Page:Broken Ties and Other Stories.pdf/111

 ‘What else have I to be anxious about?’ she asked simply. ‘All the rest he has to think out for himself. There I can neither understand nor help.’

‘But consider, Damini,’ I said. ‘When man’s mind puts forth all its energy into one particular channel, his bodily needs become reduced correspondingly. That is why, in the presence of great joy or great sorrow, man does not hunger or thirst. Satish’s state of mind is now such that it will do him no harm even if you do not look after his body.’

‘I am a woman,’ replied Damini. ‘The building up of the body with our own body, with our life itself, is our dharma. It is woman’s own creation, So when we women see the body suffer, our spirit refuses to be comforted.’

‘That is why,’ I retorted, ‘those who are busy with things of the spirit seem to have no eyes for you, the guardians of mere bodies!’

‘Haven’t they!’ Damini flared up. ‘So wonderful, rather, is the vision of their eyes, it turns everything topsy-turvy.’

‘Ah,’ woman,’ said I to myself. ‘That is what fascinates you. Srivilas, my boy, next time you take birth, take good care to be born in the world of topsy-turvydom.’