Shreya paced back and forth, frustration clouding her thoughts. She was tired of trying to sort out things. The more she tried, the more tangled they became. She thought of the day when her whole life had turned upside down; the day when she had realized how much things had changed!
A month ago, her parents’ neighbour had called and informed about her dad’s heart attack. It was past midnight. Numb from the shock, she had woken up her husband Sandeep. After checking with the neighbour to make sure that his father-in-law was safely in the hospital under supervision, he had promptly gone back to sleep. Shreya hadn’t been able to catch even a wink of sleep while Sandeep snored away. She couldn’t understand how someone could be so insensitive.
The month that had followed was no less than a hurricane in her life. In the morning she had rushed to her parents’ town to see her dad. ‘Alone’ she had thought bitterly. Sandeep had rushed to office saying he had an important meeting, which he didn’t want to miss. She wondered if he would have said the same had it been his dad in the hospital. So she had gone alone, with the intention to see her dad and stay on for a few days until he felt better. But her mother-in-law had ordered her to get back after two days of stay. The reason on her part had been simple – Sandeep was going to office without his lunch and the children were difficult to handle. She felt a storm raging inside her but her mother had urged her to go back. She could see the sacrifice in her mother’s eyes.
Though she had come back, her heart was with her parents. They were an old couple and found it hard to manage on their own! They deserved to be looked after with care. But what choice did she have? Her mother-in-law had given her veto to Shreya’s plan of asking her parents to stay with them. “It doesn’t look good for a girl’s parents to stay at their married daughter’s home”, she had said. Wasn’t it her home too now?
She had ignored it all until now. But not anymore! Everything she had brushed aside as unimportant, now seemed to gain a life of its own and started haunting her, demanding justification. Like how Sandeep never lent her a helping hand even though he came early; how the only freedom she had was to make the grocery list; how she had to take ‘permission’ from her in-laws even to go out for a walk; all these thoughts started gnawing at her insides.
She stopped pacing and called her mom to check how things were. “Don’t worry about us, everything is fine”, her mother replied. But Shreya could hear the hidden pain. This loneliness was what she was giving them in return for all the love they had showered her with. A tear escaped her eye. “You don’t worry amma, I will make sure that everything is indeed fine”, she said. She had found her answer. It wasn’t a matter of choice now. The path was clear. There wouldn’t be any more sleepless nights or frustrated crying. She packed her bags and left quietly. For the house work, her in-laws and husband could find a maid. She would take the kids later. Finally, the storm which had been raging inside her subsided.
(Image source: Creative Commons)