Anjali arrived with her aunt and uncle at the Kulkarnis' place around 9.30 p.m with all her things. She was to be their paying guest from that night and she was both happy and excited at the thought of being on her own. She had moved to Pune on getting a job and had been staying at her aunt's place. She had just about managed to convince her conservative aunt that she wanted to be independent, that she could get along fine by herself, but in return she had to promise that she would stay close to her aunt's place and "report" to her regularly.
Hers was one of the two rooms on the first floor and there would be two girls in each. As Mr. Kulkarni led the three of them out into the garden, around the house to the flight of stairs, he told her, "There's only Sudha there now - your room-mate. The other two have gone home for vacation - they are students."
The stairs were built
into the wall of the house and had a grill-door at the bottom. As they reached
it, Mr. Kulkarni realised that the door was locked from the inside and the
key was missing from where it was usually hung on the wall inside. He said,
"Sudha doesn't know that you're moving in today. The key is left here
only when the girls know someone is expected. She must have locked up and
gone to sleep. You see, she starts work at 7 a.m. She has to leave daily at
six, so she usually sleeps early."
He called her name a
few times but there was no response from the silent room upstairs. From the
unlit window of the room, they deduced that the girl was asleep. Even banging
the grill-door failed to stir her. With her aunt and uncle standing there
looking suspicious, even Anjali began to worry and hoped the girl would wake
up soon. Even after Mr. Kulkarni's daughter joining him in the shouting, there
seemed to be no awakening the girl.
The fear and doubt gnawing
at the back of Anjali's mind grew as she wondered how anyone could sleep through
all that shouting. She had come to see the room in the daytime when Sudha
was at work and so did not know what the girl was like. Was something wrong
upstairs? God, this girl who was to be her roomie, was she a freak or something?
Or, as fantasy took over her, Anjali thought had Sudha chosen that night to
end her life? The silence from the first floor did nothing to reassure her.
After some futile fifteen
minutes of shouting and banging, an embarrassed Mr. Kulkarni turned to them
and said, "Maybe you better move in tomorrow. I don't know what else
to say. Sudha usually gets very tired from her work, she must be sleeping
soundly."
Seeing no other alternative,
they collected her suitcases, bedding, new stove and other stuff, and trudged
back to her aunt's house. It did not help that her aunt and uncle discussed
the whole thing again and voiced their doubts about the Kulkarnis' place.
Sleep came late to Anjali
that night and brought with it awful dreams. She awoke early the next day
and called Mr. Kulkarni's place. Whether she moved into their house or not
depended on his reply. When she hesitantly asked if Sudha was alright, Mr.
Kulkarni told her that Sudha was well and had already left for work. She had
indeed been fast asleep and had not heard any of their shouts. Anjali was
relieved; seemed like all her fears had been unfounded - maybe some people
did sleep that soundly.
That day, she moved to
her new room. In the evening, she met the mysterious Sudha, a thin girl, quiet
but friendly. Sudha worked as a chemist in a big pharmaceutical firm, had
to stand almost all day at the lab and got very tired at the end of the day,
which explained why she slept like a log. They got along quite well and became
good friends. Sudha's favourite subject was Sanjay, her boyfriend. To Anjali,
it seemed her tiredness and fatigue vanished whenever "Sanju" was
to visit her or take her out.
It wasn't until one Sunday
when they both were sharing a cup of tea that Anjali found out the "real"
truth. As she laughingly told Sudha about her fearful dreams that terrible
night, Sudha slowly told her, "I actually wasn't here that night."
As Anjali looked at her speechless, she said, "That night, there was
a party at Sanjay's colleague's place. That was the time Sanjay and I had
just started going out. He wanted me to go with him to the party and I couldn't
refuse. So I slipped out around 8 p.m. without telling the Kulkarnis and came
back around two. I knew they wouldn't suspect anything as I usually slept
early."
"I am glad I went because that night sealed our relationship. He asked me to marry him," she smiled.
