Truth

Mrs Gupta first observed Swarna sitting alone on the bench, she stopped in front of her and asked if she can join her for a while. Swarna nodded with a sweet smile, which was her second nature but Mrs. Gupta was a little surprised this time. She knew Swarna was a very brave girl but has not expected this much mental strength either.

She was in love with a person very deeply. That person Tushar lived in Mumbai, they have met only twice, and their friendship was completely through internet and phone calls, which lasted for hours. He came down to her city and they met only twice. Swarna fell in love with him when she first saw him because she found every thing in him which she was looking for in life and spouse. But unfortunately he felt the other way round and became cold and distant after returning back to his place.

His calls stopped, and mails became infrequent, in her blind obsession she failed to notice these things. Then he picked up a quarrel and disappeared for three months.

She tried to patch up and when he responded after three months she observed that his way of talking, voice has changed a little, when she queried he told her he has changed the handset.

Their friendship resumed a little bit of old pace but he remained aloof when it came to next step. The person who was obsessed with her all of a sudden started to act like a flirt.

A year went by like that, then she came to know from a person of that town, who has accidentally joined her office and knew Tushar, she came to know from him that the guy who introduced himself was not Tushar, he was his cousin from Swarna’s town. Tushar liked Swarna a lot but he was married, and he has hidden that fact from her.

He was married to a woman with huge bank balance but evil temper, he had two children. He loved her but used to hide his friends from her because she was over possessive and made a fuss about these things, even if the friends lived in far away places like USA or England.

He asked his cousin to meet her and certified her as a good girl, he did not liked her much so he talked with Tushar and backed off. Unfortunately Tushar’s wife got the hint of the entire episode and forced his husband to hand over the sim card to her. She promptly gave it away to her family telling them the entire story. Her father gave the card to his chauffer branding swarna as a corrupt woman chasing a married man.

He impersonated as Tushar, which was not very tough for him, and incidentally his voice resembled his quite a lot, and kept on making fun of her with his friends for all these months.

Her colleague spilled the beans to Tushar and he retrieved and blocked the SIM card after apologising to Swarna, but their friendship ended then and there. His cousin also called her up and apologised for the entire episode and offered his help if needed.

Swarna smiled at Mrs. Gupta and said, “You know aunty, every coin has its flip side and flop side, its true I loved Tushar with all my heart, but I am happy that I have been brought up with strong values.”

“If I had lost my values during that meeting with his cousin I would have lost every thing. I don’t believe that if you lose one love your life is stopped there.”

“Love varies from people to people, there are people who love only once, there are people who cant love at all, and there are people who keep on loving till they meet their ideal match and settle down with that person. I think I belong to the last category.”

“As for feeling humilliated for this episode, I think Tushar’s family acted as per their taste. Tushar did only one thing wrong he would have told me that he is married. But this episode did not splattered a single drop of ink on my soul. Because I always keep my conscience clean and keep my faith on God and his justice. Do wrong and you will be soon reaping what you sowed. You cant hide three things for long time sun, moon and truth.”

Mrs. Gupta softly placed her hand on hers, and thought inside, how we can learn from some one so younger in age, if only we keep our mind open.
A gentle breeze started to blow in the park, bringing with it fragrance of flowers and ripe fruits.