How Nitu got insulted

No matter when Nitu went to sleep, she had to wake up by 5:30 in the morning. And she was not spared from this routine on Sundays, not even on winter Sundays. It was all because her maid servant came around that time, whom she could not afford to loose at any cost, so she really had no choice. But waking 5:30 in the morning … was just pathetic for her. It was only her good spirits that she did not let all these 'earthly' matters bother her. She was someone who would get least perturbed for the most disturbing fact of the year may be. A peaceful soul I should say.

After explaining the tasks to her maid she quickly went to another round of sleep. She knew Sanku (her husband) would take care of the rest. Theirs was a one in a million relationship, where the husband acted as the ideal wife and the wife as you can imagine, acted as the reverse.

Her maid woke her up at around 10 am. "Boudi, get up now, you have been sleeping since morning, and look at your husband, he has been doing all your household chores since then."

Now, it does feel like an insult, to be woke up by one’s maid servant only to be told that her husband had done all which she was supposed to do as a wife, is not it? But as I told you, she could not help it. However, the jovial soul that she was, she was not perturbed.

So, she woke up. And found out that her husband had cleaned all the parts of the refrigerator, the aqua guard, had put aside the dirty bed sheets and clothing for washing, had arranged the almirah and all the rooms, had cleaned the toilets and he might have done many more chores which she could not figure out just waking up from her sleep.

After watching all that, an obvious tinge of guilt touched her. All was done and done with perfection, all while she was asleep. In fact for the rest of the day she had nothing else to do. Even then she searched in her mind if there was any trifle thing that she could contribute to. Nothing came to her mind. Standing and watching Sanku to do all the household chores seemed to be only thing left to do for her. But again it was so awkward, watching somebody toiling hard while doing nothing. So, she went to watch the television instead. But there also, she could not sit peacefully and watch the television. Something bugged in her mind.

So, she rose, went to her husband again to see what he was doing. He was still busy with scrubbing. Noticing his sweat, she then took the table fan from their bedroom and the chair to him, placed the fan upon the chair facing in his direction. At last having done something made her feel less guilty too.

The breakfast being already prepared by the maid, she made him two cups of tea and served him along with the breakfast. His hands were occupied, so she had to feed him the breakfast. It gave her a sense of relief, as if she did make up for all the effort he had put since morning. Immediately she forgot all her guilty feelings and was back to her jovial form again.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next Morning - a Monday morning, Nitu was on her way to the Baghajatin auto stand. She had tuned into the FM on her cell phone and had FM chords plugged into her ears. She was looking for an auto on the road itself if available before the auto stand. Seeing one she instantly shouted to the auto driver to stop by. She was just getting onto the auto, when suddenly she heard a hoard of shouts together and it seemed as if they were all aimed at her. The sound came from nearby, so took off the FM earphones to be clearer.

There were some school children in a Tata Sumo, all of whose heads were popping out of the window, they were all giggling, and waving their hands at her. She was puzzled to see all those kids calling after her because she knew none of them.

She thought there might be anything wrong with her dress or so, so she gave a quick look around her dress. Nothing seemed wrong. Even the driver of the Tata Sumo, not knowing what the matter was, had now pulled over by her side. All the people on the road and the shopkeepers were looking at her in curiosity now.

"What is the matter", she asked them. One of them - a girl, who looked as if to be their leader, asked her - "Didi, why do boys wear nail polish?". And it was their so sought after question.
She could not believe her ears. What a question! That to be asked by a bunch of kids, in the mid of the road to someone they did not know at all and in what a manner. Everyone on the road was watching her, and she stood there speechless in the mid of the road to be the victim of a bunch of mini hooligans. She wondered, why she out of all these people on the road, to be insulted in such a helpless manner. Even the auto that she had shouted to stop had moved on by now.

Irked by the silliness of the children she told their driver not to waste time after those mini hooligans and asked him move on. The equally irritated and confused driver started off and on his way he requested the same auto after which she had shouted, to stop for her.

The auto stopped and she finally got on the auto only to find another school kid with the same school uniform sitting inside the auto with his mom. The mom too had been watching the school kids’ antics till now, and so she asked her what was the matter. Nitu narrated her entire episode what had happened.

"Oh, and I thought you were the new teacher at their school, waiting for the Tata Sumo to get on to.” the mom replied."Oh, no, I work in a office," she clarified again, swearing in her mind that she would never be a teacher in a school where such a bunch of jungle kids studied. She then asked the auto driver to stop by the pink bus already waiting on the main road.The school kid who was sitted next to her, quiet till now, then remarked - "Is that your school bus?”

No, not again, Nitu fumed inside. "No, of course not. That is my office bus, and not a school bus", she got down of the auto coldly.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was Rosogolla's Astamangala in the same evening, and Rosogolla had come to her parents’ house eight days after her marriage, as the general Bengali custom is. Nitu had visited Rosogolla's place before on the day of Rosogolla's marriage itself but she had come then with Sanku with his bike. So she did not pay any attention either to the roads or to name of the places.

Now, that she was invited to Rosogolla's Astamangala ceremony and Sanku not being available she had to visit Rosogolla's place all by herself, she remembered only the ways and directions. So, she asked Sanku the name of the places where she has to get down and all. Sanku told her that at first she had to take an auto to 3A Bus stand and then take a rickshaw from 3A Bus stand to Rosogolla's place. It seemed easy enough to Nitu.

So, she went to the auto stand, asked an auto driver at the stand whether it plied till 3A Bus stand. The driver said that it plied till Behala 4 way crossing, after which she had to board another auto in order to reach 3A Bus stand.

The option of having to change an auto was not much fine with her and she boarded the auto sheepishly. On her way, one by one the passengers got down, till after some time she was the only passenger left in the auto. It put her in an uncomfortable state of mind. After driving some more distance, the auto came to a stop finally.

She breathed a sigh of relief as if she was out of some danger or something, and asked the driver happily, "So dada, this is the Behala 4 way crossing."."No, no this is the 3A Bus stand itself. Actually you looked so uncomfortable as if you were never on the roads before. So I drove you till 3A Bus stand instead of dropping you at Behala 4 way crossing.” the auto driver promptly replied back.

Now, that was enough of insult for an engineer to be told that she looked as if she were never on the roads."You need not have thought so much." she was caught and she was not at all happy for that, "Anyways, thanks.", "Do call somebody from your home immediately, or you might get lost in the city", the driver added and went off.

Nitu tried to brush off the comment, and head for the Rickshaw stand instead.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nitu was more confident about the Rickshaw part, since she knew the directions and ways from here.

She boarded a Rickshaw, confidence radiating from her face, and instructed the driver, "Let's go."

The driver looked at her and asked "Where?"

"You just keep moving, I will tell you the directions and ways", she confidently replied back.

"You do not know the name of the place?” the rickshaw driver was still not on his pedals.

"Of course, I know the place; I am telling you to drive straight, and then I will instruct you accordingly"; Nitu was now irritated by the whims of the Rickshaw driver.

"But the place must have some name", the rickshaw driver was not convinced."Will you go or shall I board another Rickshaw?” her day did not seem to favour her.

The Rickshaw puller finally started to go straight as per her instructions. After going some distance, the road went on to bifurcate into two directions. Nitu instructed him to go to right after giving a second's thought. It was getting dark and more difficult for her now to recognize the directions too. She was expecting to see a Kali Temple next, and now the Rickshaw driver was now driving for a long time. May be he was slow, at least slower than Sanku’s bike on which she had come earlier, so the timing might not be right, she thought to herself.

Not seeing the Kali Temple which she had expected to see by now, she was now not sure whether she was on the right track or not. She just waited and hoped that she was right on the track. Otherwise it would be the worst day that she ever came across.

After going some more distance, she saw the temple that she was waiting for so long, and out of spontaneity she gave a jump of joy at her seat itself. "That is it, you just have to go on the right now, and two houses more and I will reach my destination". Hearing her, the Rickshaw driver stopped to show her a sign board which stood just beside the Kali Temple. "Please remember the name of this place Madam. It is NabaPally James Log Sarani. So that from next time onwards, you can tell the Rickshaw driver at least the name of the place you want to go. OK Madam?"

She coldly bore the insult and said, "OK, I will remember, now please move on".
"Please do not mind madam, but it is not your fault also that you don't know the roads and all. My wife also is exactly like you. She does not know anything. She cannot even distinguish between 3A Bus stand and Behala 4 way crossing, she is so naive", the rickshaw driver went on talking.

Now being compared with a Rickshaw driver's wife was definitely not a complement for her, "I do mind", was her short reply. She felt like jumping off the Rickshaw and walking off the remaining distance. She might have even done so, if the distance would not have been a short one now.

Soon they reached Rosogolla's house, and she quickly paid the fare to him.
"It was nice to meet you Madam.’Hands up', Namaskar", the rickshaw driver went off back to his own track.

Perhaps he meant to Hand Shake.