The Splintered Life
Samya is half asleep, when she is woken by Palak’s
mumbling… Palak is talking in sleep again… something she does almost every
night. It is beyond Samya’s understanding. Though scared, Samya sits up and
starts patting Palak’s cheeks lovingly with her small plump hands, “Mumma! Talk
to me if you want. See, I am here.” She is too young to understand the
intricacies of human relationships and the complexities of human mind. Samya is
just six, and interpreting this vile expression on her mother’s face as a
mental sickness, is out of question. Palak opens her eyes and finds her
lovely daughter peering at her with surprised doe eyes. Palak’s expression
softens, as she pulls Samya into her arms and straightens her silky smooth pigtail
with her fingers. Palak is not sure about her unconscious behavior, but from
little Smaya’s description of Palak’s condition, she definitely knows that her
disturbed inner-self is getting manifested in some way or the other. She shall
never share with Samya the weird secret behind her somniloquy –the story of her
broken heart being possessed by the evil poisonous knot that has refused to
untie even after a decade; the story of her crazy yet failed love for Vimal
before marrying Rajiv; Vimal having spurned her love, and his falling for
Parii. Most important, she can never tell her little girl that the story she most
sumptuously relished was that of Vimal and Parii falling apart. Ah! The memory
of their breakup! A wicked smile touches the corners of Palak’s lips. Her eyes radiate
a roguish twinkle as she murmurs, “That ‘breakup’... they owe to me.” She
quickly checks herself, “No! I am my daughter’s ideal… a loving mother and a
perfect human being. Samya shall never fathom the mystery of my unconscious
world. This shall go on like this –forever, because I love being in this state…
celebrating ‘their failure’ and mourning ‘my loss’ night after night! I’m happy
with ‘this’.” To Samya, life is perfect… a comfortable house in an upscale
society, good schooling, good food, enough money for the three of them coming
from Palak’s job at a convent school and Rajiv’s at a leading BPO. Palak and
Rajiv are a happy couple -like all others –this is Samya’s reality; but Palak’s
reality is different from Samya’s. It is a surreal account of her splintered
heart –morbid and gross! She is okay with her splintered self and her
splintered life.
-parastish
We should learn from palak... Grreat lesson
ReplyDeleteThanks for the observation. But you are requested to reread the story. It intends to take up the issue of mental illness.
DeleteWow
ReplyDelete