The Other Woman

Synopsis

Sucheta is a level headed professional who cannot accept her father whole-heartedly as he has been enjoying a relationship with another woman, who he happened to meet when he was attending an International Seminar in the United States. Sucheta and her brother, Chetan come to know this side of their father quite late in life when they were in college.

Pranesh’s mother, Kaushalya very smartly paves the way for her son to continue his clandestine meetings with his new love, Mitali, though he is happily married to Anjana for more than a decade. Kaushalya, a widow, has been diagnosed with cancer and cites this as an excuse to leave Mumbai and settle down in Chennai near her brother. Pranesh is quite happy with the arrangement and in no time gets the house ready for his family to shift, while he stays back in Mumbai to look after his “business”.

Anjana, a very meek and kind-hearted person does not see anything amiss and gives in. At the end of the academic year, the family relocates and Anjana takes over the mantle of looking after her mother-in-law and children all by herself. With just a middle school education, she successfully takes charge of the home all on her own. Pranesh visits them twice or thrice a year and wins the hearts of children by showering them with gifts and goodies.

Sucheta erupts as a volcano when she comes to know about her father’s second home. A furious Sucheta pours out an earful to her mother, asking her to disown Pranesh who has cheated on her. Kaushalya calmly points out that she has been bringing up both the children and looking after her mother-in-law quite well and none of them had found her lacking on any score. She further felt that the present arrangement suited everyone and in case she decided to break away from this bondless bond, it is quite possible that she would be denied financial support, which till now has been sufficient.

Sucheta’s first marriage fails as she had been married to a gay. The boy’s parents strongly believed that a marriage would set “right” their son’s condition. She then goes through a series of unpleasant experiences including depression. 

It takes some years for Sucheta to fall in love afresh and Rajnish seemed to be the ideal match for her. She determines to make her marriage a success and though she is used to listen to none other than her own self, she chooses to adjust to all the members of her new family, rather than expecting others to tow her line. In the process she loses her identity and works very hard to balance both office and home. This strain takes a toll on her and to top it all, suffers a paralytic stroke which limits her mobility. Sheela enters their household primarily to tend to Sucheta who is now wheel-chair bound. Soon, Sucheta realises that she cannot live up to the role of a wife and encourages Sheela to look after Rajnish as well and is prepared to let her take her place.

She mulls over the incident where she chides her mother and concludes that there is no “right” or no “wrong” way to deal with the situations that confront us. She herself is now guilty in promoting Rajnish to be intimate with Sheela, for which she is unable to give any logical explanation. She is filled with remorse that she had no hesitation in calling Mitali as “the other woman” while she could not say the same of Sheela. Coming to think of it, what seems right to a person at one point of time, may not take long in being “wrong” to the same person.     

    

Chapter IV

Anjana was beside herself with joy. A casual visit to her village had revived her friendship which culminated in identifying a suitable match for Sucheta. Chetan was pursuing his Doctorate and had asked her to proceed with getting Sucheta married. Kiran Kumar was her friend’s nephew and so she did not think it necessary to probe further. On her return, she found Sucheta receptive to her views, which surprised her no end, though it made her very happy. Kaushalya had succumbed to her illness several years back and Anjana felt as if she was all alone now. She had contacted Pranesh and given him the news and expressed the wish that it would be great if he could free himself and perform the Kanyadaan. The very next day Pranesh had transferred a sum of rupees ten lakhs towards the wedding expenses. He had not committed but she hoped that he would be able to make it to the wedding and fulfil his responsibilities as a father.

She went ahead preparing for the wedding. Chetan would be joining her in a couple of days to help her with all the arrangements. Sucheta seemed to harbour mixed emotions. She was in no mood to forgive Pranesh for his double living. As a matter of fact, she wished that he would not come for her wedding. She could never come to terms with him though she came to know that Mitali was a very kind person who had initially entered his life with the sole intention of checking his alcohol consumption. She had placed Pranesh on a pedestal and now that he had fallen in her eyes, nothing could make her change her mind.

She had agreed to the match only because of Anjana who had been insisting that she should get married in good time. She was not too excited or overjoyed dreaming about her future, but she was practical gearing herself to take things as they come. 

The wedding was well attended and though she despised it, Pranesh was there to give her hand away. Devendra seemed to be nice but on the first night itself, Sucheta realised that all was not right. It did not take her long to find out that he was a gay. He was also a drug addict and within a week, Sucheta came back.

Anjana took it in her stride. Unlike other mothers she did not vent her disappointment or anger on her daughter, but kept her cool waiting for time to heal her wounds. She was quite furious with her friend through whom this alliance materialised, but she pleaded innocence and there was nothing anybody could do. It was however, decent of the boy’s parents to return all of Sucheta’s jewellery as soon as she left their home.

Sucheta did not go to work for nearly a month as she did not want people prying into her privacy. Anjana gave her space and kept distance so that Sucheta could get over the disappointment as soon as possible.

During this period, Sucheta got an offer to work for an industrialist in Singapore. She had applied for the job a few months back and when the appointment order came, she was only too happy to accept it. It did not need much preparation and she had gone to Singapore within a week. Sucheta planned to take Anjana with her after she settled down first.

Chetan was in the final stages of submitting his thesis and was hardly to be heard or seen. Anjana got used to living alone, but there were some Nosey Parkers who would not let her live in peace. There was in particular, a gentleman – though there was nothing gentle about him, who was enamoured by Anjana and started visiting her every day to ask if she wanted anything. After a couple of days, he proposed to her. Anjana was both frightened and taken aback. She told him in no uncertain terms that she would never like to see him again. He had said that he had very noble intentions of looking after her since her husband was preoccupied with another woman!

Fortunately, Chetan’s thesis had been submitted and he came to stay at home till the vivas. After the catastrophe of Sucheta’s marriage, Chetan was reluctant to contemplate his own marriage. He wished to land a job first and then think of it.

In Singapore, all was not as happy as Sucheta had thought. The boss was a womaniser and since Sucheta was a bold woman, she could escape from his clutches. She felt that it was not wise to continue in that job and decided to return home.

What awaited for her at home, is anybody’s guess!