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The Curse |
| Written by Vijay P Nair | |
| Tuesday, 29 April 2008 | |
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Share it:      THE FIRST thing he remembered after regaining consciousness was her denunciation. "You’ll lose your right hand!" she had cursed. At that time he had laughed it off saying that no curse would have any effect on anybody; it was all pure superstition. But it had now proved to be true. He turned his face and looked at his right side. A big bandage ran along his chest and shoulder. There was a void beyond his armpit. He felt emptiness. The realization that he would have to live with only one hand the rest of his life sent an excruciating pain through him. Lying there alone, distraught and despoiled, he wondered for a moment what had he gained by divorcing his wife. Did he acquire property, wealth, and great social status as he had visualized? Was his life a success? He looked at himself and found his reflection to be like sorry gleams from a broken mirror. But twenty years ago, he was young, dynamic, and full of grand ideas. His outlook about material things was different. And he believed that wealth was the most important element for success in life; nothing else was sacred. Not even a loving wife. Naturally she suffered the blunt of his disappointment as his avariciousness abounded. The irony was that their marriage was the culmination of a short love affair. In the first few months, life was a rhapsody. And they had visited many tourist spots, famous temples, and beach and hill resorts during their honeymoon days. The discordant note appeared when his greed replaced his sensibility. When he learned that the adjacent plot of land was for sale, he found it irresistible. He would then have a large stretch of land at his possession. This conviction had an intoxicating effect on him. Usually if he sets his eyes on anything, he would get it, by hook or by crook. In a sense this obduracy was his forte, his foible too. But shortage of funds made him irritable. And he thought that it was at such a juncture that his wife’s family should come forward to help him. "Rugmini." He called his wife after he returned from surveying the field. There was no response. She was in the kitchen preparing breakfast. Annoyed, he shouted again. "Rugmini, where the hell are you?" Leaving the kitchen, she came out. "You called me?" she asked pleasantly. "Rugmini. I wanted to tell you something," he began, trying to sound convincing. "Did I tell you about the field adjacent to ours? It’s for sale. I’m thinking of buying it. What do you say?" "That’s a good idea," she averred, without knowing that she was falling prey to his trap. "But he wants fifty thousand rupees (about US$1100). I don’t have that much money, and I find no way to raise it. Why don’t you ask your father to give you some money?" he gently put forward his suggestion. "Fifty thousand rupees!" Rugmini gasped. "From where would he get that much money?" she asked, perturbed. "He can very well sell his land," he said in a matter-of-fact tone. "He’s not given us anything for our wedding, has he?" She didn’t answer. It was true that her father owned a small plot of land, but her family depended on it for their livelihood. "You’re very unreasonable," she complained. "If he sells it, what would they eat? And I’ve two young sisters still to be married. Why don’t you understand that?" she asked. "So you’re more worried about your little sisters!" he said, jeering. "You don’t care about our future. Listen! I’m trying to buy this land for us. For our children. Understand?" "No, I don’t understand," she said. "You want to buy this land by selling my father’s property. How preposterous!" And she stalked out of the room without waiting for his reply. She found that his breakfast was burned. But she did not know that at that moment their marriage was also getting burned. He lost that land to somebody. That was the first instance where he failed to get what he wanted. And it never ceased to rankle him to think that his wife was responsible for this fiasco. The rest had followed like ripples spreading outward, farther and farther, when a stone is dropped into the still waters of a pool. His reverie was broken when the nurse came in. "Ha! You’re awake!" she said pleasantly, as if she was happy to see him alive. Her elation, however, seemed rather incongruous. In her white attire she looked radiant. But before he could say anything, she inserted a big needle into his left arm and pumped some medicine into his veins. He winced in agony and turned his face. On his right side there was nothing but pain. As if all the ache accumulated together was attacking his right shoulder. He was a complete man until yesterday. That blasted journey in the bus had written a different chapter to his life. He cursed the moment he had agreed to his daughters’ plea for a picnic at the beach. He had dozed off for a while as the cold wind blew through the bus, and he was unaware that his elbow was jutting a little out of the window. All on a sudden he was jerked out of his slumber when he found the bus giving way to another. He didn’t feel anything as his right arm was torn off and flung into the other bus. Blood soaked his shirt and he felt a strange numbness. Then a tearing spasm seethed through his body and he lost consciousness… He felt that perhaps this loss of a limb was a catharsis for the anguish and misery his wife had undergone by his dastardly behavior. He knew that no repentance would alleviate the ill treatment he had meted out to her. But that knowledge came to him only now after he had remarried a wealthy girl and discovered her to be a demon-incarnate. He wondered how Rugmini felt when he drove her out. Rugmini realized that she could endure no more humiliation, and left for her father’s house in a huff. Soon she found out that estrangement was considered a social stigma. Society blamed her for her inability to conceive as the root cause for all her troubles, and absolved her husband from all his misdemeanors. Indeed, even with all his dourness she had plainly adored him. Every morning she had invariably accompanied him to the door to see him off as he left for his work, and many evenings she had walked up to the gate to welcome him back when he returned. She was, therefore, sure that one day he would recognize his mistake and reclaim her, but the gulf between them had become so wide that no love could span it with its rainbow. And what she received after a long impatient wait was a registered letter. She almost swooned. He had filed a suit in a court of law for divorce on the grounds of incompatibility. How low could he stoop, she asked herself. Her father’s irenic efforts to resolve the tiff had little affect on him. He was resolute, adamant. He wanted a divorce. Nothing less than that. He did not wish to share his life with her any more! But a few months later, without any advance notice he appeared at her house looking unsure and embarrassed. And he declared meekly, "Rugmini, I’m sorry. I discovered that it is hard to live without you. Please forgive me." How easily he asks for her forgiveness, she thought. The past few months were fraught with so much pain, so much misery and despair, that it had left an indelible scar on her which no words could remove. The sluice of her feelings was suddenly opened, and tears flowed out uncontrollably. "There, there! Don’t cry," he tried to comfort her. "Now that we have forgiven each other let’s forget the past and begin afresh." While leaving her house, she found the sun brilliant, the wind soothing, every breeze a pleasant caressing, and in every bird’s note there lurked a lullaby. She felt like a whiff in the air. "It’s been a long time since we’ve been together. Let’s go some other place for a change, instead of our old house," he suggested. She readily assented. She was like a somnambulist and would have accompanied him to the end of the world. They went on a picnic-spree, visiting all the popular tourist spots, holiday resorts, famous monuments and temples as if they were on a second honeymoon. Those were the happiest moments in her life. He was close to her, and that was all that mattered; all the rest was a luminous mist. A few weeks later she discovered that she was pregnant. He was exuberant when she told him this happy news. He became very considerate, and, canceling all other schedules, they returned home. "You need complete rest. I don’t want complications later," he advised her, and she came back to her father’s house, proud and ecstatic. And so when she got a summons from the court to appear for the divorce suit filed by her husband, she was astounded. Then she realized that he had forgotten to withdraw the suit he had filed and the court had only now taken up this case. It was only a formality. They had patched up their differences. The court would dismiss the case, she assured herself. Her husband was out of town on some business. So she decided to go to the court with her father. To her amazement she found her husband present in the court! He appeared to be distrait, and there was something inscrutable about him. His lawyer rose and said, "Your honor, my client and this woman," he said pointing to Rugmini, "were husband and wife, and he found her character not above reproach. For the last one-year they have been living separately. And yet she has become pregnant…" he stopped to emphasis the point. All eyes were on her now. When the lawyer was sure that it had a devastating affect on the judge, he continued, "Your honor, she’s pregnant! What other proof is needed to show that she has loose character and she goes out with other men! May I, therefore, pray that my client…” "That’s not true, that’s not true!" she cried. "We’re still husband and wife. Shanker, please say that this is not true. Please," she pleaded. But Shanker was looking elsewhere, apparently not listening to what was going on in the court. "Order, order." The judge pounded the gravel on the table, and turning to her, he asked, "Can you prove that this is untrue?" She hesitated. DNA testing and genetic matching was not prevalent at that time. It slowly dawned on her that she had been very cleverly tricked. What chicanery! She knew she could not produce any witness to claim that they were living together for some time during the last nine months. They were traveling all over India to celebrate their reunion! At hotels and resorts he had simply registered as Mr. and Mrs. Shanker, but that could not be taken as evidence. He could very well take any woman and register as husband and wife. She shook her head slowly. "No Sir, I can’t," she said dejectedly. "But the truth is truth at any hour of the day or night and no one can change it," she submitted demurely. But it was a men’s world. The judge smiled condescendingly. Shankar was talking to his lawyer with a sense of accomplishment when he saw her leaving the court with her harried-looking father. Suddenly, turning impetuously upon him, her eyes flashing as the latent spirit awoke in her, she exploded. “You…! You dirty pig! You cheat! You first touched me with your right hand. You’ll never again be able to eat with that hand. You’ll lose it. I curse you, I curse you … There’s someone up there. He’ll surely punish you…” Her father, already distraught, dragged her to a waiting taxi. He just stood there indifferently, smiling. "No curse would have any affect on anybody in this century, dear lady," he called out in a low tone, but she was already gone… Copyright 2008 Vijay P Nair |
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