Broken Home Broken Dreams

Shishir stood paralysed staring at the door of the courtroom. Payal was leaving with Nandita. He didn’t expect her to look back once but their daughter too didn’t look back for once more. He fixed his eyes once more on the keys and the ring that Payal returned before separation. Every moment of their conjugal life rolled back in his memory like video film.

Scene one: Valentine’s Day in the Management Institute. Shishir proposed his classmate before the whole class. Everyone was awe as no one thought they shared something more than just companionship. Even Payal was bewildered but then she accepted his gift of love, the gold ring with his name carved on it.

Scene two: They got married the moment they both bagged jobs through campus interview. It wasn’t an easy marriage as they were from a different community, he from Uttar Pradesh and she from West Bengal. Both had to overcome a lot of hurdles to reach the destination, their married life. The days after marriage seemed bed of roses to Shishir. He felt to be on cloud nine and promised to fulfill his love’s every fancy. Payal wished to learn singing and Shishir arranged the best one in the city. Her class started along with the job.

Scene three: But everything turned messy when he discovered intimacy between Payal and the top singing teacher whom he fixed for her. He didn’t expect this from his beloved. Fights and sleepless nights followed after this. Payal wished to get out of this marriage peacefully through divorce but Shishir was burning in rage. He thought of punishing her for this betrayal. He forced Payal to have a child. He was aware raising a child isn’t a simple work and Payal will be compelled to leave the job which meant she will get dependent on him financially. The singer moved out of her life casually but Shishir did not forget the turbulence through which his life went.

Scene four: Nandita came in their life. Shishir was very happy. He loved his daughter immensely and used to spend most of the time with her. But Payal didn’t allow him much to spend time with her. She seemed to snatch her away from him. Shishir too took the opportunity of snatching away love from her life. He started dating with women of different age groups and spent nights with them before her. This was the punishment for the misuse of his love.

Scene five: She didn’t fight back rather filed for divorce which she asked for some time before. She did everything to settle the case outside court but he did not agree. It was the best option for him to ridicule her before a crowd. She did answer every mocking question of his lawyer but didn’t move away from her point. The decision was finally given. She didn’t keep a single gifted thing of him but took away Nandini who was the most precious gift to him from God.

He sat on the costly sofa in the expensive but empty apartment and stared at the keys and the gold ring. Did he wish to acquire this after all? There was no answer to this question.