Soft cautious feet find their way through the muck...avoiding as much of it as possible....looking down intently for any puddles that might splash water...there's a slight drizzle and she is trying to get there faster but the muck is....uhhhhhh.....!! Finally she makes it to the bus stop...the shelter provides some relief but not completely. She looks around and wonders if she's at the right place. Is this the same place? So many years have gone by and she cant quiet remember if this was the bus stop or the one after this. So many changes have taken place, the city hardly looks the way it used to. She smiles at the thought of herself more than 9 years ago standing at this very road, waiting for the bus to take her to her office. That was 1991...9 years? Has it been that long..?! So many years...wasted, lived, cherished, dismissed!! She stands there, her thoughts in another lifetime.
There were hardly any passerby's and the few who crossed the street hardly took notice of the 45 year old lean and short woman standing at the bus stop with a canvas bag on her shoulder. Padmini had lived most of her adult life in Pune. She came to Mumbai to give a job interview, didn't get the job but got herself a husband. Shishir and Padmini settled down to the fast paced, zero family time kind of a life of Mumbai. Padmini was never madly in love with Shishir, she just knew that he was the kind of man she wanted to marry. Shishir was responsible, sensible, practical and he was crazy about Padmini. Padmini saw it as a 'wise' decision more than anything...!
There are certain things that one can't talk about. Something inside of you always stops you from taking that plunge, from giving your 'all' to someone. Padmini held on, too tight..to herself. Shishir showered her with everything he had...and it wasn't until about two years after their marriage that Shishir realized how little he knew his wife. The more he showered her with love, the more she withdrew from him. They divorced in 1991 on 21st May, same day that Rajiv Gandhi died.
Nine years later, Padmini was more in love with Shishir than she'd ever been. Sometimes it takes someone to turn their backs on you for you to realize how much you leaned on them. Padmini moved back to Pune after her divorce and told herself she was much happier without the chains and burdens of marriage. Shishir took up a job in Hyderabad and bravely nursed a broken heart.
A few years later, a matter related to property came up, a joint property that Shishir and Padmini owned. Shishir flew down from Hyderabad, they met at the lawyers and later exchanged stories over a cup of coffee. A lot happened over coffee. She found a friend in him. He told her funny stories about his work and the people around him. She hardly stopped laughing. They parted on a promise to keep in touch.
Padmini had never felt this way before. At 39, she was in love with a man who was her husband for three years...a man who had loved her no end. It was like she had never heard his stories, never seen him laugh and never felt his warmth. Of course she was the one who was blind. She found herself waiting for him to return her call, sharing things with him that she had scarcely told herself...wondering if he still loved her. He made her come alive. She laughed and weeped at the same time. After 9 long years of their divorce, Padmini and Shishir were going out on a date.
She stood their at the bus stop...waiting for him to come. She smiled with happiness and joy as she saw him coming, he had a smile too. He came close and put his hand on her head and pursed his lips with a smile...it told her everything she wanted to hear, that it was alright. Everything was now alright. And then it rained.......!!
No comments:
Post a Comment