“What The Fuck!” my wife exclaimed in a hushed voice of shock. She zoomed her eyes in, moving her fingers on the screen of her mobile, lipping the words her eyes read. I moved my eyes towards her and took a long sip of my tea.
“What is this yaar?” she now said in a louder, frustrated voice showing her screen.
“What is it” I asked, moving my face forward to read the text on the screen.
She then threw the phone on the bed and rushed to the kitchen. I got off the bed and followed the sound of banging utensils.
“What happened, Ninu?”
I think she was aggressively cleaning dishes or something as she started venting- “I was chatting with this guy in the office, from the public relations department. Just having a casual conversation.”
Our Bai rushed offering to do the dishes but was hushed aside by Ninu with an angry roll of shoulders, gesturing to leave her alone.
“Did he make any inappropriate move towards you?” I asked.
“No Satish!” she said at the top of her voice.
“It was just a casual conversation about work and family and stuff. Basically, a lot of people were congratulating me and he was one of them, okay? So, he was cribbing a bit about his department. And so just like that I suggested why doesn’t he look for a job elsewhere as he has been stuck in the same profile for five years without promotion and he is very good at his work.”
I thought to myself what a stupid thing that is to say to a man. Why to unnecessarily hurt egos and cause oneself so much of trouble on a warm Monday morning.
She went on “And this arse of a guy had the fucking guts to tell me that he can’t take such risks because he is a man. Because…” She did the thing with her fingers that suggests quoting ““pretty women have taken positions that belong to compatible men” CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? This guy thinks that my promotion is because of my looks. I mean aap aake kaam karo na raat ke 10 baje tak. I am so done with this sexism.”
“Okay calm down Ninu”
“Don’t ask me to calm down, okay? Just don’t! I’m so fucking angry. What have these ‘compatible men’ achieved ha? And yes, I am pretty. How is that opposite of a hard worker? I tell you some day women, pretty women, will rise to a position of excessive power and teach these fucking idiots what does it mean to be a hard worker! Saala.”
I waited for her red face to turn brown. She was done washing the dishes by now, I think. I don’t know. I wrapped my arms around her. She gave in. She breathed for a while. I gave her a glass of water.
“Look Nina, some men are just like that. There’s nothing one can do about that. The best thing to do is ignore and move on.” I said.
“Yes but Satish I want to be valued for my work.”
“I value you for your work.”
She smiled.
She leaned against the kitchen slab.
“Let me prepare some French toast for breakfast and get ready for work.”
“No Ninu, you get ready I’ll take care of breakfast.”, I said.
“I wish all men were like you.”
We both smiled.
Our Bai toasted bread in our toaster and melted butter in our microwave. I put them nicely on a plate. Bai took out some Mango juice and pour it in a glass. I took the plate and the glass on a tray to our room. She was sitting in front of a mirror, putting a dash of Sindoor beneath her fringes, then a light lipstick and some other make-up women put. I watched her through the mirror. She is beautiful. I put the tray on her dressing table and took a stool and sat opposite to her, leaning against the wall. She smiled again, I smiled. She ate her breakfast- nibbled on the bread and left lipstick stains on the glass.
She then stood up. She checked the fitting of her trouser and leaned to take her bag. I stopped her by her hand. She looked at me. I removed the fringes from her forehead and tucked them in the back of her ears. I could now see the clear parting of her head. I kissed her forehead and said, “you look better this way.” She smiled.