Room to Live...

Characters:
Rani
35 year old woman of the lower class, dark and thin. She works as a house maid in a couple of houses. She is the sole bread-winner of the family.
Gaja
Rani's husband. A 40 year old tall man of the lower class, dark and lanky. Believer of the Epicuriean philosophy of life, does not work/worry about his family.
Rani's children:
Vinoth
14 years old, dark, big eyes, looks short for his age, studying 9th class.
Sathish
11 years old, dark, sharp eyes, thin, studies 6th class.
Kamala
9 years old, dark, pretty looking, thin, short, in 4th class.
Kandan & Kumaran
brothers to Rani, both elder.

Setting:

[The setting is the inside of a hut. Dim Sodium monochrome light from a bulb on the left and another on the right. Upstage left is the kitchen corner. A few bare utensils of various sizes, an urn and an earthern pot. A few onions and curry leaves lie on a muram. A small sized shelf with three racks of bottles, may be containing spices.
On the wall, towards stage left are three pictures of Hindu gods and godesses, decorated with turmeric and saffron. Dried up flowers adorn the pictures. To the right is a rusted steel almirah. Below are a few bundles of clothes and a rusted trunk.
To the stage right is a bamboo cot. Gaja is lying on the cot wearing a lungi and a vest. He seems to be asleep. His shirt hangs on one of the cot's legs.
Under the cot are arranged pillows and bedsheets. A few feet from the cot, towards the centre stage is a ragged mat on which Vinoth, Sathish and Kamala are seated. They have their worn-out school bags next to them and are doing their homework.
To the stage right is a fan of an old model, turned on and making a droning sound.
When the screen opens, Gaja gets up, sits still for a couple of moments and goes to the fan, turns it towards him.]
Kamala: Appa... we won't get air now.
Gaja: Concentrate on your work... wants the fan...
[Rani comes in. She is wearing an old cotton saree. She carries with her an yellow cloth bag. Gaja continues in a mocking tone]
Queen?!... Let me tell you, don't get used to these luxuries. You might not get them in the other house you go to.

[Rani leaves her bag near the stove and begins doing her chores- washes face, lights diyas, cuts vegetables... all the while talking]

Rani: Why can't she have it? I'll make sure she gets it. As if I'll marry her to the first fool who comes on way- am I like my parents without eyes?
Gaja: So... you are the sole authority of her life!
Rani: Who else then? Who has taken care of the children so far? You are not bothered one way or the other if we are alive or dead! You do not even care to work for your family...
Gaja: Che'... a man can not rest peacefully in this house... [Takes his shirt and starts putting it on] Problem of sending women to work... they start thinking they are the boss.
Rani: Did I ask you? If you are so worried, why don't you find a job? Then I will stay at home and let you be the boss... [Gaja walks out] and I do not do a boss's job. I have to wash plates outside to be the boss at home.
Kamala: Amma, can I turn the fan now?
Rani: What? Are you worried only about the fan? Not a soul to console me... Here I am, living this cursed life with my brothers right next door living like zamindars.

[Kamala gets back to her books after Vinoth nudges her. As she is talking, Rani continues to chop onions and prepare the meal. After this, she gets up, goes to the yellow cotton bag, takes out a half empty packet of bicuits and gives it to the children. She turns the fan towards them and gets back to the kitchen corner.
Vinoth shares the biscuits among the others. They whisper as they snack on the biscuits.
Rani searches for something inside the spice bottles. She finally pulls out a soiled ten rupee note.]

Rani: Vinoth, can you go to the shop in the street corner and get me some tomatoes?
Vinoth:Okay amma. For how much do I buy?
Rani: For four rupees.

[Vinoth goes out. Rani continues her cooking.]

Kamala: Sathish, today we learnt about different kinds of houses . Look at these pictures da.
Sathish: Hey, this kutcha house is like our house.
Kamala: Didn't you know? Our house is a hut.
Sathish: What else did you learn?
Kamala: [Recites like a parrot.] A house has drawing room, kitchen, pooja room, bed room and bath room.
Sathish: But we do not have these many rooms right? We have got only one room; then how do we call it a house?

[Vinoth comes in, gives the tomatoes and change to Rani. Kamala gets up with her book and goes to Rani.]

Kamala: Amma, look at this. We don't have these many rooms...
Rani: First look if you have food for the night! Go back and do your work.
Vinoth: Come here Kamala. Amma is busy cooking food for us. Tell me, what do you want?
[The two go and sit on the mat.]
Kamala: Look here anna. It is given that a house has drawing room, kitchen, pooja room, bed room and bath room.
Sathish: We have only one room. How can we call it a house?
Vinoth: But we have all these parts of the house.
Kamala: Where?
Vinoth: Like you said, in this one room.
Sathish: How? Show us.
Vinoth: There is the bed room... [Points to the cot] there is our pooja room... [Points to the pictures of the gods] we are right now sitting in our drawing room, our mother is cooking in the kitchen and we have a bath room outside, near the well.
Kamala: But we do not sleep in our bedroom.
Vinoth: That is because we have a small house. By the way, what about your Maths homework? Uma miss told me you are not doing your homework properly...
Kamala: That is not me. I finished my homework. It is Sathish who did not do his work.
Sathish: I was actually waiting for you. I did not understant it.
Vinoth: Okay. I am here. Can we do it now?

[Sathish takes out his Maths book and notebooks with a long face. Kamala makes a face at him and starts reciting the different rooms of the house, pointing to the different corners of the house.
Gaja walks in in a drunken stupor. His clothes are askew and are soiled. He slurs as he talks.]

Gaja: Ai-i-i-i.... wher-r-r-e... a-a-are you de? Where a-a-r-r-r-e you, you bitch? Talk to me n-n-o-o-o-w-w-w...
Rani: [Continues doing her work] Come home man! I have got a palanquin ready at your foot and a feast ready for you.
Gaja: O-o-o-o-o... If you on-l-l-l-y did th-a-a-a-t... you would b-e-e-e a p-r-r-oppe-r-r-r woman.
Rani: [Looks up to him] What right have you to talk about it? [Gets back to her cooking] Has not held a job for more than a week... never brought a penny for the family... but wants to be the master of the house!...
Gaja: Aye-e-e-e... Yes de-e-e-e... I am-m-m your-r-r ma-a-a-ster-r-r. You-u-u are my ser-r-r-r-vant-t. You must do-o-o-o wha-a-a-t ever-r-r I ask you to do-o-o-o.
[The children stop studying and look at their parents.]
Rani: [Gets up and walks up to him.] I am not your servant and this house is not where your orders work. Get out!
Gaja: Get-t-t o-u-u-t-t-t?! Get-t-t o-u-u-t-t-t?!!! Who-o-o do you-u-u-u thi-i-i-nk you a-a-a-r-r-r-e spe-e-e-aking to?
Rani: I very well know that I am speaking to a son of a bitch!
Gaja: How-w-w dar-r-r-e you ca-a-a-l-l-l-l me-e-e that?!
Rani: [Turns towards the audience in tears.] You are just that. You are an impotent who cannot take care of his family.
Gaja: Ai-i-i-i... You-u-u-u blood-d-d-d-y bitch. I wil-l-l-l-l show you-u-u-u who-o-o I am!

[Gaja drags Rani down by her hair and starts kicking her.
Kamala starts crying. Sathish runs out. Vinoth runs to his mother and tries to shield her.
The following dialogues of Rani, Gaja and Vinoth are spoken simultaneously.]
Rani: [Sits up and looks at Gaja] Yes hit me... I was resting leisurely all day long on the bed... tired of not getting sleep.... did not do my work... so you are teaching me a lesson...
Gaja: How-w-w dar-r-r-e you cal-l-l-l me that? This-s-s will te-e-e-e-ach you to shut up. If you have four-r-r-r annas-s-s- with you, you think you ar-r-r-re the que-e-e-e-n...
Vinoth: Appa... appa... please pa... stop it pa!... please stop pa... appa...

[Sathish comes in running with Kandan and Kumaran. They are in their lungies and vests. One has a towel around his neck. Their right hands show that they have come in the middle of their dinner.
They hold Gaja back and push him on to the cot. Sathish and Kamala rush to their mother's side crying.
Gaja continues to murmur all through.]

Kandan: Every other day you have a fight and we have to come here saving you.
Kumaran: Aye Rani! Why can't you keep quiet? Why do you start a fight?
Rani: Me? Am I the one? This sick fellow does not go to a job... Even if I manage by washing dishes, he does not let me be in peace. He waits to drink my blood...
Kandan: You know about him... Why make a fuss?
Rani: What is it for you? You have your own life of luxury. Why worry about me?
Kumaran: Now, don't start fighting with us. [Turns to Sathish, Vinoth & Kamala] Dai ! Did you eat?
Sathish: No maama.
Vinoth: Amma was cooking. I just now got tomatoes for her.
Kumaran: Okay... okay! Come home and eat.
Kamala: What about amma?
Rani: Food is the only thing that I lack right now!
Kandan: What do the children know about it? Let me go and get them food. [Goes out.]
Rani: I am a cursed being and these are also cursed because they are born to me.
Kumaran: Enough of all the talk Rani. Go to bed. Let us talk about it tomorrow morning.
[Kumaran and Vinoth help Rani to bed.]
Rani: What will happen tomorrow? It is an everyday battle that I fight. He does not work and neither lets me be in peace. I wish he were dead. It would be better if we were all...
Kumaran: Chee! What is this you are saying in front of the children? Go to sleep silently now.
Rani: Sleep...? How will I sleep? Sleep does not come to me. I only die temporarily every night.
Kumaran: Okay... okay. Now just lie down.

[Kandan comes in with food. Kamala and Sathish get plates. The three children sit and eat the food.
Kandan and Kumaran go out.
After a few moments...]

Kamala: Sathish, this rice is so good da.
Sathish: Yes de. It is not like what we eat in our house.
Vinoth: It is more costly than what we buy from the ration. Maama buys it from the provision shop.
Kamala: Can we also buy there?
Vinoth: When father also starts earning we will also buy there.
Sathish: I wish till then we eat at maama's house.
Kamala: Then everyday our amma has to get beaten up by appa.
[Rani whimpers.]
Vinoth: Both of you stop talking and eat your food.

[Curtain falls.]

"Coffee Break"- a 2 minute play.

Principal Actors.
Sudheep: A 25 year old software architect, working with an efficient company.
Janavi: A 23 year old research student of sociology.

[Chennai. A 11 to 11 coffee shop. Five teak wood tables with three chairs around each. One at the centre front and the others around them. Spot light on the centre front table. Sitting on the chair looking towards the entrance of the stage is Sudheep, in murky green cargoes and a green & white striped T-shirt. His elbows are resting on the table with his finger tips touching. His i-pod lies askew on the day's newspaper beside his N-73 gadget.
Two other tables are filled with the after college students. In one other table is a young couple newly in love. A soft western classic instrumental track plays on. The clinking of ceramic cups and the clanking of spoons blend in harmony with the conversation. Sudden bursts of laughter from the tables with the college-goers.
Janavi walks in in her blue jeans and red kurti. She is smiling wide. She winks at him and sits in the opposite chair. The waiter enters to leave two iced granitas- blue for Sudheep and orange for Janavi.]

Sudheep: Looks like you've had a bright day?!
Janavi: Yup! I have all reasons to count it a memorable day. Let us mark it by ordering something special.
(looks around for the waiter)
Sudheep: Wah... Wah... Wah... But what is it?
Janavi: I got the Google job! (winks) Remember? I had applied a couple of months ago? The same. I am all excited. So, it's my treat!
Sudheep: Oh! (looks as if he has lost his grip)
Janavi: I am supposed to be joining next week. (Picks up the ear phones of the i-pod. About to put it in her ear...)
Sudheep: Next week? Don't you think it's too soon?
Janavi: (One ear phone plugged into her right ear) No! I have been waiting for it all along. Actually, the wait has been long... I was nervous you know? But just when I thought I had missed it...
(Sudheep looks lost in his own thoughts)
Sudheep?.... Sudheep!!!
Sudheep: Er... yes?
Janavi: What's up man? Anything wrong?
Sudheep: No... but... Janavi?... Do you really think you need this job?
(Removes the ear phone, looking at him incredulously)
Janavi: What do you mean do I need it?
Sudheep: I mean you can work right here right? In Chennai?
Janavi: (laughs scornfully) But Sudheep! There is no Google office in Chennai.
Sudheep: I know. But may be some other concern?...
Janavi: Ouf! Sudheep! Common man! You knew I had applied for the job, didn't you?
Sudheep: Yes... yes..., I knew. But... but...
Janavi: But what? You thought I would'nt get it? Is that what your 'but' means?
Sudheep: Janavi! Don't get too hyped. We are just talking about it. I am not asking you to quit.
Janavi: Quit? Huh! How did that freaky idea get into your mind? Do you know how many rounds of tests and interviews I had gone through for this?
Sudheep: Janavi relax!.. Listen to me atleast?!
(silence)
I just... I just want us to be... to be close together.
Janavi: I think we are. What more?
Sudheep: But then, if you move to Hyderabad... if you move out of Chennai... then... then... don't you think we will lose our intimacy?
Janavi: What? What on earth...?
(silence)
Sudheep! Do you realise how silly you sound?
Sudheep: It is not silly Janavi! Why don't you...
Janavi: Oh please! Cut it out! Just tell me what is going on in your mind?
Sudheep: I am not okay with it.
Janavi: What is not okay with you?
Sudheep: Your moving out of Chennai?
Janavi: Since when have you been taking my decisions in life?
Sudheep: Janavi but... don't you realise we have a future together?
Janavi: Furure together, yes! But it is my life I am thinking about and I don't see how it affects our future together. (pause)
(Sudheep stares blankly.)
C'mon Sudheep! You are talking as if the marriage is tomorrow and I am cancelling it...
Sudheep: (calm but anger is shown in his voice.) What are you going to do?
Janavi: (puts both her hands, palms open, on the table) I've told you. I have decided to go for it. I am not waiting for your permission. I was just informing you of my plans.

[Janavi packs her bag and walks out plcing some money on the table. Sudheep stares at it.]

ME

Walking through the canyons of trees and plants, I wet my feet. The dew drops left behind by night that had passes soothe the pain caused by thorns among the bushes. I walk ahead.

I had a dream.

I had a dream.

I don't have one. I don't know why. I walk ahead. Walking as just the muscular & mechanical action. I do not get any pleasure or joy in walking. The greean around has been toned down like numbed by pain. I know that something from within me is seeping out. But I like the feeling. It does not drain my energy. It neither does give me hope. I just walk on - without energy to even take one step ahead, without having the hope of living the next moment.

I walk on...

As the road strtches forward, I dont look ahead but I look back! Back into my life...


Did I forget how to look forward? I don't know. I don't care to know.

I am in a crowd. I am alone. I am laughing. I am crying. I simply smile. I am hurt. I am happy. I am sad. I am inert. I am simply scared. Which one of this is the real 'I'? Where do I find the real 'I'? Or is there a real 'I' at all? I don't know. I don't want to know.

There has been just a single person in my life. There has been a family in my life. There have been a hundred people in my life... no, even a thousand that I know of. A whole country. A whole planet that I lived in. But I very rarel crossed my city limits. How is the life beyond? What is the life beyond?

I don't know. I don't care to know.

I am not alone. I am jostling in a crowd. A crowd which is many me. I am several people. People pf different kind, different attitudes. People who feel free for different reasons. People who are bound for different reasons. People who are happy like me. People who are sad like me. People most unlike me. People most like me. They are all me. They all atleast have my face.

I am many people bacause I am woman.

"I define myself: I am a woman."

A Relationship.

Coffee Day! The hub of youth happenings and a warm cuppa my favourit cafe' mocha that I was waiting over for him. And as he walks inside now, my face lights up with a smile. He responds with the same. I pack my "Gone With the Wind" into my bag. A very romantic song goes on in the background and it is really lovely to e together after a long time.

"How is your day?" No hellos and hi. We've crossed all that.

He replies, "Yet to be made", and for that I present him with one more smile.

He places his order and then turns to me, "So?".
I reply back in the same syllable. "So!"
"I see that you are well up again. But the fever has still not left your eyes."
"Oh yes. It was really stupid being stuck to bed."
"I know you."
"I am happy."

Silence passes. His coffee (a plain cappuchino) arrives and he sips out of his cup.

"How is work?", I ask him.
"Hmmm... Nothing much."
"By the way, I was just thinking if I could apply for an offer in a publishing company. I have had enough of teaching."
"Well... If you feel so..."
"But the thing is like... it is more of an open environment there."
"If you are quite confident with your self, then take it in your stride."
"I think it should be more challenging."
"Well then go on. Let us see what you can make of it."

This is what I like in him. His word of encouragement that boosts me up whenever I am reluctant.
The music turns over to another song on special requisition. "One love..." and I think that one love is all that it needs to make life.

LOVE

"Love" is such a complex emotion as everyone of you who has known it would know. You can not always love a person. You can not just only love a person. We hate as we love and still we like the way we love them. Here is what I know of that brittle emotion.


You are the moon that I stole into my window.
You are the empty pen that I do not want to throw out.
You are the long waiting books on my shelf.
You are the late night walk on a lonely night.
You are the long lost memories that refuse to come back.
You are the phantom that would refuse a form.
You are the lost ticket to the long waited movie.
You are the calm before the tantrum.
You are the bliss of temptation.
You are the epiphany in my dreams.
You are the King of a lost crown.
You are the pea under the princess' beds.
You are the worst critic of my best work.
You are plenty where I need few.
You are the words that elude me.
I hate loving you.

MOTHER

My mother is one of the most influential person in my life. She has contributed a great deal into my life. And her experiences, good and bad, have taught me a lot of lessons in life. She is one person who works really hard and harder every day. So, here's one poem for her that i wrote in a workshop under the poet Roger Robinson.

It is an evening after sunset.
The evening bells of prayer
From nearby temple
Fill the air.
The birds are chirping
Back to their nests.

Everyone is retreating.
But her work has just begun.
She sits there at her table
Attentive to each detail
Her eyes focussed
To the size of pinheads.

Each paper around seeks her attention.
Answers that are marked
Need to be checked.
Complaints to be answered.

But the clock ticks away.
Mercilessly.

Why does he not stop?
Give her time to rest.
Move in her relaxed pace.
Why beed he rush?

The papers are sitting on her desk
For days now.
May be they are more comfortable here.
May be they are snoring.
Their stench fills the air.
Like the saw dust
Chipped off by a craftsman.

The chalk dust she carries from the class room,
Does not leave her.
As her lessons and influence
Never not leave her students.

My mother is a teacher.
Her lesson to me is
"Talk less & work more.
For yourself and others."

Bower

The man sat at the table, his steady gaze never leaving the door. He had been there that way for the past twenty minutes. He had been to office after a month that morning, but was not able to concentrate on work. So, he was there back home.
But only he was there at home.
He looked around the home as it was the first time in years he was getting to look at it.
This was the same home that had promised to fulfill his dreams. This was the same home in which he discovered new things about himself and his life.
Wasn't this the same place where he fell in love with Sunitha?
Now the name brought to him a flurry of memories and emotions.
He thoughtfully picked the coffee cup that was at the corner of the table.
Vinay was a young business man. To him his world of business had meant more than everything, only until he had met Sunitha.
She was the only woman in his life. She had brought changes in every aspect of his life. He had literally turned a new page. The changes were very visible and though friends made fun, they were indeed happy for such changes.


Vinay had met Sunitha at a friend's place. She was all surrounded by kids at his friend's birthday party. Vinay could not help keep looking at Sunitha whenever he heard the group laugh aloud. He was jealous as it was many days since he had laughed aloud like that.
It was not much later that he managed to find reasons to keep going back to his friend's place. It happened inevitably as he planned that they got to know each other and over a couple of months, a personal friendship developed.
Vinay made himself personal time for the first time in his life and that seemed as exciting as business was. He began laughing aloud. One by one everything followed. Sunitha brought laughter, music, books, cards and flowers into his life.

Vinay looked around the home with a sigh. Sunitha had named it 'bower'. She had said that bower was a very sweet and romantic name for a home. But somehow he had never managed to understand in what way.

The wonderful moment to which he was looking back to now had happened some two years back in this same 'bower'.

One fine afternoon, Sunitha had had a sudden wish to meet Vinay. She went to his office. But he had not been there.
Vinay had been then building his first own home, which was later to become 'bower'.
Having got the address from his office secretary, Sunitha had drove straight to the construction site where she found him.
Vinay was surprised to find her there. He was indeed happy.
He showed her around the place. She wanted to know every thing about the house. And what else was he there for but to explain everything that she needed to know.
Even after an hour of showing around the place, she did not seem to be satisfied. She left Vinay to go around the place herself. It was as if she wanted to go to every nook and corner of the home and see every thing of it.
Vinay left her alone but his eyes never did. They followed her and her every expression. She was as a child. She was excited. And he could never take his eyes off her.
Finally she had had her own time and walked back towards him. As he saw her walking towards him, sudden thoughts had hit his mind.
Vinay saw everything fall in place. Now he knew that he was in love. He also knew that this was the moment to tell her that. This was the perfect place.
Sunitha came with her ever glorious smile. She sat down next to him on the concrete.
"That's a wonderful home that you are building, Vinay."
"Do you like it?"
"Oh, I simply love it. I wish it were mine...."
"Well, it can be yours. I mean it could be our home."

That had been his proposal. He knew it was not a romantic setting.He had not even said 'I love you' as anybody else would have.
He was a bit too straight. She was not prepared for it. It came as sudden as a shock on her. And it was also very well understandable that she made excuses and moved off.

Seated at his table, Vinay smiled to himself. A smile that didi not have a trace of joy in it.

There had been complete silence between the two for three whole days. No single word was exchanged.
Vinay could not think of taking the first step to contact her. He was not ready to bear a refusal. He was clueless as to what was to be done.
Three days later, he was back at the building site.
There, Sunitha was waiting for him.
"What on earth made you stay away from this beautiful place for three whole days?"
"Do you mean to say that you were here all three days?"
"Of course i was. I was waiting for you to turn up. You were getting me really worried..."
The rest of her words were burried by her urgent need to blush. Vinay was smiling at her.

From then on, she was to become a part of his life. Their love developed as the home was built. They had great pleasure in making the home together. They would come in the evenings after the workers had left just to feel how their dream was taking shape.
Sunitha was fastidious about everything about the home. She thought over even minute details a lot.
"I do not want a sofa set Vinay. That would be too formal. Let's make it a diwan setting."
"Vinay, why dont we go for some chairs in the garden?"
"The bedroom should have vibrant colours. Not these off-white ones."
She wanted each aspect of it to be perfect.

"Sunitha, I want us married when this home is made. We'll come to live here together."
Her answer had been a wonderful smile that he would never forget. There were contented tears in her eyes. He reached out to her.
They had silently held hands the whole of that evening.

There was much to think of for Vinay these days. His mind went back to the day when they had first stepped inside this home, newly wed, to make it a 'bower'.

The emotions had been so intense that they just sat down in each other's arms.
Vinay had muttered a silent prayer that this love and contentment stay with them forever.
Somebody must have heard him then. Somebody must have heard him and were really jealous of them.

Vinay got up from his place and walked to the nursery that was there on the first floor.
He opened the door and warm air blew on his face. He went towards the cradle and gently rocked it.
The home took up the sound and continued to rock it.

Sunitha had been fully pregnant when they went shopping for the cradle. Sunitha had made a tough choice on it. She was not entirely pleased with this one. But then, when she walked out of the shop, another pregnant woman came to them.
"Excuse me. Could I have your cradle for a moment to show the shopkeeper? I want a similar one made."
But Sunitha had refused.
Later when Vinay asked her why she dint lend it, she replied
"Vinay, how do you expect me to do it? It is for our baby. I don want anybody else's to be the same."
"But Sunitha, I dont understand. You dint seem very happy with it till the woman asked you for the cradle."
She had come near him, put her hands around him and said, "Vinay, I love making people jealous of what i have."

Yes. That was what had happened. Somebody had been really jealous of them.
Vinay came down, shut the door and walked past the pooja room.
He had given up prayers for a month now.
Sunitha was dead for a month now.
He had a serious supposition that it was God who had been jealous of them.

"Mr. Vinay. We are really sorry. We could not save the baby."
It had been a boy.
But Vinay did not mind the loss. All he was worried of was Sunitha.
But it seemed as though Sunitha was more worried for her baby. Not wanting to leave the baby alone in another world, she followed him.

Vinay had inconsolable for many days. His friends and relatives had tried consoling him but in vain.
"Vinay. You are not a baby. You are a man. Learn to control your feelings."
This was one of the rebuke he had recieved when he refused to come out of his grief.
How can they understand?
Even she had not understood him.
Was she not his mother?
How could she leave him?
Was she not worried about him?

Vinay sat at the table. Tears flowed down his cheeks.
"I can not forget you Sunitha. I dont think I ever can. I remember everything vividly because of your absence. Come back. I need you."

'Bower' was leafless now. Vinay understood why Sunitha had named it 'bower'.