Kusum
Kusum, a tall beautiful woman with blue eyes ,and thick neat hairstyle ,was always the centre of attraction where ever she went.
She had the rare congenital gift - super sensitivity, keen observation, good memory power and above all , logic.
She was methodical in whatever she did and was a perfectionist .Added to that she had the gift of the gab, and she could convince anyone easily or exact any information from people about themselves without their knowing that they were exposing themselves .Naturally these traits or qualities were more than enough to make her a clairvoyant.
People had complete faith in her words and counsel .As a child Kusum was reticent and avoided groups. But she always liked the company of a chosen few girls who always paid attention to her and glorified her as someone, extraordinary.Hailing from a fairly rich business family, she was fastidious and got all things done in her own way. She would be pleased always with a little obligation or friendly gesture from others.In other words she was a very amicable person.
After her education she decided to specialize in mysticism and psychic powers. In fact she started showing a special liking in such things when she was hardly ten years of age. She knew well that she had a strange intuitive power and had all through trained herself and developed her power of observation, analysis and expressions .This gave her immense pleasure besides making her popular and often sought for a person.
In her student days also she was popular with her friends who constantly searched for her and sought her company to divulge all their personal problems and commitments , to her. They even took her advice sincerely.On all such occasions Kusum would use her intuition and surmise , which often turned out to be true ; Or at least it appeared to be true to the person concerned. If not she would use her logic and eloquence to convince, and the other person soon would yield. People like Kusum are restless and dubious sometimes.
They find out that between the real happenings and the intuitive prediction made, there is a certain inexplicable gap. It sometimes happened to Kusum too.
In such situations she tried to find out what went wrong in her comprehension and relative exposition there to. But she was never ever prepared to believe that it was a drawback or an abnormal condition in her which might turn out to detrimental or negative in effect.
Her parents and other members of the family didn't take her words with concern or seriousness.They believed her to be nervous and superstitious. They had watched her grow up as a strange girl obtrusive and gullible.
She had a special charm and style when she spoke; but in her family group she was like the mythical Cassandra. In the beginning she enjoyed capturing the attention of her listeners with dramatic enumerations of her intuitive experience. May be she blew up these things even, sometimes. It was a kind of complex development in her.
She believed in what she said and never would compromise with any other idea. A part of what she described was far from being real - some kind of experience peculiar to her.
The world to is not without it's credulous and gullible people.
Friends who consulted her were almost trapped in her words and mannerisms.
Most of them mentally contributed to her gimmicks, failing to regard them as some kind of disorder in her personality.She became a self-styled clairvoyant, a predictor.
Reema, her school friend and very close to her, had developed a kind of complete faith in Kusum' s predictions. As her marriage proposals came up before her family, she first ran to Kusum with details about the groom. Kusum as usual held Reema' s hand and began to perceive something beyond,with closed eyes. She then opened her eyes widely and began to shout louder and ,in a dramatic way as if she could see Reema and her prospective groom's post- marital life in her strange vision.
She serenely told Reema that the groom was destined to die within six months of their marriage and that Reema would be ill treated by the in laws.
This was more than enough for the unsuspicious Reema who started crying as she decided to ward off her marriage instantly. She earnestly thanked Kusum and walked out hurriedly.
A few days had gone when on one cool afternoon an old lady, a street vendor was stopped by Kusum in front of her house to buy some betel leaves.
As she handed her the money her attention was drawn to the old fashioned thick ornament worn by old woman on her right arm.It was a kind of thick bangle- like bracelet. It was rather old fashioned and unfinished in its design.
Kusum held her hand to see it. Instantly she began to divine her strange percepts about the latter.Kusum put up a shocking appearance and suddenly became austere.
Then she told her in a rigid voice that the woman's husband was a cruel vagabond and a parasite on his wife.The old woman could not say anything because she was not prepared for a such a kind of insight or accusation .She was bewildered.
Her husband was in fact a good natured, hard working farmer who had died of cardiac arrest sometime ago.He had never been of any worry for the old woman until his death. She must have thought that Kusum was either out of temper or out of her wits.
She shook her head negatively and left the place,leaving Kusum to keep looking and thinking about her.
__________
Some six years had lapsed during which , Kusum went on as usual with her oddities . She refused to get married and had her own analyses of everything.
Perhaps some kind of latent fear made her behave strangely at times. She would not allow anyone to consider her behaviour as complex or needing counselling. On the contrary she would dominate the situation and the adviser and over ride their suggestions.
One evening as Kusum was walking towards the entrance of the temple which she often visited, she came to a standstill as her eyes fell on a woman in green silk saree.She was with her husband, a handsome looking man, and a little boy walking by their side.Within minutes the woman recognized Kusum.
She was her old friend Reema, who had by now put on some weight and was looking more attractive and happier. She held Kusum by her hand and became a little nostalgic and happy over the meeting. They had met after a long time.
She introduced her husband and also her son happily to her,saying that he was their first born child.In fact Reema had strongly tried to ward off her marriage with the same person after her meeting with Kusum.But her maternal uncle and her father would not allow her to forego the rare chance of the really suitable match. The same groom who became her husband was good natured and full of understanding, besides being successful in life.
Kusum should have felt crestfallen or ashamed instead of being indignant. She wanted to be more explicit on her old predictions. But smiling softly and holding her husbands right arm, Reema walked away from her.
She just waved her hand to Kusum as the car drove her away. Kusum stood there looking at the passing white car for a few minutes.She then had second thoughts about getting inside the temple, as she saw the old betel leaves vendor getting ready to go back home after selling all her stock for the day.
Kusum did not enter the temple , but went back home .
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