Sacrifice

Sitting on the scaffolding was a little green-golden bird ,its brown beak and its greenish tail twitching.It's little eyes moving rapidly from one corner to another like a detective looking for clues in an old mansion .With the thud of the coconut on the ground,this little creature flew sweeping the entire sky ,it's tiny green feathers and wings spread out in the air.Joins it's companions-Flock of birds could be seen swarming like the bees in the bright blue sky .

Ajji came out running hearing the thud sound.Dressed in her old zari sari,vermillon on her forehead and barefoot,she came out hauling the maid's name."Shanta! Shanta!" "What happened ? What was that big noise? "

Shanta-Ajji,I think the coconut from the tree in the backyard fell down.

Ajji- Oh my God! Shanta you must immediately go and get it .It is a very bad omen for a coconut to fall down at this duration of the day. I will go and cook food at once , only then you shall come into the house and keep the coconut inside.

Shanta- Okay Ajji . Till then, I will clean the courtyard, water the plants and put kolam .

After a while ,Ajji in her "madi "clothes called out for Shanta again.Shanta hurriedly came and handed over the coconut to Ajji.Forbidding the maid to enter the house, Ajji took it inside the house ,and put it in the kitchen.

Shanta entered  the house from the backyard door, washed the utensils ,cleaned the barn and left..Ajji took a broom, held it along with a old cloth and swept the prints on the floor left by Shanta in the house.

After few hours-

"Ajji Ajji!! Where are you??

Murthy ,is that you??

Yes ajji, it's me.

Wait for a moment.I am feeding the cows.

A small little girl dressed in her traditional skirt and blouse , a gold necklace with a pendant reaching her stomach hangs in her neck , wears a pair of bangels in each hand,and  anklets ringing each time she moves a step forward.As Ajji approached the drawing room, where stood Murthy and his daughter, Ganga,  runs towards Ajji and touches her feet.Ajji chanted a few slokas and blessed her by resting her hand on her head.Murthy tells ajji that it is Ganga' birthday.Returning from Lord Vishnu's temple, they paid a visit to Ajji to take blessings from her.They sat for a while in the drawing room  talking about the temple's priest , the fair, the new garment store that opened  last week, about the sarpanch's daughter's love marriage which appalled everyone in the village, the cows of Ramu which got stolen overnight, the newly-wed couple -Bharat and Geeta, etc etc.Murthy and Ganga left Ajji's house after presenting her a green blouse piece,a small  box of vermillon and a few bananas on the occasion of Ganga's birthday.

It was nearing lunch time so Ajji went inside the kitchen ,took out the banana leaves from the shaft and washed them with water.She set up the tiny stools with banana leaves on the floor in the kitchen, and waited for her husband to come from the field. Two hours passed, unfortunately there was no sign of her husband. She was thinking of going to the shop at the corner of the street to telephone the post man-Ranga  so that he could call her husband from the field.Within some time, she heard  footsteps nearing and came out. Her husband, dressed in white dhoti-kurta was walking tardily into the house with a packet . She immediately got a pot of water for him to wash his feet. After washing his feet,he came in, gave Ajji the packet. She kept aside the packet in the bedroom and served him food . His favourite dish-Payasam was made today.But , he didn't seem happy. Ajji was very amazed by his unhappiness. Generally, he would appreciate her dish but today something seemed different. He hadn't uttered a single word after coming back from work.Ajji didn't dare to ask or question him.She reckoned it was about the scaffolding-their house.

He lied down on the bed, looking at the cieling.The cieling had no fan. It was white.The white paint was chipping off.He looked around the room.There was an old photograph hanging on the wall.It was a family photo of their family.Himself,his wife and his son-Chandra.An old black umbrella on the wooden table reminded him how he dropped his soon to the nearby school during rainy season.His hands held on to the side of the table when he  remembered the instance where his son had to move out of the village to another town for his job.He recalled how Chandra argued about shifting house

.After a while he called out "Seeta! Seeta!. Ajji entered the room hastingly fearing mishap."It is sold"he said heavyheartedly. Ajji  looked outside the window.She could see the scaffolding clearly now.Her tears rolled down,touching her cracked lips.