No.

It didn't help.
The wiper blades didn't just help a penny because the windshield in front looked like a pool of flowing water.

" Damn! " , Jai screeched stop his Sedan. He definitely had to. He knew the roads quite well, literally extremely well to even park the car at the sides of the almost empty roads covered by canopy, even though he could absolutely see nothing.

" Jesus! What have you got me into? It's already eleven! " , he checked his phone.

" No missed calls? How even? " , he dialed a number.

" Hello mom, mom I'm terribly stuck in the rain. I'll try reaching home as soon as possible. Don't worry. Yeah.. Yeah, and don't wait, neither make the servants do that. I have the keys. Go upstairs. Have you taken the antihypertensive? Good girl. I'll be there, bye..bye.. "

He cut the call and sat locked inside the car, with the world melting down outside.

" Music? Thop!" , he connected his iPad to the stereo and closed his eyes, pushing the seat down.

A knock or two on the window pane.

Jai shot his eyes open. Who the hell could be outside in this devastation?

He slowly slided the glass down.

The world outside looked translucent. He could somehow make out who knocked though.

A woman.
And a bundle in her arms.
Drenched to bone.

" I... I...I need help Sir! My umbrella just everted and broke into pieces. I find nowhere to stand, the shades don't help at all. My house is nearby, but if I walk a second more, my child will die from pneumonia. Sir, please help me. I beg of you! "
The rain was cutting her words.

Jai wanted to hesitate, but the bundle being a child didn't allow him to. Although, how could he possibly help when he himself couldn't drive?
Probably just a shelter till the rain stopped.

" Come to the other side. "

He opened the door to the seat next to him.

The lady quickly got in and took seat.

A worn out lean lady, terribly wet. The child in her arms was wrapped like an article, but it still didn't help.

Jai stretched his hand to pull out a towel from the backseat.

" You might like to dry a bit. " , he handed.

The lady was nearly her age, definitely not doing well to make ends meet, but had a pale glow on her terribly wet face. She however first tried to dry her baby. Jai watched the process.

" A girl? " , Jai wanted to ask. Instead he coughed.

" Ma'am, I myself am stuck. I cannot drive in this rain. We can wait for the timebeing till it stops, then you can go your way, I can go mine. "
He definitely didn't want to entertain a stranger at all.

The lady stopped wiping, and stared fixedly at Jai.

Making him uncomfortable.

" Err... ", Jai didn't complete but stared back.

" I'll guide you down to my home sir. Just start the car and go straight along the sides for ten minutes exactly. We'll reach home. "

Stubborn enough. But who cared.

" I'm sorry. I cannot. " , Jai replied back indifferently.

" My baby takes dinner at nine. I'm already running two hours late owing to this calamity. No longer, I beg. "

" Two hours didn't harm. One more won't as well. "

The lady kept staring while Jai tapped fingers on the steering trying to divert himself.

" Wish you were a mother. Or had one. "

" What do you mean? I have my mom!! " , Jai looked at her startled.

" Then start the car for her sake. "

" If I die, do you realize what she'll go through? " , he pressed his lower jaw.

" Death? I wish it were that easy to have one. "

Jai didn't really know what ignited him suddenly. Maybe the lady's straight yet cutting words, or her deep set eyes despite pale features, or the sudden mentions of mother, or her indifference to death.

He pushed start the engine.

" Lead me. " , Jai made a move, like blind. Through the deadly downpour.

The lady heaved a sigh of relief.

---

A hut.

The car jolted stop before the structure that could be called nothing else, after almost twenty minutes of a slow drive down a by lane. Soon after Jai started driving, the rain decided to slow down its rage, quite a bit. The surroundings looked clear now.

A lamp glowed on the verandah of the hut that illuminated the surroundings.

Jai searched for an umbrella in the closet before, found one and handed it to the lady.

The lady threw a thankful stare at him and got down, protecting the baby from the rains, throwing open the umbrella.

" The rain's growing slow. You may go your way now. And thank you so very much, give my good faith to your mother. "

Without waiting for an answer, the lady ran down the road to the hut, getting in hurriedly.

Jai watched the process. And smiled within. That he could help someone, contented him to a great extent. He started the engine.

---

The lady opened the door.

Jai stood with the most embarrassed expression on earth.

" By god's grace my engine stopped working once and for all. This night is disastrous. I couldn't move an inch ahead. I know I shouldn't have intruded into a household at this point of time, and maybe your husband will be disturbed as well. Only if you could tell me if there's a mechanic nearby...

I know this place well, but the night seems so... "

The lady moved aside and gave him way in.

Jai got in and continued, ".... I mean nights bring out a different face to places. Like I never knew there's dwellings as these on bylanes as such.... "

The lady disappeared and reappeared with a worn out piece of cotton towel. She had herself changed into a shabby salwar.

" I'm sorry you got drenched cause I took your umbrella. " , she said handing the towel.

" It's...alright. "

Jai looked around.

He hadn't seen a more clumsy dwelling.

A single bed, on which the baby now lay asleep.

The tiny room had ropes tied from one corner to another, for hanging clothes. The room had an almirah apart from the bed.

No chair. No table. Nothing else. A noisy table fan was dangerously fixed to the side of the bed that cooled the baby at present.

At one corner, there was a stove. Something was cooking. Probably rice. Jai tried to look for more rooms inside.

" I'm sorry I can offer you nothing to sit on. You can sit on the bed. "

The lady took back the towel.
" If you wish to sit.... " , she added and went inside. Probably, there was the washroom.

How could humans stay in here? In such choking spaces?

Jai kept standing. He probably should leave soon. But how?

He slowly took seat at the corner of the bed, glancing the baby through the corner of his eyes. A girl mostly.
The spitter spatter of the rain echoed through the tinned roofs. The walls were shabby, heavily marked with seepage. An obnoxious smell made him giddy.

" I hardly know of any mechanic around. Probably you need to wait till dawn. How far is home? " , the lady reappeared.

" Not...far..
But... " , Jai looked around.

" I know it's hard for you spending a moment here. You look quite big a man. Economically I mean. " , she sat before the stove checking the rice. The baby stirred. She immediately got up to pat.

" A girl? " , Jai asked finally.

She nodded a yes. And sat down again.

" No... That's not an issue... " , Jai caught back the trail of the conversation.
" Your husband might....find it awkward... " , Jai looked around once again.

The lady was now sieving water off the rice.

Broken aluminum containers, Jai noticed and looked away.

" You don't need to worry. Staying for the night is your call. Already it's past twelve. A matter of few more hours." , the lady got up.

Jai looked at the rice.

" I guess you didn't have dinner. I'm such an intruder... "

" Not at all. I cook in the night for the next day. "

" Did she eat? " ,Jai remembered of the baby's dinner.

The lady nodded.

" Err....if you don't mind, your name? "

" Sonara.
Sonara Parvez. "

Something banged inside his head springing him up. She stared at him, cringing her forehead a bit.

" I... I think it's getting real late. Mom will be waiting, and...I feel uncomfortable staying here this way... "
Jai reached the door.

Sonara slowly said,
" I believed elite Hindus hardly detest Muslims anymore... this way. "

Who even said that? Jai introspected.

" N..n..not at all that way... I... " , he lied and opened the door at a go.

Only to be greeted by a devastating rain and a terrible thunderstorm. The thunder loud enough to wake a sleeping baby up making it wail. Sonara ran to take her in her lap, but didn't for once ask Jai to close the door.

Jai Prakash Raichand, an orthodox Hindu elite lad, stood stuck in between nature's foul play on one hand, and on the other...those forms of existence he would have never thought of welcoming in the peaceful and posh life he led, even in his worst nightmares.

----