Hello everybody! An auspicious July for you. Here is the sixteenth video on ‘Spinning into Career’.
There are many South Indians in the office. The government arranges a special Hindi course for them. Mr. Sharma teaches Hindi. He has gray hair on the sides and is bald. He has protruding front teeth. The classes are conducted during office hours. Ruchi is asked to take the course. She relishes Hindi poems. One of the poems is ” Ek Tinka”. She reads prose lessons at home to get proper pronunciation. A picnic is arranged by the office for staff at Baleshwar caves, Bhimpoli. A good social interaction takes place. Caves were used by Buddhist monks for meditation. Small spaces in the caves were carved out as small rooms. A silent place with nature and the open sky above gives one a sense of freedom. One of the staff members, Mr. Khan sings a Kabir song, “Laaga chunari mein daag…..” Ruchi’s colleagues are eager to hear her songs. She sings for them during the picnic.
Beena joins a correspondence course for a Bachelor of Commerce degree. Ruchi accompanies her to the Bhilai university. Beena is fond of street food and window shopping. Ruchi roams with Beena throughout the court area. She eats bhelpuri, panipuri, dahipuri, ragda patties and so forth. Ruchi’s boss burdens her with more work. Her senior colleague, Mrs. Nanda, shirks her duties many times. The officer is too kind to give Ruchi a concession to watch a movie, ‘Ten Commandments’, which she watches alone. She has a seat in the midst of school children. She enjoys the movie. Her work becomes perfunctory. But her section staff grow more envious of her. Ruchi applies for a forty day leave to study for exams.
Mr. Mitra practices homeopathy and gives medicines to Ruchi to stop her wheezing. He gives her an Ayurvedic tab to clear her bowel. Light meal is advised by Mr. Mitra for her. Mr. Nandalal Mitra and his wife Gauri Mitra have two kids. Their mother earns by preaching Bhagavata Purana. She sings well. Ruchi visits their house and discusses various topics including politics. Mr. Mitra comments, ” In your house each one is sovereign.” Mr. Mitra’s nephew reads Ruchi’s hand. “Learn not to worry about your brother and sister. Their lives will not be good. You will be the only green patch for your parents.” Ruchi does not believe in it. She visits Balaji Homeopath in New Shorine Lines to get arnica, belladonna, twelve salts and various homeopathic medicines. Ruchi’s brother visits their house and listens to Bhagavatam. He gets influenced by it. He becomes a responsible person. Mr. Mitra regards Ruchi’s father as a saint. Mr. Mitra offers Ruchi some carrot halwa prepared by him.
Ruchi’s maternal uncle, working at A.G.S. office in Sharanai, is yet to marry. Ruchi’s maternal aunt eyes him as her future son in law. He commutes to the office from her house. Her dad opposes Ruchi visiting her aunt’s place. Her uncle comes with his sister and her daughter to Ruchi’s house. He requests Ruchi to sing. Ruchi sings a bhajan, ” Prabhu tum antarayami……’ Her aunt stops her abruptly and asks, ” Who the hell asked you to sing?” Her anger ridden face reveals her fear of Ruchi trying to woo her uncle.
One of her aunts who has one son and many daughters stays in the Ghardala government quarters. Her uncle is working for the military. A boy from South India stays as a paying guest in her house. He gets a job in the Gulf with the help of an agent. One of the aunt’s daughter is in love with the boy; this culminates into marriage. The son in law leaves for a job abroad and the family, after the retirement of her uncle moves to a house that is a kilometer away from Ruchi’s residence. The married daughter is working in an office and waits for her visa to join her husband. Their son in law provides financial support to the family. The surreptitious nature of her uncle is brought to light when Ruchi visits her aunt’s house. Her uncle smiles and requests, ” Ruchi, can you count the number of notes in this bundle? Count it and see if there are fifty thousand rupees. I know that you have not seen so many notes in your life.” Ruchi knows he is taunting her.
Thank you for listening. We will be heading toward the next video to continue the story. Goodbye till then!
Video can be viewed on You Tube by typing, ‘Spinning into Career’ by Usha Raman.
