Liquified Pursuit of Happiness
Sridhar was devastated. A divorce within two years of marriage was something that he could not come to terms with.
He and Nidhi were never made for each other. He, a small town, shy boy and she, a cosmopolitan, city dwelling, bubbly girl. He had a very limited outlook towards life – Good education, Software job and settled life. He was not outgoing and did not have many friends. She was his exact opposite – Adventurous, had a lot of friends and was very talkative.
No wonder, whatever she did, it was ‘wrong’ in his eyes. She thought a lot of her freedom was taken away after marriage by him and his family. There was visible friction.
He became so paranoid in her eyes that she stopped looking into his eyes. She was so carefree in his eyes that he found lesser and lesser words to communicate with her.
It needed only a spark to set the explosion. ‘How could she do that?’ he thought. Everything was over one day. Both of them agreed to get divorced by mutual consent.
He was filled with so much grief for the failed marriage that alcohol became his ever loving companion from that day. He had heard that alcohol would make you forget your worries and give happiness. He had no idea of what he was doing as he let the alcohol take complete control over his happiness and life.
“All women are like that” was his judgment. And consolation. “All women are like that”
Sneha was supposed to celebrate her tenth birthday on that day. Even though they were not economically well off, her mother managed to save some money without the knowledge of her father and bought her new dress and gold ear rings. She had never worn gold before.
Her father had been addicted to alcohol for a couple of years. Sometimes he used to come home totally drunk. When ever her mother objected, he used to assault her. Sometimes verbally, sometimes physically.
All this used to happen in front of Sneha. She had grown more and more terrified of her father, with every passing day. He came home drunk on this day too. Seeing the ear rings, he started harassing her mother. Sneha never remembered how she got the courage to say,
“Please don’t hit mother, pa”
Slap.
This time she got it. That was the last time she saw her home. Her mother admitted her in an orphanage hoping that at least her daughter could continue her studies beyond the primary school. It was obvious that her father wasn’t going to allow it. Forget sponsoring it.
Sneha developed an opinion rather early in life that, “All men are like that”. All men.
Sridhar’s parents were bent on getting him married once again. He was in no mood for it. “I don’t want a life partner” he said. “It’s not for you, we want to see our Grand children” they reasoned. They reminded him daily, but he, however decided to adopt a child. That way, he thought he could at least help bring in some happiness to a child, who would otherwise be deprived of the same – early in life. And his parents would get their grand child.
“I don’t want to go from here” screamed Sneha. It was about six months since she joined in the orphanage. “See, this person is ready to help you continue your education. That’s what your mother wanted, right? We can’t give you a good education. So, don’t behave like a little kid. He is like your father – you’ll have to go with him”. “I don’t want a father” she said. She was too terrified to forget the last few years. But nevertheless she was sent.
She was very quiet for the first couple of weeks. Sridhar wanted to break the silence and hence the distance.
“Why are you so quiet? Shall I get you some chocolates?”
“No”
“Ice cream?”
“No”
“Barbie dolls?”
”What? “Err.. I mean toys”
“No”
“Don’t feel shy. Ask anything you want, I am like your father”
“I don’t want a father”
That was unexpected. But still he wanted to understand.
“You didn’t like your father?”
”No”
“Why?”
“He used to drink and beat my mother often”
“So that’s why….. But I think your father was a good person”
“All men think alike, I guess”
He had to smile. “Not like that. Tell me this – was he beating your mother always or only when he was drunk?”
”Only when he was drunk”
“See. I proved what I said. Your father is not bad, the liquor is bad. It makes your father go crazy”
“Then he could have stopped drinking, right?”
”Yeah, he could have but once you are addicted to it, it doesn’t leave you easily”
“Do you drink?”
”I used to…..”
“Now?”
“I stopped before three months”
“Why did you drink?” ”I drank because I was sad…. I had divorced my wife recently”
“Why?”
“She came home drunk one day”
“Did she beat you?”
”No……!”
“You are luckier. My mother was not”
“Yeah, I think I was relatively luckier”
“So, your wife was also a nice person?”
”She…….”
”Yes. She was not bad. The liquor was… right?”
”Yeah…. I guess so…. So, you’ll stay with me?”
“If you promise not to drink again”
“I don’t have to. My pursuit was happiness. I didn’t find it in that liquid. It is elsewhere. I promise that I won’t drink from now on”
Destination Infinity
You have done it again 🙂 Lovely.
Brilliant story, Destination Infinity! 🙂
Liquor ruins so many lives and tears apart so many families, especially those who are engaged in hard physical labour 🙁
The worst thing is that it is a dangerous killer if it is combined with the steering-wheel or handle-bar. People who drink and drive/ride 😡 are welcome to kill themselves if they want to, but they have no right to kill or hurt anyone else! It is nothing short of pre-planned murder!
cute this story but the end it s not trustable!.
it a funny that at the beginning the two characters reminded of me and my husband just for the kind of opposite background 🙂
Hi Vishesh – Thanks.
@Alien Earthling: I think all this drinking habits proliferate because of the core belief – 'Drinking makes us happy and cool'. Yeah, it does make you happy right then but what about the hangover, what about the long term implications including health, Wht about the amount of money wasted, and yes – what about the lousy traffic sense and hence danger to the public?
I'll try not to give happy endings – I too think the naturallity of the story is lost by them. Thanks for reminding me Radha.
Destination Infinity
Thats something so different from whatever I have read before on the same context…It was Lovely indeed….And the way you put it- seems so natural and makes reader flow with it 🙂
Thank you 😀
This entire site is filled with a lot of different things, Sahaja. That is one of my passions – thinking out of the box. I will want to write and think differently just for the sake of being different even if it looks insane. Well, there is a place for all kind of people in this world, I guess. Thanks for the nice comment.
Destination Infinity
the naturality of the story should go with natural start,natural body and natural end ,dont u think so?
Good one, DI. You have brought out the emotions of the little girl very well. "All men are like that only'. Good line there!
Yes, but since I have not been in such situations, I might be ignorant of the 'Naturality' of the subject, Radha.
Didn't you notice the other one – All women are also like that was also mentioned in fear of…. well this was the first mention actually! Nyways thanks for reading through… you write some really good stories … keep writing them… I write stories only when there is some point which I want to emphasise. I can't write the emotional content like how you write…
Destination Infinity
[…] read this story I wrote sometime back, on the same […]
hey Good Ending..A Wonderful Mix of Emotions and Imagination
Again to mention.. u make a reader think.. and the story goes with a flow… Cheers !
Preeti 🙂
This story was written a long time back, and is one of my favourite so I should thank you for even reading this
I love the way you have brought together the two narratives in parallel and interwined it with a single thread.
Lovely ending as well 🙂
Thanks for reading this story… This was my favorite, but back then there were not much readers for my blog!
Destination Infinity
The way you linked the two different stories is very nice DI and considering it has message the flow is perfect 🙂 🙂