Colorblind Beloved

"See, is this the right shade? Come on ..."

"I am not coming! When I do some work, you have to call me."

Taunting her artist husband, Ashish, and not believing her own words, said a few moments before, Ruhi came and stood near his canvas.

Ruhi - "You have to set orange here, you’ve used red”. “(Tum lal sa kar rahe ho)”

Teasing her, Ashish said- “Kiski Lalsa?”(Pun in Hindi) "What is the craving for?"

Ruhi - "This red color has made my life miserable. Look, when someone is busy and tired, you should not annoy that person. I have come switching off the gas."Ashish apologized through his eyes and Ruhi with a happy smile got engaged in setting the right combination of colors.

Ashish was colorblind, his eyes were not able to differentiate between red and green and many other shades. He used to see both these colors as muddy brown. Apart from these, other colors made of these basic colors were also visible to him as faded colors. Even being colorblind, Ashish became a very good painter by dint of his hard work. However, often the combination of colors in his artworks did not fit well, so he started taking the help of Ruhi in this work.

Ruhi was a teacher in nearby Primary School and Ashish was dependent on the earnings of his artworks. The economic condition of the house was normal, but both of them loved each other and managed the affairs of the family cordially. The family members of Ruhi and companions used to explain to them with gestures or straightforward taunt that she should ask Ashish to get rid of his artwork and take up a stable job. Ruhi knew that, once said, Ashish would comply, but she did not want to lose him for whose love she had left everything. By mixing him into the color of the world, perhaps she would never be able to look at herself.

After returning home from school one day Ruhi heard the sound of Ashish's coughing. Ashish was vomiting blood in his room. On seeing Ruhi, trying to look normal, Ashish stumbled and fell on the ground and started hiding the matter.

"It's made of red color, is it not? Look, it has got spread by mistake, I shall clean it."

His blood got spread on his incomplete painting. Ruhi came running to Ashish after wiping out her blurred eyes filled with tears.

“When you do not know to tell lie why do you try? Let’s go to hospital.”

From the investigation conducted in the hospital, Ruhi came to know that Ashish was lying. He was hiding the symptoms of his lungs cancer, considering it as a minor ailment, which by now had spread to other organs and was at the last terminal phase. Now Ashish had a few months left. Both came back from the hospital.

Often the shock of bad news is not felt immediately. At first, the mind rejects that it can not happen at least with us. Further, when told to any third person, he will say, "What is special in it? It is too common.” But when the common thing happens to someone special, then such things do not remain as common.

At night, turning towards the other side of Ashish and sticking her mouth to the pillow, Ruhi was sobbing for getting the biggest jolt of her life. With ebbs and tides of her mind flowing she didn’t know when it was morning... This morning Ruhi decided that the remaining period of Ashish’s life in this world will not be spoiled by crying and also she will not allow Ashish to cry.

On the other hand, it looked as if Ashish had kept a detective in the mind of Ruhi, because he too had decided to give a little pleasure to Ruhi and his paintings. The life moves fast by squeezing maximum pleasure out of it. By putting a canvas on the tick-ticking clock, the time was merrily being spent by both laughing and distinguishing the difference between red, green, brown colors.

One day, Ashish gave a file to Ruhi containing papers related to insurance, account and other matters. In addition to the file, there were about three lakh rupees in a foil.

“So much money?" Ruhi asked in surprise.

Ashish - "Yes, there was a lot of money due on the 2-3 art gallery people which I did not get it. But after pursuing the matter by showing the report of cancer and making hue and cry, I got it so that you are able to manage for some time. Had you seen my acting, you would have fallen flat.

Ruhi- "I do not want to be flat; I am fine with my curves.”

Both rolled out laughing and once again wrapped the sorrows with the layer of happiness. There is something lacking in this layer which covers the whole body well, but always refuses to close the eyes.

After a few days, a courier post came in Ruhi’s name, and when Ashish asked, Ruhi told that she had bought special EnChroma glasses for Ashish. By putting these glasses, colorblind people can also see all the colors like the rest of the people differentiating the basic colors.

Ashish knew about this spectacle and also knew that this product was very expensive and limited to a few countries. Knowing the price, he kept his hands on his head. Ashish was shocked - "Rs 3 lakhs! What madness! Who knows, I may even die in three days. It would have been better had the amount remained with those gallery people. What would I do with the spectacles?"

Ruhi - "Don’t you have faith in me? I will stay without you; I do not want your obligations. I want to see green color, see the red color, look in the purple color with a little shade of maroon, which you do not understand. Through your eyes, I want to see that bloody red color." The layer of pleasures of all these days was slowly getting reduced.

Ruhi - "Now wear these glasses, adjustment of the eyes takes a few minutes, so look at the blue wall in front and be relaxed. I shall just bring your canvas and colors."

Ruhi returned without canvas and colors. In her bridal dress, Ruhi stood before Ashish with all makeup in red. Seeing the red color, Ashish forgot the old antagonism with that color and said, "This is ... ... Red ..."

Nodding her head Ruhi hugged Ashish. The tears flowing through the eyes of both of them washed the layer of false happiness and gave it a new layer of peace and comfort. Ruhi did not do a deal with a loss, she bought the most precious moment of their life by giving rupees three lakhs.

This is English translation of Hindi Story - कलरब्लाइंड साजन by मोहित शर्मा ज़हन (https://storymirror.com/read/story/hindi/kf6snk43/klrblaaindd-saajn/detail?undefined)