Changed - RiKara FF

Old Complaints, New Promises

Worn-out and red-eyed, Gauri opened her front-door to enter her home, mentally preparing herself to deal with her kind but nosy neighbour and wanting nothing more than to cuddle her little Aadya and escape into the solace that could only be found around her baby. Bracing herself for an onslaught of intrusive personal questions (a new variation of the same old questions her neighbours constantly pestered her with) and gossip about the rest of the village, Gauri closed the door behind her. She knew Aadya must have woken by now and her baby did not settle down with anyone other than her, so she was in a rush to bid Hema goodbye and feed her daughter. However, she did not find a crying baby and a middle-aged Hema sitting in her cosy living-room. Instead, what she saw made her come to an instant halt. Sitting near the fire in Gauri's most comfortable chair was Omkara Singh Oberoi and in his arms was her sleeping daughter.

For several seconds Gauri could not find any words, feeling as though she had stepped into an alternate reality, but in her moments of stillness Omkara had noticed her presence, his attention finally pulled from the sleeping baby in his arms. When Hema had attempted to claim his attention earlier he had simply hummed in reply to her questions but kept his focus on Aadya - his little girl was fascinating, the way she kept looking around, gripping tightly on his thumb, before finally falling asleep. Even sleeping, her angelic features were of more interest to him than Hema's intrusive queries and it did not take the woman long to take the hint that Omkara had no intentions of discussing himself, so she had moved on to her next favourite topic - the 'gunghaan' of her two daughters, Ruchi and Suchi. Again she found herself in a one-sided conversation until she began comparing her to two daughters to the other girls in the village - it only took mentioning how her girls were certainly not as liberal as her well-mannered but unusual neighbour Gauri for him to turn all his focus from the sleeping baby to her.

"Meri betiyaan hain toh aaj ki hi ladkiyaan, par unke haiyalaat aur sanskaar bilkul... woh kya kehte hain?... traditional, haan, traditional hain. Ab dekho, Gauri ke jaise woh kabhi bache ko ghodlene ka itna barah faisla nahin leti. Woh sab unch-neech samajhti hain, ke ek bin vyaahi Maa ka samaajh mein kya astitva hai. Main yeh nahin keh rahin hoon ke Gauri ek buri ladki hai, par itna badha faisla usse nahin lena chahye tha. Meri Ruchi-Suchi tho kabhi nahin leti aisa faisla. My daughters belong to today's generation, but their thinking and values are totally... what do they say?... traditional, yes, traditional. Now look, they would never take such a huge decision to adopt a child, like Gauri has. They understand all the highs and lows, what an unwed mother's identity is in society. I am not saying that Gauri is a bad girl, just that she should not have taken such a big decision. My Ruchi-Suchi would never take such a decision." Caught in her own monologue, Hema did not realise how Omkara bristled at her criticism.

"Aisa faisla lene ke liye bohot himmat chahye hoti hai. Gauri mein woh himmat hai joh aapki betiyon mein nahin hai. Gauri mein woh pyaar, woh mamta hai joh haar aurat mein honi chahye. You need a lot of courage to take such a decision. Gauri has that courage that your daughters lack. Gauri has that love, that maternal feeling in her that every mother should have." Omkara's words were firm but controlled as he was very conscious of his daughter sleeping in his arms.

"Par iss mamta ke piche woh ab ek bin vyaahi Maa kehlaygi. Joh bina pati ke Maa banjaye, uska iss samaajh mein kya vajhood? But due to this maternal feeling she will now be labelled an unwed mother. What standing does one have in society, when they become a mother without a husband?" Not realising that Omkara was already in the defensive, Hema tried to convey her own wisdom on how society worked.

"Samaajh khon hota hai ek Maa upar ungli utane wala? 'Maa se be adabi ki koi sunwai nahi hoti... Maa toh bas Maa hai Apni yaa paraye nahi hoti.'* Gauri sirf aur sirf izzat ki haqdaar hai, aur samaajh apni choti soch se yeh hakeekat kabhi nahin badalsakta. Who is society to point a finger at a mother? 'There is no excuse for disrespecting a mother... A mother is a mother, there is no yours or mine about it.' Gauri only deserves respect, and society cannot change this reality with its small thinking." Omkara did not know he could feel such pride. His Gauri was an example any woman should aspire to. Sure it upset him that Gauri had projected herself as unwed to her neighbours, but he understood that he was the cause of all this. For him the conversation was over and eventually Hema also took the hint, praising his prowess in poetry and moving on to senseless gossip about youth of the village - apparently one of the girls who had ventured out to town for studies had fallen in love with a boy and begun a relationship, the result of which was the girl's hasty wedding after much cajoling of her parents.