After a courtship of 4 yrs, Sam and Teju finally tied knots with the blessings of their family and friends. Teju was very particular about everything. She loved living her life on her own terms. She would go to any lengths to fulfill her desire, but always, within limits. A rooftop marriage had been her childhood desire. When the time came, she searched for it in every possible way, but couldn’t find anything available for that particular date. So, she convinced her parents, who were completely against the idea of it because of the harm it brings to the house, to do it on their own terrace. Arrangement of flowers, food, decoration, accommodation for so many people in the small house was quite a pain, but Teju was determined and her parents gave in.
Sam and Teju bought a flat together in a suburban area of the city. Sam knew how classy and choosy Teju could be about everything. So, he left the decoration of the house to Teju. After all, Teju had let the mantle of the decoration of the flat fall on her shoulders without even consulting him. It was like both knew it was hers, to take. After office, everyday, Teju would go to malls and shops and boutiques and purchase some of the nicest stuff for her dream house. She put each item in its specific place. Once, Sam decided to give her a surprise. He knew that Teju went to the new flat, everyday. So, he thought of going there before she arrived. Sam went there and was surprised to see how beautiful that flat was looking. One thing specially caught his eye. It was a flower vase, put on the side table. He felt it would look good if kept on the wall mirror closet. So, he just took the vase and placed it there. Teju entered at her usual time and shrieked out to see Sam. She made him out to be some thief. Soon they were hugging each other. Teju was afraid of Sam’s unplanned visit as she wanted to give him a surprise by showing a fully furnished and decorated house. But suddenly Teju just freaked out upon seeing the displacement of the vase. She went straight to the wall closet, took the vase out and put it on the side table. It happened so fast that Sam just stood there. For the sake of peace, he didn’t say anything but he too wasn’t happy with her unbending attitude. She wouldn’t allow anybody, not even Sam, to interfere or impose his likings on her.
For her Honeymoon, she had already searched different sites, spoken to various travel agencies and decided upon the place and hotel. It was so perfect that Sam had no other option left than to surrender to her decision.
Soon after marriage, they were on their honeymoon to a hill station. Amidst the mountains, they had their cottage. The panoramic view of the valley from their hotel balcony was just out of the world. Teju was in full swing as everything was going according to her plan and was just perfect. Sam couldn’t stop thanking his stars for such a wonderful lady. Teju was happy that for once she would not have to make the bed, clean the room and the bathroom or even dry the towel for the house keeper would do all the work. They would just get up, get ready, have breakfast and leave the room for visiting places. When they return, they would get the room back just the way they got it.
The 2nd day, they were not in a hurry. So, Teju almost made the bed, kept the brushes beside the sink, hung the towel and left. Her clothes were still lying on the arm of the chair. Sam’s shirt was on the rack in the bathroom. When she came she found the bed perfectly made, her clothes made and placed on the bed, Sam’s shirt made and hung in the open closet. All this was fine but one thing just poked her head. The brushes which she had placed in front of the sink were shifted and placed in a small tray along with the small complimentary soap and shampoo. It just disturbed her mind. She felt sort of insulted, as if the house keeper purposely did that to show her down.
Next day Teju deliberately kept the things the way the housekeeper kept them. She didn’t want to give the housekeeper any chance. When she returned, everything looked fine. After lying down she asked Sam to hand over the magazine which she had kept in the bathroom, being in the habit of reading in the bathroom. But Sam shouted saying that there wasn’t any. She got up and found it just lying on the bed side table. She started laughing aloud. Was it like some competition going on between her and the house keeper to show who was a better house arranger? She shouted “Why did she have to touch my stuff? I wanted the magazine to be there. Who asked her to bring it here?” Sam said “Why are you blaming her? Is the bathroom place for keeping magazines? If something would have happened to it while her cleaning the bathroom, you only would have shouted at her.” Teju kept quiet but couldn’t stop thinking about the housekeeper.
The next day, again, she consciously took special care of all things. Throughout the day, she was quite silent. Once or twice she tried to shoo away the housekeeper’s thoughts, but it kept coming on like flies on leftover food. Teju was eager to go back to the hotel and check its status. They were having dinner when she couldn’t wait anymore and told Sam that she needed to go to the hotel at once for some emergency. Seeing her discomfiture, Sam asked her to leave and said that he would follow after paying the bill. Teju opened the door of her room and gazed at each and everything. Nothing caught her attention. She smiled to herself. She felt relieved and lied down on the bed and switched on the TV. Sam returned and straightway headed for the bathroom. After coming out, gave Teju a tight hug and said “Thanks for taking such good care of me.” Teju asked surprisingly “Why, what happened?” Sam replied “I am sorry honey. Today you left before me. So, I just rushed out with all my stuffs scattered beside the sink. Thank you again, for placing them back as if I never messed them up.” Teju ran to the bathroom just to see Sam’s Deodorant, Body powder, Hair gel all neatly placed beside the sink, whereas her toiletries kept just the way she left them withal, not as perfect as his. She didn’t say anything at that point of time. Just smiled back to Sam and went to sleep. Though, in Sam’s arms, she couldn’t stop thinking about what was happening. Soon Sam was asleep but her eyes were wide open. Her mind was like a mad horse, running wild, without any reason to wherever it wished. There was no control of hers on her mind. She was asking various questions like, why wasn’t her stuff taken care of? Why Sam’s things were so perfectly kept? She felt as if some intruder has been disturbing her newly married life. Her honeymoon was getting spoiled by some silly housekeeper. All these days, she had been so proud of herself, her aesthetic sense. Even Sam would oblige to her taste. What is the housekeeper trying to prove? Is it that she is not good enough? Is it that she failed as a house manager? She had herself taken up the challenge and had been defeated by a mere housekeeper. Again, she thought that yesterday when her magazine had been misplaced, she had wanted her things not to be touched. Then why did she want her things to be arranged the way Sam’s were today? Suddenly, another thought emerged. What if Sam was hiding something from her? Isn’t it possible that Sam has had some past affair and this housekeeper is the same lady? “Oh God, no, what am I thinking, this can’t be true. What happened to my faith? How can I doubt in my husband, the love of my life.” she thought. Lost in these questions, at some point, she dozed off.
The next day Teju behaved in a weird manner. She was depressed, as if someone had just broken all her self-confidence. Sam understood that something was wrong with her. He knew that she wouldn’t share unless she felt like it, so it was pointless to ask her. Instead, he tried his level best to make her laugh, but it was as if she was not in this world. At around 12 o’clock she insisted on a return to the hotel. Teju went to the balcony and sat there. After sometime Sam came and sat beside her. He excitingly asked her “How did you know that I liked my handkerchief nicely made and placed upon my shirt?” Teju was taken aback. She never knew about it and neither had she done it. She just sprang upon Sam and started shouting at him “Do you have any secret to reveal? Did you have any affair before you got engaged to me? Was she working here before, or did you tell her that we were coming here? When do you meet her? When I go for shower? Yes, I know I am not as perfect as her, who knows so much about you, but I also love you. I also take care of your things but you never notice them. What is it with you and her? She ruined my life. I need to see her; now.” Sam didn’t understand what was she talking about? He just stared at her when Teju ran out of the door and straightaway went to the hotel lobby. The man standing at the desk asked her “Hello Ma’am, how may I help you?” Teju said “yes, I wanted to know about that bitch, your house keeper.” The man was shell shocked and didn’t know how to react. He said “What are you talking about Ma’am. It would be great if you kindly mind your language.” Teju said “Enough is enough, I can’t take any more. She has ruined my life. If she has courage, ask her to confront me. Why is she playing from the shadows?” The man again asked, “I don’t understand what you are talking about. You must be mistaken. Tell me clearly what you want to know.” Teju , still vexed, asked “I want to know, no, I want to meet your housekeeper lady”. The man asked “Why, what did our housekeeper do?” Teju said “That’s personal, I want to meet her”. The man laughed and said “Her? I told you, you might be mistaking something. We don’t have any female housekeeper in this hotel.”
“What? Are you sure?”
“Yes Ma’am. Absolutely sure. Do you still want to meet him?”
Teju felt as if someone ha just slapped her. She wanted to run away from the spot as soon as possible. Sam had also come to stand by her, by that time and had listened to all the conversation. Teju paused for some time and then said “Yes, I would like to meet him”. The man called for ‘Bob’ immediately and within no time a man almost of 50yrs was standing in front of her. Teju was again shocked to see such an elderly person. The man introduced
“Ma’am, this is Bob; our most elderly and faithful housekeeper, working here for the past 20 yrs. We assigned him especially for your honeymoon suite. Though we never heard any complaints against him, still if you have any, we are ready to take care of it. If you want to talk to him personally, you are welcome as ‘customer privacy’ is the motto of our hotel.”
Teju was almost in tears by then. She had misbehaved and distrusted her husband for some silly notion; she had spoiled her own dream honeymoon with her own hands; she had blamed an innocent man for doing just his job.” How will she ever forgive herself? She bowed down her head and said to Bob “Now that I think about it, it’s nothing actually. I am extremely sorry. I don’t have words for to apologize. I misunderstood and screwed everything up just because you didn’t arrange my stuff as neatly as my hubby’s.”
Bob said “My wife says never to touch ladies’ personal items. She says ladies just hate that. Even being her husband, she doesn’t like me arranging her things. I must say you are very organized. I have seen ladies who just mess up their room and it takes an hour for me to redo them. As it is that your things were so well placed that I didn’t feel the need to touch your things, keeping in mind my wife’s suggestions.”
Both of them laughed after his statement. Teju then asked “Please excuse, but what about that handkerchief? It was placed on his shirt, just the way he loves. How did you do that?”
Bob smiled and replied “Let me tell you a secret. It’s not about your husband. It’s about the male orientation. They love their handkerchiefs, ties, socks, everything nicely made and placed upon the shirt and trouser to be worn that day, that too, done by their wives. I love it the same way and my wife does this thing for me. That day your husband’s handkerchief was lying down on the carpet. So, I took it and kept it on the shirt, just the way I would have done it for myself or for any other guests of the hotel.”
Teju smiled, apologized again and went back to her room. Sam came after her. Teju closed the door and burst into tears. She hugged Sam as hard as possible and kept repeating “I am sorry, I am sorry honey, please forgive me, I don’t know what had happened to me, please forgive me”. Sam knew how short tempered and possessive she was. After listening to the whole conversation, he had easily deduced the reason behind Teju’s strange behavior over the past few days. He hugged her tight.
From all these happenings, Teju realized that she wasn’t perfect. No one can be perfect. The housekeeper had shown her that there was always room for improvement in life and for betterment, it is always necessary to listen to the suggestion of others. What she was doing by not appreciating Sam was absolutely wrong. She also understood that she herself had shrunk her world by not letting anybody in. She had forgotten the simple fact that happiness is not about making only oneself happy but to make others happy too. She thanked God, for sending his messenger in the form of the housekeeper, who had taught her so many things before practically inaugurating her new life.
After the clouds moved away leaving the sky clear, Teju took Sam’s palm on hers and said “Can we make up for the lost time by extending our vacation?” Sam looked into her eyes, picked up the phone and rang the desk “Hello, we want to extend our stay for a few more days. Yes. And one more thing, please don’t disturb us tomorrow. Tomorrow,” both of them shouted together “No Housekeeping Please.”
