Despair to Hope (completed)

Chapter 10

"What did my dad tell you last night, uncle?"

I looked at Anitha and asked her in a soft voice, "Should you have to know that?"

She lowered her eyes to the ground. "If my uncle feels I may know that."

We were seated on the platform in front of Aurobindo Ashram, Pondy. It was two hours drive from Neyveli. Geetha didn't join us. We started after late breakfast. When we reached here, the Ashram had been closed for lunch. Both of us didn't feel hungry. So, we sat on the platform adjoining the Ashram. Both of us sat askew so that we can see each other.

I was casually looking at devotees standing on the road taking photographs with their mobile phones. With trees on both sides giving a shadow cover to the road, and refreshing air filling the atmosphere, many devotees were wandering here and there on the road.

I looked back at Anitha. She was in light green saree today. "Your dad asked me to contact Karthik."

I could see a reddish rage passing her golden face. With her face muscles still stiff and tight, she said, "And what did my uncle say?"

"Do you think your uncle will contact Karthik without your consent?"

She turned straight to the road. Did I see her eyes getting moistened?

She was staring at the footwear keeping stand on the opposite side for a while.

She spoke in a feeble voice, with her eyes fixed at the opposite stand. "I loved him so much... He didn't want me to go to job. I resigned my job for him. I wanted to do a course on website designing. He didn't want it. I dropped it for him. He didn't want me to wear bright coloured sarees. I complied with his wishes. He didn't want me to talk to my neighbours. I restricted myself to essential talks. Food, dress, furniture...I was willing to go for any compromise to please him. He was my world. He was my life."

I was silently listening to her. She continued.

"I believed him. But he cheated me. I couldn't see what he found in her. I couldn't see in what way she was superior to me."

She sighed wearily. I didn't intervene. She continued.

"I begged him, fought with him, and threatened him. I used all possible ways to discipline him. He didn't relent. I went on protesting until I could no longer bear it."

She stopped talking. For a while she was staring at the footwear stand. Then she folded her legs towards her body, clasping them with her circling hands. She buried her face in her knees. I could see her body trembling slightly.

I never wanted mystic powers. But I badly wanted one now to shrink her to a three year old and cradle her in my left forehand and pat her back with my right hand until she got her complete emotional security and then to revert her back.

She was still trembling. I could sense the torture and trauma she was undergoing for months. My heart started melting. If she began sobbing, my heart would reach its break-even point and breach the critical mass and I could no longer stop the explosion of tears out of my eyes. I was anxiously waiting for her to rein herself in. But it was not happening.

"There is a reason for any event life brings," I started talking. Anitha straightened herself. I gave my handkerchief to her to wipe off her eyes.

I continued. "We may not immediately know that reason. But there is a reason. Nothing happens in our life that is not required by our soul. It may be painful. Our mind may not accept it. But our soul requires it. So, it has happened."

By now, she has fully recovered. She handed my handkerchief back to me.

"Shall I continue?" I asked her softly.

She shook her head. "I know. I guessed. I want to go there where the acceptance of my mind is no longer necessary. Please, uncle."

Without expecting my reply, she sat comfortably in the cross-legged position on the platform, facing me, and closed her eyes.

I moved away one foot for my comfort, and then focused my attention on her. Within a minute her face relaxed and she was enjoying herself. She sat meditating like Buddha. Even the monks who had renounced the family and lived in secluded mutts for years, couldn't have meditated like this. She simply sat still, abiding in herself.

After ten minutes, I stopped my focus. "Anitha, open your eyes," I asked her in soft voice. She slowly opened her eyes. "Thanks, uncle."

"It's my responsibility."

"May I know how my uncle is doing this magic?"