The Set Of Gold Bangles
Anasuya was married to Murthy and the couple lived happy with all the accomplishments in life - riches,landed property regular returns renown and relations.
They belong to a large spread and deep rooted family from all sides in the little town of surapura .
Years passed in all happiness.But the couple soon began to feel a short coming in their life.
For many years now there had been no signs of growth in the family.They had been waiting for the birth of a child.
Clinical and medical consultations went on for days, months and years; yet nothing fruitful ever came of it.
However the couple spared no means, spiritual or ritualistic to bring about change in their life.
Some 15 years elapsed and there was a change
It seemed that fortune smiled on them at last.
Guru was born.He was a weakling and rather underweight at birth.
In other words he was a lack-lustre baby.
Nothing was spared in giving the treatment and attention due to him.
The parents spent all their time with the baby their only concern was the child.
The boy grew up under over attention and care.
Doctors and Physician were mild in stating that he had a kind of retard growth.
Thus was guru a constant worry to his parents.
At school too the teachers were requested to pay special attention to the him.
When Guru was 10 year old his father passed away and his mother was left lonely in looking after boy.
By now the relatives also had gradually disappeared ; and things turned even worse for Anasuya.
She decided to leave the little town and settle in the city.
She bought a flat and with her son moved over to stay there.
As the surviving landed lady of the family.The property she owned, brought her regular monthly and annual returns.
In fact she was strong and accomplished in every other way.
Her only concern was to educate her son and get him married so that he could settle down in life.
In fact Guru was normal in all respects.But the over attention paid to him by his parents and the restricted freedom to move with common people had created a lacuna in his personality.
Guru spent most of his time with his mother in religious recitations, holy chantings and listening to spiritual lectures at several dedicated centres.
It was a modest mode of life his mother had thrust on him, for reasons best known to her.She firmly believed that there was God, the almighty, after all to look after her son.
Guru also cared little for other things.Life for him was such that he hardly found anything for himself in it.
Perhaps he could hardly distinguish between what is good and what is evil.
For he knew only of the 'dos and not the don'ts ' at the age of twenty.
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In the same apartment as they stayed, there were three more flats on the same floor.
The adjacent one had been occupied by Miss.Poornitha,who lived a lonely dejected life.
Despite her richness, she had been forced into such an inevitable option to live by her fiance who once pretended to love her for her " charm and beauty".
He had made away with most of her belongings including gold and cash.
He had also chosen someone of a "real charm and beauty" and better riches than Poornitha.
Poornitha was in fact disillusioned to find that Madhukar whom she had loved whole heartedly and adorned, rather too much,had so deserted her.
Strangely she had sustained the shock; and neither was mentally derailed,nor committed suicide.
But for sure, she developed a kind of antipathy, or rather some undefined degree of hatred towards all men in general.
Her eyes looked suspiciously towards men in general including little innocent boys.
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At times Poornitha would be friendly and sociable.Sometimes she would come out of her house and be talkative with others. Often she would offer her neighbours special dishes which she had prepared.
Sometimes she would be over concerned with some hectic activity involved in a religious festival.In other words she was impulsive.
But if it concerned some male member of the apartment -community she would flare up and stay within the walls of her house.
It would be days afterwards when she chose to reappear.
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On such occasions she looked sober and as if she had just woken up from a "Rip Wan Winkle '" sleep .
Those who knew Poornitha well had sympathy for her.
But they were a countable few.
Anasuya and Poornitha had maintained good relations with eachother.They often spoke of every thing except the latter's marriage or personal life.
Often they both chose to exchange several special dishes and sweets between them.
Sometimes their feelings for eachother went so far that it was difficult not to believe that they were not sisters by birth.
Anasuya was never happy over Poornitha's treatment of her son.
But since she knew the later well, she ignored her stand and attitude towards Guru.
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The flat was soon crowded with all the residents infront of Anasuya's flat as Guru began to cry loudly.
It didn't take much time to know that Anasuya was no more.She slept the previous night never to wake up again.Guru as usual try to wake up his mother not finding her ready with his morning's snacks and tea.
The residents joined together and the ritual of cremation was over.
Some of them took the initiative to feed Guru for some days that followed.
But Poornitha as usual ignored him and went on with her routine work.
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One odd day she felt like cleaning and checking her precious belongings and fancy articles.
Her clothes and dresses were rearranged.
But she could not find the little red box which contained the set of her four gold bangles designed in the heritage pattern.She searched for them in every nook and corner of her flat.
At first she grew anxious and her anxiety developed into an ill tempered indignation.
Because she had spent nearly four days now searching for them, the question of misplacing them was out of her mind.
She began to remember hard.
Nothing came by in the process.
She then began to believe that someone had stolen her bangles.
Her suspicion began to figure out Guru.
All kinds of ideas crowded her infected mind.
Now she clearly saw the scene before her mind:
How he had come to play something on the table of her house some day and taken away her precious bangles.....!
She rushed to her neighbours house.
Guru was sitting in an armchair with his back inclined to the slope of the chair.
It was his usual pose and choice place whenever he had a disturbed mind -set.
He sometimes preferred to sleep in the same chair, much against his mother's advice.
As the door was thrown open and as poornitha rushed in she saw Guru in a half drowsy condition.She didn't even know that for many days now after the death of his mother, he had not taken his food regularly.
When he felt thirsty he drank a little water and relapsed into sleep.
He was in his twenties.But he had neither basic training to get over calamities,nor did he know what to do in such situations .
Poornitha stood by his side and shouted at him loudly.
"Where are my gold bangles..?"
This was enough of an alarm for Guru who suddenly stood up on his weak limbs.
He could not make up any words or gestures to communicate with the intruder.
She began to slap him without giving the latter any chance to speak or recover from the shock.
As she got tired of beating him she again shouted at him "get me back my bangles..... I want them right now.....Do you hear..?"
Guru who could neither cry nor utter any sound stood trembling infront of her.
This brought the other neighbours on to the scene one by one.
The most fastidious of them asked her what had happened.
Poornitha now narrated how Guru had stolen her set of bangles from her house.
Guru's silence and helpless condition made them believe that he had stolen.
One of them went to him and began to rain blows on him asking him to return the bangles.
Guru trembling from fear and weakness only replied meekly that he had not stolen.
When the others too joined in forcing him and threaten with report to the police, he only said that he would give the bangles but that he had not stolen them.
Some of them snarled cynically and asked him to get the bangles back.
Trembling and feeling dizzy he went inside his mother's room and after sometime returned with a red box of bangles.
Poornitha felt triumphant getting her bangles back.
She just opened the lid a little and saw that it contained the gold bangles.
She left condemning him.Others too cursed and abused Guru.
Some even advised him to earn his living honestly and with hard work .
Each one had his or her own moral rant and condemnation on the issue.
It was a violent day for Guru.But for poornitha the day marked a kind of retaliation.
She didn't know if she liked it or even if she intended to harm Guru in particular.
Her grievance was against males in general, and cosy and timid looking men in particular.
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The neighbours found that Anasuya's flat which had been locked from inside, didn't open for one whole week with help of the security guard they broke open the door since no reply nor response came from within.
They found that some foul smell was coming from the bedroom they could see the body of Guru who had been dead some hours before.
They were shocked and most of them were disturbed.
They also found a big jewellery box and half -open leather purse full of cash currency in it,on the table.
There were other articles lying above
fruits and other ready eatables lying untouched on the other tables .
The distant relative of Guru's ,who came to undertake the funeral rituals told the apartment community that Anasuya had felt the town to bring up her son in the city where she thought he could be happy and contented.
He also gave a discription of how she still had left behind a large fortune and landed property which she could have put to proper use and happiness staying in the town.
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Some two months had gone by after Guru's death.Poornitha who wanted to go out for shopping dressed herself well and while searching for her favourite vanity bag could not find it.
She searched for it everywhere in the house.
At last she saw it stowed under some of her unused sarees in the closet.
She felt relieved and opened it.
She was stunned to find her red box of bangles in it.
She opened the lid and found all the four gold bangles - her bangles intact.
Suddenly a tremor went through her as she remembered the day on which she had kept it there after returning from a function in the neighbourhood.
She felt now sickly and rushed to her jewellery locker as she opened it she saw a red box which contained six bangles of better design and make.
Poornitha felt completely broken- down and collapsed into the depth of her sofa.
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