Short Story: Cynthia’s story
Padmasiri de Silva
Cynthia heard the alarm. On other days bleary eyed and sleepy she
resented getting up early in the morning. However on this day she was up
before the alarm. Actually she was finding it difficult to sleep and was
contemplating of taking some sleeping tablets but decided against it.
The entire night she was thinking of her life, her early childhood as
an only child, her conservative up bringing, her mother’s chiding that
she should be a good girl so that she could be married to a suitable
person and many other things she could remember.
Her father and mother both believed in horoscopes and was always
insisting that when she marries it should be to a person from the same
caste and religion.
As an obedient girl Cynthia did what she was told, to do. She never
had a boy friend, rarely visited a friend and kept to herself most of
the time. She was studious but lacked sufficient marks to enter the
university. Her father a Government clerk who worked at the Ministry of
Information was influential enough to secure her a job as a journalist
in an English newspaper.
She had a flair for writing and she was happy to work at the
newspaper office. She was pleasant but not beautiful and did not attract
much male attention. However she was loyal to her friends and turned
crimson when some male colleagues cracked ribald jokes. At the age of 25
her father sick with a heart ailment retired and she had to supplement
the family income with her earnings.
The only holidays she had was to go to her aunty’s house in
Bandarawela. They travelled by train using her father’s railway
warrants. She enjoyed her stay there enjoying the cool breeze and the
open space unlike their cramped up house in a Colombo Suburb.
Through a proposal she was married to Susantha who worked as an
accounts clerk in a five star hotel. He was 30 and though from a village
in Anuradhapura he had cultivated fastidious tastes. He had lots of
friends and he used to drink almost on a daily basis.
Their horoscopes matched and as the house was given as a dowry and
Cynthia had saved some money Susantha who had three sisters to give in
marriage consented to the proposal.
Although Cynthia liked Susantha who was not handsome and was short
she did not bargain for the episodes in the wedding night. Cynthia never
had a boyfiend and was very shy and awkward. Susantha appeared to be
experienced and was not a gentle lover. It was a painful experience for
Cynthia and she cried a lot after Susantha slept.
It was evident that the couple were sexually incompatible but they
acted normally when they returned home after the honeymoon. Susantha
came home late in the night dead drunk almost everyday and his sexual
demands were varied which made Cynthia loathe Susantha.
This charade went on for nearly three months and one day Susantha did
not come home. His mobile was off and when she inquired from the hotel
she was told that he had applied and obtained leave.
It was on the next day that she heard the news from a friend in the
airport that Susantha had boarded a plane to go to Dubai in the company
of a young girl. It was this news which disturbed Cynthia and kept her
awake.
As she lived with her parents she did not feel much loneliness but
she was concerned of the stigma of divorce. In her circle of friends and
relatives divorce was rare and as Cynthia had not done anything wrong
she was wondering how she could cope with this problem.
She had to interview a lady in the morning for the weekly column she
wrote and the interview was at 9.00 a.m. she went to the bathroom had a
wash and was ready to go out. As her mother performed all the household
chores she was able to carry out her work without much ado.
The lady she was interviewing was the famous dancer Roshini
Samarasuriya. She was given a special award by the President for her
great contribution for developing Sri Lanka dances.
Cynthia believed in punctuality and was there at the “Samadhi” Dance
Academy managed by Ms Roshini Samarasuriya at the appointed time. As she
entered the academy she could hear the beating of drums and singing as
the students were put through their paces.
Ms Roshini, a lady of about 60 years welcomed Cynthia with a sweet
smile and ordered for a cup of tea. As Cynthia got her notebook and the
tape recorder out she could see the white patches in her hair and a
small scar near her mouth.
“You know Cynthia” Roshini started to unfold her life story. I was
born in a small coastal town in the South of the country and when I was
born in I had a cleft lip. This made it impossible for me to talk
normally and I was subjected to all types of ridicule at the convent I
attended. The nuns of the convent were sympathetic towards me but I
became withdrawn and shunned society.
However I was good at dancing and was proud of it. When I was about
12 years there was a concert and through I was good at dancing I was not
selected to be in the main troupe due to my cleft lip. However a
sympathetic nun had a suggestion. She got a mask and I was asked to
dance as a “Rakshaya” (demon).
All were thrilled at my dancing abilities. After that I joined a
famous dancing academy and developed my talents. However my cleft lip
was a drawback. I was selected for a dancing scholarship to go to London
and I danced at the Royal Albert Hall. However I had to wear a mask or
an improvised veil to hide my cleft lip.
I won a prize for my dance that day and I was reluctant to go to the
stage to receive it without the veil. I told my English friend about it
and she allayed my fears by telling me “Roshini our chief guest, our
Minister of Education will not see you as he is blind and some of the
spectators too are disabled people as this is a show, performed to raise
funds for charity.” I was indulging is self pity and here a blind person
had assumed office as the Minister of Education.
“After the dance my whole life changed” continued Ms Samarasuriya. A
famous plastic surgeon who was in the audience offeres to operate on me
and here I am and I am not that ugly Ms Samarasuriya laughed. How about
marriage? Cynthia asked.
Well when I came back to Sri Lanka after the operation there were
many suitors, However I chose to be single. Are you happy and contended?
asked Cynthia. “Absolutely” confided Ms Samarasuriya “The dancing, and
my academy training youngsters, kept me occupied; and I am free to do
anything I want,” she said with a smile.
As she left to go to her office Cynthia was very happy. Her gloom had
disappeared and she felt that to be single or divorced is not a
tribulation. |
