PERSPECTIVES ---- 6
A Sister's Hope
She was retracing her steps homewards. She had spent quite some time looking for a job. Of course it was a half – hearted attempt. She was worried about her older sister. Her marriage was in shambles and was heading for a permanent split. She sighed. She absently looked at the shops and people she passed by. Who was really to blame for this unholy mess? Her sister? Her BIL? Savi Ayi? Her own mother? Vahini or sheer bad luck? Of course there was one strong contender in this list. Satish. But she had made short shrift of that candidate. Her lips curled into a small smile. At least she had learnt to smile again.
She took the long route home, giving herself time to mull over each of the people on the list.
Her sister………….She was a very resilient creature who knew how to care for others but didn't know how to look after herself. She had come a long way. It was proved in the way she had clearly indicated her stand to her parents. Her mother had taken umbrage at her daughter's arguments and for going against her wishes. But her sister was firm in wanting to go back to her husband. She had the quiet grit to endure something she had seen in no one else. She herself had very little patience nor would she ever accept humiliation from anyone…..not even her own parents.
Her BIL …… He was a good man whom she had misjudged. She hadn't like him at first. She didn't like his idea of pretending to be someone he wasn't. Why did he have to say he was an engineer? He had been desperate to marry her sister. In order to become eligible in her mother's eyes, he had done that. He was a good honourable man….. far too honourable infact. He had saved her from making a fool of herself with Ashwin. How she loathed that two faced monster! And her friend too ……. for deliberately misleading her. It was her BIL who informed her that the man she was give herself to was very much a married man. She hadn't believed him at first, but then he had given her proof. She had been heartbroken and had just wanted to go to some place, shrivel up and die! But he had convinced her that she return to her home and her family. So she had returned home tearfully. She would be grateful to him all her life.
But why couldn't he forgive her sister? What was his stupid idea of marrying Shravani? Oh yes…… his brother's yet to be born child. So he was going to sacrifice her Tai for this? He wanted to get on with life? Did he think it was that easy? She found his decision lacking conviction. She didn't like the idea of his sheltering a woman who had bedded his dead brother and got pregnant. To save her and the unborn child he had cast her sister to the wolves? That was not fair.
Shravani ……. This woman left her speechless. A woman who taught at a night school, who had reformed the wayward Sachin, who had made a place in that dragon Savita's heart had no other option but to marry her sister's husband? How unbelievable!! A woman who could amend balance sheets in a jiffy, couldn't find a way out for herself? How had she changed from a strong woman to a timid rabbit that needed protection? Hadn't she at some stage declared that no power on the face of the earth could separate a woman from her child? And yet today she was thinking of aborting? Her child was of paramount interest to her, wasn't it? Then why did this thought come into her head? Was it to make her sister feel guilty and move away? Her sister continued to suffer and her husband was proving to be increasingly ineffective. Really was Shravani a mixed up idiot or what?
Savita? Manju? Oh the less said the better about these two…………. She and Vahini were one of a kind. Both were in love with money. Both hated her sister with a vengeance. Both had the power to make her Tai feel small. But she had tackled both, one in public and the other at home. Did they think she was going to let them get away with this kind of despicable behaviour? No Siree. Two troublemakers who had the power to harass her sister.
Her mother? She loved her mother ………. But she had started to become very possessive. She ruled her daughters like a dictator, but couldn't bring Vahini in line. She remembered how she had tried to clip her wings. She, Varsha was not going to take this lying down……. She had walked out of her mother's home and clutches. Sulochana often stopped mothering and started smothering. Even her little sister Vaishu thought so. They had both been slapped for arguing. She grimaced at the memory. But that was her mother. A probable stumbling block in this relationship because she didn't like her SIL. In her eyes he was poor and uneducated. Sometimes her mother was really short sighted.
And then there was Satish. What a guy! He did everything his mother said. How easily he had accused her sister and broken off the engagement. But he was changed today. He wanted to see her sister stay happily in her marriage. Varsha had blown her top at him when she thought that he was trying to come between her sister and her husband. They had secretly made a pact to save her sister's marriage. They had put aside their differences in this joint venture. Somewhere he professed his love for her. She had shaken her head and said she didn't love him. She had not yet forgotten that ex-boss of hers. Besides, Bhavna disliked her. Why couldn't Satish see that? At the moment she wanted no man in her life………. Like the burnt child dreading the fire.
Right now all she wanted was her sister Archana and her husband Manav to get back together. She would always be her sister's champion, just like Damodar – her tai's FIL.
Varsha Karanjkar was a wonderful sister. She sincerely hoped her wish to see her Tai happy with the man she loved, come true.
A special 'Thank you' to Resh for giving me info about Varsha.
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