Portion inked by Munira Dalal
The jingle of the anklets announced the arrival of the ‘Queen’. It was a bright morning, and the sun shone the brightest over Suryoday Society. Just as everyone waits for sunrise, the residents of the society waited eagerly every day for Rani, the multi-talented maid-servant.
Hiring Rani for household duties was the aspiration of every house in the Suryoday Society. But her exorbitant wages could not be afforded by all houses. Rani could multitask and do all the work to perfection. Her clean, neat attire of a simple sari and braided hair with some flowers was very pleasing. Her soft-spoken tone and well-mannered speech were a plus point. More than anything else, her assured and confident personality, with a disarming smile, easily won everyone’s trust.
Rani hurriedly entered Mrs. Sood’s house. There was a kitty party in the house in the afternoon, and she had to set up the living room. After the cleaning, she started doing the utensils, and by the time she had finished, the guests had arrived. At Mrs. Sood’s flat entrance lay all the ladies’ footwear in disarray. On her own, Rani neatly arranged the footwear and left. In the evening, one pair of new sandals was missing. An angry Mrs. Sood grumbled that the children of the building were big pranksters. She offered her sandals in exchange for the missing pair.
Old Mrs. Tyagi, residing in the next wing, eagerly waited for Rani every day. She was dependent on the maid for the housework and also for the juicy tidbits of news of Suryoday Society. Mrs. Tyagi‘s children lived abroad and regularly sent her chocolates and foreign goodies. Of late, she was worried her diabetes would drastically shoot up since her stock of goodies was dwindling fast, and she wondered why she didn’t remember eating so many chocolates.
Mrs. Khanna liked the way Rani dusted every corner of her house and kept the flat spic and span. Her cook and Rani were good friends, and both kept her happy with their good work. As soon as Rani came, she started her dusting work. In the bedroom, some jewellery was lying on the dressing table, and Mrs. Khanna was in the bathroom. After some time, Rani heard Mrs. Khanna shriek. She went running to the bedroom. Mrs. Khanna was looking at the jewellery pieces lying near the teacup on the dressing table and shouting, “Where is the ring?”
Rani looked confused. “I don’t know anything about your ring. I have not seen it,” was her curt reply. Mrs. Khanna was livid. “I had worn the ring with the bangles at the wedding yesterday night.” Rani suggested, “Maybe it slipped out of your finger at the venue, and you didn’t realise it.”
Mrs. Khanna looked at Rani with raised eyebrows. Angrily, she replied, “I intend to do a physical security check on you because the ring was right there on the dressing table one hour back.”
To this, Rani quickly replied, “Before me, the cook had come into this room with a cup of tea for you, which she had placed on the dressing table. I will call her also.”
Before Mrs. Khanna could react, Rani darted to the kitchen to fetch the cook. Soon, both the servants stood before her in the bedroom. A security check was done on both of them by Mrs. Khanna; the ring was nowhere to be found. Poor Mrs. Khanna thought to herself, ‘Where is my gold ring? Have I misplaced it somewhere?’
Portion inked by Indrani Chatterjee
A devastated and frustrated Mrs. Khanna plonked on the bed, unable to assimilate the whole incident. She became motionless with a pale expression on her visage. She distinctly remembered to have kept the gold ring with other jewellery on the dressing table. Even her fastidious husband could vouch for her whetted memory. The ring was indeed special to her as it was her last anniversary gift from her husband. Then how could her keen observation fail to reckon her misplaced ring?
She looked at her cook and maidservant Rani with a frown. She noticed that her cook was getting impatient, but there was a triumphant smile on Rani’s face. She was bewildered, but she dismissed them for the time being.
In the evening, when her husband returned from work, she narrated the entire incident to him. In a suppressed tone, she revealed to him, “My precious ring that you gifted me last anniversary is lost,” and quietly she began sobbing. He too was stupefied to learn the whole narration, and his vexed mind failed to equate any probabilities.
After some while, he broke the silence to conciliate her pain and lift her spirit. “Let’s together search the house again and test our luck.” They both started foraging all the rooms, especially the nooks and corners, inside the chambers and under the furniture. But all their efforts seemed to go in vain, with no trace of the ring.
“Let’s have dinner and retire for the day. Tomorrow morning, we shall discuss the matter again to resolve the mystery,” proposed Mr. Khanna.
After a silent dinner, the exhausted couple went to the bedroom to get hold of some sleep. Mrs. Khanna entered the bathroom and splashed some cold water on her face to release her stress. After coming out, she sat in front of the dressing table, her eyes haunting for the glimpse of her precious ring. She looked into the mirror to give a last glance to her atrophied reflection. Her conscience knew that she couldn’t vilify the cook and the maid, for they departed in front of her eyes after the security check in presence of her strict vigilance.
As she was about to lift herself, she noticed an empty pot of cold cream which she had forgotten to dispose of. She threw it in the waste bin and silently crept into the bed to struggle with her sleep for the night.
Next morning, the sun habitually pervaded its effulgence over Suryoday Society, making it appear bright with a promising day ahead. But, for Mrs. Khanna, it was a sombre beginning encumbered with the memories of yesterday’s mishap. From her procrastinated movements, it was apparent that she was having apathy for her regular activities.
The cook arrived on time and seemed to wear a nonchalant attitude about yesterday’s incident. When Rani arrived, she seemed very confident of herself, with an uplifted mood. Mrs. Khanna felt a little queer about her but didn’t exchange any words. Rani, on her own, suddenly asked her, “Madam, were you able to rescue your lost ring?” Quietly, Mrs. Khanna nodded in gesture of ‘no’.
After finishing her chores, she leisurely proceeded towards the exit, humming some Hindi movie tune. Mrs. Khanna was scanning her silently with crinkled brows. Suddenly, her eyes fell on the empty pot of cold cream tucked in the folds of Rani’s saree around her waist. It was the same pot she discarded yesterday in the waste bin.
She hastily went to her bedroom and peeped into the bin, only for her conjecture to be certain. A scheme all at once flashed in her mind like a thundercloud. She yelled Rani’s name to arrest her progress towards the entrance.
“Rani, stop! I need to talk to you just now.” Being startled by her voice, she stood still like a statue. Mrs. Khanna came close to her and, giving her no scope for resistance, she pulled out the pot from the folds of her saree. Seeing the pot in her hand, Rani turned white, as if her blood had frozen.
Mrs. Khanna opened the lid of the pot and overturned it. To her dismay, she unfolded that her ring had been stuck to the base of the lid with chewing gum, which Rani habitually chews when working. That was why the ring didn’t make any noise when she disposed of it in the bin.
Mrs. Khanna, with her sharp gaze, transfixed Rani, who could perceive well that her trial was about to begin. It was lucid like daylight why things had been disappearing from different households at Suryoday Society that she attended.
Image Courtesy: https://pixabay.com/users/renotran-24386430/
If this tale of trust and truth struck a chord, leave your reflections in the comments below.
– Indrani Chatterjee & Munira Dalal
About the Writers
Indrani Chatterjee is an advocate and a devoted mother to her only son, an adult on the autism spectrum. A passionate and self-motivated writer from Kolkata, she is a published author and contributor to several acclaimed anthologies. Indrani frequently pens articles focused on social awareness, especially championing the journey and inclusion of neurodivergent individuals.
Winner of multiple literary contests and accolades, she is also an accomplished vocalist in classical music and Rabindra Sangeet. In 2024, she completed her Visharad (graduation) in music with distinction and is currently pursuing her Master’s in Music alongside her son, Krishnendu. Her artistic spirit extends into visual arts as well, where she blends personal insight with creative expression.
Munira Dalal holds a B.A. in Sociology and is a renowned educator with nearly two decades of experience teaching across various schools and boards. A certified Level 8 Abacus instructor, she has also mentored students through her coaching classes with great success.
Munira is the founder of SHABNAM, an exclusive line of hand-designed greeting cards that reflect her creative flair. Her poetry, spanning a wide range of themes, has been widely appreciated and awarded on multiple literary forums. She was honoured with the Sampoornam Memorial Award (2018) for her outstanding contribution to literature and recently received a Jury Award for the Most Eloquent Writer of the Year.
