Memton's diary
A fairy tale (Diary of a domestic helper)
Part 9 - The dating duo

By Jenni *

Jan 6, 2001: We decided to talk over a cup of coffee therefore, booked our seats in some fast food restaurants.

This is always like a treat for me and am always more than happy to accompany my friends in such dramatic first dates because the dating duo will spend the entire meeting nodding heads, uttering some septic words that had been said and will always be said, playing with the fork and spoon, while I gobble up everything that is being served to me, sometimes even crossing the boundary to finish my friend's plate too.

But that does not make me a glutton for I hate food wastage and there are millions who live in utter poverty without proper food and water. I believe that opportunities come once and a next similar opportunity is always different in one way or the other.

I got to eat my favourite momos on one of the last date I accompanied, and I am not sure which food is waiting for my divine mouth today, for my divine intervention.

For the first few minutes, there was 'pin drop' silence. None of us dared to speak anything. All I could hear was the occasional whisper here and there of some third parties, some outburst of laughter and the sound of our very own waiter boy's swift movement.

My friend Menao was blushing as if the guy had already proposed her for marriage. Summer sweat would have matched her rosy cheeks but we were all in the midst of those freezing winter.

I began to miss my faithful meiphu back at home. Her dream date was silent too; he kept on stealing glances at her. And how he looked at me with "an eye of a thief" as if I am monitoring his glances at her.

That was enough! Com'n I was not very interested to enroll myself in the lousy hide and seek game of their ever-wandering eyes. My stomach started complaining. I felt that I have a moral obligation to start a conversation and feed my stomach too.

The silence was really killing my poor visceral organs and me. Love and attraction might be killing their pangs of hunger leaving them saturated but not mine.

I thought about some smart words to initiate a proper conversation. But my unfaithful mouth just said," This is not done, am really hungry". Both of them burst out laughing, and left me embarrassed.

I realized why her cheeks were in contrast with the cold winter wind. Why is it that my mind and brain failed to control my mouth?? Not just once but every time!

Finally we entered the formal introduction round. His name was Naoba and I was Memton. That was it!

He ordered for food and we began our conversations. He told us that he always saw me now and then going to the shops, buying kitchen stuffs or with huge packets of singju bora with my proud big fat smile.

I wasn't interested to listen further for he was associating me with food every now and then. I diverted the topic to both of them and their love story, about their family and everything possible.

We ate, we talked, and I collected information. He was not a bad guy after all. He was from a very decent family, which had seen misfortunes and blessings in equal amount.

His father and elder brother had passed away under unfortunate circumstances. And his mother is still ailing with the pain. His family had once bloomed with all the hues and colour of life but the colour was fading away everyday.

He had seen the twist and turns of fate. I could connect with him instantly because talking about fate, none must have had a better experience than me.

He told us that my friend Menao had come into his life like a ray of hope. I was very happy for both of them.

And I was also happy for I could see a friend in him, which is for keeps.

To be continued ....

NOTE:
There is strong opposition against child labour in the entire world and mostly in the third world country. In our very own state Manipur, there is a common practise of giving away innocent children as domestic helpers by the poor parents. Some are lucky enough to be treated as the children of the new home while some children have to face the brutality from their "new home".

But even if the childrens are being adopted as the children of the new home, what about the innocence that they have to compromise with by exposing them to the various facets of life at an early age? Every one of these children have a story of their own which is as important as anyone of our life story.

They are the unsung heroes who had learnt to face life's challenges since early childhood. My story is an adaptation from the real life story of one of the domestic helper whom I know and had grown up with though the names and certain events have been slightly modified.