Triumphant Sushila

By Adithi Banerjee Tarafdar

Sushila's triumphant. Has to be so. It’s like scaling Mt. Everest or winning the Miss India contest. After four daughters, five miscarriages, one son who died when three months old, Sushila has been ultimately able to give birth to a SON!!

She's, jubilant, ecstatic and immensely proud. That’s written large on her face. Her dilapidated, fifty five square yards house looks new now. Her husband is a changed man too. Doesn't come back home drunk. He loves her all the more and doesn’t beat her as he used to, often in the past. Even the in-laws, they don’t harass and beat her often now. Her family is finally complete and happy.

The look on her face says it all. Like her smile, I get a bright gift too. A bright, maroon saree. After all, I was her “listener of woes”.

Now, my friend Sushila has found her peace. Now she is confident of “going to heaven”. After all, her son will do the needful and will transport the happy couple when their time comes, straight to heaven. The son you see, she once told me, is the transporter to heaven, I mean.

Then in that case I’m in for some hard times. I’m the mother of a lovely daughter plus I’m a writer. I’m sure to be banished to hell.

As an after thought I wondered “hell” is after all, a happening place. All the movie stars, politicians, gangsters, cynics and writers like me, will be there. So, where’s the trouble? To hell Yaar!!!!

By Adithi Banerjee Tarafdar