Broken Dream
He forces himself to give up his dream for the sake of his mother
Kolkata, people like to call it the city of joy. But it isn’t a joyful morning for the people of the city as it is the hottest and sunniest day of the summer. So hot that most of the people at ‘Prachi Colony’ decide not to go out for a morning walk. They choose to stay in their room and turn on their air conditioner at a maximum speed and relax with a glass of juice full of ice in it.
Amrik (18), a 12th standard student, lying in his bed with deep thoughts in his mind. He couldn’t sleep last night as something bothered him and he could not shut his eyes and have a good night’s sleep. Avirup Roy (42), the father of Amrik, who is a proprietor by profession, had his breakfast. A boiled egg, bread, butter, and a banana. But instead of his usual black coffee, he is having a glass of orange juice this morning.
There is a large antique clock on the wall. It shows 7:25 which means it’s time for Abhirup’s most favourite news program to start in about five minutes.
“I don’t give a damn about the news. Who cares about that, huh? The thing that got me hooked was the woman on the show, her well-shaped figure. I love it even more when she wears something too tight.” He confessed to a close friend.
The main door of his 3BHk opened. It’s Amrik’s mother Shipra Roy (35), a homemaker who went for her usual morning run instead of relaxing in her room like others. Shipra follows this daily routine since her brother’s wedding where one of her friends made fun of her figure.
She also feels that because of her figure, her husband doesn’t give that much attention to her and doesn’t want to make love to her.
“Where’s Amrik? Did he finish his breakfast already?”, Shipra asks her husband while breathing and panting.
“Who knows? It’s an excruciatingly sultry morning” looking at the clock on the wall, Avirup replies.
“I bet you didn’t even bother to ask him for the breakfast.” Shipra wants to confront Abhirup while sitting at the breakfast table.
“Hmm”, that’s all Avirup utters in his response after switches on the television. He doesn’t want to pay the slightest attention to his wife as it’s time for the woman whom he dreams day and night to come up on screen and entertain him.
“What do you mean ‘hmm’? I know why are you behaving like this. It’s time for the bitch to show up on the screen to satisfy you.” Avirup couldn’t hear the last two sentences as Shipra says these to herself in full of anger.
She wasn’t pleased with that woman on the news as she thinks, “Instead of doing her job, she seduces people like Abhirup to get their attention and much more.”
Some of her friends also feel the same as she does. Rupali Ghosh, a close friend of hers, shared a tactic with her.
“We have to hypnotise our husbands. It’s the only way to keep them away from that bitch.” Shipra doesn’t want to waste any more time uselessly talking to her husband.
“Amrik! The breakfast is ready,” Shipra told her son. Since she can receive no answer from her son’s room, she goes ahead once more, as loudly as she can, “Amrik!”.
This bothers Avirup to a great extent but without using any words he tries to pay full attention to the television. After leaving his room, Amrik comes to the breakfast table saying nothing to his parents.
“What’s the matter with you, huh? Can’t you hear my voice? Why are you behaving like this?” before Shipra goes ahead with another word she has to confront her husband first,
“Could you please turn down the goddamn volume?” Avirup doesn’t argue with her as he isn’t interested in the sound. He can sit all day long and watch the woman’s ‘upper side’.
“Ahh, I forget what I was saying,” as she tries to remember, something grabs Shipra’s attention,
“You don’t like this t-shirt, right? I recall you hated it when I gave this to you last summer. Whatever the reason, it looks good on you.” Shipra passes on a glass of juice to Amrik.
‘Let Your Child Decide What He Or She Wants To Be,’ is written on the white t-shirt which her son chooses over any other dress to wear this morning.
“You know, your aunt called me last night. She is pretty much sure that you are going to be a successful Engineer as she thinks that you are better than Rupak (Amrik’s cousin).” Shipra assures her son as she sometimes gets the feeling that one thing which he doesn’t have is confidence.
“She should try her hand in astrology. She can predict everything.” Looking at the orange juice, he utters those words, knowing that his mom doesn’t like to hear a single word that might sound rude to her sister.
“What’s the matter with you? At least show some respect. She is your aunt, after all. You realize, she treats you like her own son,” Shipra shows her dissatisfaction to her son. She also looks at her husband as she wants him to utter something at this very moment. But the man is too busy in his own world.
After a long pause, her frustration comes out once again. “You promised me something, right?” Amrik knows what his mom suggests, but he chooses to stay silent on this occasion. This bothers Shipra to the extreme.
“It’s my negligence that I have too many expectations from you. It’s my guilt that I never neglect to pray for you, for your education. Even though I run for one hour every morning, I never forget to go to the Temple to beseech for you.” Before she goes ahead with another of her ‘nonsense’ (Amrik thinks of all these as nonsense), Amrik stops her,
“Mom, I don’t want to be an engineer. I don’t wish to be someone’s slave who works for them from 9 to 5. I have to follow my soul. And my soul tells me to be an independent musician which I am most passionate about. Music becomes a part of my soul or if I describe it more passionately, it turns into ‘my life’. These are the words that he wanted to express sincerely. But he goes ahead with,
‘‘Please don’t behave like this, mom. I can understand everything that you just told me. This won’t happen again, I promise. I will pursue engineering and never use the word ‘music’ in my entire life.”
Shipra’s facial expression changes after hearing those words from her son. She is so thrilled that she can’t control herself from kissing him. Since the day Amrik expressed his love for music, she often has nightmares that he would die in search of work. Avirup couldn’t care whatsoever. He is still busy in his world.
As far as Amrik’s concern, the dream has broken for the sake of his mother.
