The Bitter Sweet Life

“Why can’t you act normal like other girls your age!” Avantika said engaging in a fervent monologue. Like every other day, Sarika was least interested in contributing to this one-sided conversation. She had stopped paying heed now.

“All your college friends are already married and having babies. And here is my beloved daughter who is twenty eight already and still ‘not yet ready for marriage’. When will you stop being so difficult? You have a decent job and your career is well on track. Now, marriage is the next logical step. It’s time that you stop being this rebellious kind of girl and step into womanhood. Another one or two years past, nobody will be willing to marry you then. You need a partner when you grow old. You can’t have such a vain life where you live only for yourself. A girl becomes a woman of substance when she learns to do things for others; when she becomes a wife, a daughter-in-law and most importantly a mother,” Avantika continued in a concerned tone.

Sarika cut short her mother’s lecture by interrupting her, “Getting married and kicking out some handful of babies might be your idea of becoming a woman of substance, it’s surely not mine. I will get married when I feel like it. So let’s close the topic here itself today and let me get you a nice cup of coffee.”

A cup of coffee had always been their way of making peace.

Sarika was the only daughter of her parents. Avantika’s husband Nishil was mostly travelling due to business. Avantika was a housewife and her life revolved mostly around her husband and daughter. Avantika had always been too conventional and dependent in her way of life. She was dependent on Nishil even for making the smallest decisions. Sarika, however, was the complete opposite. She was a non-conformist and completely independent in making her decisions. Sarika had her own way of looking at things, which her mother sometimes did not approve of; yet she loved her daughter a lot.

Sarika was an MBA in finance and worked as a manager in an MNC. She was a workaholic and very ambitious too. Getting into marriage was something she was not ready for yet. Moreover, she did not want to get into an arranged marriage. She wanted to wait for the one with whom it just clicks without a second thought. She could not make herself believe in the ‘right age and right time for marriage’ concept. She was in no hurry to marry. But Avantika would always worry about her daughter getting older and how she might end up single all her life. Nishil was supportive of her daughter in whatever she wanted which annoyed Avantika sometimes.

Sarika joined her mother in the balcony with a cup of coffee. It was Nishil’s birthday after two days. Avantika was sad that he could not make it to home before another week because of his duty calls. Sarika saw the sadness in her mother’s eyes. She had been planning the day for too long, but the last minute duty calls had spoiled it all.

Sarika thought for a while and then she told her mother to give her a hi-five. She smiled at her mother and said, “If Dad can’t make it, at least you can! Pune is just a five-hour drive from Mumbai. It will be a perfect surprise for him.”

Avantika’s face brightened with a momentary smile before it gave into a doubtful grimace. Avantika did not drive and she did not like the idea of travelling alone. She had been too dependent all her life. She didn’t even remember the last time she had travelled alone. Sarika read the apprehension in her eyes. She told her that she would have accompanied her if not for an important meeting at work. She gave her courage and talked her into being brave. Avantika finally agreed. After finishing the coffee, Sarika took her mother to mall for buying a gift for her father. They both decided on buying a pair of trousers and shirt.

Avantika was very excited about the surprise thing. Sarika dropped her at the bus-stop and told her to keep in touch over phone.

The door was not locked; so Avantika did not bother to ring the doorbell. There was a kind of fragrance in the hall; the connecting door to the bedroom was slightly open. She could hear the faint voices talking and laughing. It was a surprise; not for Nishil, but Avantika. She spotted her husband naked with another girl. Before she could think or speak, she fainted.

When Avantika opened her eyes, she was lying on the bed. The thought of lying on the same bed where her husband had been sleeping with another woman made her sick and she jumped out. Nishil and Avantika were alone in the room now and tears were rolling out of her eyes. But before she could protest against anything, Nishil shouted and told her to stop shedding tears. He threatened her not to mention anything to Sarika or he would snatch their daughter away from her. He threatened to divorce her and leave her homeless, penniless and completely alone. Nishil knew that Avantika was gullible and naïve. She would easily get threatened and make a pact with whatever is. She had been anything but self-dependent and confident. Nishil was her entire world and the reason for her existence. Her parents had already passed away and there was no one else she could really go to. He knew that she would not dare to rebel. She would rather accept the fate and surrender to it.

Avantika did exactly what Nishil had expected her to do. She cried for a few hours and then became silent about the issue. Nishil told her to stay so that their daughter would not get suspicious. She did whatever she was told to do. She was way too dependent to think and act on her own.

When she returned home after two days, Sarika noticed a change in her mother. Though she could not exactly make out what it was but she was kind of lost and laughing more than usual. Her daily lectures on womanhood and marriage also stopped. She was not getting mad at Sarika and there were no makeup coffee sessions. There surely was something wrong. Sarika decided to confront her mother about what had been bothering her.

“It is nothing. I am fine. I don’t know why you should think that I am not.” Avantika said with a forced smile on her face.

“You are not. There is something which is bothering you. You are not the same mother who keeps talking to herself even when I stop listening. Beneath your smile, the pain is visible. You cannot hide that from your own daughter. Whatever it is, just share it with me. Now come on, tell me.”

Avantika could not contain herself. Tears started pouring from her eyes and the secret she had been hiding flowed out of her mouth. Sarika knew that her mother could do anything but lie. She was equally stunned like her mother. But she was stronger. She consoled her and told her that she was always with her, no matter what.

Sarika kept thinking the entire night. She could not let it happen to her mother. She wanted her to take a stand for herself. She wanted her father to understand that Avantika could give her a befitting reply by being independent and self-reliant. Avantika was a simple graduate. She had been married at an early age of twenty one. Since then she had devoted her entire life only for her family. Getting her to do a job was difficult with her age being a hindrance and no professional degree. Moreover, she knew that the idea of a job alone would scare her mother like anything. She had to figure out a way.

The next day, Sarika placed a bunch of papers on the table and sat beside her mother. She told her mother to be brave and do as she says. She told her that she would take care of everything. Then she placed the papers in her mother’s hands and asked her to file for divorce. Avantika could never think of it. But she chose to have faith in her daughter’s wisdom and signed the papers with wet eyes. Sarika told her mother her plan of opening a school in her name. She knew that Avantika would not immediately agree. She had to keep cajoling her for a few days. She did everything to convince her that she could do just anything; only she does not know of it yet. Avantika finally conceded to the idea.

The divorce papers came as a shock to Nishil. On getting the papers, he came to see Avantika. But Sarika kept her mother away from his influence. She could not let him brainwash her mother’s head. He gave up and sent the signed papers after a few days. His arrogance had no end. He challenged Avantika to make an identity for herself independently.

Sarika finally convinced Avantika for starting a school. She suggested a piece of land in the suburbs which was just lying without any use for quite some time. They decided that it would be ideal for starting the school. They had a lot of work ahead. But the very first hurdle was Nishil itself. The land was in the name of both Avantika and Nishil. Nishil would not let her get away easily with it. There was no end to the row and finally they had to give up the idea of using that land. They decided to make humble beginnings and buy whatever small amount of land they could manage with their own money. They decided to start with a primary school in the beginning.

They faced a hard time settling a deal for the land. Finally, things turned in their favour when one of Sarika’s friends, Sarthak, mentioned about his house lying vacant for quite some time. He wanted to rent it out. It was a double-storied house with six rooms and a hall. There was also a big lawn. The thought at once got to Sarika that with a little bit of revamping, the building could actually be turned into a school. It would be perfect to make a humble start. Avantika agreed to the idea and they decided to work out a proposal. Avantika worked out the financial implications with her daughter’s help. It was not a meager amount surely but with their savings and Avantika’s salary they could manage to keep it going at least for a year. Avantika worked very hard on making a nice proposal. When Sarika would come back from the office, she would still find her mother hooked to the laptop in the same position as she left her in the morning. It was nice to see her like this.

Finally, they made their proposal to Sarthak. He was very apprehensive, but Avantika mnaged to convince him. It came to her naturally except for her trials at convincing Sarika for marriage. She proposed to pay him six months’ rent in advance along with a 30 percent partnership in whatever profit they would make out of the deal. Avantika had decided to keep the fee nominal. So, she was not really expecting to make any profit out of it, at least till the time they could achieve a breakeven. But she had another plan for making profit. The house had a servant’s room across the lawn which she proposed to turn into a café. It required some planning to build a boundary to keep the café outside the school premises. A law college was situated about half a mile away from that property. To attract the college crowd into the café was her plan. Avantika herself had great culinary skills and she could easily supervise the things during her free time from the school engagements. If it worked out well, the profits from café could be huge. Avantika planned to infuse the initial capital from their savings. And later, as the profits would start coming, Sarthak could get his 30 percent share. Avantika showed her the detailed plan. Sarthak was still a little doubtful, but he decided to take the chance. He was anyways getting the rent for the building. Three of them closed the deal.

The very next day Sarika arranged a meeting of her mother with an architect. Sarika visited the site with him and they decided on the touch-ups to be done in the building to make it more school-like. Sarika did not have a big budget, so they decided to keep it a low-key affair. The colour of paints, partition of the hall and construction of the washrooms were a few things they decided on. Then they took a look at the lawn and servants’ quarter. Avantika told him the requirement of a boundary wall and then she told him about the kind of café she had envisioned. She wanted a cosy environment and a lighting arrangement which could be bright and colorful in the day time and dim lights for the night time. Architect took notes of all the points and they fixed the next meeting after another week.

Meanwhile, Avantika started working on the menu of the café. She started her research on drapes, cushions and furniture for the café. She was gaining confidence. She was managing things on her own without Sarika’s help. Sarika would monitor her mother’s progress every evening after office and give her own suggestions, but mostly she left the things to her mother only. Avantika started doing research on necessary registrations and approvals for her primary school. Sarika was happy to see her going in the direction she had envisioned for her.

The restructuring plan was ready in the following week. As soon as it got finalised, Avantika signed the contract for construction work. She supervised the work on her own. Every morning Sarika dropped her at site and she would monitor the daily progress. She was becoming more confident and passionate every day. The work was completed in one month time. She did the interiors of the café herself and gave it a final touch with the setting of furniture and wall decor.

They also got all the required approvals for the school to function. It was then time to spread the news. They put up a lot of posters, delivered pamphlets and spread the news through word of mouth. In the first session, they managed to enroll some two hundred students. It was a decent number. Sarika conducted the interviews for staff and picked the most dedicated individuals. During the very first staff meeting, she had cleared to one and all that their combined objective was attaining excellence in education and nothing less than that. Since she could not afford a too many teachers at this stage, each teacher was allotted two or three subjects. Sarika knew each of her two hundred students by name. She took the same pain in teaching each and every kid as she had taken with Avantika. She taught Math, Science and English. Apart from teaching, she also took care of identifying the talents and weaknesses of the students. She would pay special attention to weak students and make the shyest students the group representatives so that they would open up. Her staff was also told to do likewise and together as a team, they were working in the direction of excellence.

Whatever time Avantika could spare from the school, she used to spend it in the café supervising things. The business was slow initially, but it started picking up. With good reviews all around, the café started attracting crowds of working professionals from the nearby tech park and residential colonies apart from the college students. A part of profit from the café was used in providing salaries to her staff and other needs of the school.

After a year, the results of her first batch came out. Avantika did not know when she had last felt so elated. All her students had scored more than 80 percent marks and almost 70 percent of them had above 90 percent. She congratulated her entire team of teachers and felt proud of herself for achieving something real big. Sarika gave her mother a special coffee treat in the balcony that day. She was proud of her mother.

It has been eight years since. Nishil never gave up his arrogance and Avantika gave up on him completely. He became an insignificant issue to deliberate upon with the course of time. Avantika won the case on the land row and she set up the higher and secondary wing of her school on that land. This year two of Avantika’s students won the National Mathematical Olympiad, a team of her school won the gold medal in the national level dramatic competition and one student got selected in the national football team. Avantika started another café in the heart of the city which is doing equally well or rather much better. She had still kept the fee for her school nominal and dreams of delivering an excellent and quality education without making profits out of it. She is now happy that her daughter Sarika is finally married to the love of her life, Sarthak. As Sarika puts it across to everyone – it just clicked between the two of them. Avantika thanks God everyday for giving her a daughter like Sarika. Now, she has an all new definition of womanhood where a woman’s capacity to do things for others is not limited to her family alone but it extends much beyond that. She always teaches her students the virtue of believing in oneself.

Avantika and Sarika still have coffee in the balcony every weekend. Now, Sarthak joins them too.