PERSPECTIVES ---- 3
A Woman to live for
He returned home deadbeat. He was working long hours at the garage to keep himself busy, to keep himself going. His sister asked him to have some dinner. He told her he had already eaten and told her to go and sleep. She looked at him unsure if he was telling her the truth but he nodded in understanding and bade her goodnight. He shut off the light and went to his room.
He remembered how his wife would wait for him to return. Together they would eat in the kitchen. She would serve him and wait upon him. He would insist that she ate with him and sometimes they even shared the plate. She would sit quietly giving him the peace he needed. All he wanted was for her to be near him so that he could see her. He never got tired of looking at her.
He couldn't remember when he had seen her first. Was in it in the train, the station or the street? However, it had taken a long time for him to get a full view of her. Very often she had slipped into the crowd before he could catch up with her. She used to visit the temple like he did to pray to Bappa. Again, she was there for a second and gone the next. He would be left searching for her. He had begun to recognise her by her figure. And when he silently followed her, she had hardly noticed him.
He would be mesmerised by the way her hair would fly across her face and keep it hidden from him. He knew from the scald mark on her wrist that it was her. Yet it was mostly in the trains that he had seen her. He had lost his heart to her when he didn't even know who she was and she didn't even know that he existed. Oh! How absurd that seems! He had confided this secret to Tarun, his best friend. One day they had followed her to her home to know more about her.
He soon realised that she getting married to a smart dude. Of course it was her mother's choice. But things went terribly wrong. That Ajit was out to make trouble for this nave girl who was gullible too. It was sheer luck that he had learnt that something was up and had saved her from further shame of being found at a brothel. But the Smart Alec of her betrothed wasn't so smart at all and broke the engagement. Yet today he seemed to be running after her, taking care of her. Whenever he saw them together, he saw red.
He had been framed by Ajit and everyone believed him. Not even her father. This man was the one whom he had saved from drowning when he was trying to commit suicide. He had talked sense into him and taken him home. But today he was a different man. Why didn't he believe him anymore? Why were fudged photographs believed when each one from her family knew what a blackguard Ajit was? No matter what he said, he would remain the loose character they thought him to be.
He had tried his level best to speak to her alone so that he could convince her that he had been framed. But she was afraid to break away from her protective family. Still he never gave up. He tried to speak to her at the temple, at the station, in the train, at the sea-side, just about any place they accidentally met. It was his perpetual misfortune that either her brother or her mother restrained her. He could see the helplessness in her eyes as she gave in to them. Why did he want her to believe him? If living with him had not given her a n insight of his nature, what was the use anyway. He couldn't leave it at that because he loved her from the bottom of his soul.
He knew his family was far from perfect. His brother and his crude behaviour, his father's drunkenness, his mother's open love for money left much to be desired. He had protected his wife from them as much as he could, often taking up for her and arguing with his mother. He admired the quiet way in which she had interacted with them. She never argued with anyone and if she was hurt she would sit sadly in their room. Maybe her presence made a difference. His brother changed many of his ways, his father went to the theatre group and returned a changed man while his sister and Kaka adored her. However his mother remained the way she was. She detested Archana. She never let a chance by to abuse her.
What was most his most condemning folly for her mother was that one lie that he told in order to marry the woman he truly loved. He said he was educated because without that her mother would never have allowed the marriage to take place.
She was the woman of his dreams. Her heart shaped beautiful face with the shy brown almond eyes and a flawless skin pulled him to her like a magnet. Her simplicity and uncomplaining nature made it even more difficult for him to keep her at a distance. She had begun to respond to him and he could recognise this from the shy looks she threw his way. He yearned for her touch and remembered how she was about to massage his aching head. He remembered how she had come to the garage with his food and stood at the foot of the car. He had done a double take when he saw her standing there looking so very pretty. Seeing him hot and dirty, she had crouched down to wipe the sweat from his brow with her pallu. He had stopped her because he didn't want this vision to become marred in any way. He had been so happy that day.
He wanted to give her everything he could afford. He wanted to keep her happy. He wanted to love her and live with her till they became old. And things were hunky dory until Ajit made his dastardly move and destroyed two lives in one stroke.
He felt a knife slice through him when she wouldn't believe his innocence. Did all what they shared come to a nought? He wasn't going to rest till she heard his side. He had pulled her to the altar at the pooja and vowed that he was innocent. He had almost burnt his hand in the holy flame. She had been distraught when she saw him suffer and blew gently on his burnt palm. Why did she do that if she didn't feel anything?
His father was determined to reunite them. They gathered all the evidence they needed.
The second and more deadly blow came when they were forced to court arrest. That changed him. He had become hard, bitter and unforgiving. He didn't trust her anymore. He unmoved now by her words and pleas. He had once thought her to be a woman to live for but he was wrong?? utterly wrong.
Yet he kept his eyes averted from her face. Was he worried that his heart would simply believe her? Had he truly broken free of her? Then why was it that he would go to the window every night and stand at the very spot that she stood and look out at the sky? It was her piece of heaven.
Manav Deshmukh smote his fist against the wall and rested his forehead on it. He couldn't stop the tears from emerging from his tired eyes.
******** TO BE CONTINUED*********
