Priyanka and Neelam sat in the front row. They watched with pride as their children enacted a patriotic play for Independence Day at their school. They clapped fervently when the play ended.
Neelam looked around her and
smiled. Everyone was well dressed with clothes in orange, white, blue and
green. She noticed that everyone looked happy and were smiling. Her gaze next
turned to some of the housekeeping staff, and was pleasantly surprised to see them
also dressed in the colours of the tricolour, holding a flag.
She felt thirsty and
wondered if she could ask one of the housekeeping staff to get her some water.
She signalled to one of them, standing a few feet away. As the young lady came
over, she requested her for some water. She hurried away and quickly brought
her some water. Neelam thanked her and the lady smiled.
She also greeted Priyanka with “Hello
Madam”.
Priyanka replied with “Hello
Geetha. How are you?”
The lady replied “I am fine Madam”,
and smiled and walked away to stand in a corner.
Neelam looked at Priyanka “Oh,
you know her”.
“Yes, her husband is our driver”.
“Oh Ok. She seems a nice person. Do they have
children”.
Priyanka replied “Yes, she has
two kids. A girl of 6 years, and a boy of 2 years”.
“I hope she is sending her daughter to school”.
“Yes, she is”.
“It must be difficult for these
people. They probably earn quite less and then it is not easy to manage; what
with the rising prices of everything….” said Neelam.
“That is true”, said Priyanka. “But
there is a bigger problem as well. She has been robbed”.
“What? Robbed? How did this
happen? What did she lose?” asked Neelam, taken aback.
Priyanka grew to be thoughtful.
She looked at Neelam and said quietly “If you watch her for some time you will probably
know”.
Her curiosity aroused, Neelam looked
at Geetha. She was puzzled on how watching someone can tell her what they were
robbed of. She was tempted to say that she has given up, but thought she can
only do that after giving it some time. She turned and looked at Geetha every
now and then. She saw her supervisor summon her once asking her to get a chair.
On another occasion, she saw her wiping a seat clean after a parent accidentally
spilled some tea on it. She then saw a parent with a girl in tow say something
to her sharply. Geetha’s face grew tense and sad, and she muttered what
appeared to be a sorry and drew back. After some time, she saw her hurry to
rush behind the curtain probably to clear the stage for the next event. She
came back after a while, with what seemed trash and left the hall. She then
returned after a few minutes and stood in a corner.
The school program was drawing to
a close. Neelam now looked at Priyanka and spoke up “I give up. I cannot make
out what happened to her and what she lost!”
Priyanka spoke “Did you watch
her?”
“Yes, I said!”
“And you could not find an answer
to your question?”
“No I could not. And how can I?!
I would I come to know what she was robbed of by looking at her! I am no
Sherlock Holmes!”
“Ah, you don’t need detective
skills for this!”
Neelam said “I cannot stand the
suspense! I give up! You have to tell me!”
Priyanka responded “Ok, let us
first go over what you saw”.
Neelam recollected all she had
seen and told Priyanka.
Priyanka said “Let us discuss the
exchange between the parent who was with her girl and Geetha. What do you think
happened?”
“The parent and the girl were
seated in front of us. The girl wanted to go to the restroom. After that, I
noticed the parent say something sharply to Geetha. Not sure why. Maybe she
stepped on her foot or something?”
“Not really. Geetha offered to
take the girl to the restroom and the parent told her sharply ‘Don’t touch
my kid’. That is what happened”.
“Oh, but how do you know that is
what happened? I could not hear anything from here”.
“I put two and two together. I see
this happen again and again”, said Priyanka.
“Class prejudice..it is sad”,
said Neelam thoughtfully. “But you were going to tell me about Geetha being
robbed”.
“I am telling you about her being
robbed of her dignity and identity almost every single day. Is that not far
worse than struggling to make ends meet? It is as if she is an object – nobody is
even interesting in knowing her name” said Priyanka.
Neelam looked at Priyanka, shaken
and thoughtful.
As they were leaving the hall,
they saw Geetha standing in the corner. They walked up to her and thanked her.
“Thanks for getting me the water,
Geetha. I saw how busy you have been today”, said Neelam.
“Oh Madam, it was no trouble at
all” said Geetha, a smile lighting up her face.
