Fallen Leaves IX Chapter
Adam Ayub
Meanwhile my classmate Rajkmar had gone and fallen in love with a Malayalee girl, who was working as a lab technician in a private clinical lab. She was a Christian and he was an orthodox Nair. They got married secretly and started living together in a small rented house. Things were going smoothly for him, when somehow his parents got wind of his doings in Madras. They decided to visit him on a fact-finding mission. He got the intimation about their arrival, just one day before they actually landed at the Central railway station. He was flabbergasted! He came rushing to me the next morning. He was shaking like an aspen. He narrated his vows. “You must help me” he pleaded.
“Me? How can I help you?” I said.
“I have told my parents that we are staying together in a rented house”. He said
“So?”
“They are coming to stay with us”
“In your house?”
“In our house.”
“For how long?”
“May be a couple of days”
“What about your wife?”
“I have packed her off to a ladies hostel”
“Good! So the problem is solved.”
“No, you are supposed to be staying with me”
“You can pack me off to a Boy’s hostel”
“No”, he said offering me the key “Take this, go to my house and be at home. I am going to the railway station to fetch my parents.”
“But...” He did not give me time to protest. He was off in the waiting autorikshaw.
I went to his house and made myself at home as instructed. He had made a neat job. There was no sign of a woman ever having lived there. He had swept the house clean of any feminine traces. Great job! Then I saw the double bed! I mean two single beds arranged closely to make a double bed. I quickly separated the beds and put them on either side of the room. I surveyed the room one last time, and finding everything in proper order, lied down on a bed and started leafing through a magazine. Then the door opened and Rajkumar entered with his parents in tow. He put down their luggage and introduced me to them. I smiled politely. His father asked me “How long you have been staying together?”
“Er..? Ah... a few months… yes a few months” I replied.
Rajkumar intervened before I blurted out any inconvenient truths. “Mum, don’t you want to freshen up? That’s the bathroom”.
“Yes”, she collected some clothes from her bag and went to the bathroom. His father continued staring at me. It seemed he was measuring me up. He seemed to think that I am not a good company for his son. I was feeling slightly uncomfortable with his stare.
“Babu is our only son” he said to me.
“Who is Babu?” I asked.
“That’s my pet name” Rajkumar said.
“This is the first time he is staying away from us… we are a bit worried about him” “Why” I asked.
“Well... Madras is a big city” His father continued. “Youngsters could get easily spoiled… you know, with the new found freedom and the temptation a big city offers”. “That’s true” I said philosophically.
Suddenly the bathroom door opened and his mother emerged holding aloft a brassiere!
“Whose is this?” She asked her son, her eyes flashing with indignation. Rajkumar turned to me and asked “Whose is it?”
“Well, it must be Lissy’s” I said.
“Who is Lissy” His parents asked in chorus. Mohamed Rafi and Latha Mangeshkar could not have sung a duet in such perfect synchronization! I was marveling at their symphony and Rajkumar was glaring at me with bulging eyes and an ashen face, when they sang again,
“Who is Lissy?” Somehow Rajkumar regained his composure and sang in a husky voice,
“You mean the Chechi next door?”
“Er..?”
He glared at me. “Yes,yes.” I said,” The Chechi next door”
His parents continued glaring at me too.
“You idiot!” Rajkumar shouted at me. “You must have picked it up along with your clothes from the terrace.”
“Why should he need a ladies undergarment?” His mother demanded. Though the question was directed at her son, her anger was directed against me.
I was getting a little hot under the collar myself, for I was being subjected to this humiliation for no fault of mine.
“I don’t need any ladies undergarment. I am not married...”
“Oh yes” Rajkumar broke in without allowing me to complete my sentence. “You must have picked it up by mistake”. Then he turned to his mother “You see, Amma, all the tenants dry their clothes on the terrace”.
“I will return it immediately” His mother said, walking towards the door.
“No, no” Rajkumar said, jumping before her. “Let him return it. He is responsible for the mix up” He snatched the bra from his mother’s hand and shoved to into my hand.
“Give it to her” he said.
“To her?” I eyed him, trying to find out whom he meant.
“To the Chechi of course”
“Oh yes”. I said. “..And I will go and stay with my friends at the lodge. Let your parents be comfortable here.”
“No,no” His father protested. “You need not go. We can manage”
“That’s all right uncle, be comfortable. See you later” I said, stuffing the bra into my pocket. I looked one more time at Rajkumar and left him to deal with his parents.
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