Anne looked at the stack of bills on the table. Electricity, gas, phone, water. There were also others. Jithin’s school fees,the house rent, her teacher’s diploma course fees. Her sister had told her not to try to pay them all at once. “Try to get an extension from whoever will let you have it, you just lost your husband for God’s sake”.
But who will she even talk to about an extension? Another man? What if she needed to talk to a man about getting an extension? Years spent trying to get Sundar to stop drinking had ended only with his failing liver and a mountain of debt. Leaving college to raise Jithin—and refusing her mother-in-law’s help—now felt like her life’s biggest mistake.
The next morning as she and Jithin were getting ready, the phone rang.
“Hello?” said an older man’s voice. “Is it Venkatanarayana Kovil office?”
Anne hesitated. Had they already cut off her telephone line and given it to .. a religious organization?
“I am calling to make a donation”, continued the old man, confidently.
Several thoughts raced through Anne’s mind – I’ll pay it back, it won’t even be like I stole it. This God will forgive me. I’ve just lost my husband and I have a little one to take care of. Please let the world show me some mercy. But what if he complains to the police?
“Yes sir. Please hold” she said.
Jithin was waiting patiently for his mother to finish the phone call. She sent him outside to wait on the small balcony, sparing him from witnessing her desperate gamble.
“Yes sir, what is your name and address?” She sat in front of her computer and pulled open her online banking account. “We are only accepting direct bank transfers at this moment sir” she said.
There, she had given this man an out. He could withdraw his donation now if he wanted to.
“That is fine madam, just give me the bank account details”.
She gave him Sundar’s bank account details. “Sundar is the temple trustee’s name right?’, asked the man. “Yes sir”, said Anne in the firmest voice she could muster. I will pay it back, I will pay it back.
“Ok madam, I will transfer the amount now, please confirm if you get it”.
She waited for two whole minutes, she really needed to leave now.
“Ok I need to go now sir, there is another call waiting” she said. “Yes yes”, replied the man, “today is an auspicious day after all, I hope the temple will get more donations”.
Later she logged into the bank account. She sat back in horror as she saw how much the man had donated.She would be debt free tomorrow. She wrote down the exact number and started hatching a plan for how she would pay it back.
Glossary
Kovil – Tamil word for Temple
