Thorns & Flowers by A.Vamanacharya (e books for reading .TXT) 📕

1. Thorns & Flowers- A Short Story
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Meeting you was official. Becoming your friend was accidental. Falling in love was natural. Parting you for ever was a cruel act of fate.
Laxaman Purohit a retired bank executive was seriously thinking. He was unable to come out of the situation. He went to ‘Lalbaugh’ a famous park of Bangalore city. The park and its surroundings is a beautiful scene for lovers of nature. He expressed like this, ‘If I were a poet, I would have written a poem on nature’. It was impossible to have round from one end to another in the park because the park was too vast to touch all sides. In the park, children were playing and enjoying the tricks and taunts of monkeys. He went few yards away from the water fall and sat on the seat provided beneath the tree. He observed the natural scenes with keen interest. He wanted to hear melodious film songs in loneliness. He used his walkman. It was ‘mai yaha tu vaha’ a Hindi film song. He derived inexpressible joy in listening to the song. There was a movement of people here and there. Children were playing, creating uncomfortable position for their parents. Vendors with balloon, toys, and biscuits, chocolate were going nearer to the kids to sell them. While observing keenly the movements of the people, he saw a lady sitting on the opposite side. Her face was familiar to him. Before coming to the conclusion, he thought thoroughly about the lady. He wondered “Is it Madhura Rao? His eyes could not believe it. Yes it was she. A sort of strange but pleasant emotions stirred him. He was surprised and thrilled the context of the Hindi film song and the present situation.
It was a meeting after twelve years in such a place. Due to the natural process of ageing, she had become old and was difficult to recognize her at first sight. But surprisingly, then she looked same as seen twelve years ago. She was 38 years old. She was working in bank’s branch as a junior officer and he was the chief manager. His relation with her was official. If her assistance was needed, she obliged by attending the work entrusted. During that period, an unforgettable tragedy happened. Sripati Rao was Madhura’s husband. He was a lawyer by profession. He had set up practice there since15 years. One day Rao was arguing in the court hall on behalf of his client. Suddenly due to pressure as the nature of the case was of most sensitive, he fell down on the ground due to cardiac arrest and died on the spot. Rao didn’t give the opportunity to call a physician for medical checkup. Three months later, Purohit’s first wife Mangala was admitted to hospital due to severe and unbearable stomach ache. Unfortunately she could not survive despite of best medical facility given to her. It was a saddest day in his life. Madhura became widow and he widower.
Since both were working in the same branch, they used to discuss about their tragedy. Their intention was to find solutions to the problems. Sripati Rao had deposited Rupees five lacs in the bank. Though, he was a lawyer, he did not give nomination or joint account either or survivor facility. Madhura had to face difficulties in getting a succession certificate from the court. He told her at that time to popularize the nomination facility and opening joint account. There were some legal problems for claiming deposits and he wanted to help her out of the way and a soft corner had developed. Intense relations were developed between them to the extent of lovers and seriously thinking to get marry early because both were sailing in the same boat. Everybody was observing their moments. They didn’t care for their observation. Colleagues got favors from their meeting through her. His friends were eager to know at what stage their love affair reached? When their romantic activities were in full swing, colleagues and bank customers began to gossip. Their love story had spread like wild fire in the city. It became a talk of the town. He didn’t lose his courage and continued the same. Their love story reached bank’s head office at New Delhi. The management didn’t take it seriously for the reason it won’t affect the business of the branch. One month later, he got promotion in the senior cadre and posted to bank’s head office. Madhura was also transferred to Gulbarga branch due to long stay at Bangalore. This development made them to separate each other. Both of them felt very bad as parting was a painful process. Both didn’t meet for a very long period of 12 years. When he saw her in the park, he could see her as a young lady, because he rewinded back to 12 years. Then they were lovers. Now they are just friends. Madhura had a beautiful complexion. She had a beautiful face, attractive eyes, long curly hair, beautiful lips and the attractive slim body. She used to visit beauty parlor to keep her beautiful complexion. It was quite natural for him to go 12 years back. Her traditional Indian sari and gold ornaments had added beauty.
Purohit’s only son Srivatsa was practicing doctor as a child specialist. His wife Ragini was a gynecologist. Their marriage took place under peculiar circumstances against his wishes. Both were staying in Los Angeles US and became famous doctors within a span of three years. Despite of differences, he used to visit LA and stay there for couple of months.
Purohit was transferred as chief manager to the Bangalore main branch. It was quite natural that being a large branch, there were number of problems. He had skills to tackle all these problems without creating any kind of tension. Head Office had recognized his talents and awarded him as a ‘best manager of the year.’ While taking major decisions, he never compromised with the interest of the branch. He had succeeded to maintain cordial relation both staff and management. In those days, he was leading a happy and peaceful life with his first wife Mangala and only son Srivatsa. His marriage could not take place during her life time. He was very much worried about this. He was not happy after the demise of his wife. It was very difficult for him to lead lonely life. His friends and well wishers suggested him to go for second marriage. Sujata became a perfect wife for Purohit. She could not marry at young age due to several reasons. Both were made for each other. He was surprised to see Madhura’s presence in the park. If she was in the city and informed him earlier she would have joined in the vana bhojana. He went near to Madhura while she was in deep thinking. She didn’t notice him. He stayed for few minutes for her attention. If a person meets suddenly after a long gap of time, the other will be naturally surprised. He didn’t want to give such surprise to her.
“Madam, are you Madhura Rao? He asked
Coming out from deep thinking she saw him. She was astonished to see Purohit. She was dazed.
She said, “Yes! You were my boss Purohit…?”
“Now I am not your boss just a good friend. Please do not be excited Madhura. I was also shocked seeing here.”
She let me sit beside her. He sat leaving some space in between. She shook hand gently. It was emotional.
“What is this Madhura; you are meeting me after a long gap of 12 years?”
“Yes Sir, I wanted to contact you soon after our separation. But I am sorry sir all my efforts went in vain. I was stopped to contact you.”
“Can you tell me who stopped you to contact me?”
“It is a long story.”
“Madura, tell me briefly.”
“Sir, you know very well that our separation was a painful process. I am unable to explain the nature of pain. Bank had transferred me from Gulbarga to Kolkata on promotion. I had not seen Kolkata earlier. Place, people, language and environment were quite strange to me. I had to take trouble to learn Bengali language. I tried to learn a few important Bengali words and gained functional knowledge. It took more than six months to adjust with the situation. Soumya was always remembering her father. It was a difficult task for me to console her. Due to pressure of work in the bank, I had to face lot of problems. In the pretext of business development, the branch manager used to be outside almost whole day. I had to attend entire routine work of the branch. Pressure and tension of work made me moody. I used to abuse Soumya for no reason. After sometime realizing the mistake, I apologized to her. Such incidents didn’t affect her studies. Soumya was academically brightest. One day, I revealed her our affair and expressed my desire to remarry. I also told her about the sudden death of your first wife. I was expecting a positive response from her. She became wild and told me in clear terms not to go further. My dream to marry you was shattered. I asked her the reason for refusal. She said if I remarry with you, her father’s soul would hardly rest in peace. It amounts to betrayal as step father cannot give same love and affection like own father. I thought my dream of getting you as my husband was only an illusion. Soumya insisted me not to contact you for ever. I had no choice except to promise her to forget you during my life time. After completing five years stay at Kolkata main office and other local branch, I was transferred to Bangalore branch on my request. The sole intention of my coming over to Bangalore was to provide good education to Soumya. She put in hardwork to get through Bachelor of Engineering in Information Technology with distinction. It was her good luck to get a good job and a suitable husband of her choice. Both are happily settled in London and are prosperous. I visit London, as and when I can. I had to undergo a difficult situation in Kolkata branch. I was cheated by one of the customers of the bank to the tune of rupees five lacs. The case was booked against me by the bank on the ground of negligence of the duty and enquiry commenced. I was placed under suspension from service. One of my colleagues trapped me in this unholy episode. He gave me false assurance about the customer and managed to get the customer’s cheque honored. I believed in him and took the risk of honoring the cheque without making any discreet enquiry. The customer’s cheque was presented and there was no sufficient balance in his account. I allowed him overdraft facility for a week. I came to know that the customer was untrustworthy. Immediately, the bank’s management had issued me a memo that if I failed to recover the amount with interest within a fortnight suitable action will be initiated in accordance with service regulations applicable. The enquiry went on for about three years. The bank was in a position to recover entire amount with interest from the customer after three years. When the enquiry was completed it was decided by the bank’s management to reinstate me and pay all the dues held up. I was fed up with the developments and resigned. The resignation was