Vidya’s old lover Ramu returns, with friends — Rajesh.. The world can be so small. If you are not careful, who you can hurt today can easily come back to hurt you tomorrow. I was reminded of this fact personally over the last few months. I guess I better start at the beginning.
Prev story Indian wife starts an affair with an older neighbor
“I don’t like that man.” My wife Vidya told me as we entered our gated community.
I turned to look back at the guard she was pointing out to me.
Vidya and I had just returned from a walk. The complex where we had our house, in the outskirts of Pune, was next to a small ravine with a small river below. There was a big sandy area on the banks of that river, which was popular with many of my neighbours. It was busy on the weekends, but during the work week it was hardly occupied. I had a day off, so Vidya packed a picnic lunch and we had an enjoyable couple of hours enjoying each other’s company. We held hands, stole kisses, and had a great time. However, since the ravine was outside the gated community, we had to exit our complex whenever we visited, and then reenter on the way back. One of the gates was closer to our villa, so we always used that.
“It’s a new guard, right?” I remarked, as we walked back to our place. “What’s his name … Wasim?”
“Yes, that’s him.” Vidya made a face. “I don’t like him at all.”
Now this was surprising in itself. Vidya was always a very jolly woman, and someone who got along well with anyone. Especially guys, who were always extra nice to her. For obvious reasons.
“Oh.” I tried to think why she could have an issue with this new guard. Wasim had been polite as we had entered. He had stood up when we had touched our key card to the gate, and greeted us with a nod as we entered after the gate opened.
“There’s something about him.” Vidya was on a rant. “It’s his attitude. So disrespectful!”
“Why? What did he do?” I asked. “He seemed fine to me.”
As soon as I said it, I regretted it. You never disagree with your wife, especially when she’s bitching about someone else!
“Of course he would seem FINE TO YOU.” Vidya turned and hissed at me in anger. “Why do I even bother talking to you?”
“I am sorry, darling.” I tried to meekly apologize. “Please tell me what happened.”
However, Vidya was in a huff. And once she got into one of those moods, I knew I was in trouble. So immediately I started to apologize, grovel and plead with her to forgive me. And of course, it took a lot of apologizing, groveling and pleading before she relented.
“It’s his arrogance.” Vidya said, once we were in the house and relaxed in front of the TV. “Every other guard stands up and salutes me, or says ‘Hi, ma’am. How are you? Lovely day today’ or something like that. And what does Wasim do? He merely sits there, looking at me when I come in. Sometimes, only when I am with you, he nods an acknowledgement.”
“I see.” I replied, not really seeing it. The less these lower class people interacted with me, the better, I thought. This time though, I kept my opinion to myself.