Sita

Sundar came from a joint family. He was the eldest of 5 sons and 1 sister to his parents. He was considered the Ram of his family and obviously had to marry a girl of his parents choice. Well, to his luck, though he was an average looking boy, he had got married to a beautiful girl, Sita, from native. Along with him his brother was also married off.

Sundar started taking care of family business as his father was getting old. He carried out his responsibilities of building their own house, marrying off his brothers, and taking care of his mother well, especially after his father passed away. Amidst this, he had neglected his own family. He hardly used to spend quality time with his wife and kids. He was so busy throughout the day that by the time he would come home, kids would be asleep and the next morning, he would leave home, before the kids would wake up. His beautiful wife somehow managed the household.

Owing to her beauty, Sita had to face so many hurdles being in joint family, but never used to open her mouth as she was always at the receiving end unlike other daughter in laws. She was always looked down upon by everyone owing to the fact that she had come from a native background though she used to work 24/7 in the house. One day it so happened that as she was tired because of her periods, she had to go and change her clothes. She went to her bedroom and started to change her clothes, she could sense that something was wrong in the room. She had made her bed in the morning and now it looked crumpled. She tried to iron the wrinkles off the bedspread and her clothes slipped off her hands. She bent down to pick it up and was startled at the sight. She screamed at the top of her voice. Hearing which, her mother in law came running into the room. Sita immediately picked up clothes and covered herself well. Her mother in law asked her as to why she had screamed so loudly. Sita pointed out towards the bed. Her mother in law could see some one peeping out from below the bed. She immediately pulled out the hand. She herself was astonished to see her own son, Rahul, in minimal clothes. She gave him a tight slap and literally pushed him out of the bedroom. Sita quickly closed the door and wore her saree in a hurry. She was shocked about this incident. Her mother in law tapped at her door, which she wouldn't open, but on hearing her mother in law's voice, she opened it and though Sita was not close to her, she couldn't stop herself from hugging her. Her mother in law was broken from within, but she couldn't say that in front of Sita. She told her that she had warned Rahul about the incident and that since Rahul the youngest of all, he had done this act out of curiosity. She took promise from Sita that she would not reveal it to Sundar as this would hurt him and he would hit Rahul badly. So saying, she called her for household help and left.

Sita stood there, helpless, feeling ashamed of herself. She waited for her children and as soon as they came, she got busy tending to their needs. After dinner, Sita took her kids along with her to the room and had locked the door. She was so scared that she held her kids close to her heart. The elder child slept off while the other two were wide awake. Sita wanted them to be awake. She told them stories, but asked them questions and washed their faces to keep them awake. Soon, she heard the knock at the door, she knew that it was her husband, Sundar, but still asked twice and after hearing him talking, she opened the door. He was a bit surprised at Sita's behaviour, but as he saw the kids awake, started speaking to them and slept off. Sita could not sleep the whole night. She took a piece of paper and covered the lock hole and put a towel to cover the space between the door and the floor, which she took it off before Sundar left for work.

In the morning, as soon as she sent her kids off to school, she went to take bath. She was thinking about the incident and slowly undressed herself. She started filling the hot water into the bucket and tup, fell the lizard from top. Her eyes went up and for a second, she stopped breathing. Those eyes were looking at her with hungry eyes. She tried to cover herself up and immediately ran out of the bathroom crying for help. Rahul was sitting on the window sill of the bathroom.

As it was in the morning, all the family members were having their breakfast. Her mother in law immediately draped Sita in a towel and pushed her inside the store room. She took the hot spatula and ran towards the bathroom. She pulled Rahul down and burnt his leg. She told him that whenever he would walk, he would remember not to repeat this again. She requested her other family members not to reveal this to Sundar as she had already punished Rahul. Sita stood still in the store room, she was totally shattered. Sita remembered her husband badly and wanted to go and tell him everything, but due to her mother in law's promise, she was tight lipped. She started becoming more careful now and used to cover herself up to the maximum. She wouldn't come out of her room whenever Rahul used to be there in the house. Days passed by, but the fear of Rahul was always there in Sita's mind.

Saturday was half a day for children and Sita would make something special for her kids. She got busy cooking and since the house maid was on leave, had to broom and mop the house herself unlike other daughter in laws who were busy watching TV. Her mother in law would always support them as they had got heavy jewellery unlike Sita, who had got only the mangal sutra (a sacred string tied by the groom to her bride during marriage). She started brooming the house. After that, she took a bucket of water and started mopping the house.

She went inside her room and her mouth was closed tightly by Rahul's hand. His other hand started caressing her body, and he was about to pounce on her. Thud, the door was opened by her kids, thank God, said Sita, since the door was not locked. . This time, Sita gave him a tight slap and called out for her mother in law. On hearing her mother's voice, Rahul immediately spilled water on the floor and held Sita's hand. Sita was about to speak, but Rahul interrupted and told her mother that since the water had spilled on the floor, Sita had slipped on the floor and he rushed to help her. Sita was dumbfounded.

Her mother in law was all praises for Rahul and didn't even bother to listen to Sita. Sita rushed to her children and started crying. Both of her kids didn't know what to do and hugged her back. The elder child knew that something was wrong and he was about to tell his grandmother, but was stopped by Sita.

Sundar came home early as it was a Saturday. Her kids had gone to play. Sita was not in her senses. She kept herself busy in kitchen and was thinking about the mishap. Sundar was a little amazed that Sita could not get to know about his coming home. He thought maybe she was busy and went to the kitchen. He patted on her back and she immediately exclaimed. He was taken aback by her behaviour and asked for a cup of coffee. She tried to control her tears and started preparing coffee.

Sundar came to the hall. He started talking to his children who had come home after playing. Sita brought the coffee and gave him some snacks. Her children started asking for snacks too. Sundar started feeding them. Sita's elder son switched on TV and started watching it. He was flipping the channels. Children immediately screamed "this happened with mamma no". Sita's elder son dropped the remote from hand as there was a scene from a hindi movie wherein the girl was molested by a villain. "Chachu (Rahul) is a villain then?" Spoke the younger kids to shape each other. Sundar stopped feeding the younger kids and grew suspicious about the kids and Sita's behaviour. He stood up and asked his elder child to come with him. After speaking to him, the Ram that he was, went inside the kitchen, held Sita's hand and took her to the bed room.

Sundar's mother did not know what to do and was waiting for them in the hall. Sita came out of the room sobbing, behind came Sundar. Sundar called for the taxi and started loading the baggage. He told the kids to get inside and called out for Sita who was still crying. He took his mother's blessings and told Sita to come with him. Sita bent down to take her mother in law's blessings, but she moved away. Seeing this, Sita ran towards the taxi.

Sundar spoke to her mother "Sita proved to be the best daughter in law. She has not told me anything about the mishap. It's because of my children, that I got to know about it and you have taught me to believe in kids. I just wanted to ask you one more thing Amma (mother) had your daughter been in Sita's place, would you have let this happen? I am sorry Amma, I cannot be Ram anymore. I have to take care of Sita now because she's proved in reality that she's Sita, unlike me Ram.