MANU MEETS CONFIDARE

It was a cloudy morning when I got a panic stricken call from a man. He said he is an NRI Doctor belonging to Delhi. I felt the voice is familiar, he said he is so stressed that he took sleeping pills in London so his family called him back to Delhi. I calmed him down and asked him to tell me the whole story in detail. He said he wants to meet me , I gave him Confidare office address and rushed to the office. I was sitting on the office chair when he entered. I felt I have seen him somewhere, he was tensed , lost and depressed.

 It was still cloudy and a bit dark so I switched on the tube light and saw the man curiously,“Oh he is Doctor Manoj Sharma of the movie Tanu weds Manu. “ I thought and I was surprised to see him at our office, I shook hands with him and said in excitement, “Hey how you been it is so nice to see you here " And then I thought I should not have said that .

People do not come to us in happy times and why to be happy if someone is here. He seemed to be not at all interested in any kind of casual talks. I asked him,“So Doc tell me what exactly happened with you and what forced you to take sleeping pills.” He started his story,“As you and whole world knows I took Tanu back and went back to London but she did not change.”  He took a deep breath and started talking again, “She went on doing same irresponsible behavior, flirting with other men not doing any household chores not doing any job “ . “Hmm o k“ I said, “then“.

“I was aghast at her behavior did not know what to do so I discussed with my parents and friends. Everyone suggested me to have one baby, baby brings stability in person and she will change eventually. I wanted to save my relationship so I thought it was a good idea. So we had a baby girl, I was very happy but the little one did not bring any change in Tanu. Tanu started blaming me for spoiling her life by forcing her to become a mother. She said she has lost her perfect shape and the little girl made her life standstill .

 “

“I tried to help her in everything. I used to take care of my clinic as well as little daughter. Tanu either complained or blamed. One day my daughter had fever so I gave instructions to Tanu about giving the baby medicines. Tanu handled the little one very carelessly so I shouted at her. Tanu left the house along with my daughter and came to her parent’s place at Kanpur without informing me. When I came to home I did not find Tanu and my daughter, I started searching them and then I came to know that they left me.

“I was desperately trying to bring her back as I was missing my six months old daughter badly. Tanu was not talking to me; she was not coming on phone too. I was stressed, alone and helpless so one night I thought of ending my life. I took 20 sleeping pills; my friends took me to hospital when I did not answer their phone calls. “

“My parents came to help me and they brought me back to Delhi. Again we tried to talk to Tanu and I went to Kanpur to see my daughter. Tanu did not allow me to meet me our daughter and instead she filed cases against me. I got a call from Mahila thana (women cell) that a 498a (dowry harassment), 307 (attempt to murder) and a case of molesting the little one is filed against me. Can you imagine madam she says I molested my own six months old daughter.“Doctor Manoj was crying bitterly and I let him cry because it was important to bring out the emotions.

When he calmed down I asked him, “So now what do you want?” He said peace and my daughter,” well I am afraid Doc you can only get peace“  I said . He again got disappointed, I asked him, “what did the last thing you did for yourself ?” He could not answer, I smiled at him he was kind of understanding.

I asked him,” why did you marry an undisciplined, spoilt and abusive Tanu?” , Doctor was quiet for sometimes then he replied, “I thought she will change“. I again asked him  “She even left you in mental asylum, threatened your mother to file a case and get all of you jailed, started dating her ex-boyfriend,still you brought her back and planned a baby with the irresponsible girl?”

Doctor could not make an eye contact with me. “Tell me why did you think that answer to a broken marriage is another MARRIAGE? Doctor asked, “I did not get you madam! “, “Well I mean you planned another marriage when Tanu left you, alright tell me where were “YOU” in all the relationships you had, it was always about the girlfriend, wife or parents.”

 “Hmmm true“, He said, finally he was getting the clear picture of the situation.He thought for a minute and said, “I got you, I want a peaceful life, my life that is it.” I smiled and said,”Welcome to the world of,’Me First ‘and start thinking about YOURSELF.

My little girl woke me up and said she was hungry and I thought, ”Aah what a realistic dream“.