Her Salvation

Chapter 6

Around 20 days have passed since Aditya’s parents came to Uma’s house. Uma has nearly forgotten about the marriage proposal. She was busy with her studies and w*****d.

It was Sunday, and Uma was copying notes from her phone, which her friend Ayesha had sent her. After finishing off her work, she went out to the balcony and stood watching the neighbourhood children playing on the ground in front. A smile crept up on her lips, automatically on seeing them. 

“Kids are the greatest blessing!” she thought to herself. 

After a few minutes, her mother called her for lunch. She went down. Her parents were discussing something, while she was silently having her food.

-“I was thinking to go to Mr. Iyer’s place today. It’s been so many days and Sindhu has been nagging so much.” said Anupama.

-“Let's go then. Moreover, I’m gonna be busy for a few more days regarding the field work.” said Uday.

Uma’s father has been staying here lately for his office tours. He had to go to certain rural areas for a survey.

After lunch, Uma went to her room and started with her studies. After 2hours, when the clock struck 4.30pm, she thought of taking some rest, as she had to resume her lessons late at night. Uma had a habit of studying on the bed. The study table never gave her peace of mind. So, she arranged her books and kept them on the shelf. She came back and laid on her bed covering herself with the duvet, and soon she drifted off to sleep.

Her sleep broke, when Anupama came and started shaking her.

-“Mampi get up. It’s already 5.30.”

She immediately got up and rubber off the remaining sleep from her eyes. Her mother informed her that since Uma had already caught a cold, it would be better if she didn’t go with them. Uma felt a bit saddened at it. Mrs. Iyer's daughter, Vaishali, had been her friend since they met for the first time. The Iyer family was their neighbour, but at present they live somewhere else. Vaishali and Uma had literally been together for around 10years.

-“Okay then, you both go. I’ll be home. I’ve some homework pending. I’ll finish off them.” said Uma.

-“Yes. Come to the living room, I’ve made coffee. Let’s have it together.” saying this Anupama left.

Uma got up from the bed and arranged it properly. After coming out of her room, she went to the bathroom that was adjacent to her room. After getting freshened, she walked off to the living room to see her parents watching TV.

No sooner did she pick up the coffee mug, her mother shouted at her,

-“What makes you think that you should leave your studies and go out of the house?”

Uma was shocked. She knew what was coming up, so she timidly added,

-“But I never said that I wanted to go.”

-“O just shut up! I know you more than anyone else! Idiot... This won’t fetch you any marks.” shouted an enraged Anupama.

Uma was shocked to see her mother. This kind of reaction wasn’t new to Uma, but she has never seen her mother so enraged all of a sudden. She couldn’t hold back her tears.

-“We are providing you with everything, even before you ask for it. Yet, you aren’t getting good grades. Look at Sneha, she has scored such good marks.” said Anupama.

Uma couldn’t control herself anymore, and did burst open.

-“What do you think... providing materials are enough! You both aren’t giving the peace of mind for me to concentrate on my studies. How will I be able to study if you keep on fighting every other day? You're talking about Sneha, and who not. Ma, Baba, their parents don’t fight like you both do, on a daily basis. I’m tired of all this. Why don’t you both understand the situation which I’m in.” said Uma loudly looking at her parents.

Things have changed since then. Her mother had stopped taking her psychiatric pills. She is behaving extremely aggressively towards Uma and Uday only. She is normal towards everyone else. Uma was unable to say anything to anyone. It’s been 3 days since none of them had taken a full meal. Anupama had almost stopped eating. She would be on her bed, constantly shouting incoherently at her husband and daughter. Uma had thought of gulping down all of her mother’s sleeping pills, and getting rid of everything. Uma wasn’t able to bear it anymore.  But finally, she decided to call her Masi, who lived in Pune. Uma said everything to her, but it wasn’t possible for her aunty, Anuja, to come to her place all of a sudden. But Anuja called her sister and tried to explain to her and make her understand that stopping medicines won’t solve anything.

After spending almost 5days like this, Anupama started taking her pills and behaving normally. It was Saturday, when Anupama informed Uma that Mr. And Mrs. Roy had called them again for Uma's decision about the marriage proposal. It would be wrong to say that she didn’t think about it all these days. She did, and she had apparently decided too.

-“Shall I tell them to come in the evening today, since you don’t have any tuition today. Have you decided on anything beta?”, asked Anupama.

-“Ma, will I get to meet their son, at least for once?” asked Uma.

-“Obviously, you would. They mainly asked whether they would want to meet him or not.”, explained Anupama.

-“There’s no pressure on you. It’s totally up to you. You’re too young for this marriage and all.” said Uday trying to ease her daughter.

Little did they know what was going on in Uma’s mind.