fहndi - Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya

elite section they came from : and theyshouldn't be faulted for want of dedicationor care.The ladies of the family personallyserved the hungry and the afflicted presentamong the guests. Sharmaji and Vermajiwere doing the job with zeal, but the seniordaughter in law said : 'Give us too a chanceto repay our debts to the dead. Will ourfather in law die and go to heaven againand again?’The diners' hunger was endless.Swooping down upon the poories andvegetables like birds of prey, they calledfor more, more — called unendingly.When their din went up too high the chiefpriest told them to pipe down and staycalm, meaning eat whatever you getwithout your din and clear out from herefast.The younger girl was unwell, or hadher periods, perhaps. She was not takingpart in any ritual. It did displease her sistersin-law.The middle one said the departedone was father to her too, she too hadsome duties to him. The senior sister-inlawsaid sadly, 'The poor thing! Her servicesare probably not acceptable to the fatherhimself. Did she have her last sight of him?If she was fated to hold his touch in herhand would she have landed up four daysafter his death? And now, going uncleanat this time — must be having a meaning,her period coming up now...'The youngest sister-in-law kept quiet,though she too wanted to grumble thatfgndi •the girl had lost faith in customs. Else,couldn't she have eaten some pill orsomething to put it off ? So many waysthere were these days...!Her sisters heard it all and got busyscraping out the halwa from the pan. Whatwere they to say? The girl had turned upfour days after father's death. By then theyhad gone half dead with their mourningbouts. Eyes wide open and dry she hadkept staring at the lamenting women. Andwhen she did cry it was at the wrongmoment, when the soul of the dead feelspain at crying. Everything she did waswrong, ill-timed. Dead set against learningthe ways of the world as she was, whatwas anyone to say to her? And now childrenof her own too, she has.The youngest one had actually wipedoff the drops of tears risen in her eyes atthe sight of the lamenting women : asthough making her private grief public haddemeaned it : although a competition wason in the room for the most tunefullament, for the best weave and compositionof words.The city's entire populace of the lameand tottering, of beggars wrapped in rags,scratching dirty heads and thighs, plonkeddown in rows. Shoveling in handful uponhandful of food, bent on filling up withall they could. Someone choked over a puri,someone coughed kha-kha, but the canyonsin their stomachs wouldn't fill.The chief priest came over to the sons,punctuating his speech with sonorousApril-June 2013 :: 113