It was a pleasant day with a mild breeze fanning the mellowed rays of the sun and all around there was a sense of stillness. But the quietness of the environment was challenged by the tumult in their house. The occupants of the house were a married couple who seemed to be in their late fifties and were issueless either by their own choice or by destiny’s prank at them. It was a large Assam- type house in ramshackle condition that they took on rent to live in. They seemed to me the most confounding and amazing couple that I ever came across in my life spent so far on this earth. Sometimes, their dealings with each other created such a feeling in the watchers that all the love that they had between them was lost due to so many years of their togetherness. It seemed that love between them was burnt down by the dogged fire of aggression that they kept on burning between them.  But sometimes, when the cinder of love sparked off between the duos, it took on all the hues and vigour of new born love. 

                 The couple seemed to be energetic till in their late fifties and accomplished all the household work without any assistance taken from domestic helps.  Each of their days started with their being engaged in sundry activities and howling at each other with no intention of any one of them to budge on their decisions undertaken at different points of time of the day. The sounds of their trying to keep their voices flying high over each other’s in the verbal duels would keep on flowing to every direction. But at sunset when the day crawled into the fold of darkness, the commotion in the house would die and their restless souls would calm down in the embrace of deep slumber till the sun rays in the next dawn woke them up into the roles of busy bees to be performed. 

                The boisterous couple lived in the house next to our building. Hence, my strolling in our campus on that calm and cool day struck my eardrums with the sharpness of the man’s words. His bold voice prevailed over the sound of his beating and washing the clothes. He seemed to be challenging his wife conceiting on his physical strength that he generalized as man’s special attribute.  His words to her were, “See, I have finished doing lots of work since the morning. I have already dusted each and every object of the house and mopped the floors of all the rooms and washing a heap of clothes now. But I never get tired because the Almighty has blessed the males with all the physical strength and the fact to be proud of is that the male energy cannot drain out easily. But after doing a trifling job like cooking, you are exhausted and still holding the bed for rest”.  His wife with all possible shrillness in her voice and with the fire of her temper spiraling up lashed back, “Just enter the kitchen and see yourself what sort of work cooking is.  Cooking is not just cooking but it is entangled with multiple other works in the Kitchen. Kitchen work or cooking is a set of persistent chores with one task arising after another one is completed. Once you are in the kitchen, you are trapped in a chain of numerous tasks and by the time you finish them, you are drained of all your energy. But most of the men think that kitchen work is the easiest of all the jobs in the world. You come and do it and then you will see how the sweat of your forehead dribbles on your toes”.     

                The combat of the couple trailed over the hours of the day and subsided with the sunset as usual. The darkness fragrant with the smell of jasmine was encircling the world around. I sat in the balcony, felt the furry breeze tickling my skin and waited for my maid. The maid’s assistance was sought for cooking.  She was always on time to arrive before darkness set its foot on the earth.  But on that day she was more than one hour late. I conjectured various reasons of her absence and the thought of her illness disturbed me the most.

                 My maid delayed and I decided to cook the dinner myself for my family that night. But my opening of the fridge to collect the vegetables from there concurred with the ringing of the doorbell.  It was Manu, my maid who stormed in the moment the door was opened. She hurried to the basin, washed her hands and mumbled, “The man has finally understood”. On asking her the causes of her delay and of all that she muttered, Manu replied, “I am late today but madam don’t worry, I’ll finish cooking on time. On my way I entered the house when I heard a moaning sound there. On stepping at the threshold of the house, I noticed the man lying flat on the floor and his wife whining and trying to bring him back to his consciousness”.  Saying that, Manu paused for a while, then gulped in some air and continued, “He toils for the whole day without taking any break because he thinks that a man cannot tire out easily but his that pride gave way finally when he postponed his meals to complete his tasks first and fainted consequently. After he swooned, his wife put sugar solution into his mouth and that brought back his consciousness and he opened his eyes slowly. He revived and became garrulous again after taking the food that his wife is known for making healthy balancing all the nutrients without bothering the time and pain that she undertakes in doing that”.  Saying all that, Manu without waiting a moment entered the kitchen to finish her work.

                 In the kitchen, Manu took up the knife to chop the vegetables lying scattered in front of her but her mind was lost somewhere else, she was brooding over something.  She then faced me all of a sudden and dilating her big and dark eyes started uttering, “Madam, whatever happened, happened for the good. It transformed the man. His puffed ego was deflated eventually.  After taking his food, he looked at his wife with wistful eyes and said, ‘I no longer consider myself as superior to you. I may have more strength than you do have in some cases. But you are endowed with the power to rejuvenate a person when they collapse or break down’”. 

        Manu described the story of none other than the noisy couple’s who happened to be my neighbour living in Assam-type house.  Hearing the words of the man that Manu reported, I felt a thrill ran through my mind and I reinforced his saying stating to Manu, “Yes, we the males and females are not identical but we are equal”.

      Manu’s hurry produced clanks in the kitchen and I stood in the balcony watching the sky lighting its stars and enthroning the joyous full moon in sparkling gown to celebrate the night.  

…………Dr. Fathema Begum