A Jilted Lover is a short story written and shared by Sourodip Ghoshdastidar to The Ugly Writers under the theme Pandemic for the month of April.
A Jilted Lover
A house, over the course of a hundred years, sees multiple generations of people live and die, and has seen their deepest secrets, desires, and ambitions. A house watches over us, like a silent guardian. Go to an old house; each corner of it will tell you a story; it has seen it all. From love and hope to shame and despair, the house knows each of its inhabitants too well. House, you will see more of us in the coming months than you’ve had the chance to ever before. Maybe you’ll make judgments about how good or bad we are. You are old and wise; you know better than most people how to judge. You have seen pandemics and world wars, the experience of which only a few of us humans have had only until now. You know that this too shall pass. But for now, we will become philosophers and ponder what we live on this earth for, in view of this pandemic. Death looming, we tend to think, was all this ‘development’ necessary? The government wants us to sit still in our beloved house. All our ‘development’ is stalled. What was all the hustle and bustle of life for, our house asks? We don’t have an answer. The house replies, I have seen many come and go. You won’t be any different. So why bother? Stay with me, dear! I love you the most. We reply, Ohh I need to work to feed myself and stay alive. The house says, all your ancestors said the same, and they all left me for heaven (or who knows where). What I have of them is only a memory. Maybe it runs in your genes. The house, jokingly aside: ‘They don’t know I created this virus so that they would finally love me and stay with me. I am becoming like a jilted lover!’
