The Bride and other short stories

The Gora Saab

Her baby never cried. Even when he was having a bath or making a mess in his nappies, he had the sweetest disposition. She was so proud of her Lalla, he was the apple of her eye.

Kajree took out some kajal from the corner of her eye and applied it behind her baby's ear to ward off the evil eye. His face was serene as he slept, undisturbed by the neighborhood kids creating a ruckus outside her shanty.

Her little Lalla was only six months old, but soon he would be playing outside with the other kids, kicking up a storm all on his own.

They were poor, but after Lalla, she didn't want for anything else. Soon, her husband would return from his work as a servant in the Gora Saab's house and she would be sure to keep hot food ready for him.

She put her baby in his cradle, still staring at his cherubic countenance. A sound startled her and her pitcher broke, the water pouring out in her tiny mud kitchen. A red globe rolled towards her and she swore under her breath and picked up the cricket ball.

Eyes blazing, she marched out of her hut to yell at the neighborhood kids. "You hoodlums! Lalla is sleeping, do you want to wake him-"

She pulled up with a start, hurriedly pulling the pallu over her face. The Gora Saab himself stood with a bat in his hand, giving her a sheepish smile.

"I'm afraid, it's my fault. I hope I didn't break anything." His voice was pleasant enough, but Kajree was irritated. "My baby is sleeping, I didn't want him to wake up."

For some reason, the kids around them started laughing and she threw the ball on the ground with disgust and walked away in a huff. It was highly inappropriate for the Gora Saab to address a married woman like her, but no one expected the foreigners to follow their cultural norms.

That night, after she had put Lalla down to sleep, her husband Shyam turned to her. "The Gora Saab was talking about you today, he apologized for hitting the cricket ball in our hut."

Shyam was as dark-skinned as his namesake God Krishna, but he had pleasant features and straight white teeth. She loved her husband and he was good to her. "It was fine, the water pitcher broke and I cleaned it up."

She shifted on the floor rug where she was sleeping with her husband and was about to drift off to sleep when he said, "He was asking if you wanted to come and work at their house. Their maid isn't keeping well. What do you think?"

She got up and turned to her husband. "How can you say such a thing? Who will look after Lalla all day?"

Her husband frowned. "It's only for a couple of hours in a day. You haven't really gotten out of the house and I worry about you. You know what had happened-"

"Don't bring that up! Yes, I had lost my senses when they told me that Lalla was sick and had to be taken to a hospital. But he's back now and I'm fine."

Her husband was looking worried, so she smiled and laid a hand on his arm. "You know what, maybe I will take up the offer for work. I can always carry Lalla with me."

The next morning, Kajree went to the river for her daily bath and to wash her clothes. She had a few village women as friends, but none of them were particularly happy to hear that Kajree would work at the Gora-Saab's house.

"What are you saying, Kajree? Why would you work for the white devil?" said Sunita.

"I heard that the Gora Saab makes deals with the husbands to leave their women overnight!" said Rakma. She was a complete idiot.

"What nonsense! You women have heads filled with gobar*", hurriedly, Kajree finished her ablutions and left the gossiping women.

She loved her husband and he would never do that to her.