Lovely Rakshashis and Witches- Part I

There are lots of Rakshashis and  witches  in society.  You are ill-fated if you cannot do without them , and blessed if you can do without them.

There lived in the city, near a renowned school, an ugly and strange looking , highly gluttonous old lady- the weird, crooked and podgy Ruma Rakshashi, even shorter than a school girl of Class six or seven. She had a disproportionate peculiar figure. Her skin was like the crust of samosas fried in cheap oil and the dark color of cheap kadi chai- her complexion was blighted-there was no radiance, glaze or softness. She walked with a peculiar gait like a witch. Her eyes, peering through strange glasses scanned every minute detail of others, especially what others were eating, because she was a glutton, that too ravenous. Her ears were fitted with invisible pipes with which she could overhear. She was foul-mouthed mostly, but often concealed her foul mouth with forced decency and extra-nice behaviour.

She was an ugly and clumsy witch, dressed mostly in strange, dirty, ill-stitched, ill-fitted outfits.

She had a motor mouth- both when talking and eating. Maybe in many of her previous births she had not seen food or not eaten at all. In this life she had to make up for the deprivation of so many births- so she was always on a see-food diet and had a mad longing for more. Even though she contracted several illnesses due to overeating she was indomitable-her mad and sick hunger was insatiable.

She had so little self-control that she could not think or decide before she ate. To cover up this flaw, she boasted like a stupid Bengali lady, “ I eat everything and anything without thinking.’’

She was hyper, susceptible to lots of addictions, obsessions and impulsive behaviour. She in many ways, had an unfulfilled life and always compared herself with others and suffered from ego problems. She had been successful to manipulate her son, grandson and the band of witches or Rakshashis, whatever you call them- strange and odd-looking ladies in her English tutorial. The false sense of authority she got by manipulating others gave her a sense of sweet pleasure.

Noisy and nosy Rakshashis dominated the tutorial. She had created a puppet culture in her tutorial, her son – the podgy bald-headed “Pappu’’ being her closest puppet, the typical “Mamma’s Puppet.’’  There was a peculiar sick and backward culture in the tutorial- everybody had to get along with it to prevent the Rakshashi from firing them.

The witch was very impatient and had developed a “Fast, Fast’’ culture for correction and writing. Even if a student waited for his/ her turn in the bathroom occupied by another student, you would often hear  the student outside shouting, “ Fast ,Fast ! Come out.’’

The Rakshashi and her team had created a fool’s paradise. There were certain answer sheets for each exercise. Whatever was there in the answer sheet had to be correct- you could not question as such. If you questioned or argued if you were in doubt, the Rakshashi would get angry and may fire you. The teachers were supposed to correct according to the answer sheets, share tiffin- (they were carriers of lots of mouth and throat infections-mostly untreated or half-treated, sicknesses and infections and it was such an ugly habit to share tiffin), attend food parties and have the bad quality tea served everyday. The witch interfered into their lives-they accepted that.  Whenever the Rakshashis did a mistake, the witch asked them to treat everybody as a punishment.

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