(A PLAYLET)

BY V.GOPALAKRISHNA

[A room on the first floor, furnished in the common middle-class Indian fashion, towards the street end of a house. The room is overlooking the street across a balcony. MALTI (short for MALATI), a young lady in her early twenties. is lounging in a chair. having thrown her legs into another. Suddenly footsteps are heard downstairs. She sits at once bolt upright, and takes a book from the table at her side, and begins reading it–precisely at the seventy-ninth page. A YOUNG MAN enters the room unceremoniously, He is tall, common-looking with a powerful jaw and broad shoulders.]

MALTI: –(Throwing the book away) Well?

THE YOUNG MAN: –I looked up the jewellers’, Malti. It was with the proprietor that I settled the price of the ring, and he is not there, and I have to go again at half past four. They have altered the design as you wanted....Where is every-body?

MALTI: –Mother has gone to a friend of hers on the way to the temple. Uncle left for his place suddenly this morning. He’ll be back, of course, for the wedding.

THE YOUNG MAN: –Auntie has gone out, has she? Thank goodness, you didn’t go too.

MALTI: –To the temple? I had enough of that make-believe throttled out of me.

THE YOUNG MAN: –What about going out ourselves? Shall we?

MALTI: –Why?

THE YOUNG MAN:– ‘Why?’! Because I want to go out…..Let’s go out, Malti. We’ll have tea somewhere, and go to the jewellers’ together.

MALTl: –We can’t go out, Madhu. Don’t be obstinate....You are all right here, aren’t you?

MADHU: –(Quickly misunderstanding her) Of course. I am. [He goes towards her to kiss her.]

MALTI: –(Warding him off) Take care, we shall not be alone long. I am expecting Nimmie every moment. (He looks perturbed.) Really, I can’t understand why you look like that every time Nimmie’s name is mentioned.

MADHU: –I don’t look ‘like that’! (Suddenly, absorbed in the topic of Nimmie) I don’t know what to do with her, Malti. She’ll ruin herself one day and put the blame on me. She has such awful friends. Think of her meeting Niranjan almost everyday and spending hours with him at a stretch–Niranjan with his profane ideas against marriage and….(Looking out on the road) There she comes.

MALTI:–She is just a child, Madhu. Don’t be hard-headed.

MADHU: –But she thinks she knows such a lot....

MALTI: –Frankly, Madhu, I do feel like sympathising with her sometimes.

[He scrowls and goes sulkily to the balcony where he is not easily seen. The door opens and NIRMALA enters. NIMMIE is short for NIRMALA. At any rate, that is her pet-name. She is tall, uncommonly tall and looks very sharp. She is not quite twenty. She has a characteristic tendency to argue out every point. She bargains for trouble and generally gets her full expectation of it.]

NIMMIE: –(Not noticing MADHU) Malti, will you keep these books also for me?

MALTI: –(Eyeing her squarely) How many times must I help you in your secret deals, Nimmie?

NIMMIE: –You know, Malti, I asked you to keep my books only about three times, because I fear Madhu’s seeing them. Madhu does not like my reading this sort of books. He would know that Niranjan recommended the books. And he does not like even my talking occasionally to Niranjan. [MADHU comes back from the balcony.]

Oh, I didn’t know you were here, Madhu.

MADHU: –(Going up to her) Let me see those books. [She gives them to him unabashed.]

‘The Interpretation of Dreams’! ‘The Ego and the Id’! ‘Sex and Society’!.…Just because I frowned upon your reading this type of books when I saw you borrowing them from the library, you buy them on the sly and hide them here!….Nimmie, do you think I don’t know…..

NIMMIE: –What?

MADHU: –And you took the money from me for buying sarees!

NIMMIE: –(Giving it up) Oh, well, you see, I can do without sarees–I mean, of course, without too many of them…..But I can’t…..

MADHU: –I was wondering why you always asked for so much money?

NIMMIE: – Because I wanted to buy books with the balance.

MADHU: –Listen, Nimmie, as your brother and guardian, I forbid you to see Niranjan all by yourself in future.

NIMMIE: – So it is not the books you are worried about, brother and guardian! It is all about Niranjan?……..Where’s the harm? You know Niranjan yourself and you don’t think of being

uncivil to him.

MADHU: –He’s my friend. At least he was.

NIMMIE: –And he is my friend also.

MADHU: –There’s a difference, you fool…..You know, you are making yourself just common, Nimmie. Common–and cheap.

NIMMIE: –(Hurt) Making myself cheap, am I? Because I cannot suppress my feelings and pretend to be dull as ditch water?

MADHU: –Take care, Nimmie. Society expects you to behave yourself

NIMMIE: –Don’t you frighten me! Your Society will go on ignoring me so long as I do nothing glaringly right or glaringly wrong. And–

MADHU: –Look here. It is not a question of right or wrong……In any case, who is to judge? How will the world take it, if it sees you canoodling each other anywhere about? What must our neighbours be thinking?

NIMMIE: –So it boils down to the question of the neighbours–‘Oh, the neighbours, what will they think!’ Let them think–if they can think. If they don’t think straight, put them down the crater of Vesuvius…..I don’t care what they think. They have no right to notice it even if we did canoodle each other anywhere about. Besides, we don’t canoodle each other anywhere about.

MADHU: –So you do canoodle each other?

NIMMIE: –You seem to think that a man and a woman can do nothing else with each other.

MADHU: –What else–

NIMMIE: –Anything else that does not vulgarize them or hurt them.

MADHU :–1 was going to say, What else can babies do?

NIMMIE: –(Glancing viciously at both MADHU and MALTI) Like respectable babies, they can marry their cousins!

MADHU: –They can also be impertinent when they are found out.

[MALTI gets up discreetly and goes out.]

I know I’m not quite so clever as some of you, Nimmie, but–

NIMMIE: –You really are rather modest, Madhu!

MADHU: –Oh, modest am I? I didn’t know. However don’t let yourself talk about modesty. What can you know about it?

NIMMIE: –I know what you mean. But I tell you, Madhu, it is woman’s business to know enough of that modesty to despise it. I am not referring, you must know, to the poetic restraint which comes to a woman in her speech and action when she is deeply in love, as kindness comes to a mother. That is the result of self-confidence. That is the result of correct understanding....

MADHU: –Nimmie, with such ideas, you are running the risk of being exploited by rakes. I know that sort well enough. They want the conveniences of so-called advanced thought, not really its responsibilities. They will ruin you.

NIMMIE: –(Indignantly) What do you think I am? A moral wreck?

MADHU: –You will be powerless to protect yourself from the inevitable fall.

NIMMIE: –No, would you believe it, I am powerless to yield to it. To a friend like Niranjan I would gladly give anything along with my company. Don’t try advising me to be a prude. What keeps me from doing as I like is the knowledge that it will multiply my responsibilities and leave me powerless to fulfil them. I am not so driven by desire as even to wish to marry and have children much less to have them outside wedlock. How can I hope to bring up a child, as every child born into this world has a right to be brought up, in the teeth of indignant social opposition?

MADHU: –But what about the other fellow? He can be a scoundrel, you know.

NIMMIE: –He is no scoundrel either.

MADHU: –(Irritated) Well, then, what about the other fool?

NIMMIE: –The other fool has similar ideas. Otherwise he cannot be my friend.

MADHU: –You seem to think you are in paradise together.

[A long pause during which MADHU feels elated at having had the last word.]

NIMMIE: –(Breaking the silence, hesitatingly) The thing is–

MADHU: –(Overbearingly) Keep quiet....Here’s a sister of mine who has been flirting all the year round with a flap-doodle young man, and is still shameless enough to plead that ‘the thing is’…….What is the thing anyway?

NIMMIE: –The thing is–(She pauses dubiously)

MADHU: –Be plain. Don’t quibble. Come on. Out with it.

NIMMIE: –With what?

MADHU: –The thing.

NIMMIE: –Oh, the thing?….In fact, Niranjan wants to marry me.

MADHU: –(Astonished) What? Niranjan? Why in the name of encouragement didn’t you tell me that before?

NIMMIE: –In fact that is the one thing I didn’t like about him.

MADHU: –‘Didn’t like about him’!….That proposal of his puts the whole thing on a different footing…..So, he wants to marry you?

NIMMIE: –I say, are you going to let him?

MADHU: –Why not?

NIMMIE: –‘Why not?’! ‘Why not?’!! Because he doesn’t real1y love me yet. We are so attached as friends that he thinks he must marry me if he has even to chat with me freely as he wants to. That’s about al1.

MADHU: –Nonsense! Can’t you marry a gentleman when you meet him?

NIMMIE: –But I meet so many of them!

MADHU: –Wel1 then, you ought to marry one of them.

NIMMIE: –Or all of them, I suppose.….In any case I do not want to marry Niranjan now.

MADHU: –Leave that question to your elders.

NIMMIE: –You don’t seem to think of my wishes in the matter....I tell you, I cannot marry Niranjan.

MADHU: –But why?

NIMMIE: –Because he does not love me. Because I do not love him. Because we do not love each other.

MADHU: –I suppose that is why you are always together!

NIMMIE: –You will never understand! He has told me so many times that he does not really love me. He tells me again and again that while he is always happy to meet me, he is not thrilled at the thought of meeting me. But, only a few days ago he said he was prepared to marry me, if only to save me from embarrassment, although he was not wholly in love.

MADHU: –He is prepared to marry you just the same, isn’t he?

NIMMIE: –He is, but I am not prepared to let him.

MADHU: –Then, why do you go about with him?

NIMMIE: –I give you up in despair.

[MALTI returns. Both MADHU and NIMMIE are silent.]

MALTI: –(After a short pause) What is the matter?

MADHU: –Nimmie is asking for trouble. Otherwise nothing.

MALTI: –What is it, Nimmie?

MADHU: –Do you know, Niranjan has actually asked her to marry him. His father has considerable property, and he is him-self quite clever……

MALTI: –(Interrupting) It is nearly half-past four, Madhu. Will you have coffee now or will you have it after it after you return from the jewellers’?

MADHU: –Oh, I forgot all about the ring, Malti. I shall be back quite soon. You are staying here for sometime, aren’t you, Nimmie?

NIMMIE: –The whole evening, in fact.

[MADHU goes out.]

MALTI: –What has happened Nimmie?……Wait, I shall fetch the coffee first.

[MALTI goes out and comes back with the coffee pot and cups in a tray.]

MALTI: –Here you are.

[They pour out, each for herself. There is a moment’s silence.]

MALTI: –I often wonder, Nimmie, to think how surprisingly you have grown. Do you believe in all that you say?

NIMMIE: –Why not?

MALTI: –You’ve no experience!

NIMMIE: –I have imagination. Do you require any experience. Matti, to know that you must do the right thing by yourself?

MALTI: –(Reflective) Sometimes I feel quite lost thinking about it. It seems impossible to do what you like, and life seems to be a diabolical joke. You begin by taking things seriously in your own way. But when experience comes to you, you realise that what you do in the end is what others have always expected you to do.

NIMMIE: –The cannibals expect us to eat our children. Would we do it? Yet, some of our wise men are worse than cannibals.

MALTI: –No, Nimmie. To know what to do is difficult enough. But to do it is vastly more difficult. It is a vain dream.

NIMMIE: –It is a dream, but not a vain one. What a pity it is that the best of us can make no more practical use of their dreams than to sell them on printed paper. Yet it requires nothing except conviction and a little courage to live up to it.

MALTI: –And perhaps an ounce more of folly.

NIMMIE: –Oh, you too are like him. You don’t know how much more happy you can be without the fear of society on you. That is why you do not hate it enough.

MALTI: –How can my hatred help to reform it?

NIMMIE: –Nobody is asking you to reform it. Society is a myth so far as we are concerned. It is the fear of this myth that demoralizes us–like children fearing ghosts. You don’t think so. Nor does Madhu. You at least are not stupid. But you are all victims of that fear…Malti, sometimes I feel that your encouragement makes Madhu stupider than ever.

MALTI: –How do you mean?

NIMMIE: –Oh come, let us not pretend that your future husband has brains. Not having any he is content with what he has and with what he is; that is, with what he is made to be by his surroundings; that is, by you.

MALTI: –(Surprised) By me? Not at all. Your brother is purely nature’s work, you know.

NIMMIE: –Nature then has not been fair to him. It has given him a cousin in the comely shape of Malti. He has not met any other woman. He hadn’t to. He was not forced into seeking others, knowing them, adjusting himself to them, understanding the social problem, and, sharpening his intellect in the process. That is why he is as ignorant of the significance and force of unfulfilled longings as a landlord is of labour, a magistrate’s son of the law….Can You imagine of what you have robbed Madhu by playing his obedient cousin? So much knowledge of life.

MALTI: –All my fault, I suppose!

NIMMIE: –(Suddenly) Do You love him, Malti?...(As suddenly again) Do you know, I don’t think Madhu is really capable of loving anybody.

MALTI: –You have queer notions, Nimmie! But, to tell the truth, I am just as devoid as he of the airy thing you call love.

NIMMIE: –Don’t be Proud of it then…..You have no self-respect at all, Malti….Your marriage is really immoral, you know, because it is not forced by a free conscience.

MALTI: –Conscience?

NIMMIE: –Well then, let me Put it, sentiment. Is sentiment too a dead thing to You?

MALTI: –There you have me. But you are powerless against that Sort of thing. You can conquer sentiment sooner than you can conquer society.

NIMMIE: –When conscience turns coward hypocrisy becomes wisdom.

MALTI: –(Feelingly) You call me a hypocrite because I hide my sentiment. If I didn’t hide it, you’d get bored by it. You can’t get on without hiding your sentiment. I can tell you that from experience….When I was a very young girl I came to like a boy. We used to walk home from school daily together. We used to tell each other stories, and Sometimes even pretend to be husband and wife. We continued to be good friends even after we had passed our early adolescence, until in fact we went to college. All that while our friendship was innocent, almost childish. And just when we had begun to take each other seriously, crash went the whole thing. All the people that mattered told me to behave myself, I was afraid of them. But I was even more afraid of myself. Still we wrote to each other. We wrote each other intimate letters. There was nothing that I denied him in thought and written word. It was the kind of intimacy we would have dreaded to reveal to each other in person. But we never met during all that period. Often and often he suggested that we meet clandestinely, but I put him off. Once he saw me in a picture-house when I was with my uncle, and he smiled to me. But I had to prevent him from going farther, by looking at him in a sharp, painful manner, half imploring him to be careful, half doubtful if he would understand the futility of a willful crash into the canons of convention. I went back to my hostel and lashed myself into misery. A few days later he wrote me a letter, very much like all his previous letters, only more strongly-worded, calling me a coward, cursing me. I didn’t reply, I couldn’t. He never wrote to me again. He must have got bored with thinking about it all….He must have suffered a lot, poor dear.

NIMMIE: –‘Poor dear’! Just ‘poor dear’ him, for having sacrificed his convenience and self-respect to be near you. You ought to be ashamed, Malti.

MALTI: –Indeed I am. But don’t ask me to be different. I don’t want to have anything more to be ashamed about……I must settle down.

NIMMIE: –No, trust my Judgment. The drag of the old moorings is on you still. I daresay there’s something to be said for a comfortable marriage. But the conflict has left you weak, dubious, and miserably disgruntled.

MALTI: –That may be a good analysis of me. But all the same I harm nobody.

NIMMIE: –You love another person. Is that fair to Madhu? How can you be so heartless?

MALTI: –Is that the way you look at it?

NIMMIE: –That’s the only way to look at it. Why don’t you persuade your people to let you marry…..what’s his name?

MALTI: –Never mind. If I told you his name you would change your mind about what you think I ought to do.

NIMMIE: –Try it. You can’t surprise me…..

MALTI: –You will regret asking me.

NIMMIE: –I shall not…..Come on. I am bracing myself.….What is his name?

MALTI: –Niranjan.

NIMMIE: –(Completely taken aback) What!

MALTI: –I told you it would twist your mind.

NIMMIE: –How foolish you are! It doesn’t twist my mind (Innocently) Why don’t you scrap it all and marry Niranjan?

MALTI: –(Mischievously) Do you really mean It, Nimmie

NIMMIE: –Of course, I do! What surprises you?

MALTI: –Don’t you want to marry him yourself?

NIMMIE: –Oh, you are all alike! Because he and I are good friends we should be married to each other! And he himself wants to marry me because he thinks it can’t be helped, because it does not look unreasonable, because in fact it may turn out to be convenient.

MALTI: –Didn’t he ask you to marry him, Nimmie?

NIMMIE: –Well, he did. But, only after eliminating all feeling so to speak. Because we know that we do not love each other. We are just friends.

MALTI: –Are you really intimate friends, Nimmie?

NIMMIE: –Quite. I never keep anything from him.

MALTI: –Then why didn’t he tell you about me?

NIMMIE: –(Struck by this question) I really can’t imagine!

[NIRANJAN enters. He is a person with a breezy sense of humour. He is full of ideas, but is not quite their master. He can act very impulsively and very foolishly at times. although his intellect and his sense of humour are unquestionably of a high order.]

NIMMIE: –Here he comes. And we didn’t even hear his foot-steps.

NIRANJAN: –Good evening, ladies (Avoiding MALTI altogether after this) Hallo, Nimmie.

NIMMIE: –How did you know I was here?

NIRANJAN: –How do you know I came for you?

NIMMIE: –Because you seem to be running after me.

[MALTI suddenly gets up and goes out.)

NIMMIE: –I say, Niranjan, I can’t understand why you ignore Malti like that.

NIRANJAN: –Frankly, I can’t understand it myself. I feel uncomfortable when she is about. I am not my true self in her presence. I feel stupid.

NIMMIE: –And so you are, because you can’t take her for what she is.

NIRANJAN: –I don’t want to take her, what do you mean?

NIMMIE: –Have you met her any time before this?

NIRANJAN: –Why only

NIMMIE: –Please drop that make-believe, Niranjan. Do you think I don’t know about you and her and all the things that happened and didn’t happen between the two of you?

NIRANJAN: –(Calmly taking it in) She has told you, has she?

NIMMIE: –Yes, why did you hide that from me?

NIRANJAN: –If I hadn’t, you might have told your brother, because you are great at babbling. And he would have rated her about it, which wouldn’t have been quite a pleasant thing for anybody.

NIMMIE: –Are you sure you had no other motive?

NIRANJAN: –Listen, Nimmie. There is nothing to hide. It was foolish all through. I could not bear to see her making a fool of herself. It was like this....

NIMMIE: –(Interrupting) Were you writing letters to her?

NIRANJAN: –Of course, I was. Plenty of them too. And she was replying. I stopped writing to her about two years ago. My last letter....

NIMMIE: –Yes, what about it?

NIRANJAN: –I wrote to her in the end, just before we parted. A most bitter letter it was. But then I didn’t know that I was just as bad as she. I understood no delicacy. I failed to make her feel comfortable. I could not rid her of her complexes. I hurt her a lot. That is why I am ashamed to see her. Now you know.

NIMMIE: –She was saying that she herself must have hurt you a lot.

NIRANJAN: –Of course, she did. The devil is on both sides.

NIMMIE: –Why don’t you marry her?

NIRANJAN: –(Dazed) What! Because I had wanted to be friends with her and tailed?

NIMMIE: –If your friendship failed, it was not her fault only.

NIRANJAN: –I know that.

NIMMIE: –If you know, why can’t you alter the face of things?...Why don’t you marry her now?

NIRANJAN: –How calmly you are offering your brother’s fiancee to me in marriage!

NIMMIE: –Now, do please stop your attempts at being humorous. Malti cares very much for you even now, I think.

NIRANJAN: –Does she? I can’t believe it. Anyhow, I do not care for her any longer.

NIMMIE: –How can you be so cruel?

NIRANJAN: –Where’s the cruelty, Nimmie? I really do not care for her. I can’t. The very thought of her depresses me. The episode with her was the first big failure in my life. I cannot bear to remember it. I failed with her once. I shall fail again if I try. Besides, I don’t love her. I love somebody else....(Staring at her for an instant) I love only you, Nimmie. You have no inkling as to how I feel towards you. Since I knew you I felt a sort of inspired strength. I think of things which seemed hitherto impossible for me to think of. I feel so intensely active that....

[Goes towards her as though to take her in his arms.]

NIMMIE: –Don’t, don’t, Malti may come in.

NIRANJAN: –Oh you portable nunnery! When my commonsense told me that you were in fact too scientific a moralist to have any sentiment, my instinct urged me to hope you were beautiful with all the inspiring potentialities of being a woman. Your education has left you dry of heart. Yet now my fool of a heart tells me I cannot do without you.

NIMMIE: –Don’t think I am offended. I know now–

NIRANJAN: –You think you can tantalize me, don’t you?

[He goes to her slowly, and suddenly yields to the temptation of holding her in his arms.]

NIMMIE: –(In his arms) You’re reckless. Some one may-

NIRANJAN: –(Suddenly releasing her) I beg your pardon. I forgot myself. It will not happen again….I think I shall be going.

[NIRANJAN goes towards the door.]

MALTI: –(Entering at the same moment) I –(NIRANJAN instinctively goes back to the farthest part of the room) I suppose you –(With whipped-up courage) Are you trying to hide from me, Niranjan?

NIRANJAN: –(Surprised, and alert) That is a brave tone I hear. When did you pick that up?

MALTI: –You are surprised, aren’t you?…I have a bigger surprise for you. (Passes on a letter to him) Will you please keep it, and show it to Madhu when he comes? (NIRANJAN looks at it for a moment and understands) It’s your last letter to me, you know: the one in which you tore me to shreds and left me without a character. It is the only letter of yours which I have preserved.

NIRANJAN: –Why should I show it to Madhu, pray?

MALTI: –Because he must know you and know me thoroughly before he has anything to do with either of us.

NIRANJAN: –I refuse to be a party to this blackmail, whatever its nature or motive....If you are so eager, why can’t you show it to him yourself?

MALTI: – Perhaps I shall if you don’t.

NIMMIE: –Why are you so anxious that Madhu should see that letter, Malti?

MALTI: –I want him to know everything, Nimmie. I want him to know before he marries me. I feel guilty about nothing but that I didn’t tell Madhu before.

NIRANJAN: –Why should you tell Madhu?

MALTI: –There’s such a thing as frankness.

NIRANJAN: –There’s such a thing as messing up things.

MALTI: –Perhaps so. But today an evil spirit is on me, I guess. I scarcely know what I am doing, but I must show this letter to Madhu, and he must know everything. And I am asking you to help me, Niranjan.

NIRANJAN: –I am not in the habit of propitiating evil spirits. (Leaves the letter on the table.)

MALTI: –Niranjan, don’t you remember your promise that....

NIRANJAN: –Yes, yes, yes! A thousand times, yes! But I warn you, don’t remind me about that. Look here, Nimmie, I’m going. This place has become insufferable.

[MADHU enters at this psychological moment.]

MADHU: –I am glad you are here, Niranjan.

NIRANJAN: –(In a highly formal tone) Excuse me, Sir, but I was going.

MADHU: –Going? I thought you had come here to persuade Nimmie to marry you. (He pauses and looks round) What is this solemn silence?

NIRANJAN: –(With needless emphasis) Try to take this in, Madhu. I will not marry Nimmie even if she were to be given away with a couple of thousands and a cocoanut.

MADHU: –(Perplexed) But she said that the other day you–

NIRANJAN: –(Utterly lost) Yes, yes; that was the other day. But I have changed my mind. I don’t want to marry now. I am earning nothing, and marriage can only make me more of a slave to my father....And I am not even sure that Nimmie is my type…..Above all, I don’t think I shall ever marry anyone at all.

MADHU: –Ah come, you can’t mean that. Besides, you may change your mind, but you can’t change your father’s. I was talking to him on the way, and spoke to him about Nimmie, and he said he wanted to see you married off to Nimmie. You can’t disappoint him, you know! I even told him that you had proposed to Nimmie the other day.

NIRANJAN: –(At bay) What are you talking?….Do you really mean it?

MADHU: –Certainly.

NIRANJAN: –My dear Madhu, do you think I am an excellent sort of chap?

MADHU: –Certainly. Why?

NIRANJAN: –Do you think I have any sense of honour?

MADHU: –Certainly. Why?

NIRANJAN: –Do you think my presence in the world is not a menace to society in general?

MADHU: –Of course not! Why?

NIRANJAN: –Or to your family in particular?

MADHU: –Definitely not, my dear fellow. I don’t believe that you can be–

NIRANJAN: –Well, I am going to prove the contrary (Goes to the table, and picks up the letter). Take this letter. Read it. Digest it. Call me a scoundrel, and then chuck me out. I won’t feel obliged to you for anything less.

MADHU: – (Taking the letter) What is it all about? (Reading it to himself) Oh! (With an increasing change of expression, turning coldly indignant towards the end, and reading the last portions of the letter aloud) "You are a coquette, and a coquette is worse than a prostitute….Your letters to me reek with a crude sensuality that throws Cleopatra into the shade and makes Messalina appear an unravished virgin. You have no sense of shame when you write. In fact you have no sense of shame. But when I just glance at you in a picture-house, you pretend to have been outraged..….Are there any more of these letters?

MALTI: –They have all been destroyed.

MADHU: –My God! Why didn’t anybody tell me before?

MALTI: –Do you know that it makes any difference?

NIRANJAN: –It was not her fault, Madhu. It was entirely mine. Frustration made a brute of me. I was raving like a maniac in that letter.

MADHU: –(His mind working on a different subject altogether) What is to happen to the ring? (He takes the wedding ring out of its case and puts it on the table. MALTI takes it and tries it on.)

MALTI: –(Helpfully) You must change it anyhow.

MADHU: –(Not really thinking about anything) Why?

MALTI: –Because it doesn’t fit my finger. It is the wrong size.

MADHU: –(Still dazed) Change the size?

NIMMIE :–Or change the girl!

NIRANJAN: –(Still insistent) Madhu, you are not taking the affair of the letter in a proper light. What do you say?

MADHU: –(Recovering) It does not matter now….Malti, I suppose we are prepared to forget the past.

MALTI: –Are you sure?

MADHU: – No, I do not mean you to forget your past with Niranjan. I mean you should forget your association with me. You know I cannot marry you after this.

MALTI: –I was trying to say something very similar.

NIRANJAN: –But, Madhu, nothing happened between Malti and myself, and I don’t care for her now. (Correcting himself) That is…..she cares even less for me.

MADHU: –But the letters?

NIRANJAN: –Just letters!

MALTI: –(Annoyed) Niranjan, why do you want to persuade him to marry me?

NIRANJAN: –No, I am not thinking of you. I am oppressed by the strange attitude he takes. That the letter should make such a difference–

NIMMIE: –Was it not foolish of you to have shown him the letter, then?

NIRANJAN: –Who contemplated this consequence? I thought that on reading it he might release me from the obligation of marrying you. He has released himself instead from the obligation of marrying Malti.

MALTI: –I resent your solicitude, Niranjan.

NIRANJAN: –I can never forgive myself for having stood between you and your happiness.

MALTI: –How do you know that you stood between me and my happiness? How do you know I am not happier as I am?

NIRANJAN: –(Bewildered) Is that Possible? What has happened to me? I don’t seem to understand anything! (He sits down, disconsolate).

MADHU: –Well? (He is half worried that Malti has forgotten to offer him the coffee she promised after his visit to the jewellers’, half afraid that she might remember and make him stay longer.) I shall be going, Malti. Please tell Auntie I’ll meet her tomorrow. I’ll explain everything. I shall think of a suitable explanation tonight. I shall not tell her, of course, about Niranjan.

NIRANJAN: –Oh, I–you can tell her about me. I am not afraid.

MADHU: –Who is thinking of you now?….Good-bye, coming, Nimmie?

NIMMIE: –No.

[MADHU goes out. All are silent. But MADHU returns to take the ring, and goes out with it finally.]

NIRANJAN: –(After an ugly pause) What is the matter with you Women?

NIMMIE: –(Brusquely) Aren’t you going too, Niranjan?

NIRANJAN: –Yes, certainly, as soon as ever. (He makes for the door)

NIMMIE: –Don’t go and tell everybody that we are engaged, Niranjan. (He stops dead on the door step). Because, you know, we aren’t. At any rate–my brother and guardian is not very happy about my choice. I am afraid. (She starts laughing)

NIRANJAN: –Stop that, I tell you……I will resist you, you imp. I will resist you to the very end.

[But he joins in her laughter and goes out happy.]

NIMMIE: –What a situation!…..I never thought you would do that, Malti.

MALTI: –You are surprised that I could persuade myself so easily out of marriage with Madhu. But I am not fit for anything of the sort, you know. I seemed to realise it only after meeting you and Niranjan this evening....Don’t you think I shall be better as a kindly old maid, as a sort of teacher for children?

NIMMIE: –(In sympathy) Don’t say that. Our lives are all before us.

MALTI: –Of course they are. Mine definitely is. But it won’t be too much of a burden to me or to anyone else, thank heavens!

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