A - QUITE A NIGHT

Quite A Night

The four of us ----------- paying guest of Mrs. D'Souza.

*

Shobha, Asha, Mili and I happened to get jobs in this town and just
chanced upon one another on our joining day at the office. The four of
us, new to the place, were in search of accommodation. We confided in
one another about the problem and Shobha cruised through the daily
newspaper column accommodation available and stopped at ___
"Accommodation as paying guests available for working girls. Contact
phone no. -------- ." Shobha gripped the telephone receiver and called
up the number, waited patiently for the response. The telephone stopped
ringing and a voice from the other end responded "Hello".

"I have come across the ad. in the daily and I would like to talk about
the accommodation". Before she could proceed any further she was cut
short from the other end with the voice saying, "You take down my
address and come over in the evening. You can have a look at the rooms
and finalise if you are satisfied".

*

At the chime of the doorbell an elderly lady opened the door, her eyes
moved from one face to another, at the four young ladies standing
outside her main entrance. Like as in a rehearsed chorus the four
voices spoke out "Good evening".

Mrs. D'Souza entertained their greeting and stepped aside to let them
into her living room. Seated comfortably, Shobha started the
conversation by a formal introduction and went on, "The four of us want
accommodation. We work in the same office and staying as paying guest
would be very convenient for us".

While Shobha was engaged in talking with Mrs. D'Souza, my eyes grazed
the room and finally settled on Mrs. D'Souza. She was an Anglo Indian
lady, in her early sixties (most probably my guess may be wrong),
short, fair, fat- no that would not be appropriate- for age had taken
over to add on some bulk to her body structure, hair neatly done and no
signs of grey which meant the effect of black hair dye. Gold framed
spectacles adorned her eyes, she wore a brown skirt and a white baggy
blouse. Her looks meant strictness and discipline which showed itself
from the setting of the living room.

Back into the prevailing situation, I followed the conversation that
was still going on. Mrs. D'Souza was saying, "No late nights, breakfast
at eight in the morning and dinner at 9.30 p.m. On Sundays and
holidays, there will be lunch at one in the afternoon and of course the
evening tea. Sheila, assists me, looks after the food and cleaning. Let
me show you the rooms".

We went up the staircase and she halted on the first floor. "There is
one room and the other two are locked. You can have a look at the
room". We took our time to examine it, the room was well furnished but
couldn't judge how much of the daylight flooded the room as it was
already dark outside and the room had a single window.

"Girls, if you have finished examining this room let's move on to the
second floor".

The second floor had two rooms with all the basic facilities that we
needed. The rooms were airy and spacious, a balcony for each room, and
the best part was, four of us could stay on the same floor.

We finalized with Mrs. D'Souza, agreeing to all her conditions which
were not harsh but we felt a sense of security in staying there.

The very next day, we moved in with the luggage. This house was quite
close to our office and the road that ran in front of the house was a
busy one with public transport easily available.

We were very happy. Days passed into weeks and the four of us were
together for whole six months. By now we were so close that we shared
our secrets with one another.

*

It was a Friday night, the time around eleven. With the consent of Mrs.
D'Souza, we carried our food to our rooms as we wanted to have a late
dinner. Her motherly affection and friendly nature did make us feel
sure that we did not create any problems for her. Although we had asked
her to join us, she had stayed away saying, "Late nights pose problems
for me. You can carry on but make sure you don't disturb". The official
promotion list had our names which meant a hike in salary and chances
of an official trip abroad (may be a short term trip). But this was an
excitement for us which we wanted to celebrate.

After dinner, I was pouring out soft drinks when a rumbling noise
caught my ears. The others were laughing away at a joke and paid no
heed to the noise. Presuming it to be the sound of the rolling wheels
of a night bus, I carried on. Very soon this rumbling was taken over by
the rattling of the window panes, the glasses on the table shivered,
the pen stand lost its balance and spilled its contents, and the plates
danced on the table. It seemed as though a ghost was shaking the
building with its mighty force and suddenly Mili shouted, "It's an
earthquake, lets move out to the balcony".

From the balcony, the road below was quiet, neither a stray dog nor a
stray cat was in sight. We heard sounds of things falling on the floor
in our rooms. In no time the mighty hand that shook this earth, came to
a still. After gathering all the fallen things, we picked up the broken
glass pieces cautiously and thought of the tremor which had panicked
us.

The scene had changed so suddenly we could not think of anything else
except to get a goodnight's sleep. It was not long after that we felt
the second tremor. Jumping out of our beds we headed for the balcony
which seemed the safest place.We never knew how long the second tremor
lasted and very soon it was calm and quiet again. As people were in
their sleep, the earthquake had not disturbed them nor did it privilege
them from experiencing its fearful touch. Fear and sleep came together
and soon we fell asleep.

Next morning our eyes opened at the rap on the door. Sheila had come to
clean the room and we jumped out of bed, hurrying so that we would not
be late for the office.

At the breakfast table, the morning news showed the damage caused by
the earthquake, electric poles had fallen and the services disrupted in
many places. Some buildings had been damaged and many huts had been
razed to the ground. The amount of damage had not yet been ascertained.
The news said that there had been two tremors, the first had lasted for
thirty five seconds and the second had shook the place for twenty
seconds.

While the news continued, the four of us looked at each other for we
were witness to the tremors of the few seconds which had come to cause
havoc.

Mrs.D'Souza said, "Thank God the earthquake did not disturb my sleep
nor has it brought about any destruction to us, only the flower vase
has broken. My glass wares are saved. Sheila, let me know if anything
else had broken in the kitchen". Mrs. D'Souza was questioning Sheila
and we were in a hurry to leave.

The four of us had no time to talk about the earthquake as we were
getting late for the office. Just before going out I said, "Mrs.
D'Souza, it was quite a night, we four have witnessed it".

She raised her eyebrow and before she could question us we were running
down the road to board the bus to take us to the office.