The Imposter
Everything about her was a lie. Tamanna sat on her couch with a heavy sigh, her shoulders closed in as she took a deep breath in and released it in seconds. As if on cue, the cooker whistled away carefree, releasing all that pressure as one must. She checked the clock.
Almost time now.
She closed her eyes, took another deep breath and felt her lips curl up on their own.
"Mummyyy!" Vardaan exclaimed, running into her arms. The three-year-old knew how to give the best hugs. "Finger painting today at school. Look mumma..yelloo.” He showed his fingers happily.
"Yello-w,” she corrected him while kissing his forehead. “Let's get you washed up. I've made your favourite aloo paratha.”
“Mummyji, everything's ready. Let's eat,” she addressed her mother-in-law.
"Why did you prepare everything by yourself? I told you I'll help you once I'm back with Daanu."
Tamanna smiled as they sat down for lunch, "It's okay. You already do too much."
The rest of the day went by quickly. Daanu loved stories of Teeny the turtle and Simba the lion, and Tamannna loved reading them out to him. Once he was asleep, she went out to her balcony and looked at the evening sun. Sunrises and sunsets are talked about so much, and yet the experience of an evening sun is unparalleled. When the sky is a yellowish-orange, it's not sunny and yet night is far away. The birds are chirping softly, as if telling their little ones story about Tara, the human teacher. She took a deep breath, something that brought her immense calm, and was hit with the smell of dry leaves burning somewhere afar. It made her feel like she was in a forest, the quietness of nature surrounding her.
When Vardaan was born, her husband had offered to work from home so she could continue working, but she had refused. She wanted to stay home and bring him up for a few years at least. Often when he was home early, he'd take over dinner duties. She was truly blessed with familial bliss.
"Yaar you've cracked it Tammy!" Her friend bellowed from the other end, "Tell me honestly, how many solah-somvaar did you do to get such a great family and life?"
Tamanna laughed at her friend's remarks. "Rads, you're seriously crazy!"
"No really. Look at me, I'm working my ass off at this stupid job. No love life. And the only one effing me up is my landlord!" Radhika went on about her bachelor life issues, and there were many really. Tamanna 'hmm' and 'haa'ed at the right places while gazing intently at the TV screensaver showing a bright array of tulips clicked somewhere in Amsterdam. Life was perfect. It was. And yet everything about it felt like a lie. Like she was living it, but only 99% of it. And that 1% was missing. She was missing. And so when she gave in her 110% everyday, that 11% would always feel like a lie.