This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 28; the 28th Edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The topic for this month is 'BLANK PAGES'.With each passing moment more and more nerves were getting on to Arpita. If this went on any longer then she would be nothing but a clumsy pile of nerves when they actually called her inside.
She had already messed up the previous interview and the previous. She could not afford to repeat the same again. She tried to hold her calm. She tried to remember all the responsibilities she was carrying right now. But this only worsened her condition. She looked around the office. It was a juxtaposition of colors. Paintings, all in vibrant shades of red, orange, rich plum and green calibrated on the wall in soft warm lights shaped like lanterns. It was different from the cold corporate look of the other newspapers’ offices. She invariably started to feel a little warmer. “Ms. Arpita?” the bohemian looking receptionist called out. “Yes.” Arpita hurried over. “Please go straight through this corridor and then enter the third room on the left.” The receptionist said. ◊ The neighbors had said, it was a perfect match. Hers and Sayan’s. Both slender, beautiful with delicate features. She met him when she was a full time journalist with the DailyMail. He was an event manager. He had good contacts with the celebrity she was interviewing. It was instant. They met and within three months they were getting ready for the wedding. It had looked so perfect. But she should have known whenever everything looked too perfect, it wasn’t real. Soon both her husband and her mother-in-law started pestering her to conceive. She was too young, just starting her career as a journalist. But still she tried. Every night whether she was too tired or not. But nothing happened. The taunts and comments grew by leaps and bounds. It was presumed that her work stress was the culprit. Sayan’s mom asked her to quit and be a stay-at-home daughter-in-law like most others who were able to conceive very fast. She cited Arpita’s lack of rest as the culprit. Sayan reasoned, once she was pregnant, she could go back to work, but now it was important as his mom badly wanted a kid at home. Arpita was foolish and too much in love. She gave up her job. And she kept trying. Her diet and sleeping habit were monitored by her mother-in-law. Even though she felt uncomfortable she ignored it thinking that there was no harm in trying to fulfill an old woman’s wish. Months, slowly a year passed. Nothing happened. She was tired of trying. Her mother-in-law took her to numerous doctors. None of them found anything wrong. But Sayan was never checked up. Whenever she tried to bring up the subject, her mother-in-law would just shut her up saying that Sayan who was so perfect cannot have any such problem. It was Arpita, so imperfect Arpita, who was denying her the pleasure of a grandchild. Throughout the course of this hot discussion, Sayan would just remain seated calm faced, almost tending to look smug. Arpita’s self-esteem came to a low. She started losing any self-confidence left in her. Then one day the final blow came to shake her from the roots. It was a stormy night and they were having an early dinner so that they could yet again “try”. The barbaric monstrosity of this whole action had battered her very soul so today she spoke up. “I am not ready to try anymore unless Sayan does a checkup.” She announced. This brought in Sayan’s mom’s wrath upon her. For every moment she lived in the house, she had to endure the torture of listening how bad a woman she was, unable to conceive and that if she kindly signed the divorce paper, Sayan would be able to marry another woman who can give him a baby. Strangely, Arpita realized with a sinking heart, Sayan kept absolutely silent throughout. When asked, he simply said, he didn’t want to involve in mother-in-law/daughter-in-law dispute. After the third day, she had had enough. She visited a doctor and asked for a sperm donor. This was the only way to prove them wrong. So when after four months, her belly was visibly swollen, Sayan and Sayan’s mom’s joy knew no bound. Sayan’s mom distributed sweets to all neighbors and invited them to a function. It was here at the gathering when Arpita decided to drop the bomb. Since then she has been banished from her husband’s house, and even Sayan did not try to contact her since. ◊ The interviewer was a man in his late thirties. He wore thick black framed glasses which made him look older. He had a pleasant personality with oozing calmness. He looked at Arpita a little curiously and then gestured her to sit. Heavily pregnant Arpita sat down on the comfy chair clumsily. He smiled kindly. “I thought, people go on sabbatical during pregnancy, and you are wanting to come back to work.” He asked calmly. Arpita was prepared for it. She replied equally calmly, “That’s why I am looking for only freelancing right now. I am going to be a single mother and hence would need any money I can earn.” She was to the point. From the look of the man she could tell he was impressed. He spoke after full five minutes, after going through her proposal of the column she was planning to write. “How did you come up with such an idea? Blank Page?” he asked. “Yes. Blank Page. I intend my column to be a platform for all who suffered but were brave and wise enough to wipe the nightmare from their life and start writing a new chapter of life afresh right on the wiped blank page.” She said. “Why wipe the page blank Arpita? Why not just tear it and forget it? He asked. Intrigued. “Because if you tear a page, it would leave a mark, some uneven small edges would be left behind. If you wipe it, it’s clean.” She said again. He stretched his hand forward. “I like it. I think we should give your voice a chance.” ◊ Six months later. Arpita came out of the office grinning ear to ear. She made it. Her column was a huge hit. She gave birth to a beautiful daughter who was 2 months old now sleeping peacefully in her cradle and Bhaskar, the editor offered her a full time payroll. She did it. She wiped the horrible page of her life blank and started anew. And she had a huge task ahead. She fondly looked at her baby. She would have to write the very first blank page of her daughter’s life very carefully.
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