To what extent can a person bear pain in life? I don’t know if anyone can measure the intensity, but I am sure that a woman will top the list.
“Please save me, Help! Please I’m begging you”, screaming these words and panting, Alankriti wakes up every morning. Over the last fifteen days this nightmare has been haunting her, ever since that brutal incident took place her happiness has come to a halt. Hit by a sudden thunderbolt, her life set onto a parallel track which never intersects with happiness.
Her soul was now struggling hard to break free from the cage i.e. her body, but unfortunately it was not succeeding in doing so. She was living in the hope to die someday. No one could ever tell how charming and vibrant she used to be, before that cruel dark night when she was assaulted by a few vandals on her way back home. She cried for help but there was no one to listen to, and the laughter of those monsters overpowered her shrills.
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After that night, she lost herself in the hands of those psychopaths and became a different person from who she used to be. Her body was now only meant to breathe and weep all day long, she refused to meet anyone and confined herself in her bedroom with thick curtains pertained on her window panes. Indeed, an isolated life! Memories of that horrendous day in her life, had dismantled her thought process, she refused to share, to eat, to talk. She refused to LIVE. The episode prohibited her from a peacefull sleep, it followed her every night. She rarely came out of her room and regretted going for a party that night, but why did she need to. She cursed her innocent soul but what had she done to bow down to this fate of hers.
But, the sixteenth day was different. She woke up and wasn’t having the memory of the horrendous past. Instead, she woke up with the memory of the same morning’s incident, when she fainted in her bathroom. Now, after regaining her senses she found a doctor along with her parents, standing next to her bed.
“There is nothing much to worry about, in fact there’s a good news. She’s pregnant.”
The doctor’s words were nothing less than a bullet to the ones present. They were shell-shocked.
A curfew of sorts had been hovering on the Sharma residence with no movement and complete silence. But, inside Alankriti’s mind, a violent storm was in full action – “I’ll fight against the world, I’ll fight for my child, no matter what happens, what is my child’s fault? I can kill myself but not this innocent life. My soul will not forgive me for this”. With these thoughts, Alankriti tore her suicide letter, written few minutes ago, into pieces and burnt it. A new Alankriti was born, whose tears had dried-out with no traces of fear in her eyes. When you have nothing to lose, you have nothing to fear of and when you have nothing to fear, you master your senses. She now had complete control over her conscience. With the physical changes inside her body, she went through a drastic transformation. She started developing positivity within herself; she wanted to feel her child as a mother can only understand how it feels to give birth to a new life. She wanted her baby to be in her arms. She stood up to remove the curtains and let the light in as she decided to let her life shine by her child.
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“Let’s go, we will get the abortion done today itself.” With these words her father broke the silence.
“No, I want to have this child. It’s my child and I’ll raise him up no matter what problems I may have to come across. I will not abort my child.” Alankriti stated in an affirmative tone. .
“Then, think you were born an orphan”, her father said in a disappointed and angry tone, after Alankriti’s refusal to abort the baby.
“Look at your daughter. What does she think of herself? Because of her we are unable to show our faces to anyone in the society. I told you to not send her to parties, this happened all because of you”, her father blamed her mother. Tapping his feet, Alankriti’s father went out of the house.
“Dear, your father is right, you abort this child! We will find you a good match and everything will be fine”, her mother said with concern.
But Alankriti’s decision didn’t change. She was firm as a rock. When a mother decides to save her child; she can go to any extent. This new phase which Alankriti was going through, gave her strength to fight all hurdles. Somehow, after a lot of struggle, she found a job with the help of a childhood friend and gave birth to a baby boy. Now her only aim was to give a good life to her son.
Her son meant the world to her. Bringing up a child is a tough task and for a single mother, it is the toughest. In this male dominated world, only she could understand the difficulties she had to face. But, in her case, everything went well as she devoted her whole life to her son. The day her son got a job and came and touched her feet, she felt proud as she herself got a prized possession, she had won her battle. Alankriti persevered. She wanted her son to marry soon as she knew how hard it is to live a forlorn life. She knew the importance of a partner and the day came when her son introduced her to the love of his life, Anjali.
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Alankriti agreed, she was more than happy with her son’s choice. Now finally, she had her own complete family. She imagined spending time with her daughter-in-law and was excited on the idea of becoming a grandmother. The date for the marriage was fixed and she her excitement knew no limits. After the marriage rituals were done with, her son and daughter-in-law came forward to touch her feet, she was overwhelmed. She felt done with her duties and responsibilities. Now everything was fine and she was happy about the decision that she had made in the past. Alankriti wanted to shout out loud and tell the whole world that she was right and what she did was right. She was the happiest person in the entire world that day.
All these thoughts came to a stop with a mighty jerk, her car stopped and she realized that time has flown. She could read, ‘Sanrakshan-Old age home’ on her first view outside the window. Fifty years had gone but her son’s face still fresh in her eyes. This thought was interrupted when she hears him say, “Mom, I have seen you spending life alone and I know it’s very hard to live. I love my wife very much but she can’t live with you and wants a separate life. She is not able to adjust with you in the same house. So, you have to stay here until I find a new home for you. I’m sorry, I hope you understand,” and he left. Her eyes turned moist, a feeling she had not experienced ever since the birth of her son. It had been long journey, she was still the same girl, with the same body and soul, but what rolled down were not the same tears though. Alankriti felt neglected yet again, lost yet again, left alone yet again.
Author Bio
Shalini Jha is a Mass Communication student. Writing stories and poems is what she loves to do. If have any suggestion, remark or comment for her, you can mail her at shaluviola@gmail.com
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