I met her recently and noticed that age has not caught up with her. Her children have grown up, as has her own trajectory in the corporates, and now she earns a couple of lakhs a month and is content. That is a very tame way to describe her. She is wildly happy and her smile radiates a sense of victory, a constant celebration – hurray!
She lived in an unconventional setup
When I met her she was struggling. She had just moved to Bangalore from Jharkhand and she was the sole breadwinner. There were 8 breed dogs in a large house with a yard, two Assamese maids, two children below the age of 7 and two men in the house. We always had fun at their place, high-spirited, lots of laughter, food and drink. Her husband Rana had the looks and physique of a biker, but could never hold down a steady job. He was a good cook and hence could take on catering orders. Sooner or later these ventures would fail and Seema was left holding the reins. The other man was also a hunk of a guy, Ratan – extremely good-looking and as well built as Rana, he hailed from the hills of Arunachal. We were polite and never asked what the equation here was. It was plain to see that both men were good friends; worked together in a mechanic shop they had set up in the yard, they would fix up micro-light planes and sell them to hippie foreigners travelling by. And they loved Seema and the children. Related reading: A modern Draupadi…loving two men with consent
Then she told me the background story
One day Seema seemed perturbed by something, and on my enquiry, she spilt the beans. She was unhappy with the family situation and the fact that money was slipping through her fingers unrestrained. Then the floodgates opened, and she told me how she met Rana when she was only 16, and was soon married. After her boy was born, the in-laws stopped supporting them financially and the happiness vanished. The violence began, and this 6-foot hulk would hurl her across the room in a frenzy of anger and frustration. One day, she walked out with her baby, or rather fled, went to the nearest city all by herself. She then rented an outhouse of a large bungalow, owned by a retired businessman, his generous wife and three sons. She got herself a job and was glad that auntyji cared for her child while she was out, for work. Rana refused to call her or come and get them. Her in-laws would taunt her that he would get another bride in the blink of an eye so…. good riddance to bad rubbish. Related reading: The story of one woman’s escape from an abusive live-in relationship
How her affair with the younger man began
One night the baby had fever that kept escalating – she was a young mum, and was petrified that she would lose him. It was a small town and she didn’t know what to do. She ran out wailing for help, but everyone in the big house was away at a wedding, except the youngest one, 17-year-old Ratan, who had his 12th standard exams the next day. He took out his father’s jeep and rushed Seema and the little one to their family physician. The spark had lit a fire in young Ratan, and soon he found ways to sneak into the outhouse and worship this goddess. A passionate affair ensued. This carried on until the day Seema discovered that she was pregnant again, and that was the same day that Rana turned up at her doorstep. With many apologies and tears he asked her to take him back; he couldn’t live without her and his son. Nine months later a baby girl was born; both Ratan and Seema knew who the father was, Rana did not. (Maybe he did, and didn’t care?) Now Seema found herself in a strange situation – one good-for-nothing husband, one doting lover and a child from each man. That is when the universe dropped a shining opportunity; she was offered a managerial position at an MNC in Bangalore.
Until the day her son asked her to choose
Off went the entire family. With growing children the single income was insufficient, so the men began a mechanic’s outfit and breeding of dogs. The income still scarcely made ends meet. She then moved from one better paying job to higher positions and in better companies. Her sparkling personality always worked wonders. After nearly 10 years of this arrangement, one day her son confronted her and asked her to make a choice between the two men. It was becoming very apparent to him that theirs was a distinctly unconventional family and though he loved both men and his sister, who as she grew looked so starkly like Ratan, some semblance of normality must be brought about. After many years Seema finally chose the freedom of love over the traditional bind of marriage; it is still a family where love rules. She legally divorced her husband and moved in with Ratan, who inherited a family business in the Maldives. The children are suitably employed, well adjusted, and well mannered. So is Seema. All’s well that ends well.
