by Esther David
Flora went into their bedroom without looking at Joseph, and opened her wardrobe while Joseph stood at the door, bleating, ‘I am sorry, Flora. I should have told you…’ Just then, the doorbell rang and Joseph jumped, afraid that Vishakha had returned to pick a fight, but Flora calmly went to open the door, mumbling that it was the maid. Joseph retreated to the drawing room, switched on the television, sat on his rocking chair and pretended he was watching the news. He heard Flora asking the maid to bring her bags from the storeroom and start packing her clothes. Joseph heard the maid ask, ‘Why are we not cleaning the house and decorating it for the ceremony?’ Flora did not answer.
Earlier, when Flora had turned the house key in the lock, she had planned to stay with Joseph till the ceremony. But when she entered the bedroom and saw the crumpled bedsheet, she was not sure but guessed that Joseph and Vishakha had made love there. Angry and humiliated, she had decided to return to her parents’ home that very evening. As she packed, Flora listened to the maid’s chatter, ‘Since you left … there was hardly any work … used to come early to clean the house … wash clothes and make Saab’s lunchbox … which he did not want anymore … Often he gave me leave … when he was touring … I was just waiting for the day you would return home with your little prince…’
Flora changed the subject and asked, ‘How do you know it is a boy?’
‘I have three girls and a boy. I just have to see the way a woman walks and I know if it is going to be a boy or a girl.’
Once the packing was done, Flora had half a mind to call Sippora and tell her about her confrontation with Joseph and Vishakha, but decided to handle the situation herself. She called for a taxi, asked the maid to carry the bags downstairs and went into the kitchen for a glass of water. She was aghast to see the mess there and wanted to throw the pasta into the garbage bin, but stopped herself. She covered the vessel, went to the main door and, without looking back, made a grand exit saying, ‘I am leaving.’
Quietly, she pulled the door shut, as she did not want the neighbours to gossip about their fight, although she was sure they knew about Vishakha’s frequent visits to their apartment. By the time she reached her parents’ home, she was in tears. She had called her mother and told her about Vishakha’s presence in the apartment. Her mother was waiting at the door with open arms. Her father paid the taxi driver and carried the bags inside. In the comfort of her parents’ home, Flora became hysterical as she told them about Joseph’s lies and possible affair with Vishakha.
Her parents were in a dilemma, as they had already made an announcement in the Jewish community about the eighth-month ceremony. Eventually, when Flora calmed down, she called Sippora, who took control of the situation and persuaded Flora and her parents to go through with the ceremony as planned. ‘No,’ Flora said, ‘not in Joseph’s apartment, but here.’ They would have to take Sharon into confidence and make sure that Joseph would be present for the ceremony. It would be their big secret.
Sippora called Sharon, who understood the problem. Both women informed the invitees that the venue of the ceremony had to be changed, as Flora was unwell.
On the day of the ceremony, Sippora and Sharon organized everything and dressed Flora in a bright pink embroidered sari with gold jewellery. Samuel had persuaded Joseph to be present and drove him to Flora’s home.
Joseph arrived, looking dapper in a grey suit. Throughout the ceremony, he behaved like a loving husband. At the end, he had lunch with them and stayed till the last guest had left. Flora sat next to him, expressionless, like a statue.
Later, Sippora and Sharon took her back to her room and helped her undress. Unable to control her feelings, Flora slumped on the bed, sobbing. ‘I feel sorry for this child. He will come into this world without a father.’
The women comforted her, saying, ‘Come on, Flora, Joseph is a good man. It will pass…’
‘Even if he leaves Vishakha, I will never go back to him. How could he allow another woman to sleep in our bed and take over my kitchen?’ When she had calmed down, they left, wondering what the future held for the child who was about to arrive in this topsy-turvy world.
After the ceremony, Flora and her family did not see Joseph. But Samuel kept him updated about Flora’s health and even informed him when she was admitted to the hospital, where she gave birth to a baby boy.
It was not an easy delivery. When Joseph offered to help by remaining at the hospital, Flora’s father refused, saying that they would manage. Joseph called Sippora and apologized for hurting Flora. She listened to him, but kept silent, as it was for Joseph and Flora to decide about their future.
Sippora sensed that Joseph wanted to see his son. But their priority was Flora. She had mixed emotions and could not stop crying. And, when her parents said that according to the law, they had to inform Joseph about the birth of his son, Flora shook her head, saying nothing.
However, Prophet Elijah has his own way of sorting out the problems of his devotees. The Prophet intervened during the child’s circumcision ceremony or Brit. The ceremony was to be on the eighth day after the child was born. As the child was weak, it was delayed for a month. During this period, Flora’s parents, Samuel, Opher, Sippora and Sharon convinced Flora that the circumcision could not be held without the father of the child. Meanwhile, Joseph had sent a message to Flora through Samuel that he wanted to see his son. Flora agreed half-heartedly. By then Joseph had changed his mind and called Samuel to say, ‘I think this is not the right time to meet Flora. She has just returned to her parents’ place with the baby. I will be present for the circumcision ceremony at the synagogue.’
A date was decided. Joseph paid the airfare and hotel accommodation of the mohel who would perform the circumcision and had him flown from Mumbai to Ahmedabad. He met Joseph and Flora’s father at the synagogue office and briefed them about the ritual. That evening Flora’s father said to her, ‘Joseph has changed.’
‘How can you say that?’
‘I cannot say how, but he has.’
The next morning, Flora met Joseph and helped him carry their son into the synagogue. She noticed that Joseph no longer resembled his old self, but looked more like the man she had first met at Sippora’s place. He was fat and haggard, in misshapen clothes, with a kippa on his head and prayer shawl draped around his shoulders. She felt comforted that the child was with his father. It was then that Sippora stood next to her and whispered, ‘It’s over.’
‘What?’
‘Joseph’s love affair.’
‘How do you know?’
‘Samuel asked Joseph and we came to know that he has broken up with Vishakha. When not at work, he is home. The maid cooks for him. He often eats at the office canteen or makes his own food … misses you … and, by the way, nobody knows about the affair … so all is well.’
After the ceremony, when Flora’s mother brought back the child, Flora took him in her arms, sat on a chair and fed him as the women huddled around her. They left when they saw Joseph standing in the doorway. He sat next to her and asked, ‘Flora, have you decided on a name for our son? The naming ceremony will start in half an hour. Remember, we had decided on Simha or Shalom.’ She nodded her head in approval.
Together, man and wife returned to the synagogue in a shower of confetti and bonbons. As boondi laddoos were distributed, the cantor said the prayers, blessed the child and named him Shalom. Joseph held his son and sobbed as Flora held them both in her arms. Feeling crushed in his parents’ arms, Shalom let out a loud wail and the congregation burst out laughing.
14
Rose
IT WAS A nightmare. Rose was standing holding her baby on the balcony of their third-floor apartment A-107 of Shalom India Housing Society, when she felt him slip from her arms. He did not fall, but unfortunately, at that very moment, her husband Enock came out to ask her to make a cup of tea and saw what happened. He was furious—Yehuda could have fallen to the ground below and died. He would have lost his son, whom he had received as a boo
n from Prophet Elijah. He snatched the crying child from Rose’s arms and slapped her hard. Rose fell, struggled to stand up and tried to take the baby back, but Enock pushed her away.
Enock and Rose were new arrivals at the society. Enock had been transferred from Mumbai to Ahmedabad, where he worked in a well-known paint manufacturing company in the far western suburbs. With Ezra’s help, they had rented Juliet and Romiel’s apartment for a year.
Growing up in Mumbai, Rose was known for her beauty in the Jewish community. Enock was a distant cousin, a good-looking young man and a perfect match. He had been smitten by her from a young age. Against his mother Pearl’s wishes, he had married Rose. Much before Enock had decided to marry Rose, like most mothers, Pearl had chosen another girl, Jacobeth, for Enock, and had been disappointed when he had fallen in love with Rose.
Pearl had expected that Rose would get pregnant within a year of marriage, but she did not. She gave birth to Yehuda only after five years.
From the first day, Rose noticed that Enock had a short temper. He was mild mannered with others, but generally bad-tempered at home. He had a tendency to get annoyed about small things like a badly folded shirt, less salt in the food or more sugar in the tea. She was always careful of his dark moods and tried not give him reasons to get angry. But this particular incident happened suddenly and she was caught unawares.
After she had got married, Rose suffered from vertigo for a while. She wondered if the ailment had returned, although her doctor had told her that she had been cured. She mused whether it was because of the rains. It had been raining continuously and the sky was laden with dark clouds. In a way Rose was happy, because the atmosphere was almost like Mumbai, after a long summer. Even the wilting money plant in the balcony had blossomed. There was no respite from the rains for days and the sun did not come out even for an hour. But that particular afternoon was windy and the clouds seemed to be parting, so Rose had decided to put some clothes to dry in the balcony. She was carrying the baby on her left arm and arranging the clothes with her right hand. It was then that Enock came looking for her. In a split second the baby slipped, although Rose was holding Yehuda in a tight grip and there was no possibility of his falling.
Rose had been tense since the morning. Enock had been in a bad mood and she had been expecting him to explode. He never talked about his office problems, but whenever she overheard him speaking on the cell phone to his colleagues, she realized he had a lot on his mind. It was a holiday and after his morning cup of tea, he had already asked her to make five more cups. Rose assumed that along with office problems, he also had acidity.
Rose again made tea for him, tears streaming down her face. She spent the evening crying, huddled in the bedroom, as Enock walked the length and breadth of the apartment angrily with Yehuda in his arms. The child was hungry and kept wailing. When Enock slumped on the sofa, tired of the child, Rose rushed and took Yehuda in her arms. Enock did not resist. Carrying the child, she switched on the gas, prepared his milk bottle, sat down in a chair and fed him till he fell asleep. She left him in his crib and made fried rice for dinner. Like a good wife, she filled a plate for Enock and left it next to him on a table in the drawing room, where he was watching the news. He ate and went out for a walk. Rose then ate, washed the dishes, changed into her nightdress and carried Yehuda to the bedroom, where she fell asleep holding him. Enock returned and sat in the balcony reading The Book of Psalms.
A week passed and Rose was worried, as Enock had stopped speaking to her. He accepted whatever she gave him—tea, breakfast, lunch box and dinner—but never asked for anything. He spent more time with Yehuda and like Rose, often slept holding him in his arms. On such days, he did not allow Rose to come near the child. When it came to Yehuda, there was a kind of silent tug-of-war between them.
Two weeks later, one morning, Rose heard the doorbell ring. She rushed to the door and saw through the peephole that Pearl was standing there with her bags. Rose opened the door and greeted her, but Pearl marched straight past her into the house.
As Rose went into the kitchen to make tea for her mother-in-law, Pearl woke up Enock, went to Yehuda’s crib, picked him up and returned to the kitchen. When Rose offered her a cup of tea, she refused and ordered Rose to leave the house immediately. She shouted at her, ‘Yehuda was a blessing from the Prophet; we do not want to lose him because of your carelessness.’ She used abusive language and called out to Enock, asking him to push Rose out of the house.
Rose stood her ground and confronted her mother-in-law. She screamed till their neighbours had collected outside the door. They were whispering among themselves. In the presence of so many people, Pearl’s grip on Yehuda loosened and he started slipping from her arms. Rose allowed the child to slip just a little, then quickly sprang forward and broke the fall and took Yehuda in her arms. She said to Enock, ‘Did you notice that Yehuda was about to fall from your mother’s arms? Now what shall we do? Should I call the police? Can I do what you did to me? No, I cannot, as I am your wife. But you and your mother can do whatever you like with me.’
Holding on to the crying child, Rose turned around and in a split second, opened the front door and faced the group of neighbours standing outside their apartment. They looked helpless; they did not know whether to interfere or help in such a personal matter. Rose told them exactly what had happened. She did not exaggerate as Enock would have done, but told them the facts and asked for help.
Salome was the first to come forward. She gave Rose a hug and led her downstairs to her apartment. The crowd parted as Rose walked out of the apartment with Yehuda in her arms, followed by Salome walking behind her like a bodyguard. By then, Ezra had arrived. His presence had a calming effect on Enock and Pearl. He advised them to cool down and stopped Enock from following Rose as she went down to Salome’s flat on the ground floor. Like a raging bull, Enock was still raring to drag Rose back into the house, but Ezra held him back, hoping that if the couple stayed away from each other for a few hours, the crisis would pass. Eventually, Enock invited Ezra and the others to his house for a cup of tea.
Pearl was annoyed at the turn of events. She had never been happy about Rose, as she was very beautiful and a good cook. So, when Enock phoned her and told her how Yehuda had almost fallen from Rose’s arms, she had come to Ahmedabad determined to get rid of Rose forever from their lives. She did not know what she was letting herself in for. Though Rose looked delicate and had a slight vertigo problem, she was a woman of steel.
At Salome’s home, Rose comforted Yehuda till he stopped crying and started dozing. Later, she gratefully accepted a cup of tea Salome made as she chatted with her. Rose’s eyes were riveted on the opposite wall on the poster of Prophet Elijah in his chariot, flying to heaven. For a second, her eyes closed. She was half-asleep, half-awake and saw herself in a chariot fleeing from Ahmedabad with Yehuda in her arms.
At that moment, she decided to escape. She would take an autorickshaw to Kalupur railway station, catch a train to Mumbai and go to her mother’s house. But she had left in a hurry, and did not have any money. She knew Salome would not help her escape, so she borrowed money from her on the pretext of buying tinned milk for Yehuda. Salome looked through her bag and pulled out a 500-rupee note. She hesitated, but Rose assured her that she would just go down to the shopping centre round the corner, buy the milk and return the change to her. She also told Salome that after buying the milk she would go back to her own apartment and face the consequences. Fortunately, she was dressed in a clean salwar-kameez and purple dupatta, almost the colour of the Prophet’s robe.
Rose left Salome’s apartment, took the stairs and walked out of the building towards the shopping centre. Then she took an autorickshaw to the railway station, bought a ticket for Mumbai and waited for the midday train, worried that Enock would track her down. She need not have worried, as he assumed that she was in Salome’s apartment and would eventually return home by evening.
In the train, Rose found her seat and kep
t whispering a prayer to Prophet Elijah to convey her apologies to Salome, to whom she had lied. She asked the Prophet to give Salome the courage to answer Enock’s questions about her disappearance. She had great faith in the motherly Salome, who would truthfully tell him that Rose had left her apartment to buy milk for Yehuda. Rose knew that Salome would silently thank the Prophet for inspiring her to escape.
When Rose reached Mumbai, she couriered the money to Salome, who later came to know that she had left for Israel with Yehuda. Nobody heard from Rose again.
15
Jennifer
JENNIFER WAS WEARING a bright yellow sari after a long time. Enock was surprised, as he had only seen her in white saris since her husband Elizier had died in a road accident, soon after Rose had left him. Elizier was a distant cousin of Enock, who lived in the far eastern side of Ahmedabad. The whole community had gathered at Elizier’s funeral and they had all come together to help Jennifer and the children. After all, Elizier had not even been forty when he had died, leaving behind Jennifer, five-year-old Shirley and three-year-old Jonathan, who was a little older than Yehuda, Enock’s son.
Enock regretted that he had allowed his mother Pearl to interfere in his life. Had he handled his own problems, maybe Rose and Yehuda would still have been with him. He ached for them.
When Elizier was alive, they often had family get-togethers or potluck on Sunday afternoons. Those were happy times. His eyes moistened as he remembered how Yehuda and Jonathan had played together like brothers. Shirley was very fond of Yehuda and often kept a watch on the boys while Rose and Jennifer prepared lunch. They frequently met in one house or the other, so that the families did not feel cooped up at home on holidays. It was better than spending the day in front of the television or an occasional trip to a gaming parlour at the mall. Enock became sentimental at the memory of those long afternoons they had spent together. After lunch, the women would lie down in the bedroom and chat about household matters, the children would doze next to them and the men would play cards or watch a cricket match on television. In the evening as a rule, the men made tea, much to the women’s amusement.
