It was Unexpected!
Sreelatha was worried about her dear daughter
Malini, as she exhibits some kind of indifference towards things.
When the time for breakfast was up, she called
her, “Malu, Maloo, Malini, Malinee, ….,” Shreelatha, Malini’s mother.” Having
no rejoinder from Malini, her hind limbs moved to Malini’s room. “She has a
sort of mood swings, of late. Don’t know the reason,” Sreelatha whispered to
herself.
It was a Sunday, Malini was lying on the
bed reversing the body to the bed. Amma went near and stroked her back
affectionately, " Mole, have your breakfast. It is already late. Come.”
“………….”
Shreelatha raised the volume of her tone.
Malini neither turned up nor did she retort. Now Shreelatha mixed her voice
with the spice of anger a bit.
Still Malini, “………”
Mother applied a little force and turned her
up. Her eyes were closed tightly and didn’t look at her mother.
Malini was the only daughter of Shreelatha and
Krishnan, who hailed from lower-middle-class families and so also is their
present life. At the time of the couple’s nuptials, Krishnan had landed in a
smithy, as a welder. His income was just enough to meet both ends of theirs.
One of his village-dwellers in his locale, Raghavan was in a gulf country,
where he owned somewhat a profitable business concern. It undertook all sorts
of petite jobs like building repair, plumbing correction, welding work,
electrical settings and so on and so on. As he wanted a welder, evading all
others, Krishnan crept into his mind. So, Krishnan without taking many pains
could get into the cloak of a foreign employee. His remuneration, though not of
gathering envies from others, filled satisfaction in his purse. Now the
couple’s lifestyle took a right turn, much distinct from what they were
following earlier.
The yield of the matrimonial life of Krishnan
and Shreelatha was Malinee, who was crowned as the duchess of their little
residence. She grew up with ample toys, piquant food and suitable dress since
there was no other issue to be reared up. She had a playmate of her childhood
named Sukesh who whenever possessed a wee free time, launched his presence in
Malini’s amity. Both were in the same school with a difference of one class.
The same school vehicle escorted them for their onward and backward journeys.
After school and in holidays, the kids got
engaged in playing along with some other children from around their residences.
Their games took place under the water tap in Malini’s or Sukesh’s compound.
The duo was much enthused by their pals in the society of nature. They poured
water in the soil and fully soaked soil attained different shapes in their
hands. Malu sometimes walked softly like a cat and transferred some kitchen
wares to their play venue. In the meantime, Malini’s puppy also joined them.
Squirrels on the branches enjoyed the children’s games and sparrows also with
their gripping little steps exhibited their ballet to entertain the little
ones. Crows cawing loudly flew away at the sight of stones in the little hands.
The Sun, concluding his day’s duty when returned to his asylum, winding up the
day’s game, the kids used to disperse and ensured their punching home.
As Sukesh was growing up, his figure was
growing in Malini’s mind also. By now Malini reached such a stage that she
could not think of having a friendship with any other boy, who expressed
interest in her company. Her inner conscience had submitted herself to Sukesh.
Her teeny mind didn’t go that deep to realize that she was not receiving any
reciprocation of that genus from him. But sometimes she became a bit sceptic
about Sukesh’s attitude also. Sukesh did not express any teeny attachment to
her, preferred he always her company though. Moreover, in his school, the
friendship with other girls too excited him a great deal. Malini envied and
disliked them and in her innate mind did not include such girls in her friends’
group. The juvenile folks had gone under the impression of a love bond between
Malu and Sukesh and hence they had accepted their acceptance to each other.
Quite often Sukesh immersed in deep thought
and sometimes, all of a sudden jerked to the present. Some uneasiness or
disquiet subjugated him, eating away his quiet. Some confusion took place in
his mind, he became upset about silly matters. Slowly he kept himself away from
people even Malini. He withdrew his appendages of contacts and contracted
himself within, like a snail. The question- whether or not- without answers
created a puzzle in his mind. His mother noticed all these moods in her son,
but on inquiring, he avoided his mother. Somehow, he could complete his XII
grade. And eventually, he decided to expose his mind to his mother, who fell
into total trepidation. She was shocked at first and after remaining in
thoughts and thoughts, realized the reality.
After the mutual conversation, the parents
with their son arrived at a hospital, where the counselling psychiatrist made
them aware of Sukesh’s problem. He suggested means and methods for rectifying
it, “Your son’s impaired thoughts will disappear. He needs surgery. Please think
over it and it is costly also. If you can afford it, let me know. Don’t worry,
can be corrected. Then he will be a satisfied individual.”
Things with Malini were getting worse and
therefore her grievance had no boundary. She smelt something fishy, despite her
perseverance to attain him. She wondered, “Who is that girl to snatch Sukesh
from me? Is she prettier than me?” Sukesh’s distance was a dagger piercing her
mind and it was beyond her tolerance level. She took very little food; often
her cheeks were bathed in the wetness from her eyes. Slumber also approached
her only partially. In the meantime, the Raghavans shortened or practically
curbed their visits to the Krishnans. But on thorough scrutiny, in her mind,
she understood that Sukesh’s family wanted to stay away from all in the
village. Hence, they hired a house in a city much far. Still, she couldn’t
erase Sukesh’s figure from the canvass of her mind.
A shadow of glumness followed Sukesh’s family.
Conversations and discussions continued for a few days, though they made
themselves ready to face the plight. He was a boy with gender dysphoria. His
sex assigned at birth as a male as per external genitals was not in proper
compatibility with his internal sex identification. Hence the parents had to agree
with their son, who remained sustained in his decision for the Gender
Reassignment Surgery.
Procedures in multiples like mental health
evaluation, sexual and asexual body parts' correction, skin smoothening, voice
exercise, hormone therapy and so on travelled through his mind as well as body
for nearly a year. And crossing the threshold of all the barriers, Sukesh
became Sukeshi, and was titled transsexual. He (She) discarding all his(her)
male’s garbs, began cuddling females’ costumes. Now he is in the physique of a
fully-grown woman.
Malini was passing her days without the
company of Sukesh but her agony augmented and concentration in XII grade
diminished. She didn’t express it in front of her parents though they
understood her dejection. On that Sunday Malini’s attitude and her immature
teen advised her to swallow cockroach repellent medicine and finish her life
without Sukesh. Fainted she on the bed. Shreelatha’s entry to her room at that
time attained yells of fear and anxiety of the highest pitch which attracted
the next-door neighbours’ attention. Sudden action and immediate attention from
the doctors brought her back to life. Effective counselling slowly and
gradually drew her turbulent mind to normalcy. Sukesh’s family’s events hadn’t
made their entry into Malini’s domicile as they had chosen the city life. And
Krishnan had already migrated to another gulf country on a new job. So, his
family was not aware of Sukesh’s transition.
And now a woman from Sukesh’s immediate
neighbourhood when happened to visit Malini’s parents, “He is a cute girl now.”
“He is a cute girl! What!”
She narrated the entire story. It was
unexpected for the Krishnans and they felt sorry for the Raghavans and were
apprehensive about their dear daughter.
The news was tactfully injected into Malu’s
mind. Now things had become vivid and with
much difficulty, Malini caught her mind from the meadows of Sukesh and on
recovery from her distraught state, tied it to the peg of her academics.
