Two sides to a Story - Part 5

Continued from here


Gita saw the look in Meenu's eyes before she began narrating her story. It was a look of shock and disbelief. She knew that her friend could not believe that she was the same person she had known during the course of their budding friendship. Gita narrated her story which sounded like the many movies Meenu had watched. An egoistic husband who controlled his wife, and when there was opposition there were fights and strikes. Meenu could not believe that a person like Gita withstood all this for three years. Gita explained how she felt obligated to her parents who were back in India and had given their all for the wedding. Gita had been gaining strength for the three hard years from the stories she made up to her parents about a lovely happily married couple. She had been secretly praying that her life would change to that some day.

It had finally stopped raining around midnight, as Meenu sat holding Gita's hand as her friend sat expressionless. She had decided to leave to India in two days in search of the the confident Gita she had left behind three years ago. Gita had thanked Meenu many times during their conversation that evening for bringing back her old self during the little time they had spent together. It had given her the courage to finally break free from her obligations and think about herself.

As Gita got ready to leave to the airport, she hugged Meenu long and hard and told her how grateful she was for their friendship. Meenu knew she would miss her a lot but she had with her the many conversations they had in the past two days. Gita had shown her the light that she had needed to walk through the tunnel. And as for Gita, Meenu knew she was going to be leading a better life from here on.

As Meenu and Ravi drove back from the airport, amidst the many emotions there prevailed a silence. Meenu closed her eyes and surrendered to the silence, she enjoyed the calmness. It helped her grieve her friend's departure, rejoice her friend's freedom,  celebrate their friendship and question her future. She was glad she could respect all these emotions with the silence that they deserved.

Ravi shifted in his seat every now and then. He looked at Meenu sitting next to him with her eyes closed. The silence unsettled him, but he was not sure what to say. He had expected Meenu to talk about her friend, to cry for her, to curse the entire male gender, to fight with him because he was a man too. He had expected her to comment on their relationship. He could do anything to know what was going through her mind then. But when he looked at her face for a clue all he could see was a calmness. He knew that this was just the calm before the storm.