‘Why, just because you do not like these women being here?’
‘Yes, that’s why.’
‘Do you always do things that I approve of? Your friends come here frequently. Their loud laughter disturbs me and everybody inside the house. But I never protest. I never said that they shouldn’t come here. Why do you interfere with whatever I do then?’
Suresh raised his voice and said, ‘Because I’m the owner of this house.’
‘You rule outside. This is my territory.’
‘Why are you spouting nonsense? What will you gain by annoying me this way?’
Mangala stood silent for a while. She was trying to analyse the thoughts of her husband. Then she spoke up. ‘As you wish. If I don’t have any right over this house then I won’t stay here. Till now I was under an illusion. But today you cleared the illusion. I never had any right over this house. A woman who does not have any place in the heart of her husband has no right over his property.’
Suresh was embarrassed. ‘Why are you making a mountain out of a molehill? I did not mean that. You’ve misunderstood me.’
‘One’s real thoughts come out unhindered like this. When we are alert, we hide our real emotions and feelings.’
Suresh was now ashamed of his rudeness. But he was afraid that the more he tried to pacify her, the more abusive she’d become. So he left her in that state and went out.
It was early morning and a cool breeze was blowing. Suresh was in a trance and dreaming that Mangala was walking past him. He woke up with a start to see that Mangala was actually standing at the threshold. The maids were wiping their tears. Several servants were standing around. Everybody was grief-stricken and teary-eyed. It was as though a bride was leaving her home forever.
Suresh understood that Mangala had taken the previous day’s incident to heart. But he did not try to stop her, or make up with her or even make her understand his viewpoint. She is humiliating me. She can go wherever she wants. I do not have anything to do with her. She is going of her own accord. That implies I mean nothing to her. Then who am I to stop her?
He just stood there and Mangala went away. She did not even give him one last look.4
Mangala kept walking. It was not a small thing for the wife of a landlord. Nobody could gather the courage to speak to her. The menfolk moved out of her way while the womenfolk stood at their doors and watched her with pitiful, curious eyes. They were thinking, ‘What a cruel fellow! He could’ve at least got a palanquin for her!’
She crossed her village and reached Sheetala’s village. When Sheetala saw her, she invited Mangala into her house.
Mangala went inside. The house was in a dilapidated condition. An elderly lady was lying on a cot in the portico. Poverty was writ large everywhere.
Sheetala asked, ‘What’s happened to you?’
Mangala answered, ‘That which was in my fate.’
‘Did Kunwerji say or do something?’
‘It’s not necessary that everything be expressed in words. One’s real feelings come out in gestures.’
‘Oh God, has it come to this now?’
When one reaches the end of one’s tether all inhibitions are lost. Mangala said, ‘If I wanted, I could’ve continued to stay there. I would’ve spent my entire life there. But I cannot stay any more at a place where there is no love, respect or honour for me.’
‘Where’s your parents’ house?’
‘How can I go there?’
‘Then where will you go?’
‘I will take refuge in God. I will ask Him why he didn’t make me beautiful. Why did he make me ugly? Sister, being born ugly is the worst curse for a woman. It is probably she-monsters who are reborn as ugly women. Beauty fetches love and love is the rarest commodity in life.’
Mangala stood up to leave and Sheetala didn’t stop her. She thought, What would I offer her to eat? There’s nothing in the house.
Sheetala went into deep thought after Mangala left. How unfortunate was she herself? I spurned the love of my husband, and this woman is renouncing the world because her husband doesn’t love her. Did she have any dearth of jewellery? Could these jewels keep her happy? She spurned them. And I lost everything because of my obsession with them. Only God knows where he is, and in what condition!
She often cursed her greed. And after seeing Mangala’s condition, she started hating jewellery.
It was two years since Vimal had left his home. Sheetala began to have all kinds of misgivings regarding him. She began to suffer from a sense of guilt and remorse.
The petty landlords in the rural areas used their influence to get their work done. Vimal’s lands were usually given on lease for farming. After he left there was nobody to look after his lands. No farmer tilled his land. Nobody touched his land even on a shared crop basis. They thought that if Vimal appeared suddenly he might refuse to give anything to the share cropper. The tenants did not pay rent. Sheetala borrowed money from the village moneylender to run the house. She faced the same situation in the second year, too, but this time the moneylender refused to lend her money. Sheetala had to sell her ornaments. By the end of the second year all the family assets were disposed of. Starvation stared them in the face. There were four members in the family—Sheetala’s elderly mother-in-law, her younger brother-in-law, her sister-in-law and Sheetala herself. The relatives also visited off and on. To make matters worse, Sheetala’s parents got embroiled in a court case. Her father and elder brother had been framed. Sheetala’s two younger brothers, sister and mother came to stay with her. It was difficult to run the house earlier, but now it was totally ruined.
The squabbles between the two families began from early morning. The samdhans and the brothers-in-law fought with
