He was asthmatic. Old age, 76 years of age and various ailments were not actually his major pain, his wife’s bitter, foul tongue made his life hell.
The whole night, he used to cough and she uses to scream,” You don’t sleep and don’t let others sleep too. One day, I will strangle you.”
Love grows with age, the couple becomes each other’s life, all this was just a fairy tale for them. Bitterness and humiliation were the gifts, the old lady use to serve the old man.
One fine morning, when the daughter-in-law entered their room with morning tea, she was shocked to see that the old lady was no more. This sort of unexpected death left all of them stunned.
The old man wept for his wife, bought a beautiful sandalwood garland for her photograph and prayed for the departed soul.
Days passed, the old man was at his death bed. His whole family surrounded him, some praying, some crying.
The old man slowly opened his eyes and said,” There is something I want you all to remember as my parting wisdom…never humilate or hate a person so much, that he gets pleasure doing any wrong deed, as if he is doing the best thing in the world.”
Surprised, astronished, his son tried to blabber,” You mean to say that….???”
There was no one to reply, the old man was resting in peace.
Mellowstorm 
Very strange and end of the story is in suspense. Love must flow from the starting to end of life. Good nicely written. Congrats.
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Love is the core of life. But there are so many other things too, which we ultimately term as suspense. Thanks Rajan, for liking the story.
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Superb story and yes why must u malign someone and for what.
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Yes that’s the point..Thanks Kamal, for liking the story!
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Welcome friend.
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☺☺
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Smashing little tale
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Thank you so much, Elaine!
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Healthy relationship cannot thrive under the shadow of humiliation and hatred.
As it is said, what you sow so you reap.
Short n nice story.
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Thank you for your wonderful words. It’s a great feeling when you are able to communicate your thoughts….☺
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A wonderful and wise story. Thank you.
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Thank you for your appreciation. It is encouraging. Warm greetings!
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Nice twist at the end!
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Thank you so much, Anne, for liking the story.
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Heart touching story!! Love is what one wants!! Have nominated you for the Versatile Blogger 😊
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Thank you so much for the appreciation and thank you for nominating me for the Versatile Blogger.☺
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Most welcome 😊
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☺☺
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I love this. Bravo!
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Thank you so much for your encouraging appreciation.☺
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YOUR PROPENSITY OF STORY TELLING IS OUTSTANDING….THE STORY OBSCURES THE MYSTERY & PROTAGONIST WHILE PASSING AWAY CONFIDES A SECRET THROUGH WISDOM AND SOMEHOW DISSIPATES THE CHOKE IN WITHIN…THAT’S LIBERATION…. HYPERLINK “https://youtu.be/ekqorVUuKk4” https://youtu.be/ekqorVUuKk4 it’s a pitiful saga of a man who unshackled himself with the grunt of guilt he hid and wisdom he wanted to diffuse at right time….Surprised, astonished, his son tried to blabber, “You mean to say that….???” There was no one to reply, the old man was resting in peace…. BUT I AM SURE MANY COULD HAVE NOT REALISED THAT HE KILLED HER IN FIRST READING….EVEN ME….
The Christians would say…. I,….., take thee, ……, to be my wedded Wife/Husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, till death us do part, according to God’s holy ordinance; and thereto I plight thee my troth/give thee my troth….& THE ILLUSTRATION BARE TREES SUBMITS THAT FROM THE FORWARD DAY AFTER MARRIAGE THE COUPLE COULD NOT TOLERATE POSSIBLY THEIR DETERIORATING PHASE AND SICKNESS & FINALLY DEATH PARTED THEM AND THAT THEIR PLEDGE ACCEDED TO THEIR ADVERSITIES. Their actual togetherness meant living in separately under one roof & have suffocating cohabitation…they had parted away in life while living in togetherness…and at some point after threshold…..parting death was tailored to hold the maxim true, “SOUBHAGYAWATI BHAV”…..this virtuous HINDU MAN did holy sin by strangulating his spouse so that she doesn’t lives a disgraceful life of widowhood as per Hindu customs…here his empathy is condemnable or palpable is a dubious issue….but his circumstances compelled…. He had his own irreproachable vision fearing that society would take a toll on his widowed wife later….from this stance I CAN SPECULATE THAT HE LOVED HER TOO MUCH DESPITE THEIR INCOHERENCE….The old man wept for his wife, bought a beautiful sandalwood garland for her photograph and prayed for the departed soul……or that he was abiding by the HINDU cusswords at least, or I can speculate from plot that he was aware that the wretched woman might get neglected without her man’s society, may be definitely due to her wicked disposition….however in eyes of law he had fallibly sinned…he was conscious for his channel while he thought of homicide and he was culpably aware of, but his guilt was suffocating him yet lesser than what he was enduring while subsisting ailing along with his consort….he had undergone an acid test…he had a choice to end up or pull up….and a dichotomy would heatedly emerge if I invite a debate, whether he was virtuous or sinner…..??? finally he had to speak out his parting sermons to his procreated progeny…He spoke of virtues and chemistry for companionship indirectly…….he spurted his congestion HYPERLINK “https://youtu.be/5iCLJuSgYRE” https://youtu.be/5iCLJuSgYRE
In Hindu custom the pair vows of love, duty, respect, fidelity and a fruitful union and they agree to be companions forever. With 7 perambulations duo prays for harmony and happiness of whole cosmos. HYPERLINK “https://youtu.be/QXFl6c3P9ds” https://youtu.be/QXFl6c3P9ds HYPERLINK “https://youtu.be/6HdvDPnhY2U” https://youtu.be/6HdvDPnhY2U 1: couple beseeches Gods for abundance of nourishment & reverent existence. 2: prays for carnal & divine strength. 3: seeks fulfillment of transcendental compulsions. 4: urges for accomplishment of happiness. 5: prays for common welfare & for procreating noble progenies 6: prays to share their joys & sorrows together. 7: lastly pray for universal peace and their unity & understandings. Thus in light of such exchange of vows & duties unity attains purity….but in the instant case one of them couldn’t abide by the vows taken…..it couldn’t endure the tenacity expected.
Most of us may still say RAAM MILAYI JODI HAE (marriages are made in heaven & solemnized on earth)….but then there are multiple ways to get married…love marriage, group marriage, arranged marriage (sanction of law/society), polyandry (pandavas), polygamy (kings), gandharv marriage (mutual attraction)….Hindu repertoire is long….brahma, daiva, arsha, prajapatya, asura, rakshasha & barring paisacha, in all marriages relationship solicits togetherness, caring and sharing….well JOKINGLY…if marriages are made in heaven, how I wish one of you were in heaven… BUT EARNESTLY…IN A RELATIONSHIP NEVER HUMILATE OR HATE A PERSON SO MUCH, THAT HE GETS PLEASURE DOING ANY WRONG DEEDS, AS IF HE IS DOING THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD.”…… (instigated/provoked to do anything even if prohibited) you have successfully delivered something to your readers who are described INTIMATE ENEMIES archaically, whereas they should become intimate friends….in a relationship having no quarrelling just intimate friends….. & which is to be imbibed thoroughly.
FROM HERE I WOULD EXPRESS THAT: Emotional forces between the two are vital for unification to subsist. Physiological measures reveal a hidden biological subtext to a couple’s hitches; a perilous level of emotional reality that is characteristically indiscernible to or overlooked by the couple themselves. The marital endgame mirrors the fact that there are 2 different biologically emotional certainties in a couple, HIS & HERS, which has some relevance with their childhood having a pattern of engage-withdraw. His complaints are about her irrational burdens & outbreaks and she would wail his irrelevance to what she is saying. Men & women anticipate diverse things out of banter…Boys content to converse about things while girls seek emotional linking. Thus women get adept in reading verbal & non-verbal emotional signals & men do get adept in minimizing emotions having to do anything vulnerability. Bearing in mind this repercussion of emotional gender cavity couples do handle the grumbles and incongruities that any bosom bond unavoidably spawns. Therefore how a couple converses painful sockets is crucial for the destiny of their marriage. Marital fault line is at brink when fight or flight starts and then fight ends up either with futile yelling or flight takes off, which is more malicious if it is resorted for stony silence ,which is critical defense and stonewaller then just goes blank in withdrawing from tête-à-tête by retorting with stony countenance & silence. It propels dominant unnerving memo which is a lethal combination of icy detachment, preeminence, & disgust. Contagious venomous thoughts do permeate to hijack males more emotionally, and with incompetent behavioral reaction husbands do convert fiercely, because they read antagonistic intent even in unbiased movements of their counterpart. Partners who take distrustful stance are extremely prone to emotional hijacking & get irritated or offended very early which swamps marriage. Thus if one of the spouse gets dazed by the partner’s pessimism, the spouse is swamped with frightful out of control emotion, & then they can hear only distorted version and can’t remain clear headed. This triggers adrenaline pumping & other hormonal imbalance which exacerbates the distressed phase. As a result muscle gets tensed & respiration becomes tough. Disagreeable swab of dread and annoyance seems inevitable which personally takes forever to get over which is full emotional hijacking. The couple gets jammed in the rumbling series of censure and disdain, defensiveness and stonewalling are adopted gestures. Distressing thoughts and emotional flooding’s cycle causes disintegration of emotional self-consciousness and restraint. They lose empathy and the capabilities to pacify each other & one-self. During marital differences husbands feel unfriendly and tend to become dismayed earlier, whereas to the contrary wives don’t mind it much. Hubbies get incited at lesser force of disapproval and they do secrete more adrenaline than their counterparts. The paradox is that if men started stonewalling the wives heart rate shoots up to level of anguish & men then want to duck them as ardently as their wives feel constrained to seek them. But by now husbands turn indisposed and she eventually ups her volume, flinches criticizing & complaining which frustrates her even more. A man then avoids being an object of contempt & criticism anymore; he begins to fall into as innocent-prey or blameless-resentment, which triggers more flooding. He then defends by stonewalling….battle then spirals up. BUT MEN ARE MORE VULNERABLE SEX (failure to endure stonewalling, heart rate & adrenaline pumping suggests)…..this should be borne by the female readers……BUT ABOVE ALL A VERY GOOD STORY ENRICHED WITH LOT OF WISDOM FOR ALL
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Nice and touching story….love is great.
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Thank you so much for your encouraging words!
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Yes, I know parts of this truth. In the feeling of hate are the moments of anger, which is emotional rather than rational. And also, when you keep showing that you see the best things in a person, even though they have their not yet fine-tuned sides (it’s motivating to most people, some things instantly, others sooner or later, especially when you happen to match some strong points and specialties in them) they mostly tend to live up to it or atleast they keep trying.
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Emotion changes so many dresses…you have so beautifully described it. Thanks a lot for your visit and words.
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Best thing I’ve read in years. I love the simplicity as well, it gives the story/message a more powerful impact.
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You are very generous with your praise, thank you so much.
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Sesh hoyeo hoilo na sesh…..,rabindranath tagore aptly said to describe Short stories. Very much appropriate for the above story. Holds reader’s curiocity. A beautiful short story.
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Thank you so much!🙂
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