The call bell nodged at
the cabin office of district development chairman. The peon entered the room
and looked at the chairman obediently if he was going to order him something.
“Call Mr. Loknath to my
cabin,” said the district development chairman to the peon as an order. The
peon husked further where Loknath was in his office chair. He conveyed the
message from his chief.
“Sir you have been called
at the cabin right now from the chief.”
Loknath has been working
as a chief clerk in the office for last couple of years. This unexpected call
from the chief made him slightly scared. ‘Why has the chairman suddenly called
me to his cabin?’ He had never been called to his cabin before. He had never
been asked to come to his cabin for any kind of official works. He was a bit
confused of his changing euphoria towards him for last couple of weeks since he
attended the party with his wife that was organized by the chief some weeks
ago. ‘Perhaps I am assuming something wrong from his friendly behaviousr
towards me or did I have really done any mistakes in the office work?’ The
chief clerk perturbed for a while and entered the cabin of his boss.
“Take your seat please”,
said the chairman looking constantly on his face.
“Thank you sir.”
Said Loknath and sat on the sofa laid nearby his boss. His face seemed to
be perplexed.
“Um! I called you in my
cabin just because I would like to discuss about a project that is very
important to implement as soon as possible. I feel that you are the person whom
I can trust. A village in our district desperately in need of a drinking water
project. The project has a pretty good budget although the time is short to
accomplish. Can you take over the assignment as the project incharge?” asked
the district chairman to Loknath.
Loknath was astonished
with this unexpected offer that was entirely disperate from earlier official
responsibility. He was just an ordinary head clerk. Now he was being offered a
challenging and lucrative job which would be a matter of envy to other
staff. He was happy but couldn’t expressed it. “Sir...... but........” he
could just speak that much.
“Don’t worry, I will
support you all the way what I can because I really trust you. Will you please
visit the site next week and begin the work? We will manage to send everything
that you may need during the work. I hope the project be accomplished within a
month”, said the chief as if Loknath was a closest person in his family.
“Sure sir, I will just
visit the site next week, however I will have to discuss with my wife since she
doesn’t know about this new responsibility and a good opportunity that I have
been offered.” Said Loknath with an expression to his gratefulness.
“Obviously she deserves
to know this good news first. Tell her my warm regards.” Said the chief as if
he was very kind to him. Then the chief abruptly asked a question that was not
related to the work however he displayed a harmony.
“When did you get married
Loknath?”
“Last year sir.”
“You are very lucky
Loknath. You got a very beautiful wife.”
“Thank you sir, by the
god’s grace, it happened to me.” Said Loknath being shy.
“Any way good luck to
your new responsibility,” said the chief as if he would like to end up the
meeting.
“Thanks again sir, I am
grateful to you”, said Loknath and went to his room. He was sitting on his
chair under a dilemma. At the time he had nothing in his mind just the project
and project. On the other hand he was not happy enough at missing his lovely
wife for a month.
As soon as Loknath sat on his working chair several thoughts haunted his
mind and he felt a little upset by newly developed situation. A most unusual
thing was going to happen in his life. He never hoped to be a project incharge,
neither he would have a chance to be an officer because his qualification would
never meet to grab it. This unexpected challenge for a new responsibility and
his boss’ friendly changed behaviour for him ensued him to think himself differently
at once. ‘You got married to a beautiful woman...’ words from his boss
added him both a surprize and anger. ‘Why is my boss talking so nonsense? Why
does he need to say whether my wife is beautiful or not?’ He asked himself but
he didn’t get any answer instead he began to remind the party that was hosted
by his boss a couple of weeks ago. He and his wife had attended the party in
which first time the boss came to him and tried to be closure and l behaved in
well manner.
Loknath prepared his mind to set out to the site next week. Before he
moved to the site he had to arrange household stuff for his wife. He knew, the
site where he was visiting was outskirt from the city and there would be no
communication except walk back city for 8 hours. He, for a while felt
precarious about being away from his lovely wife. Nights were going to be
longer without embraces of his lovely wife. He could have taken his wife to the
site but she always hated the remote villages. No television, no electricity,
no communication no good toilets or water and sanitations. He was sure even if
he urged to her to go to the site together, she would agree on it. ‘It is only
a matter of a month, why should I bother her?’ He thought and decided to
takeover the journey single.
Probably, it was almost a
week after Loknath left to the site, his wife was at home. She was in the
kitchen preparing a dinner for herself. She was thinking about her husband if
he had had dinner at the site. It was yet to get complete dark outside. Sun was
half shining behind the hill. It was soon going to hide itself behind the red
horizon or the half of the earth was going to be engulfed in the darkness. A
pair of legs were moving ahead to the house of Loknath. The face of the walking
person was hardly recognizable. As soon as the legs stepped in front of the
door, the stranger pushed the door bell.
‘Trirrrrrrrrrr.......’
‘Trirrrrrrrrrrr........’
A young beautiful woman
opened the door. She seems to be both a little hesitated and a little
excited if the nodger was Loknath however, she felt astonished after she found
the guy standing outside was not the person whom she had expected.
“Does this house belong
to Loknath?” A dizzy voice vibrated in the atmosphere.
“Yes, but why are you
looking for him?” The lady asked.
“Is he at home now? I
need to see him. for some help” The man inquired gently.
“Unfortunately he is not
at home,” said the beautiful lady.
“Probably, he might be
working late today or might be coming home” The man spoke almost in a
whispering way.
“Sorry, he is now in the
project site and hopefully will come back only after three weeks. It is better
to come back after three weeks if you have to see him. or want to get any
help.” The lady wanted to conclude her part to get rid from the stranger. The
stranger took out his cap and moved his muffler which was almost covered the
half of the face.
“Wow.......... sir, you
are here........ how come to our house?!!! But can’t you remember Loknath is at
the project site for which you have especially appointed him to accomplish an
urgent assignment?" The lady spoke almost in the cheerful and excited
voice.
“Thanks god, you
recognized me. Wow..., how forgetful I am?!!! Loknath is at the site for a
special task that I assigned him.” Said the person as if he was really a stupid
guy with a poor memory. stranger had become a well known person.
“Come inside sir, why
should you stand by the door” Said the young beautiful lady with mixed of her
cheerful and perplexed face.
“Well, it is not worth to come to the house since Loknath isn’t at home.
I should go now to find something else......” Said the man as if he was
demonstrating his best etiquette forever.
“How can it be possible without having a cup of tea? You are the boss of
my husband. It is my duty to host you at least with a hot cup of coffee or tea.
But I didn’t understand how you find this part of the earth” inquired the lady
with a smile.
“Ummm...... In fact it was a bad time to come to this part of the world.
I was on project monitoring but when I was going back home a tyre of my car
punctured and unfortunately I didn’t have a spare of it. Mean while I thought
of getting help from Loknath. You know, it is a long way from here to go to my
house and there is no public transportation right now and lastly I forgot
Loknath isn’t at home.” Poured the man all his embarrassments.
The lady kept silence for a while as if she was very perplexed by a newly
emerged situation. Perhaps a humanitarian feeling hovered in her mind.
“I am very sorry to hear this. You don’t have to worry after all. If you
don’t have any problem sir you can stay tonight and go home tomorrow morning.
At least you have someone to help you in this worst situation even if you
didn’t find Loknath.” Showed the lady her humbleness.
“Many many thanks. But....” said the man as if he was really denying her
offer as if he was showing gentlemenship.
“Mind you there is a proverb that a guest in the evening is like a god.
So it would be my pleasure to have a guest at home although my house is not
suitable enough.” Said the lady in a very humble requesting voice.
“Then it would be a great sin to disappoint you. Thanks for tonight
giving me a shelter. I am very grateful to your kind hospitality.” Said the
man.
The lady completely opened the door and the guest entered house.
“It’s my pleasure to see you. Would you like to have a cup of coffee or
tea?” humbly asked by the lady to the guest.
“Tea, Please.”
The lady entered the kitchen and started to prepare tea. In a few minutes
she came back to the living room with two cups of tea and sat on the other side
of sofa.
“Ummm....... I really feel proud of your husband. He is the most honest
and sincere staff in the office.” Guest began a talk.
“Thank you sir. You are great to judge it and have given him a challenging
assignment.” The lady showed her regards to the guest.
“Well, I am going to the kitchen again to prepare dinner for tonight. It
would be nice if you want to have a rest while I will be cooking.” Added
the lady again to be a responsible host.
“It’s okey,” said the guest and he began to look on the paintings hanged
on the wall.
In an hour, the dinner was ready to be served. Both host lady and the
guest sat on the dinner table facing each other. The lady had poured her full
efforts to make delicious food. She really worked hard this time as if she was
not only a wife but also really a good cook. The room was filled with aroma.
“Wow, it seems very delicious. Thank you very much again for your kind
hospitality,” said the guest.
“It’s my pleasure sir” said the lady with smiling face.
“You know, the project on which Loknath is working on is a well earning.”
The guest disclosed a secrecy and took a lump of food in his mouth. He stared
at the face of hosting lady.
“Really!!!?” the lady expressed her surprize.
“Believe me. He would be assigned another project as long as you people
make me pleased.” A very diplomatic voice was produced by the guest.
“I beg pardon sir. I didn’t understand well.” The host lady demonstrated
as if she was a very innocent school student.
“Listen, so far I know you couple have nothing than this small apartment.
I wish Loknath can buy a big house. For that you people need a huge amount of
money. Being a head clerk, it will only be a dream. So........” The guest
allured the lady.
“You are perfectly right sir. But I don’t know how we can please you to
continue with a good earning project.” The lady got excited.
“A small sacrifice,” said the guest as if he was a hypnotizer.
“What?!!! I didn’t understand really. What do you mean sacrifice?,” said
the lady widening her eyes a bit bigger.
“I mean a small compromise,” said the guest focusing his sight on the
face of the host lady.
“Will you please be more precise?,” the lady showed her humble etiquette.
The guest picked up a drumbell of chicken piece and took a big bite. The
living room became silence for a couple of seconds except the sound of chewing
mouth. probably the guest was chewing the bones as well. As soon as he
swallowed it, he said, “you can make things better if you wish. Loknath will be
continuing with the post of project incharge as this one is accomplished. We
have several other projects with large amount of budget. Loknath will
make a good amount of money from these projects. You can have better life as
long as you have a sound bank balance.”
“Sir, you are puzzling me. How things change though I wish only?,”
asked the lady as if she was more confused.
The guest tried to figure out if the iron was hot enough to hit. He
lowered down his sight slowly to the breast of the host lady. The breasts of
the host lady were appealing to get somebody feel excited. For a while he felt
a current flowed in his blood veins however he seemed to be normal. He again
raised his sight to the face of host lady and spoke almost a whispering voice.
“Let’s make an understanding between you and me. We will keep it secret
that we shared the bed together tonight. You can share your body only one night
for me. Your small sacrifice will turn your life much much better. Why not make
tonight a beautiful romantic and memorable night for forever?,” the guest came
to the pin point.
The host lady didn’t get angry instead she seemed to be contemplating.
For a few seconds she looked both at the face of the guest and at the main door
and again to the face of the evening guest. She seemed to be perplexed if she
should trust on the person. She dreamt of a big house with garden, car, bank
balance. Her heart started to bit faster. ‘what happens if I share the bed
together with this person?’ ‘Should I ask him to get lost?’ ‘What reaction will
he take if I denied?’ ‘Is the proposal an opportunity to turn the life easier?’
several questions rose up. ‘only a night.........then everything will be okey’
eventually she seemed to be agreed. She responded nothing. The guest figured
out that the iron was really hot enough to hit.
The
weather suddenly turned to be worse and it started to rain. The guest slowly
moved his hand towards the hand of the host. There was no reaction from the
other side. The guest pulled gently the female body to his wide chest and
wrapped in a way as a snake wraps to its victim before it swallows the whole
body. He brought a young female in the bedroom. The electricity went off
probably because of lightening and thunderstorm in the sky. The female body was
being stripped off in the darkness. The negotiation of an understanding changed
to a compromise.
Fourth week later, Loknath came
back to his office after the accomplishment of the project that was assigned to
him. He was happy that he did his work honestly without any irregularities. He
first went to his earlier office chair where he used to work before. He took a
long breath to ease himself as if he had already been carrying tons of load on
his shoulder.
“Sir, you are called to see the
boss immediately”, said the helper. He slowly stood and took out the report of
the project that was accomplished and moved to the boss’ cabin.
As soon as he reached the boss’
cabin, the boss without looking at him and without asking him to take a seat,
said “we have a complain about your work and some people have filed complains
about financial irregularities against on your behalf. As per rule I should
suspend you for a time being until the investigation is over however I always
wished for your goodness therefore, I have transferred you to another district.
Here is a transfer letter”.
Loknath seemed to be very anxious
and very perplexed. His brain stopped to work and he knew nothing what to react
on newly developed situation. He was sure he had so far done the job honestly
without any irregularities however the assignment was new for him. He had an
ideology that bosses in the office never say or do anything wrong by which they
become the boss. He forwarded his trembled hand on the table to pick up the
transfer letter that was laid on. He demonstrated his regards to the boss as
usual to all other staff and said nothing for his clarity. He set back to his
chair and took out his belongings. He then unwillingly walked home back.
Loknath arrived home and felt
himself very tired. He for a while even didn’t speak a word with his wife who
was happy at his arrival back to home from the site.
“Will you please bring a glass
of water for me?”, he asked his wife in a very soft voice.
“Sure! But what happended with
you that you look so worried and tired?” asked his wife looking at his gloomy
face. Before she got an answer from her husband she entered the kitchen. She
brought a glass of water immediately. Her husband drank all water in a single
breath without leaving a single drop inside.
“We have to move another
district as soon as possible. I have been accused of irregularities at the
project site. The committee for corruption investingation is going to probe
over the project. The boss has transferred me to another district.” Loknath
told his wife with a grave voice and took out the transfer letter from his
pocket.
As soon as she heard it, she
almost lost her temper however she tried to maintain the situation. She became
silent and recalled those moments and the words during the making of a compromise
on that night when her husband was absent. She felt that she had a big
earthquake under her feet. She saw her dreams of good earning project, sound
bank balance and beautiful house with garden were being shattered and
became debris by the terrible earthquake.
