The Linguist-continued..

by Geetashree Chatterjee
(New Delhi)

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Nalini carried on, “Of course, I could not save my marriage. But we decided to keep in touch. No, it was not enough. The loneliness, the pain, the yearning and above all, the litostalmost killed me.”

“Ahem! I interjected, “Litost?”

“Aah! An almost untranslatable Czech expression,” she ejaculated, “The closest definition being an agonizing realization of one’s own misery.”

“However, with time I pulled myself out of this saudade.” She added quickly, “Portuguese – the longing for someone you love and lost.”

We were quiet for some time.

“It was the only way out for my sanity.” She resumed after a while,“I got enrolled as his student. Thereafter,life has been an endless journey of pious enrichment….now he is the teacher and I am the taught……Believe me, its an elevation to a higher plateau.” She sighed in pure ecstasy, “You know Geeta! I have been dying to share these feelings with someone who did not give in to moments of schadenfreude when I was left heartbroken…..Well! That’s German again referring to the pleasure derived from other’s misfortune.”

Of course! I swallowed hard.

It was good to see the old Nalini back again.


THE END