Yudhdhavarman

Yudhdhavarman. The name conjures up war and all things gory. But Yudhdhavarman was quite a sathvik person. Yudhdhavarman made acquaintances easily, but had few real friends. He had no enemies. If he got into an argument with somebody, it would bother him until he was sure the other person had forgiven and forgotten. He was nice and readily offered his help. He wanted to go out of his way to be nice to people. But somehow, he conveyed a forbidding figure. People thought he was a fierce chap. They avoided Yudhdhavarman.

Yudhdhavarman was a homebody. Whenever he was at the office or anywhere outside the home, he longed to go home. He loved to be home, with his wife and children. He liked to be close to them and enjoyed it when he was talking to his wife or his son and daughters.

But Yudhdhavarman had a problem. His wife and children did not share his likes.

Shantidevi, his wife, was ever smiling, and had a friendly disposition. She was popular. Everyone loved her. She had many close friends, and was out with them most of the time. But she loathed Yudhdhavarman. She just had contempt for him. Shantidevi thought her husband was a silly fool. He spoke too much, and he also did silly things, probably without thinking. She hated Yudhdhavarman and avoided him. To her, he was a failure as a husband.

Sumeetha and Vineetha, the teenage twin daughters of Yudhdhavarman just couldn’t care less for their father. To them, he hardly existed. He was irrelevant. They were in a world of their own, but they had a soft spot for their mom. They were rarely home, and when they were, they were behind closed doors, in their room, giggling away, talking to each other or their friends, or on the phone texting. Or chatting on Twitter.

Vineeth, Yudhdhavarman’s son was not much different. He was constantly reading. He rarely talked. But sometimes he made an exception. To talk to his mother. Occasionally he would look up with pity at his father. And maybe give a half-hearted smile. He didn’t think much about his father. His father was not very different from the furniture. Always there. Only thing was that he talked all the time.

Yudhdhavarman resigned himself to his fate, but continued to go home early, and tried to be with his wife and children as much as he could. Which further aggravated the resentment of his wife and children. Until that fateful morning when everything changed.

Yudhdhavarman was home. He did not have to go to work anymore. His wife was at his side all the time, talking to him. The children too were close by. The whole family was together. All of them were doting their attention on Yudhdhavarman. They were waiting for his words. They had so many questions, so many things to talk to him about. But Yudhdhavarman was not talking to them. He had no more words.