Maya

It was a beautiful Sunday morning. With a hot cup of coffee, I was in a mood to pen down something.

"Who is at the door this time? I don't entertain people on Sundays. It's my day. "

"Hello Raghav Sir, I am Maya. Sorry to bother you on Sunday morning, but I wanted to meet you desperately." An unfamiliar voice came. There was standing a lady, in her early thirties.

"Please come, tell me, how can I help you."

"I want you to write my story."

"Your story? What is there in your story? See, I write the stories which are worth reading. Just a normal, routine life, no one wants to read."

"It's not a normal life; it would be a wonderful story. Please listen to it first, and then you decide."

"Okay! Tell me please."

"It was the happiest day of my life. My little girl was born that day. We searched a lot of names for her, and finally decided to name her Ashwika. Sangram was also very happy that day. That cute little angel soon became our everything. Our whole world was revolving around her. Sangram used to say, she looked just like me, a true copy of mine. How soon the two years passed, we didn't realize.

Our maid left the work; she had to go to her ailing mother. We had to hire a new maid, Seema. She was from a good family. Her parents died in an accident, so she couldn't continue her studies, and now her relatives wanted her to work, in order to earn living. We both liked her. Soon she got along with Ashwika so well, that Ashwika started spending more time with her than me, even when I was around. Once, when I reached home from work, I found Seema and Sangram playing together with Ashwika. It felt like, I was an extra person at that moment. But I was not. Very soon, it started happening every now and then.

I told her to maintain a distance with Sangram and leave Ashwika when I was around, but she ignored. I expressed my feelings to Sangram, but he ignored it too. But I didn't stop there. I told Sangram, that I didn't like her this much involvement with Ashwika and him, she was there to do household chores, that was it.

Sangram tried to avoid any discussion on that. When I felt unheard, I declared to fire her. I told Sangram, that we would find another maid. Sangram suddenly started arguing that my baseless thinking had no importance in his life. And that the maid would not be fired. I couldn't expect such a response from him. He started abusing me for that decision and threatened me not to do that. It was his new version that I was seeing. But finding me firm on my decision, he told me, "When you were in hospital for delivery, you gave birth to a still baby. You were unconscious at that time. I was shattered. I was thinking about you more at that time. Then I got to know about another baby, who was born almost at the same time, and that her mother wanted to give her baby to the adoption center, because of her personal problems, which I never bothered to ask for. I met that lady, asked her, if she could hand over her baby to me. She agreed. I was worried about you so much that time; I asked nurse and Doctor to not disclose the whole incident to you. And we replaced still baby with Ashwika. That lady was Seema."

I felt like someone had pulled the rug out from under my feet when I heard that.

"Seema is the mother of my child. And Sangram.. he did so much for me. He truly loves me. And I, I was thinking of firing her. She is the mother of Ashwika, my Ashwika's mother, how can I let her go. What will Ashwika think, when she will get to know this. But what about me, suddenly so empty my hands are. Firstly, Ashwika is not my born daughter. If I accept this fact also, because I love her so much, how can I tolerate the presence of her birth mother around her always."

Sangram was getting more dependent on Seema day by day and distant from me in turn. But I did not blame him for that, as the revealing of such an untold truth had made me lost in isolation. Ashwika was mine, but I could not do anything. We had not adopted Ashwika legally; Seema just gave her baby to Sangram. I was devastated. But Sangram and Ashwika were very happy in her presence and I was broken, deeply broken. It impacted my health. I felt extra in my own home. Yes, I was extra, an extra person.

Because of my deteriorating health condition, I couldn't continue my job. Sangram gave me medicines regularly; he consulted Doctor for me, as my health didn't allow me to go for checkup. The medicines were strong, because of their side effects; I used to sleep all the time. When I asked Sangram to consult some other Doctor, he convinced me that for my health, rest was the only treatment. And medicines were trying to make me rest all day long.

That day, when his office friends came to our home, I was feeling drowsy, wanted to greet them, but couldn't feel that much strength in my body. I was shocked to hear, when Sangram introduced Seema as his wife. I wanted to scream, "NO, it's me, I am his wife." But didn't.

When they left, I confronted him, asked to clarify, why he said that.

He responded, "Maya, please don't misunderstand me. Let me tell you the truth today. Seema only is my wife. We hired you as a maid to look after the household work, a few years before. But you are so good, that you have become like a member of our family. We have developed a lot of affection for you. Now when, you are not in proper health and can't work anymore, we can't leave you like this. One day, you said, that I am your husband. That time, Seema stopped me to make things clear. She wanted you to be happy, whatever may you think then. Her priority is your health and happiness. The fact is that you are our maid, but we love you a lot."

It wasn't easy. I stood like a stone. That man was thinking of me as a mentally unstable person, or was trying to make me that.

These people were befooling me. I tried to find out my pictures, old photographs, but couldn't find anything. I tried to search for my certificates; job related documents, but didn't get anything.

Was he right? Was I insane? But... I remembered everything. He was my husband and Seema was my maid. I thought to go out to get some fresh air. It's been almost a year that I didn’t go out anywhere. It was because of my health conditions, that I had to leave the job. And after that, there was no reason for me to go out. But that day, I wanted to go out, that place was suffocating me. Sangram stopped me. He didn't let me go out, as I was not medically fit. I tried many times, but I was stopped every time. When all of them were out together, they would lock me from outside.

Today, somehow I managed to wake up early and walk out, while they were still asleep. I went to the police station, but on listening my story, they started laughing at me and said it was a good story made by me to make money from rich people.

I used to read your books earlier. I thought of coming to you, to make my story public. I am not insane. I am a normal person. I want everyone to know my story, my true story." Maya stood up to leave.

She left. I was worried for her, thought of helping her. Next day, I had to go to US for the launch of my latest novel. After three months, when I came back, I called my friend Ranvir, who was the Police Commissioner, to investigate the matter and help her out, as her life was at risk.

After investigation, Ranvir told me, "That house is vacant. Neighbors told that there was a mentally unstable maid working in that house, she died in suspicious circumstances. The owners were very attached to that maid; they couldn't live in that house anymore and left the place. Since then, no one lives there."

I Promise you Maya, I will write your true story.