Back home
‘Back home in India we have servants for everything. I don’t even have to get up for a glass of water.’ said Sudha.
Cathy looked at her mother in law with ill disguised disdain.
‘She is telling truth. We have servants for everything, for washing car every morning, for cleaning the floor, for gardening and for cooking and cleaning utensils.’
Her father-in-law thought that she would believe him more than she would her mother-in-law because he wore pants. He also thought he spoke better English than his wife, and that articles were used only by low class people.
‘We had one woman for washing clothes too, but we fired her after we got the washing machine. Now the cook-lady runs the washing machine and dries the clothes and folds them later. The Dhobi collects clothes for pressing every morning’
‘Dobby? Pressing?’ said Cathy inspite of herself.
‘The laundry man darling, he collects the ironing and delivers it back home’ said her husband Sanjay rather patronisingly.
These people were the limit, pretending to be royalty. Why did they come to America if they had it so great there? Cathy knew now that Sanjay had married her only to get a green card. That Cathy had her own apartment was an added bonus. His parents soon followed, ostensibly for a visit, but had been around for over three months now. Sanjay was still to find a real job six months after getting his degree. He worked at the check-out counter at the local supermarket. The way Sudha fussed over him after he got home from work, you would think he fought rabid dogs with his bare hands for a living.
Cathy smiled thinly. She knew why she was being regaled with tales of their affluence today.
She said sweetly to Sudha, ‘Sud-da, its your turn to do the dishes today.’
© Khushnoor., all rights reserved.
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