week 5 Letters

The envelopes that came always smelled like lavender and something she had never smelled. She imagined they smelled like city. He was in a city in America and making a home for her to live. His letters always felt hopeful, they had this amazing feel to them all their own. They came once a week and always had the same message. "I love you and we will build a life together in this place."

Puju read the letter intently. This week he said he had found a great new job and was making a lot more money. Some of which he sent to his parents to help out. As tradition she was living with his parents until he sent for her. The lavish wedding ceremony held one year ago was still in her mind and the pictures were scattered all around the house. A house which felt empty without him. 

Vikram was their only son and the pride and joy of their life. When he announced his intentions to marry her, they were slightly disappointed. They had wanted to arrange the marriage with a neighbor girl, one he had grown up with, not one he met at college. Puja was a little too modern for them. She did her best to stick to traditions and stay spiritual when called for prayer sessions. Always lighting candles every day for the ancestors. She was respectful of them and did not have to live in the house, but she knew this was important for Vikram, as he always wanted to please his parents. 

As she was still reading Vikram's sister Anjili entered the room. She was tall, unmarried, and still lived at home. She was very curious about the letter and hated her brother being so far away. 

"What does my brother say this week? Is he giving up this foolishness and coming home?' She was bitter he had left. She loved her brother, but she felt like he should be closer to home and not far away in a country so dangerous with no protection from any Gods. 

"No, he just says he's making more money and sending some to our parents." She made sure she used OUR so that Anjili knows she considers herself part of this family. Deeply she was longing to be with Vikram. She really wanted to find her way out of this place. It wasn't terrible, but home was with him. 

She heard commotion at the front door. Someone was coming in and she heard the familiar greetings upon the arrival of someone. Curious both her and Anjili scurried to the front door where her mother-in-law was conversing with the neighbor, Raja. 

Raja always seemed so put together, but she was looking very angry. 

"When he was a child I would let him hang around my house as if he were my own. I fed your child as much as you did. Now this? I feel as though it is a smack in the face for you to not only marry him off to someone other than my daughter, but you let him leave? You are incredibly stupid. He is not coming back and you are without a son and with two daughters now." 

The women stared at each other long and hard. Puja watched with intense curiosity. She knew Vikram and the neighbor Pradha had a fantastic friendship over all the years of being neighbors. The families wanted a marriage intensely, but he did not love her and she did not love him. She was in love with classmate, Sanjay. She was still waiting for him to love her back and she was prepared to be alone if Sanjay wouldn't love her. 

Why would Raja care if Vikram left? What could she possibly gain from him staying here? They saw Puja and Anjili standing in the doorway watching. 

"Let us continue this conversation in another room" Raja said and as a dutiful wife, mother, and woman of the house, she nodded in agreement and they both walked out of room and out of hearing distance. 

Almost as if reading her thoughts Anjili asked, "What was that all about? Why does she care so much if Vikram left?'

"I don't know, it is curious. Perhaps she is concerned there is not enough income to sustain the house with Vikram absent? I don't know. I want to finish reading my letter. It's the best thing I get all week." She was thinking about the words written in his own hand. The effort he used to take pen to paper and place a stamp. Every step of the process was a step towards her. Towards them being together and all his effort meant he cared, and it touched her deeply. She knew this effort meant forever.