A Mouthful of Silence 

When the bus conductor stepped ahead to collect the fare, Meema’s gaze fell right on his teeth. They were perfectly cut and aligned like pearls, like uniform little kernels of corn on a corn cob. See this middle-aged man, Meema thought, sun and cigarettes have baked his face, but how can his teeth be so white, so perfect? Meema went on thinking even after paying the bus fare.

Had it been any other day Meema might have joked with the conductor, she might have asked about the teeth also, but not today. Today, she was sad. She was on her way to see the fifth doctor. She woke up early, grabbed a bag in her hands as if to buy vegetables, and at the bend in the road, she stepped onto the bus.

There were these two women, earlier that week, talking amongst each other while waiting in the queue at the ration depot, one telling the other about this very good dentist in Dalgate. Meema overheard them, and made sure to listen in to their whole conversation about the dentist. Then, she left home quietly, in home clothes, without having tea, to see this doctor.

Some passenger shouted…