THE NEIGHBOURS
Itha Chandraiah
The bus came
to a screeching halt at the colony.
Veerender, alighting from the bus smiles the smile of a man who managed
to get a job without the influence of anyone.
He took all the articles from the bus and moved to help his wife
Sundari, for he was like putty in her hands.
“Did you see
how I had forced my father to part with a colour T.V. this Sankrathri
festival?” Sundari said rolling her
eyes.
Deepa and
Krishna Kumar, the fruit of their ten year old married life, raced towards
their house delightedly. Putting down
their luggage, they unlocked the door and opened it.
In the
colony, the well-built houses, with lawns, were located apart from one
another. When he had come here two
years ago, Veerender made up his mind not to vacate this house till he was
transferred to another place. He went
to his office, while his wife to her Mahila Society and the children to their
school. His wife hated to make friends with the neighbours for fear of being annoyed
by their borrowings of this or that.
She had no concern other than to accumulate wealth with four hands.
Entering the
house, they looked at each other’s face in surprise. They ran in and out of the rooms several times. Almirahs,
suitcases, gas stove and all other things were found missing. The house was
empty…..looked swept up! Veerender took
out his pocket diary to check the number of the house. No doubt, it was their house. He was nonplussed. He began sweating. He
felt the earth reeling before his eyes.
“This is our
house…..” said Veerender, his face mournful.
“Alas! who took away all our things!” Sundari cried beating her
chest. Her mind ceased working for a
while.
“Mummy! Where
are my books?” the nine year-old Deepa said angrily.
“Where is my
bicycle, dad?” The seven year old,
Krishnakumar began crying.
Coming out of
the shock after fifteen minutes, Veerender plodded down to enquire a far-off
neighbour about the incident at his house.
“Where did
you shift your family?” the neighbour asked, smiling. For Veerender, it was
nothing but rubbing salt into the wounds.
The neighbour offered him a chair.
“We didn’t
vacate the house at all”, he said sinking into the chair.
The
neighbour’s wife stood there with her finger on her nose. “Was he not your
brother who came the day before yesterday and vacated the house?” said the
neighbour’s wife, disbelievingly.
“I don’t have
any brother,” Veerender burst out crying.
The neighbours stood as if shocked.
When Veerender walked back to his house, the neighbour said, “It doesn’t
matter, even if one is a great engineer.
If one keeps his distance from the neighbours, this is the result. Alas! We didn’t see the house being burgled
in the broad day light. We thought the
thief was their brother.” The neighbour’s wife pressed her cheeks remorsefully.
Tr. from the original (Telugu)Irugu
Porugu – Iruvadi Maillu By Dr.D.Satyanarayana, Lecturer in English