The Solace

Since morning Srinidhi’s head seemed to spin. She could not sleep the previous night ever since she came to know that a new residential community would soon be coming up on the large plot of land which had hitherto been deserted. The plot was bang opposite her house and the developer had laid a road to the new site which passed through their colony. For more than a decade, the plot could not be sold as there were technical glitches in its title. Nobody had any hopes that dwellings could come up since it was very difficult, if not impossible to acquire the land legally.

Apparently, the present owner wielded a lot of wealth and influence through which he had made POSSIBLE the IMPOSSIBLE. Just a few days back Srinidhi had seen a couple of JCBs working on the huge plot and today plots had been demarcated and an office set up to handle enquiries and bookings. The average size of the plot was between 1.5 to 2 cents, which created tension in everyone’s mind.

The plot was adjoining a village and it was taken for granted that as the plots were very small, people from the lower income groups were very likely to buy the land and construct their houses on it. Srinidhi’s peace was disturbed hearing this and her imagination ran riot. She started ranting that she will now have to face the drunken brawls every night with the wife being bullied and the husband screaming and the children grappled with fear. There could also be pocket pickers in this group and one would have to be more than cautious to prevent any unpleasant episodes. So far Srinidhi and other residents lived a secured comfortable life free from any worries, but now they would have to put up with noise, vehicular traffic, family squabbles, dogs and cats straying into their community, children with running nose running about unattended…. Srinidhi could vividly imagine what would happen in a few months’ time once the community came up.

Before it would come into existence, they would have to put up with all kinds of pollution when the construction work would start. She even contemplated moving elsewhere to overcome this hurdle. As days passed by, the hopelessness of the situation sunk in. Nobody can ever stop any kind of development and the residential complex coming nearby was just one of them. To escape from this scenario, Srinidhi booked her tickets to Singapore to spend some time with her sister, hoping that by the time she returned, some change for the better would have taken place.

When she returned home after six months, she found the whole place had changed. The road leading to her home was no more a distinct broad main road, but had become a forked road with the main road opposite her house. To her consternation, she found that the first row of houses were ready and at least half of them had been occupied. Just as she had imagined, she saw some kids with running noses and pulling up their slipping shorts, bawling away to glory. The cackling of geese and crowing of cocks provided the background music.

The serene and calm had been disturbed. She popped in a tablet of paracetamol after a light supper and went to bed. She tried her best to forget that she had new neighbours, but in vain. In the middle of the night, she woke up panic-stricken. Where was her handbag? She tried to recollect. It did not definitely remain in the taxi because she had paid the fare from the clutch purse which was in that handbag. She remembered that while her suitcases were being unloaded, she had kept it on the sit-out in the verandah. She unlocked the main door and switching on the lights started searching for the handbag which was her life-line! It contained all her debit and credit cards, driving licence, Aadhaar, PAN and all identity cards. More importantly, the bag had her mobile! She had intended to note down all the numbers in a notebook so that if a need arose, she would be able to refer to them in an emergency, but kept postponing it and now she had landed up in a soup! Though it was well past midnight, the opposite house lady was washing the dishes outside and she asked Srinidhi what the matter was and if she could help her. 

In her frustration, Srinidhi rattled a number of abuses blaming the newcomers for having stolen her bag. The lady realised that this was not the time to ask her anything, because she was stressed as well as in a very foul mood. She had also finished washing the vessels and was about to go inside when she heard a big thud. Srinidhi had slipped off the ramp and fallen with her head hitting the iron gate. Durga (that was her name) hurriedly called out to her husband and both of them tried to make her sit up and drink some water. In the meanwhile, somebody had also called for an ambulance and a few people in Srinidhi’s community came forward to help.

Durga accompanied Srinidhi and stayed by her side in the hospital. Fortunately, the injury did not require any stitches and she was discharged early the next morning. Durga was with Srinidhi throughout and on reaching home, took her inside and made her comfortable on the bed. As she pulled the comforter to tuck her properly, she felt that something was preventing her. She ran her hand over the comforter and realised that it must probably be the bag Srinidhi had thought was lost. She held it out in front of Srinidhi and asked her whether this was the bag she was searching for.

At once, Srinidhi realised her blunder. She had brought the bag inside and kept it on the bed and had unnecessarily created a ruckus. She profusely apologised to Durga, who brushed it aside and asked her to take care of herself.

Durga left, but not without creating a change in Srinidhi’s heart. What she thought would be a nuisance, turned out to be her solace. Since then, Durga and Srinidhi bonded very well.