Anjali

She folded the pleats of her sari and tucked it into her underskirt. The hem of the cloth swayed at the wind from the table fan. Reaching out for her hair pin which lay on the side table, she hummed a romantic Malayalam poem, joining the rickety noise of the fan blades rotating. Adjusting her pallu to the right length she walked to the window to see if Shankar had finished washing the car .He had, and it was now drying in the morning summer heat of Chennai. The streets were slowly picking up in its jagaron and the sounds of flower vendors selling their wares could be heard occasionally. Anjali walked from the bedroom to the living room picking up her things and preparing for her day at college. mentally she was accessing if she had everything ready for today’s test she intended to give the post graduate students , she enjoyed walking into that class and being one with their thoughts , arguing and critiquing literary giants and legends and having the last say most of the time.

The clock chimed seven thirty; she picked her bag and walked to her amma’s room. Amma was lying in bed looking at Shankar watering the plants in the garden. Anjali walked up to her and placed her hand on amma s shoulder; she cleared her throat and waited for a reaction from amma. Noticing no change, anjali spoke “amma, I ve asked Shankar to buy the vegetables for the afternoon. Leela already knows what to do around the house. Please eat your breakfast without any fuss amma. don’t let me hear leela complaining about what a fussy eater my amma is .” still seeing no reaction from her she bend down to peck a kiss on her forehead . Anjali smiled to herself thinking about her mother’s stubbornness. She turned and walked out of the room. Taking the car keys from the key rack next to the book shelf, she walked out of the house. She got into her car and waved at Shankar and nodded her head simultaneously, her sign to indicate to him she will be back at the usual time from college. Shankar came running behind her car to close the gate once the car stepped into the road.

She reached college just when the morning bell was ringing. Walking towards the assembly area she scanned the crowd of students restlessly gathering for the morning prayers. It was a pleasant morning even though the heat was there. Anjali stood under the huge mango tree along with the other teachers. as the prayer song was being sung , anjali s mind was gently drifting to the activities of the previous day .she was jolted out of her thoughts when everybody started moving after the assembly was over. Anjali slowly started back to her staff room. Gopika her colleague came and walked beside her. “You ve all the hours today gopi?” “All except the third hour. I heard your giving a quick test to the pg s ?” “ only to sharpen their already quick minds gopi” they reached the room , anjali walked towards her chair at the head of the room . All the other teachers were slowly coming in twos and threes. Anjali looked out the main door of the staff room from her desk, a few children were standing outside waiting to see a particular teacher to clear doubts which were already cleared dozens of times. .

to-be -continued