‘I am too tired of all this.’
‘Of what? These parties or the work pressure?’
‘Both.’
Payal was confused with his reply.
‘But you love these parties, right?’
‘I used to but not anymore.’
Right then the wall clock of the living room struck 1am. Payal immediately picked up the remaining plates from the table, went to the kitchen and came back after dumping them in the sink.
‘Sameer, can we talk at length about this tomorrow? I have to report for the shoot early tomorrow morning and I really don’t want to go with red eyes.’
Sameer nodded in agreement but he really wanted to finish the discussion. Payal kissed him good night and left. Sameer gently walked up to the easy chair and sat there for few minutes but his mind was quite disturbed, so he picked up couple of Amstel Lights from the fridge and went out to the balcony.
Contrary to the calmness at the beach, his inner soul was searching for the answers to his woes. He gulped those beers in quick succession but the uneasiness inside him was way beyond cure.
He walked out of his home to the beach and sat there watching the waves hit the shore. After spending about an hour he came back to the easy chair. He went to sleep sitting there and dreamt about his first encounter with me in which we’d discussed his wish list of An Ideal Wife.
‘I want my wife not to crib or complain about parties at home and during these parties she should happily look after my friends,’ Sameer explained yet another quality of his Ideal Wife to me.
‘Now what is this for?’ I inquired.
‘I love house parties and I want my wife to enjoy them as well without cribbing.’
I touched Sameer’s forehead with my right palm.
‘What are you doing?’
‘Just checking if everything is okay with you.’
Sameer just kept looking at me.
‘You are asking for the impossible buddy. Cribbing is an inherent trait of a woman especially when it comes to organising parties at home.’
‘Then what’s the use of promising me the moon when you can’t even get me an electric bulb?’
‘I will try my level best.’
‘Try vry nahin, I need it, period,’ an adamant Sameer instructed.
Sameer came back from the dream as soon as he spoke the lines and started shouting.
‘Nahin, I don’t need this, I don’t need this.’
Payal, in half sleep, came running out of the bedroom.
‘What happened? What happened?’
Sameer looked around and found there was no one and then he looked at Payal.
‘What happened?’
‘Nothing.’
‘Then why did you shout?’
‘Just had a bad dream.’
‘Was it too bad?’
Sameer smiled a bit and winked.
‘A little, you go and sleep, tomorrow you have to go early,’ Sameer coyly covered the situation.
Payal kissed him and went back to the bedroom.
16
God’s wisdom
The wall clock struck seven in the morning. Payal shouted while rushing towards the door to leave for the shoot
‘Honey, I am leaving.’
Sameer didn’t respond.
‘I am leaving; I’ll be late.’
Sameer still didn’t say a word, which made Payal a little worried. She came back near him and waved her hand in front of his face but no different was the story.
‘Honey, are you okay?’ Payal finally shook him up.
‘Hmmmmm.’
‘Are you okay?’
‘Yeah yeah, I am fine. Why haven’t you left? You are already getting late,’ Sameer said looking at his watch.
‘Was just leaving but I think I should cancel the shoot.’
‘No, no, no, I am fine; you just go,’ Sameer almost pushed her to leave.
Payal looked at her watch and got little worried.
‘You sure?’
‘Positive.’
Payal kissed him on his cheek and left.
After some time, Sameer got up and went inside the kitchen, made himself a cup of coffee, came out to the balcony to pick up the newspaper. While enjoying his coffee in a slightly chilly morning and going through the usual daily dose of news, he heard some noises in his apartment complex. He looked down and saw the kids were having some discussion while playing cricket.
‘No you can’t play with us,’ one of the kids said to Sachin (the same kid who wanted to take two turns with no fielding).
‘Why?’
‘We already told you.’
‘What?’
‘If you have to play with us then you will have to field first and you will get your batting turn only in the end.’
‘I will do the fielding first but at least give me the batting chance when my turn comes. I will also share my new kit with you guys.’
Sachin showed his brand new cricket kit to the other kids.
‘We don’t need your kit. You played till we needed it.’
Sachin kept looking at the other kids.
‘Decide quickly, we don’t have much time,’ another kid threatened him.
Sachin wasn’t happy as his plan to lure them with the new cricket kit also failed.
‘Okay, I’ll take my batting turn in the end only,’ reluctantly he agreed to play on their conditions.
Sameer was pretty surprised to see that Sachin agreed to play on their terms. While he was still looking at the kid who had started fielding by then, he heard a doorbell. He opened the door and was pleasantly surprised to see me in my taxi driver uniform at the door.
‘Do you have change?’ I showed him a thousand-rupee note.
‘What?’
‘Not sure why people take taxi in the morning when they don’t have change. Luckily I had to drop the customer in your apartment complex. She is waiting downstairs, please hurry.’
Sameer gave me the change. I was about to leave when Sameer shouted from behind.
‘Please come back, I need to talk about something very important with you.’
‘Now? Can we do it tonight after I finish my shift? I have to earn to pay the taxi rent,’ I responded showing my helplessness.
‘It won’t take much time and don’t worry about the taxi rent, I’ll take care of it.’
‘I already have to return your money, can’t take any more. Hope it won’t take much time.’
‘I promise,’ Sameer assured me.
‘I’ll be right back then!’ I said and left.
By the time I came back Sameer was ready with my favourite Costa coffee.
‘You sure do know how to get your work done,’ I said after taking a sip.
‘I really need your help to come out of the mess in my life,’ Sameer asked helplessly.
‘Mess in your life? Then you should try living one day of my life. More than 12 hours shift, preparing food after the tiring shift, barely 5 hours of sleep on a hard concrete floor with five drunk drivers. And you are talking about mess in your life!’
‘I can understand your situation but please focus on my problem at present,’ Sameer was pretty damned self-centred right now.
‘Again you and you only. When are you going to learn?’
Sameer got more depressed hearing this from me. After a while I spoke realising that I had been a little too harsh on Sameer.
‘Okay, okay tell me what do you want?’
‘Please solve my problems.’
‘Man, you got all the qualities you wanted in your Ideal wife. What more can I do for you?’ I expressed my helplessness. I also knew how to play hardball. I really wanted him to realise that he had to struggle this time. I am struggling here to make my ends meet just because of him and he wanted everything easy.
‘I know I’ve got everything I wanted in my wife but why am I not happy?’
‘Just because of you I am driving a taxi here,’ I lamented.
‘Please do som
ething otherwise I might die of this suffocation in my life,’ Sameer’s pleading continued.
‘How selfish! That’s the reason you haven’t got the solution to your problems till now.’
Sameer went down on his knees and pleaded again.
‘Please, please, please…please do something.’
‘Okay okay, let me think.’
I was finally moved by Sameer’s gesture.
‘Can you please get me another coffee?’ I also needed my energy drink.
Sameer left to get me another cup of coffee and I sat quietly on the easy chair. I went back to all the qualities Sameer wanted in his ideal wife along with the reasons he gave for demanding those qualities.
Sameer came back with another cup of coffee. I took a sip from it and thought for a while before venting my wisdom.
‘There is only one solution, as I see it.’ Finally the coffee worked its charm.
Sameer was all ears.
‘Why don’t you arrange another party at home?’
‘What? They are one of the prime reasons for all my problems and you are asking me to arrange another one!’ Sameer replied, aghast.
‘Sometimes the problem is the solution; you just have to look inversely.’
My logic baffled him.
‘Please don’t talk in circles and come straight to the point.’
‘Till now, you have been seeing all these parties from your point of view; just once pay attention to them from another person’s perspective,’ I explained my logic.
‘I am still not clear,’ Sameer replied.
I took another sip of the coffee and decided to leave but turned back as I neared the door.
‘Remember, sometimes it’s difficult to read the book if it’s too close to your eyes,’ I provided another explanation and left.
Sameer couldn’t comprehend anything so he just went down for a stroll in his apartment complex.
While taking a stroll, Sameer looked at the cricket playing kids. He was surprised to see that Sachin (the kid who didn’t want to field earlier) was actually enjoying the fielding. He even refused to bat and insisted on fielding and bowling only. Sameer walked up to Sachin and asked him curiously.
‘Why aren’t you taking your batting turn?’
Sachin was quite focused on fielding, so he gestured to Sameer to wait and ran after the ball, picked it up and threw it back to the wicketkeeper. Sachin came back to his mid-off position. Sameer was anxiously waiting for an answer.
‘I never knew that fielding and bowling would be so much fun. Not sure why I never tried them before!’
Sachin dived to stop another ball going to the boundary. This great fielding effort brought a lot of appreciation for him from his teammates. Attention-seeker Sachin was in seventh heaven.
Sameer still wasn’t clear but he decided not to bother Sachin anymore and walked back home.
17
The big realisation
A few days later, Sameer’s house was buzzing with another party, which he threw quite reluctantly. As expected, everyone but Sameer was enjoying the party. Sameer was wandering in the party while searching for the elusive solution to his problems.
He saw his friend Ramesh was enjoying a large peg of Scotch even when his wife, Komal, was sitting next to him. He was quite surprised as Komal never allowed Ramesh to drink.
‘Kya baat hai bhai, drink shrink and that too in front of Komal?’ Sameer poked fun at Ramesh.
‘Bhai, you know how I am; I wanted to drink more but she never liked it.’
‘And I wanted him to leave it completely, which he never liked,’ Komal intervened.
‘That’s why we decided, it’s better to compromise than to fight every day over the same topic,’ Ramesh explained.
‘Now I allow him to have one drink everyday…jis se yeh bhi khush aur mein bhi,’ Komal clarified further.
‘Nice,’ Sameer smiled and left to meet other guests.
As he walked near the balcony he saw Kuldeep was having a cosy time with his wife. Sameer remembered that Kuldeep always complained that Renu didn’t enjoy lovemaking and spending time with him.
Sameer was too reluctant to ask them the secret of their happiness but it seemed god had better plans, so Sameer overheard the conversations of a few people about Kuldeep and Renu.
‘Look at Renu, how happy is she! She used to be so worked up earlier.’
‘Arre khush kyon nahin hogi…ever since Kuldeep has started helping her in the house Renu’s life has become a lot lighter. Earlier she had to devote all her time to both office and home, and she was just plain tired! Now Kuldeep is sharing home responsibilities, which has improved their love life tremendously.’
Sameer looked at his wife who was running around from one couple to another serving them whatever they wanted. Sameer wanted to speak to her but she was way too busy.
The party got over quite late and right after cleaning, Payal got ready to leave for her modelling assignment. Sameer thought of speaking to her but he saw her reaching the door. She turned and spoke to him.
‘Okay honey, will see you tomorrow afternoon.’
‘Where are you going at this time?’ Sameer asked as he looked at his watch, which was showing 1am.
‘For the shoot.’
‘Shoot?’
‘Yeah, because of this party I had to postpone my ad shoot. I was feeling bad about it but you had asked to arrange this party without any notice. I am glad the director understood my problem.’
‘Darling, I wanted to speak to you about something important.’
Right then she got a phone call from her director.
‘Yes sir, I am just leaving. Will be there in half an hour. Bye.’
She looked at Sameer who was looking a little dejected and even a tad angry.
‘Can’t it wait till tomorrow afternoon?’ Payal asked.
‘Are you sure you would have time for me then?’ Sameer jibed.
‘Why are you saying that? I did whatever you told me to do even though I had a shoot.’
‘So you did me a big huge favour!’
‘I didn’t say that!’ Payal tried to clarify very calmly.
‘But that’s what you meant!’
‘Darling, please wait till tomorrow afternoon. We will sort everything out.’
‘No, I want to talk now. You cancel your shoot.’
‘Baby, that’s not professional. Please don’t make it impossible for me, I am already getting late.’
‘You leave everything.’
‘But you wanted me to continue working, right?’
Sameer just remained quiet.
‘How can I stop everything just like that? Give me 15 days, I’ll finish my outdoor shoot starting tomorrow night and then I’ll stop everything,’ Payal explained.
‘What???? You are going out for 15 days and you didn’t even bother to tell me.’
‘Darling, I told you few days ago.’
‘When? I don’t remember anything.’
‘Remember when you were on leave from office?’
‘So you want to say; only you work and I relax the whole day’
‘Sameer, please don’t twist my words. I just mentioned……’
But before she could finish Sameer cut her short.
‘Haan haan, bolo ki mein kaamchor hoon.’
Sameer’s sarcasm was the last nail in the coffin.
‘Sorry, I am getting late. I have to go now.’
‘Why don’t you go forever?’
‘That’s what you want?’
‘Do you care?’
‘Tell me that’s what you want?’
‘Yes,’ Sameer replied angrily.
‘Okay, I’ll do that too. Have I ever said no to you for anything?’ Payal left with tears in her eyes.
Sameer got really upset and went inside the bedroom. He was unable to understand the reason behind his anger. After sometime he picked up a couple of beer pints from the fridge and sat on the easy chair.
While sitt
ing on the chair he went back to all the things that had happened to him and he started relating them to the events a small kid had to go through to play cricket with his friends.
He understood that even a kid had to make compromises to play cricket with other kids and those compromises also made him lot happier.
He realised that just like cricket, marriage is teamwork and one cannot dictate one’s whims and fancies on the other person. He also remembered that his friends and their spouses made compromises to run their marriage smoothly. He understood that for a successful marriage, both people ought to adjust to each other’s needs and wants.
He was feeling extremely bad that in spite of being in the wrong, he had the cheek to be angry at Payal whereas she had tried to handle the situation with maturity. He tried to call her many times but the call didn’t go through. He got restless and decided to meet her at once.
He didn’t even bother to call the lift and went running down straight to his car. The car had a flat tyre! He got more pissed to see that even the extra wheel in the boot was flat. He immediately ran out of his apartment complex and got into a taxi but he didn’t know where to go. He once again dialled Payal’s number and got really excited to see that it went through this time.
‘Come on Payal, please pick up the phone.’
Payal was extremely busy shooting and her phone was on silent mode, so she didn’t even realise that Sameer was calling her. After a few more futile attempts Sameer banged his phone in anger on the rear seat of the taxi.
‘Abb kahan dhundun usse!’
Right then Sameer heard a voice.
‘May I help you, Mr. Sameer?’
I turned towards Sameer with a huge smile on my face. Sameer was delighted to see that I was the taxi driver
‘Do you know where she is?’
I smiled again.
‘Oh gosh, what am I saying? Please take me to her.’
‘Seems like my bad days are about to end. Here I go full throttle.’
I drove very fast towards the shooting location. Sameer was amazed at my maneuverability.
‘It’s because of this skill I got promoted to god status,’ I explained.
Sameer smiled and I smiled back.
After about half an hour of driving, we reached the shooting location, Filmcity at Goregaon (East), but found that the shooting was over and Payal had already left for the airport.
An Ideal Wife Page 13