Kishore is a manager in a pharmaceutical
company leading a decent life in an upper middle class locality in
Chennai. He owns a three bedroom flat in
an apartment complex where he lives with his wife and two kids. Writing is his hobby. He pens short stories whenever he gets time and
is happy to see them in print in some magazine or the other. A keen observer of people, he is constantly
on the look out for material for his short stories- which people around him or anyone he comes into
contact with provide him.
One day he was requesting
Ramu, a man in his early forties,
who helps him with the maintenance of his house on a monthly retainer, to recommend a
driver.
“No problem Sir, I have my younger brother Ganesh who is looking for a
job as a driver. The gentleman with whom he was working has been transferred.
“Good! Is he your blood brother or a cousin?”
“He is my step brother, Sir”
“So your father married twice?”
“No Sir, my mother did”
Kishore was intrigued with the
unusual response. Seeing the surprise
look on Kishore`s face, Ramu clarified.
“My mother, a couple of years after
giving birth to me and my sister, divorced my father because of differences with him and married again. Ganesh is the son of my step father sir”.
Kishore realized that here was material for a very juicy story.
Ramu was more than happy to
elaborate his life story for Kishore`s benefit.
_____________________________
Ramu’s parents hailed from Chengalpet, a small town 75 km away from
Chennai. While Ramu’s father Selvam
belonged to an upper caste middle class
family, his mother Selvi belonged to a scheduled caste. Selvam, after completing his high school,
joined a small garment factory where he
was working as a supervisor. Selvi was
an employee in the same factory working
as a tailor. Both were good looking and
took a natural liking for each other.
The friendship developed into
love and finally a marriage vehemently
opposed by families of both Selvam and Selvi!
When life in Chenglepet became unbearable because of the constant harassment by family members, the couple decided to move to
Madras to try their luck there. Selvam
managed to get a job in an automobile spare parts factory and Selvi got a job
in a small company located near their modest LIG flat in a suburb in South Madras.
Life was cruising along beautifully.
Soon the couple was blessed with their first child – a boy they named Ramu and a girl
born after two years they named Mala.
With the growing responsibility of bringing up children and the need
for more money, Selvam started working long hours in his factory – working
overtime to earn some extra income every
month. He would leave the house by 7.00
am and return home every day only at 9.00 pm.
He would be so tired at the end of a gruelling day that as soon as he came home he would have his dinner and hit the
bed. He had no time to spend with the
family.
Selvi, loaded with the responsibility
of working in a company , looking after the home and children found it tough to
manage! She was badly missing a connect with her husband.
She started protesting which led to frequent quarrels between husband
and wife. As it happens in many such
families, Selvam started hitting the bottle and on many evenings he would not
even return home.
The frequent fight between the parents would unnerve the children who lived in constant
fear of their lives! While Selvi was
tormented by her hopeless situation
- a silver lining appeared in the form of co-worker Shanmugam!
_______________________________________
Shanmugam was a senior assistant in the company where Selvi was
working. He was a bachelor, two years
younger to Selvi. Since Selvi was
reporting to Shanmugam on a day to day basis, they developed a friendship
beyond the call of duty. After a
very bad encounter with her husband she
would invariably pour her heart out to Shanmugam who was more than willing to
lend his broad shoulders for Selvi to lean on!
After office hours he started visiting Selvi’s home and tried to get
friendly with the children. Though Ramu
and Mala resisted the intrusion of a stranger initially, the gifts he brought
them regularly made them to like the stranger.
Selvi was completely floored with Shanmugam’s affection for her and her children. The admiration transformed into love leading to her getting into a physical relationship with Shanmugam.
Since Shanmugam was a regular visitor to Selvi’s house and the
neighbours often saw them going out together, tongues started wagging and the rumours reached
Selvam.
______________________________________________
Being unwell, one day Selvam returned home in the afternoon early. Only to find Shanmugam opening the door of
his house. Since children were away at
school, Selvam had caught the couple red handed.
All hell broke loose!
While Shanmugam quickly slipped out of the house, Selvam and Selvi had a big show down. Before Selvam turned violent, Selvi decided to
walk out of the house – never to return again. She had found her new love in
Shanmugam who was more than willing to provide her a shelter.
Selvam did not know what hit him.
His efforts to get back Selvi through friends proved futile. His estranged
mother, with whom he had no contact since his marriage, came to live with him to look after the young
children who were obviously shattered by the events in their life. They missed
their mother badly. But she did not seem to miss them.
Soon Selvam received a divorce notice from Selvi, who made it clear
that she had no intention of reuniting with him and that she had decided to
start a new life with Shanmugam. She
made no demands about wanting to take her children with her.
Selvam realized rather late in the day that he was mainly
responsible for the break-up with Selvi.
He not only had to mend his ways
but also had to look after his two young children, who were struggling to cope
with their trauma. Whereas Selvi married
Shanmugam, he never married again! His
mother`s repeated efforts to persuade him to marry again were in vain. She even
threatened to walk out on him as she was too old to look after the children on
a permanent basis. Selvam refused to agree. He accepted the challenge of bringing bring up
Ramu and Mala, as a single parent. Providing them all the love and care that he
could give to ensure that they never
felt insecure - So that they would grow into responsible human beings.
After completing their school education, as they were not interested in
further studies, both Ramu & Mala
started working and in due course got married to spouses chosen by their
father. Surprisingly their mother attended both their weddings accompanied by children
she got through Shanmugam.
____________________________________________________
“So Ramu, Ganesh is the
son your mother bore through Shanmugam”
“Yes sir, Ganesh also has a younger sister sir,”
“Were you in touch with your mother after she married Shanmugam”
“Yes sir, though she was never allowed to visit us, my father did not
have objection to our seeing her –
especially on festival occasions!”
“Is your father alive?”
“No sir, he died of cancer seven years ago. And Shanmugam uncle died in
a road accident two years ago”.
“So, your mother is staying with
your step brother , Ganesh?”
“No sir, she is staying with me”
“But, she ditched you and your sister and married again. Yet you like
her?”
“She is after all my mother Sir.
It is my duty to look after her in her old age”
In this day and age when children, staying as nuclear families, are not
keen to look after their old parents, Kishore found Ramu’s commitment refreshingly different and
commendable.
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