Living Together

Ashokan Pillai was reading the newspaper since there were no clients in the office. Prime Minister Modi’s claim that Mahatma Gandhi was not known to the world until Richard Attenborough made the movie amused Ashokan. Something far more amusing walked in just at that moment.

A whole family consisting of father, mother and two children. What are these little children doing in an office of the civil supplies department? Ashokan wondered. His job was related to the issue of ration cards, rectification of errors in them, and other matters associated with ration cards.

“We want a change in our ration card,” the man who introduced himself as Rajendran said. He looked smart in his stylish jeans and T-shirt. The woman was wearing a similar dress too and she was charmingly beautiful though she seemed to be in her forties.

They wanted to remove Rajendran’s name from the card and issue a separate card in his name.

“We are separating,” Rajendran said.

“With mutual consent,” the lady said. Ashokan had learnt from the ration card that her name was Patricia.

Rajendran was more puzzled than amused. Modiji is rewriting the country’s history. But the laws haven’t been changed yet. “A couple can’t just separate like that,” he said, “by mutual consent. There are legal procedures.”

“We are not married,” Patricia said with a smile that reminded Ashokan of Marilyn Monroe. “We were living together and now we have decided to live separately.”

Ashokan looked at the four of them one by one. They all looked very happy. Perfectly contented people.

   Rajendran and Patricia worked at Infotech, Kochi. They fell in love while they were just beginners at the office. They decided to live in the same apartment and share the same bed, as Rajendran put it. The children were born after many years of their “living together.” Theirs was a happy family, they all agreed.

“Then what’s the problem?” Ashokan asked. “Why this separation now?”

Now it was Rajendran who looked puzzled. “Is it necessary to have a problem for living apart?”

“We’re bored of living together,” Patricia said. “We want a change.”

“You can go on a European tour or something like that,” Ashokan suggested. A lot of people in Kerala are doing that nowadays. Everyone you meet says something like: I just returned from Europe, you know. Europe is a good change for any Indian. We may learn some cleanliness and orderliness, at least, Ashokan mused.

With her Marilyn Monroe smile, Patricia said that they would go for counselling if that was required. Ashokan got the hint. You do your work and stop advising us. After all, they were both techies working with a multinational IT firm. Who has better information than them on this earth?

“But…” Ashokan could not resist the urge to ask this one question. “What about your children?”

Ashokan was married but had no children. That was his only sorrow. He had a very loving wife and both of them lived happily like two fairies in a tale whose ‘happily ever-after’ ending lasted for nearly three decades now. It is not easy for two individuals to live happily together for so long. Children would make a world of a difference. Children are like catalysts in chemical reactions. They make marriage a bearable series of actions and reactions. But Ashokan was proud that his married life was bliss in spite of the absence of children.

Ashokan looked at the two little boys in front of him. Very cute guys whose smiles were inherited from their mother. One must have been ten years old and the other may be seven.

“They will study in the best school in Ooty,” Patricia said.

“And we will visit them regularly,” Rajendran added.

The boys smiled at Ashokan. They seemed to be happy with the arrangement.

“And you two will continue to work in the same office?” Ashokan asked with genuine concern as well as dismay.

“Yeah,” Rajendran said. “And we will be friends too.”

Marilyn Monroe smiled.

Ashokan explained to them what to do for deleting the name of one person from the ration card and for getting a new card issued in that name. Ration card is necessary for reasons that have nothing to do with the rations. It’s primarily an identity card especially in certain government offices.

Rajendran and Patricia thanked Ashokan profusely. The boys said “Tata, Uncle,” and waved their hands as they walked out with the man and the woman whom they might continue to call Dad and Mom. Happy family, Ashokan muttered to himself. Is this the ideal family? He fell into contemplation.

Modiji is going to Kanyakumari, the newspaper said. He will sit in meditation on the Vivekananda Rock. Now the world will come to know about Swami Vivekananda through Narendra Modi just as the world learnt about Mahatma Gandhi through Richard Attenborough. Ashokan meditated on the secret of Modiji’s happiness though Modiji had no one to live together with.