Lapse Realised

  Vinay and Vanita would have been made an ideal couple if their married life had not been marred by typhoons in the tea cup. Vinay and Vanita were no doubt affectionate to each other, but the hitch came when Vanita always disapproved of the selection of sarees, jewels and commetics by Vinay.

  “Sorry dear,”Vanita would pout her lips in utter disapproval, “the saree you’ve selected for me doesn’t suit my complexion at all.”

  Vinay was stung to the quick at Vanita’s disapproval. “Sorry to have disappointed you, dear,”he would offer an explanation meekly. “You’re of golden brown complexion and I thought that this pale yellow colour saree would suit you excellently.”

  “You’re mistaken Vinay” Vanita would retort., “Only scarlet red saree would suit my complexion and slender figure as well.”

  As a natural consequence of Vanita’s disapproval, Vinay would return the saree to the cloth shop owner with a hurt sentiment. He could not help it.

  The same scene was enacted between them when Vinay bought her a gold necklace, studded with square stones. “Oh Vinay,” Vanita was angry with her husband again, “A necklace with round stones only would suit my conch shaped neck well. Don’t you know it?”

  Vinay was too loving a husband to burst out against his wife. “Sorry dear,” he said as if offering an explanation. “I do agree that I have a poor taste.”

  Vinay always received the same treatment even when he selected cosmetics for Vanita.

   If he selected a rose colour lip-stick for her, she would say that she preferred only red colour lipstick for her ruby coloured lips. The selection of face powder, snow and perfumed hair oil by  Vinay was time and again rejected by Vanita. So Vinay had given up the habit of buying things for her. Instead, he gave her money to do the shopping by herself.

  When Vinay’s friends made excellent selections for their wives or fiancees, his sentiment gnawed at his heart. But he got used to it. He told himself that he was not fortunate enough to select anything for his beloved.

  Though it was a bitter pill for him to swallow when Raghu or Ramesh met him at the canteen during lunch hour and told him that the saree he selected was greatly liked by his life.

  All this Vinay bore with great fortitude. He did not say an ill word to his friends about his wife.

  But Vanita was not at all aware of what was going on in Vinay’s mind. When Vinay put on a wry face during the ‘selection wars’ she simply thought that her husband lacked good taste. That was all.

  Of late Vinay was becoming very moody. When Vanita gave him a cup of coffee early in the morning, he would take it silently, drink it and put the empty cup down. Then he would bury his head in the newspaper. But in the happier days of their wedded life, Vinay imprinted a kiss on Vanita’s cheek when she had brought him his coffee. Also the ‘send off ceremony’ while going to office became casual. No more kissing and hugging while going to the office.

  Gradually Vanita also began to feel that there was something wrong with Vinay. But she was quite unconscious about the mental agony she was causing to Vinay. She reasoned to herself that career worries might have made him moody now-a-days.

  While days were rolling on heavily, one day Vanita complained to Vinay that she was suffering from splitting headaches and her sight was growing dim.

  When the general pain killers did not work, Vinay was alarmed. He took Vanita to an ophthalmologist. Vinay expressed his doubts and fears whether Vanita was suffering from Glaucoma, an irreversible optical disease in which eye sight is lost gradually.

  The eye specialist dispelled his fears and prescribed eye glasses and Vitamin-A tablets for Vanita.

  While going back home, Vanay was very tender to her and told her many pleasant things in the taxi.

  But it was a short-lived happiness. When it came to selecting the frame for the eyeglasses, Vanita became her old self again and stubbornly rejected the frame selected by Vinay. “Don’t you know Vinay? ''Vanita said petulantly, “this rimless gold frame doesn't suit my round face. Why don’t you exchange it for a black coloured one?”

  “Of course I do,”Vinay said wearily. “But let us go to the shop together.” 

At the optician’s shop, Vinay sat on the sofa with a resigned look over his face. By that time Vanita had already tried more than a dozen frames. She put on each and every frame and looked at herself in the mirror. She pouted her lips and said that this frame didn’t suit her well and that frame didn’t fit her eyes well. “Vinay,” she said, “let’s go to some other shop.”

  Vinay got up and followed her. He didn’t say anything. He was grim.

  When they were about to move out of the shop, another couple entered. The young man asked the shopkeeper to show the most beautiful frame. The shopkeeper showed one. The young man put it on his wife’s big, round eyes and exclaimed,”dear, you look gorgeous with this frame.” 

  “Then dear,”she replied,”let me have it.”

  “But madame,”the shopkeeper said out of professional courtesy.”You can try some other frames too.”

  “Yes dear,”the young man said,”you have a wide choice here.”

  “No dear” she replied, looking at him with half-closed eyes which spoke of many things,”I know how much you adore me. You know what frame suits me best. Your selection is my selection.”

  Vinay could no longer control his anger that was seething within him for many months now. “Vanita,”he said gritting his teeth,”that lady seems to love her husband. Isn’t it?

  Vanita could not grasp for a while what he was saying. When she realised it, she was stunned.
“Were her casual observations that Vinay had a poor taste was the root cause of his extreme sulkiness all these months? As she realised that it was she who caused her husband’s silent anger though unconsciously, her eyes were filled with tears. Now she recollected how cruelly she rejected the sparkling diamond ring he presented her with, on their nuptial night. Then she had not the least idea as to how heartless she was to have rejected the ring which he presented with a thousand dreams. She didn’t think that her heartless response would have devastated their married life. The thought that it was time now to make amends for her rudeness. She wanted to win back Vinay's love. She looked at him through tears and said,”Dear, your selection is my selection. Choose the best frame for my eyes.”