Negative Space by Ranjani Rao

Author:Ranjani Rao
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fiction, marriage, Indian immigrant, South Asian, Authentic Heartfelt, Dilemmas Challenges, Women's Choices
Publisher: Story Artisan Press
Published: 2019-03-08T00:00:00+00:00

Sprinklers in the Rain

T

wo names, Vijay and Kavita. His son and daughter. Vasu carefully wrote the words on two pale yellow notes imprinted with the intricate logo of some out-of-business dotcom. He gripped the wide serrated barrel of his favorite blue pen tightly as he wrote on the wrong side of the paper, the one with the faint trace of glue on the top. With sure fingers, he folded each rectangular sheet along the long end and then once more in half, until the names were completely enclosed, the pieces of paper as indistinguishable as the backs of two photographs. He laid the notes down on the altar beside the elephant-shaped stand for the incense sticks. Numerous deities watched with kind but detached eyes, their multi-hued photographs enclosed in glass frames, the surfaces smudged intentionally with turmeric and vermilion and unwittingly by the greasy residue from the oil lamps that were lit each morning.

Vasu clumsily joined his hands in silent prayer, imitating the gesture that he had observed his wife, Kala, repeat over the years. One religious parent praying for the health and prosperity of the family had been sufficient. Now, with Kala’s death, Vasu had assumed the responsibility of praying for his family’s well-being. He decided he would ask Uma, his five-year-old granddaughter, to pick one note and hand it to him. He hoped God would show him the way by making the child the instrument of His will.

It was time for his morning walk. He would have to forgo his breakfast of sugar-free cereal with cold low-fat milk. His feet, accustomed to the rough leathery feel of his well-worn Bata sandals, found the American sneakers heavy and uncomfortable. The synthetic texture of the forest-green water-proof jacket with the built-in hood scraped his face.

“You have gone walking in the rain for three straight days, Appa. Why do you have to go now? A major storm is predicted for later today.”

Vasu paid no heed to Vijay’s concerns.

“Since you insist on going, I am glad you are wearing the jacket and the sneakers,” Vijay conceded reluctantly.

“A father does not have to take advice from his son!” Vasu mused crankily. Vijay’s new-found ideas amazed him, for he, Vasu, was of the old school. He had never dared question his own father, let alone raise his voice to him.

As he stepped out of the house and started walking to the neighborhood park, Vasu kicked the spiky pine cones that littered the driveway. Sooty clouds, like loosely woven spider webs strewn across the dark skies, loomed in the distance.

“Major rain storm, hmmph! Whoever made the prediction obviously did not experience the fury of monsoon in Mumbai,” Vasu muttered under his breath.

Stories of the times he had made the trip from the Mumbai suburbs to his Nariman Point office after the trains had stopped mid-way due to the fierce rain were legendary. On the rare rainy days he had stayed home, he recalled how Kavita would step purposefully into each puddle and splash her reluctant brother.

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