Fiction Park
ANANTA’S MISTAKE
A man with two families is left to die aloneSabina Dhakal
In that rare lucid moment, AnantaGirihad thought that the last moment of his life was only a few breaths away. After being fatally beaten by fourheavily built men, he had been dumped at the edge of a forest.His life, he thought, was rewarding, owing to its intermittent blessings and happiness, and because of all the wealth that he had accumulated through hardwork. And there was also the promise of love with his beautiful younger wife. But at that moment all he could wish for was death, because the pain in his head and chest was excruciating, making breathing very painful. Dying in such pain in such a place, alone, was not how he had envisioned he would die.He had family. But the problem was that he had two families and the reason he was fatally harmed and left to die was his younger wife. Marrying for the second time when his first wife was alive and robust had been the biggest mistake of his li—
Ananta was an old man now. He was lonelier and weaker than he had been on that day when he thought he was going to die. He had asthma. And without medicines, he could not breathe properly. As heslowly walked towards his son’s home located a few yards away from his own, he could only wish his son would appreciate him this once.
His son, Amar, was reading the newspaper in his room when he knocked at the door.
“What have you come for now, old man?” Amar snapped at the sight of his worn out father.
“Please, son. Listen to me this once. Where would an old man go to ask for help, if not to his son?”
“Just say what you have come for, budho.”
“My medicines have finished. Give me hundred rupees, son.”
“Go and ask for money with your younger wife. Money, my foot.”
“Don’t talk silly with your old man! What is the need to taunt me with the same thing all my life, when I’ve done my best to be fair with all of you?”
“Fair? You call that fair? Your younger wife got four parts of the total wealth, for her and her three children. A total sum of forty crore!And we got only three parts. How can you call that a fair deal?”
“I didn’t give them a cent for their marriage. Please understand son. I can’t survive without medicine. Please give me hundred rupees,” the old man pleaded.
“Don’t expect I’ll ever give a cent to you. First you marry a wench while my mother is still alive and healthy. Then you give them more property than to us. And now you tell me to understand you? Grow up old man; this is all you’ll ever get from me. Now get lost!”
Ananta could do nothing against the rage of his son. His son owned a house from which alone he earned more than two lakhs rent in a month, along with other property. But all he got from him were words of contempt!
Expecting to get help from his first wife, Ananta walked towards her home where she stayed with his mother.Yashodha, Ananta’s wife, too owned a fair amount of property and earned two lakhs rupees from shutters only. He hoped she would understand and give him a few hundred rupees. She was talking with a neighbor when he approached her home. She sulked and stumped inside her home at the very sight of him, before he could greet her properly.Clearly, he had no right to ask for help with her after all the pain he made her go through. But he still had hope from her for all the beautiful moments the two of them had shared together.
As he went inside and called her by her name, she shouted “What?”
“Don’t get angry with me, budi. To whom would I turn to if not you?”
“Budi? Now you call me budi, after marrying that hairy wench who wore short dresses showing her huge fleshy thighs? Had I died for you to have married such a trumpeting bitch who only wanted your money?”
“How many times do I need to apologize to you? I know that it was a huge mistake to marry that rascal woman. Please don’t taunt me, an old man, budi. I’ve learned my lesson. Please understand. My medicines have finished. Please give me hundred rupees.”
“You gave them forty crores! Go ask for money with that family of yours. I won’t give you a paisa!” Yashodha turned and left the room.
The Supreme Court had made the verdict in favour of his younger wife and her three daughters to give them equal amounts of property. After receiving the property, the younger wife had paid for four dons to beat Ananta to death.
They had beaten him until they thought he was dead. But he was saved by few people who found him at the edge of the forest. However, Ananta couldn’t decide whether it was his fortune or misfortune that he was alive now.
He didn’t have a single soul to talk to about his agony. He lived alone and cooked and cleaned by himself. He had no other choice. He had always believed that daughters loved their parents more than sons do. So he decided tocall his daughter who was married to a teacher in Pokhara. She received the call at third ring.
“Hello, father. How are you?”
“Very poorly doing, chhori. How are you?”
“I’m fine. But what happened to you now?”
“I ran out of medicines and your mother and brother won’t give me a rupaiya. Who have I left to turn to now? Death doesn’t come to those who need it. Will you give me some money, chhori?”
“You’re asking for money with me? You gave forty crore to your younger wife. Even her daughters received more property than my brother. Am I not your daughter? Why did you give them the money and not a cent to me?” she chided.
“Oh, chhori! Don’t get started with the same rubbish again. Why don’t you understand? I’ll die without medicine but the death won’t come easy. Please give me money. I don’t have anyone else left to turn for help without you.”
“Of course you have. You have your younger wife’s family. They were the gems of your life. What happened now? Go to them and ask for as much money as you want. Don’t ever call me to ask for money again.” And she hung up the call.
After the verdict, all relation with his second family was cut off. He had only one house that he owned legally. The rest of his property was divided among his family members of both families.
His son had gone wayward once the Supreme Court had given the verdict to give equal amount of property to Ananta’s second family. To calm Amar down, Ananta had passed all of his property to his wife’s and Amar’s name, except a house.All that property which he had earned by operating a large number of trucks to trip loads from one place to another was gone from his hands. And now Ananta was penniless, unable to support himself completely. The only source of money was the tenants of his house. But tenants too paid him only on the first day of the month. And that money too would run out before the end of the month…
Ananta was sitting at the Basundharapark, head in his hands, when a small boy of five years old came and asked, “What happened, hajurba?”
Ananta stared at the child for a long moment and said, “There is no mistake bigger than marrying two wives, babu, no mistake!”
The child didn’t understand what the old man was saying but he knew that the man was talking about something very serious. So he just stood there and stared at Ananta for a while and ran away from there. There was only loneliness and remorse for the old man to feel. And the feeling was darker and heavier than the day he thought he was going to die.