FF #7
I dreamt of Sudha’s laughter last night.
We used to find it easier to laugh at Ravi’s jokes if she was around at the department get-togethers. We would all join in, either because laughter is infectious, or because watching Sudha laugh triggered it— she would throw back her head and have a hearty laugh, her curls and her body vibrating at different frequencies.
I hadn’t expected their son to be 16 years old already, I once remarked to them.
She had giggled, “He was a mistake!”
“And Madam didn’t even realize that he was coming until it was too late—imagine!” Ravi had joined in, shaking his head, “We had no choice but to get married!”
They looked into each other’s eyes and smiled; an eloquent smile, I remember thinking at that time.
I refused to believe the gossip when it reached me. Apparently he was having an affair with one of the PhD students from another department. Someone even pointed the girl out to me.
I finished my dissertation and I moved to Germany and then to the US, and gradually lost touch with Ravi.
Several years later, I saw a news article posted in the institute network on Facebook. Ravi had committed suicide. It mentioned that he had been estranged from his wife and son for a decade.
His suicide note blamed his loneliness.
I dreamt of Sudha’s laughter last night.
We used to find it easier to laugh at Ravi’s jokes if she was around at the department get-togethers. We would all join in, either because laughter is infectious, or because watching Sudha laugh triggered it— she would throw back her head and have a hearty laugh, her curls and her body vibrating at different frequencies.
I hadn’t expected their son to be 16 years old already, I once remarked to them.
She had giggled, “He was a mistake!”
“And Madam didn’t even realize that he was coming until it was too late—imagine!” Ravi had joined in, shaking his head, “We had no choice but to get married!”
They looked into each other’s eyes and smiled; an eloquent smile, I remember thinking at that time.
I refused to believe the gossip when it reached me. Apparently he was having an affair with one of the PhD students from another department. Someone even pointed the girl out to me.
I finished my dissertation and I moved to Germany and then to the US, and gradually lost touch with Ravi.
Several years later, I saw a news article posted in the institute network on Facebook. Ravi had committed suicide. It mentioned that he had been estranged from his wife and son for a decade.
His suicide note blamed his loneliness.
16 Jun 2016
No comments:
Post a Comment