Our little village and some of the going ons that transpire within.

Dec 14, 2009

The Three kings

She was an old lady. With a large house and alone. It would be nice to have someone around the house. The children were gone. To greener , more foreign, more distant lands. The childrens bedroom had three beds.

So it was advertised. PG accommodation available. Triple sharing basis. Attached bath. Boys only. That's what the neighbours had recoomended. They said girls caused more trouble at home. The boys went out and caused trouble.

From Surat, Sholapur and Vizag. Three men seeking their fortune in the city.

You'll can't use the phone.

No need Aunty we have mobiles.

You'll can't use the geyser for more than 5 minutes everyday.

Sure Aunty three is enough to have a bath.

No cooking in the house.

Of course Aunty we've arranged a dabba.

No ironing.

The dhobi will come every day don't worry.

Still she watched them. To see that none of the no's were infringed.

Soon they were having a cup of tea together every morning. They helped her change the curtains. Took the raddi to the raddiwalla . Got a plumber to fix her leaking kitchen tap. She allowed them to use the living room TV. The children wanted to know if she had references for them. Had their home addresses in case they vanished without paying their rent. Or worse.

"No, No. They won't do anything like that. They're good boys. "

"Just be careful okay."

Soon they were included in her daily prayers. Alongwith the grandchildren far away.

Advent came. With the carol singers and sweets. Her three PG's helped her ready her house. Climbing onto stools to get the cobwebs out of the fans. Changing curtains that had not been changed for so long that the sun had faded them. Putting up the Christmas tree that one of them found on top of a cupboard that needed cleaning. Brassoing the front door till it shone like gold. Washing window panes so that the outside could be seen once more.

Christmas day came and she'd cooked a family lunch. For her PG's from Surat, Sholapur and Vizag who had brought voices into her empty home.  


 


 


 

7 comments:

Smiling Dolphin said...

nice one. got a bit cheesy at the end though:-)

Katha Collage said...

Beautiful! :)

cynthia said...

It was nice..... some how got the creepy feeling of them being terrorists or something like that....thank god they were'nt .....he he he.

Anonymous said...

Very nice... :)

clemde@gmail.com said...

SD aka Lynn. It's to you we owe the blank space at the end. Took the cheese out.
Ty Rutuja.
Cynthia, it was a toss up. Make them creepy and three bad kings or sweet and nice , three wise men.
Anonymous we have to take our relationship to the next level.

patrice said...

nicely written...but, like Cynthia, i too got a creepy feeling that they'd rob the old lady or worse...thank you for basic goodness in people!

Rahul Vidwans said...

Liked it mate. M at office, just came accross ur blog while trying to search something over net, n now m so glued to it, my boss is typing a pink slip for me! :P