Deep Sigh

Ravindher had a massive heart attack in the morning. A seventy-five-year-old widower, a landowner with an ambassador car as his favourite. He roared with his car in his youth and was raised to fame for his majestic looks and financial background, very much grounded to his cultural ethics. He had a daughter, who, at present, was a fifty-year-old mother of two, wife of a businessman. Luxury is the lifestyle bestowed by her husband for her submissive attitude. Her life circled around temples, household chores and children, who had flown to other countries for higher studies. Geetha had been to the temple that day when her father had the attack. He was taken by the servants to the hospital. His grandchildren who came on a vacation fled to the hospital. He underwent angio surgery quite common among the people in late 50s and above. The surgery was done. The grandchildren in their late twenties took immense care of him. Yet he couldn't come back to his consciousness. Ravinder was in a state of coma which medicos predicted could be short-lived. It all happened before the arrival of his 50-year-old daughter. By the time she arrived at the hospital, it was night and her children headed back home. Only She and her father were there in the luxurious room of the hospital. There was little agitation in the countenance of Geetha. Nothing surprised her nor did she have a shock. She checked his face and sat in the corner. Ravinder had  already recovered from the coma  and he was asked to take rest which Geetha didn't learn from the doctors.

All she knew was her father was unconscious. She sat on the chair near his bed. " hmm ... sleeping, coma, a kind of hibernation. Something... I really wanted in my life... to sleep, forgetting household chores, children, husband, temple.... and..." sighed " God "... "but... as usual I was unlucky" unlucky as usual... Ravinder couldn't take rest and he had just closed his eyes, giving rest to his eyes but his ears were conscious and sound as his body and soul. He was listening to his daughter speaking to him. " Lucky man you are! You threatened everyone during your middle age days and you threatened death as well. God has made you strong... strong for your reason..the reason that you wanted and still want others' lives and wishes revolve around you"." So stubborn that you killed .. killed the idea of death..with a faint smile of sarcasm.. like you killed my soul...my kids from forcible marriage have all grown up now. Hmm, you killed my dreams, my wishes, my likes and dislikes. You never made me live my life... just for loving the guy who couldn't fit into your standards and background, you pushed me to the darkroom, with someone unknown, your son in law.  Everything was just forced. Him, children, all against my will. Pushed into prostitution. Not right for a woman like me to use such terms right?...still I convince my mind to like, to love him... but failed. Disputes bombarded every time but all I could do was to curl up to the corner and a school dropout, helpless woman, relying completely on the man who I could neither love nor hate. Hmmm. Years passed faster than one's imagination. And I still am passing every day, for hibernation. prolonged ......father, you and your stubborn attitude, your prestige won at last. I failed..... " She said, staring at the wall unnoticing him and  his small teardrops across his eyes. She moved back home again with a deep sigh. The next day the house where Geetha resided was overcrowded, with garlands D wreathed friends and family members gathered. Her father was, still at the hospital, was about to be discharged in two days.....someone in the family who strove and waited long for hibernation passed...