Thak
The voice of the car door closing made Sona sniffle a bit loud as her heart realized that it was finally time. Sure, her marriage preparation has begun 1 month ago but Sona never really realized the gravity of the situation. Leaving everything she has ever known, no matter if it was her father's medicine place or where her mother's special favorite spatula was kept, Sona was the one who remembered every single thing's position in her house. But all this now will be changed. She will start living in a house about which she knows nothing about. She will have people who are strangers to her but she would be politely forced to call them her mom and dad.
This was what her brain was telling but her heart strongly disagreed. Her heart told her about the beauty of a woman's life. From the power of forming a relationship between two unknown families to starting a new family with an unknown man. She forms a bond with a man, gives him everything inside of her, and showers him and his family with happiness and joy every chance she gets. She knits the family in a strong bond, slowly but surely she starts forming unbreakable bonds with the once unknown strangers to her. She gives everyone a new life, not in the sense of bringing a new life to existence but in the sense of bringing life to the already existing people, and hence, it has been greatly and rightly said that daughters symbolize light, when unmarried, the daughter baths her home in the light of her presence and once married she brings the light from her home to her new house which soon becomes her home.
A woman is the epitome of sacrifice. People often question the reasoning behind the woman as the only one sacrificing. They ask questions. Questions such as why does a woman have to leave her house and why can't it be the other way around? There could be lots of answers to these questions but the first and foremost that comes to the front is that if the woman makes sacrifices then the man also stands right beside her in those sacrifices. If the woman gets the responsibility of a whole new family, the man also gets the responsibility of a new person, his person's happiness and well-being. The man also has to become used to giving priority to now not only his comforts and happiness but also to his wife's comforts and joys. This question can be twisted in any way to give any one of the genders all the credits for the efforts of successful arrange marriages but the truth has always been that both the man and wife in the relationship is equal.
But this wasn't what Sona and Devasya's martial life would be, if you can even call it a martial life. They are gonna be roommates no more than that. They haven't really discussed anything further than this though, after that meeting in the hotel which lasted for 20 minutes, they both went their own ways. After that fateful day, Sona got busy with her exams and assignments, and Devasya's time was taken up by the meetings he held for his startup.
January's cold breeze flew into the car causing Sona to shiver and rub her hands for some warmth. Devasya noticed Sona shivering from the corner of his eye and thought of asking her to pick up a shawl from the backseat when he heard his phone's notification go off. With all thoughts of Sona out of his mind after seeing the important message from his assistant, Devasya got busy sorting the work-related errors that came with his absence today.
Sona could now understand why Devasya warned her before this marriage. Seeing him working even after such a tiring day, she truly could see that he really did have no time for marriage. Sona sighed internally, now that she saw Devasya working she started remembering all the remaining assignments waiting for her free time to be completed.
Time passed with great difficulty for Sona, her body was covered in goosebumps from the cold and she couldn't wait to get to her new home and change into some warm clothes. The car stopped in front of a two-story house and Sona opened her side of the door to get out of the car. "Here" Devasya called her giving her his hand and flicking his eyebrows towards the n-number of relatives standing in front of the gate. Understanding the need for pretense for the show to relatives, Sona gave her hand to Devasya which successfully gave Sona's cold hand some warmth.
********
Sona couldn't for the life of her remove this wretched hairclip from her hair. After entering the house with Devasya, they both performed some necessary rasams . Devasya's mom, Maya, was a sweet lady, Sona had to agree. Maya made sure that Sona was given some really warm blankets to cover her properly thus warming Sona's heat-deprived body. Not only this, Maya made sure that Sona was comfortable while doing the rasams. What a shame it would be that Maya wouldn't be living with her but then this can be used in their favor too. The fewer people that lived with them, the less the pretense both Sona and Devasya would have to do.
Finally, finding a way out of the hairclip, Sona sighed after feeling her scalp again. She massaged her scalp with some awala oil and combed her hair thoroughly. After tying her hair in a french-braid, Sona proceeded to move towards the bathroom with some pajamas and a comfortable t-shirt to change into. After changing, Sona laid on the bed with the comforter surrounding her but all too soon she stood up and sat cross-legged on the bed. Phone in one hand and a diary in the other, Sona started making notes of all the classes she missed due to the wedding functions.
Devasya was tired after such a long day but alas the pleasure of sleeping was not yet there in his schedule. He had to write a long, long e-mail to one of the company's CEO and Devasya was annoyed with the amount of workload. He sighed at the giggling sound he heard from his behind. Ignoring it he opened his room door and was greeted with the sight of his wife working. Remembering her hectic college work assignments, Devasya closed the door without making any noise. However, Sona's sharp hearing sense made her look upward and she noticed her husband going towards the cupboard. She immersed herself in her phone once again.
Devasya switched on the geyser and looked into the mirror. He could see a man with dark circles under his eyes staring back at him. He focussed on himself and could see his not-so-smooth but rough hair falling into his eyes, his lips were devoid of their pink color and instead looked a bad shade of pale red. His cheeks were looking pale and his complexion has seen to go a bit tan. To be honest, Devasya could see why his mother fretted over him and his lifestyle but he didn't care. He was really close to the success he has been working for the last five years now.
No one believed him when he used to tell them his dreams. He always had a keen interest in the business. He remembered seeing these big businessmen smiling on the tv screen and he would ask his mother if he can be there smiling too. His mother would laugh and then would caress his cheek with fondness in her eyes and a smile on her lips and would nod her head eagerly giving him preachings of hard work and dreams. However, all too soon when at 17 years of ripe age, he told his mother his plans of starting his own business, the smile turned into a frown and the fondness turned into disappointment. And it didn't take long for her mother to ask him to leave such big dreams and become a pilot or prepare for civil services.
However, it didn't matter how disheartened Devasya was from the mocking and taunting he received on daily basis, it didn't matter that his own mother turned his back on him and it certainly didn't matter that his dreams isolated him with no one for him to call his motivator or friend. Devasya did not let it stop him, he was brokenhearted, yes but his spirit continued to remain in control. He worked. God, he had worked. He had and is still working so hard. Giving away his day and night to his dream, he continued to burn in the flame of hard work. The day when Devasya realized that he was alone for the dream he dreamt was the day he took back all the rights he ever gave to anyone to speak in his life. His mother, His father, and all the relatives continued to speak against him, but he never once let them come into his business and interfere in his life. As soon as he got a part-time coding job, Devasya left his home too and rented a two-room house in which he was currently living.
And now when he was just one or two steps away from the desired success, his mother interfered. He was working as usual when his phone rang and his mother ordered him to come to meet him for some urgent matter. He went and got to know that he is getting married. He tries, swears to the god he tries, he tries so hard to fight the foreign voice who has been telling him for years that if our life was our own book then in his book, his mom was the villain of the story. That voice asks him to hate her, ask him to despise such a woman with a heart of stone but every time Devasya's answer is the same. He can't. He just can't.
That woman is his mother. She gave birth to him and gave away her life to him. I am only one call away. This was the sentence his mother has drilled into his mind since he was a kid. He know that when his mother asked him to forget his dreams, it was because she was scared for him. Not all people are successful in startups and not all people are as hard-driven as Devasya. It was out of love, Devasya had concluded but now when he has a wife sitting on his bed, working in his room, he can't help but hear that voice again. This time, it's not the people mocking him. This time it's the voice. It's laughing at him and calling him delusional for according to it his mother has once again shown him what she truly is.
But no. Devasya still can't hate that woman. She made him get married because of his loneliness. He knows his mother. According to her, he needs someone but who can tell his mother that he has been alone for close to ten years now, and honestly, he has become used to the silence of the house and the bottling up of his emotions. He doesn't need anyone, not anymore.
The red light caught his attention and successfully broke him from his painfully torturous thoughts. The geyser's temperature showed 81 degrees celsius. Devasya hastily switched off the switch and sighed. He can't believe he is married. God. But the good thing is that his wife and he had a deal. This deal will allow him his space and his time. This deal would give him his freedom. This deal would save him from the responsibilities he would have to follow after marriage. A deal that would save him a lot of headache.
or will it?