Chapter 10
On Sunday morning, I woke up quite late. The dark circles around my eyes reminded me of the sleepless night I had had. One part of me was pushing me into the positive mode, but another part, the bigger part was holding me back from starting a new life. But I could feel myself into positivity. We were having our late breakfast when the doorbell screamed twice. Aman left his plate ad went to attend to the doorbell. Mum doesn’t come without prior phone call, who could it be at this early hour of the day? As the door opened, I was stunned to behold the visitor. It was mama, Rohit’s mother from Lucknow.
Momentarily I sat listless on the dining chair. Then quickly regained my composure and stood up to greet my mother in law. Aman had no picture of her in his mind, so he just stared with a quizzical look. “Aman, meet your grandma,” I said indicating with a nod of the head to greet her. It was an unexpected visitor, but laid bare open all the wounds that had been inflicted on not only on my body, but my mind, my heart, and my soul. She encircled her arms around Aman and hugged him hard, “Son, you’ve grown so tall and so handsome.”
Aman stood there towering above her with a blank look on his face, as if thinking, why on earth she has come now, after so many years. Then she hugged him again, “congrats on your wonderful success.”
Her small suitcase was brought in and she was made comfortable in one of our bedrooms. Then the three of us had a quick breakfast and I asked her, “Mama, you must be tired after a long journey, take a quick shower and rest for some time.” Then I added, “you should have called me to pick you up from the station”.
“No Asha, I am fine. Won’t you ask how Rohit is doing?” Before I could say anything I observed anger and annoyance peeping from Aman’s eyes. But I replied in a very calm tone, “I know he must be doing very well with the expansion of his vast business and a very competent partner. Now I have no right to probe into his activities.”
Then she looked at Aman and continued, “Sunny, don’t mistake my visit to you all is with some purpose. I have gone deep into spirituality, and am beyond any feelings of happiness or sorrow. This much is sure that you sow with one hand and reap the fruits with the other hand. One gets exactly his share, nothing less nothing more. That’s exactly what he got.”
Her brimming eyes let her down, despite the effort to hold them back, her tears trickled down her cheeks and flowed with fast speed. I was in an awkward situation, whether to let her flood out her grief, or to hold her and bring her back to normalcy. She continued in a sobbing cracked voice, “what he did to you was inhuman, and any woman with self-respect and dignity would have done what you did. Unfortunately, I remained silent throughout the entire incident, and regretted all these years for remaining a mute spectator. I knew my son’s obstinate nature, right from the time of his childhood. But he would stoop down to brutality was beyond my imagination.
Whenever he had desired to possess anything, he would acquire it by any means, fair or foul and we as parents had no control over him. In the beginning we took him to be an obstinate spoilt child who was very possessive too. His dad and I thought he would grow out of it as age advanced. But it became his weakness.
When we chose you as his partner, we were sure his habits would reform with your cool and adjusting nature.
In the initial few years of marriage we observed a great change in him and felt a great relief. You can imagine the extent of tension we experienced when he brought Meeta to the house; His father’s weak heart could not stand the blow and passed away. He was lucky and was spared of the pain that followed./ He left me alone to face everything that happened after that. But After losing my husband, I could not afford to lose my son, so the only path left for me was to keep silent, and accept what destiny had in store for me.”
Aman observed the tension enveloping me and intervened, “Excuse me grandma, but now what is the sense of discussing the past and creating new abrasions in our wounds all over again, specially, mum who is still nursing her internal wounds.”
“Aman, let mama speak and feel lighter at least. I see her as a very tense person today, which she never was.” I kept my hand on mama’s shoulder in a gesture to continue.
“I can assure you Asha, if I were in your position, and faced what you did, I would have also done the same as you did. I could not pick the courage to show my face to you or your mother who was my best friend, all these years”.
“The day you left the house, Lady Luck seemed to have moved out along with you. The two of them, Meeta and Rohit were relaxed thinking every obstacle has been removed from their way. They started living in the same room like husband and wife. I was forced to keep my mouth and eyes shut and just stay in the same house which was my only shelter and where all memories of my husband were still lingering. I always felt guilty that he was not even thinking of refunding the loan amount to your parents”.
“ Meeta gradually took hold of the entire business and kept a secretary, Tony. He was the most handsome boy I had ever seen. He was very efficient, well qualified and took over most of the management in his business. Rohit started remaining more relaxed which was good for everyone.”
“We were having dinner when suddenly, Meeta started a sensitive topic. “I am staying with you, but legally we cannot be taken as man and woman, because that bitch has not given you a divorce.”
Her filthy language startled me so I took my served plate and went to my room to finish my dinner. But I could still hear the gist of the conversation. Rohit cooly replied to her, “How does that effect our life, she has not interfered all these years, so why the tension.”
“No Rohit, I need some financial security, and it’s good for you also. Tomorrow, if she wants her money back she can lay her claim only on your share of the assets and not mine. So make me a fifty percent partner.”
Then she took out a set of papers from her purse and handed them over to Rohit saying, “All the legal work has been completed and all you have to do is put your signatures.” I knew Rohit has been blinded in her love and will do according to her desire. I had no role in that house except that of a guest who lives on bed and breakfast basis. After taking care of all the chores of the house, I used to make myself busy in my spiritual activities and some social works, come home and go to bed to arise again in the morning to follow the same routine. I had practically no purpose in life .”
“ One day there was a loud argument going on when I entered the house at night after my routine social activities. “You little slut,” he shouted at her. “You are nothing but a silly whore. Just pack up your shitty stuff and get out of my house before I kill you.” She shouted back, “What the hell are you talking, you must be drunk.”
“Don’t act so innocent with me, you bitch. I overheard your conversation with Tony your lover. Telling that bastard that you are carrying his child, in your belly. This makes all the sense to me. Why you were coming home late when I was ill. The late nights you told me were due to work load. Then you wanted me to believe that it was our baby, and made me happy that after all these years I am fathering a baby. You stupid slut, I knew something was wrong. We had had no sex for week’s altogether when you had announced the news of pregnancy. You are just a filthy lying whore.”
He shouted, and was completely consumed by rage, raised his right arm in the air; he tightened his fist and aimed it at her face. Sh
e immediately cupped her hands over her face and protecting herself, bent her body out of his reach and screamed back at him. “You silly fool I am not a coward like your insane wife and get beaten by you.”
Though she had lost her balance and nearly stumbled down towards the floor, but steadying herself, she extended her hand held back his raised hand and shouted, “Stop it! You are going to hurt my precious baby,” she cried.
He showed no signs of relenting, he stormed into the room, opened her closet, grabbed a huge suitcase, and started filling it with her dresses and stuff. The look on his face was wild; face was scarlet, eyes filled with rage. He looked a mad man. “How long were you and your boyfriend going to carry on this façade? You just get out of my house before I kill you.” He screamed at her.
“ His anger was increased many fold at her sarcastic shot, “Oh! So you feel hurt when you’re so called wife, not legally wedded to you, goes with another man. What must that poor lady, Asha have felt when you brought me in your house, and kept me right in her bed room right under her nose. When you didn’t belong to your own legally wedded wife, how could you belong to me? So I found another one. Anyway, who cares for a drunkard like you?”
She then pleaded with him to let her stay and they would sort it out. She said she desperately wanted to have a baby and had no shelter right now. He refused to listen, closing and latching the suitcase, yanked it off the bed and threw it on the floor, shouting, “No more of your nonsense now! I can understand why you were so desperate to get a large fixed deposit in the name of our forthcoming child, which is not ours but yours and that bloody lover of yours.”
After what seemed like hours, Meeta hobbled out of the bathroom, she had probably contacted Tony on her cell phone from the bathroom and said in a stern voice, “Rohit you have been ruined and you are on the road now. Whole of your business and all your bank accounts are in my name now. You were a fool to think that I will spend the rest of my life with a drunkard like you, who is an impotent useless, good for nothing. The papers that you had signed under the effect of alcohol were all these documents.” She said all this in one breath.
I heard the squealing tires of a car stop at our door, which jerked open and Tony entered the house, fearlessly went upstairs, lifted her suitcase, and boldly climbed down the stairs, holding Meeta’s hand. They left the house together, hand in hand, banged the door close behind them and went away.
“ I sat there on my bed, trembling and crying. I didn’t know what to do? It’s all finished, I thought. I had never interfered in their quarrels all these years, thinking they’ll sort out themselves. When there was pin drop silence, the car doors had slammed hard and the sound of the engine faded out, I felt a lump in my throat chocking me, so I went to the bathroom, splashed cold water on my face, wiped it and slowly climbed the stairs after full fourteen years to go to Rohit’s room”.
“ Believe me Asha; after you and little Aman had left that room and that house I had no valid reason to visit that room. Then I had no desire to probe into their personal life. Had I not changed my path to spirituality, the melancholic life would have dragged me into depression. So I tried to keep myself cool and calm and let destiny have its toll.”
Marriage Of Deceit Page 11
