kamal

Kamal, the first thing her parents thought of when they casted their eyes on their infant daughter, and hence they named her so. She was one of the prettiest creatures any one can ever think of. Gentle, pretty and innocent.

She was the elder daughter of a bank officer, her younger sister was whopping ten years younger than her. Her parents never realized that her name will turn out to be true and their daughter will be surrounded by venomous snakes one day.

She was brought up by parents who had a simple mind hence did not bothered to teach their darling daughter the worldly ways, so some thing happened which should not have happened.

Kamal fell in the clutches of a spoilt rich brat, Rakesh, who after taking full advantage of her small town innocence exploited her to the full on the fake promise of marriage. Kamal’s innocent mind never realized the bitter truth that marriage is usually a negotiation for such people. They never marry lower middle class girls.

He dumped Kamal after exploiting her for a few years on pretext of his parents not agreeing to the relationship. To her parent’s horror she was three months pregnant, they begged Rakesh but he denied his role and called her names. That very night she tried to kill herself but her parents saved her and took her away, because the doctors have already said that abortion may cost her life. So they took her to her grandmother’s home in a distant kashmiri village, where she was introduced as a married girl. She gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, the child was given away to an orphanage after telling the incharge the story. Who agreed to look after the child and try to give her best life, Kamal’s parent used to regularly visit the baby and pay her expenses.

After her return to her home town, all Kamal could see in the faces of people she knew was twisted smile, there were a few faces full of sympathy but they too did not dared to mix with her because she was out-casted by the small town society. She was an innocent but good girl who has never done any thing corrupted or immoral. It was really painful for her to bow her head like that, whereas Rakesh was moving around like nothing has happened. His father had enough money to save his face and blacken Kamal’s.

After completing her graduation she joined a small organization, but her reputations seemed to follow her every where, life became a nightmare for her, only her parent’s strong support saved her from the wolve who followed her every where. There were two category of people in her life now, one were those who hated her or lusted after her and those who felt pity for her but did not dared to mix with her.

Medha joined her office after getting transferred from another branch, she instantly started to like Kamal, because of her out of the world beauty and graceful manner she also was supplied all the raunchy stories of her life which she chose to ignore and judge Kamal on her own. With time she realized that Kamal was of stronger virtue than most of the girl of her age, and she was most probably victimized because of her extreme beauty, the main origin of her misery was most probably jealousy and lust, not social stigma.

She observed with surprise the way Kamal always acted like a frightened fawn, she and Kamal used to leave office separately, but some times she used to observe people stalking her and calling her names, and her reaction was like a hunted deer.

Medha’s heart went out for the helpless girl, her heart filled up with hatred for the society which applied the finishing touch to her pain and misery, instead of standing beside the innocent victim branded and ruined her.

A few months later Kamal disappeared for a few months and came back with vermillion on her forehead, she hugged Medha and told her that she has married a NRI living in USA, he saw her in a marriage a few years ago and got bowled over by her charm. She kept on refusing and he kept on pestering her, finally she gave in. She will leave for USA next week.

Years passed by, Medha lost all contact with Kamal, Medha’s son was working in a Oil Company in Kashmir, Medha went to live with him for a few months after leaving her job, one day she was walking down the road when her eyes fell on a young girl and time stood still. She for a second thought that Kamal has come back from past, the girl was wearing a very cheap cotton saree, but that hardly suppressed her divine beauty. The girl was collecting donations from the passer bys. The girl came to her and requested her for some donation for her orphanage. She accepted the brochure and told her that she will visit the orphanage and donate there. Unable to control herself, she asked her name, and she told Sujata.

Medha visited the orphanage the very next day and met the incharge, who told that a couple left Sujata with them twenty five years ago, and they regularly come to meet Sujata, they have supervised her growing up from distance, and recently they have requested the incharge to look for a proper match for her, and have told that they will take care of the expenses.

Medha told the incharge the name of Kamal’s parents and asked if they were same, the incharge expressed his inability to share the information but some thing in his face told her the truth.

She came back home and asked her son after telling him the entire story if he will marry Sujata, when he consented she asked the incharge to request Kamal’s parents to come down to Kashmir to bless their grand daughter.