Dollar Bahu Read online

  NINETEEN

  Jamuna’s two months’ maternity leave was about to end and she decided to invite a few of her special friends for a naming ceremony on a Sunday. Gouramma was very enthusiastic since she loved cooking and feeding people. This was a great chance for her to show off her culinary skills. She started preparing three days in advance.

  Since it was a Sunday most Indian men and women, irrespective of which part of the country they came from or what their mother tongue was, were able to attend. The common language in this crowd was English. Everyone brought gifts, things that were useful for the baby, which were displayed on the table. Gouramma also gave her gifts but no one seemed to appreciate them. The ceremony was not a religious one, as it would have been in Bangalore, and was over in no time. But the party went on till late in the evening.

  All the guests left, except one, and Chandru hurried to clean up the basement, which was in quite a clutter after the lunch. Claiming she was tired Jamuna put the baby in its room, and settled down to chat with her friend Rekha. Gouramma, too, needed rest but no one told her to take it easy. So she went into the kitchen to clean up the mess.

  Rekha was praising the food. ‘Today’s food was great. Jamuna, have one more baby while your mother-in-law is still here and complete the family.’

  ‘Are you kidding? We can’t afford a second baby. You know how expensive it is to bring up even one child! We are ordinary people and like everyone, we too have plenty of mortgages to clear. Besides, I prefer a small family.’

  ‘Why do you say that?’ said Rekha.

  ‘In my family we are just two siblings. My mother never liked big crowds encroaching on our privacy. The best way to meet relatives is at functions. Don’t invite anyone to come and stay in your house, she always says.’

  ‘You are right, Jamuna. Last month, my brother-in-law came from India for some work and stayed with us for one full month. I was really stressed. We have our own lifestyles. When an outsider comes, I feel we have to work extra. Freezing the food for a week and warming it up before eating is normal for us. But they find it odd. I do not know what my brother-in-law must have said back at home about me. He may have complained that I gave him stale food.’

  ‘You are absolutely right, Rekha. It is better to send some money for a gift than to have someone stay in your house.’ Jamuna looked around and said in a hushed voice, ‘In a way I am lucky. My brother-in-law and his wife will never be able to afford to come here, though my sister-in-law is greedy. But they cannot come here because her husband is only a lawyer. Even if they want to come, I can put them off on some pretext.’

  Though Jamuna was whispering, Gouramma heard everything, and she could not sleep the whole night. She had always assumed that there would be a red carpet laid out for Surabhi. She noticed that Chandru always obeyed his wife, which was not the case with Girish. If Jamuna said no to something, there was no way Chandru could go against her wishes.

  Gouramma could understand Chandru’s behaviour. In a far-off place, away from family, a husband and wife have only each other to depend on, they have nobody else to turn to. Hence they tended to stick together. In India, when sons fought with their wives, some mothers-in-law were happy, and added fuel to the fire by taking their sons’ side. Such mothers-in-law would never try to support the daughter-in-law. But in this country, such situations just would not arise.

  Chandru had become immensely successful at work but his personality had changed. He had become subdued, always immersed in thought. Jamuna, on the other hand, had become more outgoing, perhaps because she had more freedom and because of her job which involved meeting people and exchanging ideas with them. She had an opinion on every matter and argued over every small thing and always won. She was the boss of the family.

  One day Gouramma asked Chandru what he pondered over all the time, and he explained, ‘Amma, I have a friend called Venkat. He is from Karnataka and he has a thirteen-year-old daughter. She is going through the typical teenage problems. If her father asks where she goes and what she does, she throws tantrums.’

  Gouramma said innocently, ‘He should keep her in control by punishing her.’

  ‘Amma, in this country you cannot “punish” children. They will call the police. Being Indians, we do not like our children to be like American children. When they are young, they mingle with other kids, talk in their accent and we feel very proud. But when they behave like American teenagers, we get upset. At times, I think about my daughter and get scared.’

  ‘Why worry about it right now? We shall see about it after fifteen years. Now let us get ready to go out.’ Jamuna hurriedly changed the topic, but for the first time, Gouramma understood what was bothering Chandru.

  Jamuna prepared to resume work. She taught Gouramma how to feed the baby with the bottle. Gouramma pleaded, ‘Jamuna, such small babies need mother’s milk. Vinuta would come home every afternoon to feed Harsha.’

  Jamuna shrugged it off. ‘I will pump my breast milk and keep it in the fridge. You can warm it and give it to the baby at the right time. And by the way, I do not want to follow Vinuta’s example in everything. This is America.’

  When Jamuna and Chandru left for work, the house became really quiet. Gouramma was not a talkative person, but somehow she never liked being alone for long periods. Manasi was a good baby and she slept for long stretches. Gouramma did not know how to kill time.

  Initially she enjoyed the outings to the supermarkets, picnics, drives. But soon they became monotonous. She started missing her life in Bangalore and her own home. In Bangalore she could go wherever she wanted and never needed to depend on anybody. Vinuta and Shamanna looked after the house. She was a member of a women’s club in the nearby temple and most evenings all her friends would meet up and start their gossip sessions. By the time Gouramma finished her stories and came home, dinner would be waiting for her. She did not have to worry about any particular responsibilities in the house.

  Here, she did not have any friends at all. She knew only Kannada; she could not converse in English. And over the weekends, Chandru and Jamuna were always busy with housework—cleaning the car, cleaning the driveway, vacuuming the house and other household chores.

  Gouramma enjoyed serving guests her special dishes, but nobody came visiting or dropped in here. In Bangalore, she could invite any number of people for meals, but here, she had to take Jamuna’s permission. She would often pray that someone should drop in on the weekends. But visiting someone meant travelling at least forty miles. Initially she had enjoyed going out, but now she didn’t enjoy the long drives.

  One day, Chandru hesitantly asked, ‘Amma, my friend Radhakrishna, his wife Savitri and their daughter Savita would like to come and spend some time with us. Is it okay with you and Jamuna?’

  Immediately Jamuna replied, ‘There will be so much of cooking to do. Amma will get tired. Anyway, they are so rich, why can’t they stay in a hotel?’

  ‘No, Jamuna. They want to stay with us. When I was a bachelor in Florida, I have stayed in their house many times, and they took good care of me. I cannot ask them to stay in a hotel.’

  For the first time Gouramma opposed her daughter-in-law. ‘Let them come, Chandru. I will handle all the kitchen work, without bothering anybody. I hope they can speak Kannada.’ In her heart, she was outraged by Jamuna’s attitude. She felt that although this house was big, it had a small heart. If Vinuta had ever said such a thing, Gouramma would have scolded her until she was forced to apologize. But Gouramma did not dare speak her mind to Jamuna. She was, after all, the Dollar Bahu.

  TWENTY

  Gouramma was eagerly looking forward to the arrival of Radhakrishna and his family. Since vegetables, fruits and groceries are not too highly priced in America, she thought to herself, I will make lots of dishes for the guests, savouries and sweets. And since they speak Kannada, it will be a refreshing change to have a conversation with outsiders.

  Jamuna was of course highly upset at this turn of events. Gouramma had