Sobriety--an exception

 Their fate went into petulant plunge, landing them into the pits of misery. The same old story of two generations of chronic drunkards. Peace goes out in an illustrious exodus from a house whose males spend most of the time in drunken oblivion.

The liquor-lover who quarrels and drinks non-stop is on a ceasefire today. The house was crumbling, the bricks losing their grip in the walls. It never was a home in any case. But even the namesake house, an assemblage of bricks and a roof overhead, was wearing away due to the negligence and constant strife and tension inside. The walls and the roof seemed to say enough is enough and started giving in.

A little piece of farmland was still in the family’s ownership. It was acquired by the government to build a road. The compensation money miraculously survived because the four daughters and their mother sat on it night and day. The entire female force rallied and banded together to ensure that the money was used in house-making only. The old crumbling house was dismantled. A new modest house emerged out of the ruins as the females of the family beat even the masons, bricklayers and laborers in contributing to the construction work. They worked full time with the construction staff to save the labor costs.

The liquor-lover seems sober today. The proud girls are watching with the immaculate dignity of caring daughters despite all the ill treatments by the menfolk under a patriarchal system. He is sprinkling water over the recently plastered walls. Holding the water hose he lets loose squirts of water like a child. He playfully wets his old father as well. It’s a big change because usually they squirt, sprinkle, pour and hurl the choicest abuses, cuss words and expletives at each other. The father also clumsily gambols a mild abuse. He teases his wife also and sprays water in her direction. How happy looks a house without drunken fights! Well, let’s hope the newly built house now becomes a happy home! However, there is not much chance of it being so given the liquor-loving father-son duo’s unswerving allegiance to the weird code of drunken conduct. But what’s wrong in hoping it to be a happy home at long last.