Ajay was the son of a shopkeeper. He worked as a sales manager in a private company. In his 32 years of life, he had learnt one thing, "A simple life is not worth living." These words were inscribed on his mind by his dying grandfather when he was just four years old.

When his grandfather was on his deathbed, he called Ajay and said to him, "I wanted to go for a pilgrimage but I could not arrange money for that. I earned a decent amount of money and lived a simple life. I was happy. But do you know one thing? I buried so many desires deep inside my chest. I could not afford them. Ajay, work hard and earn a lot of money. Don't be like me."

Ajay had managed to buy a 2BHK flat for himself and was planning to shift there after his marriage. However, his aunt was not happy with the decision.

Chaitali was his maternal aunt who had a great influence on his mother. Ajay had always disliked her. He doubted her intentions. According to him, she was jealous of their success and so, she used to misguide his mother. She used to provoke his mother against his sister-in-law. For that reason, even his elder brother Bhavesh disliked her.

Ajay's house :

Ajay reached home at night and found his aunt sitting with his mother. He said to himself, "Doesn't she have her own house? Why does she need to come here?"

His mother had her face buried in her hands and his aunt was consoling her. In a corner of the room, his sister-in-law was standing and rolling her eyes at his aunt. He understood that his aunt has poisoned his mother's head once again. Without bothering to greet her, he was walking towards his room when his aunt called him.

"Ajay, stop!"

"What happened, Maushi?"

"Is it true that you have bought a flat for yourself?"

"Yes"

"Why? Who permitted you to do so?"

"I don't need anyone's permission to acquire property. Moreover, I have informed my Aai and Baba about it."

"So? Is it a good thing?"

"I wonder why it isn't. If I can earn enough to buy a flat of my own, is it not a good thing?"

"What about your parents?"

"Bhavesh Bhau and Swati Vahini are here with them. And I am not going to abandon them. I am just going to live in a separate house."

"Is it their responsibility alone? What about you? Are you not their son?"

"What are you saying? Didn't I tell you that I am not going to abandon them? What is wrong with you? I want to live in a new house and so, I bought it. What is your problem?"

"If you are so interested in living in a new house, then why don't you take your parents with you?"

"I have bought a 2BHK flat. I will take my parents if I buy a big house in future. But for now, I will shift to that flat with my wife."

"People say that sons start thinking more about themselves and less about their parents after marriage. But you have started that even before your marriage. You are just making lame excuses. Why don't you say that you want to get rid of your parents?"

"Maushi, where is your mother? Answer me! Where is she? She is in the village. Am I right? One of your brothers used to live in the village. But he came to the city with his wife. Don't you speak about him proudly? Don't you say that has a good business and takes care of his mother. If he does it, you call it 'progress' but if I try to do the same thing, you call it 'selfishness'. Why?"

Chaitali fell silent. Ajay went to his room which was rather small. There were just 2 rooms in their house. When his grandparents were alive, they used to sleep in one room and he used to sleep in the other room along with his brother and his parents. When he and his brother were young, they used to sleep on the bed with their parents. When they grew up, they used to sleep on the floor.

His brother shifted to the other room after the death of his grandparents. When he got married, his wife started staying in that room along with him.

But Ajay was getting married too. Where would he stay? They did not have any other room. He might have to sleep in the kitchen.
How could he ask his wife to sleep in the kitchen? How could he tell his wife to 'adjust' because they had just two rooms? After marriage, they would need privacy. How could they get it without having a separate room?

Once, some of his relatives visited their house. There were six people - an old man, his old wife, their son , their daughter-in-law and two grandchildren. All of them had come from the village for the treatment of the old man. The young man said to Ajay's father, "We need to stay here for a month."

His father agreed to host them in his house for a month. But this hospitality took a toll on his sister-in-law. The old woman and her daughter-in-law used to criticize the food cooked by his sister-in-law and taunt her. Things became unbearable when his mother joined them and started taunting his sister-in-law everyday.

The guests were given Bhavesh's room. Bhavesh and his wife Swati had to sleep in the kitchen. They were 'adjusting' in order to provide comfort to the guests.

Then, the unexpected happened. They had to extend their stay for another month. As a result of the continued discomfort and taunts, Bhavesh and Swati's relationship started straining.

One morning, he woke up quite early. He was walking near the kitchen when he heard the old woman scolding his sister-in-law. He tried to listed to their conversation.

"I wonder, how can a woman be so shameless."

"Aaji....."

"Keep quiet! You can't shut your mouth, right? Last night, you were moaning so loudly. Do you have to announce to everyone that your husband is showing his love to you?"

"I was not that loud, Aaji. This room is like that. We can hear the conversations in the kitchen from that room."

"Look at her excuses! And what were you doing last night? You were instructing Bhavesh and asking him to pleasure you. How can you do this? He is your man! It is your responsibility to keep him satisfied. Not the other way around. You cannot demand love from him in this way."

"But what is wrong with that, Aaji? Just like he has rights on me, I have rights on him too. I can ask my husband to pleasure me. There is nothing wrong with that."

"You demand love from your husband, you moan and lose control over yourself and now, you are talking back. Only shameless women lose control over themselves. What do you think of yourself? Who are you? Look at yourself! Bhavesh should have listened to me and married my granddaughter. He would have got an obedient and pious wife instead of a shameless woman."

"Enough! You have spoken enough. What I do with my husband is not your business. I am tolerating you but that doesn't mean that you will speak whatever you feel like."

"Look at this insolent woman! She has no shame at all. Is this how you speak to your elders? It has been a year since you got married. But still, you don't have any child. You know how to shamelessly demand your husband to pleasure you but, you do not how to give birth to his children. God alone knows why Bhavesh is tolerating a barren and insolent woman like you."

The next day, Bhavesh dropped her at her parents' house. She returned only after the guests had left. But then, his mother scolded her and behaved rudely with her for several days. It was evident that the old woman had instigated his mother against his sister-in-law.

He did not want his wife to face these things and that is one of the reasons why, he wanted a separate house. Was he wrong?