Human kind is tough to fathom: We dig
our won grave and claim we have been cheated by fate. There were marriages that
lasted for centuries and oaths taken once lasted but this is a story that
deviates from normalcy.
“Ama,I want to sleep with you. I feel afraid to sleep
with my sister. She always beats me”. The innocent post- toddler boy sobs
suffocating with a long thread of phlegm from his nose.
“No, you can’t: See baby, I have to sleep at home to
guard out properties. We have rice to be guarded. Who knows many people walk
just through our house and they might pick up our knives and even steal our
rice. Sister will take care of you”. Said the mom Lal maya that looked lost in
the absence of her husband.
Drought had hit the crops hard. Adding to the
limited land holding, it was tough for the family of five to earn cash for
buying clothes and expending the children to school. As a head of the family he
was the sole bread earner. In search of a better job to raise his wife and
three children, Mr Baudha had travelled to Thimphu.His aptitude in carpentry
and masonry inspired his going and he joined into work. One, two three months
passed and even two years was on the verge of ending. Except for sometimes, he
sent money home. Not once did he try calling home to ask if they were living.
Worse so, it was the time when Telecommunication was something it was present
in the capital only. Even if they wanted to contact, there was way no possible
for them. Even the thoughts of sending letter was impossible to have, for black
letters equaled buffalo.
What might have happened to Baudha,no one knows,
except the almighty god. Silence sang back there at home. In wait of his
return, many months passed and half a decade went by.Lal maya had a life nobody
could imagine. She had to send her daughter to the school and she had a 4 years
old son to feed. Life was hard for her. Every now and then she used to visit my
mum and pour out her tension and stress. I remember her asking me to write a
letter. A known person from our village was going to see her son in Thimphu.
I was then just in class three. Her daughter was my
class mate. Those days, to spill my pride and blow my trumpet used to top the
school. I used to know how to write letters. This I learn from her own son who
was then somewhere in the boarding school of Wamrong.In an academic field I
used to be brilliant and fast learner. By the way those were the days when my
brain was tender and had a lot of space.
I wrote:
“Dear
srimaam(Husband)
It’s
me Your Lal maya all the way from Talabasti.How are you? I hope you are very
fine.
By
the way I am also fine here with everything going smoothly.
Thankyou
Your
wife
(Sorry
I don’t know her name).
Poor me I did not know what I was writing. I used to
copy the way my brother would send me back then. When it came to writing her
name, I didn’t know and I even didn’t dare to ask her for she had left our
house.
She waited and looked forward to seeing his reply.
In such expectant wait, 5 years passed yet there wasn’t any news of his return.
Time was really passing hard and dasain and Diwali went by. In the due process
of time, son grew up and grew 9 years then. He was admitted into the school.
Summer was over and winter started.
Those chilly winter nights, when the moon would open
its eye, darkness would be afraid to flourish. Night was just like a dim day and it was lively.
People walked, screamed and made the night lovely. When everybody was happy,
she wasn’t. To understand how a lonely soul would feel like one could ask this
lady. To assess how burden life must feel with the mouths to feels, one could
ask this lady.
No one can
remember when turning point in her life started. It was the least expected of
her. A man, every night would visit her singing under the moon. Mr. Tobgay had
been habituated to make love with her. Nobody knew of that until one day when
her daughter and the son visit her late night mistaking the cross of cockerel
in the middle of nigh to be morning. As a child one can imagine how early we
would wake up. As we grow old, even if no ghost comes and shake us no one would
wake up. This was the climax point of her life. The door wasn’t latched from
inside for it seems Mr. Tobgay was in a hurry. They caught her on the spot
making love with her. They screamed out of fear. Hearing them scream, paternal
uncle of the children arrived at the scene to find them together.
Following
week, wireless message was sent to Buddha to come home as soon as possible.
Getting the message, he rushed home and the case was taken to the village head
man.
A committee
of five members was gathered. Baudha begged for the punishment of the culprit
and his wife to be back to his life. She denied and said she would marry with
Tobgay.The fact she married Tobgay was that she was pregnant and was carrying a
baby of 4 month old.
Following
the settlement, the man felt like everything was lost. He had no better home
nor could he afford to make one. Life became like a dream. He never had
expected such a tragedy in life. I don’t know what must be transpiring in him
but I see him lonely and lost today.
These days I
have seen Lal maya with three daughters with Mr Tobgay but her life is like in
hell. She works so hard with him and frequently gets bashed up. I pity her life
more than I do Baudha’s.One in leading lonely and single life peacefully while
other is leading a family life horribly. At least if she had stayed with Baudha
she would never get beaten.
Today even
her son and daughter hates her. Son has become 18 years and passed class ten.
They remember how she had abandoned them just for the sake of other man.
Whatever
happens, happens for a reason .Life is difficult to understand at times. God
shall weigh whose fault measure how much!!
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