Newly married couple, Lisa & Jai were in the USA for Jai’s
official assignment there. As Jai was always busy with work, Lisa had kept
herself busy for the last 4 months of their stay there by frequenting libraries
on her own.
Lisa never spent much money as she believed in saving! Jai
teased her that she’s a Kanjoos (miser)!
Lisa would buy all the items from the Indian Store there and prepare food at
the apartment they had rented.
There was this Indian Restaurant named ‘Taj Mahal’ that she used
to often cross on her way to the Library. One day, Lisa just dropped in there
to enquire about the prices. For the past couple of days, she had a craving for
South Indian Food and thought she would get that night’s meal parceled. She
abandoned all her plans as Lisa was SHOCKED to learn of the prices!
A quick conversion of the value from Dollar to Rupee & Lisa
decided- “No way am I gonna spend so much on Idli & Sambar!” Lisa went to
the Indian Store to pick the ingredients having decided to prepare as per online
help-resources! But, the store did not have ‘Hing’ (Asafoetida). Lisa loved Hing
and was disappointed. Nevertheless, she got the other items that she needed.
Lisa prepared the Idli Batter and decided to prepare Idlis for the weekend Breakfast
the next day.
That night, Lisa was probably dreaming of Indian Sambar, when
she muttered in her sleep- “I want Hing.”
Jai was working on his laptop when he heard Lisa…”What? Lisa
wants ‘Ring’?” Jai thought.
She said ‘Hing’; He
Heard ‘Ring’.
Jai was surprised. How did Lisa know about the Ring? He had
just bought that expensive Diamond Ring that evening and had hidden it in his
briefcase. There was no way Lisa could have found it or known anything about
it…The Ring was meant to be a surprise…
Jai had bought the Ring not for Lisa but for Shuvika- his
colleague and best-friend, whom he had wanted to marry. However, Jai had to
settle for an arranged marriage with Lisa, bowing to parental pressure. But,
Shuvika was also here in the USA and she had no problems getting the
full-attention of Jai. In fact, it was she who had demanded that Jai gift a
Diamond Ring for her birthday that was the next day!
Lisa was now sleeping peacefully. No more sleep-talking… Lisa
looked like an angel. Jai started thinking of the sweet girl who was now his
wife. She was a great home-maker and cared for him and his finances. She made
him feel like a King. She was a great listener… Lisa never made any demands. And
look at him! He had blown up nearly 2 months salary to pick that solitaire
imported Ring just to please the ‘other woman’. Did he just refer Shuvika like
that? For the first time it struck Jai that Shuvika was ‘using’ him for her
plans- shopping, dinners, long-drives, late-night outings… Jai remembered the
countless number of times, Shuvika had sweet-talked him and made demands and he
had obliged as he was in ‘love’!
He may have been blinded by her love, but everything made sense
now. Jai’s eyes were wide open!
“Lisa deserves the Ring more. Only Lisa has
full right on me, my time and my earnings as she is my wife!” Jai reasoned.
“I’ll
gift the Ring to Lisa the first thing in the morning!” he decided.
Though his
guilt made it tough to fall asleep, Jai snuggled up with Lisa and slept.
Tomorrow is another day…
This post was chosen as a WOW Post for the Topic- 'Rhymed Confusion'!
You can see the list of WOW Winners HERE.
beautiful...as always..loved it :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Preethi! Confusion turned out positive! :)
DeleteVery sweet story!
ReplyDeleteThanks Indrani! I love sweet stories! :)
Deletean adorable story indeed :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Anmol! All's well that ends well:)
DeleteIndeed :)
Deleteindeed this is nicely written
ReplyDeletehttp://amarnaik.wordpress.com/2013/10/06/confusion-created-as-a-result-of-the-miscommunication/
Thanks Amar for reading & for your comment.
DeleteI must say, your entry is really in depth with so many facets!
Hi Anita, I love this story. It's so sweet :) Also I wanted to thank you for your comment on my blog post about 9/11. Sorry for responding so late. Libby x (http://libbysshortstories.blogspot.co.uk/)
ReplyDeleteThanks Libby for stopping by! Glad you like my story.
DeleteYour view delights me!
I was there in the USA during 9/11 and felt very very helpless. Your sincere Post reminded me of the time...
Better late than never. He realized his folly.
ReplyDeleteYes, Kalpana. A great new beginning!
DeleteHeeng is fine... but 'ring' made to sound like 'reeng' is so bong! This is what made me laugh out loud! :)
ReplyDeleteArvind Passey
www.passey.info
It's actually 'HING'! Even spelled the same (name on the bottle) and is pronounced like RING/Wing/Sing/King...!
DeleteFor a guilty mind, any similar sounding word would indicate RING, as has happened in the story! :)
She said Hina changed a Moron to a human being.. Simply Lovely piece of writing...
ReplyDeleteI mean Hing... :)
DeleteIt's good when one word does the trick! Like Magic!
DeleteGreat that realization dawned soon, else it would be tragic! :)
Thank you so much for reading! :)
ReplyDeleteI must say Captivating story Anita!
ReplyDeleteFunny how misinterpretation / confusion can sometimes make things fall back into place :D:)
You should write short stories more often.
Keep up the good work. :)
Thanks Nikhil!
DeleteIt's wonderful when things fall in place!
Appreciate your encouragement!
Best wishes to you too:)
Lovely story! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Titas for stopping by! :)
Delete