Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Translated from Telugu by Dr. Haribandi Lakshmi, EFL University
“Who was the one who spoke to Aruna on that day?”
ha
Seeing the box item on the first page Aruna got startlerd and sat straight. That day, after so many days, she was not feeling weak. She had the habit of reading the newspaper in the morning while sipping a cup of coffee. For the past twenty days she had been lying in the bed in a pitiable state without knowing what had been happening in the world. Her eyes began to run along with the letters.
“The story of Aruna who was stabbed and admitted to a hospital is known to the readers. It is learnt that Miss. Aruna, who stays in the working women’s hostel, ‘Mahila Prabanjanam’, on Thursday before going to school made two calls from the adjacent medical shop! The shopkeeper has given us interesting details. He informed us that he remembered every single word uttered by her on phone. According to him, Aruna seems to have called up a person by name ‘Chandra’ and she was said to be angry with him for not coming to see her. She seems to have invited him to come and meet her on Friday evening. The shopkeeper further added that at that time she was wearing a blue dress and looked all dressed up. She is said to be regularly calling up different people from his shop. It is suspected that Miss. Aruna must be having close contacts with the culprit.”
(Interview with Aruna’s colleagues in the next issue…)
On reading this news Aruna suffered from breathlessness…… She hurriedly looked for the next issue. On the first page itself her photo appeared. They must have selected the best one from the album.
“Did Aruna has any connections with different unions?”
Many interesting things have come to light today when our reporter interviewed the school teachrs. Miss. Aruna has a reputation as a good teacher in the school. The students admire her a great deal. But the teachers expressed different views. They said Aruna was a very reserved person. She always goes on attending meetings and conferences without wasting a single minute. She has close connections with a number of voluntary organisations and unions. She spoke at the meeting of the Mahila Mandali held on 6th April. (We will bring you a detailed report tomorrow about the unions that are said to have connections with Aruna).
Aruna started sweating profusely even in that cold weather. She got a feeling that her hands were shivering. She controlled herself and looked around – the hospital familiar to her, the climber, Malathi Lata, peeping through the window, sisters and ward boys going in and out of the next ward – Everything is quite normal. She turned another page with the trembling hands.
‘Did Aruna has any connection with the Radicals?’
She turned another page indifferently, ‘who was the person who had dinner with Aruna that night?’
Another page and another page – Aruna was turning the pages as though her mind went blank.
‘Along with Aruna were there only two people in the room?’
‘In Aruna’s room, besides a cupboard with things arranged neatly and a couple of book shelves a photoframe was seen on the table where beside Aruna’s photograph there was a photograph of a handsome gentleman were seen. It is said that she used to go out with that gentleman quite frequently. It is also learnt that in her room there were some half-finished sweet and snacks kept neatly in small containers. The police are seriously trying to get the information regarding the person who shared with her the food brought from the restaurant adjacent to the guest house.’
Aruna’s head started reeling. Her body, which had not been fully recovered from an operation that she underwent a few days ago, could not bear the shock.
Who was the person who spoke to her on that day? Who was the person who had dinner with her on that day.
Is Aruna a radical?
Innumerable questions kept suffocating Aruna.
‘Oh, God! Why did you get up from your bed Aruna?
‘Oh! You have already started reading all that trash!’ Chandra came running and she took away all those papers. Sitting back Aruna kept on staring at Chandra. ‘Chandra’ was a man! What a terrible description!
‘Aunty, you know what happened! A little while ago your friends came to see you. I did not want to disturb you. So I did not wake you up. Aunty …. you know ….’ When that fourteen years old girl was trying to make her forget about the newspapers, Aruna couldn’t but laugh. Aruna was staring at the round face of the girl and the way she was moving her hands while talking. She could only see her pink lips moving but she couldn’t hear anything. In the meanwhile Bhaskar entered the room carrying bread and fruits.
‘Did I not tell you not to disturb her. She gets tired. Have you already started chatting with her? Your mother is coming behind. Go and see. Let her come as early as possible. Granny is not able to walk. Go and see.”
Bhaskar was keeping the fruits on the shelf.
‘Handsome young man’ ….. Those words were seen running in front of Aruna’s eyes. It is with this handsome youngman she went shopping several times.
‘Aruna dear! How are you feeling today? Are you feeling weak?’ Boundless affection could be felt in that voice. It was his affection for his sister ‘…. Oh God! … How cruel!….’ Without knowing the facts how can they imagine something and publish it just to boost the circulation of their paper? If only they were a little humane ….. If only they tried to know what had really happened… What happened that day?….
* * * * *
It was only that morning she went to music college. She was to give the programme four days later. She must practice it. She closed her eyes and was thinking of the items she would be performing. There was a faint sound. Noises were always heard from the kitchen downstairs. It was a hostel where about five hundred inmates are there. People would always go on doing some work or other. A little latter, when she heard some footsteps she opened her eyes to see who it was. There were two men looking like giants. While one was holding the torch, the other was picking up things. He put in his bag a tape recorder and an alarm time-piece that were on the table. While picking up her hand bag one of them turned back. When he noticed Aruna looking at them he jumped at her at once. She tried to scream for help. That was all. She was stabbed in the hand, in the stomach and around her waist. She could not even moan as they closed her mouth tight. After that attack she opened her eyes only in the hospital. The hostel was poorly maintained. There was no security to the inmates. Even the building was not good this would be the result if they collect hundreds of rupees from the inmates but do not maintain it properly. But how all this was coloured! How can she keep her head high tomorrow? First of all she should know what her family members are thinking about it. Tomorrow, in the school, what explanation would she give!
‘Aruna! Aruna!’
‘What happened to you dear!’
‘Aruna!’
‘Aunty!’
Aruna had already reached the far of lands where those calls and cries could not be reached. It remained a puzzle to them why her blood pressure suddenly shot up so much when she had actually recovered and was gaining normalcy and why her meek heart had suddenly stopped functioning.
“Who was the one who spoke to Aruna on that day?”
ha
Seeing the box item on the first page Aruna got startlerd and sat straight. That day, after so many days, she was not feeling weak. She had the habit of reading the newspaper in the morning while sipping a cup of coffee. For the past twenty days she had been lying in the bed in a pitiable state without knowing what had been happening in the world. Her eyes began to run along with the letters.
“The story of Aruna who was stabbed and admitted to a hospital is known to the readers. It is learnt that Miss. Aruna, who stays in the working women’s hostel, ‘Mahila Prabanjanam’, on Thursday before going to school made two calls from the adjacent medical shop! The shopkeeper has given us interesting details. He informed us that he remembered every single word uttered by her on phone. According to him, Aruna seems to have called up a person by name ‘Chandra’ and she was said to be angry with him for not coming to see her. She seems to have invited him to come and meet her on Friday evening. The shopkeeper further added that at that time she was wearing a blue dress and looked all dressed up. She is said to be regularly calling up different people from his shop. It is suspected that Miss. Aruna must be having close contacts with the culprit.”
(Interview with Aruna’s colleagues in the next issue…)
On reading this news Aruna suffered from breathlessness…… She hurriedly looked for the next issue. On the first page itself her photo appeared. They must have selected the best one from the album.
“Did Aruna has any connections with different unions?”
Many interesting things have come to light today when our reporter interviewed the school teachrs. Miss. Aruna has a reputation as a good teacher in the school. The students admire her a great deal. But the teachers expressed different views. They said Aruna was a very reserved person. She always goes on attending meetings and conferences without wasting a single minute. She has close connections with a number of voluntary organisations and unions. She spoke at the meeting of the Mahila Mandali held on 6th April. (We will bring you a detailed report tomorrow about the unions that are said to have connections with Aruna).
Aruna started sweating profusely even in that cold weather. She got a feeling that her hands were shivering. She controlled herself and looked around – the hospital familiar to her, the climber, Malathi Lata, peeping through the window, sisters and ward boys going in and out of the next ward – Everything is quite normal. She turned another page with the trembling hands.
‘Did Aruna has any connection with the Radicals?’
She turned another page indifferently, ‘who was the person who had dinner with Aruna that night?’
Another page and another page – Aruna was turning the pages as though her mind went blank.
‘Along with Aruna were there only two people in the room?’
‘In Aruna’s room, besides a cupboard with things arranged neatly and a couple of book shelves a photoframe was seen on the table where beside Aruna’s photograph there was a photograph of a handsome gentleman were seen. It is said that she used to go out with that gentleman quite frequently. It is also learnt that in her room there were some half-finished sweet and snacks kept neatly in small containers. The police are seriously trying to get the information regarding the person who shared with her the food brought from the restaurant adjacent to the guest house.’
Aruna’s head started reeling. Her body, which had not been fully recovered from an operation that she underwent a few days ago, could not bear the shock.
Who was the person who spoke to her on that day? Who was the person who had dinner with her on that day.
Is Aruna a radical?
Innumerable questions kept suffocating Aruna.
‘Oh, God! Why did you get up from your bed Aruna?
‘Oh! You have already started reading all that trash!’ Chandra came running and she took away all those papers. Sitting back Aruna kept on staring at Chandra. ‘Chandra’ was a man! What a terrible description!
‘Aunty, you know what happened! A little while ago your friends came to see you. I did not want to disturb you. So I did not wake you up. Aunty …. you know ….’ When that fourteen years old girl was trying to make her forget about the newspapers, Aruna couldn’t but laugh. Aruna was staring at the round face of the girl and the way she was moving her hands while talking. She could only see her pink lips moving but she couldn’t hear anything. In the meanwhile Bhaskar entered the room carrying bread and fruits.
‘Did I not tell you not to disturb her. She gets tired. Have you already started chatting with her? Your mother is coming behind. Go and see. Let her come as early as possible. Granny is not able to walk. Go and see.”
Bhaskar was keeping the fruits on the shelf.
‘Handsome young man’ ….. Those words were seen running in front of Aruna’s eyes. It is with this handsome youngman she went shopping several times.
‘Aruna dear! How are you feeling today? Are you feeling weak?’ Boundless affection could be felt in that voice. It was his affection for his sister ‘…. Oh God! … How cruel!….’ Without knowing the facts how can they imagine something and publish it just to boost the circulation of their paper? If only they were a little humane ….. If only they tried to know what had really happened… What happened that day?….
* * * * *
It was only that morning she went to music college. She was to give the programme four days later. She must practice it. She closed her eyes and was thinking of the items she would be performing. There was a faint sound. Noises were always heard from the kitchen downstairs. It was a hostel where about five hundred inmates are there. People would always go on doing some work or other. A little latter, when she heard some footsteps she opened her eyes to see who it was. There were two men looking like giants. While one was holding the torch, the other was picking up things. He put in his bag a tape recorder and an alarm time-piece that were on the table. While picking up her hand bag one of them turned back. When he noticed Aruna looking at them he jumped at her at once. She tried to scream for help. That was all. She was stabbed in the hand, in the stomach and around her waist. She could not even moan as they closed her mouth tight. After that attack she opened her eyes only in the hospital. The hostel was poorly maintained. There was no security to the inmates. Even the building was not good this would be the result if they collect hundreds of rupees from the inmates but do not maintain it properly. But how all this was coloured! How can she keep her head high tomorrow? First of all she should know what her family members are thinking about it. Tomorrow, in the school, what explanation would she give!
‘Aruna! Aruna!’
‘What happened to you dear!’
‘Aruna!’
‘Aunty!’
Aruna had already reached the far of lands where those calls and cries could not be reached. It remained a puzzle to them why her blood pressure suddenly shot up so much when she had actually recovered and was gaining normalcy and why her meek heart had suddenly stopped functioning.
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