spent one third of the property. Now this small house and her son’s job are the main sources for her survival.”
“Leave it, she is living her life” I advised.
“My dear fool, that‘s what I am going to tell you. Now her son had a disease it seems. She is spending a lot for the treatment. Recently she did his marriage too, now that girl left them and went to her mother.
Some devastating disease it might be.
Now the thing is she is in trouble, if you greet her she bothers you asking loans and completely destroys you. You are so shy and humble. So I am warning you. You have no knowledge of day today affairs and craftiness. You should avoid the needy.” Munching the last snack she said.
I felt dizzy.
“Where are you humanity? I thought of shouting.
The ding dong of the calling bell saved me, otherwise,,,, immediately her car horn too sounded.
“It’s my husband,” she too accompanied me to the door step.
At the door steps a woman stood there elegantly with a bare forehead, sweat drops on it glistening as stars in a moonless sky.
“Soumya” I said thrilled
At that moment my mind has split into two parts, one filled with the affection for a friend who appeared after twenty five years and the other with the warning that Satyavani introduced into me.
From the car that paused at the gate Satyavani’s husband keeping out his head from the window shouted “send Vani, I’ll come later, some other time”
“Let me take leave” moving away from Soumya Satyavani walked out.
“Don’t worry Satya, I’ll not make you a Doctor” Soumya said. Still the teasing smile of those days moved on her lips.
“Haven’t I told you? She had a bit screw loose” from behind Satya mimed and ran in to her car.
When I was in utter confusion
“The one who lends is a doctor know” said Soumya moving her eyes strangely.
I chuckled and invited her as the affection was victorious´ “come have a seat”
“Beautiful! Systematic arrangement, looking through my window, I recognized you on your house warming day”
“Oh! You would have talked to me; I have no idea that you could be here.”
“Don’t worry”
“Just now Satya said about your stay here and you turned up”
“That’s why I think you felt happy instead of surprise?” (Has she noticed my suspicion too? My God!)
“What has she informed you… Satya my problems, her diseases, her husbands promotions and her loose motions everything? Has she narrated everything?”
I couldn’t stay laughing.
“I wish a comedian without any sense of humor would have been here”
Soumya said.
My looks displayed perplexity
“You laugh a lot even to a mad trivial joke. You are comedian’s delight”
She too smiled.
“Shall I tell you why? I am mentally retarded, my mental age is too less so I laugh easily”
With a smile she came to me and squeezed my cheeks.
“It’s true my dear, your’ is the purity of children, that’s why I like you”
O my god! She is not going to trick me with flattery?
As I felt bad not to console her about her husband, “sorry Soumya, I came to know about you just now when Satya said”
Dark shades rolled on her face for a minute
“What to say? Everything is not in our hands. He died in an accident and
I am left this way”
She sighed.
“I heard your son is sick? Is it true?”
“Yes! TB”
“Alas! What a pity!” Really I felt bad
“No need to worry so much, now days no need of getting scared so much for TB. Good medicines are there. Healthy food and continuous medicines will cure it within no time” she said resolutely.
“It will be expensive for medicines and treatment, I think” the worm in my head came up and made me ask.
She looked at me surprised
“Didn’t you know? My son is a doctor. Then where is the need of buying medicines? Still he can afford more over his colleagues look after him as a flower. No fear at all to him”
I was shocked, is he a Doctor? Satya never said.
“Ok! She said your daughter in law went to her mother… and something…”
I mumbled (I too had a sadist in me … how do I talk this way!) the smile on Soumya’s face never faltered.
“Stupid girl! Her age is like that. She felt angry even on her mother with a prejudice that we hid his disease and did the marriage. Recently he had this infection at the hospital. A small misunderstanding! Have you taken my son as a fool! He too felt that let her have a change for a while.
Now to please her singing and to convince her yesterday he went there. My son can sing so horribly that the girl within two days would feel that it’s better to come to home than to listen him. Challenge! Would you like to bet?”
The invincible said.
What can I say but to pay compliment to her in my mind? Good bye sadism!
“Now what else my dear girl, have you cleared all the doubts that Satyavani intruded into your mind?” (She found them out, worms- goodbye).
“What else? I still have the craziness for novels, would you like to see my collection?” we both going through the books, lost time in gossiping.
How much we talked! Endlessly –literature, life, politics, whether the society is changing or we change with our age, feminism. So on and so forth… how many topics! To quench the thirst of good friendship since these twenty-five years we talked.
No time sense at all. Soumya got up alarmed.
“This is the time to give medicine to my mother in law. Let me take leave” hurriedly she started
Satya said she had a rift with mothering law? No other stupid would equal me if I couldn’t realize the fact that there is no truth in Satya’s talk.
I followed Soumya to the threshold.
Stepping down suddenly she stopped and asked
“Can you do me a favor?”
It caught my breath, are Satya’s words true? Is she not going to deceive me with the name of help? Again suspicion as a worm got ready to move in to my head.
“You have to lend me one thing” Soumya said again.
I didn’t say a word, let her tell
“Lend me a rag” with added grief she said teasingly
I looked at her angrily
“What’s this laziness? The whole house is so beautifully arranged; see the dust on TV, radio and the phone?” she scolded.
“You go on your way this is my home, my TV and my wish and my dust who are you to clean it?” I winced at her.
“It’s true the one who should dust you must clean you up” she walked away twisting.
With a smile I stood there at the doorstep and thought the nature and attitude of my two friends Satyavani who devoured me of my mental peace, applying all imaginary diseases to her and bad qualities to others, where as Soumyavani who lives with an optimistic hope of having a solution for any problem and shares moonlight swallowing the darkness even for a while. Both are humans, but what a difference between them.
One thing is true it’s difficult to know the value of the Soumyavanis without the existence of Satyavanis.*
- translation: Swathee sripada
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Nicely told!