It was a pleasant night with less traffic on the OMR road. I did not have enough money to catch a bus and reach my home. Hence, I had to walk along the road in my utter loneliness.
It was around 11:30 pm. After a solid walk of 40 minutes, at last I reached my home. There has not been a big difference at the entrance of my house since I left it. Even the calling bell remained the same.
Reena opened the door with her heavy eyes, which pleaded to sleep. At the same time, they were at a great astonishment that protruded into me.
I smiled at her and entered the house clumsily as if nothing had happened earlier. The house was tidy without any mess. The calendar at the right corner of the living room dated 30 September 2018.
I sat on the sofa [whose position was changed] and relaxed myself. I asked her for a glass of water. Her unbelievable eyes suspected me of perpetrating an assault. Reena looked at me with some fear.
“Ufff! I’m hella thirsty. Is this the way you treat your hubby?” I asked ferociously.
She hastened to the kitchen and returned with a glass of water. After receiving water from her, I saw her. There was not much difference in her when we got married. It had been six years. Reena still looked young and energetic. Nevertheless, her eyes alone revealed an inexpressive sadness.
She was the first to speak out about that, “I didn’t expect you.”
“Did I spoil your solitude now?”, I asked half smilingly.
“Please, don’t speak like this. I have been there waiting for you for the last three years”, started crying.
“Reena, I don’t want you to cry now. Please stop it.”
Now my mind started ruminating about the incident that happened three years ago.
It was a fine day in August 2015. Our house cleaner Kamala began to do her regular errands. A sixty-five years old woman had several personal issues. Pity on her!
On that day, I was not in the state of being empathetic to think about Kamala and her problems. It had been late to the office. Our team leader Mathew would not understand others struggles. He used to shout at the late comers of his team. Mindless moron!
I was searching for a paper, not just a piece of paper; actually, it had my views and points about the presentation in our office conference. It contained many vital details. The toil I put in for the last one month was the result of that particular paper. “Oh Lord! I should have kept that paper in a proper place.” I cursed myself for my carelessness.
Suddenly, the place where I kept the paper struck my mind. It also ended in a huge vain, as Kamala was tearing that paper mercilessly into 2 pieces, then 4, to 8 and it went up to 16! She indifferently threw those pieces directly into the dustbin, thinking that they were useless. Her assumption was proved by her deed.
I just screamed at her as loudly as I could.
“Kamalaa! Do you have any sense or what? Do you know the value of that paper? Or can you imagine the effort I offered?”
Out of my enragement, I went out of control. The result was like this: I was beating Kamala brutally with a steel bottle. After a few minutes, I realised how cruelly I behaved. Kamala fainted whose head was bleeding badly.
All these miseries happened when Reena was out at the temple. On hearing the noise created, our neighbour Govind entered the house, observed the scenario carefully and went speechless.
Eventually, the police officers also arrived. Govind might have called them. I was completely insane.
The sequential lawful actions were taken against me, as Kamala went into a critical condition of coma. I was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment up to 2028.
Suddenly Reena shook me off to reality.
“Honey, I want to ask you a question. If you are not moody now, I can ask it”, Reena said with a sublime voice.
“Yes, of course. You may dear”,
“How did you come out of the prison right now? According to your imprisonment sentence, you are not eligible to be released from the prison. Am I right Aswin?”
“I got your point. Well, didn’t you read the evening newspaper? “
“No honey. I gave up the habit of reading the newspaper when I saw your news three years ago.”
“I can explain that. Due to my good behaviour throughout these three years, my imprisonment period was reduced. According to that, I was released from the prison today at 3 pm. This decision was taken just the next day after your last visit. I was there walking along the streets, taking brief rests, to give my wife a huge surprise.” [I concealed my state of poverty at that time.]
Though Reena was spell bound on hearing these words, she slightly doubted me. ‘Is it possible to get it released earlier?’
However, her love for me might have stopped those thoughts. Tears of joy rolled from her eyes. “I was eagerly waiting to see you like this”, her voice was at the height of happiness. Her lips tried to say more but within that, she gave me a tight hug.
Solidly three years later, I had a sound sleep in my bed with pleasant dreams. I do not want to think more, which may waste the remaining night from my wonderful and sweet sleep.
The next morning, Reena woke up delightedly at 6:30 am. She rushed to the nearby store to buy today’s newspaper.
With lots of excitement, she began to read it. The first page was as usual. At the right corner of the second page the news about me was present along with my photograph. It read:
“ Jailer shot dead a prisoner who tried to jail break.”
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