TWENTY TWO
She was reading a book when her phone rang.
“Hey! Maya! What's up?” asked Aditya.
“Hi, what's up?” Maya's voice shrieked “I'm fine, girl. How have you been?”
“Well, it's the same old me. Nothing's changed.”
“Except that you got married. How is the dude treating you?
Kuch taqleef dega to mujhe bolna! ”
She laughed “Pata nahi, vaise tho there is no problem, but it is not as exciting as it should have been.”
“Why? Does he not have sex with you?”
“Oh, shut up.”
Aditya Balraj was a college friend. Maya was very fond of him and they had some nice times together. He was a flamboyant guy who drove a fancy car and didn't care much about anything. Maya loved his attitude.
His father had a huge bungalow right in the middle of Greater Kailash. He owned a couple of companies. His mother was a socialite. The two lived under the same roof, but on different floors.
His elder sister was studying abroad and planned to settle there.
“What have you been doing?” she asked Aditya.
“Well, like always; making merry, spreading love.”
“You found someone for yourself.” She asked him.
“Well, many. I am editing the list.” He chuckled “Adi, you will never change.”
“Want to catch up for a rum shake?”
Maya paused. She knew Kartik would not like her meeting Aditya. She had introduced him to Aditya and they did not seem to hit it off. Rather, Kartik disliked him. He found Aditya too frivolous. “Okay, let's meet.” Meeting him would be relaxing, for he was that kind of a character. She did not tell Kartik that she would be meeting Aditya.
She had loads of fun when she met him in the evening. As usual, he was nattily dressed. A proper clotheshorse if ever there was one, he didn't have much to do, other than pass time with friends. He did not need to work either.
She found him childlike. He found her weirdly cool and tomboyish. The fact that she was not into cars astonished him as he was mad about them.
They had three tequila shots each, chatted a lot and by the time she reached home, she was almost tipsy. It was 9 p.m. and Kartik was fuming.
“Where did you go?” he asked her, pulling her into the bedroom so that his mother could not see them.
“Is she back?” she heard his mother ask from the other room before she could answer.
“You're drunk?” Kartik looked shocked.
“No, I'm not,” she replied.
“Maya, you don't have to lie.”
“I'm not lying.”
“You promised me you won't drink once we got married.”
“I did not drink!”
“Who did you go out with?”
“Reva,” she lied.
“You're lying,” he accused her.
“I'm not!”
“Call her then!”
“No, you can call her if you want to!” Maya just wanted to go to bed and was in no mood to argue or listen to any gyan from anyone.
She had a wonderful time and she did not want to spoil it. The other Maya was thrilled and she did not care.
“Maya, you have no sense of responsibility. You come home drunk! Didn't you think about how mom or dad would feel like if they know you had drinks? Or how I would feel?”
“Ah! Sense of responsibility, huh,” she was sarcastic. “I didn't do anything wrong.” She went into the bathroom and was washing her face when the phone rang.
“Is all Okay babe?” She heard Aditya on the line.
“Yeah, I handled it. No worries. See you soon.”
“Sweet dreams.”
“You too Adi.” She turned around to see Kartik standing behind her.
“So you went with him?” His face was red with anger.
“With whom?”
“Aditya. You know I despise him.”
“I didn't go out with him.”
“Maya, I heard you talking to him.”
“I said I didn't go out with him. You can ask Reva tomorrow morning.”
“I can't understand why you're lying,” he said in disgust.
Kartik couldn't sleep. He was very disturbed by the idea that his wife could go out with someone else. Deep inside he knew the other man, Aditya, was smarter, richer and more confident. It dented his ego. His marriage already seemed to be going haywire. And now this!
He was getting tired of both; his mother's constant complaining about his wife and of Maya's growing indifference to his mother. He knew he had made a big mistake. He blamed Maya for everything. He hated himself and he hated her too.
Since then, lying became a habit with Maya. She hated to lie, but she loved to do things which she was not supposed to. Of the two she chose to lie as she could not give up on getting attracted to things forbidden. She started going out more often and come back tipsy. That led to arguments between her and Kartik. The more Kartik was disillusioned, the less she seemed to care.
“You don't love me anymore,” she complained to Kartik one night, just when he was about to doze off.
“Please don't start that again,” he squeezed his eyes.
“Admit it to me, na. Why don't you? Tell me you don't love me.”
“How many times will we discuss the same thing again and again? You were the one who wanted to marry me, so you should be happy about it now.” He turned away from her and tried to sleep.
“Why don't you admit the truth?” Maya fumed.
“Talk about love, eh? You said you loved me. Is this what you call love? Lying, being irresponsible half the time. You broke your promise to try and get along. You've spoilt my life. You are a cheat, Maya, a selfish little bitch, a slut,” he blabbered in one go.
Maya burnt with anger. She was disgusted at herself for begging him to marry her. This could not be a marriage. She sat quietly for a while thinking what she could do to make it better. The truth of the matter was she was lying to him about lot of things.
“Is that what you think about me?” her voice was tired.
“That is what you force me to think of!” Kartik mellowed down.
As her tears formed, he moved towards her. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so harsh,” he said holding her hand.
“I think we should have a baby now. I want to make things better.”
“Maya,” he pushed her away, “where do you leave your brain when you think all that?”
“What's wrong about it? I want to be a mother.”
“Maya, get this right once and for all. I don't think I am ready for it. I think we are not even handling our relationship right. Bringing a child into the picture is going to ruin this further.”
“Why don't you at least listen to me?”
“I don't want to start it all over again.”
“Start what?”
“I am tired, Maya. Besides, for a child you need to become responsible yourself!”
“You are always tired. I'm also tired. I'm tired of this life. I'm tired of asking for permission for everything. I'm tired of pleasing people. And I'm tired of deadlines for everything.” “If it is so bad for you Maya, you can very well leave.”