It was a usual weekday, nothing exceptional if you look at it in a generalised manner, then again individually a lot was happening with people all round and someone could be having the best day of his/her life or the opposite.
Jiya had been quite concerned over the numbers in her credit card bill. The expenditures had gone well above the intended mark and it had been happening for a few months.
Just then a message notification rang on her phone, it was her husband, he had sent a list of items to bring home, it further added to the previous frustration.
Jiya was married to Divakar Sharma, a little more than two years ago. A marriage more of a formality for Jiya to fulfil her parents wishes and her parents were the only one she had truly loved and cared about. Divakar was her parents’ choice and Jiya felt he was quiet, shy and ready to listen; hence the marriage wouldn’t be much of a hassle.
Despite everything they had a decent life together, Jiya had a job with much better pay than Divakar, thus Jiya’s income took care of a lot of expenditures and then there were some which Divakar took care of.
‘This is getting out of hand,’ thought Jiya as she once again looked at the bill but she focussed back on her work.
Later in the evening Divakar opened the door to a tired Jiya with a bag full of grocery items. Divakar took the bag from her hand while Jiya sat down under the fan.
“You have got a few things wrong,” said Divakar
“Wrong? What did I get wrong?” asked Jiya
“I mean the coffee is of another brand, asked you to get particular body wash, the one you brought is different”
“That was intentional, many of the items in there are there because of being more affordable”
“Oh,” said Divakar and he turned to keep the things
“By the way, what were you doing today?” asked Jiya
“Did some work, looked for work mostly”
“Did you find any?”
“Something will come up; I told you the job market is not what it used to be”
“Divakar, it has been seven months since you said you left your job, only for me to find out that you were fired. The rent of this apartment, the EMI of my car and yours, everything is on my head along with every other expenditure of life. The savings each month have reduced,” said Jiya in an infuriated tone
“Everything will be fine Jiya, it’s just taking a little time,” said Divakar feeling guilty but also a bit angry at the same time
“Seven months is not little time, at this point it would be great if you can even find work that involves manual labour. I am quite tired of lying to your parents and mine and our friends about you going to work every day. I am beginning to feel that you like all this staying in the house and doing nothing productive, maybe you don’t want to work at all”
“That’s a bit too much,” said Divakar in a loud tone at which Jiya got up and went inside. There was no running from it, that quiet and shy guy was actually looking for an easy life.
The next morning Jiya woke up to a call from her father, who offered financial help, much to Jiya’s surprise since he hadn’t done so ever since the day Jiya started working. Apparently Divakar had called to talk about the financial troubles they were having.
After the call Jiya walked over to the drawing room where Divakar was enjoying coffee with a newspaper.
“When I come home in the evening, you better be gone or I will let everyone from friends to family know the kind of loser you are and I don’t want an excuse or explanation,” said Jiya and she went back to her room
Later that day, Jiya came back from work to an empty apartment, but now she had more space to think about things ahead.
Written by Anuran Chatterji
Early Morning Memories 