9 Elderly Imp (2)

It was a nice sunny day. Mrs. Sayed felt like it was the perfect weather to go out for a stroll. She packed a small lunch box with Chaklis(1) and Farsan(2) and a bottle of water. Her husband was out for a few days visiting his brother.

There was a pretty little garden nearby so she walked there. The world outside was noisy with horns blaring and women chattering. The men went about their work like setting up stalls and the shutters of shops were already pulled up. She coughed a bit as a truck passed by letting out exhaust fumes.

Mrs. Sayed lamented the fate of the environment. Global warming was one thing that really concerned her.

A few minutes later as

soon as she stepped into the garden, she was cut off from the hustle and bustle of the streets. Like entering a new world. The air was slightly more fresh here due to the greenery. The tracks were lined with Mariegolds and the old banyan trees provided shade. It was like a brief respite from the hectic city life.

The garden was divided into five sections. A kid's playground, a place for old aged people, a woman's section, a general area with exercise equipment where and a jogging track that went around the whole place.

She entered the women's area, found a bench and sat down beside the young lady who was engrossed in her own world in her phone. After settling down and having a sip of water, she took out a book from her purse and opened it.

The book was old and yellowed. It was well cared of and had very few creases. Mrs. Sayed was a clumsy person but was very particular about her book collection. The book was titled: The Man-eater of Malgudi. By R.K. Narayan.(3)

She had read it during her college days. It was a long time and she felt like re-reading her old books.

As she took in the musky smell of the pages, she was transported back to her youth when she spent her free time in the library surrounded by stories and wonderful worlds of literature.

Her love for books was inherited from her grandfather who was a teacher during the post-independence period. During that time, many pieces of new literary works had been published. Her childhood was filled with stories from Ruskin Bond, Enid Blyton and many other authors. She even read books that were in Hindi and Urdu.(4)

"Um, Auntie? May I see that book you have there?", a small, timid voice came from beside her. It was the young lady.

The young lady was completely covered from head to toe. Only her eyes were visible. Even her eyebrows were covered. "Sure. Here you go.", said Mrs. Sayed geve her book to her.

"R.K.Narayan's book? Wow! Auntie, where did you get this second-hand book in such a good condition? V.T.?"(5)

"No, it was mine from the start. I bought this when I was in college."

"Do you like reading books, beta(6)?"

"Of course, I do, Auntie! My parents don't buy me many books now because they say I go overboard with them. That's why I have to sneakily read E-books on my phone now. I love books so much! Auntie, have you read any of Mark Twain's works? Or J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter?", said the enthusiastic girl.

Mrs. Sayed found it amusing. "I did read Harry Potter. As for Mark Twain, I have only heard of his name."

" Auntie, you must try out his books! Especially The Adventures of Huckelberry Finn. His Tom Sawyer books are amazing too! Oh and-"

The two ladies, one young and one old, had a fine time recommending books to each other. They discussed some of Rabindranath Tagore's works and Gulliver's travels. The little lady told the old about the new and modern western books like Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code and James Arthur's many mystery novels. Sometime around they discussed the books which they read during their childhood like Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys and also Famous Five and Secret Seven.

Then the topic shifted back to the older woman's book.

" I did read The Man-eater of Malgudi once. It was there in my school library. That's the only book I have read of R.K.Narayan. Our English textbooks did have a few excerpts from his other books which were about the people of Malgudi. There were a lot of Ruskin Bond excerpts too. Once we even had the Wizard of Oz. I really liked the cowardly lion from that book."

" I see. During my school days, we had way more works that focused on patriotism and Indian culture." Then she sighed. " I wish my son were just even a little bit more interested in books. Sometimes I wonder if he is even my son. Why can't they appreciate books properly?"

" I know that feeling, Auntie! Even my brother is the same. He really hates looking at novels he keeps saying that they hurt his head. I feel pity for him that he can't appreciate a good book. "

" Well, beta, why don't you take off your Niqab? We are in the Ladies Only section of this garden and it is pretty hidden. It would be easier to talk to you.", proposed Mrs. Sayed.

"Oh! Yes, of course!", said the young lady. Then she untied her Niqab and her face was revealed. "By the way, Auntie, my name is Ayesha!"

"Then, Ayesha beta, did you come here alone? Girls shouldn't be roaming out alone.", asked Mrs. Sayed with concern. "No, Auntie. I came with my cousins. They are playing over there in the kid's section. My big brother is with them too. I just came to sit down here because it is less noisy and there are no men around."

'How pure!', thought Mrs. Sayed. She wondered how old this young lass was. But if she asked, then it might come off as suspicious. Young ladies nowadays could not reveal a lot about themselves in public. It was quite the achievement to get her name itself. And that was only because she recognised the book in her hands.

Hmm....

She is quiet when she doesn't have to talk about her books. Timid. Fears Allah. Shy. Pretty. She would make for a good wife. The man who would marry her would be quite blessed to get such a pure and Islamic girl.

"Auntie, I need to go now. My Brother just messaged me it's getting late too. Bye, Auntie."

"Bye, dearie."

The young lass left. " I wonder if she lives nearby....", murmured Mrs. Sayed to herself. 'Probably not.', she thought.

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Glossary:-

(1) Chaklis- sing. chakli or chakri. A type of dry fried snack which are swirly and crunchy. One of the favourite tea time snack for Indians.

(2)Farsan-A savoury mix of stuff that sometimes have peanuts, raisins and tiny crunchy....things? Google it.

(3) The man-eater of Malgudi:- Written and published by R.K.Narayan in 1961. The story based in Malgudi, a fictional Indian village. The story revolves about a man named Nataraj, a young Indian printer (A person who prints out things like pamphlets, labels, books, etc.) who is harrased by a pehelwan-like person named Vasu who is a taxidermist who tries to kill most animals near them.

(4)Urdu:- An Indian language that is a mix of Hindi and Persian.

(5) V.T. (metro) Churchgate (Fort): A place in Mumbai. It has a lot of shops that sell second hand books there even though that part of it is not very famous except amongst book lovers. The Times of India newspaper firm is also located here. The buildings here are remnants of European style architecture from the British colonial period.

(6) Beta- Son. But it is also used to refer to someone very young regardless of gender. Could be used in the same context of saying 'Child'.