In the morning, I didn’t even know that the electricity schedule had changed. The water we had filled the previous day ran out by the time it was time for morning tea. There was no water left for cooking or drinking. When I asked my husband, he said, “Yesterday, the power was only available until four o’clock. Today, it will come back at four.”
I asked, “What about water until then?”
He replied, “There’s a water tank near the school — I’ll bring some from there. But first, I need to spread the corn. The machine for processing maize is expected to arrive shortly.”
Just then, the lady of the house (the landlady) arrived. Ever since we had come, who knows if Mami was even resting or not? She had found help for the farm work, so now she didn’t know how much work to assign and how much to hold back.
Sitting on the vehicle, she told me, “Come to the field when the machine arrives; we’ll start processing the maize.” Now she had finally started giving me tasks in the field, slowly and steadily.
The leftover chapatis from the night before were eaten by the kids with tea. Since that was enough to satisfy them for a while, I felt a bit at ease. Still wondering why he hadn’t come back yet, I went to the field.
He was spreading out the corn and gathering the maize stalks into one place. I said, “Please get me some water first.” He replied, “I’m just clearing space to set up the machine. Let me finish this quickly, then I’ll come right away.”
Thinking he would definitely come after finishing that, I returned home. But a long time passed, and he still didn’t come.
Now the children started asking for water. I told them, “When your papa comes, he will bring water for you. Until then, keep playing.” I waited a little longer. I sent Aparna to the grandmother’s house, who had come to ask for flour, to bring some water with the copper vessel. After they both drank, I drank the little water that was left.
I told the kids, “Now play for a while longer,” and went back to the field. There, under the coconut tree, he was eating the food that Mami had brought. Alongside was a bottle of water. Every day, Mami used to bring two or three bottles from the fridge when she came. She did not drink the well water from the field.
Even though he knew there was no drinking water at home for the children, seeing him sit and eat made me feel very bad. Without saying anything, I left from there. I thought maybe he would come back when he saw I was upset, so I waited. But he never came. He didn’t even need to come. He was done with everything.
The children started asking me for food. I gave them the leftover snacks we had brought from the market. But after eating that, I began to worry they would ask for water. So, I hurried back to the field. There, he was filling the sacks with fodder.
Before I could say anything, Mami said, “Start filling the remaining fodder sacks; the machine will bring you water until it arrives.” Filled with hope, I was busy filling the sacks with fodder. But luck had deserted me. And fortune favored Mami. Because just then, Mangu arrived with the machine. We still had some fodder left to fill. Seeing that, the machine operator said, “If you still have time, I can bring Lakshman Anna’s maize, but I’ll only be back by 4 o’clock.”
After finishing filling all the fodder sacks, we called him over, and Mami herself also started working. I told my husband, “Please bring me some water first.” Mangu replied, “Should I stop the machine now to bring you water? There’s a water tank by the roadside—go get water from there, or wait here for about an hour until the maize is done.”