The sting of Untouchability
[Disclaimer: The incident is purely fictitious and is not intended to hurt one's feelings. It is an imagination of the author, inspired from some real elements of societal structure.] "After he mends the tap and goes, sprinkle some gangajal in the house. Ok?" Pandit Birjes Prasad said to his wife after his telephonic conversation with Raghu. His wife okayed. Sadhna, his daughter, handed him, his gamchha . In his kurta pajama, he kick-started his bike, wrapped the gamchha around the face and zoooom!! he rode away. The partial unlock had eased the conditions for him. It was not that he had followed the guidelines strictly during the lockdown, however now he had not to worry about the crossroad checkpoints. His son, Suraj, had come from Mumbai couple of days ago and today he was en route to a yajman's house to fetch some advance payments of committed rituals. "Couldn't you ask him for online transfer? Why on Earth is he coming home?" Ritu was furious. ...