The story of Us-1

I heard the car. I got up. I went into the kitchen I got the vessels from the fridge. I put on the microwave. I put the things in to heat. I heard the key being turned in the door. I removed the food from the microwave. I got the dishes out.

He came in. He went to the bathroom. He washed up. He came into the kitchen. He sat down at the table. He picked up the plate. He served himself.

I picked up the second plate. I served myself.

We ate.

He sneezed.

I said, “Bless you!”

He said, “Thanks.”

That’s most we had spoken in days. We have been married for 2 years now. We had known each other just 1 year and dated for 6 months before we decided to tie the knot. I wish I could name a specific day or time when we had stopped talking. For all I know, it just happened.

It wasn’t always like this. And it wasn’t his fault and neither was it mine. I sometimes wish I could blame it on someone or something, but I knew it wouldn’t be true. Damn Me! Sometimes, I wish I knew why it happened. Sometimes I thought that all I could was wish. It had been days, weeks, actually months since we had a decent conversation. When we did speak, we would talk and suddenly go quiet. Till one of us would go off to sleep or rather pretend to sleep.

It wasn’t always like this. When we used to date (those were the days) we would talk really speak, talk or whatever the hell it is called. We would call and speak hours on end. Ohh, the way our parents reacted when they saw our bills. We used to be in college back then and still dependent on them to pay the bills. Then, when we graduated and got a job, we immediately decided to get married. It was the most logical thing to do. My parents liked him, his parents liked me. It was a match made in heaven.

Now, divine intervention is all that can save us, it seems. Divine intervention. It's funny because both of us are atheists in a way. That’s what brought us together. The pressures of life, work, everything seems to make us drift apart. There I found something to blame. When you are just starting your career, it is but expected this it is your priority number "one". But do people ignore other aspects in their lives? When you come home tired after a long day of work, do you just ignore the other person living under the same roof? Isn’t marriage all about companionship? About sharing and caring? Isn’t it all telling the other person the problems and difficulties? Even though you feel like the person in front may not fully comprehend. What you share is not important but the fact that you do.

Maybe he doesn’t realize how important this is to me. Maybe he hasn’t realized that this isn’t a healthy relationship. Maybe he just doesn’t care. No! That can't be true. He does care. He used to care... He couldn’t have changed so soon. Could he?

12 comments:

  Anand

22 June 2008 at 19:22

Looking forward to the other part of this.... waiting eagerly need to know where doe it take us.
not read other blogs.. will do it tonite.
Keep Scribbling.

  Anonymous

22 June 2008 at 21:23

Oooooo..I cant wait to know whats in store. Really. You have built up the momentum and I'm really keen on finding out what gonna happen next.

You know, silence can be suffocating. You don't know what to make of it.Its not just between partners for life, but silence even between strangers can be unnerving. Its a weird thing this silence.

Anyways, keep me posted na, when you do decide to continue with it.

  xsystem

23 June 2008 at 00:18

Look at ur words ...

My parents liked him, his parents liked me.

Where is the part where u and him love each other.

Naa ... I think that this is a work of fiction. But still, life is really much more than eating microwave heated food and serving by yourself.

Those telephone bills are a phase of ur life when you dont know whats in store for you.

Once u know what are ur responsibilities, you work hard to meet ends. And in this working hard, u forget to live life.

In other words, if u work for 5 days in a week. At the end of the month, get ur salary, its plenty.

But the main question is ... for how long u gonna work for 5 days a week and sleep for the 2 remaining .... :< ??

At some point, u will say .. . dude i want a break !

Like that ... just chill ... treat each other like humans ... whatever u r doing, he might not be matching it ... but at least giving his best at work.

So understand ... speak up ... and enjoy ... because ... life should not be something that comes on weekends .... it should be something thats up and kicking "between" the two weekends ... :)

  vanilla sky

24 June 2008 at 22:07

kind of reminds me of Jhumpa Lahiri's "A temporary matter''

the naaration was nice

"Divine intervention. It's funny because both of us are atheists in a way. That’s what brought us together."--loved these lines !

  Unknown

25 June 2008 at 00:16

gud narration...

  Sandeep Balan

28 June 2008 at 22:56

nice narration..keep posting...

  Jil Jil Ramamani

30 June 2008 at 12:09

as aj rightly pointed out "Where is the part where u and him love each other."

gud un though

  creyzeee

30 June 2008 at 12:11

hi..i like the style...its d kinds dat'd get u hooked on immediately! :)

  Rohan

1 July 2008 at 14:00

Great writeup..cant wait for part 2to come
Love that can stand the test of time without breaking up is what is called as true love :)

  Anindita

9 July 2008 at 01:25

Love the way you have put it.. And, am waiting for more! :)

  Anonymous

9 July 2008 at 17:06

Hi ,

I was reading ur blog posts and found some of them to be wow.. u write well.. Why don't you popularize it more.. ur posts on ur blog ‘Rocky Road’ took my particular attention as some of them are interesting topics of mine too;

BTW I help out some ex-IIMA guys who with another batch mate run www.rambhai.com where you can post links to your most loved blog-posts. Rambhai was the chaiwala at IIMA and it is a site where users can themselves share links to blog posts etc and other can find and vote on them. The best make it to the homepage!

This way you can reach out to rambhai readers some of whom could become your ardent fans.. who knows.. :)

Cheers,

  Anonymous

21 March 2009 at 14:47

really good !!