Chap 27 Rashmi, The News letter
Morning hours just went by and it was 11 am, when the bell rang. Ghazal opened the door to see her neighbour and friend Rashmi standing there with a covered dish in her hand, with her usual cheerful and warm smile. The delicious aroma of magical spices from south told me , it was my favourite biryani. I stepped back letting her in and closing the door softly so as not to disturb Arun, if by any luck he had not already been by the door bell.
“Hey Ghazz ! everything fine I hope. I saw you seeing Vrinda off to school alone, so was wondering if you were sick or something. This is for you love”, she said handing her the still warm dish.
“Oh yes , everything ‘s fine. It’s just that I had some work at home , so took a day’s leave…”, Ghazal said, silently praying in her mind that Arun was still asleep and she could be saved explanations to her ‘gossiper’ neighbour, who was otherwise a very warm person at heart. Rashmi was popularly called ‘news letter’ of their lane, a name in which she took pride. She had this most exquisite talent of sharing everyone’s troubles and also providing troubleshooting solutions, which gave her easy access to almost every household in the neighbourhood. But she couldn’t deny the fact that she had been very helpful to her always, acting as a caretaker for Vrinda whenever she had to leave her alone at home for her multi tasking as a teacher, home maker or mother. She could rest assured that her daughter was in safe hands.
Rashmi was about her age, a South Indian herself married to a North Indian businessman, whom she had met at her best friend’s wedding and fell head over heels in love within a duration of three hours, so that by the time her friend finished taking her sacred vows, she had proposed the soft-spoken and shy Naveen ,who was a perfect gentleman at heart and strong enough at will to fight with his family for her. After month long discussions, tantrums thrown by Naveen’s slightly orthodox mother, and threats to disown his only son by his father, at last they had given in to his silent yet firm stand. They had got married two years ago in a typical North Indian lavish wedding with rituals from South too merged here and there. Thankfully there was not much opposition from Rashmi’s parents as they had placed their daughter’s happiness above all other things. Rashmi with her loving and caring nature, had won over her in laws’ hearts within no time and they lived like a close knit happy family thereafter. Phew!! why can’t everyone’s life have a happy ending like this. Not that they didn’t have their differences, but Naveen’s firm stand on family matters as not to take sides and let the persons involved resolve their problems helped in creating a positive atmosphere.
“ Oh I see ! you have guests at home”, Rashmi’s remark brought her back with a jolt, and Ghazal was shocked to see what had brought on that remark from her. Arun’s shoes near the shoe rack, a male accessory which could rarely be seen at her house, as she did not have any male visitors except her two cousins, but they never came for a stay rather for a short visit once or twice a month. “Umm… yes actually it’s Arun…. he’s down with viral and had just returned from his site”, Ghazal tried to make light of the situation, praying again that Rashmi won’t start with those innumerable queries of hers, which she was in no mood to answer, as she herself had not yet recovered from Arun’s surprise visit.
Just as Rashmi was about to come out with her first question from her long inventory, her cell started ringing, a missed call from her mother in law , a signal for her to come back home. Thanking her stars, Ghazal saw an unwilling Rashmi off , closing the door letting out a deep sigh of relief. She remembered those days when Arun had stayed here for a month, owing to Vrinda’s illness and the word had spread within no time in the entire neighbourhood. Every now and then, ladies had just peeped in on the pretext of inquiring about Vrinda’s health, their actual motive being to add a little spice to their otherwise dull routine life, at her expense. This was the only thing she hated about her locality, where she had spent her entire childhood and adolescence. Everyone was too damned concerned about everyone. She had loved this closeness once but things had changed in her life and so has she, from a carefree and outgoing teenager to a much reserved mature person, she was now who had lost all interest in the small pleasures of life. Has she really become ‘a boring teacher’ as Mihir called her sometimes while teasing her? Reflecting back , she could not really remember when she had freely laughed last, except for those few times, when she had been talking to Samar and he had cracked some naughty joke or called her with some funny name like Poku, Dikola, Pikola, Toku…. his inexhaustible list of names always made her laugh. At present, he was the only sunshine in her otherwise dull life, after Vrinda of course. Samar was busy with his final semester exams, and she had strictly told him not to message her except when he was taking a break from his studies or after his exam to tell her how his paper go. She missed their daily chat but knew better than to compromise with his career.
“Hey Ghazz ! everything fine I hope. I saw you seeing Vrinda off to school alone, so was wondering if you were sick or something. This is for you love”, she said handing her the still warm dish.
“Oh yes , everything ‘s fine. It’s just that I had some work at home , so took a day’s leave…”, Ghazal said, silently praying in her mind that Arun was still asleep and she could be saved explanations to her ‘gossiper’ neighbour, who was otherwise a very warm person at heart. Rashmi was popularly called ‘news letter’ of their lane, a name in which she took pride. She had this most exquisite talent of sharing everyone’s troubles and also providing troubleshooting solutions, which gave her easy access to almost every household in the neighbourhood. But she couldn’t deny the fact that she had been very helpful to her always, acting as a caretaker for Vrinda whenever she had to leave her alone at home for her multi tasking as a teacher, home maker or mother. She could rest assured that her daughter was in safe hands.
Rashmi was about her age, a South Indian herself married to a North Indian businessman, whom she had met at her best friend’s wedding and fell head over heels in love within a duration of three hours, so that by the time her friend finished taking her sacred vows, she had proposed the soft-spoken and shy Naveen ,who was a perfect gentleman at heart and strong enough at will to fight with his family for her. After month long discussions, tantrums thrown by Naveen’s slightly orthodox mother, and threats to disown his only son by his father, at last they had given in to his silent yet firm stand. They had got married two years ago in a typical North Indian lavish wedding with rituals from South too merged here and there. Thankfully there was not much opposition from Rashmi’s parents as they had placed their daughter’s happiness above all other things. Rashmi with her loving and caring nature, had won over her in laws’ hearts within no time and they lived like a close knit happy family thereafter. Phew!! why can’t everyone’s life have a happy ending like this. Not that they didn’t have their differences, but Naveen’s firm stand on family matters as not to take sides and let the persons involved resolve their problems helped in creating a positive atmosphere.
“ Oh I see ! you have guests at home”, Rashmi’s remark brought her back with a jolt, and Ghazal was shocked to see what had brought on that remark from her. Arun’s shoes near the shoe rack, a male accessory which could rarely be seen at her house, as she did not have any male visitors except her two cousins, but they never came for a stay rather for a short visit once or twice a month. “Umm… yes actually it’s Arun…. he’s down with viral and had just returned from his site”, Ghazal tried to make light of the situation, praying again that Rashmi won’t start with those innumerable queries of hers, which she was in no mood to answer, as she herself had not yet recovered from Arun’s surprise visit.
Just as Rashmi was about to come out with her first question from her long inventory, her cell started ringing, a missed call from her mother in law , a signal for her to come back home. Thanking her stars, Ghazal saw an unwilling Rashmi off , closing the door letting out a deep sigh of relief. She remembered those days when Arun had stayed here for a month, owing to Vrinda’s illness and the word had spread within no time in the entire neighbourhood. Every now and then, ladies had just peeped in on the pretext of inquiring about Vrinda’s health, their actual motive being to add a little spice to their otherwise dull routine life, at her expense. This was the only thing she hated about her locality, where she had spent her entire childhood and adolescence. Everyone was too damned concerned about everyone. She had loved this closeness once but things had changed in her life and so has she, from a carefree and outgoing teenager to a much reserved mature person, she was now who had lost all interest in the small pleasures of life. Has she really become ‘a boring teacher’ as Mihir called her sometimes while teasing her? Reflecting back , she could not really remember when she had freely laughed last, except for those few times, when she had been talking to Samar and he had cracked some naughty joke or called her with some funny name like Poku, Dikola, Pikola, Toku…. his inexhaustible list of names always made her laugh. At present, he was the only sunshine in her otherwise dull life, after Vrinda of course. Samar was busy with his final semester exams, and she had strictly told him not to message her except when he was taking a break from his studies or after his exam to tell her how his paper go. She missed their daily chat but knew better than to compromise with his career.
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