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………..