Saro stood outside Amminiyamma’s kitchen. The window was closed but she could hear the sounds from inside. Smoke rose temptingly from the chimney above. It was close to noon; the crows busy on the trees above. Some had even settled down on trees around the kitchen, awaiting scraps periodically thrown into the plantain bed from inside.
Saro scratched her bare midriff. Her once white dhothi and the blouse above it were a muddied brown. She waited impatiently for someone to appear, coughing and murmuring to herself. Was there no one home? But the door was open. Saro's stomach growled; she had not gotten anything to eat since the last afternoon.
“ammo…” She called. Where the hell was everyone? Abuses crowded Saro’s tongue. She let them out under her breath, unable to restrain herself. She glanced into the house in her characteristic way; tilting her head to the side, not looking at anything directly. Her mouth was pointed to the ground and a stream of whispered abuses sputtered forth from it periodically.
Amminiyamma lifted head head from the stone pestle on which she was grinding pepper and listened. There was someone outside.
“I’m coming”.
She washed her hands in a basin nearby and hurried to the kitchen door, wiping her hands on the end of her cotton saree. The light fell bright into her eyes as she emerged from her dark kitchen to see who her visitor was. It was the old pulayi, Saro.
Saro looked up and grinned, gaps showing where her front teeth used to be. Her one good eye beamed. The other was half closed, watery green and white inside its slit. Saro looked over Amminiyamma’s shoulders in expectation.
“Wait here” Amminiyamma said and went back into the kitchen which stood to the left of the door.
The door itself opened into a dull hall outside the kitchen where Amminiyamma would sit as she cleaned fish or shelled cashews. Work was still left before she could finish lunch and go for her bath. Eleven O clock, a glance at the clock showed. Amminiyamma hurriedly put what was left over from the day’s breakfast into a plate and brought it out for Saro. It wasn’t the first time that the wretch had come to the door looking for food.
“Here, sit down and eat this.” Amminiyamma said kindly, holding the plate out for the hungry woman. Saro looked up. She had been scanning the floor of the kitchen verandah. A ripe jackfruit leant on the wall, sweetening the air. An old piece of cloth was spread underneath it and caught the sap which was oozed out thickly out from the freshly cut stalk.
Saro took the plate. Then as if on second thought, asked Amminiyamma for a piece of newspaper to wrap the food in. “I will eat when I get home," she explained.
Amminiyamma handed her a piece of paper from a pile of old things on the kitchen verandah and took back the plate.
“Is there any tea amma?” Saro asked now.
“Umm”, Amminiyamma grunted at Saro’s face and went into the kitchen. She poured the cold tea from that morning into a glass and came out. Saro took the glass of muddy brown liquid from her hands. Amminiyamma turned away.
“You must be readying lunch” Saro blurted out next, fishing for an offer of lunch.
Amminiyamma’s face hardened. “It’s not time for that yet”, she said harshly.
“Lunch! The good for nothing…”, Amminiyamma murmured to herself as she went back inside to continue from where she’d left off. “Just leave the glass there. I’ll get it later”, the old woman shouted to Saro from inside, dismissing her.
Saro put the glass down on the steps and wondered what to do next. She scratched her head and looked inside. Amminiyamma could be heard moving about in the kitchen. “The bitch!”, Saro said to herself and surveyed the yard around her. It was no use standing around at this door anymore she decided and took the little path that led from Amminiyamma’s kitchen to the gate at the back of the big yard in which the house stood.
Saro had plans to visit a house that stood near Ammiyamma’s yard, just outside the gate, but she stopped midway, suddenly remembering that she had a food packet with her. She looked around for a good spot then sat down behind a stack of wood that lay on the wayside to eat her breakfast.When she got up and to walk towards the gate on her way out after, she was greeted by the site of Gopi, Amminiyamma’s son, at a distance. He was walking towards the kitchen from the back gate.
Gopi hummed as he walked. He looked up at the mango tree on the way side and decided it was time to call someone to pick the fruits that hung down heavily from the branches, ready to be brought down. He spotted Saro coming towards him. A trifle disturbed at having been intruded upon, he moved a little to the side and kept on walking. Saro stopped and grinned at Gopi as he passed, all her teeth and the gaps in between them showing, her eyes eager. Gopi nodded and walked past, his eyes fixed on the kitchen door at a distance. A few steps later, a thought made him stop. He turned and called out to her.
“I have some work for you. Come.”
Gopi left Saro at the kitchen door and went into the store room adjacent to the kitchen to fetch something. Amminiyamma saw Gopi come in and emerged from the kitchen. Saro stood scratching her head outside.
“What is she doing back here?” Amminiyamma asked Gopi in an agitated voice, following him into the store. Gopi laughed knowingly. “Relax a bit amma. I know that your maid has not come this week. I thought I’d make this woman cut grass for the cows until she does. Now go. Just give her something to eat when it’s done that’s all.”
“The woman’s a shameless parasite”, Ammiyamma said as Gopi bustled about the store room looking for a sickle and a basket, “All she wants to do is eat without straining herself one bit.”
Gopi smiled indulgently at his mother, and having found what he was looking for, walked past her to the door.
“Do whatever you want then” Amminiyamma continued as she followed him out. Gopi was already at the door, handing her sickle and basket to Saro.
“Don’t lose my sickle” Amminiyamma said sharply to Saro, “Bring it back as soon as you’re done”.
Saro didn’t seem to hear; she was looking at ground, muttering to herself. Then suddenly, as though she’d just become aware of Amminiyamma’s presemce, she looked up and nodded.
Gopi instructed Saro to go to the southern corner of the plot and disappeared around the corner. Saro put the basket on her head and walked. She cursed her luck for the day; she should’ve just gone straight to some other place instead of hanging about here and getting into this mess. The sickle gleamed in her hand as the sun fell on it. Amminiyamma’s instructions ringed in her ear. “Her bloody precious sickle…” Saro murmured, many horrible swear words forming in her mouth. When she reached an over grown corner of the yard which she was to clear, Saro looked toward the kitchen. The old hag is probably watching, she thought to herself, and got to work. She absently hacked away at the grass till the basket filled up and then carried it to the cow shed. Gopi stood near the shed, supervising the harvesting of the coconut trees around it. Climbers were already up on the trees and bunches of coconuts hit the ground with a thud, followed by dry leaves which were also sent flying down. Saro deposited the grass on a piece of sack laid out behind the shed and went back for more.
She slowly hacked away at the ground, her ears tracking Gopi’s movements. A couple of curry leaf plants had sprouted among the grass; a rare sight since they seldom grew without much care (Amminyamma had a couple growing in her kitchen garden, tenderly cared for). Saro hesitated for a second when she noticed the prized plants, then cut them out at the root and threw them into the basket with the weeds.
An hour passed by. Saro had gone back and forth from the cow shed four times when Gopi was seen going into the house for his lunch. She straightened herself at the sight, then hurriedly hacked off some more grass and piled it on to the basket. Thoughts about lunch, the mound of rice which awaited her, made Saro’s stomach rumble and her mouth wet. She quickly got up and hobbled to the shed to the drop the cut grass. Then, sickle and basket in hand, she rushed to Amminiyamma’s kitchen door.
“Ammo...”
Her call reached Amminiyamma as she came into the kitchen after serving Gopi’s lunch at the dining table as usual. “The devil’s back”, she thought to herself. “God knows what she’s been doing all this while”
She came out to meet Saro who stood below the kitchen steps scratching her head. The Basket and sickle were laid out on the steps. Amminiyamma took these back into the store room. The warm smell of cooked fish and rice reached Saro’s nostrils. She could hear the mild clatter of dining plates from the dining room beyond the kitchen where Gopi was having his lunch. Amminiyamma took her time reordering the store room shelf and then emerged outside. She took one glance at Saro, who now grinned expectantly at her, her good eye eager, and turned away, visibly irritated.
“Sit down somewhere there. I’ll bring some food”, Amminiyamma told Saro as she entered the kitchen. Inside, she piled a large helping of rice into a plate and poured some curry over it, the way she usually did for hired hands, and took it to Saro along with a glass of water. She then locked the kitchen from outside and went out the door, leaving Saro, who sat on the steps engrossed in her meal.
Amminiyamma surveyed the cow shed. She dropped some hay into the feeding pit and stroked her two pet cows. Then she went behind the shed to do what she had really come to do; inspect Saro’s work for the day. A reasonably large mound of grass stood at the back, enough for the rest of the day and the next morning. Amminiyamma grunted and returned to the kitchen. Saro still sat on the steps, eating.
Aminiyamma went into check on Gopi and to fetch the dishes from the dining table. Gopi now came out through the back door to find Saro washing her plate at a tap outside.
“Here”, he said and handed her a ten rupee note. Saro took it with visible signs of gratitude.
“Come tomorrow” Gopi said without a glance at her and walked off. Saro put the money away into a fold at her waist. Then she placed the plate and the glass on the steps and waited. Her eyes stood on the jack fruit which still stood leaning on the verandah. “Surely, the old woman and her son can’t eat it all” she thought to herself. They will have to give some of it away.
Amminiyamma now came out to take away the plate and glass. Seeing Saro waiting, she said, “Go on now, the sun is getting stronger…”
Saro scratched her head and looked at Amminiyamma , grinning. Then giving up, she turned to go, cursing to herself.
“And come a little early tomorrow if you can Saro...” Amminiyamma added; a faint tone of regret in her voice.
Saro turned around and nodded obediently. Then stepped on to the path leading to the gate at the back and disappeared.
The next morning, Saro hesitated outside Amminiyamma’s yard. She was hungry and exhausted by the heat. The summer sun was strong above and the trees inside the yard resounded with bird cries. The prospect of cutting grass and slaving for the stern old lady all morning irked Saro. She scratched her head and looked around, trying to think of a way out.
The sound of drums beating and crackers bursting reached her from afar. There was something going on at the temple today. She was sure to get some food there if she went. Saro turned to leave. But then the ten rupees that Gopi had kindly given her flashed in her mind. No one ever paid her that way. He was kind, Amminiyamma’s son. But that old stingy bitch… The drum beats grew louder now. The old hag won’t be pleased if she failed to show up after having said she would. Saro took a peek inside through a hole in the fence and imagined Amminiyamma there inside, waiting. “Let her sit there then. Bitch!”. Saro grinned to herself. Then in a hurry, she turned to leave. But a few steps ahead, she saw Gopi’s tall frame approaching her from the other end. Saro cursed her luck and stopped. The bastard had to come now. He was sure to have had seen her. Left without a choice, she grinned at him and walked towards Amminiyamma’s kitchen through the gate, muttering fervently.
Amminiyamma had left her sickle and the old reed basket on the steps for Saro. Hearing footsteps outside she came out of the kitchen where she was hanging up a plantain bunch which had just been brought in from the yard. Saro stood below the steps, murmuring absently. Amminiyamma paid no attention to the restlessness on her face, used as she was to Saro’s eccentricities.
“What are you waiting for now?”, Amminiyamma asked Saro. “Take the basket and go to the pond side, and when you’re done, clean out the floor of the cow shed too.”
Saro’s irritation grew underneath her timid looking face. She grabbed the sickle and the basket and walked to where she was directed to. She cursed her luck. Her mouth spat out abuses on its own accord. “Wash the cow shed… The old hag!” There was no way out now, she was stuck. She threw the basket down and glanced around. Grass stood in thick, bouncing bunches all around the pond. The cow mooed from its shed a little away. Saro sat down and began her work. She hacked at the grass carelessly, distracted by the sounds coming from the temple. Her mind wandered and she thought of the afternoon feast for the devotees.
She glanced at the sky as she threw the first handful of grass into the basket. Noon was still far away. She’d have to wait at least an hour or two before the old lady gave her anything to eat. Saro's irritation grew. The thought of food made her look towards the kitchen. The door was closed now; Amminiyamma was inside. Saro looked around, there was no one in sight.
Taking the basket in one hand, she walked to the back gate, looking toward the house as she stole away. She carefully kept off the little path she’d used while coming in, lest she ran into someone on her way out. As she approached the gate, Saro was reminded of the basket and sickle still on her. A bamboo thicket stood near the fence. She threw Amminiyamma’s flying into it. She then flung the basket into a tree bed nearby and hurried out through the back gate.
At noon, Amminiyamma waited for Saro to come to the kitchen door for lunch. She then went out to look for her. The old woman searched all over to find her lost sickle, furious at Saro.
Having given up her search, she went out and bought a new sickle at the market a few days later. But it did not match up to the old one which she had had custom made. The old sickle turned up two and a half months later, as the fence was being repaired and the bamboo trimmed.
