One of my dear colleagues,since the past three months had become progressively subdued and quiet,which is more like the welcome evening breeze who forgot its melody somewhere on its way home..Absolutely brilliant,technically sound and focussed on her job priorities,it was as though she was putting in her hours with a vengeance to turn her heart away from a thousand wild horses that were dragging her down the opposite cruddy road..
And it was the simple act of asking whether she needed an extra helping of sugar,during the morning coffee break,that tore her edifices down,and laid bare a pair of eyes,minus the carefully worn masks of indifference and bittersweet calm..
It wasnt much..The first seeds of her supposed infidelity were sown in her husband’s heart by Momma dearest,who couldnt accept a daughter-in-law who earned on par with sonny dearest and wore trousers to office..The alleged paramour was her young brother-in-law,who stayed with them,and attended college due to her insistence..They have two adorable kids,and hubby dearest had started using fists and shoes as essential articles of a productive marital conversation of late.
And it went downhill from there on a daily basis.
She didnt want her Mother to know all this,being the bundle of diseases,held together by resolve and pure love,and knew the frail heart wouldnt live through it.
She said she never wanted herself searching for probable lies and possible explanations when her children questioned her about giving it a second chance,she was sure they would,at a certain point of time in the future..
She never wanted to explore the messy realms of a mutual divorce,because that would mean she had miserably failed to hold her life together.
And she couldnt take another day with a life partner who alternated between cussing and loving in the blink of an eye.
The brother has since moved out,unable to bear the hurt,and dissociated himself from his mother and brother..
She said her husband never even took the effort to atleast check with his younger bother on the veracity of their Mother’s accusations.
Because no Mother would do anything to harm their children.
All I could do was sit there under the Jacaranda,in dank stupor,of the enormity of our social and personal strains of thought,that weighed us down,at times dragging us around with malicious glee,more so with the willful consent of our resigned hearts.
All I could do was give her my undivided attention and an offered hand of understanding..and something that I thought was practical under the circumstances..
I asked her to explore the possibility of moving out,with her children to another part in the same city,and take it from there.
It was the most longest and harrowing coffe break I ever had in my entire professional life.
And why she made me her sounding board is beyond my levels of understanding..
Here were two professionals,brought together in marriage,for a life to be nurtured with love and seasoned by challenges,finding themselves in a frightening new game where there was no rules,and worse still,resigned to play it with a fierceness and conviction only they understood.
On my way back,I happened to glance at a new Hallmark Mushy that got nailed on its forehead on the Lounge Notice board.
“Saluting all the Women in Our Lives”..it began..
So,it was International Women’s Day,after all..
Hmmmm..