Hiranakshi (PART 4)

Hiran waited till it was evening. She then bathed, wore on a red saree to match her new red bangles and put a string of jasmines in her hair. She humed as she made ready his dinner. He came as usual, her husband. He sat down to eat. He ate. He got up and left to go rest. Tears tingled in her eyes. She had made it very hard for him to ignore her bangles. She had let them be noisy, clinking about while she fanned him. She had fidgited with them all she could. Yet he took no notice. He was content and happy. Too content and happy! She hardly slept that night. She ran it all through in her head again and again. Her mother had given her good advise before she was married off, she had told her how to ensure the potatoes were ripe, how to pick the lemons, how to grind the chillies, how to tie her saree and even how to smile! She was taught everything there was to be taught, yet it all failed her now. How was she to win his heart? Surely she had done everything a good wife ought to do. She had exceeded herself in her efforts. Yet there he sat, blind to her bangles and blind to the unrest in her eyes.

The next day she ate nothing all morning. She did not feel like it. She sat by the door as if she had nothing to do. For whom should she rush about? For whom should she prepare a meal? For that person who could not even notice those bangles that she noisily pushed around under his nose? And then she heard the voice again, 'Look who hasn't slept all night!' It was the lady with the coloured bangles. 'Slept all night? No, I did not sleep. Do you know why? Because of these silly bangles.' And Hiran proceeded to tell the woman her story. The woman only laughed. 'Why blame my bangles, pretty one? It's not their fault that men are such fools. Alright then, if I have caused you such sorrow, I will give you some comfort as well. Look what I have here.' She took out a few leaves of dark green. 'Smell them.' Hiran obeyed. They were leaves that leave a colour behind when rubbed on the skin. They were used to draw patterns of filigree on the palms. The bangle seller made a paste out f them added water and then drew on Hiran's palms. 'What would you like?' she asked Hiran. 'I want a bird and a nest with eggs in it!' Hiran was almost excited. 'Well, that's what you will get then. You will get what you want. You only have to want it strongly.' Hiran chuckled.

It took quite a while. The bangle seller drew the bird with a short beak, the kind that eats only grains and she drew a nest with rounded eggs. Hiran watched in rapt attention as her pale hands began to glow red, the red of the soil. When it was completed the bangle seller said, 'Now you can do nothing till it all dries off. Who will make your husband's dinner?' 'You will', Hiran answered, 'And I'll pay you for it.' The bangle seller agreed.