Involuntary Reaction (Part 5 of 7)

Mrs Sharma was rather proud of herself.
She had put this little upstart in her place and could now get back to her life. Frankly she did not have time for all this temple drama.
It was close to tax season. She would need to work late tomorrow. She watched the back of Deepa's Saab whizz down the street and was about to get some receipts in order when she became distracted-and succumbed.

She speed-dialed her best friend, Mrs Jagmohan who had been eagerly awaiting her call. She updated her on today's tea party.

Mrs Jagmohan soon became aquainted with the facts. According to Mrs Sharma, Deepa was not evil. She was an earnest young thing and had some innovative ideas but ultimately she was a dreamer and an artist. She did not understand the real world. Mrs Sideshwar indulged in a chuckle as she related Roopa's preposterous suggestion that the temple board was misogynistic.

"The girl is paranoid, I tell you, Maddhu" laughed the wife of the temple board chairman. " Suggesting that my poor hubby HATES women. I wish he did! Then I wouldn't have to worry when he goes to Chicago for all those Cardiology conferences!!"'

The two ladies snickered like fifth-graders in a health education class.

"Maybe if she was married, she would know more about communication. With men, you cannot talk too much and Deepa just goes on and on telling her thrilling tales like she is some kind of story-teller! Who does she think she is "Aesop??"

Mrs Sharma was almost spluttering her words out as though she had been rehearsing them for days.

"With men, you must get to the point right away otherwise they are just waiting for you to finish so they can tell you THEIR ideas.

Mrs Jagmohan agreed wholeheartedly.

"And if you get emotional, why you might as well just stay home and crochet BABY bonnets!!"

This prompted shrieks of laughter from Mrs Jagmohan.

Mrs Sharma stopped suddenly at this last burst of mirth. She felt the slightest twinge of guilt. Here was her friend, Maddhu, whose only involvement in the community were her tupperware parties and shopping expeditions.

They had certainly indulged themselves today.

"But seriously, Maddhu, it's not that she is a bad person. It's just she has never really worked in the corporate world or with groups of men.

Mrs Jagmohan found this all rather enlightening. She had always been quite happy to be a full-time housewife herself and listened to tales about corporate America as though it were Narnia or a fantasy island.


Mrs Sharma began to feel rather uneasy. There was something nagging her at the back of her mind that she kept ignoring like a throbbing wisdom tooth that needed extraction. Her only son, Jagdish and daughter-in-law, Malka, lived about an hour away. He had been involved with an organization called IPO "Indians in Political Office" and had thought the temple would be an ideal place to recruit help. Mrs Sharma was proud of his activist ways and Malka's leadership skills. She had clipped photos of Jagdish in the local paper and even figured out how to scan and post them on her newly-created facebook page. She had memorized all the comments underneath the photos.

Mrs Sharma had a healthy relationship with her daughter-in-law that defied the awful stereotypes on those satellite channel Indian soap operas. She had a fantasy of the entire Sharma clan volunteering together for the good of mankind and Jamna Temple. Her daily tweets reflected this.
Jagdish and Malka could not bear any more Facebook-induced guilt and began to head small temple projects.But it had not exactly been smooth sailing.

Soon Jagdish tried telling his parents how he was finding it difficult to work with certain board members. He had tried to tell his mother how much of a struggle it had been to convince the temple to adopt any of his suggestions but she would keep silencing him or changing the subject. Finally he told her to check her email.

Mrs Sharma had been avoiding reading it for days. But she guiltily hung up with Mrs Jagmohan and unwillingly logged into her computer. Surprisingly, it was not from her son but from his wife, Malka. Even more humiliating.

Dear Amma ( she began)

I feel kind of awkward writing this. But I can't watch Jagdish drive himself up the wall any more. I don't know why he doesn't just talk to you about this in person. But you know how it is. Men and communication. ( Malka had inserted the letters LOL and a small smiley face here)

After you mentioned how we could maybe encourage youth participation at Jamna Temple, we asked if I could distribute some flyers about political engagement there and they said we would have to wait until the next board meeting which is not for another 3 months.

Then- one of my friends from high school- maybe you remember Tracy McKay with the red hair? She was always interested in Eastern religions.. Well she's now a ceritified yoga instructor and she offered to give discount classes at the temple. Well the board did not approve saying that she need to be a spiritual yogi leader, not just some American wannabe.
Bottome line- Amma, I don't think this temple is a good match for us. It would have been fun to have a family volunteer project but this place is just not keeping up with the times.She could not read to the end.
Mrs Sharma turned off the computer and stared at the fading Microsoft logo.

She needed to call Deepa.
She needed to communicate with her about communication skills.