Marriage

Sejal sat in a dim lit room, lost in her thoughts. She was now legally divorced and she held the final divorce papers in her hand. She looked at the words that said “Rajat Singh”. A series of beautiful memories played in her head. Unintentionally, tears rolled down her cheeks. She was still in love with him. She missed him so much but decided never to show it.

Rajat and Sejal had an arranged marriage. Both fell in love with each other the moment they met. Rajat was the most eligible bachelor in the whole of Rajasthan. He belonged to a very popular clan of Rajasthan. His parents were well off and Rajat was a multi millionaire himself. He looked dashingly handsome yet was down to earth and very kind. Sejal was, in all aspects, his perfect bride.

Rajat always respected Sejal and supported her in every decision she made. His parents were as broad minded as Rajat too. Sejal believed she was the luckiest girl to have Rajat as her partner. She was amazed by how composed he was even in arguments. Everyone envied Sejal’s life and she knew it.

It was hard to believe for many that Sejal actually divorced a great man as Rajat. The man never raised his voice against his wife, always cared for her , supported her and never tied her to the house. Sejal sat there staring at the ceiling fan emotionlessly. “Was I wrong?” wondered she, as she remembered Rajat’s tired, sad, teary eyes while the judge declared the divorce.

There wasn’t a flaw Sejal felt in her marriage until one day, a message notification upturned her entire life. It was from a family friend Reetu, on Rajat’s phone saying how she was eager to see him again with lip emojis. Through her arguments with him, she realized Rajat’s concept of marriage. To him, marriage was to be done with someone he truly loves and wants to spend his entire life with, someone who can bear his children and someone acceptable to the whole family. But Reetu was that rendezvous that had a glimpse of all the excitement and adventure that could ruin any marriage. Rajat said to have a healthy marriage, a side fling was necessary where he could be himself without the risk of loosing anything.

As Sejal watched the ceiling fan spin, she thought, she could have had a perfect marriage with the perfect man filled with true love, ease, comfort, support, respect and much more, but at the cost of being ignorant about that side of him which only Reetu knew. She knew she loved him just like how much he loved her but he failed to understand how she wanted him as just hers.

A marriage is a concept where a single person has the privilege to see the flaws and the strength of their partner. That privilege is what makes them and the marriage special. Mentally or physically when that is compromised is when cheating happens. Do you agree?