The Peacock

There were so many peacocks in the park. Everywhere Lily looked, they could be seen proudly strutting around as if they owned the place. How pretty they looked with their stately crest, like a bejewelled crown, their vivid blue body, their showy feathers! They seemed to be aware of their enticing beauty and would often just stay in place as if posing for photographs that the mesmerised visitors to the park often stopped to take. They moved around freely – in the grassy areas, under the trees, behind the bushes, they even perched unafraid on the backrest of the stone benches and atop the hanging bars in the playing area for children. ‘Too many for my liking,’ Lily smiled in derision. She hated the way they walked past nonchalantly, crossing the jogging track with indifference and disdain at the lowly humans making pathetic efforts to stay in shape. 

Lily came to the park to escape the hot, squalid chawl where she lived. Too many people in too little space. She needed to get away, not have to worry about the madding crowd of people too nosey and in your face. So, whenever she got some free time from the work she did as domestic help, she would run off to the park for a breather. But the peacocks, damn them! So darn flashy and extravagant, Lily couldn’t stand them, they reminded her too much of Danny.

Danny, flamboyant Danny, with the gaudy printed shirts, the buttons open till his chest like the once-upon-a-time heartthrob Rajesh Khanna whose movies they sometimes played on the telly, the shiny terylene pants, the garish socks and matching faux-leather shoes. He wore goggles even indoors and always had a snazzy blue scarf around his neck. Uff! Strutting around like he was a blessing from above. The way he sat with his feet on the table, ordering her to get him daaru or snacks. He acted like he was the lord of the world, it was his right to order her around, and her duty to obey. Bah!

Lily had first met Danny at one of the houses where she did the dhuna-bhandi, washing the family’s dirty clothes and kitchen utensils for a few meagre rupees. Dnaynesh, or Danny as he liked to call himself, was the driver of their red Honda City. ‘What confidence, what attitude!’ Lily thought half admiringly when she first saw him sashay in and out of the place. He could be charming though, and Lily soon fell for his swagger and slick talk. But his job as driver did not last long, a pattern she would soon have to get used to. If he did take up work, within days it would be, ‘I left that blasted job, too much work and not enough pay. It was not good enough; I’ll find something better tomorrow.’ Of course, no job was ever good enough and tomorrow never came. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you. Rani banakar rakhunga,’ he would shamelessly say.

Lily knew he was all talk and no action but somehow she could not resist his oily charm. When he drew her close and placed his burning lips on her own feverish ones, all her anger just melted away. Soon he had moved in with her, in the small kholi where there was scarcely space enough for one person to move around, and it was she who was looking after him despite his tall claims that he would treat her like a queen. Far from it. It was Lily pandering to all his whims and fancies and catering to all his demands, Lily was his slave; he mostly stayed at home, jobless and unwilling to exert himself in any way. Whenever she complained, he would assure her he would find work soon. But if he did take up something for a few oppressive days, he would relentlessly complain how it was below his dignity – a cleaner, an errand boy, a lift man, no one with any self-respect would want to be that? So, she took care of him, tended to all his needs and desires. But as time passed and he unsurprisingly continued to remain unemployed, he began to vent his frustrations on Lily, and raising a hand to her was not uncommon these days.

‘Why do I put up with his toxic behaviour?’ Lily asked herself as she walked aimlessly in the park. She should have thrown him out of her home and her life long ago. But whenever she tried to, Danny turned a caring lover boy and she always succumbed to his insincere but charming ways.

Another peacock crossed her path. She ran after the offending bird but it easily slipped away. ‘I’ll get you and wring your neck, one day,’ she said to the retreating bird, and was shocked as an image of her hands around Danny’s throat flashed into her mind. That would take care of her problems. She smote her brow at the wicked thought and laughed at her own stupidity. She knew Danny with his false promises and dishonest love had her under his spell, his complete control.

The peacocks went about in their own proud way. She must get back home, it was tea time and Danny would be getting restless for his cup of over-sugary tea and some kanda-bhaji. She must hasten home, there was no point in delay.  

END