“Who was it draupadi
?”
Who was it ? Who was it …………………….. the words just fumbled its way
randomly Only to be disturbed with a sudden jolt ….. “Mom what’s wrong with you” .Shakti
woke up with a start to find her daughter leaning over her with utter
bafflement ."Mom stop hallucinating and for god’s sake make it
on time at least today ,it’s your day" 17 year old Srishti spoke. Shakti kissed
her daughter morning and immediately jumped out of the bed to get ready and was
soon racing past the marine drive with her daughter beside her in the car. “Mom
why on earth that every time you pass through marine drive you go into this
sudden state of dejavu?” Shakti did not answer she just smiled away to
look at the far reaches of the horizon hoping to get a glimpse of any hint that
might help her unravel the mystery of
what had transpired that night 20 years
ago. She was never able to tell whether it was a dream or not but she starkly remembered
what happened later. She was lying on the pavement merrily in a semiconscious
state only to be woken up by Safia siddique a young journalist on her way back
from work.
She helped Shakti regain her composure and accompanied her to her
house where her mother in law had set up a mini inquiry commission to bombard
her with questions like “where were you the whole night oops sorry to be more
precise whom were you with, and who is this girl how do you know her?” While all of this was
happening Rohit did not utter a word .He saw the drama unfold between
the ladies and when he got bored just quietly took his laptop and left for the office
saying “I don’t have time for this crap” . Given Shakti’s state of mind
she would have taken an extreme step had it not been for Safia’s timely intervention ,“Hey hey ladies relax she was with me the entire night and you must not be
knowing this but your daughter in law is a famous blogger and I happened to
make friends with here online. As I live nearby marine drive she called me up when her scooty broke down” .
That day marked the beginning of their beautiful companionship something that she
never expected will last almost a lifetime”.Safia was with her at each and
every step of her life, when her marriage was on rocks, in the delivery room during
her 11 hours long labor pain, during the crucial phase when Shakti decided to
pursue an MBA after motherhood and when she decided to quit her job to become a social activist.
The duo together started a NGO to save helpless women and yet again she will be
there on this big day. The conversation
which she had with draupadi and sita transformed her, she did not give up on
her marriage and did all she can to make it work ,fulfilled her duties as a daughter in law and wife with
utmost detachment .Srishti was a gift who bought Rohit a bit close to her. If
there was anything that he valued the most in his life it was his daughter. Love
was something that had been quiet elusive in their relationship but shakti had
no complaints because end of the day you either need love or mutual respect to
make a marriage work and the couple banked on the latter .They never missed
each other or never exchanged words of love but Rohit realized that his wife was
different from other women and she wasn’t particularly domestic ,he did not
support her in any of her struggles for
MBA or setting up a NGO but nevertheless
did not stop her either and shakti came out of her fantasies of a young bride
and decided to accept her position in Rohit’s life without demanding for love. Shakti
pulled the car in the parking lot and got down to be greeted by her fans. She
looked up at Safia who was standing far away right behind the crowd with the
same warm and enigmatic smile making shakti’s mind replay those last words she had with draupadi
“Who
was it draupadi ?”
"Krishna
…..who else……. he truly was my soulmate, he did not owe me
anything ,we were not related, he loved me even when I behaved in the most
disgusting way ,he had been supporting me all along subtly and me immersed in all the worldly
illusions failed to notice it . His love
was selfless it never expected me to behave in a certain manner, it never turned
into hatred or disappointment when I couldn’t live up to his expectations I was
truly his krishnaa”
We
all end up finding true love in some form or the other before we die don’t we…
shakti reflected and made her way to address the huge gathering that was
waiting to celebrate the grand success of her first book “Message from the
heavens”
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