Dense And Dark Woods( Part-1)

"Aparna", how enthusiastically she had loved to explain the meaning of her name to anybody who would like to listen that it was a synonym of Goddess Parvati, who had refused to eat even leaves while she was fasting and praying determinedly to get Lord Shiva as her husband. 

Aparna felt pampered in being the firstborn of her doting parents, never getting tired of carrying her in their laps, taking reels and reels of photographs and feeling proud of the marvel they had created, whenever anybody praised her angelic beauty.

Then came her baby brother, her very own living doll, the apple of the eye of everyone in the family. Life had seemed quite charming in the remote picturesque hilly area their parents were posted in, filled with a lot of friends loving and cooperative neighbors in the colony, park, school, and complete with everything.

As they grew older, their parents got transferred to another city. Suddenly their mother began to redevelop her interest in her career goals, which she had left behind after her marriage and children.

Hushed quarrels leading to cold wars and grudging silences began to erupt between her parents which eventually led to vehement arguments, shouting competitions.

Now that Aparna had grown up into a young adult she got an idea that her parents were accusing each other of infidelity.

As the home atmosphere began to get more and more toxic day by day, Aparna was married off in a hurry to the son of her father's friend, who was posted in a distant city, even before she had completed her graduation.

Aparna got quite engrossed adjusting in her new life consisting of her in-laws, husband, and along came baby Cutie in due course.

The news of her father's demise due to a heart attack, her brother's employment, and love marriage came over the phone and she attended all of that more as a duty without any feeling, always perceiving cold vibes whenever she entered her parental house.

One certain day, her mother called her, crying bitterly that her brother and sister in law had forcefully driven her away from her own residence, throwing out all her belongings and she was taking shelter in the neighbor's house temporarily.

Aparna narrated everything to her husband and in-laws and rushed to her home city with their permission, to bring her mother to stay with her in her in-laws' house...

( To be continued..)