Interlude

Tamas was going through one of those phases, where he wanted a break - a temporary reprieve of sorts - from the need to struggle to maintain the balance between the needs of the different roles and people in his life. Everybody, once in a while, wishes for an interlude like that, where one could rest and leave things on auto-pilot, only to return rejuvenated and flush life with a fresh energy. Although they'd been married only a few months, Riya recognized the symptoms and Tamas's needs quite early. In the 2 yrs she had known him, she had understood enough to have no second thoughts about putting all her faith in Tamas; she had known they'd make a good life together ever since she fell in love with him. And they made a good couple indeed, loving, caring and understanding each other quite effortlessly. So when Tamas showed a certain degree of withdrawal, as if he wanted to stay within himself, comfortably, to reflect and refresh, Riya immediately created a lot of free space for him, thinking it was only about a few days.

Beneath the calm of the surface, often a lot of dynamic processes are hidden, and not always do they point towards inner turbulence and restrained chaos. A lot of times, they're just the churning wheels of change, and sometimes, they form the feedback response of a system trying to maintain its stability in changed conditions. Riya and Tamas's marriage started resembling a system like that, as Riya picked silence and her books to compliment Tamas's solitude and stopped discussing most personal and household decisions with Tamas, still maintaining her sweet, loving self to him. Tamas was glad that finally there was something he could take for granted and was secretly grateful to Riya for making sure his world was in order. Riya started to miss him even when they lived in the same home, but she did not know if it was a good time to talk openly with Tamas about it, who seemed inclined to be quiet, and looked happy anyway. Riya waited, even as few days became few weeks and few months.

Three months passed. Riya felt extremely lonely and could not share it with anyone. She kept waiting for Tamas to become his normal self again, but it just didnt happen. She tried talking to him a few times, straining to hear if he'd hint at anything bothering him, but he wouldn't budge. He was nice to her, but so distant she started worrying if his warmth, cheerfulness and care had disappeared for good. Once when she started telling him about her horrible day at work, he got so irritated and angry that she immediately changed the topic. It was completely unlike him to not listen patiently to anything she had to say. Something had to be wrong. And Riya wondered what she could do.