The alarm went off sharp at 6.30 in the morning. Monica stretched out her hand to grab the mobile from her bed to snooze it off for the third time.
She went back to sleep for another 15 minutes resolving that she would be at her feet at the next ring. She had been trying hard to get up early in the morning to devote some time for exercise. She was very serious about shedding all that extra weight that she had gained in the last nine years of her wedding. Marital bliss, her friends had called it initially and had laughed away. But it was no longer a laughing matter for her.
She got up at the next ring. But it was the doorbell this time – sharp at 7.00.
Munni, the domestic help, was holding out the morning newspaper and the milk packets as Monica opened the door. Her eyes had turned red from rubbing while she was trying to adjust her sight to the bright morning light. She sat down on the sofa with the newspaper and turned to the glossy supplementary page which had an article on ‘How to lose weight without having to diet’.
Munni moved about in the house with the kind of familiarity that comes with time. It was her fifth year at Monica’s house.
Munni remembers having been introduced to Monica exactly five years back by one of her friends who was the earlier domestic help at Monica’s place. She remembers having looked around in awe when she first set foot into the house. Everything prim and proper and new and glittering. From the cutlery to the furniture to the curtains to the walls. She had never worked in a more affluent household than Monica’s before. It was like she was promoted several levels up at once. She had not been able to hide her happiness when she had found out that she is going to get paid rupees 2500 for the house hold chores. She had been devoted to her job since then.
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As the date was nearing Monica was getting more and more tensed. It was the same feeling she had experienced just before her wedding. The excitement and the nervousness of moving on to a new life and to a new place was getting too much to handle along with the thousand other things that she needed to close before they boarded the flight to New York for good.
The decision to move was not easy. She and Monish had thought it over and over again. It was a green field opportunity. The offer was good but it was a trade between what they had already built in India versus what they needed to build there from the scratch.
While Monica understood and supported Monish in every possible way to deal with the several things they needed to sort out– she had her own worries to get a grip on.
One such worry was about ‘fitting in’ to a new place all over again – quite literary in her case. For she was going bonkers over how she would manage with wearing only western clothes now on which did not quite flatter her plump profile.
She had been aware of the side talks that her Kitty party friends indulged in. She had sensed the sarcastic vibes thrown at her. She had smelt the jealousy coated with sarcasm in their interactions with her. She had taken all the humiliation with dignity but somewhere deep down she also feared the worst.
All of them were not bad- there were some who had advised her on things that really mattered, one such thing was not to disclose about their relocation to the servants until their last day, until all the precious things have been moved away; for this could be their last chance to secretly polish off things.
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It was a cloudy day. The doorbell rang sharp at 7.00 in the morning. Munni was standing at the door however she did not have any newspaper or milk packets to hand out. The moment she stepped in she gave out a loud cry in horror when she looked around. The hall looked so much bigger with all the furniture gone. Monica’s voice echoed as she spoke to her.
She handed out a thousand rupee note to her along with a packet which had one of Monica’s many saris that she couldn’t think of wearing in New York. The money given to her was more that she was entitled to for the month’s work. She told Munni that there was no need for her to come to work from the next day as they were moving to a different place.
Munni took the packet from her hand without saying anything. She stood there until they said their goodbyes to all their neighbors and friends. She stood there quietly trying to understand her own emotions. She waited until the car disappeared from her sight. Finally, she left without caring that she would get drenched, for it had started raining heavily.
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