Twilight Zone - II
Deb returned home, quite late, as she had to catch up with the lost hours during lunch time, and she flopped onto her favourite couch in the living room. Her mother, who was anxiously waiting for Deb looked at the crestfallen face, but maintained her silence waiting for Deb to say something. Deb’s face was like a crystal ball then. All kinds of emotions flitted past and her mother could make out she was very upset. She quietly, slipped out of the room and heated the dinner. She heard Deb washing and waited near the table with steaming hot food ready for Deb. Deb, came in gave her mother a hug and sat quietly and started to eat. She was quite hungry, she had not eaten lunch, and the long day had taken its toll on her.
Helping her mother put away the dishes, Deb slowly told her about Simon. She was surprised to see tears in her mother’s eyes too. “I am so sorry Deb, I know he is your best friend and he is too young to have such a disease, I hope he gets cured completely” she said gently. “Thanks mom, for your support” Deb was surprised. Her mother knew Simon, but Deb was not sure what her mother thought about Simon. Her friendship with an Englishman caused a bit of gossip amongst the elders in the area. They frowned, when he dropped her in the evenings or spent a few hours in her house. Her mother, though, was not an interfering type and kept her mouth closed. She never gave unwanted advice or opinions unless asked for. So, Deb was pleasantly surprised by her mother’s reaction.
“He is going to call his parents tomorrow and I have promised all my support” Deb informed her mother. “Hopefully, everything will be alright soon” she said.
Next morning, bright and fresh, Deb headed for Simons cabin, carrying in her hand 2 lunch boxes. He looked at her in surprise, and she said “enough of bread and crumbly oats, my mom has specially made fish for you with coconut gravy; it will give you the energy you need to deal with the next few months’. Simon was very touched. This is what attracted him to India in the first place. The generosity of people and the personal touch and warmth they showered in every little thing they did. He never lacked invitations for dinner and he always returned home with a full stomach and a happy heart.
‘So, how did your call go with your parents?’ Deb asked. ‘Devastated, as expected. They were crying when I hung up and now I got a call from my brother, saying my parents are booking tickets to visit me!!’ ‘Oh dear, are you ok with that?’ she asked. ‘Yes, they are cool, but I feel bad that their wish of me getting married is going down the drain. They were hoping I will catch the eyes of a dusky, doe eyed Indian girl with beautiful dark tresses, but now only the nurses are eyeing me’ he said with a laugh. She shook her head and said “you are a nut case, know that? You joke when we sit and worry about you!! Are you saying, they are happy for you to marry an Indian woman, wow, I did not expect that, sorry, but I thought the English were so snooty, they will frown on a dark skin'!! ‘Sorry love, my parents will have all love, respect, affection for any girl who manages to tame their son and marry him. The days of ethnicity or class differentiation resides only in the minds of the uneducated. I would like to think my parents and I are well out of such mediocre thoughts.’ Deb was so touched, she did not say anything, and she opened the boxes and had her breakfast with him. ‘So, does your mother know about me’ he asked her. ‘Yes, I share all my feelings with her, she is very understanding and she had tears in her eyes too when I told her about you. She woke up early today to make your breakfast and I heard her praying for your recovery’.
As the days rolled, Simon’s treatment started. He was put on medication, he had to do blood tests regularly and finally the dates for the surgery was finalised. Deb went with him most of the times, except when one of his sibling or parent was with him. He came regularly to work, and managed to keep up with the workload. Slowly, with the effect s of the treatment and medicine, a change could be seen ,in his movements. He laughed less, was not spontaneous and refused many invitations to dinner.
Over a weekend, she planned a picnic near a river side. She packed food, music and drinks. He seemed quite reserved and did not say much. Walking along with him, Deb kept quiet too, feeling a bit anxious, but wanting to give him his privacy to his thoughts too. They stopped near a lily pond, where the lilies were blooming in abundance, nodding their blushing heads in the winds and waving to the sun. Simon, turned towards Deb and took her hands and said, “if only all women were like you, life would have a better quality and meaning to it”. “What makes you say that?’ Deb asked.
‘Well, I have not told you of my dark past, have I now? I did not tell you I was married for sixteen months to this beautiful, brainy chick, who studied with me. We were young then, and in a hurry to prove ourselves as ‘being in love’ got married as soon as we finished graduation, much to the shock of her parents and mine. They did predict it would not last, but what they did not predict was it would last only sixteen months. Ten months after our marriage, she went into some kind of depression and became morose and indifferent. I gave her time and all my love, but she never responded. Two months later, she applied for divorce on the grounds of incompatibility, and six months later, very hurt and upset, I signed the divorce papers too’.
‘You just gave in, without a fight? Did you not love her enough to stay and find out why she was depressed? Deb asked. ‘Love? I loved her too much, I always gave her what she wanted, and she asked for divorce!! I did not want to create a scene or fight over petty things. I did not want to force her to live with him, once I realised she had fallen out of love with me. She has married again, has kids and till today I don’t know why she behaved the way she did. I try not to think too much about it, but now lately, with the cancer and all, I feel kind of low and a failure. When life should be blooming, with kids and a supportive wife, I have lost my wife and now I might die without knowing what happened’.
‘Stop it!! Stop feeling sorry for yourself, first. She obviously did not deserve you. Let us concentrate on getting you better and let us flush all the negatives out first, and look forward to a better life once your surgery is finished. For all you might know, the divorce must have acted as some kind of repression in your mind, which could have triggered the cancer. I am sure, there are plenty of women, who would queue to marry you, if given a chance. Who would say no to a “handsome, hearty, fun-loving Angresi hulk” huh?
‘Do you really think so Deb? Do you think someone will marry me, inspite of my cancer?’ queried Simon. ‘You would not know until you ask, will you’? laughed Deb.
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To be continued
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To be continued
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