This is a very touching story, it shows the truth of life, read it carefully. 20 years of life flew by like the wind. Then began the search for a job. Not this, not that, not far, not near. While doing this, I quit 2, 3 jobs and settled on one. Some stability began. Then came the first salary cheque. It was deposited in the bank and began the endless game of zeros accumulating in the account. 2-3 more years went by. A few more zeros increased in the bank.

I turned 25. And then I got married. The wonderful story of my life began. The first two years were soft, rosy, juicy and dreamy. Roaming around hand-in-hand, colourful dreams. But these days soon flew by. And then there was the sound of the child’s arrival. In one year the cradle started swinging. Now all the attention was focused on the child. Getting up, sitting, eating, drinking, pampering. I did not realize how quickly the time passed by. In the meantime when did my hand slip out of her hand, when did talking, roaming around stop, neither of us realized.

The child grew up. She got busy with the child and I with my work. EMI of house and car, responsibility of the child, education and future facilities and also the worry of increasing the zero in the bank. She devoted herself completely to work and I too turned 35 in the meantime. House, car, zero in the bank, family – everything is there, still something is lacking? But I did not understand what that was. Her irritation kept increasing, I started getting indifferent. In the meantime, days kept passing. Time kept passing. The child kept growing. His own world kept getting ready. I did not realize when the 10th year came and went. By then both of us became forty-forty-two years old. The zero in the bank kept increasing.

In a very isolated moment, I remembered those gone days and seeing the opportunity, told her, “Hey, just come here, sit next to me. Come, let us go somewhere holding hands.” She looked at me with strange eyes and said, “Do you think of anything? There is a lot of work to be done here and you are thinking of talking.”

Tucking her saree pallu in her waist, she left. Then came the forty-fifth year, she started wearing glasses, her hair started losing its black colour, some confusion started in her mind. The son was in college over there, and the zeros in the bank were increasing. Soon his college was over. He stood on his own feet. He grew wings and flew away to a foreign land.

The black colour of her hair also started fading. Sometimes her mind started failing her. She also started wearing spectacles. I myself became old. She too started looking old. Both of us started growing from fifty-five to sixty. There was no news of the zeros in the bank. The plans of going out started stopping. Now the days and times for taking medicines started getting fixed. The house which was bought with the thought that we will live together when the children grow up, now started feeling like a burden. The rest of the days started passing by thinking when the children would return.

One day I was sitting on the sofa enjoying the cool breeze. She was lighting the diya. Suddenly the phone rang. I picked up the phone. On the other side was my son. He said that he got married and will now live abroad.

He also said that father, donate your bank balance to an old age home. And you can also live there. After saying some more formal things, the son hung up the phone. I came back and sat on the sofa. Her diya too was about to finish. I called her, “Come let’s talk today again holding hands.” She immediately said, “I’m coming now.” I couldn’t believe it. Her face lit up with happiness. Her eyes filled up. Tears started falling from her eyes and her cheeks got wet. Suddenly the shine in my eyes faded and I became lifeless, forever. She did the Shesh pooja and came and sat beside me, “Tell me, what were you saying?”

But I did not say anything. She touched my body. My body had become totally cold. I was staring at her.

For a moment she became blank. What should I do? She did not understand anything. But in a minute or two she became conscious. She got up slowly and went to the prayer room. She lit an incense stick. She prayed to God. And came back and sat on the sofa. She took my cold hand in hers and said, “Where do you want to go? What do you want to talk about?” “Tell me!” Saying this her eyes filled up with tears. She kept staring at me. Tears started flowing from her eyes. My head fell on her shoulder. The cold breeze was still blowing. Is this life?