The Red Towel

“My husband lost his job.”

“Go to sleep.”
“What on earth for?”
“You look so tired and sleepy, have not been sleeping properly for the past fortnight.”
“Oh, I hope you are not misled by my droopy eye. I suffer from a droopy eye syndrome, but none of you is bothered. I looked it up on the net, it needs to be treated.”
She came up to me, showing me her eyes, in which I found nothing wrong, except the sleep kinks afloat.
Just then the maid entered the room, her face intensely sad.
“Kya kar rahey ho Didi?” She asked my daughter.
“Nothing”,  she said.” I am feeling sleepy”,  and covered herself with the bed cover, lost to the world.
Some mumbled words from under the bed cover which sounded to me like “bad parents” fell into my ears, but I shrugged it off as an example of Tinnitus and turned to Sunita, the maid.
“Why do you look so sad today?” I asked.
“My husband lost his job.”
“Oh!”
“Yes, and Diwali is just round the corner. I have hardly any money, had intended buying new kurtas for myself and my sister and a couple of jeans for my brother.”
“Do not worry.” It was Lalit who had just come out of the washroom, resplendent in a red towel.
There was some stirring in the bed.
Iha was also sitting up in bed, and soon she was out of our room into her own only to come back in a couple of minutes with a heap of clothes.
“Here Sunita Didi. Take these.”
From the corner of my eyes I saw that the heap contained the kurtas and jeans that we had bought for her a couple of days back.
I swallowed the protest that came to my lips, looking at the intensely joyous expression on her face.
“But Didi, you bought them just a few days back,” Sunita said.
“So what, I will buy new ones,” she said beaming and hopped onto the bed.
“Why did you give YOUR clothes to her? We had already planned to get her new ones.” Lalit said, when Sunita had gone out of the room with the clothes.
“Well, she needed them more than me.”
I did not want to shrug off this remark as an example of Tinnitus.
I looked at hubby who was smiling away, proudly.
“You can smile later, Dad. First go and wear something decent. Imagine coming in front of Sunita Didi wearing a towel and that too a red one”.
She shot a reprimand in his direction, and he scurried out of the room, red with embarrassment.

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About the Author

Santosh Bakaya ( 175 Posts)

Dr Santosh Bakaya is the author of three mystery novels for young adults, and a book of essays titled Flights From My Terrace, which was recently published as an e-book on Smashwords. Her poetic biography of Mahatma Gandhi, Ballad Of Bapu has been published by Vitasta Publishers, Delhi, India in May 2015 and has been receiving rave reviews from everywhere. Although a Political theorist, with a doctorate in political theory, it is literature which has been her first love. She was awarded the Reuel international award for language and literature 2014 for her long poem Oh Hark!, which forms part of the Significant Anthology. Many of her poems have figured in the highly commended category in Destiny Poets, a UK based website and many are part of international anthologies. Right now, she is giving the final touches to her satirical novel, tentatively titled Sanakpur Shenanigans.
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