Permanent Address

They had just shifted to Nelli, a town somewhat unheard of. She had to search a good school for her daughter once again and then find something productive for herself.

          Kannan was ambitious & had changed his job recently. She had agreed to take a back seat & looked for free lancing jobs in the hours her husband & daughter would be out. She went to open her account in a nearby bank. The man at the desk filled a form, taking her details in. Then he said, ‘ Madam I need your address proof ‘. She gave him the Rent Agreement. ‘ This won’t do ‘, he said, as it had only Kansan’s name, not hers. He then asked if the landline, cylinder, cellphone bill…anything that was in her name. For the first time she realised she didn’t have anything in her name to show her address proof & no permanent address proof either. The passport had an address where they lived earlier. 

              She bugged Kannan the entire day. She made sure, the next house rental agreement  in whichever place they moved to, would have her name as well. Next came the permanent address proof. Well after a decade of shifting places, they did buy an apartment, the papers of which bore her name as the co-owner. Finally she could write her address proof & the permanent address proof with a flourish.

               Then something as obscure as a virus shook her world, her address. The Man was no more. What then, is a permanent address ? Where does one really live ? She questioned.