It was yet another day. Deepa sighed wondering why did the sun ever come up? Does he not get tired shrouded and decimated and gobbled up by the darkness every single night? 

She sighed, this time looking at her dismal surroundings about her. Her little…could it be called a house? Well, for practical purposes she would call her abysmal cardboard setup with a tin roof over her head, a house. Even this sorry excuse for a house was in danger of completely getting blown away by the cyclonic winds or swept away by an impending flood. She got up and dragged herself outside her dwelling towards the public bathroom. Just thinking of the long lines and the terrible stink made her head ache terribly... It had become a routine for her to use it for her ablutions and then when it became unbearable, complete the ritual by vomiting into a nearby gutter.
“Arrey Deepa! Going to the bathroom?”

“No for a Miss India pageant!” Deepa mumbled under her breath.

“What? Eh?” the fat busybody aunty asked her but the girl only shook her head and continued walking.

The fat aunty was a stubborn one who never shrank from her duties of poking her long, gifted nose into everybody’s business and offering solutions whether they wanted them or not, “Eh listen heroine, don’t go. There has been a dead rat in there since yesterday night. That lazy Mannu, the sweeper is fighting with all of us. He says he will clean only if we give him money. Does money grow on trees, tell me…?”
Deepa did not hear the rest of it and ran back to her house and sat down, “Why? Why god, why? Have never complained about anything. But, I just cannot go on anymore…”

Her mind flew back to the day she had returned from school and had found a crowd outside her house. As she pushed her way through, they had moved aside, giving her way, nodding at her sympathetically.

She had stepped in to find her grandmother howling beside the bodies of her parents. They had been killed by a freak accident while they were tilling their land.

She recalled she had not felt any emotion. She saw everyone crying and they tried to make her cry too, “Cry babu. Cry. Don’t keep it in. Cry…”
But she hadn’t. She had only felt slightly delirious like she was going to get a fever. They had made her go to sleep. And awoke the next day like nothing happened. In fact, from that day on, she never cried. She never spoke about her parents. Her grandmother worked as a maid and she studied hard. Their hard work paid off. Deepa had completed her graduation in home science and was working as a waitress at a quaint little café. The owner aunty was a shrewd old woman, whose voice dripped honey but Deepa knew she was calculative, manipulative and self-centered. Her friends all left for better employment but she stuck on. 

“I will wait for the golden ball of opportunity to appear in front of me and boy will I grab it with both my hands!”

But no golden ball of opportunity came her way but a ball of misfortune did bounce in to her life, knocking her life into oblivion. The café owner’s son had been visiting his mother. He was a first-class crook and when Deepa caught him red-handed embezzling his own mother, he turned the tables on her. She had been thrown out and charges pressed against her. Within a span of a week she had lost her job, her grandmother, all her money, her house and most of all, her reputation.

A loud noise brought her back to the present. She went out and saw many boys chasing a cart. A man was sitting inside the cart, with a loudspeaker.
 

He now spoke in to it, “, Our rich zamindar Mahesh babu’s new wife, Chhaya madam has a special scheme for youngsters between 18 and 25 years of age. They have to meet her secretary, Raman babu at their office, 4pm today. He will select 5 of you and each will be given 5000 rupees. And one week. You will have to spend this week in their farmhouse and one room will be allotted to each. You will have to use this time and opportunity to build something spectacular. Chhaya madam will visit each one of you and whoever impresses her the most will get a huge sum and lifelong support to make their dream come true.”
 

Deepa stood up as straight as an arrow and she could feel gooseflesh crawling all over her back and hands. She systematically charted out a plan. “That prize is mine!” she promised herself.
 

The week had breezed through. As Deepa stood in her chosen area, the mammoth kitchen of the big farmhouse, she tried not to think of the other contestants, that always made her nervous. She assured herself that she had done her best. And as the Gita says, she would concentrate on executing the task at hand to perfection and not dwell upon the fruits of labor. As the clock struck 12, she looked at the door with anticipation and right on dot, Chhaya madam stepped in, a huge smile on her pretty face.
 

“Well well” she said in her high-pitched, breezy voice, “What do we have here? I will not hide it from you. But I am seriously disappointed with the rest of them. And I have no hope from you either!”
 

So, saying, she sunk in to a chair, staring at her expressionlessly.
 

The next moment, Deepa sprang on her and the last thing Chhaya remembered was seeing Deepa’s face bearing an evil grin.
 

When Chhaya woke up next, she was delirious. She mumbled and was totally out of it. She got up with a start and was shocked to see her kitchen had been transformed in to a kind of a maze. It was unbelievable but all the shelves and the appliances had been expertly arranged that she was now in the center of it, trapped. A voice spoke from somewhere startling her, “Welcome Chhaya madam, to the maze of…” A pause and then the voice roared again, making her yelp, “DEATH…HAHAHAHA…”
 

Chhaya screamed, “W-WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS? I am just a bored rich man’s wife, looking out for some fun.”
 

“Fun it certainly will be Chhaya madam, but for me! HHAHAHAHA…. Now, the only way to escape is to make the correct choice at every table placed at the right turn of the maze. Reach the end of the maze and Voila! You would have saved yourself! But pity, you have just a half hour. Your time starts NOW!!”
 

Chhaya let out another scream and rushed forward hitting herself on her favorite mahogany dining table. She found a chit with a clue. It read 

Roses are red
Violets are blue
 

But a kid’s true love is…?
 

Chhaya bit her lip and then she shouted triumphantly,” Cheese?”
 

“Wrong answer! Two more chances…”
 

Chhaya scratched her head and then “Eureka! Chocolate!”
 

“Right answer! Take a right turn.”
 

Chhaya did and came across another, then another, until her plump figure begged for some rest and her chubby face was pink with exhaustion.
 

“Can I take a breather, please?”
 

The voice laughed, “You wanted fun, right? Alright. Let me indeed give you a breather. You have just two more to go. And the last two tables will have actual food.”
 

The exhausted lady’s face lit up like a thousand candles, “Here I come, stupid maze!”
 

And as she came upon the last but one table, she frowned in puzzlement. There was an assortment of different fruits. But they were all cased in plastic sheaths. There was a scissors too. She read the clue
Pick the odd man out, darling!”
 

Chhaya stared at the assortment of peaches, strawberries, grapes, nectarines, avocados, local exotic, you name it and they were there. Her mouth watered until she remembered this was serious. They were all fruits. Which was the odd one? And suddenly tears rained from her eyes, “I am sorry Bapu I never paid attention in biology class. I failed in all my subjects. Now, I can see only fruits. And nothing different. O! I am afraid what will happen if I fail? Will she kill me?”
 

The voice spoke again, “Try, maybe?”
 

And for the first time in her charmed life, Chhaya really used her brain cells. Suddenly a conversation from somewhere floated across her thoughts and she screamed in delight, “I know I know, Avocado is a vegetable! Our new Italian cook had mentioned it!”
 

“Well done madam! You may chomp on a few fruits to replenish yourself. And then, take a left and another, around your dainty little coffee table, for the final!”
 

Chhaya stuffed her mouth with some and ran towards the last table.
 

“And like I promised, this is the maze of death, so you are going to die…”
 

The good lady trembled in fright, when the voice aka Deepa appeared in front of her with a ‘Death by chocolate’ cake, “Congratulations Chhaya madam. Sorry for the scare. Hope you liked my presentation. And you will give me the prize money to open my own café where I will be Chef (and sweeper too)!”