What kind of help is this…what are you doing…will you go away if you don’t….-? Visali shouted in unbearable frustration. She felt very sorry for her husband’s character. He didn’t change even after being told about any of the things. 

How many times have you been saying, “If you don’t go, you’ll go”? Has it always been like this? Isn’t it annoying…? Vaiti replied, getting tired. 

There must have been a huge loss….it’s going to go away….a five rupee pen…! Don’t cry for three days over this… said Visali. Her tongue was throbbing to say it more harshly. She held it back. 

I just bought it yesterday… I didn’t write it down correctly… I filled up only one Chelan. That’s all I got… It’s gone… Where does this stomachache go?  

I didn’t tell you… Leave it at that… I bought another pen and went away…! Don’t go and complain about this outside… That would be embarrassing…!

What are you…speaking irresponsibly…? Isn’t there a full use for an item? If we buy something with money, we should keep it safe and use it. It should achieve its full benefit. Until then, isn’t it our duty to protect it and use it with care and diligence?….

Yes, yes…they used all the spoiled things without wasting them….this was the only thing they missed…. Vaithi understood the joke in her words. 

Why are you talking nonsense…you and I are used to fighting over unnecessary things…or arguing…don’t talk about things like this anymore…do something…I won’t listen…I won’t talk about things that concern me like that to you…right…? 

Your speech is good….Can I go and complain about my head cold to a person walking on the street like you? Don’t you have the patience to even listen to this? Have you lost all patience? Did you come to me and say that it will be okay for me…? Are you being too demanding? 

What’s happening to you? Has the world become a great loss….? Are you so tired…?-You’re tired of doing household chores…..! 

It was another embarrassment for Visali, who was worried that the people upstairs might overhear all this. But she didn’t care.

A person who has been to four places outside knows the difficulty of riding. Those who ride horses who are stuck indoors and are in a state of shock do not understand anything. When they ride four things at home, they will be in four different ways. What is wrong with what I say…? They come to the bank… they come to the post office… don’t they know how to pick up a pen? At the post office, they have boiled glue to glue the envelope… what fate should they have? Shouldn’t they tie the pen and hang it up like that…? 

If you make an offer to help the newcomers, can you buy four pens right away? When you leave home, you don’t know what to pack and leave? Why do you come here and ask for help from everyone? Half of the newcomers have this disease… don’t they just forget about it? It’s so unfair…!!!

Sir…give me a pen…do you have a pen sir…wait a minute…?- I can’t help but get speechless. …Isn’t it embarrassing? Isn’t it embarrassing? Isn’t it embarrassing? Isn’t it embarrassing to ask for a passport? Like taking money to vote? Oh…we bought a pen…we returned it to the police? . Should we give the passport and wait for it to be returned? What…are you writing a story? I asked her in a playful tone…that made her so angry…! A big deposit form…she must have filled it all out… Do I have to wait for the passport I gave you? When will you give it back? Someone must have asked me…! We escaped, we survived, we had to run away…? He left it there, saying he was going to go…!

It’s all my bad luck…I don’t know where people come from…Even if I travel by train, this problem is there too…Sir…Can you give me your lower berth? I fell in the middle…I just had a spinal operation…I can’t get on…That’s why I’m asking for help…

Such embarrassments…why am I so young…? He heard that the person who booked the lower berth had some difficulties and carefully made the reservation. Then he came and asked if he could give it to me? When he saw that it was okay, let’s go…he pushed the four-car garage and aggressively told me to give him a seat number….We should go to that place by lifting the box bed and sitting like orphans! Even in that, they would stretch out their arms and straighten up… What generosity? What guarantee is there that they would do the same to someone else? I don’t know if they came looking for our threesome…? It’s as if it was written and pasted…! The gift that my father had bought from Ammat…the cheater came here….! Where does all this sadness go? Kalikaalamda Sami…!!!

Was Visali listening to everything that was said, or had she fallen asleep? It seemed like it had been a long time since she had left the kitchen…! She had put a board under her head, put her hand over her mouth, and started to sleep. A light snoring sound…! 

Hmm…sin….She sings for her…ours sings for us…theirs sings for them…! The world works like this…! – Vaithi pouted. 

He opened the outer zip of his bag and carefully checked to see if the two pens, which had run out of ink and were not written on, were still there. They were treasures that he had specially set aside for giving away. An idea that had emerged after many days of hardship…!

Along with that, the new five-rupee pen he bought on the first day also smiled at him. You’re such a fool!  

Why can’t I write with this pen, sir?

How can a pen that has run out of ink write? -I guess I can’t write properly either…- he smiled to himself, thinking about how tired he was. He had actually cheated on his wife before…! Who will be the one to blame now? Experience has taught him a lesson…!

“You miserly bastard!” – He still smiled thinking about how that man had gone down the stairs while groaning.

How many deep meanings can there be in a single colloquial word? Miserly, stingy, stingy…stupid… Vaiti burst out laughing, forgetting himself. The empty pens he kept inside also seemed to be laughing. 

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Ushadeepan, (ushaadeepan@gmail.com) (Cell- 94426 84188).