Balcony
Anita suddenly woke up from sleep due to loud scream. She was so confused. At first moment she didn't understand where was she. But then slowly she sense that she was in her husband's house. She smiled at that thought. She never thought that she would get so confused when she get things just as per her wish. She looked around. Every thing was silent. She looked at her husband. He was sleeping with his back towards her. She was so confused. It must be his habit. But at this moment she needed to see if he was awake, she tried to move that side. She wanted to confirm that she didn't hear that scream. She slowly went down from bed and started walking when suddenly her husband Ramesh hold her hand. Ramesh " Where are you going?" Anita " I thought I just heard scream." "And that's why you are going in direction of that scream? Are you mad? Don't you feel it can be risky?" Anita sensed that she was doing biggest mistake. "So you heard that scream too." " Yes. It is that parrot." " Parrot?" " Actually my Mom had a parrot which make strange voices." " Cute!! But I never heard a parrot who scream like that. Do you cage a bird? It is totally wrong." " No..NO..we don't cage it. But it come on Mom's window every day. I heard it's voice on each day since childhood." " Have you seen it?" " No.."" You are telling me that you always heard this voice and never feel curious enough to go after it." " No." " But why?" " Since Mom and Dad told me not to." "And what about your brother?" " I don't know about Dada but I am sure that he must had obeyed too. Any way if he had disobeyed then I don't want to hear about that Parrot. His voice is scary enough. I don't want to see it." Anita started laughing. " What happened? Why are you laughing?" " You are scared of parrots." "So what is so funny about it." While saying this even Ramesh started laughing. Soon they both forgot about that scream, Anita just didn't want to discuss about Parrot. They both forgot about it in morning. Next morning Anita went in kitchen. She started looking around for food item. When her sister-in-law Kranti came in kitchen. Kranti " Have you heard that scream yesterday?" Anita nodded. "It was so strange. I just felt so scared." Anita smiled. " You are also scared of Parrot." " Parrot? What Parrot?" " It was Mom's Pet Parrot." " Who told you this nonsense? Mom didn't have any Parrot." " Ramesh told me that Mom didn't caged it. It just came in night and went away in morning." "This is so strange." " Ya. I felt same way. But I read in books that some pet did that. They kept coming back even when their master let them out of cage. Since they were not their master but friend. How lucky Mom is to have pet like this." " I am not thinking about Mom and her pet. I was thinking about my husband and why didn't he know this?" Anita could clearly saw anger in Kranti's eyes. After all Kranti was senior to her. She deserved more knowledge. Anita gave nervous smile. Anita " May be Ramesh was cracking a joke and I thought that it was real? " Then Kranti started laughing. Kranti " Of course. It was not Parrot I am sure about it. Once I saw a shadow of a woman with that scream." Now Anita was confused but she decided that it was better to ignore that subject. She started talking about cooking. At first they decided that they should wait for Mom. But when Mom didn't appear. they decided that they would go ahead with their cooking in their own way. That day they both decided to go ahead with cooking. Mom didn't appear in kitchen. Anita sensed one thing that this must be common since Kranti didn't appear to be shocked. She felt that it was strange but after some time she decided to ignore it. Since she didn't have time to think, she became busy with her cooking.
Anita was so confused. She decided that she must talk with Mom now. She wanted to know the truth. But Mom came let in kitchen. She started checking every thing they made. Then she started pointing out their mistakes. She was always boss to them both. But some were in soul Anita wanted to question her for first. Anita " Mom?" Mom looked at her with harsh eyes. Mom turned towards her in such way that she felt so scared from heart. Mom " What do you want? First I like to tell you according to my judgement your cooking skills are not good. But I can understand now a days girls like you are too busy in study to have time for cooking. Any way I just have to tell you one thing. That Kranti could teach you those skills." Kranti looked up with shock and anger. But as soon as she looked in Mom's eyes, she suddenly looked. She was shivering. Anita could sense that she was trying to hide her tears. " Stop this nonsense Kranti. Look at your vegetable. You supposed to cut them in big piece but you have cut them too small." Kranti " But they cook better this way.." "Are you going to teach me what I am suppose to do?" " No..Mom I will not dare. I was just telling you that now a days vegetables are not that much fresh." " Then you have to cook them for more time on gas. You can't just start changing shape of vegetable. This way one day you will cut every thing in small shape and we have problem to understand vegetables while eating they all will look just same." It was just a strange taunt but still Mom laughed. Anita was so scared of her that she too joined her. Kranti looked at her in anger. Mom " Why are you laughing? She is bad cook but you are not at all a cook. She can at least feed her husband. What is you level? Zero." Anita looked at ground. She was so nervous. Mom " Any way I am here to teach you so let's start cooking." Mom started explaining them all their mistake few moments ago Kranti was so proud of cooking skill started to look like beginning. In case of Anita she was just nowhere. Then Mom started teaching them every thing. She was such a dominating personality that no one dared to question her. She started explaining all. She seemed like best in kitchen. Anita was no longer interested in asking about her. Anita decided that if her mother-in-law kept parrot she was not going to question. She felt that her mother-in-law was best so no one should question her. She started to ask her about her cooking instruction but then she stopped herself. She decided that she would ask Kranti she didn't want to look stupid before her mother-in-law. Then her mother-in-law get away. She just told them what they supposed to do. They obeyed her without any object. From day one just one thing was clear to Anita. That her mother-in-law was her Boss. She didn't dare to ask her any thing until now. This time she was trying for first time and she managed to fail. Kranti " What you are trying to do? Question Mom!!" " I was just asking her a causal question." " Ohh really about her parrot! Don't your elder trust me never question that lady. She would make your life miserable. Once I asked her about price of saree. She still taunt me on every saree I wear." " Regarding what?" " High price or low price in both cases she says I don't have class. Just understand moral of story. I don't want you to suffer in same way." Anita nodded. Then they did every thing once again as per Mom instruction. They made ready first plate for Mom. They went out and gave it to her. They both knew that world had went ahead. But they were scared of their mother-in-law so before her they acted like old daughter-in-laws. Mom smiled after eating food. " This food is perfect now, You both can't do thing right without my help. I just don't understand why this keep happening." Anita and Kranti both wanted to answer her from heart but still they just kept quiet.
After that Anita decided that she would not question any one about that Parrot. She knew that even Ramesh was going to hate those questions. But she sensed her mistake. She told it all to Kranti. She was so scared. She didn't know what she suppose to do. She wanted advice. She decided to call her Mommy. She went in balcony and started calling her Mommy. When she noticed that some one was standing in next balcony. She saw that person was dancing some sort of dance. It was dance of some bar girl. Anita could see it's cheapness. She looked around. She wanted to understand whose Balcony it was. She started counting. But before she could that figure just vanished in thin air. It was so strange. She never heard that some bar dancer was staying so near her house. But she decided that it was her business to stop her. It was not her duty to do any thing about her. She just decided to ignore it all. She decided that she could wait until some one else would mention. She went out when she saw her mother-in-law was not there. She felt so relaxed. She ran to Kranti. She knew that she had already shared enough today. But still she just wanted to ask Kranti. Anita " Whose balcony I can see from my room?" " Why?" " Just tell me then I will tell you." " Okay . First swear on Ramesh." " What? This is too much." " Okay then I will not tell you." Anita decided to ignore her. She felt that she could ask Ramesh. She was about to go out of room when Kranti screamed " Fine. I will answer you. It is our balcony. You stupid girl. Don't you understand. You have all three flats of this floor which mean whole floor belonged to us. We just use some rooms. When our children will come, they will get those room. So you can go now." Word just went out of her mouth before thinking. " How is it possible? There was a bar dancer practicing there few moments ago." Kranti was so shocked. Kranti ran into her balcony. Kranti went there and started screaming " Where is she?" " She is gone." "Mrs. Shrama was once telling this to Mom. But she denied. Mrs. Sharma thought I am dancing that way. I never dance in such shameless way. I have learned classic dance. But I use to dance in childhood. That doesn't mean I can dance in such horrible way. It was too much for me. I cried so much. I just always wanted to become dancer when I was child but I have already given up that dream in school. I never felt so modern that I can dance with boys. I just want to learn it. But I am not that much obsessed. I wanted to see her." " But it was not you. Since when you were cleaning table in hall she was dancing." Kranti was so happy. She hugged Anita. Kranti " Now I can prove my innocence. I can't tell it in words how thankful I am." Anita was so confused. " I saw a woman dancing there. Her dance was embarrassing but do you feel Mom would accept truth of my talking. " " It doesn't matter what Mom feel but I am sure that all other people in this house will trust you. " " Don't you feel our father-in-law never seem to comment on anything?" " Trust me. He just open a newspaper and stays behind it. I never saw him talking to any one. " " This is really odd." " Yes it is. I even tried to talk to him few times but he was just not interested. He just took tea. He don't even answer me. He is still sitting in that corner. Why don't you try to talk?" Anita nodded. She took tea and went to give that tea to him. Anita " Dad this is your tea." He just moved newspaper little bit and then tea cup managed to go behind it. Anita "Dad you never talked me or asked me since I came. Do you have any questions about me?" Her father-in-law just turned head in negative way. Anita didn't understand what she suppose to do. Kranti was looked at her from corner who pointed her that she must keep talking. Anita " Dad you studied from where?" Suddenly Mom's voice came from behind which told her name of school and college. Mom was clearly angry by Anita's this boldness. Mom " So you are trying to chat with your father-in-law. Don't you understand this is not our culture? You can't act like that." She screamed so loudly on Anita that Anita started crying. Kranti was still standing but she was also scared. Mom turned to Kranti " So you taught this to her." " No Mom." Anita was so shocked. She looked at Kranti with anger. Kranti " I mean we are not chatting with Dad. We are just giving him tea when Anita remembered that some one asked her about her father-in-law. She didn't know any thing which looked so odd. That's why I told her that she should ask him." Now Mom looked relax. Mom " Ohh..Don't worry. I tell you all come with me in my room." Anita nodded but she was scared from heart. " Kranti you can also join us." Kranti came with them happily. Kranti slowly came near Anita and said slowly " Now we can check out that balcony." Mom's ears were very sharp. Mom " What balcony? What is cooking between you two?" Kranti looked scared but she finally spoke. She told every thing. Mom looked shocked. " Why in name of god you hide it from me? Do you want some flirt woman to wander around in our house?" They all ran in that room. Then they checked Balcony. Nothing was there. They checked for rope but nothing was even visible there. They looked around balcony for rope. But nothing was visible. Now Anita was scared. Kranti " It seemed as if you have imagined." Anita was so upset by this. She started saying " Sorry I must have imagine when her mother-in-law screamed " Look at this." They both ran towards her. Then they saw their Mother-in-law was holding a fancy ear ring. Mom " Did it belong to any of you?" They both nodded negatively.
Anita was so shocked. She just didn't understand what she supposed to do. She must feel happy to see that she didn't imagine it. But she was more scared of that horrible woman. She remembered just her every move. Mom " Kranti have you understood your mistake. You must not just start screaming on others without checking truth. Now you could have blamed her without checking facts." Kranti was so nervous now. She turned to Anita " I am really sorry." Anita " It is not important. What is important is that fact that? There was some one in our house and that person was dancing in balcony and we don't sense it." Kranti was so scared. She didn't sense it until now. "My god that woman could do any thing to us. We need to call Police." Mom " What we will tell Police? That some girl entered in our house and we don't manage to see her. She was dancing around in our balcony. We saw her but don't caught her. We need to caught her and lock her in Balcony." Anita "No..Mom..it is scary. We must call Police." They were talking when suddenly they heard voice of their father-in-law " No one is going to call Police." Mom " But why? We need to catch her." " No need to catch any one. This earring is earring of my daughter." " Your daughter? We never have a daughter. Are you saying your illegitimate child?" Mom started laughing. They all start laughing. They all knew Dad from soul. He never did any thing like that. Dad " I just said that it is earring of my daughter. Now no need to argue. Go back to your work." There was strange anger in his voice and suddenly Mom looked scared for first time. She went inside and they followed that lead. They all were confused. For rest of the day they kept quiet. But then suddenly at night her father-in-law announced that they all should live separately. Anita didn't like this idea. Anita " I wanted to live in joint family." Kranti was so angry when she heard this. She was dying to live separate. She hated bossing of Mom. But then Mom told " When Dad said something we all supposed to listen. He is wise and mature enough. So from today we will start searching for flats." No one argued. From that day they all started searching for suitable flat. Kranti and her husband found it easily. It seemed as if they wanted to shift already. It was nice flat near her husband's office. Kranti said proudly " We have guessed so remained prepared after all our kids can't stay like that in this house. " Anita knew that it was never about her kids. Kranti wanted her different house. But same was not case with Anita. She and Ramesh wanted to stay with Mom and Dad so they kept avoiding it. Finally Kranti argued one day. " We have fixed flat. We can't wait more. Ramesh and Anita didn't seem interested in finding new house." Kranti's anger was clear. Finally Ramesh spoke " Actually we want to stay with Mom and Dad." Mom screamed " Don't you understand when your Dad say then it is no. You have to do that. You have to search house." Anita " But Mom Kranti could shift then we have enough space. We can stay here." Kranti " But if we can't manage to sell this house from where did we get money?" Dad " No need to worry. I will pay all money for your house. I can manage that. You can just go ahead with deal." He turned to Mom." Let them search for house. Give them their own time." Mom " Time? They are not searching for one. I never saw them going out." Kranti " They want this whole house only." Ramesh " So? You got your house. Right? So isn't that enough." Kranti's husband stopped her. Ramesh's brother " Fine. We buy new house and you can have this house so it is settled." Mom " But it was decided that you both will go out." Dad " Come on. We don't have so much money to buy two house so let them stay." Mom didn't look convinced. She just went outside. But on that point every thing was settled. Kranti managed a nice big house so she decided to keep quiet. Anita and Ramesh stayed there. Now Anita started to settle in that whole house. Since that house belonged to her only, she just loved that house. She was so happy. She totally forgot about that daughter. Until one day she started to hear that scream which would manage to create new spirit in her mind that she needed to understand those things since it was her house.
Anita was sleeping peacefully when she woke up due to scream. She walked towards window. She once again saw that same woman screaming. But this time she was screaming as if some one was attacking her. She was trying to run away.Anita was so scared. She started to go out of her room. But suddenly Ramesh took hold of her hand. Ramesh " Don't go." " But that woman?" " That is my Mom." " Your Mom?" " This is happening after my sister's death." "What? You had a sister. But no one mentioned it." "Since no one wanted to talk about her. She was not some thing worth talking about." " I don't understand. What happened?" " My sister was one type of rebel. She loved dance. She used to go out for it. My parents didn't like it but still they accepted it. But soon she started to mix with wrong sort of crowd. My parents accepted that she might like to become actress or some thing is like that. But she started going in totally wrong way. She did some acting. But then soon she started going out with boys. When my parents tried to stop her, she just went away from house. We saw her some times. She was just getting worst and worst every day. Then one day finally Police called us. They gave us her dead body. She was in worst condition. But after watching her this way my Mom who was strong didn't show any sign. She just kept acting normal. She was not normal. We understood it very late. When one of our neighbor told us that Kranti Bhabhi was dancing in balcony. We paid continuous attention then one day Dad found that Mom was dancing. When he talked her, she started talking just like my sister. It was horrible. Dad tried to understand and control her. But nothing worked. That's why Dad decided that we would stay separate from them." " Did you show your Mom to Doctor?" " Of course. But psychiatrist said that it would take some time. She was on medicines now. But she seemed to get those attacks from time to time. She is suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder. Due to that trauma she sometime became her daughter. She always felt guilty for her failure as mother. My sister was always hated her strict behavior due to it she started get more and more rebel. It was worst for her. She needed to understand that it was her nature and it was her best way. But it was just too much for my sister. She couldn't able to understand her mistake on that time. She just kept getting more and more strict which lead to more and more problems which was turning worst for her. So my sister never improved but it created worst effect on Mom. She never remembered any thing. Dad always managed to adjust with her. They never went out ." Anita "But this is wrong. We must not let them live like that.. I think we should take them out. It is not their crime." Ramesh smiled out of tears. " Thanks for understanding. I know you think that way but Kranti was not like that so we hide it all. She would have acted abusive towards Mom." Anita could easily imagine it. Anita " I know but I will not. She is like my Mom. Tell me all about it." Ramesh smiled happily. " I don't know details but you can go out with Mom tomorrow on appointment. She didn't like it but still she kept going there. She felt that it was for Dad. So Dad went with her every time. Since he told her that he was having bad dreams after retirement. She didn't even remember my sister when she is normal so she is never normal as we wish." Ramesh started crying. First time he expressed his sorrows to her. She kept consoling her. She started to give him confidence. But in her heart she was so shocked. She never guessed that Mom was having just cover. She never sensed that emotional Mom who was caged inside her heart. But now she knew and she understood that she must help her Mom to get over it. After all she was her daughter now. She was confident and she could do it by her positive thoughts and hopes.
The End
Anita suddenly woke up from sleep due to loud scream. She was so confused. At first moment she didn't understand where was she. But then slowly she sense that she was in her husband's house. She smiled at that thought. She never thought that she would get so confused when she get things just as per her wish. She looked around. Every thing was silent. She looked at her husband. He was sleeping with his back towards her. She was so confused. It must be his habit. But at this moment she needed to see if he was awake, she tried to move that side. She wanted to confirm that she didn't hear that scream. She slowly went down from bed and started walking when suddenly her husband Ramesh hold her hand. Ramesh " Where are you going?" Anita " I thought I just heard scream." "And that's why you are going in direction of that scream? Are you mad? Don't you feel it can be risky?" Anita sensed that she was doing biggest mistake. "So you heard that scream too." " Yes. It is that parrot." " Parrot?" " Actually my Mom had a parrot which make strange voices." " Cute!! But I never heard a parrot who scream like that. Do you cage a bird? It is totally wrong." " No..NO..we don't cage it. But it come on Mom's window every day. I heard it's voice on each day since childhood." " Have you seen it?" " No.."" You are telling me that you always heard this voice and never feel curious enough to go after it." " No." " But why?" " Since Mom and Dad told me not to." "And what about your brother?" " I don't know about Dada but I am sure that he must had obeyed too. Any way if he had disobeyed then I don't want to hear about that Parrot. His voice is scary enough. I don't want to see it." Anita started laughing. " What happened? Why are you laughing?" " You are scared of parrots." "So what is so funny about it." While saying this even Ramesh started laughing. Soon they both forgot about that scream, Anita just didn't want to discuss about Parrot. They both forgot about it in morning. Next morning Anita went in kitchen. She started looking around for food item. When her sister-in-law Kranti came in kitchen. Kranti " Have you heard that scream yesterday?" Anita nodded. "It was so strange. I just felt so scared." Anita smiled. " You are also scared of Parrot." " Parrot? What Parrot?" " It was Mom's Pet Parrot." " Who told you this nonsense? Mom didn't have any Parrot." " Ramesh told me that Mom didn't caged it. It just came in night and went away in morning." "This is so strange." " Ya. I felt same way. But I read in books that some pet did that. They kept coming back even when their master let them out of cage. Since they were not their master but friend. How lucky Mom is to have pet like this." " I am not thinking about Mom and her pet. I was thinking about my husband and why didn't he know this?" Anita could clearly saw anger in Kranti's eyes. After all Kranti was senior to her. She deserved more knowledge. Anita gave nervous smile. Anita " May be Ramesh was cracking a joke and I thought that it was real? " Then Kranti started laughing. Kranti " Of course. It was not Parrot I am sure about it. Once I saw a shadow of a woman with that scream." Now Anita was confused but she decided that it was better to ignore that subject. She started talking about cooking. At first they decided that they should wait for Mom. But when Mom didn't appear. they decided that they would go ahead with their cooking in their own way. That day they both decided to go ahead with cooking. Mom didn't appear in kitchen. Anita sensed one thing that this must be common since Kranti didn't appear to be shocked. She felt that it was strange but after some time she decided to ignore it. Since she didn't have time to think, she became busy with her cooking.
Anita was so confused. She decided that she must talk with Mom now. She wanted to know the truth. But Mom came let in kitchen. She started checking every thing they made. Then she started pointing out their mistakes. She was always boss to them both. But some were in soul Anita wanted to question her for first. Anita " Mom?" Mom looked at her with harsh eyes. Mom turned towards her in such way that she felt so scared from heart. Mom " What do you want? First I like to tell you according to my judgement your cooking skills are not good. But I can understand now a days girls like you are too busy in study to have time for cooking. Any way I just have to tell you one thing. That Kranti could teach you those skills." Kranti looked up with shock and anger. But as soon as she looked in Mom's eyes, she suddenly looked. She was shivering. Anita could sense that she was trying to hide her tears. " Stop this nonsense Kranti. Look at your vegetable. You supposed to cut them in big piece but you have cut them too small." Kranti " But they cook better this way.." "Are you going to teach me what I am suppose to do?" " No..Mom I will not dare. I was just telling you that now a days vegetables are not that much fresh." " Then you have to cook them for more time on gas. You can't just start changing shape of vegetable. This way one day you will cut every thing in small shape and we have problem to understand vegetables while eating they all will look just same." It was just a strange taunt but still Mom laughed. Anita was so scared of her that she too joined her. Kranti looked at her in anger. Mom " Why are you laughing? She is bad cook but you are not at all a cook. She can at least feed her husband. What is you level? Zero." Anita looked at ground. She was so nervous. Mom " Any way I am here to teach you so let's start cooking." Mom started explaining them all their mistake few moments ago Kranti was so proud of cooking skill started to look like beginning. In case of Anita she was just nowhere. Then Mom started teaching them every thing. She was such a dominating personality that no one dared to question her. She started explaining all. She seemed like best in kitchen. Anita was no longer interested in asking about her. Anita decided that if her mother-in-law kept parrot she was not going to question. She felt that her mother-in-law was best so no one should question her. She started to ask her about her cooking instruction but then she stopped herself. She decided that she would ask Kranti she didn't want to look stupid before her mother-in-law. Then her mother-in-law get away. She just told them what they supposed to do. They obeyed her without any object. From day one just one thing was clear to Anita. That her mother-in-law was her Boss. She didn't dare to ask her any thing until now. This time she was trying for first time and she managed to fail. Kranti " What you are trying to do? Question Mom!!" " I was just asking her a causal question." " Ohh really about her parrot! Don't your elder trust me never question that lady. She would make your life miserable. Once I asked her about price of saree. She still taunt me on every saree I wear." " Regarding what?" " High price or low price in both cases she says I don't have class. Just understand moral of story. I don't want you to suffer in same way." Anita nodded. Then they did every thing once again as per Mom instruction. They made ready first plate for Mom. They went out and gave it to her. They both knew that world had went ahead. But they were scared of their mother-in-law so before her they acted like old daughter-in-laws. Mom smiled after eating food. " This food is perfect now, You both can't do thing right without my help. I just don't understand why this keep happening." Anita and Kranti both wanted to answer her from heart but still they just kept quiet.
After that Anita decided that she would not question any one about that Parrot. She knew that even Ramesh was going to hate those questions. But she sensed her mistake. She told it all to Kranti. She was so scared. She didn't know what she suppose to do. She wanted advice. She decided to call her Mommy. She went in balcony and started calling her Mommy. When she noticed that some one was standing in next balcony. She saw that person was dancing some sort of dance. It was dance of some bar girl. Anita could see it's cheapness. She looked around. She wanted to understand whose Balcony it was. She started counting. But before she could that figure just vanished in thin air. It was so strange. She never heard that some bar dancer was staying so near her house. But she decided that it was her business to stop her. It was not her duty to do any thing about her. She just decided to ignore it all. She decided that she could wait until some one else would mention. She went out when she saw her mother-in-law was not there. She felt so relaxed. She ran to Kranti. She knew that she had already shared enough today. But still she just wanted to ask Kranti. Anita " Whose balcony I can see from my room?" " Why?" " Just tell me then I will tell you." " Okay . First swear on Ramesh." " What? This is too much." " Okay then I will not tell you." Anita decided to ignore her. She felt that she could ask Ramesh. She was about to go out of room when Kranti screamed " Fine. I will answer you. It is our balcony. You stupid girl. Don't you understand. You have all three flats of this floor which mean whole floor belonged to us. We just use some rooms. When our children will come, they will get those room. So you can go now." Word just went out of her mouth before thinking. " How is it possible? There was a bar dancer practicing there few moments ago." Kranti was so shocked. Kranti ran into her balcony. Kranti went there and started screaming " Where is she?" " She is gone." "Mrs. Shrama was once telling this to Mom. But she denied. Mrs. Sharma thought I am dancing that way. I never dance in such shameless way. I have learned classic dance. But I use to dance in childhood. That doesn't mean I can dance in such horrible way. It was too much for me. I cried so much. I just always wanted to become dancer when I was child but I have already given up that dream in school. I never felt so modern that I can dance with boys. I just want to learn it. But I am not that much obsessed. I wanted to see her." " But it was not you. Since when you were cleaning table in hall she was dancing." Kranti was so happy. She hugged Anita. Kranti " Now I can prove my innocence. I can't tell it in words how thankful I am." Anita was so confused. " I saw a woman dancing there. Her dance was embarrassing but do you feel Mom would accept truth of my talking. " " It doesn't matter what Mom feel but I am sure that all other people in this house will trust you. " " Don't you feel our father-in-law never seem to comment on anything?" " Trust me. He just open a newspaper and stays behind it. I never saw him talking to any one. " " This is really odd." " Yes it is. I even tried to talk to him few times but he was just not interested. He just took tea. He don't even answer me. He is still sitting in that corner. Why don't you try to talk?" Anita nodded. She took tea and went to give that tea to him. Anita " Dad this is your tea." He just moved newspaper little bit and then tea cup managed to go behind it. Anita "Dad you never talked me or asked me since I came. Do you have any questions about me?" Her father-in-law just turned head in negative way. Anita didn't understand what she suppose to do. Kranti was looked at her from corner who pointed her that she must keep talking. Anita " Dad you studied from where?" Suddenly Mom's voice came from behind which told her name of school and college. Mom was clearly angry by Anita's this boldness. Mom " So you are trying to chat with your father-in-law. Don't you understand this is not our culture? You can't act like that." She screamed so loudly on Anita that Anita started crying. Kranti was still standing but she was also scared. Mom turned to Kranti " So you taught this to her." " No Mom." Anita was so shocked. She looked at Kranti with anger. Kranti " I mean we are not chatting with Dad. We are just giving him tea when Anita remembered that some one asked her about her father-in-law. She didn't know any thing which looked so odd. That's why I told her that she should ask him." Now Mom looked relax. Mom " Ohh..Don't worry. I tell you all come with me in my room." Anita nodded but she was scared from heart. " Kranti you can also join us." Kranti came with them happily. Kranti slowly came near Anita and said slowly " Now we can check out that balcony." Mom's ears were very sharp. Mom " What balcony? What is cooking between you two?" Kranti looked scared but she finally spoke. She told every thing. Mom looked shocked. " Why in name of god you hide it from me? Do you want some flirt woman to wander around in our house?" They all ran in that room. Then they checked Balcony. Nothing was there. They checked for rope but nothing was even visible there. They looked around balcony for rope. But nothing was visible. Now Anita was scared. Kranti " It seemed as if you have imagined." Anita was so upset by this. She started saying " Sorry I must have imagine when her mother-in-law screamed " Look at this." They both ran towards her. Then they saw their Mother-in-law was holding a fancy ear ring. Mom " Did it belong to any of you?" They both nodded negatively.
Anita was so shocked. She just didn't understand what she supposed to do. She must feel happy to see that she didn't imagine it. But she was more scared of that horrible woman. She remembered just her every move. Mom " Kranti have you understood your mistake. You must not just start screaming on others without checking truth. Now you could have blamed her without checking facts." Kranti was so nervous now. She turned to Anita " I am really sorry." Anita " It is not important. What is important is that fact that? There was some one in our house and that person was dancing in balcony and we don't sense it." Kranti was so scared. She didn't sense it until now. "My god that woman could do any thing to us. We need to call Police." Mom " What we will tell Police? That some girl entered in our house and we don't manage to see her. She was dancing around in our balcony. We saw her but don't caught her. We need to caught her and lock her in Balcony." Anita "No..Mom..it is scary. We must call Police." They were talking when suddenly they heard voice of their father-in-law " No one is going to call Police." Mom " But why? We need to catch her." " No need to catch any one. This earring is earring of my daughter." " Your daughter? We never have a daughter. Are you saying your illegitimate child?" Mom started laughing. They all start laughing. They all knew Dad from soul. He never did any thing like that. Dad " I just said that it is earring of my daughter. Now no need to argue. Go back to your work." There was strange anger in his voice and suddenly Mom looked scared for first time. She went inside and they followed that lead. They all were confused. For rest of the day they kept quiet. But then suddenly at night her father-in-law announced that they all should live separately. Anita didn't like this idea. Anita " I wanted to live in joint family." Kranti was so angry when she heard this. She was dying to live separate. She hated bossing of Mom. But then Mom told " When Dad said something we all supposed to listen. He is wise and mature enough. So from today we will start searching for flats." No one argued. From that day they all started searching for suitable flat. Kranti and her husband found it easily. It seemed as if they wanted to shift already. It was nice flat near her husband's office. Kranti said proudly " We have guessed so remained prepared after all our kids can't stay like that in this house. " Anita knew that it was never about her kids. Kranti wanted her different house. But same was not case with Anita. She and Ramesh wanted to stay with Mom and Dad so they kept avoiding it. Finally Kranti argued one day. " We have fixed flat. We can't wait more. Ramesh and Anita didn't seem interested in finding new house." Kranti's anger was clear. Finally Ramesh spoke " Actually we want to stay with Mom and Dad." Mom screamed " Don't you understand when your Dad say then it is no. You have to do that. You have to search house." Anita " But Mom Kranti could shift then we have enough space. We can stay here." Kranti " But if we can't manage to sell this house from where did we get money?" Dad " No need to worry. I will pay all money for your house. I can manage that. You can just go ahead with deal." He turned to Mom." Let them search for house. Give them their own time." Mom " Time? They are not searching for one. I never saw them going out." Kranti " They want this whole house only." Ramesh " So? You got your house. Right? So isn't that enough." Kranti's husband stopped her. Ramesh's brother " Fine. We buy new house and you can have this house so it is settled." Mom " But it was decided that you both will go out." Dad " Come on. We don't have so much money to buy two house so let them stay." Mom didn't look convinced. She just went outside. But on that point every thing was settled. Kranti managed a nice big house so she decided to keep quiet. Anita and Ramesh stayed there. Now Anita started to settle in that whole house. Since that house belonged to her only, she just loved that house. She was so happy. She totally forgot about that daughter. Until one day she started to hear that scream which would manage to create new spirit in her mind that she needed to understand those things since it was her house.
Anita was sleeping peacefully when she woke up due to scream. She walked towards window. She once again saw that same woman screaming. But this time she was screaming as if some one was attacking her. She was trying to run away.Anita was so scared. She started to go out of her room. But suddenly Ramesh took hold of her hand. Ramesh " Don't go." " But that woman?" " That is my Mom." " Your Mom?" " This is happening after my sister's death." "What? You had a sister. But no one mentioned it." "Since no one wanted to talk about her. She was not some thing worth talking about." " I don't understand. What happened?" " My sister was one type of rebel. She loved dance. She used to go out for it. My parents didn't like it but still they accepted it. But soon she started to mix with wrong sort of crowd. My parents accepted that she might like to become actress or some thing is like that. But she started going in totally wrong way. She did some acting. But then soon she started going out with boys. When my parents tried to stop her, she just went away from house. We saw her some times. She was just getting worst and worst every day. Then one day finally Police called us. They gave us her dead body. She was in worst condition. But after watching her this way my Mom who was strong didn't show any sign. She just kept acting normal. She was not normal. We understood it very late. When one of our neighbor told us that Kranti Bhabhi was dancing in balcony. We paid continuous attention then one day Dad found that Mom was dancing. When he talked her, she started talking just like my sister. It was horrible. Dad tried to understand and control her. But nothing worked. That's why Dad decided that we would stay separate from them." " Did you show your Mom to Doctor?" " Of course. But psychiatrist said that it would take some time. She was on medicines now. But she seemed to get those attacks from time to time. She is suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder. Due to that trauma she sometime became her daughter. She always felt guilty for her failure as mother. My sister was always hated her strict behavior due to it she started get more and more rebel. It was worst for her. She needed to understand that it was her nature and it was her best way. But it was just too much for my sister. She couldn't able to understand her mistake on that time. She just kept getting more and more strict which lead to more and more problems which was turning worst for her. So my sister never improved but it created worst effect on Mom. She never remembered any thing. Dad always managed to adjust with her. They never went out ." Anita "But this is wrong. We must not let them live like that.. I think we should take them out. It is not their crime." Ramesh smiled out of tears. " Thanks for understanding. I know you think that way but Kranti was not like that so we hide it all. She would have acted abusive towards Mom." Anita could easily imagine it. Anita " I know but I will not. She is like my Mom. Tell me all about it." Ramesh smiled happily. " I don't know details but you can go out with Mom tomorrow on appointment. She didn't like it but still she kept going there. She felt that it was for Dad. So Dad went with her every time. Since he told her that he was having bad dreams after retirement. She didn't even remember my sister when she is normal so she is never normal as we wish." Ramesh started crying. First time he expressed his sorrows to her. She kept consoling her. She started to give him confidence. But in her heart she was so shocked. She never guessed that Mom was having just cover. She never sensed that emotional Mom who was caged inside her heart. But now she knew and she understood that she must help her Mom to get over it. After all she was her daughter now. She was confident and she could do it by her positive thoughts and hopes.
The End
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