Avan, Aval, Adhu 91
Rasaathi Ammal's eyes were full of grace, wonder and also sadness as she gazed at Gayatri and smiled slightly and said, ' Child, one of the cruellest and hardest things to bear is to watch the one you love being in love with someone else. But, here you are doing that same thing knowing fully well that this love of yours could mean more pain and more sorrow for your already scarred heart.'
Gayatri smiled, ' It is a strange and painful situation, mother. Ravi and I are like the two sides of a coin. But, in this coin, he is looking somewhere else while I am looking at him.'
She looked at Rasaathi Ammal and asked, ' Can I ask you something? I know it might sound a bit vague and maybe even rude to be asking that right now '
' Please do, Gayatri. Too much water has flown under our bridges and it is too late in the day now to worry about decorum and stuff.'
' Do you approve of me, Amma? Will I do because.....?'
Rasaathi Ammal finished the unfinished sentence, ' because you are a divorcee? ' and smiling she turned to the creeper plant and gently touched it and slowly looked at Gayatri, ' At least you are divorced and that part of your story is over.'
She smiled strangely, ' But how would one describe my son's marital status? A widower, divorcee, separated or worse, married and single. and lest we forget, he is no spring chicken and is in his early 40s. He still is an eligible bachelor but barely.'
Just as Gayatri was wondering what her words meant and why she had chosen them to describe her only son's marital status, Rasaathi Ammal said in a bitter voice, ' I would call him a ghost who is living with another Ghost and in his own haunted mansion.'
Gayatri just sat staring at Rasaathi Ammal who looked at her with eyes filled with sympathy and said, ' Ghost, you are wondering why I am calling my own son a Ghost when he is still alive and well. How else would you call a person who has no soul and feels no sense of real purpose and happiness.'
Rasaathi Ammal gently shook the creeper plant and both watched sadly as a shower of dry, damaged, unfulfilled flowers rained down on them and among them were a few pink flowers that were still fresh and in the bloom of youth and life.
Rasaathi Ammal picked them up and staring at them spoke in a sad voice. ' That woman tore his soul and took it away with her when she left and God only knows where she is and only he knows if she is even alive. Even if she was alive, she must be surely married and with children who must be all grown up.'
' I disagree with you mother for I think that there is hope for me and Ravi to be together. If he is but a ghost and if he is a man without a soul then how is he the person that he is today. Look at him, and look at his achievements and look at your son who happens to be the pride of this village town and who is respected by so many thousands of people. How can all this be possible if he is but a shell and a Ghost?'
Rasaathi Ammal smiled sadly and with tears raining down from her eyes, said, ' That is because she left behind her soul in him and took his soul for herself.'
Suddenly she yelled in a loud voice, ' You stupid, foolish child, Don't you understand, Ravi has been living for her with her in his heart, mind and in every cell of his body. He is what he is because of that woman who somehow mysteriously guides him and who is the reason his heart still beats. It is not his heart that beats but the love of the woman that beats in his broken heart.'
She looked at Gayatri, ' tell me, child, how will you fight with her? How can you possibly hope to triumph against such a formidable foe and how can you love a person whose heart does not belong to him and when it clearly belongs to another?'
“Loving someone can be hard at times. You risk a lot when you love - your heart and soul, at the least. Love is the most important and most rewarding investment you can make in another person.” ― J.E.B. Spredemann, A Secret of the Heart
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBMhP4-kA98
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