The Bangalore Detectives Club by Harini Nagendra

Author:Harini Nagendra
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Published: 2022-04-28T00:00:00+00:00

19

The Respectability of

Good Women

It had been a long time since Kaveri had thought of Ambujakshi. Yesterday, when Ramu had scolded her for meeting Mala, she remembered her old school friend with sadness.

Poor Ambujakshi, she never had a chance. Ambu had been the best student in their class of ten girls. She scored one hundred per cent in all of their tests, wrote in perfect copperplate handwriting, was an expert veena player, did excellent handwork and embroidery, and was the pet of all the teachers. Every parent held her up to their girls as an example of what they should aspire to be. If she were not so friendly and such fun to be with, they would have all hated her. As it was, they loved her – she was sunny, good natured and a joy to be with. Much of Kaveri’s facility with maths and numbers was due to Ambu, who spent hours with her, teaching her patiently, and correcting her errors when the teacher had given up.

Ambu paid the ultimate price for her beauty, hard work and talent. Her fame spread far and wide, and she became a much sought after bride. Many prominent families approached her parents for an alliance, and she was eventually married to the eldest son from one of Mysore’s wealthiest families when she was just fourteen. Kaveri remembered with a twinge how Ambu had looked the day she was married – like a gorgeous doll, dressed up in finery, her eyes large and stark with apprehension, her posture dull and submissive, as she trailed behind her husband, stepping around the wedding fire.

Two years later, she was back in her parents’ home, thrown out by her in-laws because she had failed to give her husband children. Of course, no one pointed a finger at her husband – even though they all knew that he was too drunk to be capable of fathering children, and barely spent any time at home – he was too busy visiting the pleasure woman he kept in a separate home, thought Kaveri.

Assessing a woman’s character seemed to be the favourite pastime of elders, both men and women. The burden of the respectability of the home was placed on one’s womenfolk. Parents were constantly on guard when it came to their daughters, searching for and identifying ‘loose’ women – then warning away their children from any contact with them, to protect their reputations.

Ambu returned to school – but only for a day. The girls were thrilled to see her. So were her teachers, who had loved the child, and were devastated to see her married so early. But the parents … No, Kaveri corrected herself bitterly. The fathers. It was they who were, as always, the moral custodians of the honour of the family. The fathers got together and spoke to Ambu’s father.

It was a pity, they said, that a girl who had brought the family such disgrace was permitted to come back to school. It would bring shame on their own daughters to be associated with such company.

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