Page 15 - Seniorstoday March 2024 Issue

particularly unhappy with Rajeev. He had
come to Poona for the long weekend but
stayed back for ten days.
He wanted us to come to Bangalore where
he lived for Dassehra and promised to send
us back by Diwali. Rahul in the meanwhile
started freelancing creating ads for a few
advertising companies and pretty much
making enough to take care of his needs.
We were still giving Rajeev pocket money,
whenever the brothers fought Rahul
always told him that at twenty four he
ought to get a job and get off dad’s payroll.
This bothered Rajeev no end and he would
bring up his being gay and all the abuses.
By this time Rahul also had friends who
were similarly inclined and pretty much at
peace with himself.
There was no joy in our relationship,
interactions were more about navigating
tensions than sharing happiness.
Relationships were now more like a
duty than a source of joy. This stress had
affected my husband’s health, the lack of
genuine happiness not only diminished
the quality of our relationship but also
signalled a loss of the relationship’s core
vitality. Joy had become the exception
rather than the norm. It was clear that this
constant bickering had pushed us into
a corner of anxiety and unhappiness far
removed from the comfort and security
that we should have to enjoy in our senior
years.
One night my husband said that he was
feeling uneasy and Rahul drove us to the
hospital. It seems he had had another
stroke and the doctor gave us (and him)
twenty four hours. He was put on oxygen
and IV fluids. At 2.30am, he told the nurse
to please open the window. “My Dad has
come to visit me,” he murmured, and he
passed away at 4am. My brother flew in
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #57 | MARCH 2024
for the funeral and was surprised at my
composed state of heart. I felt happy that
my husband was relieved of the misery
of daily living. My brother and my sons
took him to the crematorium, the entire
neighbourhood turned up, I didn’t go
because I couldn’t bear to see his funeral
pyre. Once the rituals with the death were
over, my brother wanted to take me to
Bangalore but I refused.
A month and half later, I got out of the
house and went to the temple. From there
on I went to the bank and met the manager
and informed him of my husband’s demise.
I got my passbook updated and we had
about a crore rupees in the bank, most of it
in Fixed Deposits. This was all the money
that we got back from the US. I reached
home and left the passbook in the car. The
driver came to return it and Rajeev opened
the door and saw the passbook. He was
shocked to see that we had so much money,
I had no idea that Rajeev had gone through
my passbook and saw our balances. This
made things even worse, within a week
he started saying that I should buy him a
separate flat. When I said NO, he quoted
the money we had in the bank and said
after I die he would get half of it. So why
not give it to him now. Matters got worse
between brothers, there was constant
bickering and abuse.
Rahul was successful with his
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