THE PICTURE FRAME

                                                The Grit.

She was a charming woman in her  mid thirtees but not showing it.Her wide mouth contained two   fresh rows of teeth which shone when she  talked. She always covered her head quite  deftly with a dupatta  which  never slid away.Mona liked  the rhythmic shaking of her head when she was busy talking.Her voice was  of one flat tone. She never cared to modulate  it which could empower her to join  the persecuted class of womenhood  who  used it as a lethal and perennial  weapon to subjugate the men in their lives but this woman   seemed to be knowing her worth which had stopped her from playing   second fiddle to her husband. There seemed to be no wavering  in  her confidence and self assertion.This she conveyed by her clear and undaunted posturing  on issues she confronted on day to day  basis.Her voice carried a sort of brashness about it.It had no variations which one sees in the middle class or upper class women who are wont to use various sound modulations to suit their audience in different situations not discernable to the lay man.They  know when to respond and when to hold back and use these machinations to turn themselves into control freaks.But the woman was one straight flowing continuity  transparent and vivacious in asserting   her rights .Looking at her , Mona sometimes fathomed her own vulnerability. She found that she had more grey areas to be sorted out and even after spending decades with her husband she could not ascertain her definitive place  in  his  life.

 The woman   was the daughter- in- law of her maid. .She had recently recovered from a life threatening disease and had to go through regular check ups in order to rule out any  relapse of the condition.She was a very cheerful person with a zeal to set her home  of two small rooms as a model of ultimate comfort. She was on the plump side and the dresses she wore had the fine cut and   soothing  textures. She never wore gaudy clothes and knew stitching.  She  was concerned with the welfare of her family.She never  let  her mother- in- law dress shabbily. .The blouse would  always be  matching with the saree.She would visit the weekly bazaars and get the matching cloth pieces and stitch out the blouses  after  her  bone breaking house hold chores were over..She had lately stopped her mother- in- law to go to these bazaars for grocery and vegetable  shopping since her mother- in- law  could not go late in the night being tired after working in houses and thus miss the late night  bargains. The woman   visited  it late in the night to shop in the obscure shops in order to have best bargains in cheap vegetables and grocery.She went through all these chores even when she  had been  undergoing   the sessions of chemotherapy....Mona would meet her sometimes on the way and before she could smile she would greet her by touching her feet.Mona was overwhelmed by this gesture.She felt like calling her inside her house and offering her some money but then it looked demeaning because the woman had a distinct sort of dignity around her which stopped her from doing such a thing.Her soft laughter and confident talk added to her grace.She in no way reflected any sort of condescension or meekness of the demeaning kind rather Mona also came out of her social stupor and with a straightness   reciprocated to her greeting which was definitely a one to one greeting.Her erect head and confident gestures filled Mona with a strange type of lightness where she felt uninhibited and could have    hugged  her, feeling herself  so liberated, the social hierarchy   getting obscured in the stunning  reflection of human grace.

To day she had come to see her.She was holding the test report in her hand .She wanted Mona to check the  same.The results were  not good with dark prognosis.She tried to evade it  somehow but the woman said that she knew the report was bad but she only wanted to confirm whether she could defer undergoing the tough tests since her children were to appear for annual exams and she did not want to put them through any gruelling experiences.  With a heavy nod Mona told her that she should not delay.She with the same smile and with  her jingling head since  the earrings jingled and swayed with her nodding head  left  the  gate and Mona could feel that she left with a tinge of reassurance in her eyes for her as she very carefully latched the door after her.The woman left but she emerged Before Mona as the beautiful idol of Ma Luxmi looking down on her from the show case.