Her Hubby’s Helmet

Anand always hated wearing a helmet. He would curse the law that made wearing helmets mandatory for two wheeler riders.

  “Dear,” his wife Malati pleaded with him on a busy morning when he was starting out for office.”won’t you wear the helmet for my sake?”

  “No dear,”Anand shook his head firmly,”don’t entertain any doubts about my driving skills. I am safe enough without a helmet on my head.”

  “But listen to me dear,” Malati argued with him, “you know the accident rate is going up in the city. Don’t you read in the newspapers that many two wheeler riders without helmets are getting killed in road accidents? The helmet is a safety measure. Isn’t it dear?”

  “Not at all,”Anand pooh poohed her advice,”a helmet cannot prevent death. That is evident from the statistics which say that the helmeted heads of the two wheelers riders also were crushed to pulp in road accidents. So give up the silly idea of making my head accident proof with a helmet.”

  That was Anand’s adamant attitude about the issue and Malati’s arguments about the safety of wearing a helmet fell on deaf ears.

  Why was Anand so averse to wearing a helmet? Did he believe in the baseless argument that wearing a helmet made one’s head bald or that long use of a helmet would compress the brain which may damage intellectual capabilities in the long run? 

  No, nothing of that kind.

  Anand was reluctant to put a helmet on his head when he rode on his motorbike just because that hideous thing - the helmet would spoil his lovely curling hair. At eight in the morning, he would sit before the dressing table and apply the costliest hair cream to his curly hair. Then he would comb it in a beautiful way. He would flaunt it before his wife, who would compliment him,”dear, now you look gorgeous.”         

  No doubt, Anand has due consideration for his wife’s feelings. But when it came to wearing a helmet, he found himself in a fix.

  As Malati entreated him earlier, for her sake he imagined himself with a helmet on his head. A helmeted Anand rode to his office but shuddered to see his hair awkwardly pressed to the scalp like a thickly laid tarmac road. He bent before the rear view mirror of his motorbike and combed for ten minute but his hair didn’t curl up again. Anand sincerely believed that his likening of his curly hair to that of a tarmac road would turn out to be real if he put on a helmet on his head.

  Malati realised that she could not make her husband wear the helmet through argument. So she wanted to appeal to his sentiment. “Dear” she broached the subject again, serving him hot steaming coffee as he returned from office, “would you love me sincerely?”

  “Malati!” Anand said, shocked.”What makes you doubt my love?”

  “Nothing dear” Malati said, calculating her words.”If you love me sincerely, can’t you wear the helmet for my sake? Wouldn't it be terrible for me to imagine a life without you in case something dreadful happens to you?”

  “Oh, Malati,” Anand put down the empty coffee cup on the table and stroked her hair affectionately. “As long as I am alert while driving, I am safe on the road. Don’t be worried about it anymore. I hope that this will be the last time you talked about road safety and helmets.”

  Malati did not miss the decisiveness in his voice. She could not do anything. She left the responsibility of saving her husband on the road to God. As she prayed to God, a bright idea occurred to her. She made a supplication to the Almighty to bring about a change in her husband’s attitude and make him wear a helmet. “God is there and He will do the needful” she thought and felt relieved.

  Anand, doing multiplications and subtractions on the calculator at his office, was sorry for having hurt his wife’s feelings the other day. But there was no other go, he reasoned to himself. He would do anything to please his wife except wearing a helmet on his head. He remembered having said once that he would fight even a ferocious lion to win Malati’s hand. Of course it was easier to bring down a lion than wearing  the bloody helmet on the head for Anand. Also to his disgust, the smooth surface of the helmet looked like the clean shaven head of a monk.

  He again remembered with a chuckle Malati’s obsession with helmets. Malati did not like the helmets with visors. She was afraid that the visor might come off and damage the eyes in case of an accident. Nor did she like the open helmets for they would smash the face of the motorbike rider in case of an accidental fall. So she bought for Anand a helmet with a metal face guard. But when the bright helmet appeared on the table in the drawing room on a fateful evening, it sparked off a bitter quarrel between the couple.

  When the small hand and the big hand of the wall clock reached five and six respectively, Anand put an end to his thoughts and got up. He left the office.

  Riding along the main road that was notorious for frequent traffic jams and fatal accidents, Anand was daydreaming that he and Malati were going to dine at a five star hotel and watch a late night movie.

  But his daydreams were rudely shaken by the traffic jam. As he watched a small crowd a few yards away, he made his way through the jammed vehicles of various descriptions. Now right before him was a lorry and in front of it lay a badly damaged scooter of his bosom friend Raghu. A good samaritan was helping Raghu to his feet.

  Anand stepped forward. Intense emotions seized him. He hugged Raghu and cried,”Thank God! Are you alright?”

  Gradually recovering from the shock of the accident, Raghu pointed at the cracked helmet on his head, “But for this helmet, my head would have been crushed like a potato. A cracked helmet is better than a cracked head. Isn’t it?” Raghu tried to be humorous. 

  Anand imagined himself in place of Raghu without a helmet. His mind pictured Malati in widow weeds for a full minute. “Oh my God! It shouldn’t happen like that.” he muttered.

  Walking back home after the late night movie, Anand put his arm round Malati’s slim shoulder and said,”Dust my helmet and keep it ready, dear, I am going to wear it from tomorrow.”

  It was a pleasant surprise for Malati.”There is God”she sighed. “He answered my prayer.”