Episode 13

Buried Memories - 13

Vanitha repeated to Vaishnavi, “ I saw the girl. She is Tara and our Tarun has a kid”. Vaishu didn’t not reply as she was struck with shock and Shanthi was just blunt. This was when Vanitha noticed her mother in law and immediately told her…” O amma.. I dreamt as if our Tarun is getting married to a lady Tara and they are blessed with a kid. I just ran out of the room with an excitement….”.

Vaishu replied, “  I wish the same akka, for your dream to come true. They say that what ever you dream in the early morning will come true………” and before she completed the sentence it was Shanthi..”  O please girls, lets not start early in the morning. I wish the same happens soon for my Tarun…”.  Vaishnu and Vanitha gazed at their mother in law who wiped her tears and walked out of the kitchen.

As Vaishu picked up the topic..Vanitha snapped in..” I am sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. Its my fault. But Vaishu, please read the diary dear. Our Tarun is  not the kid as we think. He has moved the coins so well in his life and there was a slightest miss and we lost Tara..” .

“Enough Akka, don’t utter a word. We should be more careful. Yeah, today you will take the kids to the classes and bring them back while I am going to sit in the nearest park with the diary…, what do you say?”…..” As you say madam…..” with a smile Vanitha left the kitchen with two cups of coffee for Arun and her.

****

On the other side of the world……… (In Hyderabad)…..

“ So Vijay.. good morning.. thanks for this coffee…”, Tarun thanked Vijay for the coffee.

Tarun has travelled back from Germany and moved to Hyderabad and was speaking to his friend Vijay. “ As said earlier, all I needed was Abirami’s consent. And now everything is clear from both the sides. I will speak to my parents and immediately call for an engagement. By the way.. Did I force you all on this?”

“No, Not at all.. who will come forward to give this kind of a life to my sister Tarun? I am glad and happy that you are my friend. I am grateful and thankful for this one. Abi lost her husband just 2 weeks after she got married in a flight accident. After she got over the sadness, all I could see was the involvement in business and she is quite happy about her life. I was initially worried how things would go when you spoke to me about this marriage.. but, she was happy to agree after mom and I spoke to her. I am sure, unlike others she will be able to keep you happy.”

With a small smile Tarun sipped his coffee and was getting mentally prepared to talk to his parents about Abirami, Vijay’s sister who is a widow. And he is sure that everything will go well.

In Newyork……….

“Finally I give in, Neeraj. I would love to come and meet your family….” Tara broke the silence in the dining table.

With a surprise, Neeraj looked at her, and asked,” what made you hesitate for so long?”

“I am sure, you would have  told about me to your family. Akil doesn’t even know who his real father is. I got pregnant before marriage. All these are not normally accepted in our culture. I know people will not welcome these things with open hearts. I felt guilty. I didn’t want to give in initially. But for the sake of our kids and their love towards their grand parents, I don’t want to restrict them….” Finished Tara.

“ So, you decide everything rite? By the way who told you that I have told about all these things to my family? And none of them are ready to accept a girl / her kid in the way you came from. Tara, that is not to hurt you. But I want to tell you that our society and culture has their own values as well. I will never break the promise that I did. I haven’t told my family or friends anything about your past. All they know was you are a divorcee and living separately with your kid. And.. that’s what every one accepted.

I am glad that atleast now you have opened your mind to talk about this. If it was your guilty feeling which has held you back.. I am sorry. I should have told this long time back that my parents are ready to welcome their son’s wife not only with open hands, its also with open hearts……. Thanks for talking about this to me.. atleast now. I just cannot wait to take you home….” With this Neeraj gave  Tara a tight hug and pressed a kiss on her forehead.

The true love and relationship doesn’t start and last only on bed . it also needs love, bonding, understanding ,sacrifice, hope, confidence and truth. Everything was filled in Tara’s life and she was ready to meet her in laws and her husband’s family now whole heartedly.

Vaishnavi picked up the diary and started reading while she was in the park.

The pages started with this:

“ I didn’t have the guts to go to another girl for anything after I saw everything  worse with Suja. But, Tara was not of that kind. She took a long time to mingle with me as a stranger and she helped me as she obeyed her boss, my friend’s words to help me in my new venture in Hyderabad. I never revealed my true identity that CARE CARDS belonged to me. I presented myself as an employee from that company and informed that I work for the venture to start a branch in Hyderabad.

After all that had happened with Suja, I didn’t want to  be in Bangalore or the home. But wanted to shift everything to Hyderabad as few of my clients  commune from here too. As slowly the days passed Tara became close to me. She cooked food for me. I stayed in Vijay’s hotel. Our frequent meets and talks made us so close. Finally I applied for my divorce. As per the law, I had to wait for that 6 months till  I completely come out of the bond. Soon our friendship blossomed into love. And this lady, spoke a lot about marriage and a family which Suja never did. I had been with her to Germany to meet one of my client. That’s where we lost ourselves physically. I didn’t regret this time as my choice was right. The only thing I was guilty was I didn’t reveal my true identity to her. And, I did that as I didn’t want to lose Tara. Atleast for the sake that I had slept with her she will be with me.

Life in Germany was too good. Every min was a honey moon and every second was just love. More than the physical needs in love, it needed mental intimacy. And we enjoyed that. I would say  I loved that moments. I wanted a girl of this kind. But why didn’t I see her 1 year back? May be that was the fate I had to go through.

Tara started talking more about marriage. She spoke a lot to meet my family. I couldn’t take her home as my papers were not completely done. I just had to wait for another 4 months.

Tara was soon diagnosed with PCOS. Her periods were irregular and she slowly started becoming diabetic. She was under medication. The only warning that the doctor gave was that its very hard for a person with PCOS to conceive and once they have done, then proper care is a must. Hearing this I was scared. I started being a bit more precautious and careful while I was with Tara.

As days passed on, I slowly started just going mad on Tara. Tara wanted to do some higher studies. She had previously enrolled for her masters which she planned to finish in one shot. She was so busy preparing for her exams and that’s when I heard a good news…… I said I will rush back to Chennai immediately.”

I left to Chennai …….

Memories will continue…………..

Episode 12

Episode 12

“Hey, ladies.. its ok.  Its all over now. If you don’t mind could you please get us some coffee?”, started Arun after seeing his wife and Vaishnavi in tears. He was not sure that its too much for the ladies to handle.

Both the ladies left the hall and walked into the kitchen. Varun sat with his eyes fixed on the floor. “ Did I hear the right thing? Is all that true?”. Arun nodded affirmative. “Hmm, so you knew everything and none of us were aware?”

Arun replied, “ its that not way. Dad and mom wouldn’t have even imagined  that Suja would be that way. It was Tarun’s fate  I should say. There were lots of other personal stuffs which he had mentioned in the diary which I didn’t disclose while the ladies were around. Anyways I knew everything about what happened after that….” Saying that he stared at his wife who walked with a tray. They offered the men coffee and they sat with each other. Vanitha said that she had ordered some food from the nearby hotel and that will be delivered in few mins. Arun went on,” What I was saying? Huh.. yes,.. Tarun came to know all about Suja. She didn’t deny the fact that she was another man. She was caught red handed. Tarun didn’t speak anything to her after that. She came back asking him sorry and tried explaining things. That’s when  he decided to come to Chennai and he was here for  2 weeks. He told me everything. He was not normal that time. Iam  sure we all knew that. Suja called him and asked him sorry and begged. She even feared that he would let her parents to know about that. In fact its me who gave the idea to Suja to apply for a smooth divorce. The reason being asked we managed to say that she was not willing to live with Tarun. Same was portrayed by her as well.”

“ Tarun went through a bad phase. She was not ready to let him go. She said that she will commit suicide if he doenst live with her. He was not even ready to speak a word to her. And days went by and fighting with each other and day by day he became annoyed and hopeless about his life. His business was becoming dull. I saw him drinking day and night. Arjun tried explaining and  helping him out. But all he was able to do was to save the business. We knew that he had no hold on his life. We didn’t want dad and mom to know this as I said they would have collapsed to know that one of the daughter in law was that way.

“ They had high hopes. Tarun didn’t even want me to tell anything to anyone about what had happened. He finally decided that  he needed a break. He said that he was going to Hyderabad. Two weeks from the time he went there he came back with a new hope. He said that he found a girl for himself who  can soothe his wounds that Suja had created. He didn’t even mention the girl’s name. he said that he had found a good friend. Suja was not ready to leave Tarun. She didn’t have the guts to talk to our family that way and neither she went to her parents. It was an emotional black mail to Tarun to make him accept her. He even offered to pay a ransom to get rid of her, which was of no use.

“He went to Hyderabad to meet his friend Vijay,  his school mate. He said that he met a girl there who worked for Vijay’s hotel as a Chartered accountant. He said that she is an orphan and doesn’t have anyone. She lost her parents and brother in an accident. She lived a lonely life. He told she is brilliant and well behaved. He said that he will not be telling her anything about his married life. He just wanted a good friend that’s all. He was not ready to believe any girl after the bitter experience. 6 months of fighting over to get rid of Suja was miserable and was too much for him to handle.

“ He got an idea to get rid of Suja. He told her that she found another girl in his life and she has got conceived because of him. Suja now knew that  it’s the time for her to leave. And she arranged for the divorce. As all the formalities was getting ready, Tarun’s frequent visit to meet Vijay and Hyderabad became more. That was also because of the new venture that he wanted to start in Hyderabad and wanted to close the branch in Bangalore. During these visits he became close with that girl. He even told Vijay not to tell the girl anything about him.

“ Tarun told me that he has informed that girl that he is working in a company and told her that they are working on migrating the branch to a different location and that’s what the reason for his frequent visits to Hyderabad. He said that he is not going to reveal the real identity of him anywhere. In fact, till today I don’t even know the girl’s name and neither I have seen her”……

Saying this Arun wiped his eyes. The food was delivered and all four had a silent dinner. The complete silence prevailed. Varun started first, “ why you didn’t  tell us?  It was too much for our little boy to take the pain. The pain was not meant for him, we could have shared his pain and given him some hope. Now do you see how our Tarun is? He doesn’t want a marriage, he doesn’t want to smile. I have hardly seen him speaking to any one at home. That smile and laughter has disappeared. How are we going to get them back?”

“ We cannot do anything. It was his fate and that how he calls it. I told you about the girl right? All that I know about her is she left Tarun and left. I don’t have the reasons, I don’t know what had happened and what was the problem. May be all our doubts have an answer only from Tarun’s diary. We should read that to get to know. Iam tired for the day and can we catch up on that tomorrow?”, finished Arun.

Everyone nodded and departed in the cars. They drove silently to their rooms. Shanthi was surprised by their behavior. There was never day of deciding to eat outside with their wives without prior information. And never had they returned back with long faces. She wanted to know if anything like any argument  took place between the kids. Her sons consoled her and said something in alignment to give up a reason of why they left out etc. and also confirmed that nothing was wrong.

Off late Tarun’s behavior had been nagging Shanthi. Last 6 years, the family didn’t have a proper function and get to gether as Tarun was always not around. He had some reasons or the other to say why he cannot make it. And more over he hardly took part even in the family discussions. He was never a part of them. Her repeated requests  asking him to get married made him more furious and he stopped communicating to Shanthi and Shankar.  That even worried her a lot. And now these kids return back with long faces made her lose her sleep. She didn’t want to imagine anything extreme and make her husband lose his peace. She decided to keep it herself.

Though Vanitha and Vaishnavi were from different families, they never behaved that way. They were always together to do everything.  They never differentiated between their kids and the household jobs. They were always the perfect daughter in laws that Shanthi had got, which made Shanthi live with envy. But,  keeping Tarun’s marriage in mind she was always restless. She thought many times to understand what would have made Tarun and Suja to decide for a divorce. Tarun was complete adjustable guy. His short temperedness were never shown out. Even if he shouts the first time, be it others mistake, he was there to ask sorry. He always sacrificed for others. He did a lot for  his brother ‘s and sister in laws. So she was sure that it would never been his mistake. May be Suja…..? what did she do to that extent to decide to live separately? That was always an unanswered question which kept running in her mind.

As a mother, she regretted for what her son is now, but, she is not able to find a solution which made her mind guilty always. She tried talking about this to Arun and Varun. She was never given the right answer. Shankar was always an open minded person. He was always at his sons decision. All he wanted was to keep him informed that’s it. And doesn’t interfere into other things. A perfect man.. he was.

On the other hand Vaishnavi was not able to sleep . she wanted to know what is there in the diary and who was that girl? what had happened to her? Why did she leave Tarun? Unanswered? Or was it a mystery? Is Arun hiding anything from her?

Vanitha took the diary from Arun and started reading that while Arun was asleep.

It was 7 am. Out of excitement Vanitha ran to Vaishnavi. She saw her in the kitchen preparing coffee. Out of her happiness she failed to notice who was the other person in the kitchen and screamed out aloud..” Vaishu, that girl is Tara. Tarun has a kid……………..”

Memories will continue………..