One Day in the Season of Rain by Mohan Rakesh

Author:Mohan Rakesh
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789352140121
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2015-04-03T16:00:00+00:00

End of Act Two

Act Three

After some more years.

The sound of rain and thunder. The curtain rises to reveal the same room. One lamp is lit. There is a great difference between the room’s condition now and what it was earlier. Everything is decrepit and in disarray. There is only one large jar left, and it is broken at the edge. The window seat has been moved from its old position, and the tiger skin is no longer on it. The decorations painted on the walls, such as the swastikas, are barely visible. There are only one or two blackened pots near the stove. Soiled and tattered clothes are piled up in a corner. Initially, there is no one in the room. Then Matul enters, in wet clothes and walking with a crutch. Looking all around, he sighs deeply and shakes his head in dismay. Then he moves to the middle of the room.

MATUL: Mallika!

Mallika’s voice is heard from the inner room.

MALLIKA: Who is it?

MATUL: It’s me, Matul. Look at what the rain has done to Matul!

He begins to brush the water off his head and to squeeze it out of his clothes. Mallika emerges from the inner room. Her clothes are torn in places, her complexion has darkened, and the expression in her eyes is a little strange. Her personality shows the same kind of deterioration as the room itself. The portion of the inner room that is visible when the door is open now contains a rickety crib, instead of a bed. Mallika shuts the door behind her.

MALLIKA: Arya Matul—you, here, in this rain?

MATUL: I had no refuge except your home, to escape from this rain. I thought that, no matter what, for Matul you’re the same Mallika. . . . This monsoon rain will be the death of me! In the old days, when I could walk on two legs, I never worried about the rain, even the heaviest rain. But now the situation’s awful—when I put my crutch forward, my foot slips backwards, and when I put my foot forward, my crutch slips backwards. If I’d known that I’d break my leg in the royal palace, I’d never have left the village at all. And, in my absence, those people turned my house into the kind of place where my feet slip all the time. Compared to the polished marble slabs I have now, my old clay floor was better, because at least it could grip my feet. Now I’m becoming homeless while I still have a home—I can’t make it work either inside or outside. Just the sight of those white marble flagstones reminds me of the palace. Where I broke one of my legs!

MALLIKA: It will be hard for you to stand. Please sit down.

Matul goes to the window seat, puts down his crutch, and settles down, as though for good.

MATUL: If anyone were to ask me, I’d say that there can’t be a more harrowing situation in the world than living in a palace. If you look in front, you see guards walking ahead of you.

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