PART 2
The same routine would hold for both of them for next few days.
As the routine would hold, Sudha woke up at seven, got freshened up, made herself a cup of coffee and stood leaning against the window sill to catch as much sunlight as she could.
By the time Shekhar would wake up which was usually around nine or half past nine, she would be done making the breakfast, giving him the free reign to make morning cup of ginger tea in their tiny kitchen.
Sitting at the desk, she would spend her day, occasionally getting up to cook lunch and dinner and carrying other house hold chores.
Whereas, Shekhar occupied the corner seat of the three seater sofa, with all his essentials by his side, phone, laptop, TV remote, ear pods and something to keep munching all along. He would be seen animatedly discussing work on con-calls. At other times, he and Gautam would criticize the ways government was trying to handle this crisis.
Thus the day would end, without much fuss, without coming into each others’ way, however knowing very well, that the other one existed in the next room.
***
Wake up, breakfast, tea, coffee, work, desk, cooking, cleaning and ignoring each other. The only thing which kept changing were the diminishing groceries of their house and the news on TV.
The TV had now started showing visuals of hundreds and thousands of migrant workers, labourers, helplessly, despondently and terrifyingly walking back towards their natives and villages as transportation had come to a absolute standstill.
It was during one such news report done by one of the leading news channel, that Sudha and Shekhar shared a moment of empathy together by witnessing the visuals on the screen.
The reporter was QUITE INSENSITIVELY, coaxing questions to the frightened and disheartened fourteen year old migrant boy. The reporter almost took the boy to his breaking point with his bombardment and the boy inadvertently started weeping and sobbing. Amidst those short sobs, that poor boy tried to answer all the questions which the reporter, almost THREW at him.
It is saddening to see that in order to maintain ‘objectivity’, and ‘neutrality’ in their reportage, reporters get so oblivious to the plight and the mental state of the interviewees that they often end up crossing the thresholds of basic human decency and compassion required to interact with any other human being.
Ironically, despite maintaining this crudeness, they are nowhere near eradicating their subjectivity. Rather, bias and propaganda spills with every word they utter, with every statement they declare like a king Sultanate.
So, what is left in the media industry are the demigods, the screaming- shouting-shrilling people, spilling propaganda, bias and fear amongst the common man with their ‘Breaking news’, which breaks nothing but people’s morale and trust in their own capabilities.
The news was telecasted somewhere in the late morning. Sudha was shelling the green peas sitting at the opposite end of the sofa, maintaining safe distance from her husband. Shekhar too was engrossed in the news, with the laptop placed open on his lap.
The sheer helplessness of those suffering people aroused pity and anger in them. But mostly, what it made them feel was guilt; guilt of having the safe and secure shelter over their heads; shelter which they so lovingly had once built together, shelter which they now so idly were ready to break apart.
Shekhar could not hold his annoyance anymore, blurted “Idiot reporters”. Sudha, unbeknownst to her, replied in agreement, “Seriously”.
In that moment, their eyes met.
One second!!! It took them merely one second to realize, how for that brief moment, they had let down their guards and had on some level connected.
But it’s no secret that houses of ego and hurt are often made of concrete unlike the houses of the love and forgiveness which are of wax; one stroke of heat and they would start to melt, leaving them destroyed, annihilated.
Sudha looked down at her bowl of shelled peas, composed herself and walked out of the living room. Shekhar, who was staring blankly at the TV, got irked by her abrupt departure. He facial muscles stiffened again. He switched off the TV, threw the remote aside and got back to his work.
Things were in their status quo once again, Shekhar with his Laptop, TV and Phone; Sudha with her study, students and household chores; One in the living room, one in the bedroom, attempting to live separate lives as coming closer as one was not an option.
WELL, NOT YET...!!!
To be continued...
