Rashmi hooks the end of her saree around her waist and squats down to soak the mop into the bucket filled with dirty water. After 4 dips she squeezes the mop and begins mopping from the corner of the house’s main hall as usual.
“And the teacher was like ‘10th standard is upstairs madam’!” Says Chitra, Rashmi’s house master, and laughs aloud.
Sitting beside her on the couch, her friend Madhu starts wheezing with laughter.
“You should’ve seen her face she turned pink with shame,” Chitra adds.
“What did she say then?” Madhu asks with a shaky voice controlling her laughter.
“She says ‘My son is 7 years old madam, I’m in the right class’. The teacher only believed her when her son came to cling to her.” Chitra adds.
Madhu slaps her arm in laughter again. “And last year on her 8th anniversary I heard one of her housekeepers scolding the other saying ‘Where is the other number candle’?”
Chitra almost chokes on her tea. She gulps forcefully and starts shaking the whole sofa with her laughter.
Rashmi quietly does her work. But since her work doesn’t require her ears, she’s always enjoying her master’s talks side by side. She figures they must be talking about Alisha, their beautiful new neighbour. Rashmi recalls slowing down in her walk last month on discovering a new family shifting their luggage in the empty bungalow of the locality. Alisha had passed her a smile. Something that Chitra had never done.
“Did you see how chatty she became all of a sudden last evening when your husband asked her about her job?” Chitra asks Madhu.
Madhu keeps the bowl of dried fruits back on the table to point fingers. “She does it on purpose whenever she is around us! As if she is the only woman on earth who has a job. Bitch!”
“As if we were uneducated and didn’t have job offers we left to start a family. Poor woman found love in her late 30s. Finding a job in all those idle years is the least anyone could do. What’s so great? Pity her Madhu pity her.”
“And found someone old enough to be her father.” The ladies start laughing again. “Their son looks like their grandson with them!” They snort even louder.
Rashmi diligently focuses on her cleaning. “Didi, (Elder sister in Hindi) your legs,” she says to the ladies while mopping the floor. Chitra and Madhu fold their legs on the couch to let Rashmi clean below.
“Did you know she used to leave her son in a daycare and go to work?” Madhu asks.
“You mean how they do with dogs in America?”
Madhu and Chitra’s laughter returns more loudly on the comparison. This time it lasts very long.
Rashmi finishes cleaning the hall and goes to Chitra’s 13-year-old son’s room.
“We will be enjoying retirement at her age while she would be in her 60s making her son take his board exams!” They chuckle again.
After a pause, Madhu blurts out. “I think women are better off starting a family. Marry a rich man if money is what you’re after.”
Chitra nods. “And early. I’ve heard kids born to mothers in their late 30s have high chances of several diseases! Even their brains are underdeveloped. This was one big reason why I had both of mine before 25. See how healthy and intelligent they’ve turned out!”
Rashmi starts cleaning below her son Kunal’s bed and finds 20 dirty tissue papers as usual. Kunal is sitting on his bed, picking his nose and throwing his booger on the floor.
“Kunal started speaking at 1 you know! And his performance in that eSports tournament makes every boy jealous.” Chitra bluffs.
Rashmi snorts while picking up all the dirty tissues and throws them in his dustbin. Today his empty lotion bottle and a half-torn poster of a naked girl covered in a white waxy substance are also below the bed. Rashmi holds her breath and finishes her job in his room quickly. She goes to Chitra’s daughter Navya’s room next.
“And Navya is so mature for her age let me tell you, she’s already helping her dad in his business. She is remarkably clever!” Chitra beams with pride.
Meanwhile, Rashmi cleans the shoe spots near Navya’s window. No shoe in the house has those prints, she knows. She also spots a new pack of contraceptive pills lying near her drawer.
“Didi,” she picks it up to give it to her.
Navya quickly snatches it from her hand and throws it in her drawer. She looks at her door to check on her mother. On finding her busy she takes out 5 thousand rupees from her wallet and offers it to Rashmi. Rashmi takes the notes and keeps them in her blouse as usual.
“Don’t know what I’ll do without you, Rashmi,” Navya says and returns to reading her magazine.
“So these wannabe ‘look I’m a feminist, look I have a job’ females are just attention whores!” Chitra says.
“For real!” Madhu agrees.
Rashmi finishes her mopping and goes to the door while wiping her hands on her saree.
Chitra calls her. “Rashmi come here, go to Madhu’s house tonight. She has guests coming over. Help her out.”
“But I work at Basu Ji’s house every day after your house Didi,” Rashmi replies.
Chitra turns to her with a frown. “Since when have you started working at Basu’s house also?”
“About a month.”
“What for?”
“My daughter is quite ill Didi, I need to work,” Rashmi replies.
Chitra looks at Rashmi condescendingly and turns back to talk to Madhu.
