“Oh, Why? “asked Ananya in an agitated tone.
Lalita, her house maid, was on the other side of the phone. She had just asked for a week’s leave. Ananya was baffled at this unseasonable demand. She was not prepared for this. Lalita had shown no intentions of taking leave in last few days. So, when Ananya reached home on Tuesday evening to find her house in the same condition as it was left in the morning, anger swelled up in her chest. She was home late; she was hungry and was dying to have food and hit the bed as soon as possible. To find her kitchen sink loaded with utensils, dirty laundry and the milk, which had spilled over on floor in the morning, in a dry state, which she had no time to wipe in the morning, made her even more angry. There was no phone call from Lalita either that she would not turn up for work. Ananya calmed herself down and thought that Lalita might be sick. She had wasted no time to dial her number.
“Hello” came the muffled voice.
“Where are you?” Ananya asked the obvious without wasting any time.
She heard a sob and softened a bit. Lalita started crying inconsolably. She had left for her village near Pune as her mother in law had fallen down from the bed and had broken some bones. She was Eighty. Ananya disconnected the phone and felt sorry for her. She picked up the mop and ordered food from Zomato.
Lalita was in the AC Bus when she disconnected the phone. She unchained the snacks bag and called out to her sons to have some food. But they refused and took out a cola bottle and chips instead to munch on. She and her husband had been working overtime to make this trip to Pune. They had quite a few relatives there and her children had long Diwali holidays. She was keen to make this trip despite her on and off leaves during Ganesh festival. As the Bus stopped, an auto rickshaw puller waved to them and they hopped on to it. He was Lalita’s cousin Ganpat. He picked up the luggage and lovingly adjusted it in his small auto. He waved to her friend and another auto came. Lalita and her husband Mahesh got on to other one and her children adjusted themselves in their Uncle’s auto. The city was still active and their excitement knew no bounds. As they got down at their cousin’s home, smell of mutton wafted from the kitchen. The children stationed themselves in front of television and Lalita got down to settle themselves in the tiny room meant for them.
In the morning, they all were ready to visit a temple and later Laxmi market when Ananya called her up. Lalita picked up the phone in all gaiety and then suddenly realised her fault and immediately subdued her voice
“hello, Lalita, haldi (turmeric) is finished in the container, have you placed the new packet somewhere else “
Lalita worked in six other houses. She could not recall where the new packet was.
“There is no new packet madam, you have to buy one “Lalita replied vaguely and hung up the phone.
Lalita got a good scolding from Mahesh and he asked her not to pick up the phone now. They were getting late for the temple.
The scorching sun did not deter Lalita’s spirits and she kept on crawling in the long queue chanting religious slogans. After the darshan they had a small chat with a priest and they agreed to conduct a small pooja in the court yard for the general well-being of the family. The priest asked for eleven hundred as his fees but the sincerity with which the priest had performed the pooja, Lalita in all her enthusiasm gave him fifteen hundred instead. The priest was adamant that he would take only eleven hundred but Lalita touched his feet and added five hundred more and handed him two thousand with great respect. It was a long wish for her to visit this temple and she could not stop herself from donating five hundred more in the donation box. She sincerely bought packets of prasad for Ananya and others and prayed for each of her employers.
It was Saturday and Ananya was waiting frantically for Lalita to arrive. Lalita was supposed to be back on Saturday. She had called her up seven times since morning but the call went unanswered each time. A week’s absence of Lalita had left Ananya exhausted. No temporary maid was ready to work just for Seven days. It was appraisal time at office for Ananya. She made sure to remain cordial and cooperative all the time in the office despite being flared up from inside. Her reporting boss was taking out all his frustrations on her. Apparently, he was going through a rough patch in his personal life and he spewed the venom on his team like never before. Ananya kept her calm. While many in her team remained upset due to the negative behaviour of their boss, she maintained her composure. Of all the members in the team, she thought herself to be in the toughest spot but her goals kept her motivated.
A week and a half had already passed and it was a Thursday. Lalita opened the door of Ananya’s house. It was six in the evening. She expected Ananya to be back from the office by seven thirty. Ananya had called her several times on Saturday but she did not answer back as she did not intend to join on Saturday. Lalita was apprehensive about her job being intact. She had a strong doubt that Ananya might have replaced her by now. The house was quite a mess. The type of mess which occurs when the house is not cleaned properly for many days. This gave her hope that she might still be working here. She braced herself for impending angry outbursts of Ananya and got down to her work putting a lot of extra effort.
Ananya opened her door to find the house squeaky clean, some kind of prasad was kept on the table and the house smelt of food. From the bathroom she could hear the sound of water. She jumped with joy, went inside the bathroom and hugged Lalita. Lalita’s soap laden hands were flung open in the air. Tears fell from her eyes. She realised her job was still intact. She needed money after this expensive trip to Pune but was apprehensive to join after many days. But Ananya’s gesture assured her that she was still the house maid. Ananya’s expressions turned from joy to worry.
“Is everything alright at home Lalita?”
“How is your mother in law?”
“You lost your phone or what?”
“Were you sick?”
“Any accident at home?” were the many questions she asked in one breath without waiting for Lalita’s reply
Lalita looked at Ananya lovingly and wiped her tears. She did not have the heart to lie. She maintained the first lie though.
“Didi, I tended to mother in law. But since we were visiting Pune after a long time the family insisted us to visit Trayambkeshwar and Shani Shingnapur to pray for speedy recovery of my mother in law”
She peppered the information with little bit of lie with guilt written on her face “Didi, I forgot my mobile at Pune home. So missed all your calls. Retuned to Pune yesterday and came to Mumbai just two hours back.”
Ananya could guess that Lalita is mixing her lies with a reasonable tale of truth, she decided to went along. Ananya handed over her full salary for the month and took out coconut oil from her dresser and kept it on table. Lalita smiled, washed her hands and started applying oil to Ananya’s hair while narrating her fifteen days of Pune, all the while maintaining that her mother in law had indeed fallen down and broken her leg. Ananya had a soft smile on her face, the soothing head-massage made up for everything.
