No!!!

“You don’t love me any more. From your words and actions it looks like, you dislike every bit of me. My presence in your life is like a place holder without much importance to you. You just think about yourself..”, Bagmita complained before going to the kitchen to cook lunch for the kids who are about to return from school. Vishal is utterly confused and bitterly irritated. His choices and likes are roadblocks for his peaceful married life. He is fed up of living a life where he has nothing of his own. His every action needs approval from his counterpart and he does not like to hear ‘No’. He wanted the life of a bachelor.

Bagmita is going through similar emotions inside kitchen. Both are thinking about the scarifies they have made to make this relationship happen. They are unhappy about their unfilled dreams and unwanted responsibilities that haunt them when they try to escape. Their dislikes for each others have grown to a state of hatred. The husband-wife jokes which used to make them laugh earlier are making them think ‘How true!!”. They are boiling inside and the heat is seen very clearly on their all body parts which has ability to can express. Every touch is creating thunders like the clouds in the sky and rain of emotions often in silos. Negativity has come to stay in their house as a permanent member. This is impacting their kids in all aspects. Vishal thought, “Will it remain this way always? Is every marriage like this or his is unfortunately exceptional.”

Vishal was so frustrated that he was thinking of ending his life. He wanted to get rid of all the worries. His professional life was not any better. He was not treated well by his colleagues, his financial status was horrible, demands from the relatives were never ending and he was feeling as if he is the villain of the century.

Vishal was coming from office in his bike and it started raining heavily. He could not find any shelter around and was trying to speed his bike so that he can escape getting drenched. The more he was trying to escape, he was getting more wet. Suddenly there was a loud thunder and at the same time his bike slipped. He fell on the road and his bike was on him. He got up and felt severe pain on back of his head. He moved his fingers on the location where it is paining and found it is bleeding. Surprisingly his pain vanished gradually and blood stooped coming out from the wound. He was fully wet. He started his bike and suddenly heard a loud voice. “Stop you idiot! Where are you rushing?”. He feared this as a sound of a traffic police who might fine him for crossing the previous red signals. He thought, “Do they expect me to stop on an empty road, when it is pouring like cats and dogs? Don’t they have any humanity left, I fell on road badly?”. He applied break and looked around. No living creature seen anywhere around except a diseased dog who was trying to cross the road with his 3 legs. He started accelerating his bike once again and heard, “I am here. Stop right away.”. He stopped and located the source of sound. It was coming from the sky. He was scared.

“You try to escape everything that is unsuitable to you and make your life more unsuitable to live.”. Vishal shouted, “Do you expect me to stand and get drenched in rain. By the way, who the hell are you and why are you telling me ‘idiot’. I am an respectable architect in a multi national company and you have no right to talk to me like this. Let me go home.”

“I am sorry to say Mr. Architect, You are free from home, office, and your body. So you have nowhere to go now. You are dead and I am the angel of death who is going to take you for judgment now.”, he heard.

“What!!!!??? No way. It can’t be. Don’t joke with me.”, suddenly Vishal was extremely confused and not sure what to say or do.

An invisible voice is talking to him and telling him that he is dead is worth believing, but death at this age and at the time when you have so many things to accomplish is not possible. But on second thought, he realized that death does not come based on your convenience so it is possible.

“You were suffering from the relationship, from your work and we thought of releasing you from all pain. Isn’t it something you should be happy about? You were cursing your wife for not letting you do what YOU want to make yourself happy, you are unhappy at work because YOU were not given enough importance and we thought, lets take that suffering soul out of the cruel world.”. Angel of death said. “But what about suffering of my kids and wife in my absence.”, he said in a broken voice and started crying loudly. “Forget them. That’s what you wanted when you were alive. You wanted time to live your own life.” Angel said. “No!!! I never wanted that. I need them more than my own happiness. I love my wife more than anything else in this world. My kids are my very important reasons for living. How can I think of getting rid of them.’Yes’, many things didn’t go well but I did not want death.”

“Now you are tell entirely a different story. But you were complaining that nobody loves you and cares for you.”, Invisible voice said. “No, that is not true. My family loves me so much. They can’t survive without me. The only problem is that, I do not like to hear ‘No’ for anything that I like to do. But that is true for anybody.” Vishal said. “Yes, That is true for anybody. When any relationship starts we tend to agree with everything to make sure our loved ones keeps loving us. You respect the person to the extreme and never doubt your loved ones greatness. The same applies to your loved once too. You say in those situations that Love is blind and many other philosophical statements. You agree to get anything for your loved one, at any cost. Then when you progress in relationship, you start searching ‘YOU’ out of the ‘WE’ in the relationship. Then you start telling ‘NO’ to things that does not suit you and you start being honest to your heart. You care for others but not at the cost of any sacrifices. This is the turning point in the relationship. This is the time when you are truly honest but your loved one starts missing that ‘YOU’ which they loved. Gradually the respect goes down and belief starts vanishing. This is the time when society, elders in the family and friends come to act like glue to ensure you do not fall apart. If you sustain this period then the real relationship start. Till this point relationship has progressed but now on relationship starts growing. Gradually each other start accepting the truth. Honesty which was hurting till now, starts becoming the basis of the future relationship. But if you do not have patience to sustain that period then it falls apart. But some say, why try to sustain the period and suffer. Rather move on in life to find another one. Then this journey becomes one endless one. There is no one in this world who would  dedicate his/her entire life only for you without bothering about himself or herself at any point of time.” invisible voice said.

“I agree. I just thought of myself and complained about my loved ones. I truly did not think what they are going through and what they need. I was too selfish. I just needed them but never realized that they need me too. But what will I do now. I am dead. I have no opportunity to correct it. I could not have got anybody better than Bagmita in my life. She sacrificed many to help me in my life. I just took her for granted. I sometimes forgot that she is a human being as me and has similar aspirations from life. I am so bad. I need just one opportunity to correct it. Please do something. Please give me my life back.” Vishal cried.

“Life is not something that you can revisit at your will. Once you loose this opportunity, you have no second chance. I am sorry.”. Invisible voice said.

He pleaded kneeling down on the road closing his eyes and crying. Suddenly it stopped raining. He opened his eyes and looked around. He found that his bike is standing on its side stand as he parked it. He has bruises in his hands and legs. His head is hurting badly. He got up and sat on the bike. Started for home. he reached home and found his kids came running towards him to hug him. Bagmita immediately came running with a towel and when she found bruises went running inside to get the first aid kit. He was extremely confused. What really happened to him on road was that a day dream or real. Anyway he did not try to waste a second on that thought rather started acting to ensure his relationship grows further. Bagmita ordered her not to go out in bike without wearing helmet ever. Earlier he used to ignore but now on he followed her instructions carefully. He accepted all No and restrictions.

They lived a happy life forever.

Namaste!!!

– Stray Dog