Sitting on the sofa, she looked out of the window behind her. She saw a cricket jumping from one blade of grass to another. The parrots were flying around collecting rice grains scattered on the grey slate ground in the back yard. Her arm in a cast, a shadow of gloom spread over her face. Her hair was open and fell carelessly over her left eye. Her eyes, oh so pretty eyes! They used to be big, dark, almond shaped. They were so beautiful that boys used to fall in love with them. Now they were marred with dark circles and puffiness. They didn't have the sparkle they once had. They were tired. Tired of crying all night and all day. Looking out the window she was just blank. Staring into space. Those eyes weren't looking at the beauty of the scenery, but were lost in thought. She was hurt. Hurt real bad. The arm in the cast didn't hurt as much as her heart hurt at this time.
"Why? Why did this happen to me" was the question going on in her mind. " What did I do to deserve this?"
Once a carefree girl, who used to dance about and was the life of her family. The family which loved her and trusted her, that she would always do the right thing. No matter what happened she would never tarnish the name of her family. She was Simran Kapoor. Fondly called Sim. A bubbly young girl, laughing at every little thing. Her mother, Mrs. Siya Kapoor, used to scold her when she used to laugh at little things. Simran loved life and loved laughing. There was never a sad moment for her as she found something to laugh about in every little thing. She was a crazy Bollywood fan. Romantic Hindi movies were her world and she always hoped for a fairytale romance. She fell in love with the character of Raj portrayed by Shah Rukh Khan in DDLJ and herself was very much like Kajol. She dreamed of a boy like Raj, who would fight the world for her and love her the most. Such a naive little thing she was.
Now sitting on the sofa, her arm in the cast, she was thinking "this is not the life I had dreamed of." The person she married and hoped would be like Raj of DDLJ was not the person she had dreamed of. "Who was this guy? Is this really happening to me, or is this just a very bad nightmare?"
18 years ago she was married to a man 8 years older than her, who lived in a remote village in Himachal Pradesh. She had been born and brought up abroad all her life. She lived a luxurious life with two drivers and three Servants at her service. Whatever she demanded was fulfilled. Her father Mr. Ram Kapoor, was very kind to her. He was the most humble person on earth. Very kind hearted and hardworking. He had seen the lows in life so wanted that his family had everything. Simran loved him the most. So when her father chose Rahul Rai as her life partner, she trusted him completely. Her father wanted to marry her off in a family which was traditional and of the same culture as his. He wanted the castes to be the same. So it didn't bother him that it was a village. But the family was well known and very respectable. Rahul was a tall, lean man, in fact thinner than her when they had first met in 1998. Simran had come to meet her cousins who lived in Simla. There her aunt Vidya had already matched her horoscope with Rahul's and only fixing a meeting with him was left. So while Simran, her sister Ekta and her cousins were enjoying the scenic beauty of Simla and walking down the mall road, her parents were deciding her future. Everyone was called home and Simran was asked to dress up in a nice salwar kameez to meet her future husband. She met Rahul, a young thin guy with a moustache, fair handsome face and hair that was dark brown, parted to the side slightly falling on his forehead. He was wearing a shabby blue sweater and the first thought that came to Simran's mind was "what the hell is he wearing!" They talked for 15 minutes and she instantly fell in love with his voice. He had a unique baritone voice. The sort that made you listen to him. Simran was charmed by his voice, so when asked if she liked the boy she said she loved his voice. The next day her parents went to Rahul's house and gave him the "shagun" thus fixing the marriage. Though Simran herself had not gone to see Rahul's house, she saw the pictures which her cousin had clicked to show her. She saw the scenic beauty of the place and the big house which looked like a 'haveli' , and fell in love with it. She was married into a joint family of 10 members, with the words of her father ringing in her head "my reputation is in your hands. Do whatever you can to adjust there. Please see to it that no one points a finger at you or me." So keeping this in mind she entered the world of matrimony.