KAMAKSHI'S STORY
By Bhanumati Ramakrishna
(Translated by Nidadavolu Malathi)
Kamakshi - her name says it all; she is very beautiful, has big eyes that captivate anybody’s attention. Soon
after she started working in our house, I’ve noticed a marked difference in the behavior of the servants in our
home. Muthu the cook, Reddy the errand boy and Nagappa the gardener are so taken by her beauty, they are
messing up their jobs on hand, and for that reason, are getting an earful from my mother-in-law and me fairly
frequently.
One day, our maid Sayamma has fallen sick and been admitted into the hospital. We started looking for
another maid.
The milkman brought Kamakshi to us. He says she came from Coimbatore and is new in town. He has filled us
in on other details about her family too: her parents and brothers run a fruit stall in Coimbatore. Kamakshi, also,
was selling fruits from a cart, going from street to street. People would jump to buy fruits from her, which was
very annoying to the other fruit vendors in the area. They said that the people were buying from her only
because of her beauty, and not because the fruits in her cart were good. In fact, the fruits in her cart were all
rotten and spoiled, they said. The fruits however were gone so fast whenever Kamakshi stood by the cart. On
the other hand, for some reason, if her sister stood there in her place, not a single fruit was sold. Not one
person stopped to buy from her sister. Kamakshi’s brothers used to say that her beauty was their enemy. They
always got into trouble with somebody or other, claiming that the other fellow had said something about
Kamakshi. They beat him up, and get beaten too.
When it was out of season for fruits, Kamakshi worked as a maid in somebody’s house. On one occasion, she
went to work for a Chettiar. He asked her to massage his hair and his back with oil. She quit right away.
Kamakshi wears no jewelry. Her only jewelry is her sharp tongue and her agility. We asked her why she was
not wearing any jewelry, not even earrings. She said her husband pawned her earrings and the nose ring.
Kamakshi never smiles. She keeps herself busy with her chores, and with a grim face. On rare occasions, she
smiles, and when she smiles, her face lights up like the full moon, and the dimples on her cheeks add to her
beauty, immensely. She is barely 25. There is a streak of sadness in her eyes. Her husband is sick with some
disease, she has said. They’ve rented a small hut nearby for 10 rupees a month. Her husband used to work in
construction, not anymore though. He cannot get any work since he is coughing too much. He stays home,
supposed to be taking care of their 3-year old son. Instead, he spanks him all the time.
Kamakshi leaves home at 6:00 in the morning and returns late in the evening. The neighbors told her about her
husband’s assaults on the child, and advised her to take the child to work with her. That is when, she has
decided to send the boy to her mother’s home. She found somebody going to her village, and sent him away,
with them.
I told her, that she could bring the child to work, at our house.
She replied, “No, ma’am. If I keep him here, he will miss school. My mother will take good care of him.”
I am a little confused. Why would a father beat up his own child? She said, “’Cause the child won’t call him
dad”.
My mother-in-law is curious. What’s the problem? Why won’t he call him dad?”
Kamakshi explained the situation, “My man says the child is not his, ma’am. He sent me away to my mom’s
home and was living with another woman. He was giving me hard time all my life. He is okay, though, as long as
he is not drinking. Usually, he gets drunk, comes home, and beats me up. My mother never liked him, and that’
s why she took me back to her home. My boy was born at mom’s home. I was okay there. I was selling fruits
and making a living. I was always in mother’s home, as long as the boy could remember. How can he know
who the father is, and whom to call ‘dad’? . Just, recently, my parents straightened out things and sent me and
the child back to my husband. My mother did not like it at all. The man is caught up in another woman’s trap,
and given her my gold chain and my wedding sari, you know!”
My mother-in-law was shocked and surprised at her patience.
Kamakshi is still afraid of her husband. She just quits whatever she is doing as soon as the clock strikes 6:00
and rushes home. “I have to go,” she says.
“What is the rush? Why don’t you finish the job on hand?” my mother-in-law says.
“You don’t know ma’am! My man is very suspicious by nature. If I am late even by a few minutes, he would
come here and wait for me at the gate. He would beat me up right there, calling me all kinds of names. Please,
let me go. I’ll finish it the first thing in the morning.” she begs.
“Where is your husband? Bring him here. I will show him his place,” my mother-in-law says.
“Oh, no, ma’am! One look at him and you will throw up. He looks like a dry stick for all his drinking, fretting
and fuming all the time. Always carries a knife with him,” Kamakshi said, with some concern.
Once the word ‘knife’ is heard, my mother-in-law has changed her mind about teaching him his place, and
stopped asking Kamakshi to stay past six. Instead, she started to rush her to leave. Her annoyance shows in
her other comments though. “Wherever you got him? Is he is a rowdy or what! What a headache!. Go! Go!
Leave as early as you want. Make sure he does not come near our door,” she says nervously.
Then, she turns to me and continues to express her concerns, “Let’s look for another maid, a better one. …
We can’t have someone walking around by our house with a knife, can we? Talk to the watchman at the gate in
Hindi and tell him not to let him in, no matter, however much he pleads and however desperate he sounds. I
almost forgot. The watchman also has a knife, right?”
I could hardly contain a laugh as I try to calm her down, “Yes. The watchman has a knife. We don’t have to be
afraid of anybody.”
“Isn’t it sad that such a beautiful girl like Kamakshi should end up with a sick fellow like him? On top of it, he
whacks her too. What a jerk; and she is such a delicate darling. How could he have the heart to beat her with a
stick?”
Muthu, Reddy and Nagappa have noticed the scars on her body and are worried as if they have sustained the
wounds themselves.
“That jerk of a husband should be chopped into pieces,” Reddy said.
“If you see him, you will know. He could not possibly be her husband; he should not be. It is not fair that
donkey should be her husband,” said Muthu, wailing at her misfortune.
“She is so beautiful, almost like a meticulously carved sculpture. How can she have a sickly and worn-out man
like him for a husband? Disgusting rascal. Did you see his eyes, blazing red like charcoal? It seems he drinks
varnish for kicks! That is why he keeps coughing all the time,” Reddy said, with suspicious looks.
“Yes. That is true,” Nagappa added.
“Then, Kamakshi might contract it too,” Muthu commented sadly.
“What a misery? Poor Kamakshi! Poor loser!” all the three expressed their deepest sympathies. They were so
lost in their discussions; Muthu forgot to serve our lunch until 2:00 p.m. on that day.
Reddy started talking to himself dwelling on the misfortunes of Kamakshi and kept heaving deep sighs.
One day Kamakshi came in a half hour late. Her husband came and was waiting at the gate for her. My mother-
in-law heard that he was at the gate and became a nervous wreck. She called Kamakshi and told her to go
home. “Go, go home,” she kept hurrying her..
Kamakshi begged my mother-in-law not to insist. “I can’t go home, ma’am. Please tell the watchman to throw
him out.” She added that, she was tired of her husband’s attitude, and scared for her own life, she could
contract the same disease from him. She dabbed her eyes as she expressed her fears.
Reddy supported Kamakshi’s claim. “That is true, ma’am. What if she also contracts the disease?” he said.
My mother-in-law cast fiery looks at him as spoke, “What do you care? Why are you so worried about her
husband? How many times do I have to tell you not to interfere in her affairs?” she reprimanded him.
“Why do we care, ma’am? We are only sorry for that poor woman. That’s all. She is suffering from that ailing,
good for nothing scoundrel. That’s all we care about.”
“Is that all? Really? That’s the only reason for your worry? First, tell me this. Why should you all worry about
her or any other woman for that matter? Tell me that? You think I don’t know, rascals! You explain to me,” my
mother-in-law took them to task.
“Really, ma’am. What is in it for us? We are just concerned, since we all are working for you in the same
household. Otherwise why would we care? We heard that his disease is contagious. What if she get it too?”
“Ha, that’s what is bothering you? Don’t you worry about it. You just mind your own business,” she said, and
then switched to the next subject, “What do you mean contagious? Who says there is anything contagious
between a husband and his wife? How is that possible? You stupid fellows! Stop talking about her and her
husband, and mind your business,” my mother-in-law chided him.
Reddy pretended to leave but was behind the door listening what Kamakshi had to say.
Kamakshi stood there, like the very incarnation of innocence and rolling her eyes every second like the beam of
a lighthouse and heaving deep sighs. Obviously, she was having the time of her life, with all the attention she was
getting for her helpless situation, I thought.
My mother-in-law hit the roof at her attitude. She did not appreciate Kamakshi’s request to get rid of her
husband. At the same time, she was also aware that it was not a good strategy to show too much anger. That
may lead to another problem—finding another maid! So, she toned down her anger.
In the meantime, Kamakshi’s husband sent for her again. My mother-in-law became frantic. “What should we
do now? She is really a pest, I would say,” she whispered in my ear.
“Just let’s keep quiet, and watch,” I suggested.
“Fine. What if these idiots go out and say something to that scoundrel? You know, he is high. He may create a
scene. And then, the police will show up; and it will turn into a three-ring circus.” She was getting frantic by the
minute.
Kamakshi stood there with a little pout. My mother-in-law was like Vasudeva falling on the hoofs of a donkey;
she started begging the maid to leave.
“How can I leave, ma’am? I begged him to go to the hospital; he won’t listen. He has no intention of getting
help. He says he won’t leave me alone; says he can’t trust me. What can I do you tell me, ma’am. The doctors
say, I may get it too, if we continue to live together.”
In the meantime, Reddy, Nagappa and Muthu went out to see her husband waiting for her at the gate. He was
hardly in his senses. As he saw them approaching him, he pulled out his knife. Reddy, Nagappa and Muthu
instantly snuck behind the watchman.
Kamakshi’s husband started screaming; he said those three men were standing in her way and stopping her
from coming home. He challenged them to step outside. He said he would chop each one of them and make a
minced meat of them.
From that day onwards, the three men would not go out, not even to a movie, for fear of getting killed by him.
Reddy used to go to the second show. Now he is afraid to go past the gate. “Who knows, what he is capable
of? The rascal is never sober. And on top of it, he drinks that cheap varnish. Who can tell what is on his mind,
what he might do for vengeance? It’s like a rock in the hand of a madman; he throws it and nobody knows
whom it hits.”
Nagappa also changed his habits. He used to go out for tea every the hour. Now, he would hardly leave home.
Somebody told him that Kamakshi’s husband also visited the same tea stall!
Kamakshi did not go home for two days now. Her husband was showing up everyday at the gate and asking
for her.
Reddy, Muthu and Nagappa would not go anywhere near the gate.
Kamakshi’s husband wrote her a note saying that he would swallow poison and kill himself.
Reddy, Nagappa and Muthu suggested unanimously that we should fire her at once.
Kamakshi was grinding the dough for breakfast. She saw the note and broke into tears. She washed her hands
and said she would go out and talk some sense into that stupid husband of hers.
Nagappa, Reddy and Muthu begged her not to go with him; they made sure that my mother-in-law was not
watching them while talking to Kamakshi.
Kamakshi gave them her word. They were very anxious to hear what she would say to her husband, but would
not dare, fearing the knife he carried with him. They were pacing up and down the hallway, like the cat with a
burnt foot. They kept casting uneasy looks at the gate, every few seconds and waiting for her to return.
Kamakshi came back wiping her tears.
All the three gathered round her like the flies on brown sugar. “What happened,” they all asked her anxiously.
She was silent for a while, kept heaving long sighs, and rolling her big, beautiful eyes pitifully. She sat down and
resumed grinding the dough.
Reddy sat down near the door and across from Kamakshi. “So, what happened? Did he agree to go to the
hospital?” he asked her.
Kamakshi shook her head, no.
Nagappa made himself at home on a nearby bag of chaff and said, “Of course, he wouldn’t. He’s avowed to
harass her.”
Muthu was stood, leaning on the door frame. He said, “May be we should ask our Saar to pull in his weight,
and get him thrown in the hospital.”
Reddy is vexed with all this. “In one word, tell us, what’s his problem anyways?” he said.
Kamakshi broke into tears again. It seems, he was willing to go to some hospital, stay there for a year, and get
help, provided she gave him two hundred rupees. She had no way of raising that kind of money.
Nagappa, Reddy and Muthu looked at each other. The next minute, Reddy was all sympathy for Kamakshi,
and started comforting her with great concern.
“He is stupid. What kind of a man would ask his wife for money? How could a woman raise so much money?”
Reddy said, pondering
“What if he does not leave even after getting the money?” the cook expressed his doubt.
“He is not going to go anywhere without Kamakshi. Probably, he would squander that money on his drinks and
would be back in no time. No point in humoring him,” Napappa said, sounding desperate.
“No. He will not be back. He said he won’t. Even if he came back, I made it clear to him that I would not leave
this place. He said he would give it in writing. I don’t want that kind of husband,” Kamakshi said, looking down.
With those words, Muthu, Reddy and Nagappa were happy. They, nearly, started jumping up and down, that
Kamakshi was free from all the hassles finally. They all decided to show their big hearts, donate their savings
and help her out.
The next day, Kamakshi’s husband left town. After four days, she received a telegram saying that he had drunk
varnish and become sick and she should go to visit him at once.
Kamakshi threw herself on my mother-in-law’s feet, shedding tears. She said she had to go to see her husband
in the hospital; or else, the world would not let her live; she should do that at least for the sake of saving her
face. My mother-in-law made her promise that she would return in two days, and advanced some money from
her paycheck to her.
Kamakshi took the money and asked me if I could spare an old sari since all her sarees were worn out. I gave
her a sari.
At the time of her departure, Reddy, Napappa and Muthu gathered around her. They told her not to go near
her husband; she should visit him only from far and return home soon. Kamakshi took the money, their life’s
savings, and left to visit her husband in Vellore.
One week passed by, and then two weeks. There was no sign of Kamakshi. Reddy, Nagappa and Muthu
started getting nervous. They were getting worried sick about her. We all were, pretty much worn out while
waiting for her return.
One day, my mother-in-law asked the milkman, “When do you think she will return from her village?”
Kamakshi and the milkman were neighbors. “What do you mean ‘return from her village’? She and her husband
never left town. They are here all right. Kamakshi is working in some other house,” he said.
Then he added that Kamakshi and her husband are used to playing games like this; that they are not really
married; and that they’ve earned quite good money in this manner.
My mother-in-law goes into a shock, keeps beating her forehead thinking about the money she has advanced
her. “Shrewd, shrewd,” she keeps muttering.
Reddy, Nagappa and Muthu hear this and collapse. The money they gave Kamakshi is not small. They are like
the thief stung by a scorpion. As if that is not enough, my mother-in-law gives them a punishment. She says,
they have to do the chores Kamakshi used to do until they find another maid.
Reddy, Nagappa and Muthu are waiting for a new maid anxiously.
My mother-in-law is searching for a woman with gray-hairs and without encumbrance
(The Telugu original, kamakshi katha, was published in a collection, Attagaru- nakshalaitlu by the author.)