“Oh Sushant, with the new job and a highly busy schedule, there was hardly anytime to return your call. I am so sorry. Yes tell me about this new woman you are to now marry,” she spoke into the phone in a sweet, happy voice.

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And so in this way her first day at university turned out to be quite interesting. Sushant’s announcement did little to boggle her but still the fact that she was not going anywhere with her own matrimony plans somewhere perturbed her.

Honestly she never thought herself much of a wife over the years. She was a fabulous cook, a wonderful homemaker and always the first one to make sense in confusion. Despite all of this, her picture of a perfect wife never quite matched up to her personality. One may question why? She always felt that marriage demanded her to be more of a woman, and that always irked her.

“Do you mind if I come in?” she heard Sangeeta’s deep voice at the entrance. Woman was a master of imitations, she never sounded the same somehow. Always held a different tone a different flavour to her voice, Radha thought.

Radha smiled and nodded to indicate her approval.

“Tomorrow we will be free all day, kids have an excursion to go to,” Sangeeta continued.

Radha didn’t respond, she of course had heard the news too.

“Do you have any plans?” Sangeeta asked.

Radha’s silence conveyed her reply perfectly.

“Then its decided, we are going for a city tour tomorrow. Just the two of us,” Sangeeta happily replied.

It was almost an hour after Sangeeta had left that Radha couldn’t stop thinking about her last words, “Just the two of us.” She had never quite heard them from anyone all her life. The thought of being with someone alone and being happy about it was a rare feeling for her.

It was right then that she saw her phone ringing again. Her mother had a fight to complete and Radha didn’t have the patience to endure, the silent button was put to perfect use.

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“The commas. The beauty of English language lies in these commas. They are so perfect. Better than the full stops one keeps referring to. You get it Radha,” Sangeeta’s lilting voice floated around Radha who quite found herself overwhelmed by the fun she was begging to have in the city.

Why didn’t I never step out of the house? Why did I detest going shopping and movies with everyone? Is this a different me? When did I stop enjoying this crisp sunshine which fills me with such warmth I have never known it seems? Radha’s mind was on cloud nine. Her heart felt flighty, she didn’t know what had changed since she had received that call. That call which told her that Sushant was now engaged.

For a few moments outside that class she had felt dizzy with confusion. She suddenly felt her whole life was going to end in the next few minutes. Sushant was her epicentre for now seven years and if he goes to be somebody else’s apple of the eye, what will she do? That helplessness she had felt back in the hallway suddenly has no space right now.

“And you know Sangeeta, its the fullstops that scare people. Commas often give new life,” she replied smilingly.

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The day had been exhausting. She had probably never walked so much in her life and yet she didn’t feel tired at all. Bidding Sangeeta a  warm goodbye, Radha briskly walked inside her own room. She opened her well tied hair and walked over to the mirror.

What she saw didn’t surprise her much, a pale long drawn face with bluish green eyes. They told her the eyes were a genetic gift from her grandmother. Radha observed the fine lines around her lips that had started to show, her eyes were always the charm on the small face. But then she thought, has she ever cared how she looked? Otherwise a frantic mother always telling her to dress up would have affected her.

That’s another issue that her petite structure and five foot stature did very little to augment any good looking dress.

And the phone, it hasn’t stopped ringing all day. She has ignored it, tried to break it but it doesn’t leave her at all.

“Sushant! I know you have been calling me all day. I was busy sightseeing all day. Can I call you tomorrow please, I am very tired,” she answered in a rush.

There was some feeble words at his end.

“What do you mean I am not sounding tired? Okay so now I will push, need to go off to sleep, yes yes tomorrow eight will call,” and with that she kept down the phone.

She turned back to the face in the mirror. She was wrong, it was not the same she had always talked to. This one was different. It had life, it had a spark. It now wanted to live. It now wanted to live not for others but for oneself.

to be contd. at “Sarcasm seems to be the flavour of my life”- Part 6


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This is day 6 at:



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