The Masterpiece

She was pushed into the train compartment along with the rush. A bunch of men in the compartment made way for her. A woman in a men’s compartment in a Mumbai local train makes all the men surrounding her bit uncomfortable. They all tried to make way for her to reach the lesser crowded part of the bogie. She was holding a man by his elbow and was pulling him through the crowd. This man was cursing her in some choicest swearwords. The other men in the compartment exchanged looks with each other and remained silent, for even God does not interfere in matters between a man and his wife. She remained silent walked along with her head a little bowed, eyes avoiding a thousand glares raining upon her at the moment.

Finding an empty seat, she lowered the man into it. The man, with unkempt hair, salt and pepper colour beard and a dazed look in his eyes sat down and was quiet for a minute or so. Then the ranting began again. Even the woman’s parents weren’t spared. The woman, in her early thirties bore all this silently without as much a word to make her husband shut up. He started to tell his neighbours how idiotic his wife was... the neighbour nodded and looked questioningly at the woman.”He is ill”, came the soft reply. Some men took pity on the poor woman and gave her a seat next to her mentally deranged husband. Holding his hand firmly in her own, she closed her eyes and rested her forehead on the window grill. 

She had fulfilled all her duties as a girl-child in an orthodox home, as a sister, as a wife, as a mother yet life just wasn’t in a mood to let her go. She bore all this silently, as she was taught. Her once black hair had a few threads of white... her taut face was wrinkled, she looked prematurely old. From her tired-looking eyes, her weary demeanor, lack of interest in her husband’s swearwords and dry parched lips, and a few wispy hair falling on to her sides of her face  she looked as though she had lost the battle with her life... but the firm claw-like grip on her husband’s hand showed otherwise... she was indeed a woman!

It is only a woman who can sacrifice her schooling so that her brother can get university education...It is only a woman who can gives up a place and the people she lived and loved for twenty odd years for a new family of her husband...It is only a woman who can avoid friendships with men as to avoid unnecessary obnoxious comments from the orthodox society...It is only a woman who can bear her husband’s abuses and still long for his love and take care of him... It is only a woman who takes the insults of how tasteless her cooking is and still cooks the next day... It is only a woman who can take a blame for something which wasn’t her fault and silently bear the consequences...It is only a woman who can give birth to “men”...

God might have created Man before he created Woman, but then there is always a rough draft before the masterpiece!