And he never went back home

And he never went back home
“She has eloped with someone else man, I just dont know what to do” said Susheel as he took a long drag off his cigarette. “What?” everyone said in unison, but with whom? Did you try to find out? A series of questions followed. Na, I did not try and I dont want to know with whom she eloped to get married, Susheel continued, still taking long drags off the cigarette. There was calm in his voice and he seemed not moved with what just happened with him. This morning, his girlfriend eloped with another guy to get married. Susheel was a very decent man with a decent job. Yes, working at a shop is considered a job in the state of Manipur. At least you have an income. His shop owner was a Marwari from the state of Rajasthan who had come to Manipur some 20 years ago and is since settled here. His employer trusted him so much that he asked him to stay in the shop, where he provided Susheel with two times meal and a bed. That was more than what Susheel needed.
Every day he would toil between orders and delivery. Between all those thousands of hardware products that he would sell, he knew everything about those hardware stuffs. He and Priyadarshini were school sweethearts. They began seeing each other when they were in the 11th standard. Since then, they have been going strong with no indication that they would part ways one day. Susheel’s house was next to mine and we grew up together. We went to the same school from where he dropped out during the 12th standard. He could never pass the 12th board exams and after 3 attempts, he gave up. He was this dude with special skills. He was known as the best fish cutter in the locality. The electronics guy, any problem with any electronic item, he will repair it. In fact, he got this job by accident. He went to this shop to buy some tin sheet clips for his dad. While he was in the shop, he noticed that the owner of the shop was struggling with his CASIO calculator; he inquired what the problem was. The M+ key in the calculator was not working. He solved that in matter of minutes. Right there he was offered a job by the shop owner. Yes, there is no relation between calculators and hardware. Yet the shop owner was very impressed with his skills. The rest, as they say, is history. It has been 4 years since he has worked and lived in the shop. He rarely came home, maybe on festivals. That is it. Otherwise, he was always at the shop.
“What the hell are you going to do man?” I asked, taking the cigarette from him. “I really don’t know” was all he could utter. It was 8:30PM and it was getting late for me to get back home. “Alright man, I will see tomorrow, I got to go now” I said as started my bike. All that I was thinking was what the hell just happened? Why? That kept ringing in my head till I reached home.
Mom served me my food. It was delicious as usual. We were discussing about the day and she suddenly mentioned that Susheel’s brother has eloped with a girl. I shrunk. “What’s the girl’s name?” I asked. Priyadarshini, mom replied. Oh my God! I stopped eating. What the hell? So Priyadarshini was dating both the brothers? Or did she meet Sashi (Susheel’s brother) recently? Or did she know that they both are brothers? Too many questions in my head with no definite answers, I had to speak to her.
I left my food and visited Sashi’s Susheel’s house. What the hell, they live in the same house. I met their Mom. “Munx, could you please inform Susheel about Sashi’s wedding tomorrow?” his mom said as I was about to shake hands with Sashi. Sure Aunty when is the wedding day fixed? I replied. Next Tuesday was the answer and it was Thursday. Sashi was the eldest in the house and about 2 years older than us. The so called intelligent one in the family, he was a JCO in the Indian Army. During that conversation, I found out that he met Priyadarshini about a month ago and fell in love instantly. Wow, that is some story, I told myself. Yet, my question still was, why did Priyadarshini chose not to inform Susheel and just elope with his brother? That night I could not sleep. The only thing in my mind was to speak to Priyadarshini.
The next morning, I went to meet Priyadarshini at her house with the disguise of congratulating her for wedding. Without this reason, I could have never entered her house. She was all glowing and looked very happy when I saw her but when she saw me, she turned red. All I asked was why? She said I saw no future with Susheel. But you could have broken up and then get married with whoever you wanted, I said. I had no choice, he was too busy to meet me, was the excuse she gave. Alright, it is your life, you do whatever you want with it, but by the way do you know that Sashi is Susheel’s brother? I said. She did not say a word as I started walking. She just could not.
“Susheel, what are you going to do my man,” I thought as I rode towards his shop. Here was this guy, whose girlfriend eloped with someone else, and that someone else was his own brother. Life is cruel but this cruel? Damn
“Sashi, my brother is getting married” Susheel exclaimed as I parked my bike. He did not know with whom and he did not care. “I have to go home, help out with things, oh man, My brother is getting married, I don’t believe this, I am so excited” he continued without having the slightest clue as to what was in store for him.
He contributed all his savings for his brother’s wedding. He shopped for new clothes and was all excited. Maybe that was his way of forgetting what happened with him. Yet, he had no idea what who his sister-in-law was. What do I say? Poor him? What?
Everything went smooth on the wedding day. Everything went according to plan. The wedding party left for the bride’s house, Susheel and all our friends stayed back. We were supposed to prepare for the night’s event. The night’s event was simple; the groom’s friends will be entertained with non-veg food and drinks. Later in the evening, the whole family will have dinner together welcoming the new bride.
The wedding party came back by 7:30PM. The grooms’ friends were eager for the drinks and the food. By 9 everything was over. It was 9:30PM when the entire family got together for the dinner. I was his extended family so they asked me to stay back. I really did not want to witness the scene which was going to unfold in a few minutes. Reluctantly I stayed back. Everyone was seated in a circle. I was sitting next to Susheel. All were waiting for the couple to join. After few minutes they came.
That was the first moment, when Susheel saw his girlfriend (now ex) ever since he came to know that she eloped. That was the first moment, when Susheel saw his sister-in-law. That was the last day he stood at his house and ever since he never went back home.
Now, did the marriage last or was it for good? Your guess is as good as mine.