Promises Meant To Be Broken

by Vaman Acharya
(Bengaluru, India)

It was my daily routine to spend some time in the beautiful park and enjoy the greenery, flowers, bridges, fountain and singing birds. One day, I saw a young couple sitting on a bench opposite to me in a romantic mood. This was prompted me to recollect my memories happened 10 years back.

Arjun and I had been dating for three years. We started chatting through Facebook. I am a gynaecologist practising in Pavanpur town for the last three years. People in the town affectionately call me as Dr Naina instead of Nayantara. During the leisure time, I was in the habit of browsing the laptop. I registered my name in the Facebook. One day, I opened Facebook and saw a friend request from one Arjun. I accepted it. While going through his profile on the Facebook page, I came to know that he had completed Bachelor of Engineering from Ambedkar college of Technology, Bengaluru. Thereafter, he went to the U.S.A. for M.S. study at Florida. After completing the course he joined Informatics as a Project leader at California. To my surprise, he was known to me. We both belong to Pavanpur. His mother and my mother were working as teachers in the same school. My dad and his dad were colleagues in the same bank. I was curious to make friends with him. He confirmed our friendship.

As the days passed, our relationship went to the extent of lovers. We both agreed to marry. We belong to different castes. I revealed my intention to my parents. In the beginning. they were reluctant. I was successful in convincing them. At last, they gave me a green signal to go ahead. Arjun convinced his parents of our marriage. Initially, I tried to establish a close friendship with him through Facebook. We tried to focus on common interests. We were least bothered to know the family background and other formalities. Our long distance relationship continued for about three years.

Informatics offered Arjun an opportunity to pursue a research work. This was a conditional offer for him. He was in the research institute for one year and successfully completed the task given to him. He was asked to report back to the company. A senior position with double the pay was given to him. This seemed like a great opportunity, given to Arjun. The company had paid all the expenses towards the education fee and all others like flight tickets and living expenses.

I congratulated him on the new assignment. It was an excellent deal, we both thought. He was transferred to the company's London office for one year. Suddenly, our contacts stopped for some days. I thought he may be busy to settle down in the new set up. While he was apprehensive about me, without much deliberation, I told him to utilise the opportunity given to him in a best possible manner. I had the realistic approach on him and felt that his research work would do wonders for his future career prospects.

I moved to Delhi along with my parents and opened new a new clinic there. I had a doubt in my mind that our relationship would most likely end. Our professions were different. He had already got U.S. citizenship. He was insisting me to come to the U.S.A. I didn't want to leave India. I had seen one of my friends, who had been in a long distance relationship, break up for the same reason. I was aware that we believed in just mutual acceptance. It was not the only issue. There were other issues like insecurities and jealousy. So if once his decision to leave me was finalized, I was mentally prepared to see the inevitable end of our relationship. With all these differences, he promised me to continue the relationship. Our calls between London and Delhi continued until his stay there.

The Delhi-London time difference was roughly four and a half hours. Arjun and I decided to speak to each other every morning (his morning and my afternoon), which was convenient. The first call was made to me in the morning was really fantastic. I shared my unique experiences as a gynaecologist. We were free to exchange all our views including staying in one place. The phone call time has coincided with my lunch break. Following day, we talked about the previous day, what we did, our moods and highlights of major events or stories.

Our chat through Facebook continued for a long time. Every weekend, we made it a point to revise the important issues discussed. We used to have meals along with the conversations through social media. As for insecurities, Arjun was juggling between the heavy burden of workload and household chores. The only human interaction the poor guy had was with his teammates on the prestigious project. So I had nothing to worry about. My medical practice was encouraging. The tiresome process of attending to patients kept me extremely busy. In spite of all this busy schedule, I never missed chatting with Arjun. The fact that we spoke daily on various topics. We both were so busy, that speaking to each other was a breath of fresh air. Otherwise, our hectic routine duty would result in monotony. I would also say, that to my surprise, Arjun was extremely dedicated and he gave me sufficient time to decide life's important decision. Arjun returned to the USA after the completion of one year.

One day, I received a call from Arjun about his engagement with an American lady. He told me that Melanie was his friend, philosopher and guide. Due to her encouragement, he was able to reach a top position in the company. Arjun expressed sorry for the change of his mind. He also wished a bright future for me.

I came out of the past memory when my mobile phone was ringing with the ring tone "dost dost na Raha, Pyar Pyar na Raha". It was a call from my mom to come home immediately.

Promises mean everything, but after they are broken, sorry means nothing.
***

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