Divorce saga

It was around 11:30 p.m. Piku had finished his dinner and was lying down lazily on his bed. Saturday night, nothing much to do at hand. Pico scrolled some YouTube videos. Then he gave cursorial touch to his Facebook account.

10 years challenge was in Vogue. almost everyone he knew had been posting pictures of themselves 10 years back and now.

Piku remembered the fat Piku he used to be in 2009. There was a picture taken by a batchmate while he certain the medicine ward of North Bengal medical college. He had a pink shirt on with the stethoscope wound over his neck like a snake and serious look stamped on his face with chubby cheeks.

Years had gone by and he had shed those extra kilos. Scrolled through his recent pictures. He saw the background picture on his laptop. How different he looked! The Piku of 2009 would not recognise the Piku of 2019 if by chance the came face to face. Time had shaped him in such a manner, be it his body or his mind.

He was smarter; he was handsomer then used to be and still, he was stupid just as he was way back in 2009.

Some traits never leave you try how hard you may.

Piku was lost in himself when the mobile rang. It was Bidhu Bhushan Da. He was often called Bidhu by his batchmates whereas Piku called him Bhushan da.

‘I got my divorce paper today. The whole procedure is complete and now I am single again’, he said with the breaking voice. Piku had no idea how to respond to such emotional situations. He said after a pause, ‘jakgge finally you are free now’.

Bhushan da was quiet for sometime and then said, ‘what will I do now re?. You know today I sent back everything that her family had given me during our marriage. The bed, the mattress, everything’.

He went on to elaborate how bad and lonely he felt. Life felt meaningless to him now. When his wife was there he would argue with her. When she left he tried to woe her back. Finally, when things reached a point of no return, he had filed for a divorce.

He has been confused about the whole affair. He had missed date after date of the hearing which again led to arguments with his wife. She felt caged in the relationship. She wanted an escape. Fight and argue to whatever extent he may, he still loved her and wanted her in his life.

But you cannot keep a person close to you without that person’s free will. And when the other party had already decided this marriage was not going to last, can you do anything?

I think it is prudent to let go of people who don't want to stay after a certain point. Begging someone never yields respect. It can only get you sympathy.

‘Janis, she used me to rise up her career ladder. How much my mother and father had loved her as if she was their own daughter. They are the ones who were hurt the most after this affair. She made a career for herself and left the country. Now madam is in Canada. She has enrolled herself into some masters’ course in management. And soon afterwards, she will get herself a work permit and will settle down there. While the stupid me is sitting here and crying thinking about her. She who doesn't even bother’, he said with a sob in his voice. Probably he was drunk.

Off late he had taken to alcohol. The last time his family had gone out on a Europe trip Piku had gone one night to stay at his house because he felt lonely. After dinner they had gone out for a walk and when they got back he brought out a bottle of whiskey and emptied it down before going to sleep. Pico watched in surprise. This was not the Bhushan da he knew from college.

A failed relationship makes your life bitter just opposed to a successful relationship, that makes you a better person. Between ‘bitter and better’ there is difference of only  i and e, but how differently they change the meaning of life - in a bitter or better way...