While the ‘head’ diverted the bulk of the budget money for ‘publicity’, they lost no time to live even beyond their newfound wealth. He borrowed heavily to build Tenth Nook to make it the envy of the nouveau riche neighborhood. What’s more, donning Aramanis, as he flaunted his Rolexes and Mont Blancs, she was bejeweled from head to foot, that’s besides being the best dressed dame in the lane. Neither did they deprive their children in any manner what so ever. However, alerted by their profligacy, the lenders began pressing for the return of the principal amounts, and that put pressure on him. And to tide over the crisis, he mortgaged Tenth Nook to replicate the modus operandi in the portals of the central government. And that turned out to be a golden mirage they chased together.
While he borrowed more to bribe his way for a foothold in the centre, he lost his ground in the state itself as those ‘left out’ by the ‘head’ brought their political clout together to bust him and blacklist her man. That was their just deserts. And that’s not all, as the leaches-turned-lenders sucked all her jewellery, she became bare necked, bereft of even her mangala sutras. Was it portended, sentiment apart? Maybe that he was gone just scribbling ‘SORRY’ on their bedroom wall? Unable to believe her eyes, how she thought it was just his prank. But when the reality dawned on her, how scary she became? The hurt he caused and the scar it left, she only knew.
“What’s next?” she tried to gaze into the crystal ball. “Back to Square Peg for now, but what’s from then on. Will he come back, once the dust settles down? Given his vanity, it’s unlikely. After all, he may not like to show his black face to us, ever. But what if he returns? The kids may still love him, but can I have him? I might, for old times’ sake that is if he comes back in time and not after he became a thing of the past. But then how long is ‘in time’? That’s for life to decide. Let me see what it has in store for me.”
Jaishree Misra’s prompt [*] for “Write India Campaign of Times of India” 2015