This is the story of Ratneshwari. She was a cheerful girl and the only daughter of her parents. She also had a loving brother who cherished and protected her.
When she attained the marriageable age, her parents arranged her wedding with Shivan. Thi...
Ratneshwari had returned home. She went to her bedroom and took out three photos from her bag. They were Shivan's photos.
Ratneshwari did not have any explanation for her actions. She could not understand why she did that. She only knew that, if she did not do so, she would lose her sanity. Ratneshwari had a few photos of Shivan with her. Every month, she used to visit the shop and get them photocopied. Then, she used to bring the photos home and keep them somewhere - sometimes in the drawer, sometimes inside her diary and sometimes in the almirah.
Ratneshwari kept the photos inside a book and then, went to take a bath. After bathing, she went to the kitchen to cook food for herself. She wanted to cook mango rice but realised that there were no green mangoes at home. She did not want to eat anything else. So, she went to the market to buy some mangoes.
She bought the mangoes and then, took an auto. A passanger was already sitting there. She turned around to look at him. It was Dhruvan. Dhruvan smiled at her nervously. He said,"Actually, my car is being repaired. That's why I took an auto." Ratneshwari nodded her head. Dhruvan wanted to apologise to her.
"Ratneshwari, actually I am sorry. I should not have asked you such....."
"No need to ask for forgiveness. I am sorry. I spoke to you harshly for absolutely no reason."
"It's okay."
"I got angry and scolded you. I bothered you with my personal problems for no reason. I am sorry."
"It's okay, Ratneshwari. I can understand. Well, you have bought green mangoes. Are you going to make mango pickle?"
"No, I'm going to cook mango rice with these."
"Mango rice! That's tasty. My grandmother used to cook that for me when I was young. What about your grandmother?"
"My grandmother had died before I was born. Her name was also Ratneshwari. That's why, my father named me after her."
"Your grandmother must have been a very nice lady like you."
The auto stopped and Ratneshwari got down. She paid some money to the auto driver and left.
(One hour later)
Ratneshwari had cooked mango rice.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
She served some rice in a plate. Then, she started serving rice in another plate. Just then, she realised what she was doing. She broke down in tears. There had been numerous instances like this. Before the divorce, Ratneshwari used to serve food in two plates - one for her and the other one for Shivan. That habit had not left her in these 8 years which she spent alone. Very often, she used to forget that she did not need to serve food for Shivan.
