With this plan in mind he left Rangoon the following day.3
The world is of the view that physical beauty is of less consequence than mental qualities. Our moral philosophers feel the same way. But reality is quite different. Suresh’s wife, Mangala Kumari, was skilled at household work. She was an obedient, extremely sensitive and thoughtful, soft-spoken and God-fearing woman. But as she lacked beauty, she was an eyesore to her husband. Suresh got annoyed with her about petty things but the next moment he would regret his behaviour and ask for her forgiveness. This happened every day. The trouble was that he was not corrupt like other affluent people. He wanted to fulfil all his physical and spiritual needs within the bounds of family life, which would afford him joy, peace and tranquillity. Deprived of conjugal happiness his entire life appeared to him to be dull, shrunken and joyless.
The consequence was that Mangala lost her self-confidence. If she ever tried to do anything of her own accord, a constant fear plagued her lest her husband got angry with her. In order to make him happy she told lies and gave excuses to cover up her mistakes. She blamed the servants to save herself from her husband’s wrath. She ignored her own self-respect and conscience just to keep him in good humour. But that did not help at all. Instead of rising in her husband’s esteem she fell in his eyes day by day. She tried new ways of decking up but it only took her further away from him. She yearned for her husband’s affection. She longed for his smile and a sweet word from his lips. Women lacking beauty are not satisfied with a little love; they want the complete, undivided love of their husbands—sometimes even more than pretty women, as they work harder to attain that. Mangala became more frustrated as all her efforts yielded nothing.
Gradually, her love for her husband started waning. She reasoned that such a heartless, cruel and thoughtless man did not deserve her affection. Tit for tat—that should be the name of the game. A man who only cared for outward beauty did not deserve her undivided love and affection. Such a reaction though only worsened the situation.
Mangala didn’t have to just deal with her own lack of beauty. Sheetala’s beauty dampened her spirits even more. Though Mangala was not beautiful, she loved her husband with all her heart. We cannot ignore those who love us. Love has infinite power. But Suresh was stricken by Sheetala’s charm. His heart, occupied by Sheetala, had no space for Mangala. He tried very hard to eject Sheetala from his heart but to no avail. The impact of beauty is as inevitable as that of wealth. Suresh had had a glimpse of Sheetala’s beauty on the day she had come to see Mangala. But that one glance had conquered his heart. He was totally vanquished.
Suresh sat in a corner and compared both women to find out the difference between the two. Why did one woman attract him so much while the other repelled him? This attraction was devoid of all lustful thoughts. In fact it was like poet or a painter appreciating beauty. It was just a means of satisfaction for him. He reasoned with his heart and resolved to try and make Mangala happy. It was not her fault that she was not beautiful. But the moment she came before him his resolve vanished into thin air. He noticed closely the shifting expressions on her face indicating what went through her heart, but like a paralysed person, he was incapable of doing anything. He didn’t dare reflect on the consequences. And when Mangala also started being rude to him, he lost all interest in her. He stopped visiting her altogether.
It was very hot one evening. Even hand fans were of no help. Nobody went for walks in the orchards. The heat sapped all energy and the people became lifeless, like corpses. The extreme weather made everyone irritable. They lost their temper at the drop of a hat and flared up like a bonfire. Suresh was restless. He was scolding the servants for not sprinkling water frequently when suddenly he heard the sound of music emanating from the house. He was startled; then he felt a seething anger. Even the sweet music annoyed him. Was this the time to sing? The heat was making life miserable and here people were busy enjoying music. Mangala must have called them. Who said that love was the basis of women’s lives? They were simply fond of good food, sleep, entertainment, as other ordinary human beings. Now it had been an hour or so. God knows when it would stop. Those women were straining their throats for no reason.
At last he couldn’t hold himself any more. He went to the women’s part of the house and said, ‘What’s this raucous noise you people are making? Is this the time for recreation? It has become difficult to sit outside with all this uproar.’
Everybody fell silent. It was like a noisy classroom falling silent on the arrival of the teacher. Everybody bowed their heads low and slunk away.
Mangala got up and went to the front room. She called her husband inside and asked in a low voice, ‘Why’re you so angry?’
‘I do not want to hear music at this hour.’
‘Nobody is singing for you. Do you want to control my hearing faculties?’
‘Stop this nonsense.’
‘It’s none of your business.’
‘I won’t allow this racket in my house.’
‘So where is my home then?’
Suresh ignored this question
