The Yakshi and the Doctor

Chapter 5: The Housekeeper

The doctor woke up in the morning to some sounds coming from his kitchen. Immediately he woke up from his bed and checked his mobile. It was 5.30 am in the morning. He wondered if any stray cat or dog got in to his kitchen. Due to his busy schedule, he often forgot to lock his kitchen door through which they made an appearance from time to time. He got a shock of his life, when he saw someone preparing dosa in kitchen. On closer examination he saw that it was the same old woman he had met on the road the other day. Though he had offered her the job of housekeeper, but her sudden appearance in his kitchen was nothing short of a shock for him. He decided to probe further and asked her reply;

" Amma, how come you got in to the house today, I remember that I had locked all the doors yesterday before going to sleep?.

She replied: 

" Doctor Saheb, I had come in the morning and had knocked the door. I did not get any response from your side. I just pushed the front door and it opened. Seeing that you were asleep, I decided not to wake you up and started to make you breakfast. I cleaned all the utensils and other kitchen accessories before starting my job. Today is a auspicious day and I wanted to start my work before 6 am as it is very auspicious date and time for us to start any new work."

Since the doctor did not believe in astrology and neither had any interest in checking auspicious date or time, he decided to leave the matter. But something was not definitely sounding right. He was pretty sure that he had closed the front door yesterday. But on the other hand, if he had really closed the door, there was no way the old lady could break open the door and come. But for now he decided not to press that matter. After all, he had only invited her for the job and she had accepted the invitation. But by the looks of the items she was preparing, she seemed to be an expert cook. Moreover, she had cleaned his shabbily arranged kitchen in no time and it looked very clean. 

One of the reasons, why the sudden and unexpected presence of the lady at his house today didn't alarm him much, was due to the fact that he didn't have very many things of value at his house. He also didnt have much money with him. He used to spend most of his salary for welfare of children, orphans and at old age homes. So any prospective thief would not find his house a very lucrative place to be.

Suddenly, he remembered that he does not even know her name yet. So he asked:

" Amma, what is your name and how come I didn't see you yesterday?"

" My name is Lakshmi and people call me lakshmiamma. As you told that you would not be in a position to offer me salary, I decided to work at a couple of more houses in the area, so that I can save a little money for myself. I will stay in the outside room and take care of the house including cooking and cleaning. But I will not be available between 6.00 am to 6.00 pm as i have to work at other houses. I will complete all the jobs here between 5.00 am to 6.00 am and from 6.00 pm to 7.00 pm daily. After that i would retire to my room. I am 70 years old and need to rest after that. My only request is that you should not disturb me after 7.00 pm as I sleep soundly. If you are agreeable to my conditions, I will be more than happy to work here"

The doctor found these requests a bit odd, but as he had got a good housekeeper who had agreed to work without a salary and as he didnt have any better alternatives, he agreed to her demands. He also was happy to help an old women like her to earn a life of dignity. 

True to her word, she completed preparation of the breakfast, lunch and cleaning the house fast. He gave her the key of the outhouse room and she thanked him and left the house exactly at 6.00 am. For a old women like her, she seemed to be working extremely fast. The doctor admired her speed but it did not raise any alarms in his mind as he had never kept any housekeeper before. He reasoned that as a good doctor would fast in doing things in his area of expertise, similarly a good house keeper would also be having similar expertise in their domain.

The doctor left for his office at 7.00 am. He now didnt need to worry about his food and house hold chores. This gave him extra time to devote on his research for the elusive cure that kept slipping out of his hand.

As he kept walking to his hospital, he remembered that he had not given a set of house keys to lakshiamma. So she would not be able to prepare his dinner for the day. He thought he will rectify the matter tomorrow. After a long day of work, he returned to his house at 9.00 pm. He saw that laksmiamma had returned and was sleeping in her room outside as its lock was open from outside. True to his words, he decided not to disturb her and went to kitchen to prepare his dinner. To his surprise, he saw that his dinner was already prepared and kept there. It was his favorite chappati and tomato chutney. The food was extremely delicious. However, he decided to ask her tomorrow about how she manages to come and go out of his house without keys as per her wish. It was surreal almost ghostlike. He again mentally chided himself for even thinking about the possibility of ghosts. Lost in these metaphorical questions, after having food he drifted in to his sleep.

To Be Continued