The Psycho

Ponni was late for work. It was nothing unusual, rather if she was on time, that would be something which would make everyone’s eyes pop up. She was one of the fifty-odd housekeeping staff in a retirement community. Most residents preferred her to others as her work never needed supervision.

The only problem with her was whether she would report for duty or not and if she did, at what time. Her husband was a jack of all trades, running a poultry farm on one side, maintaining a storehouse on the other apart from growing vegetables on a small patch of land he owned. He did have a few men working for him, but when the workload was heavy in seasons, he would rope in his family to chip in.

He had two sons and a daughter, all of whom were very good at studies. They were very intelligent, sharp and hardworking. The youngest of them, Iniyan was extremely good at extra-curricular activities too and would always keep himself involved in some creative work or project. It was no wonder that he was one of those chosen by a local institution for undergoing special training to hone his skills during the summer holidays. There again he stood out among the rest and bagged most of the trophies and prizes for his batch. Inban, the eldest was also very good in his studies, drawing and craft but was not the outgoing type. Isai, the daughter was very docile, kind and contented. 

Ponni was an ideal mother to all but Iniyan, the youngest was the apple of her eye. She had once expressed her desire to the three of them that she longed to hear them speak fluently in English. Iniyan took it as a challenge and decided to impress her by learning English straightaway. He stayed back after school and requested his senior to teach him communication skills and more particularly conversational English. He picked it up so fast that when there was a get-together in the community where his mother worked, he was the Master of Ceremonies for the cultural programme the children of the staff had put up. Ponni came to know that he was to anchor the show only when he was at the podium. She could not believe her eyes and ears – he was compering the programme so well in English, that she could not control her tears of joy.

The children enjoyed most of the material comforts as Ponni earned handsomely and her husband, Arasu also seemed to be moderately well off. For quite some years they had a very peaceful life, for unlike others in his family or neighbourhood, Arasu was not a habitual drinker though he would occasionally indulge himself when there was some kind of a celebration. 

There was a carnival in their hometown and Ponni had not visited her parents for a long time, and since the children had their Deepavali vacation, she took them with her for a short holiday. Arasu stayed back as he had just identified some good clients to whom he could sell the farm produce.

Ponni was away for just a week, but she returned to find a very different Arasu. He reeked of alcohol the whole day and was easily irritable. Ponni had brought along her sister, Amudha who had been recently widowed. There were vacancies for housemaids cropping up now and then and she intended to get Amudha a job too so that she could be independent.

Ponni must have regretted that decision. Till such time she found her a job, Arasu suggested that Amudha could work on his poultry farm as he was finding it difficult to manage it on his own. As could be easily imagined, he developed something more than an interest in her and soon Amudha had to disclose that she was bearing his child. Though this infuriated Ponni, this kind of lifestyle was not uncommon in their village and she preferred not to react. Understandably there was a cold war between the two but that did not come in the way of their daily routine. Arasu set up a small home for Amudha on his poultry farm itself. 

The friends Arasu had made when he was alone would come to his house every evening. They would bring an ample supply of liquor, and Arasu would order Ponni to make a variety of “side dishes”. She tolerated that, but when she caught these “friends” ogling Isai, in a fit of rage, she drove them all away. As soon as they had left, Arasu bashed her up. From then on, it was his regular routine which instilled fear in the children also. When they came to shield their mother, he would not spare them too.

Arasu was very ill-tempered and frequently got into rows with his customers and neighbours. However, much she despised him, Ponni, a true traditional wife, would come to his rescue whenever he landed himself in trouble.  He was once taken into custody by the local police for drunken misbehaviour and Ponni, coming to know of it when she was at work, ran to get him released. All her friends tried to make her understand that Arasu was not worth it, but though she realised the truth in their saying, she did not think of walking out on him.

Things started taking a turn for the worse when Iniyan topped the District at the XII Std. exams. He was suddenly the star of the village. TV Channels interviewed him and prizes flooded in. This enraged Arasu and made him envy Iniyan’s popularity. In one of the interviews, when asked how his father had contributed to his success, Iniyan without mincing a word said that he succeeded despite his father. This infuriated Arasu no end and he showed his wrath at the least excuse. Arasu adopted the tactic of causing pain to Ponni, for he knew that it would hurt Iniyan the most in this manner.

When things were getting too much out of control, Iniyan, though meek in both physique and temperament dared to fight the father! Ponni was at work, Isai and Inban had gone to their uncle’s place to help their cousins prepare for the exams. Amudha was with the baby in the poultry farm. Iniyan was alone at home with his father. He took this opportunity to talk some sense into his father, but this was something Arasu could not take. There was a war of words and also hands which ended when Arasu merely locked up the boy in the bathroom and went away.

When Ponni came home for lunch, she was in for a rude shock. Iniyan had hung himself in the bathroom with one of her saris! The whole village got together and while Ponni and the children were mourning the loss, Arasu sought the assistance of his friends to take the body away to their village to avoid a police case. The same evening the boy was cremated in their village.

Ponni went through several feelings simultaneously. The shock, sorrow, frustration and hopelessness at the loss of her beloved child were too much to bear. She felt that Arasu was behind this but could not dare to prove anything. For nearly a month, she was withdrawn and indifferent to anything and everything. She sat dazed in a corner doing nothing. She would not eat but subsisted on a few cups of tea which Isai compelled her to take. With Ponni not showing any interest in anything, Arasu made Isai entertain his friends when they came home with bottles.

When his friends kept demanding this and that, a terrified Isai ran and clung to her mother. The tigress was awakened and the “friends” were simply shooed away. She was beaten up badly, but that had become a routine that she had gotten used to. Saving Isai from the hungry looks of the oglers was now uppermost in her mind. Isai had reached the marriageable age and there was a fine boy known to her, who she believed would take good care of her.

When Arasu was sober, she told him in no uncertain terms that it was high time they got Isai married. The very same evening, he brought home the boy Ponni had suggested and told him that he would give Isai in marriage to him and also get him a good job provided he stayed with them. The boy’s parents were in a remote village and he was living alone there. As the family had faced the tragedy recently, the wedding was planned to be a simple affair, and Ilango agreed to it. Ponni had already bought some jewellery in preparedness for the marriage and the few other things that were needed were also purchased locally.

Once the decision to get them married was taken, Ilango started living with them and working for Arasu. All went well for a few days but trouble started when Arasu did not wish Ilango’s parents to attend the wedding! This being a very unreasonable demand, doubts arose whether the wedding would take place or not. Somehow with Ponni and Inban discreetly talking to Ilango’s parents, the wedding was solemnised.

Ponni knew that having her son-in-law at home would not be viable and would be a daily challenge. So, she got them a small house to rent close to theirs. Arasu continued venting his anger on Ponni. He would also go to Isai’s house and scare the wits out of her. Soon Isai shared the good news that she was a mother-to-be. Since she had started getting morning sickness, Ponni brought her home to take care of her. Ilango also came to stay.

Arasu would not let Ilango stay with them and started creating problems in the house, which forced Ilango to go back leaving Isai with them. Somehow Ponni managed to be a shock absorber and juggled between her house and Isai’s till the baby was born. There was no change whatsoever in Arasu’s behaviour even after Isai went back to her house with the infant. Unknown to Arasu, Ponni would visit Isai and help her take care of the child till Isai could do so on her own.

Now that only Inban was at home, Arasu’s attention turned to him and he started bullying him for no reason at all. In the height of some anger, he pulled out all of Inban’s clothes and piled them outside the house and was about to set fire to it saying that Inban was no more. Ponni rushed to intervene and picked up the bundle and came home. Inban meanwhile had left home as his father had asked him not to show his face again.

It was a Sunday. Ponni sat brooding over her life. Arasu had gone to a party with his friends and Inban had left the house early in the morning to avoid any confrontation with his father. Living with a sadist psycho-like husband was getting too much. All the pent-up sorrow and anger at losing her best son surfaced. She knew that Arasu must have instigated Iniyan to take his life away and that the blame should squarely lie on his shoulders. At that point in time, she could have expressed her doubts to the police, but that would not have solved anything. She had to think of settling her daughter in life too. If the police took action against Arasu on the basis of her complaint, then Isai’s future would have become a question mark.

It was nearing lunch time and soon Arasu would saunter in dead drunk. She went to the store room trying to see if she could lay her hands on anything. Soon, she caught sight of the rat poison they had bought when there was a rat menace at home. Hurriedly she made some biriyani and mixed some rat poison in one portion of the food and waited for her “dear” husband to turn up.

She did not have to wait long. From the end of the road itself, he was calling out to her shouting for food. Ponni pushed the plate of biriyani before him and moved away. The unsuspecting Arasu then gorged on it. In a few moments, he was writhing in pain and started bleeding from the mouth. Ponni steeled herself and waited till he succumbed and then called out to her neighbours for help.

The local Vaid pronounced him dead attributing the cause of death to his excessive alcohol consumption. Arrangements were made to cremate him in the village and Ponni lived peacefully thereafter without the Psycho around, having avenged Iniyan’s death.