Kamala's life in Nabinkali's house resembled that of a fish imprisoned in a shallow and muddy pond. Her only salvation lay in escape, but escape was out of question so long as she had no obvious goal for flight. Her recent escapade had taught her how forbidding the outside world appears by night, and she shrank from once more entrusting herself to the unknown.
In her own peculiar way Nabinkali was fond of Kamala, but her affection took distasteful forms. She had come to the girl's rescue in the hour of need, but she made it hard for Kamala to feel correspondingly grateful, and Kamala infinitely preferred her menial duties to the boredom of the leisure hours which she was forced to spend in Nabinkali's society.
One morning the old lady summoned her to listen to the following tirade : "Look here, young lady, my husband is not well to-day and he must have luchis instead of his usual food. All the same, you needn't use such a colossal quantity of ghee. You're a good cook, I admit, but I fail to understand what you do with with all the ghee. That Uriya Brahman was your superior there. He used ghee, of course, but the taste of it was hardly noticeable in his cooking."
Kamala got offended by this remark, but went away quietly with her work as though she had heard nothing. Nabinkali had summoned the bearer to her room and was issuing instructions to him, and this is what Kamala overheard :
"Hi, you, Tulsi, run off to the city and fetch Dr.Nalinaksha at once ; tell him your master's not well to-day."
Dr.Nalinaksha ! The sunbeams danced before Kamala's eyes like golden lute-strings struck by invisible fingers. She flung down her work and posted herself at the kitchen door to waylay Tulsi as he descended. No sooner had he appeared than she inquired where he was bound for.
"I'm off to fetch Dr.Nalinaksha," said Tulsi.
"Who may he be ?"
"Why, he's by way being the best doctor in the place."
"Where does he live ?" asked Kamala.
"In the city, about a mile away."
Kamala made a habit of dividing among the servants such small quantities of food as were left over when their superiors' wants had been satisfied. Frequent scolding had failed to deter her from this practice, her resolution being fortified by the fact that under Nabinkali's harsh rule the underlings never had enough to eat. Moreover the master and mistress were seldom punctual at their meals and the servants had to wait their turn. Hence Kamala was beset every day with plaintive appeals for a snack to stave off hunger, which she had not the heart to refuse. Kindly acts of this nature soon made all the servants her willing slaves.
Kamala waited at the kitchen door for Tulsi's return, and he appeared in due course, but alone.
"Has the doctor come, Tulsi ?" asked Kamala.
"No, he couldn't come."
"Why not ?"
"His mother is ill."
"His mother ? Hasn't he any one to look after her ?" asked Kamala.
"No, he's not married," came the reply.
"How do you know that ?"
"I heard from the servants that he has no wife."
"Perhaps his wife is dead," remarked Kamala.
"May be ; but his servant Braja said that when he was practising at Rangpur he had no wife there either," replied Tulsi.
No comments:
Post a Comment