Silence

Sitting beside the lake and gazing across the landscape into nothingness, Sen was left pondering. He had always welcomed silence. It gave him peace and time for retrospection. It was the time when he was left to himself to do his silliest and most serious talking with his mind. But today it was different. The silence was deafeningly eerie. The silence was in his mind. 

He looked at the lake that was once serene and home to many lotuses but has now become murky just like his fate. He very well remembered how he would come here with Soni sitting side by side doing nothing more than watching the ducks and cranes and giggling for no great reason. Joy seemed to be emanating from the lake into their lives. 

He mused over his past. He had always approved of Soni and knew that his mom would love her. Soni was pleasingly good. She was not as beautiful as a diva but was charming enough to catch one’s eye. But it was not her charms that drove him to her. It was her straight forwardness and never say no nature that he loved the most. Things were normal after marriage as he had expected. How could it be otherwise, Soni was his choice and she was best suited for his family.

Theirs was a joint family and Soni did everything she could to please her in laws. She learnt to cook and was swift at it. She mingled well with Sen’s relatives she treated and cared for them like her own. She adapted her lifestyle to theirs. Everyone was in praise for Soni. Everything seemed fine to Sen’s eyes in the beginning. But things were not normal as time passed by. He had observed that his mom who was just a home maker was feeling inferior to Soni who was both a working professional and a home maker. Any praises or compliments paid to Soni by anyone would irritate her and sometimes she would look upset. A person’s mistakes are often forgiven but not his traits. He had also observed that his mom was sometimes over possessive about him in presence of Soni. She also looked dissatisfied with anything and everything Soni did and never ceased giving suggestions on trivial and non trivial matters.

Things didn’t go unnoticed by Soni as well. She had put forth her views to him but he had thought things will get sorted with time. Whereas Soni thought Sen would set everything right for her. Little did she know that he couldn’t do it. For him, she was his mom and was right in her views and behavior. She was behaving just like any other mom and he couldn’t ask her to stop being so mommish. Things got worse until Soni’s dam of patience broke. She was no more her usual self. Now the hatred was mutual between his mom and Soni. Life became miserable for the three of them. Sen couldn’t take anyone’s side as both of them loved him dearly. His friend had once told him that the two important women of one’s life are mom and wife and the only way to keep them happy was to keep them apart. Strange are the ways of the world, friendship sprouts between two people having a common enemy and hatred develops between two people for loving the same person. 

He was in a fix now. He didn’t want to go home to witness another cold war. He lay by the lake side for quite some time asking his mind “What do I do now?” but his mind didn’t budge. It lay silent just like him. His thoughts have dried up and his mind has drained away everything it could. There was nothing left within except silence – endless silence.