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‘So you have left him?’ her father, careworn and grave, asked incredulously. ‘And you won’t tell us why?’
She looked down, the tone of her father’s voice making her feel smaller than anything her husband had ever said or done.
He grunted and looked at his wife of thirty years.
‘Is there anything, Priya, you think, this girl has still to do to bring more shame to our family?’
‘Don’t say that, please,’ her mother pleaded in a weak half-whisper. The gloomy meeting was taking place in Koyal’s mother’s room. The room she was withering away in, dying in front of their eyes. They were all sitting around her bed. Tubes and machines that cleaned her blood and kept her alive were all around them, casting an omnious shadow over the little family meeting.
‘Okay, so wait, let me get this straight,’ her brother now chipped in. ‘Is this the guy we all asked you not to marry?’
She remained silent and hung her head.
‘Answer him!’ her father shouted.
‘Don’t do this,’ her mother pleaded, but no one heard her.
‘Answer your bhaiya,’ her father shouted again.
‘Yes,’ she said in a small voice.
‘And you still went ahead?’
‘Yes.’
‘And now you want a divorce?’
‘Yes.’
‘And you won’t tell us anything apart from the fact that he doesn’t treat you well?’
‘Yes.’
‘Because someone like you should be treated well?’ he asked.
She looked up, startled.
‘Don’t do this, beta,’ her mother said, closing her eyes since she couldn’t bear to watch this.
‘Because someone like you should be treated well?’ he asked again and he looked at his wife and laughed. ‘Do you have a plan now?’
‘No.’
‘No? Or is it another of the things you won’t answer?’
She stayed silent.
‘You have tested our patience too many times for us to have any faith in you. You do realize you don’t have an education to fall back on?’
‘Yes.’
‘Oh, are we talking about the engineering degree you left midway?’
‘Yes,’ she said in a humiliated whisper.
‘The one we all begged you to complete?’
‘Yes.’
