It was a sunny morning. There were quite a few people in the park, soaking in the sunlight on a winter day.

Stuti was one of them. She was sitting down on a bench, watching the birds on the nearby trees.

Engrossed as she was, she noticed her neighbour and friend Amrita was walking in her direction. They said hi and met each other.

Stuti and Amrita had been married on the same day. They discovered the fact when they had met almost a decade ago in one of the community events.

Notwithstanding the common date, they had become good friends, and met quite often. It was however, time for Amrita’s morning walk. So after some small talk, Amrita continued her walking while Stuti sat back on the same bench.

Stuti had been divorced for a couple of years. She and her husband of fifteen years had decided to part ways. She had their son staying with her, as he was still seven. And she had chosen to remain single.

It was hard to be alone at this age. After having spent the prime years of her youth in a steady relationship, and having been married for a decade and a half, she couldn’t have imagined this. And while she adored her son, being a single parent alongside her job was stressful.

She thought about Amrita’s situation. Amrita and her husband had two kids. She knew Amrita was not very happy in her marriage but she had decided to stay put for the sake of her children.

They had talked about it a couple of times but Stuti knew that Amrita had made peace with her situation and was doing it only because she wanted to ensure her children had both the parents while growing up. She had focused all her energies on them.

As Stuti thought about Amrita’s situation, she wondered if she and Arun could have continued together. It would have been so much easier and better for their son. She would have had to make some sacrifices but maybe it would have been worth it.

Having chosen the other path, she now had to live it. All alone. Stuti closed her eyes and wished things would have been different…

Unbeknownst to her, Amrita had come full circle in the park and then as she saw Stuti for the second time, was thinking otherwise.

What if she could be as brave as Stuti and chose to part ways with Manoj in an incompatible marriage? How she could do so much for herself. Managing kids wasn’t going to be easy but she knew she could do it.

Amrita thought about these possibilities and wished things could be different…

After a while, they both, in their individual minds, sighed and left things as is, walking out of the park to get on with their day.

Maybe in a different life they would have chosen differently. For this life, the decision they had made was made and the consequences were being lived out daily…