GOOD FORTUNE
By Illindala Saraswatidevi
Translated
by Nidadavolu Malathi
²²²
Seenayya died.
He died after lying in bed for over two years and suffering
very badly, being unable to eat or swallow.
His death did not bring tears to anybody’s eyes. His family
thought, “The jeeva[1]
in his body has been writhing under pain for over two years and now it is freed
finally.” Now he is not suffering any more. His mouth was closed shut. No more
struggling. He lay there straight and stiff.
His room was located at a corner. Right from that corner
he’d been groaning, screaming, calling for everybody, and fretting and fuming
because nobody responded to his calls—not so much as even a peek; and then he
would raise his voice even higher—all of this has stopped.
It was three in the morning.
All of them were sleeping while the fan was spreading cool
breeze around. Seenayya breathed his last without anybody in the house noticing
it.
It’s daybreak. The sun came up. His four sons woke up.
Brushed their teeth, had the coffee their wives brought for them, then they
picked up the newspaper, a section each, and sat down to read.
All the children woke up, brushed their teeth, finished
their coffee, took bath, and started organizing their books, getting for ready
for school. They all were busy with their daily activities—jobs and the fear of
not make it on time.
In that house, there is a 15-year-old girl, her vocal chords
are muted. She is Seenayya’s only daughter. She kept looking into his face
without batting an eye. She was worried since he was not moaning; she took his
hand and felt his pulse; put her hand on his heart and tried to find if it was
beating; touched his hands and feet. The body was cold and stiff.
Her name is Sundari. It’s not just in namesake, she is truly
beautiful. She tried to check up on Seenayya the best she knew how. Then she
came out of the room, went to the servants and tried to sign to them—pointed to
her heart and pulse on her hand and tried to explain that she could not hear
it. Before they could figure out her
gestures, she went to her brothers’s rooms and told them too.
They dismissed her, “Crazy girl! This dumb idiot makes fuss
for even a small change in him. Maybe he fell asleep. The house is quiet. Maybe
the medications worked today.” They all were getting ready to go to work. The
daily events went on as usual.
Sundari cannot speak but she’s not stupid. She does all the
chores in the house without anybody telling her; nobody could find fault with
her work. She understood that nobody was paying attention to her worry; she ran
to Madhavayya who lived a few houses down the street. He is a distant relative
of Seenayya.
She folded her two hands and explained to Madhavayya
gesturing in her own way about Seenayya’s condition and begged him to come and
see him. Madhavayya understood her gestures. He has been watching her since her
childhood. He was also worried like her father about this girl who was born
after four boys and about her speech disability.
Madhavayya noticed her sorrow, understood the situation, and
got up quickly. He threw the towel on his shoulder and said, “Come, I’ll go
with you,” and followed her.
By that time, all the men folks left for work and children
for school. Working daughters-in-law rushed to their busstops. Only the eldest
daughter-in-law was home, busy organizing things in her room.
Madhavayya went straight to Seenayya’s room and noted his
condition. Sundari was crying her heart out. He wiped her tears and asked her
to bring a mat. Per our custom in our country, they both moved the body on to
the mat and covered it with a sheet.
Madhavayya came out of the room and said to Kanthamma, the
daughter-in-law, “Ammayi, Kantamma, it seems Seenayya has passed away a
while ago. Sundari and I laid him on a mat. About the others, are they at
work?”
“Yes. They’re all gone,” she replied as if questioning so
what?
“All the sons must come home; the daughters-in-law need to
be here as well. They all must get this message.”
“How can we? We don’t a phone in our house. What should we
do?”
“Haven’t you been making phonecalls from my neighbor’s
house? Come, make the calls. It looks like he’s gone 5 or 6 hours back.”
“Did Sundari tell you? She’s crazy; she gets nervous for no
reason and gets on everybody else’s nerves too. Would they let us talk on the
phone so early in the morning and that too about death?”
“Why wouldn’t they? This’s an important message; I’m sure
they wouldn’t object to such an urgent message. Go, give them the message.”
“I don’t know, I’m scared.”
“Then, write down their phone numbers at work and give it to
me. Also include the numbers of your co-daughters-in-law. I will make the
calls. They all must come,” he said, annoyed and frowning.
“I don’t know for sure. I will note down as much as I could
recall. I think he was okay while they all were home. Or else, I am sure, they
wouldn’t have left for work,” she thought as she jotted down the numbers.
Madhavayya went and made the calls. They all came home. The
neighbors noticed the commotion and they also gathered around.
“Didn’t any of you go into his room before leaving for work
and check his condition? Probably he died sometime at night,” Madhavayya said,
distressed.
“We all get up and get busy with our things. We have to rush
through the day or else we’ll miss our buses,” the sons replied.
“That’s true too. But when you have a sick man at home, you
must look after him, no matter how busy you are. And he is not somebody; he is
your own father, responsible for your existence; the father who sweated to make
money and raised you; gave you all education and raised you like princes. It’s
your duty to take care of him.”
“The doctor said ‘No need for any more medications. He was
not able to swallow even liquids. There is nothing I could do.’ So, all we have
to do is to watch, right? We’ve been checking on him before we went to bed each
night. And again, before we left for work. What else we can do, you tell us.
There is no remedy for his sickness. We put him in the hospital and arranged
for his medications. It wasn’t easy to arrange for his radiation treatment yet
we got that too for him. We did everything the doctors told us to do.”
Madhavayya had no response for this logic at the moment.
Sundari sat next to Seenayya and was sobbing, heartbroken.
“Poor man. He’s suffered horribly, not one or two days but
for two long years.”
“All his kindness, good heart and patience came to nothing.”
“The sons are well-educated and settled in good jobs. They
all are happy with their families. But what about this poor Sundari? God gave
her gorgeous looks but not voice. She has no mother to start with and now the
father’s gone too. What would she do from tomorrow on?”
“What else? The brothers would get into a brawl—each telling
the other to take her responsibility. Wherever she is, and although she’s still
young, she’ll take on all the chores and sweat out. She’ll manage somehow
enduring all the yelling and battering from the sisters-in-law.”
The neighbors were passing commnets, whatever thoughts came
to their minds.
Madhavayya said, “Why waste time? We have to cremate the
body. Let’s start making the arrangements.”
The neighbors pitched in, Seenayya’s body was devoured by
the flames.
Sundari was befuddled. She has no father anymore, who’s
going to take of her? Nobody in this house recognized her service no matter
however hard she worked. Nobody ever asked her did you eat, did you take
bath; not even casually if not caringly. Madhavayya asked her occasionally
as he passed by. She cannot speak, so she cannot express what’s in her heart.
After her father died, Sundari’s life became even more
dreary. She would sit in the same place for hours; no desire to eat or drink
but shed tears incessantly.
After Seenayya died, the sons were engrossed with the
thought of Sundari. For some of them it was a terrifying problem.
Sundari’s beautiful face was worn out; primarily because she
lost her father; the second reason was lack of food. And also she was worried
what her brothers might decide in her regard. All these issues together got to
her and got her to a point where she could collapse at the slightest touch.
After the death rites were completed, Madhavayya, in a way,
assumed the headship at their house. He asked them, “You all are well-educated
and well settled in life. Poor Sundari, she is still young and mute on top of
it. Up until now, your father took care of her. Who’s going to look after her
welfare from now on? What about her future?”
“What about it? We’ll know if we asked the lawyer—what did
father do in our case? what did he bequeath to whom? We phoned the lawyer but
he’s not in town,” the eldest son replied.
“Does he know about the present situation?”
“I called him from my office and told him. He was sorry
about the news and said ‘He suffered a lot; Cancer is like that. There is no
escape from that disease.’ We’ll know all the details after he’s back,” the
eldest son said.
Time’s passing by slowly. The sons are waiting for the lawyer anxiously; they’are
worried about father’s allocation of his possessions.
The lawyer returned from his trip like a dazzling sunlight.
Seenayya’s sons went to him, on their way home from work, and told him, “You
must be tired. We can meet tomorrow,” reminding him of their meeting on the
following day.
Each has his own hopes and wishes. The brothers spent all
night dreaming I wish I could get this or I hope I’d get that.
Seenayya owned the two-storeyed building they were living in and also a 15-acre
strip of land. He set aside the income from the land separately. It was a
fertile strip of land. He bought it in Madhavayya’s name, since Madhavayya was
childless. Lately he was also purchasing certificates of deposit in Sundari’s
name and gave them to the lawyer for safekeeping. The boys were not aware of
this transaction.
One day Seenayya read in the newspaper:
A doctor from Germany will be
coming to Bombay. He can make the mute persons speak by fixing a plastic sound
box in the vocal chords of the people who are voiceless. He visits Bombay twice
a year. He works only on young persons; he first takes an x-ray of the relevant
parts and examines if his procedure works or not. Since the procedure is
time-consuming, he suggests feeding the person nutritious food. After examining
the x-ray, he takes the necessary measurements and will have the sound box made
and returns after six months. Then he will perform the operation and installs
sound box. It takes sometime for the sound box to adjust and work in
conjunction with other parts of the person’s body. Up until then, the patient
must stay in the hospital under his supervision. After the sound box is
well-adjusted to the vocal chords and blood circulation returns to normal,
after the stitches are healed, he will teach words, one by one, slowly. He will
train his assistants in regard to the steps to be taken while he is in Germany,
and will keep in touch the local doctors via phone on a regular basis. He would
be instructing them on the procedure as appropriate. Some of the patients could
start talking even before he returned from Germany.
The news item, published by the hospital administrators,
said it was a golden opportunity for those who could afford it financially. It
also said that the fee depends on the amount of work involved. Dollar value
changes constantly. One must have about one hundred thousand rupees on hand
towards the expenses—the fee for the surgery, their stay in Bombay for those
who accompanied the patient, and such.
If Sundari were really lucky enough, she could obtain speech
capability with this new kind of surgery. After she’s gotten her speech, they
could think about her education and marriage. Seenayya wanted to do whatever he
could to make Sundari have a normal life like everybody else. That’s all he
could hope for as her father.
Seenayya told Madhavayya about his plan and made arrangements
with the help of the lawyer secretively. He was corresponding with the doctor
whenever he came to visit the hospital in Bombay and gathering information.
This surgery was kept secret among the three of them. At the time Sundari just
turned thirteen.
Just about the same time, a doctor examined Seenayya
routinely. The doctor told him that he has cancer in his throat. While he was
in the hospital and receiving radiation treatment, he continued to have the
produce from his land sold, certificates of deposits purchased and deposited
them with the lawyer.
Although he was known as Seenayya in his town, his full name
was Srinivasulu. He retired as Registrar and had been receiving pension each
month. He opened an account in a local bank to be operated jointly by
Madhavayya and Sundari and kept his wife’s jewelry there. The sons were not
aware of this. By the time they all got married, their mother was already gone
and so the daughters-in-law never knew about her jewelry.
During the two years Seenayya was suffering from cancer,
Madhavayya was visiting him regularly. Seenayya was discussing these matters
with Madhavayya at the time. He also made Madhavayya swear to secrecy. Seenayya
told him, “Madhavayya, treat Sundari as your own daughter. Spend all this money
for her welfare. If she could ever speak, think of it as her mother’s luck.
Don’t ask what is luck for a dead woman. Wouldn’t she be watching Sundari from
up there and be happy if Sundari could ever speak like everybody else! Maybe,
I’ll also be happy from up there. These are all my golden dreams. Madhavayya,
my daughter’s luck depends on your kindness and goodwill.” Seenayya took his
two hands into his own and shed tears. On the third day following this
incident, Seenayya died.
About a month ago, a letter from Bombay and addressed to
Madhavayya came in the mail. It said the doctor would be returning to Bombay
next month from Germany and asked him to bring the girl for tests; also that
the doctor would be in Bombay only for two months.
Madhavayya heard that the lawyer returned home, and he went
to see him after dark. Madhavayya brought with him the certificates of deposit,
which were in Sundari’s name. The following day was the day the sons would be
receiving their shares of the property.
The next day, the lawyer read the details of the will; the
sons could divide the property—the house they were living in and the 8-acres of
land which was being handed down over several generations—among themselves as
they pleased. The sons also read the will. There was no mention of Sundari
anywhere. They read it over and again to see whether their father had stated
anywhere who should take care of Sundari and whether he had set aside any
additional amount for the purpose. There was no mention at all of her.
The following day they all would go their separate ways.
Where would Sundari live? Her third vadina will be having a baby in
about two months. Therefore the brother and vadina invited her kindly into
their home. Sundari moved in with them and took care of all the household
chores. One month passed by; vadina started
whining about Sundari.
One day Madhavayya came to see Sundari and overheard vadina
complaining to her husband, “How long are we going to bear this burden?”
Madhavayya asked, “Don’t your other brothers take her to
their place?”
“The stopped visiting us completely. How long can I put up
with this?” Sundari’s third brother said.
“Ask your brothers to come here. Tell them I want to talk to
them,” Madhavayya said.
All the brothers arrived within a half hour. Madhavayya
asked them about Sundari.
“Babaayi, our father did not say a single word about
her in his will. Did he think that we should take care of her jointly? Why
couldn’t he allot an additional amount to one of us for the purpose of assuming
her responsibility? He held a job too; yet he couldn’t think on those lines. If
I take her in, my wife would question how is it our responsibility. So also my
other brothers’ wives. I can’t think of any answer for this question,” the
eldest son said.
Madhavayya replied, “Alright. You all are pointing at each
other and asking you or me? I will adopt Sundari. Send her to my home.
She is mute, she can’t speak but she can understand the situation very well.
You don’t have to worry about her responsibility any more.” He looked at them.
they all heaved a sigh of relief as if a huge burden was lifted off their
chests.
Madhavayya continued, “Your father was going to tell you
when it was time to do so. I was also thinking the same thing. Seenayya was my
mother’s sister’s son. I have no children and I didn’t marry again after my
wife died. Your father invited me to come and live with him. I told him, ‘No, I
have my house. I’ll live there and cook my own food.’ We used to see each other
everyday. Send Sundari with me.”
“Take her. No stuff to pack or anything. All she has only is
a change of clothes. She can pick them up and go with you.”
By then Sundari was standing there with her clothes folded
and holding them, all ready to go.
“Shall we go to our home?” Madhavayya asked her. She nodded
and followed him.
The brothers’ bickering helped Madhavayya in finalizing his
trip to Bombay. He sold his house and land and took Sundari to Bombay. At the
Bombay station, they had coffee and tiffin and went to the hospital. The doctor
from Germany also reached his office at the same time. He invited Madhavayya
and Sundari into his room. The doctor was young, just under thirty. He asked
Madhavayya to tell him about Sundari. Madhavayya replied that Sundari turned
fifteen and that she was mute.
“Is she the girl you’ve written to me about?”
“Yes.”
“Let me examine her. I’ll have the x-ray taken and see,” he
said and walked her into the x-ray lab. He showed to the technician the parts
he needed the x-rays of. The technician did as he was told.
After examining the x-rays, the doctor took them into his
office. “Give her nutritious food. She has to be strong. I will take the
measurements, have the device made and be back in six months. Then I’ll perform
the surgery and enable her to speak. My consultation fee for the present
service is one hundred rupees. The surgery takes lot longer. At that time, you
will have to pay a higher fee to me, in addition to the hospital charges. She
is very beautiful. In our country, it is a different kind of beauty,” he said,
watching her with curiosity.
Madhavayya assured him that he would pay the stated fee, had
the papers drawn, and added, “We’ll go home for now and be back in time for the
surgery. I’ll give her healthy food. Is is possible for me to stay with her in
the room after the surgery?”
“Yes, you can. No need to fear about her. I’ll perform the
surgery myself. I’ll get her to talk. She’ll have to stay in the hospital for
some time.”
“We will.”
After they returned to their town, Madhavayya started giving
her good food—milk, vegetables and eggs—twice a day. The change in Sundari’s
appearance was visible by the end of two months. Her face glowed with wholesome
looks. She is a beautiful girl to begin with, and now, with nutritious meals,
she looked like a beauty queen.
After six months, they received a letter saying that the
doctor was back in Bombay. During these six months, Madhavayya sold his house
and other things. He sold the land Seenayya had given him also. Both Madhavayya
and Sundari packed their boxes and set out to Bombay. They didn’t know where to
stay. The city and the people were new to them. They left their luggage in a
room, took bath, had tiffin and went to the hospital.
Sundari was admitted into the hospital right away. The
surgery was scheduled for the next day.
The next day, she was taken into the operation room.
Madhavayya could not figure out at what time they started performing the
surgery but he noticed that four hours passed by according to his watch.
The doctor sent word that Sundari was still unconscious and
so nobody was allowed into her room yet. Madhavayya went to a closeby hotel,
ate and returned to the waiting room at the hospital. Inside, Sundari was being
fed glucose water through tubes. The doctor stayed at the hospital for the
night, sat down next to her bed and made sure that she was getting the food
properly.
On the following day, the doctor sent word to Madhavayya
that he could come in and see her. “The surgery went well. I readjusted the
relevant parts in her throat and fixed the plastic sound box in her vocal
chords,” the doctor said and added that she would definitely be able to talk,
and that he was sure to hear her voice before he left. He also suggested that
she can eat as usual after the cuts from the surgery were healed.
Unlike in all the cases in general, the doctor did not
collect his fee at first. He said he would take it only after Sundari has
gained her voice. He was visiting her
every day, whenever he had time.
The hospital staff were surprised by the extra care the
doctor was taking in her case. They also were taking good care of her. X-rays
were being taken occasionally. It showed that the plastic sound box in her
vocal chords was set well and looking natural. After running tests, the doctor
tried to make her utter words one by one. He said A, B, C, D, and tried to have
her repeat them. Her voice sounded very weak at first and then gradually went
up. She started uttering each letter, watching the lip movements of the person
who was across from her. When the doctor was not around, Madhavayya sat next to
her and helped her utter small words. The doctor told him not to make her speak
more than one half hour a day.
Madhavayya was elated that Sundari could speak. He thought,
per her father’s wishes, that he should find a good bridegroom for her and
arrange her marriage after she gained her speech.
Sundari kept practicing speech. As long as the doctor was in
her room, she would repeat each word he had said with great enthusiasm. He was
teaching her English words; and he was feeding her the food himself. He was
quite taken by her beauty.
Sundari is not very good at speech yet. Nevertheless she is
getting interested in the doctor and is attracted to him. She is learning
quickly whatever he taught her and he is equally excited about her progress.
They are beginning to laugh and tease each other.
Madhavayya had no problem in teaching Telugu words to
Sundari. Since she is already familiar with the subject and since it is only a
matter of physically voicing the Telugu alphabet, she is picking up Telugu fast
enough. The doctor is making every effort to teach her English.
One day Madhavayya entered her room and saw that the doctor
was holding Sundari’s face in his two hands and saying something. The doctor
saw Madhavayya, moved away quickly and said, “I’ll teach her speech as long as
I’m here. In Germany, there are specialists to teach the language and further
education. Should I take her with me, what’d you think?”
“Doctor garu, we don’t send unmarried women with strangers
to anywhere?” Madhavayya said.
“Then I’ll marry her. I’m very much taken by her beauty,”
the doctor said.
“Aren’t you married?”
“No, I’m not married yet. I felt like marrying after seeing
her. You have no objection, do you?” he asked.
“This young woman is my daughter. I have no other family but
for her. I can’t live without her,” Madhavayya said.
He is happy that the doctor wanted to marry Sundari. But
what about him, after she’s gone? The very thought brought tears to his eyes.
“I’ll go with her. I’ll find a job and earn my living. Take
me with you. I’ll pay your fee in rupees. You can convert them into dollars.
Besides, this girl has money of her own. You can convert that sum also into
dollars. Her mother’s jewelry is in a safe deposit box. I’ll get them for you.
Doctor garu, she has no mother, never knew what the word affection meant. You
must take good care of her.”
“I’ll worship her like a goddess. We can think of conversion
after your returned from you town,” the doctor said, watching Sundari fondly.
“Where is the marriage going to take place—here or in your
country?” Madhavayya asked.
“Why do you say ‘your’ country? You’re also coming with us!
Say ‘our’ country. I am so lucky! I got such a beautiful woman for wife! No need
to discuss any fee for me. Give it to her. One more thing. Would you mind if I
call her by a name I like?” the doctor asked Madhavayya.
“Where is the question of my likes and dislikes? Whatever
you two like goes for me too,” he said and went away. He returned with the
jewelry on the third day. “Wear them and show them to the doctor,” Madhavayya
told Sundari. She wore the jewelry and showed it to the doctor.
“Oh, you’re so beautiful! Like a doll! Wait, I feel like
taking a picture of you with that smile,” he said and brought his camera.
Madhavayya was happy that lady luck smiled on Sundari in
such a strange fashion. He had a picture taken standing next to Sundari.
(Author’s note: This story was written after reading a news
item in Newsweek in Chicago. It was reported that a doctor in Germany
fixed a plastic sound box in the vocal chords of one or two mute persons and
succeeded in getting the persons speech capability.)
²²²
(Translator’s note: I am grateful to Illindala Nagananth
Rao, author’s son, for his permission to translate the Telugu original adrushta
rekha and publish on Thulika; and to Vasa Prabhavati for her help in
obtaining the story and the permission.)
