Dilemma

I first met Shruti about three decades ago when both of us were in our early thirties.My husband Ram had taken up a job in Bikaner where both Shruti & her husband Satish were his colleagues.I was a bit flustered at having had to leave my beloved Delhi.Everything was different in Bikaner & i felt totally at sea.So when i came to know that Shruti too had been born & brought up in Delhi,i latched up to her like a drowning man would to a life-boat.She too welcomed me warmly.Our kids,being of the same age group,bonded at their own level.

However there was a difference between Shruti & me--she was a career woman while i was a full time housewife.Yet if you saw us you would invariably pinpoint me as the careerist & vice-versa.I was chic,smart & more modern in my outlook;she was short,roly-poly & quite matronly to look at.But while my smartness was only skin-deep,she was worldly wise in her dealings--a quick repartee always rolled off her tongue.On the other hand i was very mild by nature.

Nevertheless we got along like a house on fire.Our husbands too enjoyed each other's company.While Satish was an extrovert & would talk a lot,Ram would mostly let him have his say uninterrupted.
Thus our families made a nice compatible group & we all became good friends.But i noticed that Satish snapped at Shruti quite often,& that too without reason.She,who was always so smart & witty with others; would cower down with a meek "OK " or "As you say "
.
She was his equal in every other way but her subservience at the personal level irked me to no end.By & by i made other friends & they told me that Satish was given to violence & Shruti quietly put up with it.Why she tolerated such shoddy treatment when she was earning as much as him & could easily have walked out,was beyond my comprehension.As if this was not enough,it also became known that he had a girl friend on the sly,on whom he lavished costly gifts.And to think that Shruti was a person who thought thrice before spending a penny!This sort of extravagance must have been even more torturous for her than the personal indignities she had to put up with.I felt deeply for my friend,but she never indicated,by any gesture,that there was anything amiss in her life.Years rolled by.

Then one day Satish came down with a stroke.He was very sick & became paralytic.Shruti tended to him diligently but he failed to improve.He was laid up on bed for three years & was totally dependent on the wife whom he had never appreciated.We were sorry to see a spirited man going down the hill like that.I wondered what went on in his mind.Did he feel remorse for his past behavior?When i looked at Shruti handling her job,the family's finances,Satish's treatment ,the kids' education & so many other responsibilities of running a household ; i could not but marvel at her magnanimity & fortitude.Did she ever think of neglecting Satish to take her vendetta ? I wonder !!!