Stories about my S Asia working experiences
Chandra paused from her work and listened with the practiced care of a mother who had children of her own. Baby Hilda was stirring and making muffled whimpering sounds from her cradle in the main bedroom. Memsahib had entrusted the little one to Chandra while she made a quick trip to the Darji on Main Street to find out why he hadn’t delivered dresses ordered … Continue reading The Morning Tamasha
Tipu looked out from the enclosure he occupied with Bertha and cried out in anger. The girls had emerged for their morning duties looking after needs of their zoo before catching the bus for a day at school. Tipu didn’t mind their first round of activities checking on water and food for their chickens. The chicks were being raised to sell. It was part of … Continue reading The Adventures of Tipu
Ron sat at his desk pondering what should be done for the student he’d just dismissed from the office. Not enough money to register for the semester and it happened to be his last semester. He pulled the file and began to check out his progress during past semester. Grades were excellent, he’d worked in one of the college industries and had a good report, … Continue reading The Broken Tool.
An Acceptable Compromise Next day Bill was marched to the office again. He stood to attention and saluted. Then waited patiently for the officer to speak. His commanding officer continued to stare at the papers on his desk, then looked up and smiled. “There’s a possibility information supplied to me is not accurate. I’m not sure of that so I’ve decided to give you the … Continue reading West Meets East – Chapter 3
Challenging the Norm Mahaveer was nonplussed when negotiations would proceed directly with Bill Higgins rather than a go between and almost decided to back out on his commitment, but Manoj deftly steered his father through his concerns. To Mahaveer’s surprise no dowry was asked, Manoj had greedily convinced Bill that in an inter-racial situation that would not be necessary. Bill on the other hand was … Continue reading West Meets East – Chapter 2
Bride for the Sahib Mahaveer sat thinking over his latest misfortune. It had all started years before when he decided to take a second wife. His first wife Shakuntala had grown sick after producing a son and never fully recovered to take her place as the one to keep home going while Mahaveer attended to business. He was very fond of Shaku. He was from … Continue reading West Meets East – Chapter 1
JoAnne searched diligently in the Bazaar. She’d learned through the servant grapevine Gopalraj could be found begging there on some days, and other days seemed to disappear off the face of the earth. Where could he be that foolish man? Attempts to pry further information out of servants attending other memsahibs on campus had proved to be ineffective. They’d shifted uneasily on their feet … Continue reading Righting a Wrong
Manohar sat cross legged on the charpoy listening carefully. Squatting around him were some of his male relatives from this village Chandragaon. They were all making small talk to fill in time, but Manohar had other things on his mind and had shut the village out as he thought through his situation. Blaring through the speaker system set up to serve needs of the village … Continue reading Village Birth
Matthew looked out the window of the Taj Mahal hotel at Mumbai Apollo Bander and tried to imagine what life would have been like in 1911. It was called Bombay at that time, but the name had reverted in tribute to goddess Mumba Devi benefactor of fishermen in the original seven islands which had over time been welded into one mega city. The Gateway … Continue reading Anita
“Mom, there’s a cat outside trying to get into the house and acting funny!” Betty Ann looked down at her wildly gesticulating children and smiled. They had this tremendous capacity to exaggerate things so their concern didn’t generate the usual fight or flight mechanism women feel when their children appear breathless and stressed. She quietened them down with fingers to lips and spoke softly. “Let’s … Continue reading Catstronaut
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