Contrived Life.

She walked fast. as fast as her crooked feet could carry her. Her entire body was tilted to the left as she could not balance herself properly, on her deformed feet. She was dripping with sweat but, she knew that she had to work, because her grandson at her home was expecting a new shirt for Puja. She hadn't an umbrella and the heat of the sun scorched her exposed parts of the body. She wore sandals that came off often and hardly anything was left of them. She had been wearing the same saree for two months. She didn't care. She cared for the lovely little creature at her home, waiting for her to return, hoping and smiling each day. Her son , the father of the child, remained drunk, and could not work . The wife preferred to stay at home, while her seventy year old mother- in -law went to work. The place where she was running to was her ninth house of the day, where she washed dishes and mopped the floor. She left home early in the morning and it was nearly three o'clock in the afternoon now., and she hadn't had a morsel of food in her stomach. She was weary and tired . She entered the house tired and famished. She knew she was pushing herself beyond her limit. But she was determined not to convulse into the nadir of life, of which she was trying to keep her head above. She couldn't let down her grandson, couldn't see him die of hope could not see him being hurt.
She entered..slightly dazed, and lost in thoughts, but she pulled herself back to reality and started to work.The house at which she worked, wasn't a happy one either. She couldn't understand why. She knew they had everything that she ever could have wanted but they never spoke politely to each other. almost yelled and the girl who was adolescent,hardly ever spoke and when she did she yelled too.
She did her work as fast as she could , because she still had to work at two more houses and she was hungry. utterly hungry.She knew her work wasn't good and she knew she didn't clean the dishes properly, but what could she do?...This often left the wives unhappy, and this one in particular who became even more upset and nearly fell to tears , one day while telling her how badly the dishes were cleaned. She was shocked, never in her life had she fallen to tears in front of her employers..then why would she?.
She thought of her husband who ran away, and her useless son, whom she had brought up with the same amount of devotion and care as her grandson, but somehow she had better hopes this time. And even though she spent her life working like a madman, deep down she was contented with who ever she was and whatever she was doing. Staying hungry, not having enough somehow made her carefree, but she knew she had the responsibility of her grandson. But she was sure he , like her too, didn't have much materialistic requirements .She made some mistakes earlier, with her son but this time there isn't going to be any. She knew she was somehow better off than her employers who had everything but still nothing.