Taboo: Epilogue
Chirantan Ganguly. 1984-2019. Ma carefully wipes off the dust on his portrait that usually hung in her room. She always runs her fingers carefully over his name everytime she does that. It has been three years since Dad left us. Rinika is here too with her hubby. He is a good guy, loving. Just like Dad. My wife is pregnant with her second child, so she couldn’t come. Ma loved us all. Her own little family.
“I have been thinking of moving out of this house.”
We look up. Rinika is aghast. Maybe she heard what Ma said.
Me: “Sorry, what did you say Ma?”
Ma: “I said I plan to leave this house.”
“What?! But why? Oh, you wish to stay with one of us?”
Ma raised us with enough ethics to not be surprised if our parents wished to live with her kids and their spouses. It wasn’t a burden. In fact, Rinika would fight with me over where should Ma go to stay when we grow up. We still do.
“No.”
“Then? You are frail. Where do you wish to go?”
“There is an apartment coming up nearby. Could you get me a flat there?”
Rinika: “But why Ma? You have such a big house, big rooms, and us.”
“Its not that. This house is too big for me. Too lonely after Ch…your father left.”
Her eyes glisten. Her lips move again.
“I wish to make it a home for others. For the people thrown away by society for not following their ‘rules’. Your father did this for me. He broke all taboos to keep me happy. And so I shall extend his love and compassion to others.”
I know what she is talking about. Few months back, while clearing out Ma and Dad’s room, so that she could shift to a smaller one, I found Dad’s diary. In it were his deep secrets, his crush for Ma in college, and….Alik. Alik had hanged himself in prison. Felt somewhat of a relief for me. Rinika didn’t know about this. She need not. She loved her a lot anyway.
“Ok Ma. As you wish. Let us know how we can help.”
Rinika turns towards me. Maybe she hoped she could get the house, or maybe not. I really don’t know.
“But Ma, isn’t it foolish to give away our house like this? I mean, we grew up here.”
“And so shall many others. You all will help me take care of the house and those living in it. So you see, I am not giving it away. When you love someone, you don’t give away your heart, but just give them space in yours.”
She loved Ma more than anything else. She agreed to help too. She trusted her family more than her desires.
“What do you need from us Ma?”
The setting sun flooded our room every evening with its beautiful rays. But today, the sun seemed to be smiling on us as it gently kissed Ma’s wrinkled cheeks. She is really beautiful, my Ma. Don’t you agree?