Posts Tagged ‘romance’
October 24, 2014
Academic and Creative Writing Journal Vikram Karve: DON’T WORRY, BE HAPPY – A Humorous Story.
Link to my original post in my academic and creative writing journal:
http://karvediat.blogspot.in/201…
DON’T WORRY, BE HAPPY
(A Humorous Story)
By
VIKRAM KARVE
From my Creative Writing Archives:
One of my humorous fiction stories – I wrote this story more than 4 years ago, in the year 2010
WORRY AMMA – a story by Vikram Karve
“I am worried,” she said.
“Worried…? About what…?” I asked.
“Marriage…”
“Marriage…? What marriage…? Whose marriage…?”
“My marriage, you stupid…” she admonished me.
“Your marriage…? But you are not getting married…!”
“That’s what I am worried about. Why am I not getting married? I am worried that I may never get married…”
“Of course you will get married…”
“Really…you think so…”
“Of course I think so…you are the most eligible girl…so beautiful…so talented…so educated…the best boys will queue up and ask for your hand in marriage…”
She did get married.
Yes, she got married at the right time and to the best boy.
But not before she subjected me to a few onslaughts of her terrible spells of worry.
For example, just before her engagement ceremony she took me aside and said, “I am worried…”
“Not now…!” I admonished.
“Don’t talk to me like that…you are the only one…”
“Okay, okay, tell me…”
“Do you really think we are compatible…?”
“Of course you are compatible…in fact you two are made for each other and your marriage will be a big success…” I assured her.
“Will he let me work after marriage…?”
“Of course, he will let you work…didn’t you both discuss it the other day…”
“Yes, but I am worried that in the heart of his heart he does not want me to work. ”
“I spoke to your fiancé. I asked him very clearly. He wants you to work and have a successful career…” I lied.
“Really…?”
“Yes…”
She had a flourishing marriage and a highly successful career but that did not stop her from bombarding me with her salvoes, fits and spells of worry whenever we met from time to time.
“I am worried. Will I have children?”
She had two – a boy and a girl.
“I am worried about my kids. What will they do in life? It is so difficult, there is so much competition.”
Both her children did very well.
Her son got into IIT, then into IIM, and got a very good job in an MNC.
Her daughter got into AIIMS, became a doctor, specialized in Gynaecology, and was working in a leading hospital.
But her blitzkrieg of worries continued unabated.
“I am worried.”
“Now what?”
“My children’s marriage, you fool. Will my son get a good girl, will she get along with me? My daughter….?”
Both her son and daughter got the best of spouses who got along very well with their in-laws.
In fact, her daughter-in-law doted on her and they stayed together as a happy joint family.
And her daughter who had married a colleague doctor lived nearby and visited her almost every day.
Still she kept worrying.
“I am worried.”
“Now what?”
“My daughter – her pregnancy – will her delivery be okay?”
“Come on, both she and her husband are the best gynaecologists in town. Surely there is no reason to worry.”
Her daughter had a very smooth pregnancy and delivered a bonny boy.
So did her daughter-in-law.
It seemed to be the end of her worries.
She and her husband were well off.
They had a beautiful house in the posh area of the Pune.
They enjoyed the best of health and they were looking forward to a satisfying retired life.
They were blessed with grandchildren and gave the impression of one happy family.
I envied her.
She had everything in the world.
She was really lucky.
At least now, there was absolutely no reason for her to worry.
Worry Amma, as I called her, came into my life when I was a small boy studying in the third standard.
She was our newly arrived neighbour’s daughter, my new classmate, and I was supposed to “guide” her and “look after her” especially as we travelled to school and back in the public bus (there were no school buses those days).
But most of the time it was she who was looking after me and making my life miserable with her constant worrying.
She was always worried:
Will the bus come on time?
Will she be late for assembly?
Will she do well in her exams?
She worries about her homework, and later, about how she looked, about her her crushes, everything – she worried about everything you can imagine.
I was her sounding board who she bombarded with her worries.
That’s why I secretly called her “Worry Amma.”
She did very well at studies.
So did I.
I thought she, like other girls would study arts, but to my horror she too joined the same IIT as I did and made my life miserable with her worries for the next five years.
And then, try as I did, I could not escape her salvoes of worry whenever we met.
In fact I seemed to have got so used to her that I missed her whenever we did not meet for some time.
Just like I was missing her now.
I had not met Worry Amma for over a month as she had gone on a holiday abroad with her husband and entire family.
“Hi, all alone?” Worry Amma accosted me as I was enjoying my SPDP at Vaishali.
She did not ask if she could join me – she just pulled a chair and sat opposite me.
“I am worried,” she said.
“Now what? Are you worried that you have nothing to be worried about?” I joked.
“I am worried about you.”
“Me? You are worried about me?” I gasped, choking on the food in my mouth.
Worry Amma looked at me with firm determination and said to me:
“Yes. You. I am really worried about you. Look at you. Living all alone. Eating all this junk food. Nobody to look after you. I am really worried about you. But don’t you worry – I will find you a nice wife.”
Now, I am worried.
VIKRAM KARVE
Copyright © Vikram Karve
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Disclaimer:
This story is a work of fiction. Events, Places, Settings and Incidents narrated in the story are a figment of my imagination. The characters do not exist and are purely imaginary. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
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© vikram karve., all rights reserved.
First Posted by me Vikram Karve in this blog at 5/17/2011 09:45:00 AM at url: http://karvediat.blogspot.in/201…
Posted by Vikram Karve at 10/24/2014 03:12:00 PM
Posted in creative, english, ezine, fiction, india, indian, karve, literature, online, pune, short, stories, story, vikram, vikram karve, vikram waman karve, women, writing | Tags: blog, blogging, humor, humour, love, romance, worry |
May 11, 2012
Posted in creative, english, ezine, fiction, india, indian, karve, literature, novel, online, pune, sex, short, stories, story, travel, vikram, vikram karve, vikram waman karve, women, writing | Tags: anthology, aundh, author, blog, book, chic lit, cocktail, dating, divorce, marriage, relationship, relationships, romance, wakad, writer, writing |
January 10, 2012
Posted in creative, english, ezine, fiction, india, indian, karve, literature, novel, online, pune, short, stories, story, travel, vikram, vikram karve, vikram waman karve, women, writing | Tags: author, blog, book, cocktail, dating, engagement, fiction, india, karve, literature, marriage, mussoorie, parenting, pune, relationship, relationships, romance, short, stories, story, vikram karve |
October 21, 2011
Posted in creative, english, fiction, india, indian, karve, literature, pune, stories, story, vikram, vikram karve, women, writing | Tags: hyderabad, mumbai, pune, romance, travel |
September 30, 2011
MY FAVOURITE SHORT STORIES PART 50 – LOVE and ROMANCE.
Click the link above and read on my creative writing blog
Posted in creative, english, ezine, fiction, india, indian, karve, literature, novel, online, pune, sex, short, stories, story, travel, vikram, vikram karve, vikram waman karve, women, writing | Tags: amazon, book, cocktail, divorce, fiction, flipkart, karve, love, marriage, parenting, relationships, romance, stories, vikram |
August 5, 2011
URBANIZATION OF THE MOFUSSIL GIRL – Story of a Modern Girl.
Click the link above and read the story on my creative writing blog
Regards
Vikram Karve
Posted in creative, english, ezine, fiction, food, india, indian, karve, literature, novel, online, pune, sex, short, stories, story, travel, vikram, vikram karve, vikram waman karve, women, writing | Tags: alcohol, alcoholism, author, binge, blog, blogger, blogging, book, career, cocktail, creative, date, dating, drink, drinking, girl, india, indian, inhibition, it, karve, mba, modern, parties, party, rave, relationship, romance, sex, society, stories, student, urban, vikram, vikram karve, women, writer, writing |
July 17, 2011
THREE-IN-ONE LOVE STORY.
click the title above to read this love story on my creative writing blog
Posted in creative, english, ezine, fiction, indian, karve, literature, novel, online, pune, short, stories, story, travel, vikram, vikram karve, vikram waman karve, women, writing | Tags: author, blog, book, cocktail, creative, fiction, india, internet, karve, literature, love, lovedale, novel, online, ooty, pune, reading, relationship, relationships, romance, short, stories, story, vikram, vikram karve, writer, writing |
May 28, 2011
KETTI.
KETTI
Short Fiction – A Travel Tale
By
VIKRAM KARVE
From my Creative Writing Archives:
Short Fiction – A Simple Love Story I wrote sometime in the 1990s …
Winter.
Early morning.
Chill in the air.
I stand alone on the metre gauge side of the lonely island platform of Mettupalaiyam Railway Station and stare at the peaks of the Blue Mountains (the Nilgiris) silhouetted in a veil of mist in the distance.
Nothing much has changed here since the last time I came here on my way to Ooty.
It was almost 30 years ago and even now the place, the things, the people – everything looks the same – as if frozen in time.
But for me there is a world of difference.
Then I was a young bride, full of inchoate zest, in the company of my handsome husband, eagerly looking forward to the romantic journey on the toy train of the Nilgiri Mountain Railway on my way to our honeymoon at Ooty.
Then, on my way to my honeymoon, the place felt so exciting.
Now it feels so gloomy.
Strange.
But true.
What’s outside just doesn’t matter; it is what is inside that matters.
I try not to reminisce.
Remembering good times when I am in misery causes me unimaginable agony.
I look at my watch.
7.30 A.M.
The small blue toy train pushed by its hissing steam engine comes on the platform.
Dot on time.
As it was then.
The same chill in the air. The same February morning – the 14th of February – Valentine’s Day.
Then I had the loving warmth of my husband’s arm around me.
Now I feel the bitter cold penetrating within me.
I drag my feet across the platform towards the mountain train – then they called it The Blue Mountain Express – now I don’t know.
Scared, anxious, fear in my stomach, I experience a strange uneasiness, a sense of foreboding, a feeling of ominous helplessness – wondering what my new life would have in store for me.
I sit alone in the First Class compartment right in front of the train and wait for the train to start – the train which is going to take me to the point to no return.
I wish that all this is just a dream.
But I know it is not.
And suddenly, Avinash enters.
We stare at each other in disbelief.
Time stands still.
There is silence, a grotesque silence, till Avinash speaks, “Roopa! What are you doing here?”
I do not answer.
Because I cannot answer.
I am struck dumb, swept by a wave of melancholic despair.
My vocal cords numbed by emotional pain.
I look ineffectually and forlornly at Avinash and I realize that there is no greater pain than to remember happier times when in distress.
“You look good when you get emotional,” Avinash says sitting opposite me.
In the vulnerable emotional state that I am in, I know that I will have a breakdown if I continue sitting with Avinash.
I want to get out, run away; but suddenly, the train moves.
I am trapped.
So I decide to put on a brave front, and say to Avinash, “Coming from Chennai?”
“Yes,” he says, “I’d gone for some work there.”
“You stay here? In Ooty?” I ask with a tremor of trepidation for I do not want to run into Avinash again and again; and let him know that I had made a big mistake by not marrying him – that I had made the wrong choice by dumping him, the man I loved, in search of a “better” life.
“I stay near Kotagiri,” Avinash says.
“Kotagiri?” I ask relieved.
“Yes, I own a tea-estate there.”
“You own a tea estate?”
“Yes. I am a planter.”
Now I really regret my blunder 30 years ago. Indeed I had made the wrong choice.
“Your family – wife, children?” I probe, curious.
“I didn’t marry,” he says curtly. “There’s no family; only me. A confirmed bachelor – just me – I live all by myself.”
“Oh, Avinash. You should have got married. Why didn’t you?”
“It is strange that you should be asking me why I did not marry,” he says.
“Oh my God! Because of me?”
Avinash changes the subject and says, “I’ll be getting off at Coonoor. My jeep will pick me up.”
He pauses, then asks me, “And you, Roopa? Going to Ooty? At the height of winter! To freeze over there?”
“No,” I say, “I am going to Ketti.”
“Ketti ?” he asks with derisive surprise.
“Yes. What’s wrong with going to Ketti?” I protest.
“There are only two places you can go to in Ketti – The boarding school and the old-age home. And the school is closed in December,” Avinash says nonchalantly, looking out of the window.
I say nothing.
Because I cannot say anything.
So I suffer his words in silence.
“Unless of course you own a bungalow there!” he says sarcastically turning towards me and mocking me once again.
The cat is out of the bag.
I cannot describe the sense of humiliation I feel sitting there with Avinash.
The tables seem to have turned.
Or have they?
There are only the two of us in the tiny compartment.
As the train begins to climb up the hills it began to get windy and Avinash closes the windows.
The smallness of the compartment forces us into a strange sort of intimacy.
I remember the lovely moments with Avinash.
A woman’s first love always has an enduring place in her heart.
“I am sorry if I hurt you,” Avinash says, “but the bitterness just came out.”
We talk.
Avinash is easy to talk to and I am astonished how effortlessly my words come tumbling out.
I tell him everything. Yes, I tell him everything – the entire story of my life.
How I had struggled, sacrificed, planned and taken every care.
But still, everything had gone wrong.
Widowed at 28.
Abandoned by my only son at 52.
Banished to an old-age home. So that “they” could sell off our house and emigrate abroad.
“They” – yes, “they” – those two who ruined my life, betrayed my trust – my only son who I doted upon and lived for and that scheming wife of his.
“I have lost everything,” I cry, unable to control my self. “Avinash, I have lost everything.”
“No, Roopa,” Avinash says. “You haven’t lost everything. You have got me! I’ve got you. We’ve got each other.”
Avinash takes me in his comforting arms.
Cuddled in his arms, I experience the same feeling, the same zest, the same warmth, the same lovely emotion, the same love, that I felt thirty years ago, yes, thirty years ago, as a newly-wed on my first romantic journey, on this same mountain toy train, on my way to my first honeymoon, into the lovely blue mountains.
VIKRAM KARVE
Copyright © Vikram Karve 2011
Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
© vikram karve., all rights reserved.
Did you like this story?
I am sure you will like the stories in my recently published book COCKTAIL comprising twenty seven short stories about relationships.
Do try out this delicious, heady and excitingCOCKTAIL.
To know more please click the links below:
Cheers
About Vikram Karve
A creative person with a zest for life, Vikram Karve is a retired Naval Officer turned full time writer. Educated at IIT Delhi, ITBHU Varanasi, The Lawrence School Lovedale and Bishops School Pune, Vikram has published two books: COCKTAIL a collection of fiction short stories about relationships (2011) and APPETITE FOR A STROLL a book of Foodie Adventures(2008) and is currently working on his novel. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories and creative non-fiction articles in magazines and journals for many years before the advent of blogging. Vikram has taught at a University as a Professor for almost 14 years and now teaches as a visiting faculty and devotes most of his time to creative writing. Vikram lives in Pune India with his family and muse – his pet dog Sherry with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts.
Fiction Short Stories Book
© vikram karve., all rights reserved.
Posted in creative, english, ezine, fiction, food, india, indian, karve, literature, novel, online, pune, short, stories, story, travel, vikram, vikram karve, vikram waman karve, women, writing | Tags: age, amazon, author, bangalore, blog, book, care, citizen, cocktail, coonoor, creative, dating, ebook, english, ezine, fiction, honeymoon, india, indian, karve, ketti, kindle, literary, literature, love, lovedale, marriage, mettupalayam, mountain, mumbai, nilgiri, old, online, ooty, pune, railway, railways, reading, romance, senior, short, southern, stories, story, vikram, vikram karve, wakad, widow, writer, writing |
May 13, 2011
RENDEZVOUS AT CAFE NAAZ.
RENDEZVOUS AT CAFE NAAZ
Fiction Short Story – Detective Fiction
By
VIKRAM KARVE
From my Creative Writing Archives:
For a change, here is a Detective Story I wrote recently. Old timers in Mumbai will surely remember the inimitable Cafe Naaz near Hanging Gardens on Malabar Hill overlooking Marine Drive. Sitting at Naaz Restaurant you got the best view of Mumbai. Well Cafe Naaz is no longer there, but memories remain!
A detective always remembers his first case.
Let me tell you about mine.
This happened long back – more than thirty years ago – in the 1970s – when Pune was a salubrious pensioners’ paradise – a cosy laid back friendly town where everybody knew everybody.
And let me tell you – at the time of this story – I was not even a full fledged detective – but I was just a rookie part-time amateur self-styled sleuth – studying in college – skylarking in my spare time as a private detective – masquerading as a Private Investigator for my uncle who ran a private detective agency.
Dear Reader, please remember that way back then, in good old days of the 1970s, there were no cell-phones, no PCs, no mobile cameras, handy cams or digital cameras, no modern technology gadgets, not even things like email and the internet that you take for granted today and the only method of investigation was the tried and tested good old physical surveillance where one spent hours and hours patiently shadowing and tailing your target.
“A woman wants her husband watched,” my uncle said giving me a slip of paper with a name and the room number of a well-known hotel in Pune.
“That’s all…?” I asked.
“He is a businessman from Mumbai…drives down to Pune very often…at least once a week…sometimes twice…ostensibly in connection with business…but she suspects there is some hanky-panky going on…”
One week later, waiting for the client to arrive at our planned rendezvous, I sat on the balcony of Café Naaz in the Hanging Gardens atop Malabar Hill sipping a cup of delicious Chai and enjoying the breathtaking view of the inimitable Mumbai sunset as the Arabian Sea devoured the orange sun followed by spectacular view of the Queen’s Necklace as the lights lit up Marine Drive.
She arrived on the dot at seven and sat opposite me.
I looked at my client. She was a Beauty, a real beauty, 35… maybe 40… must have been a stunner in her college days…I tried not to stare at her.
“Okay…Tell me…” she said, getting to the point straightaway.
I started reading from my pocket-book, “Thursday morning at ten fifteen he left his hotel room…deposited key at reception telling them that he was going for work would return in the evening…started to drive down in his car towards Deccan…picked up a female who seemed to be waiting for him…she sat next to him…and as they drove off away from the city into the countryside they seemed to be getting amorous…lovey-dovey, you know, a bit of kissing, cuddling…”
“No…No…skip the details…just tell me…is he or isn’t he…?” she interrupted me.
She seemed to be in a hurry. Maybe she was not comfortable being seen sitting with me over here and wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible.
“I think he is having an affair,” I said.
“You think he is having an affair?”
“Yes. I am pretty sure he is having an affair.”
“How can you be so sure…?”
“Well we look for three things.
”
“Three things?”
“Yes, the three key ingredients required to have a affair – Time, Inclination, Opportunity.”
“Time … Inclination … Opportunity…” she repeated looking quite perplexed.
“Well they certainly had the Time … they spent the whole day together in seclusion … and they certainly had the Opportunity … behind the privacy of closed doors in that lonely discreet motel hidden in the back of beyond … and as far as the Inclination part is concerned … well, the way they were behaving with each other … well, I have no doubt about it….”
A smile broke out on her face.
I was flabbergasted. Now tell me dear reader – what would your reaction be if you came to know that your spouse was having an affair? Would you just smile?
Suddenly I remembered what my uncle had told me, so I asked the woman, “Do you wish to increase coverage?”
“Coverage?”
“Yes, full coverage – Photographs, hotel receipts, documentary evidence, round the clock surveillance, explicit details, everything, no holds barred, the full works…” I elaborated. Of course all this detailed investigation would be personally handled in a professional manner by my experienced uncle and his agency. I was very keen that this woman ask us to do a comprehensive investigation. My uncle would be pleased with me and maybe he’d take me along and for me it would be a great learning experience.
“I don’t think so,” the woman said.
“No?” I said perplexed, “but you will require all this as evidence to establish that your husband is committing adultery.”
“Husband? Who said that man is my husband?” she said grinning like a Cheshire cat.
“You said so – to the head of the detective agency.”
“No, I did not tell your boss that the man was my husband – I never said that he was my husband. I just gave him the name of a man and told him that I wanted that man followed.”
“But we assumed…”
“A good detective shouldn’t assume things, isn’t it…?
“But then why did you want that man followed…?” I asked curious.
“Well that’s my private matter,” she said, “but since you are such a cute boy and I like you, I will tell you. It is like this – One day, fifteen years ago, the day I completed my graduation, my parents showed me two photographs. The first photo was of the man you were following and the second photo was of the man who is now my husband.”
The woman paused for a moment, had a sip of water, and continued, “My parents told me to choose one, and I made my choice, but ever since then, during all these years of my married life, I was always tormented by the thought that I had made the wrong choice. But now, thanks to you, I know I made the right choice.”
She took out an envelope from her purse and gave it to me. “Here is your fee, and I have put in a little bonus for you for doing such an excellent job,” she said.
The woman patted my hand, then she got up and walked away into the enveloping darkness.
I opened the envelope and saw that the “little bonus” was much more than the fee – in fact, the bonus for me was more than double the fee for the entire investigation.
I wondered whether she had two envelopes in her purse, one for each eventuality.
So my first case was over.
I never forgot the cardinal lesson I learnt from this case.
Since then, I never assume anything or presume anything – I never take anything for granted. Before I start a new investigation, the first thing I do is to carry out a background check of my client. Maybe that’s why I am such a successful detective.
So if you are thinking of hiring me, remember that the first thing I will do is to check you out.
VIKRAM KARVE
Copyright © Vikram Karve 2011
Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
© vikram karve., all rights reserved.
Did you like this story?
I am sure you will like the 27 stories in COCKTAIL
To order your COCKTAIL please click any of the links below:
About Vikram Karve
A creative person with a zest for life, Vikram Karve is a retired Naval Officer turned full time writer. Educated at IIT Delhi, ITBHU Varanasi, The Lawrence School Lovedale and Bishops School Pune, Vikram has published two books: COCKTAIL a collection of fiction short stories about relationships (2011) and APPETITE FOR A STROLL a book of Foodie Adventures(2008) and is currently working on his novel and a book of vignettes and short fiction. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories, creative non-fiction articles on a variety of topics including food, travel, philosophy, academics, technology, management, health, pet parenting, teaching stories and self help in magazines and published a large number of professional research papers in journals and edited in-house journals for many years, before the advent of blogging. Vikram has taught at a University as a Professor for almost 14 years and now teaches as a visiting faculty and devotes most of his time to creative writing. Vikram lives in Pune India with his family and muse – his pet dog Sherry with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts.
Fiction Short Stories Book
© vikram karve., all rights reserved.
© vikram karve., all rights reserved.
Posted in creative, english, fiction, food, india, indian, karve, literature, novel, online, pune, sex, short, stories, story, travel, vikram, vikram karve, vikram waman karve, women, writing | Tags: arranged, author, blog, book, cafe, children, chowpatty, cocktail, creative, date, dating, detective, fiction, food, gardens, hanging, hill, india, karve, love, malabar, marriage, mumbai, naaz, pune, relationships, restaurant, romance, short, short stories, short story, stories, stort stories, story, travel, vikram, vikram karve, writer, writing |
May 8, 2011
INNOCENT VICTIM.
Dear Reader: Have you read my latest book COCKTAIL – a collection of 27 short stories about relationships?
If you haven’t please click the link below and order a copy:
In COCKTAIL there is a story called A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A DIVORCED MAN. This story highlights the negative aspects of divorce on relationships, especially the adverse effect divorce has on children who are supposed to be innocent victims in divorce situations and who suffer for no fault of their own.
Are children really innocent victims and do they actually suffer when their parents divorce?
Well, here is a divorce story from a different perspective — a “happy ending” divorce story where the child is certainly not an “innocent victim” of a divorce situation
Read on and tell me if you like this story:
A Divorce Story with a Difference
Short Fiction
By
VIKRAM KARVE
I am going to tell you about a very intriguing conversation I had with a naughty boy while travelling from Mumbai to Pune on the Deccan Queen last evening.
As I walk towards my seat in the Ladies’ Coach of the Deccan Queen I find a smart boy sitting on my window seat talking to a handsome man sitting on the seat beside him.
“Excuse me,” I say to the man, “this is the ladies’ compartment…”
Before the man can answer, the boy says, “I’m only seven…below 12…I can travel in the ladies compartment…”
“Don’t be rude, Rohan,” the man admonishes the boy, and then he rises from the seat, moves into the aisle, making way for me, and says, “Sorry, Ma’am, I am getting off, I just came to see off my son…is it okay if he sits in the window seat…”
“It is okay,” I say and sit down next to the boy, on the seat by the aisle.
“Actually I was waiting for you to come,” the man says.
“Me…?” I ask, flabbergasted, wondering whether tha man is trying to flirt with me.
“My son…he’s travelling alone…”
“I always travel alone…” the boy interjects.
“Of course, you are a big boy now aren’t you…?” the father says lovingly to his son, then turns towards me and says, “His mother will come to receive him in Pune…I’ve SMSed the coach and seat number to her…and Rohan’s got his cell-phone too…”
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of your son and deliver him safely to his mother,” I assure the man, not wanting to talk to him too much.
“Thanks,” the man says to me, then turns to his son and says affectionately, “Give me a call when you reach…and come next weekend…”
“Of course Papa. I’ll be here to meet you next weekend on Saturday morning…you be here to get me off the Deccan Queen…I’ve got three days holidays…we’ll go off somewhere on an adventure trip…”
“Yes. Yes. I’ll do the bookings…” the man’s words are suddenly interrupted by the guard’s whistle and the train starts moving.
“Bye, Papa,” the boy jumps across me, hugs his father who bends down, kisses his son on the cheek, disengages and quickly moves to the exit, turning once to wave out to his son. The train gradually picks up speed.
Rohan sits down in his seat, takes out his fancy mobile phone, and a pair of earplugs.
My curiosity gets the better of my discretion and I ask the boy, “That’s a real good mobile phone.”
“Yes. It’s cool…the latest…it’s got everything…touch screen…music…internet…”
“Your father gave it to you?”
“Yes. Papa gets me the best…”
“And your mother…”
“Oh, Mama is too good…she loves me so much…takes so much care of me… lets me do whatever I want…oh…before you ask I should tell you…Papa and Mama are divorced…”
“Oh dear, I am so sorry…”
“No. No. It’s okay…I am happy they are divorced…”
“You are happy your parents are divorced…?” I ask aghast, totally astonished and incredulous.
“Yes…for me it is better this way…you know my Mama and Papa now have to share me…they have divided me between them…during the week I stay with Mama in Pune…and I spend the weekends with Papa in Mumbai…”
“But wasn’t it better when you all lived together as one family…?” I ask.
“It was terrible…when we lived together they were just not bothered about me….Mama and Papa were so busy with their office and work and parties and travelling and everything…they just had no time for me…and whatever little time we were together they kept fighting…”
“And now…?”
“After they split my life is just too good…!” the boy says.
“Too good…?” I interrupt, taken aback.
“Yes…after their divorce my life has become real good…I like it this way…now they care for me so much…they never scold me now like they used to before…now both my Mama and Papa pamper me so much…just imagine…I had two birthday parties this year…one by Mama at Pune and one by Papa in Mumbai…”
“Really…? You had two birthday parties…?”
Yes…and now they let me do whatever I want…give me so much time…and presents…they give me whatever I want…they even give me whatever I don’t want…”
“They give you whatever you don’t want…?”
“Now see, Papa has given me this fantastic mobile phone…now Mama will give me even a better one…or maybe some other groovy stuff…it’s like my Mama and Papa are in competition to make me happy…”
“That’s good…you are really lucky…”
“Oh, yes. I am very lucky…but it is funny isn’t it…?
“Funny…? What’s funny…?”
“About my Papa and Mama…when they were together they neglected me…and now they when live separated, they pamper me so much…so it is better isn’t it…that they are divorced… at least for me…”
I am still trying to analyze the uncanny truth in the young boy’s topsy-turvy logic.
What type of parenting is this?
First you neglect your children when you are married together, and then, you spoil your kids to glory when you are separated divorced.
Strange isn’t it?
And I thought children were “innocent victims” in divorce situations…!
Dear Reader: What do you think…?
VIKRAM KARVE
Copyright © Vikram Karve 2011
Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
© vikram karve., all rights reserved.
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About Vikram Karve
A creative person with a zest for life, Vikram Karve is a retired Naval Officer turned full time writer. Educated at IIT Delhi, ITBHU Varanasi, The Lawrence School Lovedale and Bishops School Pune, Vikram has published two books: COCKTAIL a collection of fiction short stories about relationships (2011) and APPETITE FOR A STROLL a book of Foodie Adventures(2008) and is currently working on his novel and a book of vignettes and short fiction. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories, creative non-fiction articles on a variety of topics including food, travel, philosophy, academics, technology, management, health, pet parenting, teaching stories and self help in magazines and published a large number of professional research papers in journals and edited in-house journals for many years, before the advent of blogging. Vikram has taught at a University as a Professor for almost 14 years and now teaches as a visiting faculty and devotes most of his time to creative writing. Vikram lives in Pune India with his family and muse – his pet dog Sherry with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts.
Fiction Short Stories Book
© vikram karve., all rights reserved.
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Short Fiction by Vikram Karve 