CHAPTER – 5

Gauri was lying in bed with her eyes wide open; the clock beside her showed 11.10 pm.  She busies herself in work and with her daughter all day long, but at night when she lies awake in bed, all the chinks in her armour pops up. Sleeping pills and her daughter’s form hugging her to sleep sometimes help, but not always. Today seems to be such a day.

At times, she still could not believe what happened with her. Madhav was the best husband a girl could dream of. They had the perfect family life. With the arrival of Gadha, she had felt complete in all sense. She was content with her life and wanted nothing more in this lifetime.

Maybe, it wasn’t enough for Madhav. Maybe he wanted something more....which I fell short to give!

A lone tear made its way down from the corner of her eyes.

She comes from a middle class family. Her father owned a stationary shop and mother a housewife. So at 19, when a proposal from a well settled IT professional came for her, her parents didn’t have to contemplate. She was afraid of taking such a big step when she is so young, but she also knew her parents would only take decisions, for her benefit. So though this guy didn’t fit her imaginations and dreams, she silently gave in.

But never once had she regretted it not even at this stage of life. For her, it was not love at first sight. He was an average looking guy and all her friends felt that she deserved better. But he made up for all that by the care and affection he provided after marriage. He financially supported her education after their wedding. When after completing her post –graduation, she wanted to go for a different career; he suggested bank tests and to an extent coached her as well. He was always supportive and considerate.

But she fell in love with Madhav when she was pregnant with Gadha. He won her heart with the way he took care of her during her pregnancy. And the experience of being parents brought them close like never before. And with Gadha’s arrival, their life flourished even more. They were madly in love and happy in their own heaven.

Gauri wiped away another tear and sighed.

How did it all go wrong? Why did our perfect world end like this? What had I done to deserve this?

Just then she heard a sound outside. She got up and went out to check what the sound was; but the sight that greeted her eyes was nothing like she imagined.

All her friends were decorating the hall and setting up a cake on teapoy.

“What are you guys doing here?”

All of them looked up and saw Gauri. Next thing that happened was a collective “Ohhhhh Noooo!!!”

“Sorry Gauri, we wanted to give you a surprise. But didn’t think it will get spoiled like this”

“Surprise for what?”

“For your birthday”

Gauri had completely forgotten about her birthday.

“Guys, only 5 minutes to strike 12; it’s not too early”

Even before Gauri could react, all of them came and enveloped her in a hug screaming “Happy Birthday” in chorus.

Her mother smiled at the girls’ enthusiasm. Even before Gauri could react, her father came with a half awake Gadha in his arms. Even she got up to wish her mother.

“Happy birthday Amma”

As she took her baby into her arms who kissed her cheeks she was teary-eyed. But this time, it was tears of happiness. Soon they all dragged her to the hall and she cut the cake along with her daughter. Soon the cake was attacked and smeared on each other’s face. Laughter, balloons and incoherent talks filled the room as Gauri’s parents retired for the night taking Gadha with them. Her friends were staying over for the night. Only Anjali was missing who has promised to join next day as it’s a Sunday.

When they finally called it a day at 4 am and decided to sleep Gauri was genuinely happy and she was looking forward to the next day; a wonderful start to her 30th year.

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Anjali came at noon in time for lunch leaving her kids at her parent’s house. Ashok had the World Cup match on TV; so he was more than happy to have the house all to himself.

After lunch, Gauri’s parents went to have a nap along with Gadha leaving the friends alone in veranda to catch up. Topics varied with time and finally zeroed down on their careers.

Tejaswi talked about the challenges her career puts forth and the adrenaline rush she gets out of it. But she does admit that the pitfalls in the system she work in do lead to frustrations. But yes, when she is able to do something with the power she has, it makes it worth the hassle.

While Anjali has a different tune to sing; she hates her job at secretariat. She doesn’t share a good vibe with her colleagues nor is she appreciative of the corruption that prevails in her office. But externally she doesn’t show any of it. She laughs along their jokes and also accepts bribes.

“Hey lady, you are talking before a Sub-Inspector, be careful with confessions”

“It’s not that I want to do it. But if we have to raise children giving them good educational background and meet all the requirements of a decent lifestyle, then one cannot avoid these clichés of life. Or that’s what my husband believes. According to him government job is a license to accept bribes.”

“Hahahaha.....what a line you have come up with. Cheers!”

All others cheered with Joanna by crunching onto their pakoras.

“I love my job. In fact I don’t mind saying this that I love my job more than I love my Lois.”

All laughed at Esther’s blushing face.

“I’m being honest yaar. I think teaching is the best profession on this planet. Being amidst children all the time, listening to their unending doubts, handling their pranks – all of it entails fun. And not to forget, how crazy parents can get in the name of competition. Though it is tough to handle at times, it’s amusing. And valuing the answer sheets is the funniest aspect of it all. Remember what all we used to write, when we were clueless about some questions! Didn’t our teachers mention what a ball they used to have evaluating our papers! I’m experiencing the same now. But trust me when I say this, we were far better than what the kids write these days. It’s beyond hilarious at times”.

“Is teaching so much fun? I used to find all these things which you mentioned tiresome. That’s why I opted for an alternate career”.

“It is definitely better than your bank job Gauri. How do you enjoy it?”

“It’s not that I enjoy it. How do I explain? Hmm....I wasn’t exactly a fan of maths subject in the past. When I wanted a career other than teaching....Madhav suggested bank test.... I just went with it. It was just a job, not a career for me. I wanted to earn money on my own and this just fell into my lap. I didn’t know its value in my life until my life turned upside down. The fact that I’m self-reliant, I have a space and identity left to myself outside my personal life kind of helped in keeping me sane. So yes, today maybe I can say I do enjoy it a little bit in order to forget the void in my life. I must thank Madhav for it”.

For a moment, the mood turned solemn which again bounced back by Joanna’s declaration.

“I might quit my job soon”

The response was a collective, “WHAT?”

“I’m bored. I think it’s time to move on to something else”.

“But...why?”

“Media is equally corrupted as politics if not more. They are like two respectable entities of our society working hand in hand but...for their own benefit. There is a challenge, but at the end of the day there is a lot of artificiality as well. I don’t think I can handle it for long”.

“Of course, you were always this free flowing type. And your hubby is rich, so you can take such decisions”

“If my husband is rich, what has that got to do with me deciding to quit Anjali?”

Anjali always had a knack to say things in a wrong way which itch other people. So as soon as Esther saw the conversation taking an ugly turn, she immediately changed the direction of conversation to Aaradhya.

“Aaru has the best in everything among us. Well accomplished, won the Best Entrepreneur of the Year award thrice and to that package add a wonderful husband and cute kids. What more could one ask from life?”

“Hahaha....you make it sound so cheesy Eva. It wasn’t a cake walk like you think”

“But the irony is, you never wanted to get caught in any of it, yet here you are at the exact place you never wanted to be”

“True. I always had such high ambitions in life whereas Aaru always wanted to be a housewife. But see where life has landed us”.

Thara’s words got Aaradhya’s attention though others just laughed and moved on to other topics. There was some dullness in her eyes when she said that which Aaradhya definitely noticed. But she decided not to brooch that topic for now.

Gauri’s phone beeped a message and it was from none other than Madhav.

Madhav: Happy Birthday

Gauri did not know how to react to that message so she didn’t. She felt her friends’ needed her concentration now and she did exactly that.

The evening carried on with more banter, gossips and laughter till the sky bid farewell to sun.

PRECAP: Thara Maheshwar