Those 6 days at Goa

[Drubyu]

“Actually we have reached, haha” He replied.


Bastard. I thought in my mind and looked at my mom with a face of disgust.


“It’s ok.Let’s go there.” She said looking at some place on the beach.


Mom and Pratap uncle threw their backpacks on the beach and  sat on the beach, facing the sea. Uncle sat on mom’s right side.I was on her left side.I lay on the beach with my elbows on it. I was really very much tired.It felt good. Uncle was sitting on the sand with his legs crossed and mom sat with her arms around her knees.


“Wanna drink?” Uncle took the water bottle out of his backpack and offered me.


“Yes.” I said. I sat properly and took the bottle from him and drank plenty of water from it and then gave it back to him. It felt so nice.Then again I lay on the beach with my elbows.


“Say thanks to uncle, Bittu.” Mom looked at me and said.


“Hey...It’s ok.” Uncle intervened before I could speak.


Mom smiled at him and then looked towards the sea. I also saw the sea. It looked awesome. The constant and rhythmic sound of the waves, lots of people having fun in the sea, kids playing and running on the beach, all of these added to its beauty.Though it was after noon , the wind was cool and it felt really nice.


“So Shweta, It’s the first time you’re visiting Goa.” Uncle said, looking at the sea.


“Yeah.” Mom replied briefly and calmly.


“Why? Don’t you like traveling?” He asked, looking at her.


“No. I like it. I’m actually crazy behind traveling and seeing exotic places but..” She said, looking at  uncle.


“But?” Uncle asked.


“My husband doesn’t like traveling much. He has to travel a lot due to his job so he decides to spend the days off at the home itself” She replied.


I was silently listening to their talks while lying on the beach. I agreed with mom.I too liked seeing new things and visiting new places but we rarely went out.


“Ohhh sad.” Uncle said while looking at mom. 

Mom didn’t reply to him and stared at the sea silently.


“Did you have a love marriage or arranged marriage ?” Uncle again asked mom.


“Love. Why?” she asked him looking back at him.


“Because I wonder how come a girl like you fell in love with him?” He asked.


Mom chuckled at his question.


“No seriously. Tell me how did you fall in love with him? I’m curious. You guys seem north and south poles to me.”  Uncle said.


“Well...It’s a long story.” She said.


“Tell me in short.” Uncle replied.


“I was studying in the second semester of engineering. I had a friend called Anita. She was my classmate also. I used to go to her house for study. Pranad was her elder brother. He was a master in maths. He used to teach us maths. We started to talk.We started to date and soon I was in love with him.” Mom narrated it in the same style she used to read me stories when I was younger.


“Aha..Then you completed the study and as soon as it was over you married him.” Uncle predicted what would have happened after that.


“Well...no…We married while I was still in the last year of my study.I wrote my final exams while I was pregnant for eight months with Aman.” She corrected him.


“Ohhh...Why so much hurry, dear. You could have waited till your study was over.” Uncle advised her.


“Actually….I had to. I mean I became pregnant with him. So..we married.” Mom took her mouth near to his ear and told him hesitatingly in a very low voice, almost hissing.


Fuck. So I was already in her belly when she married my dad. It was the biggest revelation of my life. My parents behaved normally and never in my wildest dream I thought I was a bastard.It was so shameful, I felt to lie on that beach forever. She thought I would not be able to hear but I was lying very next to her and I heard it even if she spoke in a low voice.


“HAHAHA….” Uncle started laughing uncontrollably while clapping his hands.


Mom felt embarrassed and she hid her face in her palms.
“Hey..It’s ok. I’m sorry.” Looking at her being embarrassed , uncle stopped laughing and said while putting his hand on mom’s back.


She put her arms around her knees again and stared at sea.


“So it was a dream come true for you, wasn’t it?” Uncle composed himself and asked her in a serious voice.


“Sometimes we long for a thing but when we get it, we realize it was not worth it.” She said in a sad voice.


“Hmmmmm.Right.” Uncle came closer to her.His hand slid on her back till it rested on her waist.


I didn’t like him putting his hand on her. I wanted him to behave.I hoped she would object to it but she didn’t. She just kept staring at the sea. Probably she was so lost in her thoughts, she didn’t realise that he was sitting too close to her and his hand was on her waist. It was strange to me too. I had seen my parents hugging briefly always. Other than an occasional brief hug, I had never seen my dad touching my mom anywhere or vice versa. I was seeing someone, for the first time, putting his hand on her waist. It was a weird feeling.I certainly did not like that and felt a strange sadness in my heart.


“You know, I was naive. I was so excited about having my own family...my husband and my child..But reality dawned soon. I was so stuck up with the baby.I felt my life was lost.Doing this for him and doing that for him all of the day.There was no time for me.I liked modeling and I wanted to be a top model but there I was feeding him,cleaning him,making him asleep...him..him and him. There was no time for myself. My husband was busy with his job.And my mother in law.She was bitch….” Mom was speaking, looking at sea, without caring if anyone listened or not.


“Hmmm…” Uncle said listening to her.


I felt ashamed and sorry for her.I never thought I was so much a burden on her.I felt she didn’t like me at all.


“My mother in law never helped me with my son.Instead she was a monster.She never accepted me.She thought I had ruined her son’s life. She  mentally abused me a lot. She always taunted me. She also didn’t like my son.It was the most difficult thing for me. We almost quarrelled daily over one or other thing and my husband would always take the side of his mother…..” Mom was speaking in a sad voice while staring at the wide open sea.


She kept bitching about my grandmother and my dad. I came to know how much difficulty she faced with my grandmother and how my dad also abused her mentally.I instantly hated my grandmother and decided never to talk to her again.How can she harass my mom? I thought.  
“When he was two years old, I found an opportunity and took that job.My monster in law even didn’t like me working. My husband had taken a huge home loan and I promised him to share EMI so he supported me.” Mom spoke.


“Hmmm….” Uncle was listening empathically.


“Sometimes I wonder what if we could see a future.” Mom said saighly.


“Hey...Don’t say this.I can see it.” Uncle said.


Mom looked at him questioningly.


“Show me your palm.I know palmistry.” Uncle clarified.


Mom adjusted herself and sat cross legged on the beach and presented her palm to him. Uncle took her hand in both of his hands and ran his thumbs on her palm.She giggled due to it.Then uncle closed his eyes and sat like that for few moments.Then he blew on her palm and said,


“Your future is very bright.” 


“Acha…” Mom said mockingly.


“Yes...seriously..You don't believe but it's science. Our old munis used to predict the futures of people by looking at their palms and most events did happen as per their prediction.” Uncle said.


“Hmmm...ok.” Mom said.


“Look, there are three major lines in a palm.” Uncle said while caressing my mom’s palm with his thumb.


“The heart line, the head line and the lifeline.” Uncle continued while running his finger on each line he described.


“Ohh…” Mom said.


“Look at your heart line.It begins just below your index finger. It means you will get a lot of love in your life and this head line…….” 


Uncle was explaining palmistry with mom’s hand in his hands and his fingers running on her palm ,explaining various lines of her hand. It was pretty boring to me. Also I felt a little freshened up as I was lying on the beach for a while. So I decided to go to the sea and have some fun.


I stood up from my place and started to go towards the sea.


“Hey...Don’t go too deep.” I heard the voice of my mother. 


“It’s ok dude. Go as far as you can.Have fun as you like.I’m watching you. Don’t worry.” Uncle's shout followed the voice of mom.


I decided to ignore them and went in the sea till the water was at the level of my chest. I bathed in the sea for quite some time and when the sun was about to set, I decided to return.


I saw mom and uncle sitting very close to each other.Uncle had stretched his legs and mom was sitting cross legged.Uncle’s hand was around her on her waist and mom’s head was on the shoulder of uncle and her eyes were closed.


“Mumma, shall we go?” I asked loudly.


She opened her eyes and said,


“Yeah, sure.” 


And we returned to the room of the resort in the car uncle had hired.