What should Shikha do?

Shikha and Sujit were married for 10 long years. They were like any other couple, trying hard to make both ends meet. They had their share of health setbacks and financial hardships.

Both of them were conscientious and within their limited means held their respective families together. Though they could not be described as ideal couple, as Shikha often told Sujit, idealism existed more in people’s minds.

Over time, Shikha told Sujit, that with both set of parents growing old and two growing up children, her presence at home seemed more crucial than the money that her job paid her. Initially Sujit was hesitant. But a few months later he was detected of high cholesterol and he understood the need for Shikha’s presence at home.

Though Shikha found it difficult to adjust to her new routine, she coped very well and even completed a part-time course during the free time she had. She managed to keep herself positive by taking her home-bound duties as seriously as she had taken her career.

Sometimes her colleagues used to call her up both for professional and personal advice. She helped people around with her experience. She even helped youngsters in her colony land good jobs. Her intrinsic goodness kept her connected to people around her.

One day Sujit told her that he was looking for opportunities abroad. Though Shikha was sceptical of a change at that stage in life, she remained silent. Couple of months later Sujit had taken up an assignment abroad and initially he had decided to go there alone. But when it was time for him to leave, he became nervous. His health was not at its best and he had grown dependent on Shikha’s wisdom to guide him.

He asked Shikha if she could join him. With just a couple of weeks left for Sujit to resume office at his new location, Shikha was baffled. She took the help of people around her to make the necessary shift to the new place.

Settling down with old people and young children was nightmarish. Teething problems apart, they made a good start in the new place.

Sujit seemed happy in his new job. Shikha found a house for the family and instantly started making new friends in the new place. Before long, Sujit started feeling unsettled once again. Shikha realised this when people started asking her if she was not happy. Sujit began telling people that Shikha was unhappy in the new city. Shikha realised that Sujit wanted to move away and had to create an excuse to do that. Slowly she sensed Sujit’s discomfort both at office and in the new place. Shikha told Sujit to remain patient as things will eventually work out.

“Sujit, it is not how interesting a job is, but how much interest we take in a job that matters” she often told him.

But no matter what she told him, his interest levels kept dipping until one day Sujit’s boss came home with him and dropped him. Sujit was unsteady and Shikha was worried. She was afraid that her husband might eventually quit his job. She decided to take up a part time job. Though her health also had started slowing down, she had to work to make Sujit happy. She kept telling Sujit how difficult it was for her to resume working and the hardships she had to face in her office.

She hoped against hope that this would make Sujit understand that every job was a package deal.

To keep her job going, Shikha requested her parents to shift closer to her. They obliged!

But again, Sujit had decided on changing his job and he had almost taken up a job in a different city. This time, however, Shikha told him that he would have to go alone as their children were in a crucial stage of their schooling.

Again Sujit wanted her to help in settle down in the new city. By now Shikha was breaking down. The demands of her job, though part time, was weighing down on her. She decided to quit her job once more to accommodate Sujit’s job change.

It was at this stage in their lives that, Sujit’s brother decided to shift to the city that Sujit and Shikha lived in. On moving, they found Shikha close to break down point and without realising the happenings in his brother’s life, Sujit’s older brother told him that Shikha needed help. Sujit decided to call his brother to help them with their situation.

Much to Shikha’s shock, Sujit’s older brother advised Shikha to settle down and not keep pushing her husband to take up stressful jobs! Shikha lost control and asked him to mind his business.

She then decided to take visit a career counselor. Both Sujit and Shikha visited him. The counselor interacted with the couple. He realised that Sujit needed counseling and advised him to settle down, both in his thought and action. The counselor realised that Sujit was trying to outdo his brother career-wise and this made him push himself beyond his capacity. The counselor also told Shikha to take up a job.

Shikha, by now was very upset with Sujit. Sujit’s older brother kept telling Shikha to go to a different counselor. He was very sure that she needed help and not his brother. This angered Shikha further and she began focusing her thoughts towards her children. Sujit wanted Shikha to patch up with his older brother and lead a happy life as she had done all along.

But this time Shikha was stubborn. Her patience and love for her husband seemed to have ebbed away. She wanted to move away from her husband.

What should Shikha do?

To all my readers:

Hi all,

I wish to start a new series called Reader's Choice. I am planning to write stories from the life of people as I understand it from them. I leave the ending blank so that you can fill it and post them as comments. After a week I will publish the most popular ending along with a new story.

The rules are simple. 

• Read the story and whatever thought occurs to you as appropriate, please post it as a comment.
• Try not to comment on what others write.
• You may agree with a previous writer's view. 

Cheers!
Aparna