The hot fridge
Trouble finds home with two girls
Anvi banged on side door of the old shop at night. When nobody answered, she went to the chain gate, peeked in and rattled it with all her might, “Is anybody there?”.
Somi had blood dripping down from her forehead. Some of it washed away with the rain pouring down on them. Only her burnt palms found relief in the weather while her body shivered at what had transpired. She kept muttering sorry under her breath, nit bothering to get down from her friend’s scooty.
Anvi was more focused on getting the answers. She shook the chain gate again till she saw the light flickering on at the back of the shop, “Who is there?” A groggy voice asked.
"It's us." Her lips trembled around the words.
The man’s eyes widened at the sight of two girls and he stepped back in the shadows, "Go away."
He should have said it the first time they met.
.
"This is an antique piece, Ma'am. The best one we have." The little helper wiped the sweat over his brow. He had empty eyes, bored with the world.
His customers looked at the piece, at him, and then at the fridge again. Anvi looked at her friend from behind. She whispered in her ear, "Can we please buy a new one?" She didn't like the idea of using someone else's things. They should buy a new one.
Somi gave the younger girl a look to shut her up. They didn't have the budget for a third hand piece, let alone a new one. Their landlord was bleeding them dry with rent. Anvi was sure he had asked them more than usual to drive them away. But they were desperate.
It was difficult for two single girls to find a flat in the area. We want families, they all say.
They were already irritated with the heat of Puducherry. The house didn't have air conditioners. They couldn't afford one air cooler let alone three, for both their rooms and the drawing room where they spent most of their time. They had resorted to earthen pot for cold water till now, but the heat was soaring, and with it, their temperaments. They had been snapping at each other all too frequently. The excitement of living with a friend was soon fading.
Somi opened the door to look at the appliance. It was a red one. It had only one door with a freezer at the top. She put her hand inside to see if it was working. It felt cold. It was similar to the one she remembered from her childhood. Her sister, and she would use their hands to scrape off the ice from the freezer ceiling to put it in their mouth while the other one used to be on lookout for their grandmother.
It would be enough for them. Somi shut the warm door with finality, "How much?" She tied her long hair in a bun. She loved her hair, but they were a nuisance to tame.
"Honestly, its price is eight thousand, but for you, I will give it in six." He would let it go for free if his owner allowed him.
"It is too much for us." Somi shook her head. She turned to leave, happily followed by Anvi.
"Arey Ma'am, Accha, five."
"Three." She said as she wiped her forehead with a handkerchief. It had ‘Somi’ embroidered in Hindi by her mother at the end. She had a collection of these.
The helper looked at the owner sitting at the front table, reading the newspaper. His gold watch glinted in the sunlight. It caught the eye surrounded by everything old and dusty. The helper wanted to be like him one day when he had started. Gone were the dreams that drove him from his far away village to the big city. Now he only looked forward to sleeping at night.
The owner gave him a slight nod, visible only to him. He had to get rid of the nuisance. It took up too much space. It was not worth it.
"Chalo Four. Final offer, Ma'am. You are robbing me blind here."
Anvi made a face. She looked at the fridge again. It looked like it had seen better days and scrubbed clean, not to show that fact. Still, it couldn't rid the appliance of the huge scratch which seemed to widen with time on its left side. And it didn’t escape her notice that the appliance was heating up from the outside, a telltale sign of too much usage and not enough life left. They would be lucky if it lasted them for a year or two.
"You will transfer it to our place. I won't pay a penny more." Somi said seriously. It was a bit over their budget. Hopefully, she will get a promotion in six months. They could afford a new one then.
The little man sighed, "Give me your address. I will personally deliver it tomorrow."
When they moved to the counter, the owner adjusted his glasses. He pointed to the sign above him, "No return, No exchange."
Somi huffed before she paid him. Anvi grumbled behind her.
The fridge was brought up by the helper and another guy he brought along with him in the afternoon. Somi was working from home that day. She made sure they installed it correctly in the cramped space between their kitchen and drawing room.
At one point, she was sure they would drop it while carrying it up the stairs. The boy had lost his balance. If it was not for her helping them, they would have been arguing till night about the repairing cost.
She didn't know the helper also got an electric shock when he tried to plug it into their socket. He thanked God Somi wasn't there to see it. He hurriedly finished setting up and left without saying a word.
Anvi was delighted. She could finally get cold water now. The pot water just didn't cut it for her, no matter how many wet clothes they kept on it for better results.
She even went ahead and bought their favorite ice creams for a movie marathon. They were heartbroken when they opened the freezer the next night. The boxes were soggy with melted ice cream.
"I knew it was too good to be true. Didn't you check it?" She shut the door and scooped the gooey ice cream in two bowls. Why let it go to waste?
"I did when he brought it here. I will call someone to repair it tomorrow."
"No one will come. It's Sunday." She couldn’t keep the whining tone from her voice.
"Monday then." Somi pursed her lips.
The next day when Anvi opened the freezer door, she found the ice frozen in a bowl of water they had kept there last night.
"It's working." She shouted.
Somi came to inspect and found it to be the truth. She hummed and shrugged, "Saves money." Two girls living alone just out of college, money was hard to come, harder to save with their meager incomes.
Now that they had officially set up their place, they could have the homecoming party they had been putting off. It was hard to hold one where they would have to serve warm soft drinks with the hard stuff some of their friends were sure to bring along. Where would they have stored the cake?
Now, it was settled. Somi would make her famous biryani which took the whole day. Anvi would take care of everything else.
Nothing happened. The girls were so tired on Sunday that they lay in bed all day, nudging each other to wake up, yet falling asleep.
When they finally woke up at five, they only had enough time to tidy the drawing room and order food online. All they had was the cool water from the fridge.
Their friends were expecting a grand feast with two smiling hostesses, but the party was bland. It was too hot. They had the liquor and food, but no dancing or talking. All were sitting around quietly around the sole table they had like they were in mourning. There was a lull in conversation. Even when one tried to talk about mundane things like work and family, soon it would fade away.
They blamed it on the absence of Vikas. He was the life of every party. He couldn't come to theirs because of the flu.
All of them were relieved when it ended with promises of doing it again, not meaning it. At least not at their place. Somi didn’t realize when all of them left. She went to her room in a daze, shutting the door tightly to avoid the humming sound of their new fridge.
Anvi cleaned up and kept the half-eaten cake in the appliance. It got spoilt by the next day. She puked it out with a look of disgust. She couldn't eat anything the whole day.
And the involuntary fast continued.
Next chapter -
