It was night time. Being a mother of newly born twins, she slept earlier than her husband. All her life, Priya craved for more and more. She wished to have a big house, more like a mansion with several servants working under her command. She dreamt of having a rich husband with a wealthy family. She was married to Ritesh almost three years ago. It was more of an arrangement between family friends. She even liked him but something was missing from her life. She wasn’t content. Even living in one of the most posh colonies in the city, didn’t make her happy. Her husband worked as the CEO in one of the top five companies in the market. The kind of business he operated, was huge. He loved his wife very much. The growing arguments between the two, had made him wonder why he was still holding on to her.
‘She can never be happy with me. No matter what I do, she always complains. I’m done being criticised so much.’ He thought. He was very much attached to his kids as well but didn’t want his wife to be so cynical. With time, he had learned she was not going to change and his love for her started to fade away. Small arguments lead to bigger ones and gradually he chose not to go home for several days in the name of ‘work’ and tours. Priya wanted her husband to pay more attention to her but most of the times, he wasn’t even home. Sadly, she started spending more time with her friends. Her kids grew old enough to be left in a crutch during the day hours when she would go out with her group and drank whisky in order to escape from the loneliness she’s been going through.
It was a Friday night. She hadn’t heard from her husband from past two days and was getting worried now. Her friend Neha’s husband worked in the same company as his husband’s and so Priya asked her to check where he can be. As it turned out, Ritesh was off to handle a project in Bangalore and was supposed to return on Friday. Hearing this, the phone slipped off from her hand and fell on the floor. She sat on the sofa in a state of shock. Priya didn’t know how to react. Her kids were playing on a mat lying in front of her in the living room with building blocks. The sounds started to fade and images got blurry. Focusing on the building blocks alone, it reminded her of how this marriage had started. She was more than happy in the beginning. But gradually, her cousin sisters and her mother started making her feel that the kind of life she’s been living, it wasn’t enough. She deserved more and so may be if she pushed him a bit, he would certainly give her all that she desired for. She started complaining about the small things first and then there was a big list of demands that Ritesh had to fulfil. Poor guy got stuck between his work and wife. She could see her marriage being torn apart. ‘Misbalanced,’ as the burden of her reckless behaviour consumed all her husband’s happiness. She was starting to regret it. All of it. One news, and she was all broken into tears. The mere helplessness of not being able to contact Ritesh, made her have ample number of scary visuals as to what might have happened to him and where could he possibly go?
In my opinion, Life’s not too short but only longer than we think. We just don’t seem to realise soon enough, in most cases. She was already living in ‘abundance’ but so much for the chattering of the people surrounding her, she didn’t believe in it. Poonam was living in a huge house with seven bedrooms, with five servants already working under her. Ritesh had gifted her so many things, several jewellery articles, paintings, trips to her favourite places in the country and elsewhere, she used to always find a way to pick out something missing. He had tried to be the best man she can ever have. The kind of man she dreamt of, since her childhood and even got married to one but nonetheless was too lost on her own world to have realised it. She never thought of ‘counting on her blessings’ till this day when something unusual had happened. It was very unlikely of Ritesh to not to call her till midnight on the day he was supposed to return home. Her children slept soon enough and constantly staring at the crystal lamp by her bedside, her eyes grew tired.
Buzzzzzz!!
Buzzzzzzzz!!
Her phone was on silent mode and when she woke up by the vibration, she saw three missed calls from an unknown number. Troubled enough, she called back on that number. While the bell rang, thousands of unpleasant thoughts crossed her mind but were soon stopped by the voice on the other end. A familiar voice.
‘Hello Love. Sorry I got late. I didn’t see the time when the meeting got over and I missed the flight. My phone’s battery died and I didn’t know how to convey it to you. So, while I booked another one and planned to come home soon enough, I thought of just calling up and checking whether you’re still awake or not. Sorry to disturb you this late if you were sleeping.’
Expecting a rather rude reply from her, and not getting any reply in return, he asked again, ‘you there? Are you okay, sweetie?’
A rather trembled voice said, ‘Of course I’m fine. Where are you?’
‘Right outside. Please open the door.’ He replied
Hearing this, she ran across the hall at once to see him. A sight she’d been longing to have from several hours. She hugged him and kissed his forehead. Ritesh was more than surprised but didn’t plan to stop her so he played along.