‘I’m really sorry,’ she said moved. ‘I’ll never make that mistake again.’
‘It’s not entirely your fault,’ he said, as he took her into his arms. ‘I should’ve known that any bride would be sensitive when it comes to her parents. You may know that I value your parents as much as I do mine.’
‘I love your mind as well,’ she said, melting in his embrace, ‘I’m proud of you, really.’
It is in the realms of man’s vision to ennoble his woman by enabling her taste the fruits of femininity rather than succumbing to her whims for his gratification with her allurements.
~~~~~
After grappling with Bombay’s gripping humidity for a week, the Raja Raos had to encounter New Delhi’s sweltering heat that June-end.
‘This is our sweet home,’ said Raja Rao, as he took Sandhya round that modest two-bedroom apartment and as if to buttress his feelings, she joined her lips with his.
‘It tastes all the sweeter,’ he said at length.
‘In our sweet home,’ she said leaning on his chest.
‘Basically I was a spendthrift, and besides, I never bothered to acquire things,’ he said, in explanation of the obvious lack of furniture and fittings in the dwelling. ‘But now I know that my bachelor ways won’t do any longer.’
‘Why don’t I take up a job?’ she said enthusiastically.
‘A thousand or more that you could earn may not be needed now,’ he said taking her into his arms, ‘but won’t be sufficient later if the need arises. I suggest you improve your qualification and acquire skills for a paying career.’
‘I always felt I’ve an aptitude for interior design,’ she said excitedly. ‘What about a diploma course.’
‘By that you can complement my work at architecture,’ he said approvingly. ‘And that is as and when we go on our own. Maybe, we could bring our package deals on board.’
‘It would be great indeed,’ she kissed him.
As she moved about the place thereafter, Sandhya felt the space was her very own. As though to express her gratitude to him for having given her that feeling, she enlaced him from behind, and said fondling him, ‘Now that I’ve got a home that I can call mine own, I’ve come to feel that I’ve an identity of my own.’
‘Why forget about me?’ he said in jest, and added, ‘It’s as well that we all need some space on which we’ve the lien. While man takes to his workplace, woman clings to the kitchen. Try asking a clerk to move his table to an inferior corner, he might not oppose but he would resent nevertheless. The mother-in-law syndrome is rooted mainly in woman’s compulsive need to reign in her home. When she is forced to share it with her daughter-in-law, she shows it in not-so-subtle ways. When it comes to a woman’s equation with her man, it’s said she might even share his bed with another but wouldn’t suffer a rival in her kitchen, strange though it may seem!’