Original Konkani Story: Kapyallem
Author: Sudha Kharangate
Translator: Rashmi Rathi
Such a dire accident… whole of Goa was shaken. I fell down in a swoon …when I came to …Shekhar was sitting by my side…then my heart…had to be steely …adamantine…I told him, “Both of them have fooled us and gone to visit God…” The poor lad would sit beside the landline waiting for their phone call from God’s …
When and how they all just grew up…the world never noticed. Shaku-Vilu’s Beenu, Sanju, Saurabh came to be my grandkids…Now with the coming of Beenu’s little princess, I have become a ‘great-grandma.’ Shekhar though doesn’t have any issue as of now. A doctor…he’s in U.S. for further studies …has married Pam…both are doctors… people keep saying…one who goes to America doesn’t want to come back…stays on … as if enchanted … such a one… has no love left for his people…one’s land…
— But Shekhar did come down with Pam…to show her to Maii… Pam’spretty endearingtoo…wearing a sari… with a bindi …speaking the few Konkani words that Shekhar had taught her…she touched my feet….and my heart! With her golden hair and blue eyes, that lass is a real doll…! How soon had that fortnight passed by …and lo!…they were gone… gone…back to U.S.
—Such a huge mansion…this house of mine…! It looked so full…when Vilu, Shaku and Shekhar were here. Their games and pranks…playing with cats, mock-fights with Gharsul’s pups… their own squabbles… the day felt short in its duration…Now …I’m touching seventy…managing to work around … pullingon…only due to my resilient physique…
Such thoughts and reveries don’t leave me even…for a moment. I go to the backyard and squat on the verandah…Gharsul comes whining…warmly wagging her tail…sits down silently at my feet looking at my face. The love in her eyes is to be seen to be gauged…it’s so satiating …Presently, Datu draws closer and rolled down near me…shaking her tail she begins to play with her young ones. Both the kittens are snow white… with black ears…just like her! They jump up and down, trying to catch their mother’s tail. Sachchu must have felt left out…He directly jumps into my lap. Closing his eyes, he begins to make growling sounds …really speaking…I should have pushed him down…but he will insist on sitting in the lap…how so ever I may push him away! He thinks it is game…but …it tires me out…!!
—Yesterday the headmaster of the village school had come over yet again. He’s requesting me to give away this house… for the village school. Promises to name it after me…says… ‘the village kids will be able to study… thanks to your generosity…’
—John too had come visiting…he is offering to build a seven-storied building after demolishing this house. Offered me a full floor with four flats too…!
What should I do? I can’t think…what is the aim of my life now on? My world has become like a patchwork …put together by tacking together … patches and bits…from here…there…anywhere…But now this patchwork has lost its sheen and colour….it has completely faded …
No denying that he girls are expected to go away to their husbands’ homes. But Shekhar…?I had felt … that he’ll stay on …not forsake the house…will continue the annual Ganapati puja …worship the idol— will enliven the house … light it up during Diwali…
This is the final year of his medical studies…of becoming an even bigger doctor…Will Pammy let him come back here? He used to say… “will come back and establish a hospital …on completing my studies…”.
I hadn’t realized that it had become quite dark. Sachchu-Datu began to rub their tummies against my legs with loud meow…meows…to announce their hunger. Today’s Thursday…my sacred day! But I’ll have to mix a little rice with milk and thrust it on their heads…Else, Datu won’t touch it even with a barge pole…that scoundrel wants some fish-flavour! I’ve kept aside a bowl of yesterday’s fishcurry for her… better give it to that damned cat …some rice with it too…!That God forsaken cat…always makes me violate all my vegetarian days …making me touch fish …however much I resolve …not to do so…
The injured baby squirrel with a fractured foot is drinking the milk in herbowl …she’s eating a guava too…dancing up and down in the cage…Her leg has recovered…must tell Manwar …to take her away…leave her in the vegetation to find her way…
I’ve got a letter written through the good offices of Vasant and dispatched it to Shekhar. Conveyed to him the offers made by Headmaster, as well as by John. Let him decide…whether we should go for a school or a seven-storied building …it’s a month since the letter has gone. But…so far…there’s no reply …no phone call… from him…
Now, why would he be bothered about this old house? As for Pammy …she’s a native from there itself…had he married a girl from here…perhaps she’d have brought him back to this soil… How he used to brag in style… “I’ll become a surgeon…will return home and establish an hospital…But no hope …! Not a clue of anything such …Oh, hang it …! It hurts even more when I dwell on it. But the fact of the matter is that … now, I just cannot manage to look after this huge house…
Gharsul begins to bard from the backyard…who would it be? It’s time for Babli and Shantu to come… it must be them…coming to give company to this old woman…through the night…Babli sleeps in the outer passage and Shantu…by my bedside…God alone knows…what relationships these are…that bind us so…! What ties…from which past life…but they do come as company … of their own volition…
“Maii, has everyone done with dinner…?”, Babli’s regular,typical query…
“Where on earth are we done …? Just about managed to feed Sachchu and Datu … Gharsul, Soltaire, Hedgo…they’re still left…”
“It is said that dogs should not be fed at night. Then they fall asleep…”
“Oh no! They’re used to it… having food twice a day…But not a day… mind you, nota day…have they fallen asleep at night.”
“Maii, have you had your own dinner? I’d have given the dogs their dinner…BUT…
-Her BUT made me smile…Once… I wasn’t feeling quite up to it…and I had asked Shantu herself to feed them all. About half-an-hour later, she came back to tell me—none of them have … so much as touched their food…Then I had to somehow muster up strength and go and tell them “Come on …you all …you better eat…”. Only then, did they have food! These beasts are genuine… more than humans…
Soltaire is growling in the yard outside…Hedgo is alsoaccompanying him…Now both have launched into loud barking… Gharsul has come and joined them it seems… Their barking though…is not to drive away some visitor… it is like the bark of welcome to an acquaintance …I can say even from here…all the three dogsmust be forcefully wagging their tails even as they are barking… who can it be…??
“Babli, just go and see who it is!” Babli crushes the beedi he’s smoking, tucks it behind his ear and goes out to see…
“Maii, maii, see who’s come…!!”
“Who’s it?”
“Our Shekhar bab…!!”
“WHAT? Shekhar? “Forgetting my hurting knees, I directly got to my feet. Was about to step forward, when Shekhar and Pammy entered…Today, Pam had worn a dress. But the moment she approached me, the lass touched my feet, asking in her typical Konkani, “Moyee, kowshee aasa…?”
Shekhar made as though to touch my feet and held my trembling frame in his arms. We went on staring into each other’s brimming eyes…I found my tongue first…
“Arre…my boy …how’s that you decided to come …out of the blue? No letter, no phone call, suddenly appearing in the doorway …like ‘Casper,the friendly ghost’…?”
“You are surprised, aren’t you? But I was terrified…thinking…of… what you’d do with our house!”
“My lad…you’re based abroad …in U. S. …why do I need such a big house, then? And looking after it …is it a joke? Shouldn’t this frail body be up to it? That’s why…I wrote to you…”
“That’s one fantastic thing you did, Maii! I read your letter and …Maii, this is not just a plain house… not a mere dwelling for any of us—it is nothing short of a temple… believe me …not only for me…for Vilu and Shaku too…They had also sent me letters…writing that… Maii may do something …rash… in a fit…”
“You know…the headmaster is after my life…”
“What was he saying anyway? That the village kids will have a spacious school? But then—where will there be the house for my own kids to dance and play? Which is going to be Vilu’s and Shaku’s maternal home? Forget us…this Sachchu here— Datu, Biguel… that Hedgo, Solataire, Gharsul— everyone of us has cared for and looked upon this residence as ‘our own home’…That’s why…as soon as I finished writing my examination …I packed may bags and came down for good…!”
I could hardly believe my ears! “You’re sure, you’re back for good, Shekhar? To settle here?”
“What’s all this you’re going on about, Maii? Hadn’t I told you…I’ll come back home…on completing my studies…?”
“But…but then…everybody says one who goes there …stays on…gets sucked into itsvortex…! Besides, …what about Pammy here…?
“What about, her? Pam and I have decided to start our own hospital right here.”
I looked at Pammy’s face. Would she really prefer to stay on …here? But one glance at her beaming face dispelled all my doubts.
“Moyee, aataam… haangaache… raavop…” Pammy spoke every word with slow emphasis.
I caught them both in a tight embrace! Struggling to contain the flood of tears in my eyes, I said — “And here was I …. thinking that …the patchwork of my life has all but faded…”
The ‘patchwork’ brought a naughty twinkle to Shekhar’s eye. “Maii, you better start designing a new patchwork…” He looked teasingly at Pammy…the poor girl felt a bit bashful …
“You mean…? Pam…?”, I cast a quick glance at her belly, a gentle swell was barely visible…My stiff lower back, hurting knees, suddenly felt as though they were all cured…! There was this curious upsurge from deep within …a desire … to do this…that …and the other…
“Where has this Shantu gone? Come on, light the gas stove and place the aadan, the water for cooking rice… these kids have come home in the middle of the night…they must be famished…”
“Maii, you please sit down right here! I insist… we shall get… everything that we need…done…”
Shekhar tried to stop me. But was I one to be stopped? I hurried in and put the aadan…for boil!
(The End)
