Shernu... Shernaaz Wadia lived with her mom Zenobia Wadia. Rohinton Wadia, Shernaaz's father, left them when Shernaaz was 10 years old.
It was a secret which wasn't completely out between the two ladies of the Wadia family. Until, of course, one day when Shernaaz insisted that her mother share with her the truth. The truth which wasn't hidden completely from her but wasn't even completely out in the open.
Zenobia had no choice but to tell her daughter who was big enough to make sense of it.
Rohinton used to spend an increasing amount of time with their neighbour Farzeen. Farzeen was married too, and had two kids.
Rohinton and Farzeen's proximity was the talk of the Parsi colony they lived in. Farzeen's husband was a shippy and so wasn't around for the major part of the year.
It wasn't that Shernaaz never knew about it but her naive mind couldn't accept the fact that her father was cheating on her mother.
Zenobia had confronted Rohinton and Farzeen a number of times.
Oscillating between anger and frustration one day she decided to walk out of home, which actually was in her parents name.
But before Zenobia could move out of the house with Shernaaz, Rohinton and Farzeen fled away.
After a few months of embarrassing confrontations with a few other neighbours, Farzeen's husband took his kids and moved out. Zenobia and Shernaaz were left behind in the colony.
Shernaaz completed her graduation and wasn't very sure what she wanted to do with her life. One thing she was very sure about was she didn't want to get married.
Mehru Maasi ... Zenobia's sister who lived in Pune was always supportive of Shernaaz as she herself was happily unmarried. That's what she always proclaimed while putting forward an argument in support of Shernaaz.
Shernaaz took up a job at a private bank. Her only motive was to keep her mother happy and fulfill all her needs. She did so since she knew well how her mother had brought her up single-handedly after Rohinton left them.
It was the day of Pateti when Shernaaz came back with the news of her promotion when she was greeted by Mehru Maasi and the news of her Mother's death.
Shernaaz was shattered, more for the reason that there was no final exchange of words between the two. She felt her mother left her just like that without even letting her know...like her father did. She cursed Lord Almighty for being so unfair to her.
Mehru Maasi was by her side. Most of the Wadia family had long distanced themselves from Zenobia ....maybe out of guilt or maybe they didn't care enough.
Zenobia never bothered. So there were a few colony neighbours and a few of the Damania family.
Mehru Maasi was adamant that Shernaaz move to her home in Pune but Shernaaz didn't want to leave her mom's home and was independent enough to handle her life. At least, she put up a brave front. The fact being she spent many a sleepless nights feeling lonely and helpless. It seemed to her that her loved ones were destined to leave her to fight her own battles.
Slowly she gathered herself and the broken pieces of destiny that life had offered her and with great courage moved on.
Within a year Mehru Maasi shifted to Mumbai for her new job.
Shernaaz was more than glad to let her share her home with her.
By then Shernaaz had left the bank job and decided to take up an airlines job. After having tried five times she finally got into Cabin crew of an international airline based in Dubai.
She wanted to run away she said... or maybe she just wanted to do what she always wanted to...go around different places of the world where she knew no one and no one knew her...
All through her childhood she was fed up of hearing all sorts of stories woven by people around her, about her father.
All through her youth she was fed up being pestered to get married.
Since Mehru Maasi never married herself she always would know what it meant to keep hearing, "When are you getting Married?" Both would laugh at the fact that ...why was their marriage in any which ways so much of a monumental consequence to the people around them.
Whenever Shernaaz would be back in Mumbai for a break she would be glad she had Mehru Maasi back home to receive her. They shared a beautiful camaraderie. Shernaaz did tell her that she believed that Mehru understood her much better at times than her mother.
She never understood why her mother who herself had gone through so much in marriage wanted her daughter to get married.
The narrow minded attitude of the so called modern Parsi neighbours in the colony surprised them no end. Some crooked headed men who believed that two women both who were unmarried, one being in the airlines job and the other being a journalist couldn't be allowed to live in the colony since it could be detrimental to their moral values. The trust echelons had the audacity to even send someone to check on them on their behest.
Coincidentally both were at home. Shernaaz was there for two weeks for Pateti. And Mehru Maasi was home since she wasn't too well.
The representative Gulnavaaz from the trust called before coming but didn't quite reveal the real reason.
So there were these two beautiful ladies with Mora dar chawal and kolmi no patyo which they had ordered from the Black Stove Co. and beer glasses in hand listening to "Hold me now touch me now I don't want to live without you" and lip synching the song when Gulnawaaz peeped through the window curtain in the corridor ..."May I come in?"
Mehroo massi ... "Definitely not from here!"
And the two ladies just burst out laughing...
Shernaaz offered Gulnawaaz to join them for lunch or at least have a beer.
She hesitatingly refused both.
The questions that followed and the answers that ensued...
Gulnawaaz "So you both are unmarried " Both "Yes!"
Gulnawaaz "So you both live together "
Both "Yes!"
Mehru Maasi "Whenever she is back from Dubai."
Gulnawaaz "So you both drink everyday?"
Both together "No."
Shernaaz "Only when Mehru Maasi has a cold... or it's new year...She has this self professed theory (mimicking her) Cold kills cold!"
Gulnawaaz "You could eat an ice cream instead."
Mehru Maasi "No beer does the trick!"
Gulnawaaz "So do you have men visiting here ..."
Both look at each other ... and with an angry gaze...
Both "Yes ..."
Mehru Maasi "Doodhwalon ..."
Shernaaz "Yes, he is a man."
Mehru Maasi "Paperwalon..."
Shernaaz "Yes, he too is a man."
Mehru Maasi - "Cable walon!"
Shernaaz - "Man."
Mehru Maasi - "Plumber... electrician ..."
Shernaaz interrupts "Shanta Bai... I am damn sure ...she isn't a man but she has one at her home .... and tell you... he is terrible!"
Shernaaz continues after a big gobble of beer "Apart from that... yes sometimes my long lost relatives who think that this house can be theirs if something happens to me on flight... there are a few men ...who visit our home ,Mrs. Gulnawaaz ..."
Gulnawaaz- "Miss Gulnawaaz!"
They both look at each other and clinging the glasses, both "Cheers to that miss Gulnawaaz ..."
Miss Gulnawaaz joined in and they had a hearty conversation through the afternoon.
Gulnawaaz "Happy New year! Shernaaz And Mehru ...in advance ..."
Shernaaz "Happy New year to you as well and to all your bosses in the trust."
Mehru Maasi "So what are you going to report to the men... Miss Gulnawaaz ...?"
To that she just pulled out her middle finger and walked out with a smile.
It wasn't that they never had men in their lives. Mehru Maasi did have her fair share of infatuations and heart breaks before she decided on her happily unmarried theory.
Shernaaz too got into a relationship for the smallest duration of time. Her colleague Abhijeet Rajpurkar and she were best of friends till one day when she visited his home. There were a couple of other common friends too. Abhijeet's mother knew about their alliance. The evening turned out to be a disaster since Abhijeet's mother commented first on her dressing sense, then on her being lazy and not helping her out in the kitchen.
Shernaaz's love for her space and independence was much, much more than her in the bud- love for Abhijeet.
She had learnt to handle worse... Staring questioning eyes of her Parsi Colony Neighbours, open passes made by travelers onboard, groping by testosterone loaded cheap men.
At the same time she had come to terms with her lonely existence and find happiness in her job which gave her the opportunity to visit new places. She loved shopping and collecting mementos from each place she would visit. While on job she would prefer travelling alone and she was glad that she mostly never had the same crew on flight. She wasn't comfortable with familiarity. The only person who was allowed to come close to her inner hidden world was Mehru Maasi.
It was Pateti and Shernaaz was back from Dubai with lots of shopping. She was uploading some pics of her travel when the news app popped a news.
3 minutes back - Mehru Damania shot dead outside her office premises.
Shernaaz froze... She fidgeted with her cell phone. She oscillated between calling on Mehru's cell number and office number. She finally called her office. Where she was informed that there was chaos outside the office and the cops had taken over.
Mehru Maasi had left her without any exchanges just like her loved ones always did.
Shernaaz was left alone again to fight her own battles. Lonely! All by herself!!
The media went berserk with reports of the who and how and what of the incident.
They even hounded her for answers she never had.
Political parties were playing name-taking and mud-slinging match on media platforms.
Amidst all that, the last rites had to be carried on. As the tears in Shernaaz's eyes would dry, the mortal remains of Mehru Maasi would merge into the earth... The media hype would eventually drown in time.
What would stay was the void that Mehru maasi's absence would create in Shernaaz's life. What would stay was her loneliness and her longing for that eternally eluding love.
I just hope what I saw in her tired dried eyes ... was the determination of taking on life....
I just hope what i saw in her drooling but brisk stride was the drive to move on...
I wasn't sure but I knew it ... I blessed that she may find the courage and reason to live and love life again.
In those dark days of loneliness, when the tears of strangers hurt me more then my own, I would curse Almighty for being so cruel, And then... the morning would come knocking at my doorstep...
I would walk to the tower of silence where I wished ... no tale I would ever hear ever again.
KEki kaKA
*Do catch up, next Sunday, with your late morning cup of tea or maybe coffee.
KEki kaKA will be sharing his next tale...
If you feel something in the blog touched you, if KEki kaKA reminds you of someone you have known, do write to me at nozzer.p@gmail.com
*If you missed KEki kaKA's introduction, Click here.
*If you missed Mara Walah Alu Mami, Click Here.