Sweet are the Uses of Adversity
Apr 15 2008 | Views 607 |
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Sweet are the uses of adversity, Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head; And this our life, exempt from human haunt, Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything.
Author: William Shakespeare
Source: As You Like It (Duke Senior at II, i)
She couldn't get time for herself alone. Always the mobile phone would beep an SMS; there would be a call, there would be long long talks on what she was wearing, what she was eating and what she was doing, as if it mattered the least. They began to meet on the week ends and soon the meetings grew more often. Karthika did not like it. She actually abhored it, She always thought why there should be a meeting at all. One could chat with someone when one had nothing to do. But why proceed beyond that? . Why this meeting??? She wished she could concentrate on her other activities. Her association with Dev began with a casual chat that she happened to log in, when her uncle presented her with a mobile phone. It happened just for fun, during one of those days of lazy summer. It kept growing into a serious affair inspite of herself. Actually she was trying to thwart it with all her might.
That was why she kept avoiding him all through the first year.She would pretend to get angry over little things and tried to break up. But the attraction was irreistible and they always made up. She felt like Tess of the D'Ubervilles,getting drawn physically to a villain. And every time they made up, well....er....they got closer. Till one day, he suggested that they go for trekking by the nearby hillocks.She had to agree, he was so persistent that she could not get away. The entire relationship was getting so suffocating. How sickening! How horrid! She could never find time for herself. Dev was so consumed with vain self glorification! .He seemed to demand her company as a matter of right and the carefree feeling of girlishness was now replaced with an unwilling acquiescence.But she went. She could not help it. She wished she had never known him, had never seen him. What was the way to escape?, she pondered. But she went.
After an hour long trekking, just as she held herself against the tree, panting , he swiftly caught her in his arms and planted a kiss on her soft lips. His hands hastily began moving with unpracticed awkwardness about her lithe body She broke herself free and ran. This was their first kiss and their last. What ever made her go with that moron.. she shed bitter tears back at home, lying on the diwan.And she was not even in love with him! What a cruel joke. This is what happens to women who are too polite to say "No!" to a date.
It was the 29th time that the telephone was ringing, a yet another call from him. In a fit of anger, she removed the sim card and threw it away. "Leave me in peace!" , She screeched at the inanimate cellophone and threw it on the bed. She developed high fever that night and couldnot go to college for nearly a fortnight. The entire period was one of trauma as she went into delirium. Her widowed mom and younger sister hovered around her wondering what could assuage her! "Why is she like this? Any trouble with maths?", Ambika, the younger one would wrap her arms around her and ask.
"Hey, no cherie!,I am fine,dear!"' , she would say and hug her, hot tears wetting Ambika's thick tresses.
The days that followed were dark and dreary.She was diagnosed with pneumonia and was adviced rest and medication. Those were the days that she got to spend with her mother intimately.Strangely , it never occured to her to pay any attention to her mom. But now she had begun to seek her mom in childish supplication. The evening walks began after she was getting better and mom began to chatter. She never knew there were so many stories , so many experiences and so many rare truths that she could learn from her mom's hidden reservoirs. .It was then she learnt how her mom had married her dad . They were cousins and had met during a relative's wedding, his dad and her mom being brother and sister. In the course of one of the ceremonies that was part of the marriage, her mom was instructed to bring the flowers from the inner apartments and her dad, who happened to be there just dragged her to a corner and clasped her in an embrace. This was noticed by somebody there, a holocaust followed , resulting in a hurried marriage.
Karthika was shaken! Looks like this kissing experience runs in the family! , she said to herself with a wry smile and a smirk..
But I will not marry Dev, she repeated to herself.
I know that I cannot be happy with him. Just because he did this, I cannot spend my life time with him. She remembered how her mother's life was filled with ups and downs as her father was not exactly, an ideal husband. Leave alone being ideal. he could not fulfill the basic requirements of food and clothing, that was necessary for the upkeep of the household, during their early days. But her mother never complained. She never shed tears. Neither did she regret her life. Her own responses to her father was one of dutibound loyalty, with great self-abnegation. When the man died, he left some money that he managed to make and his ancestral house to them. The poor woman was content with her life. All well and good.
But things were different for Karthika. In fact she was filled with abhorence for the overpowering self -love that men had in believing that they could kiss someone and immediately become eligible bridegrooms, by virtue of that one act. So if one raped a woman, he had stamped his seal and he can claim her! What a male chauvinistic logic!
She never told her mother what happened by the hillocks. Her secret smote her heart and made her shed copious tears. But she had made up her mind!
"I make my choices!", she asserted peremtorily.
" I will not marry someone whose company gave me pain! Let him do what he likes! Let him spoil my name! Let him spread false rumours. Let him.let him!! ",But she would put her foot down.
She would rather spend her life in commited celibacy rather than get embroiled in something that can cause her no joy!
When Karthika decided to break her relationship with Dev, she thought it would create so much pain.It took so many days to decide. But when she actually did, she felt relieved, floating in the air and extremely delighted. Have you heard of people rejoicing on a break -up? Well, it happens when the relationship is stultifying.
Author: William Shakespeare
Source: As You Like It (Duke Senior at II, i)
She couldn't get time for herself alone. Always the mobile phone would beep an SMS; there would be a call, there would be long long talks on what she was wearing, what she was eating and what she was doing, as if it mattered the least. They began to meet on the week ends and soon the meetings grew more often. Karthika did not like it. She actually abhored it, She always thought why there should be a meeting at all. One could chat with someone when one had nothing to do. But why proceed beyond that? . Why this meeting??? She wished she could concentrate on her other activities. Her association with Dev began with a casual chat that she happened to log in, when her uncle presented her with a mobile phone. It happened just for fun, during one of those days of lazy summer. It kept growing into a serious affair inspite of herself. Actually she was trying to thwart it with all her might.
That was why she kept avoiding him all through the first year.She would pretend to get angry over little things and tried to break up. But the attraction was irreistible and they always made up. She felt like Tess of the D'Ubervilles,getting drawn physically to a villain. And every time they made up, well....er....they got closer. Till one day, he suggested that they go for trekking by the nearby hillocks.She had to agree, he was so persistent that she could not get away. The entire relationship was getting so suffocating. How sickening! How horrid! She could never find time for herself. Dev was so consumed with vain self glorification! .He seemed to demand her company as a matter of right and the carefree feeling of girlishness was now replaced with an unwilling acquiescence.But she went. She could not help it. She wished she had never known him, had never seen him. What was the way to escape?, she pondered. But she went.
After an hour long trekking, just as she held herself against the tree, panting , he swiftly caught her in his arms and planted a kiss on her soft lips. His hands hastily began moving with unpracticed awkwardness about her lithe body She broke herself free and ran. This was their first kiss and their last. What ever made her go with that moron.. she shed bitter tears back at home, lying on the diwan.And she was not even in love with him! What a cruel joke. This is what happens to women who are too polite to say "No!" to a date.
It was the 29th time that the telephone was ringing, a yet another call from him. In a fit of anger, she removed the sim card and threw it away. "Leave me in peace!" , She screeched at the inanimate cellophone and threw it on the bed. She developed high fever that night and couldnot go to college for nearly a fortnight. The entire period was one of trauma as she went into delirium. Her widowed mom and younger sister hovered around her wondering what could assuage her! "Why is she like this? Any trouble with maths?", Ambika, the younger one would wrap her arms around her and ask.
"Hey, no cherie!,I am fine,dear!"' , she would say and hug her, hot tears wetting Ambika's thick tresses.
The days that followed were dark and dreary.She was diagnosed with pneumonia and was adviced rest and medication. Those were the days that she got to spend with her mother intimately.Strangely , it never occured to her to pay any attention to her mom. But now she had begun to seek her mom in childish supplication. The evening walks began after she was getting better and mom began to chatter. She never knew there were so many stories , so many experiences and so many rare truths that she could learn from her mom's hidden reservoirs. .It was then she learnt how her mom had married her dad . They were cousins and had met during a relative's wedding, his dad and her mom being brother and sister. In the course of one of the ceremonies that was part of the marriage, her mom was instructed to bring the flowers from the inner apartments and her dad, who happened to be there just dragged her to a corner and clasped her in an embrace. This was noticed by somebody there, a holocaust followed , resulting in a hurried marriage.
Karthika was shaken! Looks like this kissing experience runs in the family! , she said to herself with a wry smile and a smirk..
But I will not marry Dev, she repeated to herself.
I know that I cannot be happy with him. Just because he did this, I cannot spend my life time with him. She remembered how her mother's life was filled with ups and downs as her father was not exactly, an ideal husband. Leave alone being ideal. he could not fulfill the basic requirements of food and clothing, that was necessary for the upkeep of the household, during their early days. But her mother never complained. She never shed tears. Neither did she regret her life. Her own responses to her father was one of dutibound loyalty, with great self-abnegation. When the man died, he left some money that he managed to make and his ancestral house to them. The poor woman was content with her life. All well and good.
But things were different for Karthika. In fact she was filled with abhorence for the overpowering self -love that men had in believing that they could kiss someone and immediately become eligible bridegrooms, by virtue of that one act. So if one raped a woman, he had stamped his seal and he can claim her! What a male chauvinistic logic!
She never told her mother what happened by the hillocks. Her secret smote her heart and made her shed copious tears. But she had made up her mind!
"I make my choices!", she asserted peremtorily.
" I will not marry someone whose company gave me pain! Let him do what he likes! Let him spoil my name! Let him spread false rumours. Let him.let him!! ",But she would put her foot down.
She would rather spend her life in commited celibacy rather than get embroiled in something that can cause her no joy!
When Karthika decided to break her relationship with Dev, she thought it would create so much pain.It took so many days to decide. But when she actually did, she felt relieved, floating in the air and extremely delighted. Have you heard of people rejoicing on a break -up? Well, it happens when the relationship is stultifying.
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