(A little girl on the phone shocked by the news she hears. Found on a blog.
Nina calls Sita.
“Sita, guess what?!” she says in distress.
“What?” Sita replies.
“We are getting a divorce!” cries Nina.
“It’s going to be okay,” Sita says reassuringly. “Did I ever
tell you about why Rama and I divorced after he saved me from that
demon, Ravana?”
“No, I just assumed you divorced because he fell in love
with another woman,” said Nina.
“Oh no, honey. I left him. I left because he didn't trust me,” Sita
sadly mumbles. “Shh, now let me tell the story or you will never get to hear
it.”
Sita sighs and mentally tells herself that she won't tell Nina all of the details, but enough to help Nina through this tough situation before she starts the
story.
“So, I told you about how one time Ravana kidnapped me while
Rama was hunting a special deer. Well, Rama thought I had given in to Ravana’s
desires and put me through a series of tests. To save you from feeling angry,
all I will say is that I passed,” Sita sighs.
“Is that why you left him?” Nina questioned.
“No, will you let me tell the dang story?” Sita asks.
“Yes, sorry!” Nina says.
“Like I was saying, I passed these tests and Rama believed
me. Well, for a while. Things were really good once we got back home to our
kingdom. He became king and everyone loved him. They used to love me too, but
then these rumors started. They were absolutely horrible. People were saying
that I had cheated on Rama and I set the whole kidnapping situation up to spend
time with my “lover” Ravana. I tried to tell Rama it wasn’t true, but he was
having a hard time ignoring the whispers around the city.
Well, one day I went to meet with my family many miles away
from our kingdom. On our journey there, Ravana popped up unexpected. Luckily,
my guards had fought him off, but it made the rumors get worse. People had
started calling me rude names in person and threw objects at me. I was so
unhappy and Rama did nothing. He did not know what to do. He just tried to
ignore it. He really did.
I was honest and open with him about everything. I told him
nothing but the truth and did everything he asked to prove that I had no interest
in Ravana. Apparently, that wasn't enough. The rumors got to him and he decided that the
first round of tests were not enough proof. So, he created a new round of
tests that were more intense, much more hurtful and insulting.
Once again, I will save the details for when I am more
comfortable talking about them, but I passed these horrible tests too. Rama
didn’t believe the results though. I was so gutted that the person I loved the
most didn't trust me. So I left,” Sita said sadly.
“Oh my gosh, Sita. That is absolutely horrible. Why haven’t you
told me?! I will always support you. I feel like my divorce isn’t nearly as
horrifying as that. My husband and I are getting a divorce because we grew
apart. I couldn't ever imagine what it was like for this to happen to you,”
says Nina.
“It's okay, Nina. I am stronger now. I will always love Rama, but he hurt me
too much and I couldn’t let it happen anymore. It wasn’t worth it. You will
grow stronger too. Just focus on yourself right now. In fact, let’s do that
tonight. I will buy you a margarita to cheer you up,” Sita says joyfully.
“Make it two and I’ll see you at seven p.m.,” Nina laughs.
“Deal. You can tell me all the details then,” Sita says.
They hang up the phone and Nina feels a bit better about
this divorce. If Sita can do it, she thinks, so can I.
Author’s Note:
This week for my reading, I watched Sita Sings the Blues. I loved the way that
the film was conversational and easy going. In the movie, a couple, Nina and Dave, narrate their way through their relationship's problems, much like Sita and Rama. I wanted that to translate a bit
into my story. I never usually write a lot of dialogue, but I tried for this
story.
In the movie, there are two parallel love stories. One is about Nina and
her husband and the other is about Rama and Sita. I decided to continue with
those stories in this storytelling. I really wanted to focus on the female
perspective in this story. I wanted it to be empowering that they will be ok
despite their loves treating them like crap and or leaving them. In this story, Rama has not killed Ravana. Rama was
really rude to Sita after the incident with Ravana and so I wanted Sita to
reassure her that if she could make it out of a kind of abusive relationship, Nina
would be ok too. I wanted them to be friends in the present day and have each other
to lean on in this difficult time for Nina while Sita has ghosts to work
through.
The picture I used is how I imagined Nina’s face when Sita was telling
her story. It makes me laugh a little bit, because her face just says “oh my
lord.”
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