a few perfect couples
I see only perfect couples from the new generation . there were perfect couples in earlier generations too. here is an extract from the book I am writing,possibly it may give a feel of perfect couples of yore.
"It was in Jun 55 that I was married to my second wife, my first marriage; it was with all the pomp and ceremony, with marching columns, Brass band in attendance, VIP's presiding, relations, friends, colleagues, and a multitude of others. I was on top of the world, having just braved the long and arduous ceremony, still decked in finery.
Little did I know that my new wife, my new love, had other plans for me. Demanding total submission, whimsical and unpredictable by nature, expecting and getting 24-hour attention, her control over me was total-deep, pervasive and complete.
My life style was totally controlled by her norms, I was reminded time and again that I had to follow the customs inherited from her forefathers. I did not even have choice of what I ate and when I ate, the timings were fixed, the menu was decided a week in advance.
Periodically, I would be taken out in wilderness, to asses how well I had been conditioned, physically and mentally even when deprived of basic comforts. She at times even tested me to check if I was brave enough to face a bullet to keep her honor. However, I was still infatuated by her and the style, glamour and prestige accruing for having tied the knot with her.
Then one day she had competition, I saw Jeet, then called Rosy, and was conquered on the spot, our parents also decided to make the love bond stronger and made us take the vows twice in 12 hours by having two separate and different ceremonies, her own doing, as she permitted me to marry a second time, to my first wife
I was in euphoria once again; the two of us living in our own world, alas the paradise lasted, only, till the leave of absence, a wedding gift, having run its course, came to an end. Army , those days firmly believed in the adage ‘Separation makes the Love Bond Stronger’ and promptly posted me to a field station, far away from her.
She adamant on accompanying me, I was in a serious dilemma, short of words and bereft of any logic to convince her, as to why she, a citizen, free to travel anywhere in the country, could not go with me to where I was going. I did not have any option but to report back to the Second, abandoning the bride of few days, leaving her perplexed and heartbroken and in her own words abandoned her.
Alas, one day, exactly after 30 years of devoted servitude, Army my, ‘Second’, perpetually young, decided that I had become too old for her and pensioned me off.
I was now free to spend more time with Jeet, a belated effort, to compensate for having neglected her all this time. The damage however had already been done, the pain suffered, hurt felt and tensions borne during the earlier life, had their cumulative effect, nature too decided to join in, and one day the sky fell on us, her ‘Biopsy’ result came-out positive. Thus started our long fight, lasting for more than 8 years with the most dreaded enemy one can have, Cancer, she bravely and I patiently. Many battles were won and lost by both of us over the period. We came even closer to each other, the love bond becoming stronger, she worried of my future without her and I fearful of loosing the battle, holding her hand tight to prevent it slipping away.
And one day she also left me for her heavenly abode, the hand did slip away, leaving her frail body in my arms, both of us speechless, she permanently, with just a half shed tear hanging precariously to the eyelid. Was there a last unspoken message in the tear for me?
Abandoned by one and discarded by the other, I, now left alone, divide my lonely hours in longingly looking at the Photo hanging on the wall and with nostalgia at the uniform in the cupboard.
We lost the battle but not the fighting spirit, because of the love, concern and empathy for each other.
The Pain of loving; I loved her not because I needed her; I needed her because I loved her. I harbour the Guilt of having deserted her, when she needed me most, to answer the call from Army. Of the two wives, one was caring, loving and demanding, the other just demanding; Rosy and the Army respectively, the later taking precedence during the service career. The Guilt also, of living life, now, without her; guilt also of , with passage of time, the ambers of pain getting partially covered by the ashes of time, but only partially, of the Pain now being bearable, even if only if for short a spans. Life is precious and has to be lived, though it results in Guilt of looking at every new day of life, without her, with anticipation. I am not dwelling on the past, the past to me is like a favourite book which I can flick open from any where at random and start reliving it..
I am single not by choice or design but by divine intervention. Now I have all the space to myself, freedom of action or inaction, with no one to ask questions. For company, I have to seek or give a party and for sleep, an empty bed by my side, every night, a reminder of what it meant not to be a single.
Many things remind me of her, her pictures along with her water colours, among other talents she was an excellent painter, hanging on the wall, passing by the golf club, she an avid golfer, to where I used to drive her everyday when she was in better health and still playing, her golf-set , now fore lone and standing in one corner, and even the stadium, next door, where we would go for the evening walk, I, now alone, watching, with envy, couples walking together, some, hand in hand, as we used to.
She took her last steps supported by me, still as desirable as when I had met her for the first time, then bubbling with the energy and vigour of youth, now a frail body, yet full of guts, determination, will-power and spirit till the last. Rosy, one moment, there in my protective arms, suddenly, the next was no more.
We were lovers, companions and friends, moving from one stage to another as time advanced but we were in love all the time, being in love and being friends at the same time was the highest level of togetherness that one could reach.
To me, impotently, it was not that I loved her but that she has chosen me, to love, ever manifest in looks and deeds although reluctantly and infrequently expressed in as many words.
’ I don’t know what love is but I can’t live without you even for a short time’, summed it all, as she confessed, in her now faint voice, a day previous to the night of 30th October 2000, when the cruel hand of death snatched her away from me.
It is a simple story about two simple persons, Rosy and me, especially Rosy and their simple love for each other.
Brig Lakshman