She was sad…this was not what she wanted her life to be, but had she ever asked herself what did she want to be? All she did was look at others life and crave on everyone’s luck, while cribbing on her ill fate or destiny or “Niyati”…maybe her parents knew it and that’s why they named her ”Niyati” or destiny.
It was a sunny Sunday morning, well who doesn’t love Sundays…it was on Sundays when she could get up late, as her work started only by 11 AM. Other days she had to reach by 6 AM. On Sundays, Niyati would wake leisurely, make herself a cup of tea, and visit the temple. It was a small temple, with one deity, she had been visiting it for the last 7 years. It was just three days back, when Niyati came to know the name of the deity in this temple, though she visited the temple thrice in a week, knowing the deity did not help much as she prayed to one God, a God who constituted of millions of deities with one question. In the temple, she gave 5 rupees for Archana, the priest asked her name and nakshatra, she answered, “Niyati, Revathi”. The priest went inside to make offerings to the diety. Niyati stood with folded hands; she looked at the deity and asked why was her fate like this? The deity had no answer and Niyati had a tear in her eyes. After coming from the temple, she had one more cup of tea and watched kids playing around. She had been living in this chawl, near the city bus stand, for the last 7 years. It was the busiest part of the city and that made her feel good, as she could watch different kinds of people all day long. Each time she stared at a person, she started imagining the person’s background and finally came to the conclusion that he/she had better luck unlike her!
She was now looking at a brawl happening near-by, a man was drunk and beating up his wife. This was a regular affair in this place and Niyati thought about the ill fate of the lady, but again concluded that the husband would be fine in sometime and they would go out for a movie soon, hence the lady is lucky…at-least she has someone of her own. Did dhe realize that the wife hated the husband and all she wanted was her husband to die, so that she could be all alone again and live life to the fullest!
One mind multiple thoughts: that defined Niyati
After having tea, Niyati got ready for work…she hated Sundays, and the hatred was attributed to Morrie
She reached Memsaabs place at dot 11 AM…she had lots to do, there was a sink full of dirty vessels, there were vegetables to be cleaned and cut, the house had to be swept and mopped, the windows had to be cleaned, she had to remove wet clothes from the washing machine and hang them in the dryer. She even had to wash the bathrooms. She did all the work with full concentration but the worst was still there and she dreaded the most…she kept praying that Memsaab would forget it. She kept thinking of different reason, so that she could escape scrubbing Morrie. Memsaab came from behind and said, “Niyati, one more hour, today is Sunday, you need to clean Morrie!”
Sometimes Some-things in this world are dreaded by us and soon they become part of our life silently!
Morrie, she hated that word, she was scared, well scared to death
Morrie was a four legged animal, it was just an animal, but the treatment given to it was more than what was given to a human being. No-one bothered as to where Niyati slept but Morrie slept in the best place of the house, he had a blanket all for himself and had special food name Pedigree
Memsaab was a nice person and treated Niyati well but she never understood her everlasting love towards Morrie. On questioning, Memsaab would say the same thing,” Dogs are wonderful Niyati, they understand us more than people around”. Niyati would smile on their ignorance
After all household chores, Niyati took Morrie to the bath tub and cursed her father for leaving her all alone. If only, he was here, today Niyati would have completed her 12th standard and would have had some basic job and not been a maid, not a dogs maid! The thought of father brought sadness in Niyati’s heart, he died of the most dreaded disease-Cancer. To Niyati, “Cancer” was a word which announces that the person is going to die soon and sucks all money left with a poor person
She bathed Morrie and in the process got lots of scratches, it hurt her immensely. Earlier Memsaab used to give her band-aid but over the years, that had stopped and Niyati was left to mend herself. She then took Morrie for a walk in the huge complex. Her Memsaab never told her to take a walk but Morrie was supposed to take these rounds religiously twice in a day. Memsaab had also specifically told Niyati not to hang around the common garden, no-one would like it, but yes Morrie had the privilege to enter the garden whenever he wanted. Poor animal, did he ever realize the hatred of the lady besides him!!!
And what was going on in Morries head...well he longed for freedom! How much he hated this place, all he wanted was freedom, wanted to loiter around in the roads like other dogs!But he compromise!
Compromise the ten lettered word around which everyone lives!
