The Decision [#ShortStory]

In order to kill time and hunger, we ordered rupees 25/plate of chola-bhatura along with a mineral water. We looked the same silly people we were when we met at the age of 17 and 18. 

Here is the third winner of our July 2017 Muse of the Month contest, Saumya Srivastava.

The cue for this month was from the movie Margarita With a Straw. Women more often than not prefer to do the usual and follow the herd instead of owning their life’s decisions. It is their life, it is their decision. Sexuality is something that we are born with. If my sexuality and sexual preference makes anyone uncomfortable or does not fit into the ‘usual’, then it is not my problem. Why should women or for that matter anyone adjust? This is just the way we are. Accept it or leave it.

“Don’t you think we have come a little too far to ask this?” I replied in a reassuring voice. So there we were heading to the court without the slightest clue of what our life will be then on. I knew I was risking everything I had. Marriage is always a gamble, and in our case, stakes were much higher. That was one of the rare moments when I was not filling time with words. Hardly had we spoken in an hours’ travel till we reached the court.

In the intense one hour, I took a time travel of last eight years of our togetherness. Everyone told me that my relationship with this man wouldn’t work. After all, we came from two extreme religions.

“It won’t work Saumya. You will regret it later, and then there will be no turning back.”

“He is a man. It’s easier for him to move on. What about you? It will never be easy for a woman”

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“You are trying to achieve the unusual. It may look good but it’s not practical.”

My response to the society who questioned me for several years before I tied the knot – “Yes. It is unusual. It does not fit in the conventional sense this world perceives woman, but I hate perceptions. I feel this is right for me. You believe in experience, I believe in experiment. If it did not work for some, does not mean it won’t work for anyone.”

I tried convincing and when I got tired, I went ahead and took the decision, which got me to the day of December 05, 2009.

We reached court and had to wait for our turn. In order to kill time and hunger, we ordered rupees 25/plate of chola-bhatura along with a mineral water. We looked the same silly people we were when we met at the age of 17 and 18. Hardly had we known at that age what we were entering into.

I could sense his skepticism, so I brushed my insecurities, before I answered his unspoken thoughts.

Just before entering the court, I held my man’s hand and said, “After marrying you I might regret, and they may be right about us. But we have to give ‘us’ a try, and then accept the answer as ‘ours’.”

We looked deep in each other’s eye and just went ahead, with no looking back, whatsoever. Papers were signed and I enthusiastically embraced the decision – as it was mine!

In life, there comes a day, when you display courage even you didn’t know existed. Mine was exact seven and a half years back. We call our reward Mysha today.

Did hardships come my way post marriage? Yes. Oh yes. But I dealt with them with pride. It was my decision, and so will be its good and bad. I was writing my life individually, and then I scribbled my life into his. Now this is my biggest story!

Saumya Srivastava wins a Rs 250 Amazon voucher, as well as a chance to be picked one among the top winners at the end of 2017. Congratulations! 

Image source: By Satyajit Dhawale (Satyajit888) (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons, for representational purposes only.

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