Once upon a time, Kunal and Riya a couple living in the sub-urbs of Pune, who used to be much more than the happiest couple. After their ‘arranged love marriage’, the love and affection gradually flew away from their lives and life became routine & mundane. Their once never ending mouthful kisses now just turned to ‘good-bye kisses’ and their long long hugs became formal pats on backs. Earlier they used to sit chatting on phones & in coffee shops for hours & hours, sometimes for whole nights, whereas now they could hardly speak a few words except the usual ‘how are you?’ & ‘how’s everything at work going?’It was not something that they ever wanted, but this curse had unknowingly struck their lives and they both desperately longed to have their earlier lives back. They could feel they were heading to a painful Divorce, even though they still loved each other and wanted their love more than anything.
Now you guys must be wondering, ‘how the hell did this happen?’ or ‘if they still love each other than what the hell went wrong?’
Both Kunal & Riya wondered about the same thing for months and months. The turmoil in their personal life had also affected their work. They were messing up their work & also their lives. Kunal, who once used to be ‘the fastest & best programmer’, was now actually below an average programmer. Riya, on the other hand was the ‘crown’ designer in her firm and now had turned to just mere ‘another designer’.
So, how the hell did this happen? Both were young, intelligent, and talented and on the verge of starting a great career & also very fulfilling and happy lives. In such a phase, one often has to make a choice, choice whether to give preference to Love or to Work??? And a very few, unlike Kunal & Riya, give preference to Love. Almost 95% choose, Work & Career over Love and that is where everything goes wrong.
Kunal used to be busy in his work, the projects and the work load expected him to work till late hours. And Riya, in a passion to reach the top swiftly, dedicated most of her time to work. Both of them got caught in this viscous circle so much that, they hardly got time to talk. By the time Kunal came home, Riya would be asleep & Riya used to leave early in morning, before Kunal even woke up. In the beginning this was quite uncomfortable for them and they used to have fights over this, but they would end up crying in each other’s hugs. But these are highly educated and understanding people, we are talking about. Very soon they stopped fighting and came on an unspoken understanding that ‘one has to give attention to career first’. This was the disaster, which ultimately lead them to Hell.
Riya started going to parties with colleagues and drinking heavily to escape the tension and to stop missing Kunal in her life. Kunal on the other hand, resumed to smoking and drinking, which he had stopped after marrying Riya. Both wanted to have their previous lives back. Kunal who was too much fed up of all this decided to talk over this and sort out the problem. Somewhere, he also felt that may be Riya was having an affair. In this tension, he came home early with ‘Hydrogen Cyanide’ in his pocket. He had made up his mind today he would ‘Do or Die’. But, unfortunately Riya went to the pub directly from work. Kunal, decided that he would stay awake, till she comes back. He waited till 1 AM, but Riya didn’t return.
Riya, came home around 2 AM, heavily drunk. She sat on the dinning table, where she found a note written to her which read,
‘Darling, what has happened to our lives. I want you, and the old days back desperately. I don’t want to live without you anymore. I don’t want to loose you. Just think What would I do without you?
Forever yours and only yours,
Kunal’
‘What would I do without you’ was Riya’s favorite song and Kunal would sing and play it on his Guitar for her, in the sweet old days. Tears started rolling down her face as memories ran through her mind. She ran towards bedroom, where Kunal was already sleeping. She bent down and slowly kissed his forehead. But she felt something strange. She took him in her arms and started crying. But something struck her, that something was strange. Kunal’s heartbeat was missing. She tried to take his hand to feel his pulse and saw the bottle of ‘Hydrogen Cyanide’ half filled. The words kept on flowing through her head ‘What would I do without you?’
MORAL:-
I haven’t written this story for fun. This is a story of about thousands of married working couples. Due to the preference given by spouses towards work, the attention & importance of married life falls, ultimately leading to divorce. The Divorce rate in Pune has risen form 3.5% to 37% in last 5 years. I think the figures speak for themselves. And if we continue to give preference to work, it will continue to rise at an even faster rate.
This story carries a message. A message that is very necessary for the so called ‘Gen-Next’. First of all, don’t think of suicide as the only way out, there’s always a tomorrow and if you live you can still sort out the differences tomorrow. Secondly, everyone of you one day will have to make a choice, choice between Work & Love, a very difficult one. Here’s where I come to help you out. Choose Love & believe my words, ‘You’ll Never Regret it’. For the greatest thing in this world is ‘to Love & to be loved in return’.
Love & Regards,
Kunal Shinde
