Seasonal Scrawl | Collection

03C| Imlie OS : Her Silence ✓

With Aditya gone on an urgent project, she had closed herself off completely. Day by day, she grew more lifeless, guilt and hurt consuming her being completely. Despite Malini's repeated assurances of loving someone else, Imlie knew she was lying. She wasn't a fool who would believe that. She knew Malini still loved Adi and that he was the only one in her life and this made her more guilty. She knew how heartbreak felt. She knew the pain that came with it. Yet she had given the same pain to a woman whom she considered her sister and loved dearly. This guilt was just too much to bear. To top it, the way the family members except a few behaved with her added to her guilt and insecurities.

The chirpy Imlie from Pagdandiya was lost long back and now, she was just a hollow being. Each day came with the resolve to make Aditya hate her and leave from here, but also with the pain and yearning of parting from him and breaking his heart. But during these days, the fact had seeped in within her. Her abandonment by the family she considered her own had affirmed this was never going to be her place. They would never accept her and she would always be tagged the home wrecker despite it being her own home which had been wrecked. And so she had shut herself off completely, preparing for the time she would leave this house for good and end the very marriage she considered her Sita Maiyya's gift!

Her red eyes burned holding her unshed tears, her battered heart ripping apart again, bringing with it the pain of all her unhealed wounds. She had concealed all of her broken self within her and so though her wounds were hidden, they hadn't healed. And now they had been ripped apart yet again. All moments of disgrace, humiliation and hurt returned to her mind, playing infront of her eyes like a movie. At this particular moment, she did not realise just what all hit her. A storm of multifarious emotions hit her at one go, leaving her rattled and restless. She dint know whether to cry or shout. She dint know whether to stay or leave. She dint know whether to value her self-respect and leave or to value Aditya's words and stay. She dint know anything and so withdrew to silence. She was alone. All alone. Yes she had people who cared, even though handful. But she felt herself a burden on them too. All the taunts and insults of bygone years of her childhood that she had thought she had braved and let past, had actually left deep invisible scars on her being and now, with all her fears, insecurities, they had returned to break her more.

She shut her eyes to gain some control over the tornado of emotions that were playing within her but failed miserably. A lone tear escaped her eyes which she wiped immediately and turned to the other side. All she wanted was the solace of her mother's lap, where she could forget everything and just be happy.

The Tripathi family wasn't unaware of the drastic changes in Imlie. None of them were blind to not see just how lifeless she had become. A chirpy girl who did every work with love and happiness was now going about things mechanically. Her smile was as if lost somewhere, never to return. Nothing brought even a slightest smile on her face, niether Sundar's lame jokes nor Rupi's and Badke Kaka's playacting. Silence - it was as if she had taken silence to be her best friend. The girl who was like the gushing waves of the sea, was now just a silent breeze. She did all she was asked to, answered whatever she was asked. Nothing more and nothing less. She stayed put at her corner in the kitchen if there was nothing to do and would just sit staring at Sita Maiyya's idol for hours together. The only time she was a bit better was when Malini would visit them.

It would be a lie if it's said her present condition did not affect Aparna and Radha. They had started feeling bad from the moment they had started to behave distant with her. But each time Malini came to visit them, they felt anger rise within them and the hurt they felt at hurting Imlie started seeming right. According to them, she had come between Aditya and Malini and hence, deserved to be punished. They hardened their hearts and kept taunting and putting her down, despite staunch refusals from their spouses and Rupi, who tried to shield Imlie from it. But Imlie had reached a point beyond as she no longer seemed to be affected by anything. She just heard everything in silence and left.

And with each passing day, her silence started to immensely worry Pankaj , Harish, Rupali and even Sundar. Imlie was losing herself to the darkness of silence and they knew they had to pull her out somehow. But no matter what they tried, she still was the same. She had closed off even more and refused to open up.

The world had suppressed her zeal and her words. And now it has to see the power of her silence!

Love,
Pratyusha