Fresh Air: Story of ex- husband and wife
Photo credit: grietgriet from morguefile.com
She was not unusually happy or sad. She was tired, mentally. She did not want to think about the past. However, the thoughts kept coming back to her. She got up and made herself a cup of coffee. She switched on the television so that she can ignore the thoughts in her head. She increased the volume of the television. The only voices she could still hear were the thoughts in her head. She finally gave up. She decided that she needed to do something to get over these thoughts. She decided to go down to the first floor of her apartment, which she had been avoiding ever since she landed in Delhi three days back.
She reached the first floor almost in trance, rang the bell and a 5 years old kid opened the door. She said she was looking for Asmita Katyal. While the kid went running back inside, she looked at the nameplate. The nameplate read “Asmita and Biswas Katyal”. “A black, very unattractive nameplate”, she thought in her head. A very fair lady with long hair followed the kid back to the door. There was nothing unusual about her. For a second, the lady just stopped at the door. In the next second, she uttered to words:
“Ranjini, is that you?”
“Yes”! The lady waiting at the door replied.
The expressions on Asmita’s face changed from astonishment to anger for a second. However, she took control of her expressions much before Ranjini could decipher them. Ranjini had no expressions on her face. She did not know why she was here. She just came here because she could not control the voices in her head. She was not sure if Asmita would even ask her to come inside the house, but she did. Ranjini entered inside the house with a strange feeling. She kept looking around as if she was examining the house for every minute change. She was trying to figure out if she could still find some traces of her in the house. It had changed too much. It was tasteless. It was very stuffy inside. There was no fresh air. Though, Ranjini was not sure if the stuffiness is inside her heart or in the house. Asmita came with a glass of water. Ranjini was dreading if Asmita will ask her about the purpose of coming here. She had no ready-made answer in her head and she did not want to sound random. Therefore, Ranjini decided that she will tell Asmita that she is here to sell her share of the properties if Asmita asks her. Asmita did not ask anything. Ranjini regretted coming here. She knew she was not welcome. She did not like the way her old house – the house that she decorated so tastefully – looked now. For a second, she thought the house looked exactly like Asmita; there are no shades of individuality in the house. For that very second; she felt a little good about herself again.
From the curtains in the drawing-room, she peeped into Biswas’s study room. She got a glimpse of him. He looked old, older than what she imagined. He was typing. She looked at the time. It was late in the evening and if Biswas has not changed drastically like this house, he will come out of his study for his tea anytime soon. She felt she is in the same house and may be Biswas will ask her to accompany him for an evening walk after the tea. She quickly regained consciousness and decided that she needs to leave the house before Biswas comes out of his study. Biswas knew she was in the town as the property dealer had informed him about Ranjini’s plans to sell her share of the properties. However, the last thing she wanted was to face him. She had no regrets of what she had done. She followed where her dreams took her and Biswas refused to be a part of her dreams. He preferred a false sense of security over Ranjini’s dream. Ranjini tried to recall the bitterness she had against him when she left the house. She, then, looked at Asmita. Asmita was brewing tea. She looked perfectly content in her own space, in this house, which looked so much like her.
Ranjini stepped out of the house quickly and looked at the name plate again. She remembered the old name plate that she had painted with her own hands and how it read “Ranjini and Biwas Katyal”. A sudden fear of being tied down in the corners of this house gripped her again. She went running back to her room. She opened the balcony to get some fresh air. She realized she was not wrong. She doesn’t belong here. She needs fresh air more than the painted walls.
