And the search begin…

So, a trip to my home town again. This time to finalise a decision that was made after much thoughts.

Deep inside, I kept wondering, should I or should I not. The weak heart of mine kept feeling to give up and just adjust to the life I was living for years. Afterall, it was risk free. I just had to get tortured within and suffer alone in silence. Or… don’t give up… earn your happiness through the tough road. Lots of hardships to face, lots of risk… but atleast the relief that at the end of the day, I was not sharing my bed with a stranger…

I thought of him. With me gone for ever, he would be alone. Felt bad… felt sad. Am I wrong to do that? But then, was he even feeling this pain? Was he ever comfortable with my presence around? If yes, he would have in these years tried to see me as I am. Wouldn’t he have changed his selfish nature, the least bit, to bring in harmony in the relation. For a matter, I realised that for past 12+ years, this sympathy for him was what made me stay in a relation that was DEAD and was never alive.

But, everytime I made a compromise feeling sympathetic towards, he did something to make me regret it. He had this innate talent to make me realise that I was wrong in trying to forgive and forget and above all to compromise. He believed, come what may… I will be silent and will cope till the end… for it is a MARRIAGE and DIVORCE was not an acceptable process in our culture or particularly in our family. He was wrong.

His own ways made me strong enough to think above the sympathy. Sympathy is not what we need in a marriage. Love, respect, dependency, trust, care and empathy. Unfortunately, our marriage lacked every factor and it was all a façade for both of us. If it was for his pride that he stood in it, my son and parent’s happiness made me cope. But as they say, everything has a limit. When I finally broke the threshold of my limits, I erupted. With no emotions to supress me down, I broke down in front of my family.

As expected, with zero support, I went ahead with my decision. If anything that kept putting me in dilemma, it was the sympathy I had for that man which he somehow managed to slap my face immediately to wake me up to his real self, the selfish self-centered self.

It was painful. Extremely painful. Still, I bear the pain for I know that this relation was nothing less than a punishment for both of us. A seven hours wait at the court, made me watch scenes that I would never want to again witness. Some fought for their freedom while the other stayed adamant not to. People cried on their life and some smiled. It was a miserable seven hours indeed. Those moments, I prayed, may no other two wrong people be tied together to end up in this place. May all marriages be made in heaven and see only heaven.

The seven hours of waiting was long, but finally when we were summoned to the court, everything ended in less than 7 minutes. Nothing much to argue or bargain – Just two questions. All financial transactions are settled  - YES. Do you want to re-think – NO. The bell rang.

Wondering what to do, I was slowly nudged to exit. With pounding hearts I walked out, I was no longer married. Not able to stay within its nest, tears trickled. Trying to stop it only made it worse. I could see him as always walking off emotionless, as always with a smile. I knew nothing. I was finally free. I no longer had to act a happy married life. I can be myself.

Yes, I can. I need to be. More than quarter of my life, I have lived putting up an act of being happy. Now that I have let everybody know that I was never happy, it is time to work on it. I need to bring in the happiness that I had purposefully ignored all my life.

It’s a new beginning, a new phase, a new life that I am stepping in to… In pursuit of my peace, my content, my happiness…

And the search begin…

Brand new Clory...

Brand new me… hehe!!! Learning some scientific theories the hard way can actually cause your life… I learnt it by risking my own life. When people knew, all gasped, ARE YOU MAD? But, in real, very few knew that such thing could happen.

Ok, so the story goes on like this. My aunt who was on a visit returned back home town two weeks back. Since then, I was planning to do my type of house cleaning. Now, my type cleaning meant a complete makeover of the room, literally moving around the furniture and cleaning every bit of the room atleast three times. My recently developed OCD for this cleanliness was already killing me. But this time, it sure missed by luck….

So on D-day, I wasted the whole morning lazying around and mentally putting the cleaning task for next week. By, 4pm, some energy struck me and I started the cleaning spree. Dusting, sweeping, mopping – one after another, I cleaned every nook and corner. With Dettol, I mopped the whole floors one last time. Now was the time for the two bathrooms.

The OCD in me started acting. In anticipation for the perfect shining floors, I splashed a can of harpic all around the bathrooms followed by a shower of Clorox. Happily ever after…. I cleaned the guest toilet and proceeded to clean the master bathroom.

By then, my son was back from his Karate class. I instructed him to sit on the sofa without walking around or getting into the toilet to avoid mess. With my cleaning weapons, I got into the bathroom, closing the bedroom door behind me. Intention was to clean the bathroom and then take a shower to finish off the cleaning process.

As I started scrubbing the floors with all my enthusiasm, I slowly started choking and coughing. “Ha, it’s the Clorox.” I left the bathroom door open as the bedroom door was anyways closed. As time passed by, the coughing got severe. I felt dizziness. Its all just fragments of my imagination. Its all in the mind. I am fine.

Thus, I continued my cleaning. In 20minutes, I was almost falling off. Not able to withstand the pressure anymore, I quickly washed off the bathroom and took a quick shower. I felt like I was a fast-forwarding scene from a movie. But, I couldn’t take it anymore. I rushed out of the bathroom in the bathrobe and screamed for my son and thud….

When I opened my eyes, my son was right beside me. Crying out, “Mamma, don’t die…” I felt weird. What the hell. I asked him to quickly check on google for home remedies for Harpic and Clorox smell. He brought the phone and the search result shocked me. Without wasting time, with my son's help, I put on a gown and rushed out.

Choking for breath and coughing and screaming, I drove to the hospital which was 2 minutes away from home. My son kept saying, “Mamma, we will take a taxi”. I knew, I didn’t have time enuf for that. It was stupid of me, I know. I was risking my son’s life too by driving in that state. But, that moment, nothing was working within and by god's grace, I reached the emergency entrance of the hospital.

Out of the car, I fainted right in front of the emergency.

By the time, I was brought back to senses, I was covered with tubes and pipes and oxygen mask. I could see my brother and my crying son. 2 days in the ICU. It was news to me as the doctor explained how dangerous it was to mix Clorox with anything; forget Harpic. And, how much of a fighter I was that I reached the hospital alive, inspite of the intake of the poisonous gas for such long time.

Nurses kept visiting me at the ICU just to see the “Harpic-Clorox case”. They all said, they are also shocked, because many of them also do the same thing to clean their commodes. I became a victim because I used it for the whole toilet and stayed inside for more than 30 minutes. ☹ Any more reason to be embarrassed. 

Now, I am back home, under bed rest for a week. A little bit of walking makes me exhausted and breathless. As I sit here, I am trying to be thankful to many things…

-          The moment that made me forget to unlock the bedroom door, so my son could come in.

-          My son who was trying to do every single bit he could do in the absence of an adult at home.

-          The doctors and nurses who did their bit to revive me (I knew later that I was very dramatic; though I remember nothing much).

-          My inner strength that took me till the hospital.

-          The Almighty who stood by me and blessed me to safety.

Once I was back to pick up the phone, I send messages to all the groups about the hazards of mixing harpic and Clorox.

Anyways, this incident gave me a new name. Ofcourse I was given a choice… To choose from “Harpy or Clory”…

Clory... ☹

No one else will...

So, the long ordeal of going through an unhappy marriage and then facing the family and society with the truth that I AM NOT going to tolerate any bit more is now slowly fizzing down. Lots of debates and arguments and above all, bargaining… I confirmed again within me that I was doing nothing wrong… Here, life was slipping off, and there, someone was trying to tally their profits and loss… What was bigger than the loss of own life… 13 years of your prime life was lost… But, No… that was not important… More important for some was the money, property, assets etc…

I smiled… for it was nothing surprising. I had lived through this selfishness for years… For those who saw it as normal, not seeing what it was doing to me, I was wrong… Still, come far this distance, I decided to face it as the last stage… It hurt deep within, seeing how low a man can go just for material benefits jeopardising own life. Thankfully, all the bargaining was for everything except my son. He was not of profitable interest. I knew, if there was anything that I would have fought for in my battle for my life, it would have been my son.

Thus, I agreed to all the monetary losses during the bargain as I held my son with me. Well-wishers advised not to do that, but I just wanted to put a full-stop to the drama.

Though the decision to get married was not mine, I had entered this life with hope and honesty. I had tried with all heart to abide by the rules and regulations of a marriage and had always strived to be the perfect wife. A wife like my mother. With time, I started giving up. I started getting tired of trying alone. I started refuting for not seeing an effort in return. Soon, I stopped trying, to be the perfect wife. I stopped doing everything that was expected from a good wife.

Once, my father reprimanded me in front of my husband… “What you are doing is not something a good wife do.” I calmly replied, “But, I am not a wife.” My mother asked, “Why did you say that?” Without any double thoughts, I replied,

“Without a husband, how can I be a wife. I have never felt or made to feel that I have a HUSBAND. Then how would I be a wife.”

Silence was the response as I saw my husband slowly retreating the scene to resume his favourite comedy show in TV.

Anyways, I am back in my nest with my son after initiating a mutual petition for separation at the family court. With all heart, I pray to god that let not anybody be ever destined to go to that place for such a cause. It was a painful place. Seeing relations break, people fight, swear at each other; was all new to me. The decision to go there was mine, still my eyes overflowed. Trying to hide them was futile as my heart pound hard against me. I let it free and cried hard as I signed the agreement. I looked over as he placed his signature. The only time he opened his mouth was to reconfirm that he is bearing NO financial obligations of mine. I smiled, my decision was not wrong.

By now I knew, every time I let my weakness to win over happiness, I would face the blunt truth. My sympathy for others was always my happiness’ enemy. My empathy for others was always manipulated as I end up hurt. Even today, I get weak and wonder if I should just give up this battle for sake of other’s happiness. But, now I learnt to wait for few more minutes to see what is to follow. For after every dramatic plead, I would see the real self. The real self that was the reason for this outburst today.  For now I believe in the quote...

“Take care of yourself, No one else will…”

Learn the value...

Why? Why after this many years? Why Now?

A question that kept on rising… Maybe it was an eruption of a volcano. Something that was boiling deep within and just erupted one fine day. Even I had no answer for the question. I kept saying, I am just fed up. I cant anymore take a risk of giving another chance. Outsiders kept assuring and giving me promises that things will change, give another chance. Look for changes for another 6 months, another year… etc etc etc… People tend to forget that the experimentation is on my life.

But, every now and then I wondered. Why did I suddenly decide to say quits? Why now?  Why did I just give up without allowing another chance. Today, as I was all alone, lying down trying to do a rewind on the things that has been happening in my life… I slowly underlined a specific incident. I rounded off a specific picture that has been almost imprinted into my mind.

Though, we were no longer emotionally together, for our son we put up a good charade as a happily married couple. It was openly discussed years back and agreed that we will stay together for the well-being of our son and will ensure that he is properly taken care of. Many a times, I kept reminding him that the responsibilities he forgot to do as a husband, dare not forget to do as a father. To love and to take care of…

Every time he took the relation for granted, I warned him on how it could affect his relation with his son. I tried forcing him to do his bit so as to build his son’s trust atleast. As always, he felt it is all unnecessary and I was just trying to disrupt his otherwise smooth and calm lifestyle. He believed that he is the father, hence will always be regarded as one. He forgot that in this century, unless u do your bit, even your own child would not regard you. He ignored that unless he give, he wont get.

Vacation was always going back home and staying stuck there for him. After every school re-opening day, my son would come and say in awe about his friends’ vacation adventure. He never had any complaints. But, I knew, like any child, he too wished to travel and then brag about his vacation. Thus, after much debates, we flew out for a beach vacation. The idea was to do everything the way my son would enjoy.

One of the attraction was scuba diving.  Thus, we sailed out in a boat to the sea and got into the water. Amongst us, only he knew proper swimming. Wearing life jackets, we all enjoyed the sea. Amidst all the fun, suddenly I started feeling that I was being pulled down by the water. I started struggling to stay above water level, splashing my legs hard. My first instinct was to see if my son was safe.

Right next to me, I could see his head bobbing up and down trying to pull himself up. I looked for help and saw his father climbing the boat back. I kept pulling my son up as I tried hard to stay afloat. I called out for his father to come to us. I could see that we were drifting away from the boat.

Legs below started feeling helpless and I could hear my son saying, “Amma, I am drowning.” I looked at his father, who was on the boat already. I kept shouting, “Come here.” And he kept saying, “You come here.” I felt foolish expecting him to understand that I am not able to reach the boat. I could no longer think of him, for I had to ensure to drag my son up-to safety. 

By then, the boat crew threw the safety tube to us and I caught it and dragged my son too into it. We both were pulled up into the boat. From the crew we understood that it was high-tide and a storm was hitting the sea. As I sat there all wet and cold, my son hugged me and asked, “Amma, why didn’t father come to save us?” It was a hatred that was creeping in me. I pacified him saying maybe his father didn’t realise that we were in danger and assured him that come what may, his mother would be there for him.

Later that afternoon, due the storm, we got stranded off at an island for over an hour and was later taken back to the hotel. Through the rest of the journey, I kept quiet for I knew, if I opened my mouth, I might say something bitter. By the end of the boat journey, I turned to him and said,

“I don’t expect you to save your wife, but didn’t u feel any bad that u left even ur son in danger and saved urself. Inspite of my begging you to come, you didn’t feel any need to come for help.”

He had no answer. His explanation was that he thought I was asking him to come to click pictures. Later, my family too backed him giving him the benefit of doubt. I agree, maybe he did not realise we were in danger. Maybe he thought that I will take care of the situation. Maybe he felt, his son would be strong enough to swim back.

But, my question is and will always be one… “We were all together, having fun. When he knew the sea was getting rough, he swam back to safety. That moment, didn’t he feel that he should ensure that his son is back onboard than in the sea. Didn’t he believe that as a parent, our first responsibility was to take care of our child before our own life. From the boat he could see the sea was rough and the boat getting drifted off, didn’t he think that he should be jumping back into the water to ensure his son is not in trouble.”

Somehow, post that day, I have this one scene fixed in my thoughts. The picture of a father climbing a boat and just looking doing nothing. I now realise, it was this picture that has almost become inerasable and made me give up on my trust. How much ever I tried to forget it and forgive him, I am not able to do it. Our life together was for our son. But, when he failed to protect my son…. I could not anymore follow the drama.

I know, he loves his son so much. Maybe, he doesn’t know how to express it. Maybe, he will never know. But, I am not able to forgive him for running away that day… He might change now. Now that he realise what he lost due his self-centered nature, he might change. For I know, if he doesn’t change still, he will never get the love his son.

For me, it became a closed chapter. But, may this be a new beginning for him. He will always be in my prayers, for my son. May he learn from his past and start acting to be a father, a good father. May he learn the value of what he have and not earn its absence. Hope he realise the truth of love and life…

“When you take things for granted, the things you are granted get taken back.”