Wedding Anniversary

By Vikram Karve

For those who have been lucky to have a love marriage, there is an important day to celebrate called wedding anniversary.

For me and my wife, surviving one of those quintessential arranged marriages, our wedding anniversary is just another day.

That is why, instead of romancing each other over candlelight dinner, my wife and I are browsing books at the bookstore.

Suddenly my wife says to me, “Arun, look...!”

“Where?” I ask.

“There, near the window – look at the woman in the red dress,” my wife says, pointing her hand.

I look at the woman in the red dress.

“Don’t you know who she is?” my wife asks excitedly.

“No,” I say.

“She is Nisha – the famous romantic author,” my wife says ardently.

“I’ve never heard of her,” I say nonchalantly.

“You come with me,” my wife says and I follow her towards the bestseller rack near the entrance, where she pulls out a paperback from the shelf and shows me the photo of the woman in the red dress on the back-cover.

“Yes, it is her,” I say, “let’s go home.”

“Come, Arun, let’s meet her and get her autograph on this book…” my wife says.

“No…” I interrupt, “she’s browsing…she won’t like to be disturbed…let’s go…” I say and I turn towards the exit.

“Please…”

“No…don’t give these authors too much importance…let’s go home…” I say irritably, motioning my wife with my eyes.

“You go. I’m going to get her autograph on this book,” my wife says, and she starts walking towards the woman in red who is still absorbed nose deep into browsing the book in her hand.

I turn and quietly walk into the philosophy section and browse books.

After a while my wife comes and says, “She wants to meet you…”

“Who?”

“Nisha – the author…”

“But I don’t want to…”

“Hi Arun, remember me?” says the woman in the red dress suddenly appearing in front of me.

I am struck dumb.

“Arun and me had a real good time together in college,” the woman in the red dress says to my wife, then looks at me and says, “You remember what all we did, don’t you, Arun?”

I avert my eyes and I wish the earth below me would split and swallow me up.

“Hey Arun darling, you’ve told her all about us, haven’t you?” the woman in the red dress says loudly, digging her fangs into me like a snake, and seeing the horror-struck expression on my face the woman turns and speaks to my wife, “I am really sorry, but I thought there was no place for secrets between husband and wife….”

“Of course Arun has told me everything about you Nisha. Everything, he has told me every single thing,” my wife says emphatically to the woman in the red dress looking her in the eye, and then turns to me and says, “shall we go home, Arun ?”

Mesmerized, awestruck, I look at my wife and for the first time in my life I feel a flood of love for her.

That was the moment I fell in love with my wife.

FROM: Academic & Creative Writing Journal