Where are the boundaries in words?
Bites of a Loving Husband#1
It was already 10 p.m., by the time we reached home, and as expected, dear husband expressed his annoyance by banging the door shut to our bedroom. After years of facing similar scenes, one kind of gets used to it.
I still remember the first time I had been on stage after marriage, hosting the annual function at the school I used to teach 20 years ago. Everything had gone well, with a lot of appreciation coming my way, from the dignitaries, colleagues, and parents, for what they called an ‘excellent presentation’.
Naturally, with a proud smile, I came out to meet my dear husband, who had attended to witness the hosting of his beloved wife. He was surrounded by some of our acquaintances who were also parents of the kids in the school I worked. When I reached, I heard them praising my diction, stage confidence, and my overall ability to engage the audience. Dear husband was listening to them with a fixed smile, which I initially had failed to see. Naturally.
As soon as they saw me, I was once again congratulated profusely before they all went their way. I finally turned towards the dear husband, and then, the look on his face instantly wiped out the smile I had worn the whole evening.
“Shall we go, or do you want to continue hearing about your show stopper performance till midnight?” were the words with which I received his first appreciation.
Then, not bothering to see if I was following or not, he just turned around and stomped towards the parking area. The jolt of his words chucked me out once and forever from the illusionary bliss of my domestic life.
The days that followed proved (in profuse words and actions) his inability to digest that — the simple, sundar, susheel (beautiful with typical Indian patriarchal feminine qualities) wife he married to grace his house has also adorned the wings of other skills. His wife simply couldn’t just blend in when she was born to stand out, which to his chagrin, seriously threatened his own narcissist limelight.
Unfortunately, he could not order me to leave the job, as it would have tarnished his public image of a modern, progressive husband of the new age. Over the years, I grew from a school teacher to a college lecturer and to associated higher designations, but my dear husband has been stuck in the limbo of his public image and the original — insecure, egoistic self, mirrored and unleashed only within these walls.
As I stood in the living room ruminating about similar scenes each time in the years gone by, the door malevolently jerked out, as anticipated. And my dear husband once again hurled me back to earth by his next words — “Hope you had the time to cook dinner before going for the free display of your Great-Self, or were you hoping to have dinner too, surrounded by your ardent admirers?”
And I knew ordering a take-out would just further worsen the darts of words. But then are there any boundaries to such dart-full words? Is there any limit to the darts that can be hurled at a dartboard?
Everything in the universe has a boundary — right from cells to galaxies. What about words? Do the boundaries set in ethics, etiquettes, humanity, and manners really form any boundary?
This piece of real-life fiction is in response to the prompt at Promptly Written
Thank you Ravyne Hawke for the amazing prompts.
Please do share your views and tag me to similar Bites of Loving Husband.
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