[1]
‘Who
asked you to take the car out on your own? Are you out of your mind?’ shrieked
Joy looking at Sirin.
Tears
welled up in her eyes, she felt humiliated to say the least. How could Joy be
so insensitive? Sirin had driven the car to Joy’s office to pick him up after
work. She had thought that it would be a nice surprise on his Birthday. But his
reaction left no doubt in her mind of exactly how surprised Joy was. Sirin was
tired of Joy always telling her to do this and not to do that. She felt like an
overgrown child with an adopted parent, who was over-protective of her.
Where
had they gone wrong? Was five years too long to stay with someone or was it too
short a time to know each other? They were married for five years now. It was a
love marriage certainly. Sirin had always felt that they were complete as a
couple. Each completed the other. But down the line, something had gone wrong;
their relationship had gone from a loving one to a suffocating one. Joy’s idea
of caring had taken the turn of suffocating Sirin out of her life. Lost among
her thoughts she could hear a faint voice. She slowly came back to the present.
Joy was telling her something:
‘I’m
sorry… I didn’t mean to shout at you. It’s just that I’m concerned that you may
hurt yourself! Come sit in the car I will drive!’ Sirin did as instructed. She
looked out of the window at the passing scenery. Maybe she was giving chance to
a dead relationship. She certainly needed a break from all this. She could hear
Joy say something. But she was not paying attention…. they had drifted apart
and she didn’t need a qualified psychiatrist to tell her that. Just a few days
back, she had rejected an offer from her office to go for an on-site project
for a month. She did not even think about it for once because she could not
bear to stay away for Joy for such a long time. But…now…. she felt that she
needed to be alone. She needed to be herself again.
‘Let’s
drive straight to home…..I don’t think it will be healthy for you and also for
me to eat outside today. Remember we had gone out for dinner even last week….’
instructed Joy. Sirin was too tired and emotionally drained to answer. She just
nodded in agreement. What was wrong…..why had Joy suddenly become so
insensitive towards her. Was he seeing someone else? Was she thinking too much
about it? Or was it just a passing phase? It was too much for her now. She
needed a break. She prayed that her boss was still ready to consider her
interest in the on-site opportunity. Returning home she mailed her boss stating
her change of mind.
[2]
‘You
don’t have to go on an onsite project…. You can’t do that to us?’ shouted Joy
to a stubborn Sirin. ‘I don’t have to go but I want to go…’ was all Sirin said.
‘But why….if it is for the money, then….’ pleaded Joy. ‘No it’s not the
money….’ added Sirin even before Joy had finished. ‘See… my work is important to
me and I need to do it. There are others contesting for this opportunity but I
was chosen…so I don’t think I should let go of this’ replied Sirin logically.
‘Fine…if that is all you want…but before that I will have to be in Hyderabad
for a week starting day after tomorrow. Since you are not leaving before the
end of this month I will be back well within time’.
That’s
it…. wouldn’t Joy fight any longer and plead with her; the discussion was over….?
What was the point in going away if Joy
didn’t care at all….! In an attempt to punish Joy she was actually punishing
herself. She felt stupid, to say the least. This was a new phenomenon in their
relationship. They avoided fights because of lack of time or simply because of
fatigue. It seemed that they had burdened each other with so many expectations
that they were always tired of carrying the relationship around. Everything had
become mechanical. Things were done because they had to be done. Gone were the
days when they had spent hours trying to persuade the other person or
apologizing for something silly. Likewise the topic of
Sirin-leaving-for-an-onsite-project was dropped…dropped for the time
being….dropped because they had become fed up of arguing with each other!
The
irony of the matter was that, they fought with each other because of a peculiar
reason. The main reason why they had got married was the reason why they fought
with each other. The reason was that Joy felt, Sirin was a carefree, happy-go-lucky
girl; while for Sirin, Joy was the responsible family-man. And now after five
years of marriage, Sirin felt that Joy was too responsible and actually very
boring, while Joy felt that Sirin was too casual and actually immature and
childish. How can people change so soon? The very reason why they had fallen in
love with each other had become non-existent. Both of them were aware of the
fact that they had once liked these qualities in the other and now hated each
other for these qualities itself.
However,
since Sirin always insisted on the rule that ‘Work is work’, she couldn’t ask
Joy to stay back and not go to Hyderabad. In that case, he may also ask her to
leave her onsite project and stay back. And then, the focus of the matter will
shift and she will lose her point to him. She couldn’t let that happen; she
would not let Joy steal the emotional limelight from her this time, not in any
way. Although irritated, she reluctantly accepted his official trip to
Hyderabad.
[3]
What
was that noise….Sirin was jolted out of her sleep by some noise. She sat up straight
and tried to assess the situation. She was sweating…the fan had
stopped…probably a power cut, and the clock in the hall had just struck 12….
And most importantly she was alone…Joy was in Hyderabad for a week. It was too
boring…fighting with Joy was much better than this peace…. Whatever new
happened in office she itched to tell Joy…but talking over the phone was never
the same as talking in person…. She had even contemplated a divorce few days
back…..she shuddered to think of that now. Her whole existence was filled with
Joy’s presence. She hated herself for loving her adversary…for missing the
person who was responsible for all her worries. She felt helpless and sad. Was
Joy feeling the same? Maybe… but Sirin did miss him and that was the simple
fact….irrespective of the fact whether he missed her or not…
She
will have to make this marriage work….and what about her on-site project? She
cannot even survive a week, how on Earth will she survive a month without Joy?
She was worried as how to handle this. Her ego was too huge to tell Joy that
she will not go because she will miss him. Miss Him? Was that at all possible
after so many years of being married to each other….. It certainly was… that
was what she was feeling at that moment. She realized foolishly that happiness,
sadness, anger, confusion and every other thing had a meaning…only when she was
with Joy. But she could never let him know that. Not in this life at least!
With these thoughts clouding her mind, days became noons, noons became evenings
and evenings ended in sleepless nights. The week finally got over leaving Sirin
relieved to have Joy back from Hyderabad.
[4]
Routine
life once again pushed behind all sorts of worries from both their minds: Commuting
to work every day, meeting work targets and dealing with weird colleagues,
planning the months’ budget while having quick lunches and quicker dinners,
while almost never having breakfast became the routine of their lives again.
The day when Sirin will have to leave for a month was drawing to a close; even
Joy had become very busy with his work. Work had become demanding for both of
them and rightly so, they wanted to be busy to avoid any unpleasant
confrontation with each other. Joy never discussed the topic of her leaving. He
never even pleaded with her to stay. Sirin was certain that he was no longer
interested in her. There must be someone or something else that made him
uncaring towards her. Time just flew past them and it was almost time for her
to leave.
A
week before her departure, she was busy packing her bags when Joy announced: ‘I
had applied for a month’s sabbatical in office. A month is not possible but
given the fact that I have been working so hard for the last month they have
agreed to give me a leave for 15 days provided I report from our onsite
location’s office after 7 days. So basically we can be together for 15 days and
even enjoy a small vacation…..what say?’ It took some time for Sirin to digest
the whole information. ‘What..?? Are you serious?’ exclaimed Sirin. With a
smirk across his face, Joy just nodded in reply. Sirin jumped up and flanked her
arms around him in a huge embrace. This was by far the best news that she had
heard in days. There was no ego involved now… life seemed simple. She felt
happy and content just holding him. So…that was it….he was trying to buy out
his leaves….and that was the reason why he was working so hard….Sirin was
relieved that her worries were baseless. Joy stroked her hair and kept her in his
embrace.
It
took them some time to return to normalcy after the emotional upheaval that had
seen a culmination after almost a month. Once back to the present, Joy took
note of his surroundings: Sirin’s half-packed bags were scattered all over
their bed room.
Looking
around, his first question was: ‘Have you checked all the papers? Let me see ….what
you were packing…..’ saying so, he started going through her half packed
suitcase.
‘What
is all this? Pack some important things instead of six pairs of shoes….’
scolded Joy. Joy was his usual self again, back in his role of her guardian! Sirin
smiled at his rebuke and thanked God silently for having Joy in her life!
Loved the story..!!! u r fabulous in writing :)
ReplyDeleteReally a great story. I would suggest u to start writing a lovestory book. It will be loved by one and all
ReplyDelete@Ani....Thank u so much
ReplyDelete@Eshaan...I think I have to plan on one seriously :) and thnx for liking the story