FESTIVE SPIRIT/FICTION
The Indian
Uncle Sam
A short story by
Murali Kamma.
Illustrations: Uttam Ghosh
Standing in the baggage claim area, as he nervously waited for his mother and sis- ter, Prakash unfolded the terse note and read it again: ‘Got to have the rent check by Tue. Otherwise you’ll have to vacate
the apt. Sorry.’
He had found it that morning, wedged in the
crack of his door, just as he was leaving for the air-
port. The ultimatum came as a shock, considering
that Rick, the manager at Sunrise Apartments,
‘I need another month to sort things out,
Rick,’ he’d said. ‘Diwali is coming up.’
‘What’s that?’
‘A Hindu festival of lights that’s big in India.
My mother and sister are coming from there and
we’re going to celebrate. I can’t ask them to can-
cel their trip… it would be very awkward. They
bought their tickets months ago.’
‘I understand, Praycash. My good wishes
to you on this happy occasion.
Unfortunately I have no control; I
only work in this place. But I’ll
speak to the boss and let you
know.’
The place, Prakash realized,
was beginning to look bedrag-
gled. The property used to be
well maintained, but that
changed after the staff cuts —
Apartments, which had
been Prakash’s home for
over two years.
At the airport, Prakash was
putting Rick’s note back in his
pocket, when he saw his mother
and… wait a minute! The other
woman wasn’t Nandini, his sister; she looked
like Chitra. It was Chitra. Stunned, Prakash didn’t move as
they looked around uncertainly, but when they spotted
him, he quickly stepped forward to greet them. His mother
appeared tired, even disoriented, after the long flight —
and Chitra, smiling tentatively, was perhaps wondering
how he’d react to her dramatic, unannounced arrival.
‘What a pleasant surprise,’ Prakash said, reaching for
Chitra’s suitcase.
‘Are you sure?’ she laughed. For a moment he couldn’t fig-
ure out what Chitra
was referring to: His remark
or his offer to help.
but soon the evening went well and
they ended up having a pleasant conversation over a delicious meal. As
he saw it, they both knew that a relationship would not work when they
were living so far apart. And there was
no question of agreeing to marry, as his
mother had probably hoped, after just a
couple of meetings. Getting to know each
other was important. But that wasn’t
logistically possible unless he moved back
to India. Prakash left it at that — only
