How My Sibling Ruined The Lives Of Two Women

Rekha filed a case for divorce accusing her husband of infidelity. Meanwhile, my parents began receiving blank calls and even death threats.

I will never forgive my sibling for committing this heinous crime against humanity. Want to know more? Well here goes:-

At the turn of the century, my brother who was then thirty, entered matrimony. It was a negotiated alliance though they dated a few times. After the wedding and as time passed they appeared madly in love with each other, to the point of being inseparable. People mocked and scoffed but they couldn’t care less.

Enter Baby

Now here is a twist in the tail. Within a year or so Chintu (that’s my brother) got socially introduced to wife Rekha’s distant cousin, Baby.

There was instant chemistry between them which snowballed into a passionate clandestine affair in no time. Things reached a crescendo when on Valentine’s Day of the following year Chintu blatantly (read shamelessly) made a public announcement: He was ending the relationship with Rekha and planning to marry Baby. My parents were dumbfounded; Rekha nonplussed and helpless. My niece Rini burst into tears. It was so incredibly dramatic!

Rekha who had earlier undergone a divorce had been actually looking for greener pastures and Chintu (he had certain issues with Rekha, we heard later) seemed to fit the bill. Chintu’s list of grievances ran thus: Rekha was lazy, hated cooking, cared more for her original family than her spouse blah, blah…

To save the situation Rekha grovelled before Chintu begging for mercy, imploring him to save the marriage. But he would have none of it so obsessed was he with Baby.

Never miss real stories from India's women.

Register Now

Courts, divorce, custody

Slowly reality began to dawn: the guy had mindlessly landed us all into thick hot soup! Rekha filed a case for divorce accusing her husband of infidelity. Meanwhile, my parents began receiving blank calls and even death threats. (from Rekha’s clan of course). One anonymous fellow called my father ‘swine’ and banged the phone down.

Chintu went underground. None of us knew his whereabouts. He would appear at the Courts of course.

The case dragged on for nearly four years. Rekha won her daughter’s custody; the father was to pay monthly maintenance for the child. Chintu was given visitation rights to meet Rini every week. However, by that time, she was brainwashed to such a degree that she told a legal counsellor who interviewed her: “I hate my dad. If he really loved me why did he deceive my mother and go to that auntie?”

Soon after the divorce came through, Chintu-Baby got hitched. Nine months later they had a pair of twin boys! This infuriated Rini and her guardians even more. The stipulated visits were scrapped or postponed many a times.

As a dramatic finale to this family/relationship turmoil, Rekha’s family decided to shift base to Mumbai where a part of their humongous family was stationed. Having lost touch with them now, I occasionally gather from the family grapevine that the forlorn dad faithfully jets down to see his child, very briefly of course. Though there is no love lost between them.

What really happened, and why?

So many years later, retrospecting, I simply can’t believe how a sane, well-educated and well established individual could take such an impulsive step (to gratify his passions?) and desert his own family in cold blood; that too for no fault of theirs? Agreed, the wife was bristling with flaws. But what about the little bundle of joy and mischief, his own flesh and blood? How did she deserve this? Couldn’t Chintu have revoked his decision for her sake?

One can well imagine how tough life might turn out for her: living under her mother’s shadow, with her ‘estranged’ biological father making rare appearances?

If there is a just God above someday the wrong-doer will be punished for his misdeeds.

Image source: a still from the film Life in a Metro

Comments