My Wanderings - 56. Short Story No 37. Facts of Life

Pooja was  just seventeen   when she completed   her School education  and stopped studying   further as there was no college in her village . She was the only child of her father, who was a rich Landlord of the village and her mother a seasoned housewife.  Therefore, Pooja was a pampered child of family and  brought up with much fanfare. But Pooja was very innocent by nature and totally ignorant about the facts of life as compared to other girls  of her age. Now Pooja had left school, radiant, bursting with life , thirsting for happiness , ready for all the joys and all the risks which she had already anticipated in imagination. She looked like portrait of Godess , with her dark hair and fair complexion. Her eyes were blue with a dark mole on her chin. She was tall with a developed bust.
Once sitting  near the window of her bed room she began to dream of love. For sometime her thoughts  have  been filling up with anxious anticipations of its advent. She had only to meet him . What would he be like? She did not really know . She only knew that she would worship him with all her heart and soul. They would go on long walks , they would hold hands , pressing close to each other , hearing their heartbeats suddenly she seemed to feel him close by her side and a shiver of sensual  longing ran over her whole body.
After some time  village priest brought the proposal of a boy namely Ashok who was a graduate and living in a near by  village. But the parents of Ashok had  already expired . Pooja's father asked the priest to bring the boy someday to their house so that they know each other better.  Ashok was a very smart boy of average  height with a very good  sense of humour.  Every body in the house began to like him gradually  as he started to visit their  house.
One day Ashok proposed Puja when her parents were not at home.  Ashok seizing the hand of Pooja whispered to her, " tell me Pooja dear, will you be my wife?" She bent her head and when he again whispered , " Do give me an answer, I love you". She raised her eyes gently to his and he read her answer  in her glance.
She was blushing ,panting and strangulated with emotion when her father one day  added  with  a smile ,  " we can not do anything without discussing it with you. Your mother and I have no objection with this marriage , but we do not wish  to put any pressure on you. You are much better off than he is, but when it is a question of lifelong happiness , the consideration of money ought not to come in . He has no near relative living , so if you do marry him , he will come into our family as a son , whereas with someone else it will be  a case of our daughter going among strangers. We like the boy .We seek your opinion. Pooja stammered in affirmation and marriage was fixed.
On the night of marriage Ashok pressed the ears of Pooja with his lips, saying ," Today you will be my little wife". Although she had learnt the facts of life from her school friends, she still only thought of the romantic aspect of love and was surprised .His wife? Was not that she already ?" Then he clasped her in arms and she surrendered because she remembered the words of her mother that from now  on you are all his. Finally  with some inquisitiveness some pain and some excitement marriage was consummated.
Excitement of marriage lasted for some months when Pooja noticed some indifference  in the attitude  of Ashok towards her.  Ashok had taken full charge of the  farms of his father in law. Pooja first  thought it is because of work load of Ashok that he can  not afford to give her much time. But soon it transpired that Ashok had developed illicit relations with some farm girl , who had become pregnant by now. This  ill action  of Ashok gave a shock to the whole family in general and particularly to Pooja. She wanted to severe all relations with Ashok. But father of Pooja,  who was a seasoned landlord and a business man ,  gave serious thought to the problem and paid  considerable amount of  money    to   father of farm girl and  advised him to arrange the marriage of his daughter , which he did later on.
But it was difficult for Pooja to compromise with the situation. She dared not face the people she met, convinced that they would whisper behind her back. She felt a grudge against Ashok in her heart for not understanding her and having no refined modesty and delicacy. She felt as if   it were a veil , a barrier between herself and him, realising for the first time that two people can never understand each other's deepest feelings and thoughts. They may walk side by side and sometimes embrace , but they remain apart and moral being of each one is eternally isolated all through life. Pooja could realise  that facts of life are not always  sweet but sometimes bitter also.