Fiction

The Trouble With Paradise

It was 9 am in the morning, when Shukla suddenly felt a mighty jerk to his two wheeler. The traffic was choc-a-bloc all around and he had his wife and two young daughters on the scooter with him. It was a bright Sunday, and the family was on its way to watch the annual flower show at Lalbagh Botanical Gardens.

It did not take very long for Shukla to figure out that the huge white SUV behind them had nudged forcefully into his vehicle from behind, the hurry perhaps induced by the traffic light turning green. The impact of the nudge had Shukla buckling over the steering bar of his two wheeler, his feet firm on the road, and with him just about managing not to lose control over his vehicle. His wife, Saloni was scuttled off the scooter with three-year-old Anusha in her arms. Only five-year-old Arunima sitting between her parents had managed some semblance of ‘no disturbance’.
Shukla could feel panic throw up bile in his mouth as he instantly hopped off his scooter and made for his young family. “She is alright…”, assured Saloni, patting Anusha’s head, as she checked her own ankle that had had a nasty brush with the hot exhaust pipe of the scooter.

Meanwhile, no one paid attention to the fact that a middle aged, well-dressed man stopped the SUV, emerged from it, and strode to the scooter and its riders in mayhem in front of his vehicle. The traffic continued to buzz on the busy road that was very broad and had several lines of traffic as well as criss-crossing two wheelers and autorickshaws.
It was some time before it occurred to Shukla that someone had caused this mishap…he himself had been on the right side of the law, riding slowly on the extreme left lane in the heavy traffic.

As he looked up, the spectator from the SUV, Mahesh, for that was his name, looked sombrely at him and said, “No problem, na? No one hurt, right?”

Saloni looked up from over her three-year old’s head, who needed assurance.
“She is scared,” said Saloni.

“Your car rammed into us…”, shouted Shukla above the traffic din, by now having begun to make sense of the happening.

“Yes, yes…the car behind me kept honking and I accelerated. I couldn’t help it. Is there any damage? asked Mahesh, scanning the scooter with his eyes.

Meanwhile, the traffic had gone through one more change in traffic lights and no one seemed concerned about this mishap, one of thousands occurring on the streets of this busy metropole every day.

“We are ok…but it could have been very bad, you know”, said Shukla, having seen his bent number plate and broken rear light for the first time now.

“I will compensate…but just tell me if all of you are unharmed”.

“Everything looks fine…the children must be shocked. They may have been injured.”, said Shukla sceptically.

“Would you like me to pay right now for the damage to your vehicle?”

“Huh? No…no, I mean, yes…no…”, Shukla was understandably confused. Everything had happened so fast!

He was cradling Arunima’s head at his chest and she for her part was trying to wriggle off to be able to better observe the goings on.

“Okay, we’ll do one thing. Here, you keep this”, said Mahesh, taking out a bundle of notes from his shirt pocket, “It is 5000 rupees. Use it for the repairs. I am so relieved that all of you are safe.”

Saloni, who was dazed up to now, glanced at her husband in utter shock.

“5000 rupees? That is a huge amount!”, she thought.

“Ok, I will take it and return the balance to you after the repairs. Give me your telephone number”, said Shukla, now having regained his composure considerably.

Giving Shukla his phone number and address, Mahesh backed off his SUV, helped the family back on to their scooter, waited for them to ride off, and then slowly started his SUV.

“Why did this happen? What came over me? I wish this hadn’t happened. I have never made mistakes like this…” were Mahesh’s remorseful thoughts as he slowly wound his way back home.

The next evening, Mahesh received a call from Shukla.

“I needed only 1470 rupees for the repair. When should I come and return your money?”, he asked.

On impulse, tempted to blurt out that Shukla may keep the rest of the money, Mahesh, a trifle reluctantly, agreed to meet the former. Mahesh knew that for Shukla, his pride was more important than that sum of money.
“I will call you back and tell you when and where to meet me”, said Mahesh. He had already told his wife, Vandana, about the mishap.

The next morning, Shukla received a call from Mahesh.

“How about you bring your wife and daughters to my house tomorrow evening? My wife would like to meet them too”.

“Okay…what time?”

“Six-ish? In the evening? Would be fine…”, fixed up Mahesh.

Shukla informed Saloni of this outing after he reached home that evening.

“The address is in a posh locality. Put good clothes on the children”, suggested Shukla.
The next evening, Shukla with his wife and daughters set out to Mahesh’s house. The locality was not very far and they got there in fifteen minutes.

Parking his bike in the basement parking of the huge housing complex, Shukla ushered his family into the lift.
“18th floor…”, he instructed the liftman. Saloni and the girls had never been in a lift before. They peered into the mirrors on the sides, gazed in awe at the fittings, and soon enough were on the 18th floor.

“Oh, come in, come in…how sweet…your children? How very sweet…”, they heard a pleasant female voice at the door where they pressed the bell. Mahesh’s wife, Vandana, had already seen the family through the peep hole on the door. Opening the door, Vandana welcomed them into the plush sitting room, most of the floor of which was covered in furry white deep carpeting.

“Do we remove our shoes?”, asked Shukla, a trifle overwhelmed by the opulence he saw.

“No, no, it’s alright…come, sit down…”, trilled Vandana, looking very eager to please them.

Shukla found that Mahesh was absent. But, he could not bring himself to ask. Somehow, it seemed irrelevant.
“Uh, here is Mr. Mahesh’s money”. Realizing just then that he did not even know the last name of the beneficiary, Shukla handed the neatly packed balance amount to Vandana.
She took it and placed the envelope on the stereo system that was prominently displayed on the shelf housing the TV and other gadgets. It wasn’t long before Vandana offered to have the kids look out of the balcony of her home. As they passed the corridors and a guest bedroom, Saloni felt as though she had entered heaven!

“Oh, this is movie-like! Gorgeous!”, thought she, taking quick, sweeping glances at the furniture, the woodwork, the bed linen, the curtains…everything…
Holding up Arunima and Anusha by turns, Vandana showed them the children’s play area far, far beneath. Arunima wouldn’t agree to leave the balcony, while Anusha began weeping in some terror at having been made to look down from such a height. “Very sweet…”, said Vandana again as she handed Anusha back to Saloni, who was now set to return to the sitting room. Meanwhile, Shukla had just sat mutely looking vaguely out of the window to his right. A gentle breeze was blowing the curtains inwards and all he could think of was that it was time to leave.

“Here! Take this…”, said Vandana, as she walked in holding a large bundle and handed it to Saloni, who was about to sit down next to her husband. The bundle had sets of sparsely used salwar- kameez sets, piled one on top of the other, and secured with twine in a cross. There was no cover on the bundle.

“This is for you”, smiled Vandana, as she took in the look of surprise on Saloni’s face.

“And yeah, children, would you like some colour pencils? And some paints? There might even be nice shoes in here…come…see…!”, she beckoned the kids. A medium sized thick plastic bag surfaced, probably handed by one of the ‘invisible’ helpers in the house. It was also secured with twine.

“Open it when we reach home”, instructed Saloni and the children obeyed. Soon, the table was laid out for them. There were snacks served along with chilled water melon juice, a fill of which completed the picture of a heavenly outing for Saloni and the kids.

Taking leave of Vandana, Saloni urged her to visit them sometime too.

“Oh sure, I will…”, said Vandana, not sounding very convincing, a fact that did not escape Shukla’s notice.
Going down the lift, the mother and children were ecstatic over their gifts. They couldn’t stop marvelling over how sweet ‘Vandana Aunty’ was!

Piling his family neatly on to his scooter, Shukla was glad to be getting home before it got dark. Only, he could not understand as to why his eyes kept brimming over as he rode in the traffic. “Good thing, they can’t see me like this…”, thought he, fiercely wiping his tears and nose on the sleeve of his shirt, looking straight ahead…
About the Author: Monica Bakre is a qualified counselor/psychologist, with interest in reading, writing, cooking, music, and pets. She describes herself as an observant, absorbing, thinking, speculating, and sensitive individual.

One Comment

  1. Just Wow Didi!