My Heart Slips Away With You!

Repetition

Kakani, the banner welcomed Magizhini. It was a rather big village. A cold breeze made her wheatish skin pink on her cheeks and nose. Her rosebud lips shiver as she pulled out her shawl to cover her. The hills sides are filled with plantations like in Ooty. Nepali-style buildings and Buddhist monks are everywhere. Even at 11 o’clock in the morning, it was still like early morning there. She loved that place. The driver knew nothing but Nepali and hence the whole ride went in silence. 

“Is this the place?” Magizhini asked him when he stopped the vehicle in front of a huge factory. The driver shook his hands to not get down and hence she sat back. After the workers there unloaded the vehicle, he came back and the journey continued.

“How long?” She asked him showing her watch. 

“Ten minutes!” he showed his fingers. She sat back and relaxed enjoying the beautiful view of the place. He then stopped the vehicle inside a farm. A small front office building was seen and from there, it is all farms. There were many people working on the farm. 

“Thank you!” Magizhini got down from the vehicle and thanked the driver. He put his hands in a prayer posture and showed respect to her and went away. She shook her head and walked into the front office with her bag and a trolley.

“Hello, I am Magizhini. I come from Kathmandu. The MD of the biscuit factory sent me here.” Magizhini told the woman. She was wearing a blue shirt and a khaki dhoti kind of skirt. Her hair was pulled up in a bun and she must be in her early 40s. She looked at Magizhini with her sharp eyes and nodded her head gesturing her to sit.

“Do you know Nepali or Maithili?”

“Maithili?”

“It is a language spoken here.”

“No, madam,” Magizhini said.

“It is a must to learn either one. Workers here are not educated and they don't know English. If you are to work with them, there shouldn't be any communication problems. If any problem arises because of the communication gap, you will be held responsible.” She said strictly. For some reason, Magizhini feared that lady. Her authority and strictness reminded her of Iniya.

“Ok, madam. I will learn as fast as I can.”

“Your work is to separate the strawberries as per the size and ripen state, Weigh and box the strawberries to sales, take the well riped strawberries to the jam-making plant, make jam, and bottle it.”

“I have to do all this?” Magizhini asked her with her widened eyes in horror. She is used to doing house chores, she knew all about party and surprise planning! She knew to take care of herself but all these jobs? She thought it was a supervising job.

“If you cannot do it, just get out. Don’t waste my time.” The lady yelled and Magizhini nodded her head hurriedly.

“No, no! I can do it.” 

“Go down the farm, there will be a dorm to the right side. Tell the girls that you are new here and they will give you a place to stay. Find Geetu. She will teach you your work.” She said without even sparing a look at Magi. 

“Ok, madam.” 

“Sign this form and fill in your details.” She pushed a notepad to her and after Magi filled it up, she flickered her finger gesturing Magi to leave the place. Magizhini went out with a long sigh. She felt like she wasn't treated nicely. She didn't give her any details about her salary as well and Magi wasn't ready to talk to her yet. She thought maybe the girls working down the farm will be friendly and she can gather the necessary information from them. 

She walked down the farm behind the office building. It was a sight to enjoy. She pulled her trolley along with her bag in the muddy route towards the building that she thought must be the dorm the lady talked about.

The people working there halted a second to look at her as she passed by them. They whispered between themselves and she knew it must be about her. Her eyes searched to see if there are any Tamil-speaking girls amidst the crowd but she couldn't find any. 

“Hi, my name is Magizhini.” She introduced herself to the girls who were sitting in front of the dorm. Must be their resting time. They all took their head covers off and were relaxing. Everyone looked at her but nobody cared.

“Um, the madam in the front office asked me to stay here. May I know who is Geetu?”

“Come in.” A girl from the crowd called her in. Magizhini went in with her luggage. It was a huge hall with beds placed in parallel rows. There were three rows of beds. There must be at least 30 beds. 

“What nonsense?! You messed up the floor. Don't you have any common sense? Clean it all up. Use that corner to sleep. The broom and mop are outside near the restroom. Use the restroom before 5 Am in the morning. A pillow and a blanket is  placed in the corner for you to use.” She kept talking and Magizhini’s eyes teared up. There is no change in her life! Magizhini looked at the corner she showed, she doesn't even have a bed. It is nothing different than her storeroom setup back in her home.

“I am sorry!” She said in a little voice lowering her head to hide her tears. Her luggage had made a muddy trail all the way from the entrance to the place she was standing. 

“Your salary is NPR. 15,800 per month. That is roughly INR.10,000. The food truck will come here to the farm at 8.15 and 1.30. We cook in turns for dinner. Settle down quickly and come to the jam-making building.” She said with a stern tone and left her there. 

‘Why are they behaving so rudely to me? They were all happily laughing when I came but they all lost their smile as soon as they saw me. Why?’ Magizhini’s eyes shed tears that she had held in so long. The four years of college life is the only time in her whole life that she felt liberated and happy. Now she felt like she is back into her shackles. This place is no different than her home. These people are no different than Iniya, her so-called mom. At least, her mom had reasons for her rude behavior, what do these people have, she thought.

She has a problem, whenever someone talks to her in an authoritative tone, she tends to obey. It was a practice for her since childhood, thanks to her mother. She walked out through the back door of the dorm to pick up the things for cleaning. She finished everything that was told to her and went out.

“Um, please, may I know which way to go to the jam-making area?” She asked a girl who looked her age. She threw a look at her and showed her the way.

Magizhini was astounded by the factory. Everything was done by machines. All man-work was involved in only measuring the strawberries and sugar and water and putting them in the machines. The mixing, boiling, and cooling down are all done by the machines. There were around ten people working at the end of the machines. There was no packaging plant. They manually fill up the bottles and labels are pasted finally. Geetu was checking the final product and writing something on the paper clip that she had in her hand. Magizhini went to her.

“Hi, um, I am ready,” Magizhini told her. Geetu looked at her and took her to the boiling section of the jam plant. The room was too hot and Magizhini turned red as soon as she entered the room.

“This is the on button, this is the off button. This is the heat regulator. This button stops the flow of puree into the boiler. Here, this line is the limit. Once the puree fills in the boiler up until this line, you have to push this button and stop the flow. Maintain the temperature. The boiler spills the jam into the cooling bowl automatically. Once it is emptied, press the button to fill the boiler again after 20 minutes. The process would take about approximately three hours.” Geetu gave her instructions and Magi listened to her very carefully. “This is your job for the week,” Geetu told her and left her in the hot room. 

Magizhini’s memories took her to the pleasant days when she had almost forgotten everything about her mother and her father and all her plans to avenge. Those were the days she fell in love completely with an arrogant murderer. She still wonders how her heart slipped away with him even after knowing everything about him. 

She remembered the first time she met him!