Poignant Relationships
Sometimes things happen, and the circumstances created by those events change our lives. One such incident comes to my mind today. This happened with a friend of mine, Kavya.
Her dream was to be a famous reporter. Her idol was Barkha Dutt, whom she saw, reporting from dangerous and exciting places. She finished her graduation and eagerly applied as an intern in a leading news channel in Mumbai. She was happily surprised when she got the job. Long hours and not a great salary, but she felt she was one step closer to her dream.
Also, it was an escape from home. She was lonely, having recently lost her other idol, her mother. Her father was also trying to adjust to the loss and was probably floundering just like her. With her sisters married off, she had no one to share her thoughts and pain.
She started work and was assigned to a team led by a veteran journalist, Shiva. As part of her training, she had to shadow Shiva for a few days and learn the ropes of the industry. He was friendly and very helpful. He was kind with her mistakes and understanding with her naiveté. She started spending her entire day at work, staying later than required just to be in the company of a person who seemed to understand her and never judged her. She told him all about her dreams, her pain and loneliness came out, pouring.
For Shiva, Kavya was like a ray of sunshine in his otherwise drab life. Her wide innocent eyes, her guileless wonder, and her simplicity captivated him. He shielded her, wanting to protect her from the big bad world.
Slowly, without a conscious realization, they fell in love. So much in love, they didn’t think about the consequences or the future. Shiva was 40 years and married, and she was 23 and single. He fulfilled her emotional needs and she made him feel alive and carefree again. They had an affair, oblivious to the world and basked in the glow of this newfound bliss.
Their love was blind, but the world wasn’t. Shiva’s wife got to know about this. It was a big mess, she blamed Kavya for stealing her husband, demanded a divorce. People everywhere sympathised with the wife and named Kavya characterless and what not.
Shiva apologised to his wife, realizing he can’t jeopardise his family, changed his job and moved to a different city. What happened with Kavya after that was sad. She was torn, depressed and guilty for having fallen in love with a married man. She felt pathetic about the way men at work now ogled at her, made passes and considered her “available”. Her father disowned her for disgracing the family and suddenly she was all alone in this big bad world. As friends, we offered whatever support we could, but she moved to a different city, wanting to begin afresh.
She cut all her ties with the world she knew, hoping life would treat her with dignity again.
-Article by Janaki. G