I am Sekhar, a twenty three year old student doing my Bachelor of Engineering course from a prestigious institution in South India. I had just completed my third year of the course (my pre-final year) and I came home to my parents during the summer vacation.
The city where I was studying is about five hundred miles away from the city where my home was. Being their only son, my parents insist that I spend the summer vacation with them and I love it too. After months and months of the rigors of hostel life and the food there, I loved being fussed over and overfed by my loving mom. My dad was a senior executive of Marketing Company and my mom was a Bank officer.
We lived in our own apartment at the Paradise Plaza; a twenty year old Residential Apartment complex located in a prime residential area. Paradise consisted of three blocks in a straight line, numbered 1 to 3. Block 1 was the one closest to the main gate and 3 was the farthest. Each Block had five floors above the cellar where vehicles are parked. Each floor had four apartments; each Block had twenty. The residents were mostly upper middle class.
My Parents bought our apartment and lived there from day one and we were very fond of our place. My dad was around fifty and mom was around forty five. As senior and longstanding residents they were popular, well known and respected in our community.
As a part of my course requirements, I was required to do a project or internship during summer vacation. The previous summer I did internship in a manufacturing organization. So, this year, I was asked to do a project that would use my skills to benefit my community. A couple of months back I had submitted my proposal to my Professor who was also my guide and it was accepted.
The project I had proposed was a simple one. I would conduct a four week computer awareness and training program for house wives in my community. While young India was excelling in computer skills, many of the slightly older people were computer illiterate. I made a detailed program showing various modules that I would cover and my Professor approved the same.
Then i informed my mom about the project over phone.
"If you want me to spend this summer at home, mom, you must get me some participants for my project," I told her.
Everything was firmed up by the time I came home for the vacation.
As mom and dad both worked, I had a free run of our home during the day.
Our apartment was a three bed room one. There was a drawing cum dining room, a kitchen, a common bathroom and a toilette and three bed rooms. Mom and dad used the master bed room, the second one was for any guests and the third was mine. The master bed room had its own bathroom and there was a second bath room shared by the other two bed rooms.
On a Monday morning, my participants turned up and mom introduced them to me. There were four of them -- Shobha, Raaji, Padma and Suguna.
Shobha aunty was thirty two and mother of two cute school going girls aged eleven and ten. Her husband was a chartered accountant and worked for a prestigious company of financial auditors. Raaji aunty's actual name was Rajeswari but everyone called her Raaji. Her husband was in pharmaceutical distribution business and they had a daughter who was in her final year at high school. Raaji aunty was thirty five year old.
Suguna aunty was the oldest of the group at forty eight. She was a widow having lost her husband in a ghastly accident last year. Her only daughter was married and lived in California, USA. Aunty presently lived by herself and had come to terms with life after the loss of her husband. She was known to have a lot of literary and yoga skills.
On Day one, I spent the time on ice breaking and putting everyone at ease (including myself). I explained to them the course objectives and what I had planned for the next four weeks. The first week would be spent on teaching them basic operations of the computer and MS word. In the second week I would cover Excel and Multimedia.
Third week would be totally devoted to Internet; mainly emailing and Internet surfing. The last week would deal with trouble shooting and assessment. They were all very attentive and asked me lots of questions. By common consent, we decided to have the class every day from 11am to 12 noon.
Later that evening, when mom came home, I briefed her of the developments. Mom told me a few things about my trainees and their known nature. Shobha was a woman who loved pomp and show. She dressed well and loved to display her jewelry. Raaji was a very quiet woman who dressed very conservatively and was religious too. She was soft spoken and displayed a quiet dignity all the time.
According to mom, Padma was an extrovert and never stopped talking. She was full of energy and enthusiasm and was hard working. She is also reported to be very helpful to everyone. They all knew very little of Suguna aunty and became close to her only after her personal tragedy. She was a woman of dignity and poise, took time to teach yoga to the young kids. She was also reported to be a good writer of short stories.
That night, I thought of the four women whom I was going to teach computers for the next one month. Their images came to my mind.
Shobha was of medium height and fair complexion. She undoubtedly had a few extra pounds on her bottom and her waist. She had a nice face with cheeks a little chubby and her lips were full. A mole on her left cheek was like a beauty spot. She dressed well in colorful saris and blouses. Her blouse design was very eye catching, showing lots of her back and the low cut neck revealed her cleavage and spillage.
