This Is Not That Dawn: Jhootha Sach (158 page)

‘That’s all right. I don’t want any peon to work in my home against the decision of the union,’ Nath had replied.

The same peon had said, ‘Excuse me, sir. Then why does Bhoop Singh stay overnight at the bungalow? We know that he cooks and washes the dishes and does other work.’ Nath had conceded, ‘Bhoop Singh is not under any pressure to work here. He’s been doing so of his own free will, for his own benefit. If the union has any objection, he should stop.’ Nath looked at Bhoop Singh and said, ‘I don’t want you to work here against your union’s decision.’

Bhoop Singh had taken a deep breath and had looked at Nath aghast. He had turned and had gone to his room at the rear of the bungalow. He had returned in a few minutes with his steel trunk and bedding. He had put the bunch of house keys in front of Nath. He said a namaste without looking at Nath and had gone out of the bungalow without saying a word. The union workers had followed him, shouting, ‘Inquilab zindabad!’

Gill had telephoned Nath at 9.30 in the evening from the Coffee House in Connaught Place. After inquiring about the incident at the bungalow, he had said that a journalist friend had told him that the news about the incident at Nath’s bungalow would be published in the next day’s edition of newspapers along with the union secretary’s statement praising Nath.

Nath had very politely requested, ‘Gill, please don’t let this news get published. I can do without such fame.’

Gill had reassured him laughingly, ‘I thought so, that’s why I told you.’

Nath told Tara how impotent he had felt that he could not help his peon, ‘I am very sorry for treating Bhoop Singh the way I did. I thought about it all night. How could I ask him to go against the union? The union’s decision was justified and within the law. There are historical reasons why the union members have made it into an emotional and confrontational issue, but they are not fundamentally wrong.’

‘Where do you eat your meals?’ Tara asked worriedly.

‘That’s not a big problem,’ Nath said, waving his hand in a dismissive gesture. ‘You can get something to eat anywhere in Delhi. The problem is that my place hasn’t been swept or dusted for three days. There’s no place to seat a guest. Ask your peon or your servant to quickly get some help for me.’

Tara pursed her lips and said, pretending to be angry, ‘Why didn’t you telephone before and tell me about it?’

‘Listen, did Puri come to see you?’ Nath asked.

Tara was caught unawares by Nath’s question. Unable to say anything, she only shook her head.

Nath gazed out of the window for a moment before speaking, ‘The Advisory Committee met for the last time before the details of the Plan were officially announced. There were lunches and dinners everyday at some place or another for the Committee members. Vishwa Nath Sood from Punjab is also on the Committee. In his opinion, the time is not yet ripe to invest in the public sector. Sood spoke very little at the Committee meetings. Today at lunch he said that he wanted to speak with me at my residence. How could I have invited him with the state my place is in? I thought it’d better to go and see him where he was staying. He’s at Chausia’s. I came to your place from there. Puri was also with Sood. Didn’t he have your address? But Kanak…well, whatever.’ He lapsed into silence.

Tara said nothing, just looked away.

Nath shifted in his chair, ‘What an odd bunch of people! And the way he keeps on talking despite his stutter… I mean Sood. Puri was just acting as his yes-man. I guess Sood must have discussed with Puri what they’ll say to me. People dislike and criticize the way bureaucrats behave, but Sood’s style is totally dictatorial. He acts just like some American boss running his business empire. He refused to listen to me and just rambled on between stuttering and saying “what’s-its-name”! What’s the logic of his argument? What kind of behaviour is that? Very strange man indeed.’

Tara gave Nath a questioning look.

Nath said, ‘Sood said even with the promise of rapid industrial growth under the proposed Plan, who could be certain that it would be implemented? The need of the hour is a strong and effective Central government that could implement the Plan. The Plan looks good on paper, but what if some reactionary government got elected next time and cancelled the Plan calling it impractical and unrealistic? As it is, the
Congress party will lose the trust and the support of the most important section of the electorate if the Plan is put in operation before the elections. The majority of the electorate will take that simply as grounds for bringing in communism. The future of the Plan would be in danger if the Congress failed to come back in power. The decision to implement the Plan at this time will amount to political suicide for the Congress.

‘Puri argued in support of Sood, “Vast amounts of capital that could be used for investment will disappear in an atmosphere of uncertainty about the future of the economy. Any totalitarian leanings in the government’s policy will dry up the aid from the countries of the West. It’d be wiser to have a politically pragmatic perspective rather than force a policy based only on economic principles.”

‘Sood said to me by way of warning, “The first and foremost aim of any government plan should be to strengthen the hands of the Congress government.”

‘I said to Sood, “The Plan is not dependent on the outcome of the forthcoming elections. It’s the politicians who can best predict political future. We formulated the Plan within the parameters laid down by the government. The Plan is about increasing industrial production under the public sector by using our national resources, something that cannot be done in a free-market economy and private sector in the present undeveloped state of our country. That I think is the present policy of the Congress government. The framework for the Plan was provided by the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. They were briefed from time to time on the broad outline of the Plan.”

‘Sood got angry and began to stutter, “The Prime Minister likes to build castles in the air. He meets with huge crowds of people at one time. But those people are of no use to us. Let him try to collect donations to the election fund from the crowds. He won’t get even one thousand rupees from a crowd of one lakh people. The expenditure will be one crore for each state in the next elections. Will the Prime Minister be able to arrange those funds? It’s all right to talk of socialistic patterns, but we must take into consideration its implications. He will give the Plan his blessings and then have nothing to do with it. How can the rest of us accept something that is unrealistic because we all will be responsible for the political fallout? You keep this in mind.”

‘Sood went on to talk about other things and said something rather odd. I was surprised as well as saddened because I think he did it on Puri’s suggestion. Sood said, “You are an economics scholar. Your subject area involves study and research. You’re wasting your time here, your rightful place is at the National Research Institute. You’ll get a higher salary and have ample time and facility for research. After a year or two, the opportunity to become the vice chancellor of any university in Punjab may come your way.” Sood was willing to make a promise to me.’

After a brief silence Tara took a deep breath, and said, ‘There seems to be a web of intrigue and deception. I’m always scared what these people might do.’

Nath again said, ‘Puri’s attitude surprised me. When he stepped outside to see me off, he spoke with the same old familiarity, but was very businesslike in Sood’s presence. I thought he might come to see you. But if he meant to, he should have come by now. They are going back to Punjab by the night train.’

‘Doctor sahib, would you like me to serve dinner?’ Tara said to change the subject.

‘I’ll have dinner, but let me first get my trousers from Connaught Place. The shops close at eight o’clock. I’ll be back in ten minutes.’ He went downstairs, leaving his briefcase and the bundle of clothes on a side table.

Tara went to the kitchen. Purandei said in a weak voice from where she lay on a charpoy, ‘Doctor sahib’s come? Let me get up and make a couple of chapattis for him.’

‘No, bua. You don’t have to get up. I’ll manage. He’ll be back in a while.’

Tara checked up on what Parsu had cooked and saw that chapattis had not been made. She said to Parsu, ‘I’ll cook the chapattis. You get one pao rabari and a bowl of meat from the downstairs restaurant. Then have your dinner and be ready to go with Doctor sahib to his bungalow.’

When they were having dinner, Nath again brought up the subject of Puri, ‘I’ve met Kanak only a couple of times. I don’t know the whole story, but I found her to be honest and straightforward. Something that Puri did or said must have hurt her deeply.’

Tara agreed with him, ‘She’s a brave and decent person. Her family was against her marriage to bhai, but she insisted on getting married at great personal sacrifice when he was so hard up. I guess something happened between them that distressed her very much. She had told me many things.’

Nath was about to pick up his briefcase and the bundle when Tara stopped him, ‘Doctor sahib, take Parsu along with you. He will work at your place until we find another servant for you. He can cook a bit.’

Nath protested, ‘What’re you saying? How will you manage without him! Bua’s sick. Tell your peon to find someone for me. Will you eat out every day? This is crazy.’

‘No. Doctor sahib,’ Tara said firmly. ‘I’ve told Parsu to go with you. Bua’s much better now.’ She called Parsu over and handed Nath’s things to him.

Since Parsu was away, Purandei took her bath in the morning and was going towards the kitchen holding on to doors and wall for support when Tara stopped her, ‘No, you don’t go into the kitchen. I’ve cooked khichari for both of us.’

Tara had gone into the kitchen after several days. She found that Parsu had not cleaned the kitchen properly. She thought, ‘Men are not interested in keeping the house clean, they always try to get away with doing as little as possible. Wonder how things are at Doctor sahib’s bungalow? How will Parsu manage alone? I’ll leave work after lunch and go there to check on him and explain what’s to be done.’

She left her office at three o’clock for Nath’s bungalow. The gate of the bungalow was shut. She honked her horn twice. When no one came to open the gate, she knew Parsu must be sleeping. She got out, opened the gate and drove in. Parsu had closed all the doors without locking them and was sleeping in the living room on a durrie under the ceiling fan.

Tara checked every room. Parsu had done some hasty dusting, but the rooms still needed rigorous cleaning.

Tara woke up Parsu and got him going by pointing to what he had neglected to clean. She asked him to get the duster and the broom, and tightly wrapped and tucked in her aanchal so that it won’t get in the way. She told Parsu to move the durries in the living room and found a layer of dust underneath. She got him to clean the cobwebs from the corners near the ceiling and wipe the walls down. She asked him to bring bucketfuls of water and wash the floor. Parsu said several times, ‘Bibiji, please stop. Let me do it.’

Tara said, ‘I’m showing you how to clean a house.’

While the living room floor was drying, she asked Parsu to start on Nath’s office, and clean and tidy the kitchen after that. She wanted to finish
the cleaning before Nath’s return. She looked into the bathroom, and saw a couple of used towels and a bunch of dirty underwear lying on one side. There was no laundry soap. Tara sent Parsu to buy a box of detergent.

Tara went into the bedroom and saw that Nath had made an effort to straighten the bed sheets and cover them with a bedspread. The sheets were all crumpled, as was the khes and the durrie. When she bent down to move a small carpet that lay next to the bed, she saw a pile of discarded clothes under the bed. She pulled them out and found four trousers and four shirts. She gathered the clothes in her arms to put them in the almirah. She had touched a man’s clothes after years.

Tara felt a strange sensation. She could smell the sharp smell of a man’s perspiration on the clothes, but did not want to let go of the clothes. The smell was agreeable. ‘These are Doctor sahib’s clothes,’ she thought. She touched them to her forehead reverently, and kept holding on to them. Then feeling embarrassed she thought, ‘Hai, what stupid behaviour!’

It was nearing 5.15 when Tara finished tidying up. Parsu had not come back with the detergent, which worried her. She wanted to finish the rest of the work and leave before Nath came back. Her clothes and hair were full of dust. She did not want to face Nath in that condition.

Parsu came back at 5.30. Tara was nervous that Nath would be back before long. She placed a bucket under the water tap in the bathroom, added a large dose of detergent, and dumped the towels and the underwear into it. She said to Parsu, ‘The sunshine will last only for a short time. I’ll wash the clothes and you run and spread them out on the wall to dry. Take care that no one walks away with the clothes.’

Parsu spread the clothes out to dry, and was on his way back for the next lot when he heard Nath’s voice, ‘Paras Ram. Open the gate.’

Nath’s car was at the bungalow’s gate. Parsu ran to open the latch.

As he drove in, Nath noticed the clothes drying on the wall and commended Parsu, ‘Wah, you’re a hard-working young man. You did the laundry. Where did you get the soap from?’

‘Huzoor, bibiji is doing the laundry. She bought the soap.’

Nath saw Tara’s car in the portico. He parked behind her, and went inside quickly. He called, ‘Tara, listen! What are you doing?’

Tara was in the bathroom. She had removed her sari and hung it on a peg so that it won’t get wet. She was in her blouse and petticoat, wringing
out the remaining laundry when she heard Nath calling. She felt that she’d die of shame and the clothes fell from her hands.

Nath called several times. Tara tried to quickly wrap her sari, but her hands were limp and clumsy.

Nath irritably asked over and over for her to come out. Tara opened the door when she was fully clothed.

Nath was standing in front of the door, brow furrowed in anger.