Marriage Of Deceit

by Pushpa Ramchandani

  Chapter 6

 

  “Hey Asha, I am seeing you after ages.” It was a familiar voice; I looked back and found my college mate Mona.

  “Oh, hi Mona, it’s so nice to see you here.” We encircled our arms around each other’s neck and hugged hard. She introduced us to her two children, who were a little bigger than Aman but the three of them got busy on the swings and merry go round in the park, while Mona and I got to chatting. “So, how’s everything? Are you working in Pune too” I asked Mona.

  “No I’ve come to visit my parents. I’ll be here for another month. Now we’ll try and meet at home and sit and chat for hours. There’s so much to talk about.” We both exchanged our phone numbers and our addresses and decided to meet soon.

  When I reached home, I was in a fix, to meet her or not. If she asked me why I was staying alone, and where was Aman’s father, I may not be able to narrate the facts to her. Then my conscience came forward and said, “It’s I who walked out on him, so why should I hesitate to expose the truth.

  Mona and I were close friends up to class 12, and then the diverted courses separated us. She went for her medical carrier and me for my management studies and lost touch for some time.

  It was a Saturday and Mona called me and invited me for lunch. I gladly accepted the invitation, as the change in routine was welcome. Then Aman would also get company of her two kids. He was so excited when I told him we are going to his park friends, as he used to call them.

  Mona’s mother was there to greet me at the door. She was as beautiful as I had seen her years ago, though a few crow’s feet lines at the outer angles of her beautiful almond shaped eyes were speaking of her age. Her shining glistening skin without any make up was nearly transparent. I knew Mona had inherited her mother’s beauty. She gave me a warm hug and escorted me in, and then made herself busy in the kitchen. The children got into playing with their games. It was me and Mona who settled in her bedroom and went into chatting. I was itching to ask Mona, why she was staying in her mother’s house, but held myself from the inquisitiveness.

  “Asha, you remember Alok, the boy who had a crush on me when we were in college.”

  Yes! Of course, how can I forget that, You used to get so irritated and even scold him at times, what happened to him?”

  “Can you believe it; when I entered the medical college, he was also there in the same class. I got so terrified of the same silly pranks that I even thought of dropping out from college. You know, dad and mum convinced me to continue and not care for him. They were so keen on my medical education.

  “ Just ignore him and stay aloof.” My mother had explained. At times he used to behave normally, but most of the time he used to find lame excuses to contact me and create a friendship. I just tried to ignore him and concentrate on my studies.”

  “While I was doing my internship, dad passed away, mum was shattered, my brother too was not working. Alok and I had become good friends by then, but I was aware that he was a flirt and used to enjoy company of different girls. At times I used to tease him, “Alok you change your girl friends more frequently than your shirts.” He used to take pride in his popularity, and show off with his dashing looks. He really was killingly handsome.

  Then one day he seriously proposed to me. I thought mum is alone and I will be making things easier for her by accepting his proposal. She will not have to hunt for a groom for me. So I talked to mum about him.

  Handsome he was, then a doctor; so mum also approved of this proposal. And our marriage was fixed up. My paternal uncle who thought now in dad’s absence, it becomes his responsibility to investigate about everything; he found out from his colleagues about his playboy nature. He laid his foot down and insisted on cancellation of all the arrangements. I tried to assure him about the change in him, saying, “Now he is a different person altogether, and is seriously in love with me. My uncle agreed very unwillingly. So our marriage was solemnized with all the rituals.”

  I sat silently listening to her story and just hoped that now everything must have normalized between them. But Mona’s voice cracked, she hiccupped painfully, eyes brimmed, making a strong effort to control her tears from overflowing, she continued, “Can you believe it, even after 2 children, he never changed his habits. Every night duty in the hospital, he used to spend with a different nurse. I just hoped against hopes that he would change, but it got from bad to worse. Murmurs started reaching my ears about his loose character. When I raised my voice, he raised his hand on me to keep me shut. I was torn between my two children and his barbaric actions. My son is eight, and daughter six, and I feared that the effects of our daily quarrels and encounters, will certainly have an impact on the nature and character of my children”

  There was a long pause before she continued, “you know Asha, love is not there to tie one down, and it cannot be fully enjoyed without trust. Whenever I was with him I used to have hallucinations of the nights he has spent with other women.

  Life shows you all the colors, bright and dull. Before marrying him I had seen a full spectrum of bright shades of the prism being reflected into my colorful future. I went against all the alarms shown by my dear uncle thinking that he was madly in love with me, and all his habits would change with time and maturity and the family bonds. But happiness was so short lived, that anyone in my position would have been shattered.”

  “ The worst shade of darkness was yet to come into my life. Despite two lovely children in our family, the playboy became more playful with different partners. One who used to play with my body practically every night, was dumb enough not to notice a lump in my left breast, and remember he was a doctor too.” Then she got nearly choked in her sobs, sipped some water and continued.

  “ One morning while taking a quick shower before going to the hospital, I noticed a tender mass in the outer quadrant of my left breast. I stopped at the cancer institute to take an expert opinion, before reporting for my hospital duty. I was fearful but hoping against hopes that it would be an ordinary lump of a fibro adenoma and not cancer breast. I was not only shocked but shattered also when one palpatory touch by the specialist diagnosed it as cancer breast. His alarming and shocking statement nearly tore my ear drums. “ I just don’t understand doctor Mona, both of you are doctors, and you have been so negligent to your own health. You have come at a stage when probably the spread if the disease has already occurred.” Then after a pause he added, “Now radical mastectomy is the only solution, followed by chemo and radio therapies. I would not waste time to go for a biopsy confirmation.”

  “ I just sank into the chair opposite to him. My heart beats became audible in his entire chamber; I could barely hold the arm rest of my chair with my cold and clammy hands. Pearly drops of sweat were clearly visible on my forehead. His next sentence shook me up to consciousness, “ Now no more wasting of time. Immediate surgery.” I just nodded my head and staggered out of his room. I went home as I was in no condition to attend to my regular duties.”

  When Alok came home I broke the ugly news to him. What was extremely shocking was his cool and unconcerned response to the entire situation. He spurted out in anger, “How can that bloody fool suggest a radical mastectomy and distort your body?” Then he added in a disgusted tone, “Do you know, chemo and radio therapy has a lot of side effects like alopecia and what not. It’s all going to make you so ugly.�
�� His views were so unprofessional when he added, “He should just enucleate the tumor and maintain the normal physiological contour of your body. You can consult another surgeon tomorrow.”

  I just lost my cool and replied back, “ Alok, you are a doctor and talking like a layman. I have consulted the best surgeon of international fame and you are challenging hid diagnostic abilities.” His next sentence sounded absurd to me. “ No Mona I cannot accept you with a distorted body, so just get the tumour removed, and let’s wait and watch.”

  “And then die soon leaving the children with you and your new playmates.” This sentence was sufficient to ignite him, so he retaliated back. “So go ahead with your own will. In any case I was planning to divorce you. Now I don’t think I’ll be able to stay with you anymore.”

  “ I knew all your relations were limited only to the physical body, but I want to live for my children and myself. I have sufficient proofs of your infidelity, so before you plan anything, I’ll divorce you and make things easier for you.” I was mentally prepared for this day. I had even briefed my mother about his activities and character. So I just packed my bare necessities along with the children’s belongings and waited for the day to dawn, spending the rest of the night repenting for not having listened to my uncle’s advice.”

  The climax reached when the head of department called me to his office the next morning, and his words of sarcasm thronged my ears, “Dr. Mona I am sorry to say this, but you can’t be ignorant about your husband’s nocturnal activities in the hospital. He is polluting the whole atmosphere, and I am afraid if you lend a deaf ear to all this; some drastic action has to be taken against him.”

  “It was extremely embarrassing and insulting to hear what he said, but it added fuel to fire and helped me in decision making. My face flushed, hands trembled, eyes were fiery red and palpitation set in so loud that my heart beats must have been audible to him too. I put my hand in my pocket of the spotlessly white coat which I wore and took out a folded sheet of paper, handed it over to him saying, “Sir, I am not ignorant about all this, but disgusted. This is my resignation letter, which I was otherwise also going to hand over to you.”

  Then I briefed him about my health problem, and said, “ I request you to take your own decision regarding Alok. If at all you can do me a favor, please transfer me to Pune so that I can go and stay with my mother and get my immediate surgery done.”

  The professor said in a cool sympathetic voice, “Dr. Mona, transfer will take some time, but I assure you I’ll try my best to help you. I am sorry if I have hurt your feelings, but as a head of department it becomes my moral duty to take action against these types of activities.” Then keeping a compassionate hand on my shoulder he said, “ Your first priority is your health and the children. You are a competent and efficient doctor, any hospital will be happy to accept you with open hands. I will take care of your transfer. All the best.”

  “The climax reached on the day when Alok declared that he was going to marry a nurse, and demanded a divorce on grounds of my physical deformity. My only condition for the divorce was that both children will remain in my custody, for which he willingly agreed and I was to erase the infidelity charges against him, for which I willingly agreed. So now only a month is left in the separation period clause, then finally all formalities will be completed and we are legally divorced. As it is mum was staying alone, my brother after his marriage has settled in Australia and comes once in three four years. So mum takes care of the kids when I am in the hospital.

  Now I have taken a transfer to Pune hospital. So this is what fate had in store for me and I have accepted it gracefully. I keep myself busy so that I don’t get time to brood over life.” My children have been admitted to a good school and our family is very peaceful now.

  “Asha one thing I have learnt from life. Parents are always sacrificing and helpful. The tiny little hands which they hold and teach them to walk step by step, and even spend all their savings for their success and progress. But when these little children start running in life, they even use their parents as rungs of a ladder to climb up higher and progress further. But unfortunately when the parents want to complete their journey and take the last limited steps of their life, the children shrug from extending a supporting hand help them be comfortable in the terminal part of their journey. Suddenly the parents appear to be a burden for the strong young shoulders. So it happened with my mother too. She spent all her meager pension savings on my brother’s education, his development of a carrier. Now he is well settled in Australia, comes to meet her after about half a decade, and shows his inability to take her with him. I’m glad I came to Pune, she is my mother too and I try my best to keep her happy. So Asha dear this is the true color of my life. I have no regrets. Both my children ere with me and their healthy future is all that matters now.”

  Seeing a lot of resemblance in our crumbled married lives, I just smiled and said, “How strange, we two best friends, got a similar script written by fate.” Then I briefly told her the salient features of my break up and my decision to never give him a divorce.

  Her brow raised, she flashed a quizzical glance and she inquired, “Do you love him so much that you don’t want the bridges to be burnt, and plan to return to him in future?” Her question was ludicrous and valid. I shook my head and replied, “You know Mona, marriage is a mutually respectful relationship, and I was sure I would regain my customary equilibrium once out of his house. It took me no time to convert my incredible love for him into hatred. He had injured me not only physically but mentally and morally too.

  When in the hospital, he had knelt down on his knees and asked for forgiveness. He had cried like a little child, repeating the word “Sorry” a million times. I refused to be humiliated again and again because of the other woman, who will never in her entire life get the designation of his wife. She will always remain the other woman in his life. This is my victory and his punishment, if it can be called so. I know I have achieved this at a very high cost, because my parents just erased the entire amount of loan extended to him. This was the price paid for my peace of mind.

  From the start, as it appeared to me, the most consistent thing about him was the unwavering honesty, his independence and sharp wit. His intelligent conversation and authenticity were the qualities that attracted me. But I was a silly fool, not to access the motive behind all this hypocrisy was my father’s wealth and not me. In due course of time, his betrayal will vanish in the thin air, but in some secret wishful moments I versioned him flying out to come and meet Aman atleast. This was utterly stupid and illusional.

  You know Mona initially I was nervous, frustrated but not more than a smidgen concerned about the apparent commitment to this monumental mistake. He will want a divorce and I will not give. That’s final.

  We all had a sumptuous lunch along with the children, who had become good friends now. After a few weeks I invited Mona, her mum and the kids for lunch. Aman used to feel very happy in their company and would make plans to meet them frequently. So we kept visiting each other more often.

  While we were doing some shopping together we encountered another common friend of ours, Suman. I could not recognize her at all, but Mona had met her a number of times, and did not fail to recognize her. When we were on our way back I said casually. She was the beauty of our class, lean and thin with a perfect figure. She has developed
obesity and become lop sided now. Mona smiled and softly said, “Asha there is a long story behind her weight. Then glancing at our children she added, “I’ll tell you some other day.” By that time we had reached our home and were in the goodbye mode.

  When we were alone after some days I asked out of inquisitiveness, “what were you telling me about Suman?”

  Mona said in a low sounding tone, “She has gone into depression, keeps eating the whole day and is least bothered about her health, her looks and weight.”

  “Mona, if I remember correct, she was a topper of our class, very intelligent, very active and energetic; what has made her depressed?”

  “You know Asha; marriage is a gamble for girls. You are lucky if all goes well. But if your stars are not favorable, you are in great trouble. Hers was an arranged marriage with a multimillionaire son of a business tycoon. He was the handsomest man I had ever seen. Within a month of marriage, she discovered that the boy was suffering from biphasic maniac disorder.”

  “ Whenever he saw her talking to someone he used to suspect her character and keep her under vigilance. Things were so bad that her interaction with male servants was also supervised. In his hallucinations he used to imagine her flirting with his friends. So he stopped taking her out for parties. Her use of mobile phones was stopped as he imagined her talking to her old boyfriends. He just believed in buying the most expensive gifts for her and keeps her captured in a golden cage of his five star splendid bedrooms. You can imagine a girl like Suman, who was a free bird, was literally imprisoned within the four walls of their huge mansion.”

  Then her tone became gloomy when she continued, “ On one occasion, they were out for shopping, when they were about to leave she met a family friend with his wife and a little child. She stood for a moment to talk to them. Her husband ordered her to leave, so she just said, “One sec, I’ll just note down the phone number. He was so annoyed at this that he left her there, sat in the car and drove home. She immediately took a taxi and reached home within ten minutes. But he had left instructions to prohibit her entry. She waited for hours at the doorstep, and finally went to her parent’s house to spend the night.”

  The next day he got an attack of schizophrenia, and became very violent, throwing away articles. Hitting and beating family members, and even himself. The consultant saw him and said to his father, “Sir, I had warned you not to get him married, till he is completely cured, which is a rare possibility, but you people did not listen to me. Now two lives are at stakes.” He gave some hypnotic injections to him and put him to sleep. He left with his final advise, “Admit him to a mental asylum now.”

  Suman’s mother told me once, that she spends all her time taking care of her husband, has become melancholic and lost interest in her own life. She keeps eating the whole day because of her depression, not caring for her looks and health.

  “ Suman has plenty of everything, but no happiness. At times she takes her husband to the orphanage and old age homes and distributes their articles of need. She thinks their blessings will cure him of his disease. She doesn’t realize that she is also developing a similar disease and moving step by step closer to it. Asha. If this is not destin;. What else can we call it?”

  Time rolled away, I was busy in my office work and upbringing of Aman. He turned out to be a very brilliant child, concentrating on studies and sports. Mona’s son was his best friend. I realized that parenting a child alone does face some difficulties, but with full moral support of my parents and my brother, it became smooth sailing.