Game Changer

Anshula, Anshula, Ni evite anu?" (Where are you?) shouted Nalla to his wife Anshu without even looking up from his newspaper. He was engrossed reading the Malayala Manorama, an activity he has been doing over the past 40 years. For Nalla, the Manorama has been an inseparable partner ever since he returned back from Dubai, so much so that he forgets that time passes by and he has important work lined up daily. This activity irritates his wife as she considers the newspaper to be the other woman in her husband's life. 

Hearing her husband shout, Anshu came outside quickly from the kitchen rubbing her hands on the end of the setthu mundu she was wearing. Seeing her husband minutely reading the newspaper and completely ignoring her presence in the balcony, she screamed, "Why did you call me?"

Nallasivan Nair looked up at his wife Anshula's face with a worried expression. Anshula immediately felt something was wrong and quietly came and sat on the chair placed opposite to her husband. She glanced at him and asked, "What's the matter? You look worried"

Nallasivan nodded his head like a man on fit, tears started welling up on the red eyes of the tall dark man. He became hysterical all of a sudden and started wailing like a mad elephant. In between his wails Anshula could only hear some unclear words, "It's over!.. It's over!!" She panicked and immediately rushed to her husband. 

Several hundred thoughts came in Anshula's mind, "Did anything happen back in the village?" "Are our sons fine in Canada?" "What must have happened- why is Nalla crying?" She knew something was terribly wrong. Nalla- her partner for over thirty five years is a strong man, she has never seen him looking so helpless and wretched. 

Even before she could ask any question Nalla rushed to the wash room and locked himself in. Anshula sprinted behind him and started banging the washroom door asking Nalla to open it. She was frightened to the core even though she didn't know the reason for his strange behaviour. Seeing no hope of her husband opening the door she started pleading him to do so as there was no one nearby to break it open. Nalla asked her to leave him alone but Anshula sat near the washroom door weeping. After sometime as Nalla came out, he looked like a broken man. He dragged himself to the bed and laid down. He still had tears in his eyes. He started blabbering something which Anshula didn't understand.

Nallasivan and Anshula lived in a small villa near the Kappad beach at Kozhikode in Kerala. It's been thirty five years when they started living in that place. Nallasivan who used to work in a reputed hotel named Raffles in Dubai had earned enough money by working as an Assistant Manager for more than 20 years. As he returned he bought a plot of land and spent all his savings to make five sea-facing cottages and a resort. They installed all the state-of-the-art facilities in the premises so that tourists could enjoy, relax as well as taste the cusines from across the world which Nallasivan could cook very well. 

However, this time the peak season for tourists was already going bad for the Nair's. First, it was the flood which ravished them and now the spread of a terrible virus named Corona was bashing up his business like anything. He was already having a loan of a crore rupees to repay and interests have accumulated to seventeen lakh rupees already. It's been over six months there is no business and thus he spent all his savings to repay the loan. Now he had no money left. He was worried about his family's future. He didn't know how he would pay for his son's education in Canada, nor did he find any way to send money to his parents back in the village. He was bankrupt now. His mind was not working at all. He didn't know how to revive his business. The lockdown and absence of tourists made his plans haywire. 

Nalla finally got up from the bed and walked towards sobbing Anshula. He said, "We are finished dear. Look at this news report!" There is no chance of revival, the economy has dropped abruptly." "How will I repay the bank loan ?" I am clueless!!