Interference

“Close your eyes”, Rita closed her eyes hesitantly, murmuring, “Why do you want me to close my eyes every time I share a problem with you?”

“Think of yourself 10 years ago. What are the things you did or did not do because of your husbands?”.

“What are the activities you did to prove him wrong and prove yourself right?”

Ajji paused. Rita kept her eyes closed, and Grandma waited patiently, watching her.

It’s been 10 years since Rita married Santosh. Like any other couple anywhere in this world, they had their good and not-so-good times, their agreements and disagreements, their upsurge of romance, and wild discharge of rage at each other for the past decade.

Last night was like a new peak in their quarrel when Rita thought it was the end. She went to meet her go-to neighbor, who lives in the next block in her society. She feels good spending time with her, as she reminds her of her grandma. She never gets too preachy, nor does she ever judge her. She never found such comfort with her own mother. Remote working helped her build new relationships in her society.

Explaining to her everything that happened last night over a hot coffee that Ajji prepared was more than a million-dollar therapy session. She listened everything patiently and asked her to think of what changed in her life due to Santosh.

Closing the eyes and thinking initially made her come up with all the bad things that happened to her, but over time she started realizing how she started certain habits and activities to prove Santosh wrong. She also realized how she stopped doing certain things because she was irritated by Santosh’s interference.

Ajji explained that men and women are two different energies. They push and pull each other every moment, and this is nature’s way of creating a beautiful world. Just imagine of river and river bank.

The river erodes the bank but gets its direction, and the bank pushes the river and gets its nice cuts and curves. Just imagine if they stayed peacefully with each other. You would have quiet water, which would unbearably stink.