The night was bleak, with those three letters lying there in ominous silence. I knew the tenor of the letters though not exactly the contents. Replying to each of them was like writing letters to three wives whose domains were always invasive upon one another.
I opened one randomly. As expected, it was a string of complaints about my mother and the same tiresome rhetoric of threats, implicit, explicit, an air of moral superiority and all that. I kept it aside wearily. After a long moment of staring vacantly at the ceiling I tore open another letter with the stamp of the Navy. It was a letter from Delhi office telling me that my presence would be required in Delhi and I should start as soon as my term of training ends here.
I had no appetite left on that night. I kicked off the shoes under the table and went to bed early. I was too weak to open the third letter.
The next morning when I got up the sky was clear and sunny. I saw the unopened letter and opened it indifferently. It was from mother. She was obviously not aware of what Neela had to say about her. Mother had run out of cash and she needed some immediately on account of father's hospitalization. I was sorely regretful over my disregard to the letters for two consecutive days. I resolved to go to the post office that very day, and then lay in bed languidly, with a deep longing to be in the presence of Emma again. A vision of the deep Pacific ocean, the shoreline receding and vanishing beyond horizon and seagulls circling overhead, was fleeting past my mind's eye as I thought of her and the coffee - mug in her hand. I wistfully thought of prolonging that hour. .I recalled her eyes getting clouded, over the knowledge she gathered about me being connected with the army. In the few meetings I had with the two of them I had enigmatic visions of a young girl blossoming silently, unattended, trying to understand life and at the same time being solicitous about the upbringing of her little brother. I was a bit restless over the way she fell into silence when I was unwittingly led into admitting that I belonged to the armed forces. Somehow, it pained me to see her leave without a formal good bye when her brother was desperately seeking companionship with me.
The day kept me busy and I hardly had a moment to myself, but the thought of Emma and Charles erupted in the intervals every now and then.
I opened one randomly. As expected, it was a string of complaints about my mother and the same tiresome rhetoric of threats, implicit, explicit, an air of moral superiority and all that. I kept it aside wearily. After a long moment of staring vacantly at the ceiling I tore open another letter with the stamp of the Navy. It was a letter from Delhi office telling me that my presence would be required in Delhi and I should start as soon as my term of training ends here.
I had no appetite left on that night. I kicked off the shoes under the table and went to bed early. I was too weak to open the third letter.
The next morning when I got up the sky was clear and sunny. I saw the unopened letter and opened it indifferently. It was from mother. She was obviously not aware of what Neela had to say about her. Mother had run out of cash and she needed some immediately on account of father's hospitalization. I was sorely regretful over my disregard to the letters for two consecutive days. I resolved to go to the post office that very day, and then lay in bed languidly, with a deep longing to be in the presence of Emma again. A vision of the deep Pacific ocean, the shoreline receding and vanishing beyond horizon and seagulls circling overhead, was fleeting past my mind's eye as I thought of her and the coffee - mug in her hand. I wistfully thought of prolonging that hour. .I recalled her eyes getting clouded, over the knowledge she gathered about me being connected with the army. In the few meetings I had with the two of them I had enigmatic visions of a young girl blossoming silently, unattended, trying to understand life and at the same time being solicitous about the upbringing of her little brother. I was a bit restless over the way she fell into silence when I was unwittingly led into admitting that I belonged to the armed forces. Somehow, it pained me to see her leave without a formal good bye when her brother was desperately seeking companionship with me.
The day kept me busy and I hardly had a moment to myself, but the thought of Emma and Charles erupted in the intervals every now and then.
No comments:
Post a Comment