The brightly lit hall is filled with people, all dressed in their expensive best. The aroma of food, the lilt of music, hearty laughter and babbling voices, wafts through the air filling the hall and the lawn outside.
Padmini is bound to a chair seated in a dishevelled state, her presence overlooked by everyone. Her skin crawled in shame, like being stripped and exposed to the whole world to see.
There in the middle of the room right under an ornamental chandelier on a raised dais stood Chandrakanth beside Kayla both of them dressed in rich ethnic attire. Someone spoke in a muffled voice, which was followed by sounds of approval from the guests.
Chandrakanth and Kayla exchange rings as everyone applauds and cheers. Paarth and Aparna walk up the dais with garlands and hand them to Chandra and Kayla. They exchange the garlands and then Sneha hands a box to Chandrakanth who proceeds to tie the Mangalsutra around Kayla's neck. Padmini is kicking and screaming in protest but in vain. Celebratory music is played, cheers and wishes for the newlywed ring in so loud that Padmini's wails are muffled.
Padmini breaks free from the restraints, stumbles up to Aparna, Paarth and Sneha who disregard her and walk away behind Chandrakanth and Kayla. She is pushed and jostled aside by the crowd like an urchin. Her children ignoring her, hurts more than she could endure.
The hall is now empty like her life, echoing her sobs and the glass walls mirroring her shattered self-respect! She falls to the ground, twisted under the weight of deceit and shame like a crushed flower.
Anger, pain and bitterness fill her heart, rising to the surface like a great tide; but she feels weak unable to rise with it, manoeuvre it to her advantage and destroy all that hurt her. She did what she always had, drown under the weight of the overwhelming emotions and sink into the deep, dark abyss of despondency where everything was still and numb; where she watched herself being carried away in the ebb and flow of life like driftwood. 'What more can a weak person like me do? Weak and pathetic!' She hated herself for being so vulnerable.
Suddenly there was a lot of commotion and few security guards walk in yell at her, and drag her and throw her outside the gates of Kanth Manor. While Chandrakanth, Kayla and all the guests laugh and jeer at her. She felt her body burn in humiliation, she sat up and let out a heart chilling cry, screaming "Appu, Paartha..." anxiously searching for them one last time!
Confused, Padmini frantically looks around to find herself in the bedroom at Meera's house.
Another torturous nightmare!
"You are safe Padmini, nobody can harm you here." Kabeer spoke in a calm reassuring voice as he walked up to her bed and placed a bottle of water near her pillow "drink this".
She was shaking, still reeling from the impact of the dream, hugged herself, furiously wiping away the tears on her dress sleeves. He pulled a chair and sat near foot of the bed while respecting her personal space, observing her for a few minutes.
"You know my dreams are always in black and white".
"Huh..?" Padmini seemed confused.
"My dreams.." he made sure he caught her attention, "they are never in colour, it's always been black and white. You know like the old Awara and Boot Polish movies? It's a fact! You know about 12% of people experience dreams in black and white. Especially older people like 55 plus. What about you? Colour or black and white? Bright picture quality like HD tv?"
He spoke with such a solemn expression that Padmini began wondering if her dream was colour or black and white and then realised his gimmick and scowled at him.
YOU ARE READING
The Voice Or The Echo? (COMPLETE)
General Fiction*What is the right age to be divorced? *What is the right age to stand up for yourself? *Who comes first? Self or family? Trust me, no woman will be able to answer these questions when her own life is breaking apart. And, I pray nobody should ha...
